2011 WWE Night of Champions Review
by Mike Killam
A very controversial Night of Champions is officially in the record books, and many WWE fans are clearly unhappy with the events of tonight's PPV. We're going to get right into the action, so it's fitting that the first match of the night was filled with controversy…
WWE Tag Team Championship match
Air Boom def. Awesome Truth (by DQ)
First and foremost this was a great tag team match by two of WWE's newest duos. The champions came out with new, matching ring gear and flowed well with each other throughout the entirety of the match. In the other corner the Miz and R-Truth continued to show just how well their unusual dichotomy is working. The only thing I have against either of these teams at this point, is their names… The Cole-proclaimed “Awesome Truth” are natural heels and gathered some of the best negative crowd reactions of the night, once against proving to me that the WWE made the right call by putting them together. These four guys showed what WWE Superstars are capable of given enough time to really work. Lots of near-falls, devastating signature spots, and a disqualification ending that actually furthered Miz and Truth's controversy angle make this a must-see match of the night. Great heel work after the match, taking out the referee for some rather legitimate complaints and drawing a pretty respectable “you suck” chant at the same time.
Rating: 4.5/5
Intercontinental Championship match
Cody Rhodes def. Ted DiBiase
If there is one thing I cannot stand in a wrestling match, it's an obnoxious crowd that likes to chant completely irrelevant garbage for the sake of being clever. And it's not the entire crowd either, it's the group of a few dozen guys who think it's acceptable to chant “boring” when two men are in the ring giving it all they've got for the entertainment of the live crowd. And no disrespect to Zack Ryder or his fans that legitimately want to see him out there, but the “we want Ryder” chants have no place in an Intercontinental title match between Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase. That being said, I thought these two did a fantastic job given the very little build-up they had to work with, and the ambiguous state of DiBiase's character. Rhodes was clearly over as a heel, yelling at the crowd and getting them worked up. But I could sense people's confusion when it came to Ted DiBiase. Either they just didn't care, or more likely they weren't sure if it was ok to be cheering for a guy that was heel a few weeks ago, and has yet to make any solid moves towards being a face. His intense beat-down of Cody Rhodes on Smackdown was apparently enough to get the crowd at least mildly interested in the match, but I think both guys could have benefited from another week or two of build. Luckily they have enough history between them that their in-ring work is incredibly solid and carried the whole thing. In the end DiBiase got the crowd pumped by removing the mask, right before Rhodes snuck in a roll-up with a handful of tights for the three count. Solid match, and I doubt we've seen the last of Ted DiBiase.
Rating: 4/5
