Enjoyed Orton-Kane more than I thought I would. I liked Kane's redone pure-red flame on his gear - it's still Memphis-riffic stuff, but looks slightly better. Wound up being a perfect opener. I'm glad Dolph got a payday, but man does it suck to see him in a comedy deal, especially with his new shiny gear. Swagger looked like an overgrown kid at an elementary school recital in his outfit. Cody-Show being in a table match was quite random since they did nothing to lead to...well any stip really. And then the match kinda sucked, the finish was awful, and they killed Cody for a month to lead to him super-lucking into a title and then getting his ass kicked. At least he got a Cody chant out of it. Bryan-Sheamus was awesome. Probably Sheamus's best match yet - certainly his most diverse match. I HAVE TIL 5 came back. YES! I didn't mind the DQ loss for the first fall since it fit into the idea of losing a fall, but doing longer-term damage. It was ridiculous for Booker to say the arm was black and blue though. Ryback's TRTminator tron is hilarious, and the Goldberg chant brought the LULZ.
Loved Jericho wearing new, slightly flashy jeans while the hometown guy Punk came out with tattered jeans for the street fight, hugging his cute sister, then holding the WWE Title high in the air with Pepsi signs in the background. I loved the fire extinguisher counter to the Walls. Codebreaker with the chair looked awesome - I hope they're able to put that into WWE '13. I'm glad that they had Punk win and I'm amazed, pleasantly so, that they had a title feud that didn't go even steven. Punk won decisively both times. Beth's poor ankle wasn't cleared, but that didn't prevent her hard nipples from being on the show. Very odd to have them talk about Kharma out of nowhere. I guess she'll come back and kill them on Raw. That's not nearly as good as having her win the title, but I'm glad to see Layla back. Sucks to see her have to come back with a knee brace though - at least it's all blinged out.
Brock-Cena was something special. The pre-match Cena/Cena Sucks chant ruled, especially when they panned to a guy in his '20s decked out in Cena gear with a Cena sign jumping up and down constantly. Couldn't believe that within SECONDS Brock already sliced Cena's head open with elbows. That was nuts. The constant ref stoppage teases were great, and I liked Brock using the double German suplex. The never-ending Kimura spots ruled - kudos to Booker for actually calling the move by its name and both King and Cole saying that Brock's body is a weapon. The chain being used to trap John was great, and man did I laugh when Brock hoisted up Charles Robinson and just tossed him in the ring. Loved the spinebuster counter to the Kimura onto the steps. Thank God Cena's leg didn't hit the steps when he missed the fameasser - that would've ended badly. GODDAMN did Brock ever take a crazy bump over the top after leaping off the steps. He just went clear over the ropes. And then he just no-sold near death and mocked Cena to get in the ring with him again. And he did - and bonked with him a chain. Cena won, but like Taker-HHH last year, all he won was the battle, and it took a chain and steps to do it - Brock won the war. And Cena even did a concession speech afterwards. Great show overall outside of some shaky stuff.
The Brock-Cena match was unforgettable and Brock doing an MMA gimmick in a field where he can be booked to be an ass-kicker is perfect. His physical charisma really shined tonight, and if I wore a hat, it'd go off to him for busting his ass in this match. He went through the motions in Japan and I figured he'd do the same thing here since he's probably set for life. But it looks like he'll give WWE the very best he can. Gotta give Vince McMahon some credit too for allowing Brock, a guy HE SUED, to manhandle Cena like he did. It could've have been easy for someone who's usually so petty to do that, but he did and yeah Cena got banged up for it, but still, at least he showed that he can let bygones be bygones to a degree.
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