WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Night of Champions 2012 Review

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Night of Champions 2012. How does this night turn out? Let's find out and start the review. 

Match #1: Miz vs Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes vs Sin Cara; IC Championship

We open with more news regarding Jerry "The King" Lawler. It's great to see the man is recovering nicely. Replacing Lawler on commentary would be JBL. I thought this was a great move by WWE. Personally, I've always been a fan of JBL's commentary, so I think this is a suitable replacement. Miz files a complaint. That clever bastard!!! I would've never thought to do such a thing. In case you were wondering, this match isn't under the Sin Cara light scheme. I guess Sin's might morphin' powers aren't able to work around three other people. Sin was about to put a Sin Cara mask on Cody, but it ended up on Miz. Miz was able to use this as a good luck charm in order to win the match. Miz Cara hit Skull Crushing Finale on Cody for the victory. For an opening match, it was decent. It wasn't great, but a decent match to open up the show. 

Winner and still IC Champion: Miz Cara

Millions of dollars!!! Millions of dollars!!! Millions of injuries!!! Millions of inj-wait, what happened here? Apparently, Kaitlyn was taken out backstage by somebody wearing a hood….

Oh my God!!! They're invading WWE!!! Eve promises Kaitlyn will get her title match, but not tonight. No Divas match tonight? YEAH!!!

Match #2: Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs Daniel Bryan and Kane; WWE Tag Team Championships

So, when do Kane and Bryan start coming out to Queen's You're My Best Friend? What, was I the only one that thought this? You want to know what the turning point of the match was? Hugging it out. I love you, man!!! Just remember this….I will never let you go…..I'll never let you go. Okay, I think I've had my fun. Throughout the match, Kane and Bryan were trying to work together, but there were a few moments where they wanted to rip each other's head off. The finish comes when Kane is about to do his top rope clothesline, but Bryan isn't happy. Bryan kicks Kane in the head, but Kane ends up falling on top of Kofi for the three count. After the match, Bryan and Kane are about to make me piss myself. I'M THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!! Even though I like the Prime Time Players, Kane and Bryan are the hotter pairing at the moment. I totally agree with slapping the tag titles on them and I think this will result in one of the funniest pairings ever. Can I get a hug?

Winner via pinfall and NEW WWE Tag Champs: Team Friendship/Anger/Red/Fire/Hugs

Kaitlyn won't compete tonight, but Booker T decides to give Eve a title match. So, we do have a Divas match tonight after all? Noooo!!! In all honestly, I'm not surprised. It really seems like they were more determined to make Eve the #1 Contender. Eve plays her bitchiness character well, but I think she works better has an assistant than a champion. Oh well….

Match #3: Antonio Cesaro vs Zack Ryder; US Championship

Did Ryder ever get his rematch when he lost the US title to Jack Swagger? I don't think he ever did. I don't know why, but I just find that hilarious. In case you missed if, Ryder won the battle royal on the pre-show in order to get this match. Due to Ryder's popularity, this isn't a bad choice. Still, you know Ryder is only here to get destroyed. Ryder makes it interesting, but Antonio wins with the Neutralizer. The match was okay, but forgettable. Don't worry Zack, you'll always have Youtube. In fact, you will have Youtube, Santino, and Saturday Morning Slam. Just hold onto that. 

Winner via pinfall and still US Champion: Antonio Cesaro

I summon Santino in attack mode!!! Yeah, you'll definitely lose that card game if you do that. Hey, you know you were thinking it when you saw the commercial. And I thought I was the only place to go that would put anime and wrestling in the same sentence. They're watching me, man. 

Match #4: Dolph Ziggler vs Randy Orton

One thing that I haven't mentioned is tonight's audience. I felt it was pretty good AND the wrestlers/superstars did a good job in getting the audience active. This was a really good match. It had a nice pace, lots of counters, and just a joy to watch. This is a strong contender for match of the night. The finish comes when Randy hits the RKO for the victory. Now, I can see some people being upset about this, but I'm not surprised they booked this. It's very common for WWE to give the face these type of matches. At the end of the day, Dolph still has the MITB briefcase and Randy put himself in-line for a future WHC match. Keep in mind that you need a new #1 Contender to the WHC, and regardless of how much…smarkness you throw, Randy is the appropriate choice. Dolph still has MITB, so he'll be fine. Hey, I would rather see Randy get a title match as opposed to Del Rio. I think we can use a Del Rio break. This should be a public service announcement. Wait, did I just make up a word?

Winner via pinfall: Randy Orton

Match #5: Layla vs Eve; Divas Championship

Let's see, I can either get a pizza or make myself a sandwich? Hmm, all these endless possibilities. I think I'll go with th-Oh, apparently there's a match going on. Sorry about that. To be fair, the match isn't bad, but it really isn't that appealing. Eve hits her spinning neckbreaker and we have a new Divas Champion. I'm honestly not surprised. They've been pushing Eve for months, so it was only a matter of time until Eve got the title. Still would like to see Kaitlyn get some exposure, but I don't think that would happen since Eve just won the title tonight. Yeah, Eve wasn't prepared at all (wink, wink). Screw Bully Ray or Bobby Roode being the leader of Aces and Eights, I think Eve is now calling the shots. By the way, I just saw Kane at Disneyland. This is the best day ever!!!

Winner via pinfall and NEW Divas Champion: Eve

Match #6: Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio; WHC

The Brogue Kick is banned. Oh no, Sheamus only has 2-3 other finishers he can use. The horror!!! Before the match started, Booker concluded his investigation on the Brogue Kick. Apparently, it's still legal. Talk about rushing this entire thing. I'm guessing they just wanted to finish this off tonight. Out of the Sheamus/Del Rio matches we've seen, this was probably the best one. I think the chemistry was better and both guys were trying to tell a good story. The finish comes when Sheamus continues to fight out of the Cross Armbreaker and ends up hitting the Brogue Kick for the victory. They rushed through this whole "banning the move" deal and it could be looked at as a waste of time, but at least its over. Just try to remember that and I think you can keep your sanity. 

Winner via pinfall and still WHC: Sheamus

Match #7: CM Punk vs John Cena; WWE Championship match

Paul Heyman talked about watching Punk's match and respecting the guy….I got the weirdest boner right now. Cena comes out to a new T-shirt….BUY ONE NOW!!! Well, Breast Cancer Awareness is a good thing to talk about, so I'll try to ease up with Cena/merchandise jokes. This match reminded me a lot of their match at MITB last year. It had a lot of energy from the audience, while Punk and Cena were putting together one hell of a match. I know people will have Dolph/Randy as their favorite match of the night, but this was my personal favorite. It told a great story, Paul's reactions were priceless, and it was just a great match. After a ton of counters and failed finishers, the finish comes when Cena hits a German Suplex off the top rope and gets the pin. It appears we have a new champion. Time for the complaints to being as Mr. Breakfast Cereal manages to-WAIT A MINUTE!!! It turns out BOTH shoulders of Punk and Cena were down during the pin attempt…..sort of. Cena's shoulders were questionable, but that's wrestling logic for you. Because of the tie, Punk keeps his title. After the match, Punk takes Cena out with the title. The show ends with Punk and Pauly celebrating. I know people are gonna be upset with this, but here me out here. A draw/tie keeps this rivalry going. It doesn't make Punk look that bad, nor does it do any harm to Cena. Then again, Cena can stand to lose a couple of matches cleanly since his stock will never go down. Seriously, Cena's the most protected guy on the roster, but that's a totally different subject for another day. Then again, both guys technically got pinned, so I'm fine with this approach. It sets up a rematch for the WWE title AND it didn't involve Pauly. By doing it like this, the Punk/Heyman alliance is still a mystery, while the Punk/Cena rivalry doesn't immediately dive into heelish shenanigans. If anything, I expect Pauly to be a little more active when the rematch comes around. I think this storyline is coming together nicely. 

Tie and still WWE Champion: CM Punk

Overall Impression:

This PPV featured some good matches, progressed certain storylines that need to progress, ended a couple of unimportant storylines, and managed to keep things a mystery between Punk and Pauly. I would say this was a very entertaining evening for the WWE. I know people will complain about the ending to the WWE title match, but this is all about progressing the storyline. Then again, I'm sure people would've complained even harder if Cena had won the match. I think by keeping Paul out of the equation for the time being, it adds more mystery. Thus, I'm fine with the tie. Besides, your got a solid match at the end of the day, so it wasn't all bad. I really liked tonight's show. In fact, I feel this is one of the better PPVs that WWE has put together in the last few months. If I had to give this PPV a score on a scale of 1-10 and 5 considered average on here, I have to give WWE Night of Champions 2012 a 8 out of 10. Some might feel that the PPV deserved a higher score, and that might be true. While I liked this show, there are some flaws with the event. Some of the early matches are decent to watch, but a lot of them lacked build-up or interest. That didn't help the show. While the mystery of Punk/Paul is still there, I wanted to see more foreshadowing to either a new storyline or a plot twist to current storylines. Then again, that's what Raw is for, but I think another angle would've added to the show. Still, I can recommend this PPV and I feel most of you will get an enjoyment out of it. That's gonna do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. If you enjoyed any of this nonsense, please check out some of my other articles. You might like them…..or not. Tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show. See you next time. 

WrestlingNerd's Official Score for WWE Night of Champions 2012: 8 out of 10