Dolph Ziggler VS Luke Harper (c) - Ladder Match Inter-Continental Championship
The match to kick off the show was Ziggler and Harper and I think this match was excellent. Ziggler had stated he wanted to make this the best ladder match of all time, and while I don't think it attained that magnitude, it was good. What impressed me most about this match, wasn't so much the spots the two wrestlers did using the ladders, we've definitely seen some more innovative ways to use ladders as weapons in past matches, but the bumps these guys were taking with the ladders was crazy. At one point Harper had Ziggler setup for a sling-shot maneuver, but a ladder on top of Ziggler, and then Harper hit the move underneath the second rope. Ziggler got busted open on that one. In the end highly entertaining, and Ziggler came away as the new inter-continental champion.
The Usos VS Miz and Mizdow (c) -Tag Team Championship
This match was good, and though I'm not trying to take anything away from these guys, it seems like just a normal tag team titles match. They've been playing up the angle with Jimmy Uso and his wife Naomi, so I thought that somehow she might find her way down to ringside and somehow inadvertently caused the Usos the titles, but there was no appearance from her. Instead The Miz used his (Mizdow's) Slammy award to knock out either Jimmy or Jay and caused a DQ. Miz and Mizdow retained their titles. Like I said, seemed like just another match kind of.
Big Show VS Eric Rowan - Stairs Match
Before this match started I thought it was either going to be really entertaining or really bad. I'm glad it was entertaining and I'm really starting to like the Eric Rowan character. I noted on Twitter that he kind of gives me the vibe of Lennie from "Of Mice and Men". Not so much that he's handicapped, but that he can be this monster, but seems like he'd be this big lovable oaf. Anyways, this was like human bumper cars, with the Big Show and Rowan getting slammed into, on top of and, through steel stairs all around the ring. Big Show ended it with a knock out punch, plus he added some stairs on top of Rowan to make sure he didn't kick out. There might be enough for one more match between these two. But, it looks like Big Show has another feud brewing now, more on that in a minute.
John Cena VS Seth Rollins - Tables Match
In the middle of the card we get a main event type match and I have to say, this was really good. Lots of different components going on in this match and I thought it had a terrific finish. Before the match Paul Heyman came out and stood by to see if Cena would lose the match, thereby lose his number one contenders match. Out with Seth Rollins, came J&J Security (Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury). Lots of tables got set up in and around the ring, so we now know multiple people are going through tables. Rollins is really proving that he certainly is the future of the WWE, his work ethic and style are great.
Almost from the beginning J&J get involved keeping Cena from getting tables in the ring and then helping Rollins put tables in the ring. At one point Cena actually wins the match, putting Rollins through a table, but the ref's out cold, and with no ref, J&J can help Rollins and get rid of the table making it look like nothing happened. Cena finally takes them out, at one point getting an old school metal guard rail and suplexing Jamie Noble on it. For a second I though he was going to pin in J&J somehow with the rail and really do a Superman type save. Things were starting to look good for Cena when Big Show comes out. He nails Cena with a punch to the ribs, but before he can do anymore damage, Roman Reigns came to his return to the WWE through the crowd, and nails Big Show with a Superman Punch (I still think they should call that punch the Reign of Thunder!!) and then delivers a spear through a table to the Big Show. Rollins gets in the ring, Reigns hits him with a Superman punch and then Cena grabs Rollins, nailing him with an AA through a table for the win. This was a great match!
AJ Lee VS Niki Bella (c) Diva's Championship
This was a good Diva's Title match, but with NXT still freshly in mind, I don't think it had the impact it should have, as I think the NXT Women's title match was better. Niki just isn't as innovative, though there was on spot were she wrapped AJ lee around the ring post, which looked cool and painful at the same time. And again, I was expecting and actually I wanted a turn from Brie Bella, turning on her sister after all the stuff Niki put here through. Before the match they interviewed them and Brie said she's tired of people talking about that and that blood is thicker than water. Really?! Niki told Brie that she wished she had died in the womb and she has no sister. I don't get it. Unless they are going for a better turn at Royal Rumble, this story line got old fast. Brie Belle interfered on behalf of her sister, the ref sent her away from ringside, which enabled Niki to spray AJ in the face with something, and then hit her finisher and retain the title. Good match, could have been better, especially with a Brie turn. But I guess they are back to the same old, boring, evil Bella twins.
Kane VS Ryback - Chairs Match
I'm going to be completely honest. Kane's getting old and Ryback is stale. With a chairs match there could have been some many things they could have done, but it was just the same old routine, hitting each other in the back with chairs. Ryback missed a spot putting Kane through two chairs, and it looked like they just got pushed out of the way. Ryback keeps calling for the same old "Feed Me More" chants it seems every five minutes and hits the same moves. Ryback won.
Jack Swagger VS Rusev (c) - United States Championship
I feel like these two could have delivered so much more. There was no special stipulation, so just go out there and put on a great WRESTLING match, I mean Swagger is an NCAA All-American amateur wrestler. But nothing happened that we hadn't already seen before. The only intriguing part seems to come from some commotion in the crowd, where everyone stopped watching the match and turned to see what was happening. Rusev retained AGAIN with the accolade.
Dean Ambrose VS Bray Wyatt - TLC Match
I had high hopes for this match and I think it delivered. Ambrose is just so crazy in and out of the ring, it keeps the fans guessing and you kind of never knew what he was going to do. And Wyatt, to me, has finally come around to that intenseness and hate he needed to be more of a heel than and baby face. At one point these two went out into the crowd, near the Kick-Off Show table and Ambrose actually got up on the table, ran across it, and dove off attacking Bray. Within the first five minutes I think Ambrose went through a table.
One really impressive and innovative spot came when Wyatt hooked up a kendo stick somehow on the turnbuckle, so it was pointing straight into the ring. He whipped Ambrose into the turnbuckle and Ambrose did great job of what looked like he ran right into the thing, eyes first. Through the aisle Ambrose hit two elbow drops off of ladders through Wyatt laying on tables. Then they get back to around ringside, and Ambrose finds this TV under the ring. It's showing what we see on our TV sets and he looks back at the big titan tron and goes and grabs a huge ladder, which looked to be a 20 footer. Biggest moment of the night was when Ambrose used the ladder to hit a third elbow drop on Wyatt from the top of the ladder through the announce table. And just to show how crazy Ambrose is, they are both laying on the flattened table, Ambrose starts to sit up, taps Wyatt on the chest as if to say good job buddy, kisses him on the forehead, and then proceeds to just nail Wyatt in the head with punch after punch. I laughed out loud on that one.
Ambrose and Wyatt get back into the ring and Ambrose is going to the the TV screen from before and smash it over Wyatt. Only it's hooked up to wires and pulls him back. He tries it again and as the wires disconnect it explodes in Ambrose's face and Wyatt capitalizes, getting the win. When the explosion happened, I couldn't help but think, this is the second time we've seen Ambrose in a unique and innovative situation, the first being curb stomped through the cinder blocks. Awesome outside the box thinking.
Final Thought
Overall I thought this was a pretty good pay per view. It could have been better with the Rusev/Swagger and the Kane/Ryback matches, but everyone else I thought really stepped up. Ziggler I think delivered a hell of an opening match to tell everyone "top that" and I think Cena and Rollins did. Then Ambrose and Wyatt topped it all. I'm looking forward to see if the Ambrose/Wyatt feud continue, which I think it can and what happens with Big Show, Rollins and now the returning Roman Reigns.
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