Night of Champions

[hammerva]

So they are rehashing the Chris Jericho title win over Triple H except at least we have a day to enjoy it instead of 90 minutes? And we probably are not going to get a match but just a belt switch.

[Matt D]

So I guess they honor Dusty being in the house tomorrow by doing his finish on RAW.

Actually, I think that's how Cody gets his job back. Even though it makes no sense timeline wise. I think the "business" Steph wants him to do is to announce the Dusty Finish himself.

[bradhindsight]

So I guess they honor Dusty being in the house tomorrow by doing his finish on RAW.

Actually, I think that's how Cody gets his job back. Even though it makes no sense timeline wise. I think the "business" Steph wants him to do is to announce the Dusty Finish himself.

 

This would be amazing.

[Exposer]

I might like that. It depends on how it's executed on screen for me to really enjoy it.

[NintendoLogic]

Wait, so Bryan won with a fast count? What?

[Slasher]

So I guess they honor Dusty being in the house tomorrow by doing his finish on RAW.

Actually, I think that's how Cody gets his job back. Even though it makes no sense timeline wise. I think the "business" Steph wants him to do is to announce the Dusty Finish himself.

 

Even though she invited him prior to this event? Wow she is an amazing psychic.

[bradhindsight]

They've got three weeks in-between PPVs here so they need to speed up the Rhodes story so it can be a part of Battleground in Buffalo. Stripping Dusty of the NXT commish role was pretty awesome.

[Timbo Slice]

What sucks is that they're diluting what will happen when Bryan wins the belt for real. I understand the angle. I get why they're doing it this way, but if they don't figure out a different way to keep the belt away from Bryan, people are going to get over it because the window will close.

 

There were a ton of different finishes they could do, and now they're gonna pull a bait-and-switch with the most over guy on the roster. It's like lining up every fan in the arena and kicking them in their collective crotches.

[Exposer]

Wait, so Bryan won with a fast count? What?

Scott Armstrong was the official referee of the match. He took a bump towards the end but came back for the finishing sequence woozy. He made a clear fast count after Bryan hit the knee for the win. I think they're (HHH/regime, etc.) going to say Armstrong was unfit to officiate and suffered a concussion or some type of injury during his bump or something to hand the title back to Orton.

[J.Q. Murder]

What sucks is that they're diluting what will happen when Bryan wins the belt for real. I understand the angle. I get why they're doing it this way, but if they don't figure out a different way to keep the belt away from Bryan, people are going to get over it because the window will close.

This is exactly it for me, you know right after the count the way things are headed and I really didn't get excited at all by the result. It should've been a huge moment but it was just... there and is pointless in the long run. They wasted the DQ on ADR really.

[Exposer]

Actually, before the show I was thinking they should have Bryan go nuts and get disqualified at the end. It seemed the best option here. Of course, that didn't happen.

[hammerva]

There were a ton of different finishes they could do, and now they're gonna pull a bait-and-switch with the most over guy on the roster. It's like lining up every fan in the arena and kicking them in their collective crotches.

I don't know about the last part. I mean Starcade 85 was 4 or 5 month storyline involving Dusty's broken leg and Flair joining the Andersons and the whole build up only to lead with a Dusty finish and Flair holding the belt the next week. Don't think Crockett's business started crashing because of it.

 

Now the 3rd and 4th Crockett Dusty finish helped kill it and if we get 3 or 4 months of this as a filler until the Royal Rumble then yeah it could get bad.

[Timbo Slice]

It didn't kill Crocket's business because it worked the first time, and then they used it until they ran it dry. Which is why, after all these attempts at doing it by various means over the years with various promotions (and didn't get nearly as good a reaction), I don't get why they think it's still a viable option. It's completely contradictory to the end game. They're too caught up in the chase to realize that if nobody cares by the end of the chase, they've screwed up.

 

They already screwed Bryan over, now they're going to continue to screw Bryan WHILE HE WINS. They keep crying wolf and then when he actually wins, it's not going to mean nearly as much. You have all these types of finishes that have been used for years and years, and within a month, you're doing a similar finish two PPVs in a row. They're not doing it nearly as well as they could be.

[Matt D]

Wait, so Bryan won with a fast count? What?

Scott Armstrong was the official referee of the match. He took a bump towards the end but came back for the finishing sequence woozy. He made a clear fast count after Bryan hit the knee for the win. I think they're (HHH/regime, etc.) going to say Armstrong was unfit to officiate and suffered a concussion or some type of injury during his bump or something to hand the title back to Orton.

 

What would be best if this was the start of an Armstrong/Rhodes alliance.

 

If only Brad wasn't dead. And Road Dogg could be in the middle between his family and Hunter.

[KrisZ]

Bullet Bob on RAW would rule my world

[Johnny Sorrow]

Buncha Jean Dixons here using psychic abilities to shit on stuff that hasn't happened yet.

[Exposer]

I've made no utterances of such kind. And I think some of the complaints here are fairly legitimate even if it is just speculation.

 

Anyways, it will be interesting to see how they go about this. I think having HHH call out Scott Armstrong and force him to "admit" he wasn't capable of continuing his job as official during the match and thus that's why he made a fast count is what might happen. This is all speculation of course and I've yet to say whether I think this path is good or bad. That will come later.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Armstrongs and Rhodes families vs McMahons? Yes, please.

[Strummer]

Obviously Bryan is stripped of the title tomorrow. The Ryback/Heyman pairing should be awesome

[Carnival]

The mild, "wonder how he's gonna get screwed this time" pop Bryan gets when he wins the title the third time should be interesting.

[Slasher]

This is why Triple H has to be the end game here for DB. Beating Orton only means dealing with the next HHH obstacle.

[Loss]

It's been so long since there has been a Dusty finish that I don't think it has the stench it used to have, or at least it shouldn't. The problem with the Dusty finish on its own was more that it was abused and overused than it was that by itself it was a bad idea. Doing it once in the chase is fine. Doing it repeatedly could present problems, but who says they are going to do it repeatedly?

 

I strongly agree that HHH should be the end game, not only because beating HHH means more than beating Orton, but also because I could foresee a situation where they plan for Orton to finally get his comeuppance once and for all, then he has his third strike wellness violation.

 

Anyway, it's been so long since there's been a Dusty finish that I think tonight's RAW will tell us what we need to know. There's no real precedent for how they'll execute this in the modern era. Does the belt get returned to Orton? Is it declared vacant? The specifics of how exactly the belt is returned will be important too. Do they bully DB into handing it over, or is he beaten down with it taken from him? Does he possibly refuse to hand it over and get a few weeks of being one step ahead of HHH and taking off through the crowd with the belt every time they think they have him? There are too many variables at this point for me to write it off completely.

[Matt D]

I strongly agree that HHH should be the end game, not only because beating HHH means more than beating Orton, but also because I could foresee a situation where they plan for Orton to finally get his comeuppance once and for all, then he has his third strike wellness violation.

I'm probably just a moron for thinking the belt at Mania should be a bigger endgame than HHH in 2013-2014. Vince wasn't even the endgame for Austin.

[goodhelmet]

People were losing their shit about building heat for 3 weeks. I don't think people could handle a build to Mania for this program.

[Slasher]

I strongly agree that HHH should be the end game, not only because beating HHH means more than beating Orton, but also because I could foresee a situation where they plan for Orton to finally get his comeuppance once and for all, then he has his third strike wellness violation.

I'm probably just a moron for thinking the belt at Mania should be a bigger endgame than HHH in 2013-2014. Vince wasn't even the endgame for Austin.

 

Umm yeah he was. The feud effectively ended with that End of an Era match between Austin and Undertaker with Vince's job on the line. Vince turned face shortly after that going into the Triple H feud. Then Austin got injured of course.

 

Of course DB should want to have the belt but how do you ensure he walks out of Mania with the belt with no further shenanigans planned? Neutralizing the big boss threat. If you just have Orton or another heel vs DB for the title with no implications towards consequences for Triple H, the fans are not going to completely buy in. You need to somehow declare "Triple H promises to quit fucking around with DB now" if you run a regular title match.

 

Loss, a third strike plays wonderfully into the angle. If they keep Orton strong then he fails a test, they could easily book a DB vindication angle with him writing Orton out of the company completely and closing that chapter in the larger story of DB vs WWE.