A – Excellent
B – Good
C – Mediocre
D – Avoid
Release Date: November 24th
2014
Available From: www.wwedvd.co.uk
Price:
DVD £12.99
Blu-ray £13.99
(Prices from www.wwedvd.co.uk: high street prices will vary)
Format Reviewed:
DVD
(Also Available on Blu-ray)
What It’s About:
WWE’s
2014 Night of Champions pay-per view event which was held at the Bridgestone
Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on September 21st. Featuring the much anticipated
re-match between John Cena and Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight
Championship, Paige vs A.J Lee vs Nikki Bella for the WWE Divas Championship as
well as every other title on WWE’s roster defended.
Strengths:
The
Usos vs Goldust and Stardust deceives at its beginning with some fairly substandard
action, but like every Uso bout it soon picks up and ends on a thrilling high.
The Usos hangman slingshot on Stardust is of high quality whilst Goldust’s
powerslam from apron to floor is very good indeed. Scintillating to the highest
degree, The Usos turn the gear up a level as their tag team championship reign
comes to an end. Stardust’s counter of a Samoan drop into a swinging
neckbreaker looks divine as the thrill a minute finale comes to a halt with a
terrific treble dive by The Usos and Goldust. The final sequence should have
possessed a much better flow.
Sheamus
vs Cesaro is a match of two halves. It’s completely dull up until the middle
point, when it kicks into action and both men show why they should be higher up
the card. The near falls, reversals and counters are a marvel to witness as
both men make the US title seem important again. Sheamus counters a neutralizer
with a backdrop only for Cesaro to land on his feet and counter a brogue kick
with a stupendous fireman’s carry shoulder sit down slam. Everything that takes
place in the final sector of this thriller would be too much to write down
here, but it’s a wonder to behold. Before the bout, we’re show past US
champions dating back to Harley Race and the NWA. What WWE don’t seem to
realize is that this US title isn’t the same or even connected to the one held
by Harley Race or anyone in WCW.
Dean
Ambrose and Seth Rollins’ unscheduled fight is entertaining enough whilst it
lasts. Claiming himself the victory over Roman Reigns by forfeit, Reigns can’t
attend because of emergency hernia surgery which won’t halt his planned 2015
push, before opening up a challenge to anyone who wants to fight him.
Coincidentally, Dean Ambrose’s taxi pulls up at that exact moment and must have
been listening to Rollins in the taxi because he knows exactly where Rollins is
at that particular moment. They battle around the arena before Triple H and
Stephanie McMahon rouse the security to carry Dean Ambrose away, but not before
Ambrose has launched himself at them from the set. Why security would carry
Ambrose away when Rollins opened up the challenge to anyone, is baffling
Randy
Orton vs Chris Jericho matches Cesaro vs Sheamus for match of the night. Tight,
well held together and engaging, both veterans roll back the years as if it’s
2005 again. Randy Orton should be fighting on a higher plain than this and his
heel character and association with The Authority would be the perfect foil for
The Wyatt Family, especially Bray Wyatt. There are some excellent counters and
reversals to be had, including a lionsault into a backbreaker and an RKO from a
top rope dive which ends the bout. Very good indeed.
Paige
vs A.J Lee vs Nikki Bella does well to play out a beginning, middle and end
with interest. All three women are lively and yearning to put on a show, though
Nikki Bella only shines because she has two women of greater quality to help
her along. A.J kicks off the bout with a stunning hurricanrana, before delving
back into her feud with Paige which lights up the bout. Their interactions are
better than that on display at SummerSlam with Paige adopting an even more
psycho aura screaming “Why don’t you love me?” at A.J Lee who looks tiny and
lovable. The tower suplex is a highlight but you’ll cringe at how hard A.J’s little
body crashes to the mat. WWE really should have found a better ending than
Paige tapping to the black widow.
John
Cena vs Brock Lesnar isn’t the highlight it was at SummerSlam, but even though
WWE should have left this for a few months it’s still a watchable outing in
which John Cena gets in more offence then he previously managed. Brock Lesnar
dominates once again, but John Cena ignores every beating he takes and comes
back like there’s nothing wrong. In other words, it’s typical John Cena
selling. There isn’t much in the way of gripping action here, other than the
question of whether Brock Lesnar can repeat his previous feat again and John
Cena is position to defeat Lesnar when Seth Rollins causes a terrible
disqualification ending. But again, it’s not going to disappoint even if John
Cena was placed in a position which screamed that he was somehow better than
Brock Lesnar on the night, despite having little offence once again.
Before
each championship match, WWE show us a nice collection of photos of past
champions who held that particular title in question. This is a nice touch by
the company who hope this will interest people enough to purchase the WWE
Network and see some history unfold.
As
for the DVD Extras: ‘Night of Champions Kickoff: The Peep Show With Chris
Jericho’ is an amusing edition of the programme in which two old friends hark
back to times long since gone and bicker like children about who is to credit
for their success as a one time team. Randy Orton is also a chuckle when he
interrupts both and tells Chris Jericho that after the beating he’ll receive
later in the pay-per view, the only show Y2J will be able to get on is Total
Divas. It’s not a segment packed with quality, but whilst it lasts, it’s a good
laugh.
‘Byron
Saxton Interviews A.J Lee’ holds together thanks to the WWE Divas Champion who
is deliciously quirky when describing her gold as her baby. The way A.J carries
both herself and the gold is delightfully sexy, whilst her unhinged character
comes across fairly strong. At the same time, A.J looks like a sex siren, a
tease and the girl you’d go to war for. At the conclusion of the interview, A.J
grins at Saxton and says that crazy chick’s do everything better. I wouldn’t
mind getting C.M Punk’s validation on that.
Weaknesses:
Rusev
vs Mark Henry may be one of Mark Henry’s best matches in a very long time and
feature what people are calling a shock ending, when Henry taps out to Rusev’s
Accolade but its fairly dismal stuff. Unable to move, Henry allows Rusev to do
all the work for him whilst Henry’s biggest contribution is crying at the
American national anthem. At points, it really looks and feels like two giant
bears colliding in the woods. The commentators say that Mark Henry is fighting
for 318 million Americans, which is also the number of calories Mark Henry
houses in his body. Following the bout, Michael Cole asks who will be able to
stop Rusev. I think as one, we can all answer that for him.
Dolph
Ziggler vs The Miz isn’t the spectacle it was at SummerSlam and both men just
seem to be going through the motions. Whatever quality there may be here is
shunted to the back of everyone’s mind when the commentators are joined by
Florida Georgia Line on commentary and spend the entire match plugging their
new album and involvement with Tribute to the Troops. No one on audio seems to
care about the title or match in question and even more infuriating is that the
camera continually cuts away from the action to the pop group at ringside.
Damien Sandow who is once again pretending to be The Miz is cannon fodder and
his career reaches new lows when he’s the punch bag for the pop group. This
should never have been booked twice; it does no one any favours.
As
for the DVD Extras: ‘Tom Philips Interviews Goldust and Stardust’ is an awful piece
of footage which consists mostly of Stardust talking in riddles and laughing as
everyone watching tries to guess what the hell he’s on about. It’s complete
gibberish and only further harms the Stardust character. Cody Rhodes says that
Goldust has been champion with three separate partners now but what Rhodes
fails to mention is that so has he.
DVD and Blu-ray Special
Features:
Night of Champions
Kickoff
The
Peer Show with Special Guest Chris Jericho
Home Video Exclusive
Byron
Saxton Interviews A.J Lee
Home Video Exclusive
Tom
Philips Interviews Goldust and Stardust
Blu-ray Exclusive
Extras:
Raw – August 18th 2014
Brock
Lesnar is Awarded the New WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Raw – August 25th 2014
Hulk
Hogan, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair Hall of Fame Panel
Raw – September 1st
2014
Stephanie
McMahon Grants Nikki Bella a Shot at the WWE Divas Championship
Smackdown – September
12th 2014
Chris
Jericho and Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton and Seth Rollins
Conclusion:
Night
of Champions 2014 is a mixed bag and can’t live up to the bar which SummerSlam
set. Don’t get me wrong, there is some great action on display here but even
the good is samey with very little deviation from what we’ve seen before. That
said, matches such as The Usos vs Goldust and Stardust and Paige vs A.J Lee vs
Nikki Bella hold plentiful excitement whilst Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho and
Sheamus vs Cesaro are clearly the matches of the night.
Brock
Lesnar vs John Cena should have been something special, and whilst it holds the
most intrigue after what occurred at SummerSlam and isn’t terrible, WWE could
have held off on the rematch until either Hell in a Cell or Survivor Series
after John Cena had taken a few months out of action to sell the beating he
received at SummerSlam. Still, there’s enough here to make the even the most
fickle wrestling fan happy and though there will be better events to come,
Night of Champions 2014 holds some crucial action which has to be seen.
Rating:
B
Next Time in Review
Corner: WWE Top Giants in Wrestling History DVD
and Blu-ray
Onwards
and upwards...
