Sheamus (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in a solid enough opener to the show. As predicted both men who have been mostly consistent with the good quality of their matches over the last year provided yet another compelling bout from start to finish. There were a few slightly sloppy moments I'll admit but on the whole this was a good opener and certainly entertained me and the fans who were on their feet in the arena. Most of whom were cheering on Ziggler despite what the dopey Jerry Lawler claimed (he stated that the chants were all for Sheamus).
Santino Marella defeated Ricardo Rodriguez in a Tuxedo match. It was just a lame comedy match up, even the crowd grew tired of it and began chanting "Boring." Which I concur. We should've had a real wrestling match here.
Christian (c) defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the Intercontinental title in a crisp and very enjoyable contest. Both Christian (in my opinion the most underrated performer in WWE) and Rhodes put in great efforts and were practically flawless with the action they provided here and they went back and fourth. The crowd maybe didn't quite get into as much as the opener but that's understandable I guess, the final few minutes had them going though.
Darren Young and Titus O'Neil defeated Primo and Epico, Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel and The Usos in a Fatal Four Way tag team bout to become number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship. It was a fast paced and for the most part entertaining tag match, with Epico and Kidd giving the best performances for me. The best moment was clearly a hurricanrana that Kidd applied to Epico from the top rope to the outside on top of most of the participants, causing chants of "Holy Shit!" Manager AW also swerved on Primo and Epico as he helped O'Neil and Young get the win over them. Washington managing them does make more sense I think, better suited characters. It's also a big relief to see the tag team division represented on pay-per-view again, this should be a regular occurrence.
Triple H came to the ring and challenged Brock Lesnar to a match at SummerSlam (not directly SummerSlam, but he hinted at it). It wasn't his greatest ever promo but the message was clear, he wanted to put aside all the law suits and just fight man to man in the ring.
Layla (c) defeated Beth Phoenix to retain the WWE Divas Championship in an average bout. There were a few good moments here and there from both women, the match just didn't feel particularly remarkable on the whole though. Layla showed a bit more character, dancing around and teasing Phoenix with her tiara. Although you maybe felt that she was trying a bit too hard, still an improvement though.
Backstage throughout the night AJ had been wishing all three men involved in the WWE Championship match good luck. But when it came to Kane and she gave him a peck on the cheek, he held her arm and they then kissed properly once again. This provoked a decent reaction from the crowd too.
Sin Cara defeated Hunico in a fair, if unmemorable match up. Unfortunately for the two wrestlers the crowd soon lost interest and began chanting for Zach Ryder. Is it too late for Sin Cara to ever win over the fans now?
CM Punk (c) defeated Kane and Daniel Bryan to retain the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat match. It was a solid World title bout and exceeded my expectations. I mean I was expecting a decent match but it was more exciting and fast paced than I was predicting. The crowd were superb during it too. For the finish CM Punk accidentally threw Kane into AJ on the apron, chucking her off of the apron. As Kane went to check on her Punk applied a GTS for the one-two-three. So AJ's allegiances are still unknown, although you have to guess that it's Kane she'll end up with.
Ryback once again took out a couple of nobodies in a squash match. He claimed that he wanted three men instead next time during the match itself. I don't mind Ryback but I'd rather have seen the charismatic Damien Sandow here instead.
John Cena defeated Big Show in the predictably mediocre Cage match. Up until the final five minutes or so the match just dragged, the action was slow and drab really. Who'd expect that from a Big Show match, right? Towards the end a few wrestlers who'd been on the end of a Big Show attack recently came down to halt the giant's chances of escaping the cage, Zach Ryder received the biggest pop for appearing here. Brodus Clay then grabbed John Laurinaitis as Cena managed to climb over the cage and escape before Show did. As per the stipulation Vince McMahon then uttered those trademark two words of his to Laurinaitis "You're fired!"
It wasn't a great bout and it should certainly not have been the main event, but the result was definitely the more interesting one. I mean, the firing stipulation has never effected Cena anyway so we knew even if Show won he wouldn't have been terminated anyway. This also begs the question of who takes over as GM now? Hopefully someone more capable on the mic and with more charisma, though that shouldn't be hard to find.
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