Match 5 – Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk
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In my humble opinion, the best match of the night. You would expect nothing less I feel from these two men, though, both former World Champions and veterans of the ring. The match itself was high-octane and fuelled by CM Punk’s insane desire to be the best.
His taunts toward Mysterio, including a sarcastic wishing of ‘Happy Father’s Day’, before Irish whipping Mysterio into his raised knee, were excellent as always. The successive reversed kicks into roll-up pin attempts was a nice touch, along with Punk catching an airborne Mysterio before dropping him headfirst into the barricade.
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The spot of the night, however, is the reversed 619 into the GTS for Punk to get the victory. A good solid match.
The only thing that stopped it from being higher, was the lack of genuine offence by Rey Mysterio. He took very little to CM Punk, merely reversing Punk’s moves before the latter started his offence again. One could argue that this was to make Punk look strong going into his feud with Cena at Money In The Bank 2011.
However, Mysterio looked sluggish at various times during the match, even though he did deliver some of his famous high-flying moves. Maybe I’m being slightly too picky, but this was, overall, a good mid-card PPV match.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 3.75 stars
Eyes On Rating: 7/10
Match 6 – Randy Orton (Champion) vs. Christian (World Heavyweight Championship)
Two observations before I go into reviewing this match; the video package to prelude the match was excellent. It really told the story of Christian’s (unfair?) decline, after he’d had the title taken away five days after earning it at Extreme Rules – and why on earth did Randy Orton, the champion and the face, come out first?
Surely Christian, as the challenger and heel in this storyline, should have been out first?
A good match with both wrestlers giving their all. The main focus, aside from Christian’s pathetically tiny title reign, was the concussion The Viper suffered when Christian hit him with the title belt on an episode of SmackDown.
Orton sold the concussion like an Oscar award winning actor at times, and Christian did his utmost during the match to target the head, garnering more heel heat on himself. The longer the match went, the more the crowd were invested in the feud, with audible gasps after Orton kicked out of a Spear.
The near-falls continued before Randy Orton countered a leap off the top rope from Christian into an RKO, gaining the 3 count and retaining his belt.
A minor quibble with the finish...Christian’s foot is clearly under the ropes. Meaning that once again, Christian has been legitimately cheated out of his title. Can a person be called heel if he keeps being cheated?
Even whilst arguing with the referee at the end, the commentary team made reference to ‘moaning,’ ‘whining’ and ‘crying’. This is a little harsh, as anyone watching the PPV can see Christian has a valid point. That’s not whining.
If you wanted Orton to win, let him pin Christian cleanly. Don’t allow further confusion and allow a continuation of a story that has played out well so far, but could go stale if it continues. Good match, but a very strange finish.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 3.75 stars
Eyes On Rating: 6/10
Match 7 – Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger
Not entirely sure how this match went on after a World Heavyweight Championship Match but there you are. Not one person in Washington, nevermind the Verizon Center, cared about this match – the only sound from the crowd being the odd ‘We Want Ryder’ chant.
As for the match itself, it was as unremarkable as it was pointless. Nothing really to say, apart from the one spot which ended the match, where Bourne reversed the Ankle Lock into a roll-up for the win. Apart from that, a clunky match, which finished 7 minutes too late.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 2 stars
Eyes On Rating: 3/10
Match 8 - John Cena (Champion) vs. R-Truth (WWE World Championship)
Again, WWE produced an excellent video package to prelude this encounter. The only problem is, I just cannot buy into anything R-Truth said.
I thought his intensity was excellent, but the whole ‘conspiracy’ angle and the ‘unhinged R-Truth’ storyline was just boring and flat. Don’t get me wrong, the heel act with the water and the John Cena fan is excellent work by Truth, but I’m sorry, I just cannot invest in him.
Saying that, I also hated John Cena’s pathetic, blatant pandering to the fans during R-Truth's outburst, calling us the ‘best fans in the world.’ I found that really patronising. Also, I do think R-Truth had a point about Cena being nothing short of a ‘Propaganda Seller’ which at that point, in 2011, he most certainly was.
As a match, this was okay. As the main event? To a PPV no less? Terrible. The first two minutes of the match is the two men grappling then breaking apart to listen to the incessant chants of ‘Let’s go, Cena,’ ‘Cena Sucks’ from the Washington faithful.
That aside, the match descends into a spell of R-Truth offence with regular breaks for him to talk to himself. It's hard watching. Eventually, Truth builds up enough steam to hit 'Little Jimmy' for a close 2 count before the action was taken to the outside.
After an altercation with a fan, that involved R-Truth having water thrown at his face, Cena rolled him back into the ring, hit the ‘Attitude Adjustment’ and pinned Truth to retain the title.
Not only is this the perfect example of ‘Cena Wins Lol’ but it was the only offence Cena had all match. He had kicked out of everything that Truth had thrown at him, and for him to then be pinned after one move seems strange to me if you are pushing them to the main event scene, as they were at the time with R-Truth.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 2 stars
Eyes On Rating: 4/10
