WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS

Sunday, September 18th, 2011, from Buffalo


KOFI KINGSTON & EVAN BOURNE vs. THE MIZ & R. TRUTH: The Miz beat up the ref to cause a DQ. On RAW, HHH fired R Truth and The Miz for beating up the ref. Didn't even really know there were still tag team titles. *1/2 (out of ****)

CODY RHODES vs. TED DIBIASE: Rhodes, for some reason, is a big star on Smackdown!. Not sure why. *

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. JACK SWAGGER vs. ALEX RILEY vs. JOHN MORRISON: Really fun, fast, exciting match. I hate that Morrison is still being buried, though. ***

RANDY ORTON vs. MARK HENRY: Surprisingly, Henry won the title here. It was an awful match. Henry as champ is something new but not something good. *

KELLY KELLY vs. BETH PHOENIX: Not particularly good, although Phoenix, the beast, did lose. *1/2

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. JOHN CENA: Cena wins the title. Again. Granted, he lost at MITB and Summerslam to Punk. God forbid he lose at three straight ppv's. Not the best match. **

HHH vs. CM PUNK: So the main event on a show called "Night of Champions" doesn't feature a champion. Interesting. This was a good match with a total clusterfuck finish. The Miz and R Truth ran in and attacked the ref and HHH and Punk. John Laurenaitis, the vice president dude, came in and seemed to favor Punk by not pushing the ref into the ring when HHH was going for the pin but pushing the ref in when Punk went for a cover. Laurenaitis also got on his cell phone and then Kevin Nash came out of the crowd and beat up Punk and HHH. Eventually HHH won after delivering the pedigree on Punk. The highlight was when Punk jumped off the top rope and delivered an elbow onto HHH and the Spanish announce table. It wasn't a great match but the wild finish made it entertaining. ***

TNA NO SURRENDER

Sunday, September 11th, 2011, from Orlando

JESSE SORENSEN vs. KID KASH: And you thought you already saw the worst ppv of the year (take your pick from any number of TNA shows)? This show had to be the worst of the year. It started with an un-announced X-Division #1 contender match. Sorensen beat Kid Kash, who I saw wrestle live at the ECW Arena in, like, 1999 or something. Not a good opener. *

BULLY RAY vs. JAMES STORM: Bully Ray is a good heel and funny on the mic, but he's not a good wrestler. So what does TNA do? They book him in two matches. Groan. 1/2*

WINTER vs. MICKIE JAMES: I actually like Winter but I'm not sure why. But remember Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim? TNA used to have entertaining women's matches. This was eh. *

MEXICAN AMERICA vs. DEVON & POPE: Hernandez did a leap off the top rope that was cool. Interviewing Rosita, who is a part of the Mexican America contingent, about her dead father (he died on 9/11) felt a little exploitative. *

MATT MORGAN vs. SOMOA JOE: Remember when Kurt Angle faced Joe for the first time and that ppv got record buy rates for TNA? Well apparently they don't remember it as Joe loses to Morgan here. Can we say 'waste of talent'? *

BOBBY ROODE vs. GUNNER: Pretty much unwatchable. -No Stars-

AUSTIN ARIES vs. BRIAN KENDRICK: The best match on the show and it was bad. Aries looks like he doesn't want to be in TNA. He botched one top rope flip to the ground and then jumped head first onto the guard rail. Kendrick is just a bore. *1/2

BOBBY ROODE vs. BULLY RAY: This was the final of the Bound for Glory series. Roode gets to face the champ next month. Not a good match at all. 1/2*

KURT ANGLE vs. STING vs. MR. ANDERSON: Hulk Hogan sprayed something into Sting's face and Angle slammed then pinned him. A very, very dull main event. 1/2*