Wow!
I figure that's the best way to start a post about the best PPV of the year. For me i always have to sit for a while and just think about what i've just seen in order to figure out how good/bad i thought it was. I'm not one for instantly claiming "best match ever" or anything like that. So it's about 40 mins since Money in the Bank ended, and i've been sitting here reading tweets, and thinking about what i just spent 3 hours watching. I'll do a match by match rundown in a minute, but for now, after thinking about it for a while, it's pretty clear to me that this was the best pay per view of the year, including Destination X (great old school x division tna style), the Rumble, and even Wrestlemania. All the big spots were great, huge risks, little bit of creativity shown finally, and of course the main event. Personal highlights (without spoiling anything, that comes later) were Cena nailing Laurinitis (who saw that coming, seriously?) Airbourne from the ladder, Rey being Unmasked, and Randy Orton's crazy facial expressions.
Ok onto the match by match. Oh before i begin, i found it hilarious that this violent pay per view was sponsored by Skittles. Also, anyone else notice that Cena's shirts over the last couple of years have been all the colours of the skittle rainbow?
SPOILER ALERT!
Smackdown Money in the Bank match.
Ok, so the first thing i noticed is Sin Cara on pay per view. I haven't been watching smackdown, but from what i've been reading, he's been botching quite a bit.
Also, anyone else think Wade Barrett looks like Johnny Cash?
Ok the match was fairly good, don't remember a lot of the spots to be honest, probably because, as i said i haven't been watching Smackdown a lot recently. But I think Sin Cara did an awesome job, couple of high cross bodies, and that bump he took, with Sheamus Powerbombing him through the ladder was awesome. Cole on commentary was ridiculous, saying "did you see that steel ladder bend in half" when we could clearly see the WOODEN ladder splintered. Jeez..
Was impressed as usual with Kane, awesome Road Warriors tribute from him, and also the chokeslam on Sheamus onto the ladder was pretty awesome looking.
I was really (happily) surprised to see Daniel Bryan win. First thing that went through my mind was a flashback to the Royal Rumble from 2010, CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan for the first 2 minutes. I think Matt Striker said "The internet loves this matchup".. so i started thinking ... Punk vs Bryan cashing in MITB.. of course, i was wrong as we all know now.. But huge congratulations to Bryan, hope he isn't the first to cash it in and lose. And enough of Cole calling him a nerd, what .. michael cole is the epitome of "Jock"? Please.
7/10
Diva's Title match.. Kelly Kelly vs ... umm.. A Bella
Yeah... the one move that sums up this match for me was Kelly Kelly being shot into the ropes, and stopping to turn around when she hit them.
She won by the way. ... umm... don't really know how to score it. coz i didn't really watch much.
Big Show vs. Mark Henry
To be honest, i'm not really a big fan of super heavyweight vs super heavyweight matches, i think there's less story to be told. Having said that, Mark Henry is a beast! And the way that Show put him over was really cool, really made Henry look Badass.. it's one thing to throw a little guy over a table, but to slam Show twice in one match, and leave him laying flat.. it looks like WWE is really trying to push Henry hard, which is great. I hope i can get to the point of believing he's as bad as they want to make him.
I also want to applaud Big Show for the work post match, I think most of us these days are pretty sort of desensitised to injuries in the WWE, the first thought always being "it's a work".. Show had me second guessing that though. As they were heading to the back, I'm sure i heard the doctor say "was he supposed to do that?" .. little touches like that make it more interesting. Solid match. give it... 6.5/10
Was surprised to see John Laurinitis talking on camera with Mr. McMahon (that sure wasn't "Vince"), I always thought he was a behind the scenes guy. It made sense though with Punk using his name in that first promo.
Raw Money In The Bank Match.
Different start to this match with everyone holding a ladder.. was interesting, don't know if it really worked. Del Rio took the brunt of the shots, especially when he was on the floor and people were just throwing ladders (and at one point, Rey) onto him.
The obligatory high ladder spot was anything but standard. It's one thing to jump off a ladder, or to do a swanton, but a shooting star press off of a ladder? that was Holy SH*T moment for me. Well done to Evan Bourne, looked amazing. What i found interesting was Michael Cole (again) suggesting everyone start recording the pay per view.. i thought that was illegal? I know i can't record it using my cable box (which is a dvr).
R-Truth botched the see-saw ladder spot, which i'm surprised to see used at all after Joey mercury had his face ripped off by one. Still one of the sickest spots ever.
Double Hurricanrana (or Hurricane-rana.. thankyou Booker T) off of the ladders was great, looked awesome, and really well synchronized.
The finish was awesome! Everyone predicted Del Rio to go over, it made sense really. But the unmasking of Rey Mysterio was definitely unpredictable, a great spot, it would be awesome to see some kind of program with Rey having to stay unmasked, or fighting for his mask or soemthing like that, but i'm pretty sure it was just a one time thing. All the ladders crashing into Rey looked really crazy too.
Del Rio is kind of in no-man's land after the end of the PPV, but who knows what Raw will bring tomorrow?
7.5/10
Orton vs Christian
Once again, having not watched Smackdown a lot I didn't know a ton of the backstory going on here, I knew Christian had turned heel again though. The stipulation for this match seemed to make it almost a certainty to me that Orton would retain.
Was a really solid match i thought, good story of Christian trying to goad Randy into snapping, liked the back and forth. Loved the finish, I can totally buy Randy (or anyone) snapping if someone had spit right into their mouth.. gross. Really loved the post match, Orton's facial expressions were brilliant, and the RKO's on the table were sick.
Christian wins by DQ (via awesome kick in the nuts) and becomes the new World Heavyweight Champion
7.5/10
Oh before i get onto the main event, am I the only one who thinks that Randy Orton looks just a bit like the Giant Gonzales from 1993 with that beard? All he needs is the airbrushed muscle suit with the fake fur i reckon!
Ok onto the main event.. where do I begin? I could start by saying the crowd was the loudest i've heard since.. since i can remember really.. i don't know if i've heard a louder reaction for anyone. And wow did Cena get booed.. last time it was that hostile was the One Night Stand in 2006. I wish he'd get angry at them, like "how can you boo me? he's the one leaving! F**K You!". but no, we just get stone-faced Cena. It's not boring. it was boring in 2007. Now it's just annoying. Having said that, Cena is great. And he gets a reaction wherever he goes. That's not something everyone can do.
It was awesome to see Colt Cabana at ringside. For a while there i was convinced he'd be involved in the finish somehow.
The match was great. Better than great really. Great story, loved the little parts where Punk acknowledged the crowd.. for example..
Crowd: You can't wrestle (clap clap, clap clap clap) You can't wrestle (clap clap, clap clap clap)
Punk: *points at himself* Me? or *points at Cena* Him?
Crowd: Him!
Punk: *nods*
Also, I should point out for those "cena only has 5 moves" folks, I saw something new from Cena tonight. Maybe he listened to Chavo's tweets? He gave us an Elbow Drop, an Abdominal Stretch, that Sidebuster/sidewalk slam from his shoulders, and it wasn't the standard super-cena comeback either. Well done Cena. Seriously, I see all these people posting negative things about him, but he works like crazy, he's proven himself, and if you don't believe me, find the match he had with HBK the night after Wrestlemania 23. And I believed his knee was truly hurting, did anyone else see Punk land ribs first right on his knee? looked painful.
My favourite part of this match, was Mr.Mcmahon coming out to the ramp with John Laurinitis, and going for the screwjob finish. Sending Laurinitis down to ringside to get the timekeeper to ring the bell.. and as he's running down there, Cena slides out of the ring and knocks him on his ass! I started thinking.. "i wonder how many fired wrestlers wish they could have done that?"... It looked a little stiff too! But awesome Cena character moment, saying "the best man is going to win this match"..
Great finish, Punk finally nailing the GTS and getting the 3 count. The ref's reaction was great, like he thought vince was going to kill him.. But the best part was McMahon, doing everything he can to make us feel like it's real, instead of going for a microphone, he went for a headset and spoke to the back, but it was a commentators headset so everyone watching could hear what he was saying.. "Get Alberto out here, cash it in!"
Del Rio comes running down to the ring, slides in, and gets his head kicked off by Punk! brilliant.
Punk jumps into his crowd, and leaves with the Title. Punk wins!
9/10 Definitely contender for match of the year (that i've seen)
So overall what did I think of the PPV? Well, I can sum it up in one word.. unpredictable. The WWE lately has been anything but unpredictable lately.. but that's all changed now. No-one is going to miss RAW tomorrow.. australians have to wait until wednesday.. except for less than legal means of watching of course. But it's must-see TV again. Will Punk make an unannounced appearance? Will we see a different belt? (please yes!).. Will Cena be fired? What happens to Dwayne then?
To sum up, great action, great spots in the Ladder matches, Amazing main event, and the best part, WWE did not screw it up! Lets hope this is an end to the PG only era. Sure, keep it kinda aimed towards kids, but give those who fondly remember the attitude era something to watch, as in KEEP THE PUNK ANGLE GOING (unless he's done.. )
Ok that's about it, next post i'm going to write will be about something other than CM punk, maybe TNA, maybe some of my favourite matches.. either way, follow me on twitter @TheACMouthpiece
What's it like to be me? You will never, ever know!
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