Monday Night Raw Warm Up for September 19th, 2011

WWE’s Night of Champions went down last night. Neither of us ordered the pay-per-view event this time around, but the results are readily available (I read this write up and it sounds like the wrestling at least was decent). The impact of last night’s events are sure to be felt on tonight’s Monday Night Raw from Cleveland, OH and it’s worth complementing our thoughts from last week (posted before last night’s show) with some quick thoughts on went down.

I suppose more sensitive readers might appreciate a “spoiler warning” in case they want to discover where things stand for themselves on Raw.

PTB: I honestly thought it was somewhat remarkable that all of the titles on the line in the undercard stayed with the current champions. In particular, I thought Beth Phoenix would roll over Kelly Kelly for the Divas title and Dolph Ziggler would cough up the US championship in his fatal-4-way match.

Brian: I totally agree on that.  I was expecting Swagger to take the US title from Ziggler to continue their feud. Somewhat surprising outcomes.

PTB: More surprising than the outcome of those four matches is the fact that both the World and WWE Championships changed hands. Well, I suppose only one of those outcomes is really surprising.

Brian: I was really surprised that Del Rio held the title for such a short time.  I was expecting him to hold onto it for some time.

What’s crazy about both major titles is that they’ve changed hands very frequently over the last few months.

PTB: There has been a lot of volatility in the title picture. Unfortunately, not all of it has been good for TV. Mark Henry’s push, however, is good to see even if I’m not crazy about his performances. I think in part it’s because the push is coming a bit too late, but using that as part of his motivation really works for me.

Brian: I like the fact that they are making him such a monster heel. I don’t think his performance is that bad, it’s just my level of interest in him is so low. I think this push was what they tried to do with him a few years ago, but he cracked and dislocated his knee cap running into a turnbuckle and was out of action for a long time.

PTB: With all the talk of managers and stables, Henry is a guy that really could have benefitted from having a mouthpiece over the years. It isn’t that he’s not capable on his own, it’s that he’s just capable and hasn’t shown anything beyond that. I think it’s part of what’s kept him from getting the fans to react to him in any way.

Not to marginalize him as a “big man,” but I can’t help but think of guys like Bam Bam Bigelow and Vader and how they were so much more effective with a manager to add some extra punch.

Brian: I think this is what we talk about week in and week out.  Good wrestlers are being overlooked because that aren’t good entertainers.  It’s really a shame.

PTB: I’m also glad to see Randy Orton out as champion. I’m not a fan and I think they need to find his character now that he’s a fan favorite. Although, there’s a chance this loss might bring out the crazy in him again and he’ll be back to the anger management character.

Brian: I expect Orton to feud with Henry, but hopefully not win back the title.

PTB: Cena’s victory over Alberto Del Rio is not entirely unexpected, but I don’t know that this adds anything for me. Cena’s character has in many ways been reduced to simply being “the Champ” and I suppose he has to be for that to work.

Brian: I disagree.  Cena had a decent feud with the Nexus that didn’t involve the world title. Over the last year though, he’s been all over the title.

PTB: There’s also the WrestleMania 28 match with the Rock to consider. Even though that’s not a featured part of the angles on TV right now, it has been brought up that he needs to be champion by the time Spring rolls around for that match to happen.

Brian: I would actually prefer if Cena wasn’t the Champ when he faces the Rock.

PTB: I agree, but I can’t see that happening. It was good to see Del Rio get the title for a while, but he was really lost in shuffle with C.M. Punk and John Cena up until last week.

Brian: Part of it had to do with Del Rio missing a week of TV.  Things would have been better if he was around.

PTB: I’m really hoping we get a return to Punk/Cena or a new feud for the championship coming out of this.

Brian: I’m simply hoping for booking where there isn’t confusion as to who is feuding with who.  I’m fearing that the Rock is going to start showing up to banter with Cena while somebody is going to come after him for the title.

PTB: The Rock was all over the ticket advertising for this year’s Survivor Series, so I’m afraid your fear is well founded.

Wrapping things up, Punk was defeated by Triple H last night, so he’ll remain as COO. It sounds like there was a lot of confusion and running in (including The Miz, R-Truth, John Laurinaitis and the “fired” Kevin Nash) so once again things won’t be clear until Raw tonight. If that is even able to clear it up.

Brian: The one thing that was good about the ending was that even though Punk lost by pinfall, it took 3 Pedigrees and a Nash powerbomb. However, I’m disappointed in the “tune into Raw tomorrow” ending that most WWE ppvs have been closing with.

Below is a complete run down of results from last night’s Night of Champions. All photos courtesy of WWE.com.

• Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston) defeated R-Truth and The Miz to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships
• Dolph Ziggler defeated  John Morrison, Alex Riley and Jack Swagger to retain the WWE United States Championship
• Kelly Kelly defeated Beth Phoenix to retain the WWE Divas Championship
• Cody Rhodes defeated Ted DiBiase to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• Mark Henry defeated Randy Orton to become the new World Heavyweight Champion
• John Cena defeated Alberto Del Rio to win his tenth WWE Championship
• Triple H defeated C.M. Punk in a no disqualification match and remains COO of WWE

Read more about World Wrestling Entertainment on MyLatestDistraction.

Keep up with all of our weekly Monday Night Raw Warm Ups:
Night of Champions 2011 edition / September 26th, 2011 edition