TO GET TO THE POINT: Yes, they did it again. WWE sure knows how to fool people! As soon as I write that fans shouldn't expect any major title changes on this pay per view, they hot-potato (verb) one of those bad boys right on over again.
It's simply impossible to predict stupidity.
If anyone knows the logic (assumed or otherwise) behind taking the title off of ADR in the first place if they were going to give it right back to him two weeks later, please email me and explain it. If you do, please be forewarned: you will each receive one of two different one word responses – "Whatever!" or "Wrong!". There is absolutely no logic to it. Period. (By the way, which one word response I send is chosen at random, so please don't be offended if you were looking forward to one and get the other.)
Outside of the unexpected title change that I HATED, I didn't have a lot of problems with last night's pay per view. HIAC was meant to continue certain stories currently going on and it did that.
There's a lot of mixed feelings among fans regarding the end of the pay per view with Miz, Truth, Hunter, the entire WWE locker room, etc. and I'll get to that a bit later, but I will say that it made perfect sense and I enjoyed it.
Del Rio's win was completely overshadowed by the post-match shenanigans, but isn't that pretty much par for the course when it comes to ADR as WWE Champion? Who takes him OR that title seriously right now? Maybe that will change at some point in the future, but it's hard to give Creative much credit where Del Rio is concerned.
I liked the finish to the main event match as well with Cena getting locked out of the cage so Del Rio could isolate Punk. It's a simple solution to protecting what WWE holds dearest: John Cena. That being said, they might want to reconsider who needs protecting going forward with reports now claiming CM Punk is the number one merchandise seller in the company.
THE WRESTLING: There really isn't much for me to write about in this department. The two main event title matches were good. The rest were fine, but the live crowd sucked a lot of life out of most of the matches by having no life or energy at all. When they did care, they only cared about the finishes and that tells me a)they don't care about the story behind the match (Sheamus/Christian) or b)they aren't invested in the participants of the match (Sin Cara..s). Or both even.
Beth Phoenix finally winning the Diva's Championship was a good example of how a live wrestling crowd can diminish and distract from what's meant to be a special moment. It fell flat. Personally, I wanted WWE to hold off one more pay per view even. They already swerved us twice, so why not go for the trifecta? I'm happy Beth won the belt, but if it didn't happen two weeks ago, I say what's one more pay per view?
Christian and Sheamus worked well together in the opening bout, but again, the crowd just didn't seem behind it. That really takes away from an otherwise solid performance by these two. I think they should wrap this story up quickly if last night didn't do it and allow Christian and Sheamus to go in other directions.
Cody Rhodes is honestly one of my favorite performers right now. That's only in the place that he's at, though. I don't want him in World Title pictures, but the Intercontinental Championship represents him well. And vice versa. The match between him and John Morrison was good, but his pre-match promo made the night for me. Bringing back the old IC belt, swearing to wear it with more pride from here on out and successfully defending it in an impromptu match made for a pretty good night for Rhodes. I loved it. He deserves it.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
