Overall I thought the show was a moderate success.
The opening tag match was arguably my favorite match of the night. Lots of action and perhaps even too much action outside the ring for a first bout when considering what was coming with the HIAC being used twice later in the night.
Nonetheless, all three teams worked hard, all had their moments and all seemed to deliver in a positive way.
Not sure what to make of the Wyatt Family/Miz/Kane business. The follow up on what Kane did to Miz left many unanswered questions but perhaps that was the goal. At least the aforementioned individuals got some PPV time/exposure.
Enjoyed finally seeing Summer Rae in the ring. She has marketable potential and the better she gets the more value she adds to the Fandango presentation. Summer Rae's work in the ring in NXT has been really solid.
I've always been an advocate of both Big E Langston and Dean Ambrose and even though their match was 'cold' and the crowd wasn't emotionally invested, I felt that their bout was solid and enjoyed it. Ambrose is obviously more polished at this point in time but both talents have long term value. Both need to get in to a well established, long term issues to continue to develop their skills and marketability.
Seems as if the Punk/Heyman issue was closed last night with Happy Heyman getting caned like a Government Mule on top of the Cell which was a unique setting. Heyman could theoretically be 'gone' for a while 'healing' but WWE's best, villain talker will obviously be back at some point to resume his contributions to the programming. The big question then would be what's next for both Punk and Heyman? Both are too valuable to not have strong issues in which to be involved going forward. Hopefully, their WM30 plans are penciled in already.
The Los Matadores vs. The Real Americans was a 'let me up' comedy element. It did what it was apparently booked to do. The stars of the presentation was El Torito and Cesaro's Giant Swing.
Thought John Cena and Alberto Del Rio had a very solid bout and one that arguably exceeded my expectations based on Cena's surgery and recent inactivity. Very easy story to tell as it revolved around Cena's left arm and ADR's cross armbreaker. Hopefully, Cena can add some needed luster to the World Heavyweight Title.
AJ Lee is the star of the WWE Divas division and had a solid, entertaining bout on PPV vs Brie Bella who's certainly improving. Someday AJ facing Tamina will be an interesting attraction. The Divas fill a specific role within WWE and some frustrated, Diva fans need to understand that the ladies are valuable but are generally considered supporting cast members who add specific, unique elements to the broadcasts.
Actually, I think that the Divas area is in better shape that it has been in a good while.
I was expecting more, and I'm not sure exactly what, from the final, main event bout featuring Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton for the WWE Title. Adding HBK to the mix as the referee was strategic promoting as was having HHH at ringside. But the match never quite got over the hump for me. One certainly can't slight the efforts of all involved but sometimes the game plan looks better on paper than in actual execution.
One would assume that this controversial conclusion will lead to an eventful Monday Night RAW and many of the missing storyline elements will be resolved or at least addressed tonight on live, TV.
The key element to consider is that many consumers bought their second $50+ PPV this month and at some point the majority of the fan base, considering that they were pulling for Daniel Bryan, has to made happy.
Without question, antagonist angst sells, remember I worked in Mid South Wrestling, but there has to be a happy ending at some point and I certainly assumed that Daniel Bryan would have won inside HIAC where the heroes have traditionally had some level of success in such a finale-like presentation. I missed on that one.
Actually thought that WWE did a helluva job making the Cell feel special during the PPV and felt, in hindsight, that if they had done that the past three weeks with all the HIAC history that they have created that it might have helped the interest leading into Sunday night. Again, that is Monday morning quarterbacking.
