1. Air Boom v. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger (Tag Team Championship): 3 out of 5. With the card they had, I wasn't sure who would be curtain-jerking this show. I half expected it to be Sheamus/Christian. But this was a good start to "Vengeance will be mine!" I really thought this was going to be Swagger and Ziggler's night, but despite their best efforts, The champions retained. CommonAsGrass over at reddit's r/SquaredCircle suggested that Ziggler and Swagger should be known as Perfect Americans, and I am so behind this idea I felt it deserved a mention. Especially since Zig wrestled in what looked like some of Kurt Angle's old gear with the straps down.
2. Dolph Ziggler v. Zack Ryder (US Championship): 3 out of 5. The Internet Champion may not have captured his first sanctioned singles title last night, but it was still good to see him have a spot in a pay-per-view match. This was the shortest match of the night. It surprised me to see that this was shorter than the Divas match, but in hindsight it makes sense. WWE has been testing Zack Ryder for a while now, and this was the next step: to see how he performs in the big show atmosphere. I hope this translates to a better development of his rivalry with Ziggler, maybe a mention of events from the ZTLIS story. Personally, I'd like to see Ryder deliver a monster clothesline to Ziggler and yell, "That's for Chiapetta!!"
3. Beth Phoenix v. Eve Torres (Diva's Championship): 2 out of 5. Eve lost. Fucking GOOD. I didn't even mind that I mis-called this one. I've ranted enough about this match in my Raw review, so go back and read that if you want to know my feelings about it.
4. Sheamus v. Christian: 4 out of 5. Christian always wrestles like he's in a title match, and I always enjoy watching him work. I called this one wrong, too, but like the Diva's match, I can't be too mad about it. Unlike the Diva's match, it wasn't because there are fundamental problems with the story. I was okay with Christian losing, because the guy who's been around for a while is putting over the relative newcomer. Not that Sheamus needs the rub, but it's certainly understandable.
5. Awesome Truth v. CM Punk and Triple H: 4 out of 5. FINALLY I got a prediction right. I was starting to lose faith. Punk and Trips worked extremely well as a team, making clear and solid tags, and using some great teamwork to cheat in order to wear down their opponents. Nobody expected this match to go off without a hitch, so it wasn't a surprise when Kevin Nash showed up and leveled the playing field, allowing The Awesome Truth to come away victorious.
6. Randy Orton v. Cody Rhodes: 4 out of 5. If any match in this show can be called a grudge match, it's this one. Cody was spectacular as always and carried some amazing spots. At one point, he even began to mimic Orton's "hearing voices" spot he does before an RKO. He didn't catch the Viper with his own move, unfortunately, and in the end he fell to a pinfall. Despite the loss, what Cody showed us was pure art, and the IC belt certainly went up in merit, if not as far as it would have gone with a win.
7. Mark Henry v. Big Show (World Heavyweight Championship): 3 out of 5. Hoo boy. As expected, this wasn't the epic battle WWE wanted it to be, but they still managed to give the fans something to talk about. Henry superplexed Show and the ring broke. Smart marks saw this coming a mile away, but it was still cool to watch. The commentators seem to have forgotten all about Brock Lesner and treated it like something we'd never seen before (7 year rule, anyone?). There was a bit of a difference here. Unlike the Lesnar match, the ring really only half broke. It was tilted to one corner. It looked messy. It looked more like it hadn't been planned all along.
8. Alberto Del Rio v. John Cena (WWE Championship, Last Man Standing): 3 out of 5. Better than I expected, but much of that had to do with the fact that they had to go ahead with their match with the ring in disarray. No ropes to run, no corners to jump off of. I said before I was interested to see where this thing went, but when the match started with the ring out of commission, it peaked my interest just a bit more. These guys were going to have to improvise, and they sure did. Still took a ton of shots from Del Rio and a run-in from Miz and R-Truth to keep Cena down, but the fact remains that Del Rio managed to walk out with the title.
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