WWE 'Night of Champions' Report
The show kicks off with the unified tag title match.
Chris Jericho announces his partner is Big Show, who is wearing new blue and black tights - this was a let down to say the least.
Chris Jericho & Big Show Vs Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase for the Tag Titles
The crowd seemed disappointed with the choice of Show (so were we). I wasn't a fan of the dynamic with four heels. The match went nine minutes and ended with a codebreaker by Jericho onto DiBiase and then Big Show applied the colossal clutch and got the instant tap out so Jericho and Show retain the titles.
Josh Matthews interviews CM Punk backstage. Punk came out to the audience and cut an awesome promo by blaming parents who allow their children to look up to Jeff Hardy. He said that parents smoke a pack of cigarettes and then drink Jack Daniels, which is a gateway for marijuana. This was a great promo and turned the entire audience on him.
Tommy Dreamer Vs Christian for the ECW Title
Not the reaction you would expect for Dreamer in Philadelphia. They worked a babyface Vs babyface match, so that made two straight matches without a contrast. Dreamer put the Texas Cloverleaf on Christian at one point and Matt Striker said that Dreamer was working with submission specialist Dean Lister (he actually said Dean Malenko). Christian won clean with the killswitch and they hugged after the match to keep both babyfaces. Not a big pop for the title change.
Big Show and Chris Jericho are backstage and put over their team with Jericho saying they will be better than The Hart Foundation and The British Bulldogs. Show states that they have over 40 titles between them - I guess that explains why we don't get pops for title changes like the last match.
Kofi Kingston Vs The Miz Vs Jack Swagger Vs MVP Vs Carlito Vs Primo for the U.S Title (they never explained taking Big Show out of the match they just substituted Primo for him)
This match was good for what it was. They teased Carlito and Primo working together and forgetting about their feud. There was a tower of doom spot with everyone minus Carlito. MVP attempted the play maker on Swagger, but was interrupted by The Miz and they did a stereo spot where Swagger took the play maker and MVP took Miz's finish but the pinfall attempt by Miz on MVP was broken up. Carlito told Primo to pin one of the downed men and then hit the back stabber when Primo turned his back but Kingston hit the Trouble in Paradise on Carlito for the win.
Randy Orton is backstage with Todd Grisham. Orton says he is depending the egos of Triple H and Cena to cancel each other and he will win.
Michelle McCool Vs Melina for the Women's Title
Best spot of the match was Melina doing the splits on the apron and immediately being hit by a baseball slide by McCool. They tried to work a stiff match but to me it didn't click and seemed awkward throughout. Melina took a lot of nasty falls that seemed unnecessary. McCool cradles Melina for the clean win and retained the title.
Randy Orton Vs Triple H Vs John Cena for the WWE Title
Surprising this is going on so early.
The match had a lot of heat but a real strange finish, which is clearly why it didn't close the show. Hunter put Orton in a sharpshooter type of submission and then Cena applied the STFU on Orton as well and this led to Orton tapping but the match continued since both Hunter and Cena were executing submission moves. Legacy ran into and attacked both me. Cena put Rhodes up for the Attitude Adjustment and Orton hit the RKO and took out both and pinned Cena to keep the title. I am thinking rematch at 'SummerSlam'.
Backstage Maryse teased wanting to get together with The Miz and Miz said she was a tease and that one day Maryse would beg to be with him and he won't care. Miz said she butchered her shot to be with him just like she butchers the english language.
Maryse Vs Mickie James for the Diva's Title
Not a great match at all - James went over and became the Diva's champion. Maryse was missing a lot of spots and the two did not gel.
Rey Mysterio Vs Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Title
Crowd was completely dead for this match and really hurt the match. Ziggler was getting the heat throughout the match and the audience just sat on their hands. The only life from the crowd was shown near the finish when Mysterio hit the 619 and springboard splash to keep the title. I don't think Ziggler is over enough for the spot they envision him in on 'Smackdown', granted they were put in a terrible spot on this show and they had that working against them.
CM Punk Vs Jeff Hardy for the World Title
They were rushed because of time but they did a pretty good job of getting the heat back in the arena especially for the Jeff Hardy near falls. Punk works so well as a heel and his facials looked great in this match. Hardy hit the swanton bomb for the clean win - so looks like we get Hardy for one more PPV.
