In the second match, United States Champion Dean Ambrose beat Rob Van Dam to retain the championship. A totally different match than I was expecting. Ambrose beat RVD with a handful of tights. RVD was super over, even after the match where the crowd kept chanting RVD.
Vickie Guerrero came out and introduced the third match, where Kaitlyn and Natalya and Funkadactyl Naomi beat A.J. and Layla and Brie Bella when Kaitlyn pinned A.J. with a spear. A.J. worked nearly the entire match. Nayalya is very over, more than any other of the Divas.
Then, Kofi Kingston pinned Ryback. Ryback dominated the entire match, and Kofi scored the pin with a rollup. Kofi sold really well. Ryback is a much different monster heel than Big E. Big E. is an athlete and Ryback just pounds his opponents down. Better than it probably reads right now.
In the fifth match of the night, Mark Henry and Big Show beat The Shield via DQ, so Rollins and Reigns retained the Tag Titles. Heat on Big Show. Tag to Mark Henry. Place popped huge. Dean Ambrose came in with a chair so there’s the DQ. RVD then made the save.Place popped huge for RVD and chanted his name during intermission.
After intermission, the Wyatt Family beat The Usos and R Truth in a 6 man tag match. Bray sat on his rocking chair but then got into the ring. Bray pinned Truth. Not too much to write about the Wyatts except Bray is the star of the group and the other two need to get better in a hurry.
In the match of the night, C.M. Punk beat Intercontinental champion Curtis Axel in a non-title No DQ match. Paul Heyman came out and had more legit heat than anyone I’ve seen since the McMahon-Austin fued. Heyman recited a clause in Axel’s contract, said the match was not for the title. C.M. Punk came out, most over babyface on the show and that includes Daniel Bryan. Punk came out with a kendo stick and beat down both Axel and Heyman right away. Another ref picked up Heyman off the floor. Punk hit the GTS on Axel and pinned him. No music yet.
Punk points to where the other referee is helping Heyman, jumps out of ring and beats the crap out of Heyman in the aisle. Crowd was going insane. Punk returns to the ring, grabs a chair, beats Axel like a madman with the chair and now we hit “Cult of Personality.” The whole match took less than 5 minutes and was like an old ECW New Jack beating, with no exacto knives.
Main event was WWE champ Randy Orton pinned Daniel Bryan after The Shield interfered and caused the pin. Daniel Bryan’s Yes chants were deafening. Orton a slow methodical heel, takes his time. Even slower in person than on television, but still very effective. After the match, which was a good solid title match, Shield and Orton beat up Bryan until RVD came out again, this time with Ziggler and Mark Henry to run the heels off and celebrate with the fans.
MOST OVER:
Punk
Bryan
RVD
MOST HEAT:
Heyman
Orton
Shield
BEST MATCH:
Punk vs Axel
Orton vs Bryan
Ziggler vs Big E.