Wow. That sucked. At least from an in ring perspective, anyway.
Now, I wasn’t expecting that much from a ‘B’ list show, coming in the midst of a bombardment of PPVs from WWE. Still, there was enough on the card to draw my attention, and even make some wild predictions (but we’ll get onto that later). With some intrigue as to the ongoing Cena/Barrett storyline, a Buried Alive Match and a stellar line up in the Raw vs Smackdown 7 on 7 tag, not to mention a Champion vs Champion bout featuring 2 of WWE’s premier talent – Bragging Rights looked like it could join Money In the Bank in the PPVs outside of the ‘Big 4’ that were vital.
It wasn’t – and thank God we didn’t have to pay for it in the UK. If I had forked out my hard earned for that, it would have provoked a French style revolt (read the news).
Onto the show….
- Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler: Kicking off with what would turn out to be the standout match of the night, Bryan and Ziggler set about having a fast paced, high impact bout which was never slow or plodding, and kept the crowd hot throughout (sadly, this wouldn’t be the case for the rest of the evening as the crowd appeared to play the worlds biggest game of ‘Let’s pretend we are at Church’). Surprisingly, well to me anyway, Bryan went over with the Labelle Lock and looked great in the process. In fact, this was a great showing from Ziggler as well, so let’s hope WWE can build on this and give the US/Intercontinental division the chance to showcase some of the great workers they have at their dispersal. A different match to the usual WWE fare, there was lots of strong kicks and great wrestling on show. Bravo. I don’t know why the ref threw Vickie Guerrero out after the match was over mind. Baffling.
- Rhodes/McIntytre vs Cena/Otunga: As soon as the champs came through the curtain, you could sense that there was a title change coming. And whilst I have no problem with continuing the Cenexus storyline by switching the belts to possibly the worst tag team pairing in history, why give Rhodes and McIntyre the belts in the first place? It has done nothing for them, and they will only need to be rehabilitated following this loss. They were a thrown together team who were not given a chance to gel, and we will probably never know if they could have been a good duo. Secondly – why pair Otunga with Cena? Purely for the Hollywood connection? Because he is beyond awful. I will say that I am intrigued as to where this is going though, with the reluctant tag partner storyline (which Cena has done before).
- Goldust vs Ted Dibiase: Oh for God’s sake. Ted Dibiase has the WORST music in the WWE. That’s about the only constructive thing I can say about this match, bar that Aksana should probably buy a dress which is a bit longer ( awaits boos).
- Layla vs Natalya: Despite my professed (and derided) love of Lay-Cool, this was again, another poor showing from the WWE Divas. Which is a shame as Natalya is one of the more talented girls on the roster. I thought this would be her night to grab the gold, but alas, the Lay-Cool reign continues.
- Kane vs Undertaker (Buried Alive): Plodding for the most part, I am almost glad that Undertaker has to take some more time off as I am through with this interminable feud. Poor old Paul Bearer should not be out there in his state, and his interaction with Undertaker was hard on the eyes. The obvious talking point of this was interference from The Nexus causing Undertaker’s loss, and it will be interesting to see them possibly take their gang to Friday nights, as there was some form of cahoots with Kane. And with a ready made feud when Undertaker when he comes back, this can only mean good things for Barrett’s Brigade. (NB: I had woefully predicted Miz to cash in on Undertaker and win the title, but as soon as I saw it’s surprising place on the card I knew that was not meant to be. Let me off this one, eh?)
- Team Raw vs Team Smackdown (7 vs 7 Elimination Tag): I was left a bit flat by this, which was a bit surprising considering the array of talent on display. I’ll start with the positives. Alberto Del Rio kicks some serious ass. He shone in this encounter before being pinned by CM Punk, and his mannerisms, attack on Rey Mysterio and ring work all sparkled. Surely great things are destined for the Mexican. Punk also came out of this looking strong, getting a great reaction from an otherwise indifferent crowd.
- Now, the negatives. R-Truth’s new music has sucked any semblance of crowd reaction from his entrance. On top of that, himself and John Morrisson looked liked jobbers getting eliminated in quick succession by Edge, despite a spirited showing from JoMo in the early stages. Eziekiel Jackson looked sluggish and sloppy (but has been out for a while), and Tyler Reks did nothing for me. Jack Swagger was once again buried, which is source of great frustration for yours truly. Why does Kofi Kingston do that move where he jumps onto the top rope to punch his opponents? Not only does it look ridiculous, it also leads to it being reversed every time. Sheamus should have cleanly pinned Big Show at least to show he is a big star. EDGE DOES NOT WORK AS A FACE. And finally, the sequence where Rey pinned ‘Big Zeke’ was atrocious. Rant over. Oh well, at least I got my prediction right!
- Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett (with John Cena) By 5 minutes in I was sick of Cena hamming it up with his puppy eyes in Barrett’s corner. By 7 minutes I realised that Barrett and Orton were not going to have a good match. Kick, punch, kick, punch – you know the WWE formula. With all of the attention at ringside, the action heated up with a ref bump, which was followed by a Nexus run in. At this point, I have to applaud WWE for a rare piece of logic, as Cena took out Nexus whilst beating up Orton, and then explained to Wade that if they were caught it would result in a disqualification. Good work there. The finish made sense, with Cena saving his job and winning the match for Barrett, without the big guy from Preston (NOT MANCHESTER) taking home the gold. Maybe I should have seen it coming but well done none the less. Orton’s RKO on Cena and subsequent standing tall should have sent the masses home happy, but not this viewer. A blah end to a very poor PPV.
Bragging Rights does leave some interesting questions open, mainly with Nexus both on Raw (with Cena) and Smackdown! (with Undertaker), which should hopefully start taking shape this week. The Survivor Series is up next, and the promo video features Wade Barrett giving his usual spiel. This can only mean good things for the Lancashire ace, and hopefully we’ll see some exciting TV over the next few weeks.
Stars of the show (and Match of the Night): Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler
Overall Rating: 4/10
With Survivor Series up next, I’ll leave you with this, from my favourite ever SS elimination match. Feedback, as always, welcome.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhMFnoIXT2c[/youtube]
