By Tony Donofrio, Torch specialist

-- 7/26 WWE Night of Champions PPV HITS & MISSES

WWE PPV HITS

Chris Jericho/Big Show vs. Legacy (Unified Tag Team Titles): This match was a case of the crowd being disappointed with the "mystery partner" (see below in Misses) and was also forced to cheer for one team or the other in a heel vs. heel match. However, with that said, the match itself wasn't that bad. The crowd did get behind Jericho at one point and they seemed to work the match as if Jericho and Show were the faces (even if there were no true faces in this match). As I said, no real complaints with the match as Chris Jericho did most of the work for his new founded tag team.

C.M. Punk's promo: Next to Jericho, C.M. Punk right now is the best guy in the WWE on the mic. I am loving his straight edge heel gimmick as the character development of Punk's gets better each week and Night of Champions was no exception. Some people I've talked to are complaining that Punk is too preachy and it gets annoying. Well, what the hell, isn't that the idea?! If he's annoying and pisses you off, he's doing his job. For any young talent in the business, study Jericho and Punk if you really want to learn how to get a crowd to respond to you while cutting a promo.

Christian vs. Tommy Dreamer (ECW Title): I was thrilled to see Christian get the ECW Title back. He is a great worker in the ring and can have a good match with mostly anyone on any roster. The person that is going to carry the brand right now on each PPV needs to be able to have quality matches with anyone that's thrown at him. Unfortunately, that man is not Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer's reign wasn't a flop, but the right guy is once again carrying the ball for ECW.

Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger vs. Primo vs. Carlito vs. MVP vs. The Miz (US Title): Here was a match that I wasn't necessarily thrilled with the result but the match itself was good enough to make it a hit. All six of these guys worked their tails off to put on a good match and the fact that Big Show wasn't in it because of his new role as Jericho's partner was addition by subtraction. It was a typical four-or-more person type match with a lot of attempted pins broken up by another wrestler. I wanted to see Swagger or The Miz walk out as champion but that didn't happen. Here's hoping though that this match will show the writers/bookers on Raw that the mid-card is there and can perform if they actually let them.

Melina vs. Michelle McCool (Women's Title): Here was a match that going into the PPV I never though I'd be labeling as a hit, but these 2 surprised me tonight. The opening spot where Michelle sidekicked Melina to the floor as she was doing her "split entrance" under the ropes set the tone for this hard-hitting match (yes, it was hard hitting for a women's match). I'm still not overly impressed with McCool's in-ring work, but these two worked hard and had a pretty good match tonight; a refreshing thing for a women's match lately in the WWE.

Maryse and The Miz backstage: These two continue to have great chemistry when it comes to their backstage interactions. It'll be interesting to see where they go from here now since Maryse lost her title as Miz predicted that might happen.

Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler (Intercontinental Title): This was another match where I was left scratching my head again because I figured that the secondary title on this brand would also change hands. With that said, the match was solid. It certainly didn't reach the level that we have seen Mysterio and Jericho go in recent months, but those two really set the bar high. It was nice to see Ziggler get the most of offense and I think this feud will continue into Summerslam with Ziggler winning his first singles title then.

Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk (World Heavyweight Title): Another match that the conclusion had me wondering, but again, the match quality itself was easily good enough to not make this a miss (especially since it was the match of the night). I don't understand the reasoning behind putting the belt back on Hardy though. At last notice, he looks to be done with WWE (at least for quite a while) after Summerslam. Assuming Punk invokes the standard re-match clause, he will regain the title at Summerslam. If that's the case, why hotshot the title back and forth? Punk's character is really starting to take off right now and I was surprised to see him drop the title. Kudos to both of these guys though as they put on the type of match that many expect them to put together.

WWE PPV MISSES

Jericho picks Big Show: This was a big "what the - ?" moment to start the show off. I really thought WWE would go with a guy that could use the rub from Jericho to catapult or jump start their career (i.e. Swagger or Ziggler for younger guys or Christian to get him out of the advanced developmental territory a/k/a ECW, where he doesn't really belong). This killed the crowd for at least the first three-fourths of the first match. I can see Jericho and Show being like a thunder and lightning tag team but I think this one left a lot of people disappointed. Sometimes the obvious choices are the right ones and going with the "shock" choice of Show doesn't seem like the right one right now.

Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Triple H (WWE Title): This one I had trouble pegging with a hit or a miss. If I had written this column an hour earlier or waited an hour later, it might have ended up on the other side of things. I think an intriguing story could come out of Orton tapping out to both Triple H and Cena's submission holds at the same time. But, with that said, if Orton was tapping out, the match should have ended for the simple fact that the referee should have stopped the match for "Orton's safety since he was tapping out to avoid injury." Mike Chioda just let Orton writhe in pain until Legacy hit the ring. That match itself wasn't bad. It was your typical triple threat match where you see a lot of two-on-one action or one guy on the outside while the other two go at it. Like I said, the finish made this match a coin flip of a hit or a miss. Some good can come out of the finish but the way it was executed makes it hard to like it. I guess this explains why the WWE Title was defended in the middle of the card.

Mickie James vs. Maryse (Divas Title): The only positive to come out of this was that the better wrestler actually won this match. Mickie is head and shoulders above Maryse as a worker and she (or someone like her, e.g. Beth Phoenix) should be holding that title on Raw. This was a very sloppy match from start to finish and it just seemed to drag. It would be nice to see Phoenix get back in the mix to help the women's division on Raw.

Rhodes/DiBiase interview: These two are "cementing their legacy" by losing a tag title match and helping Orton defend his title? Huh?! There seems to be no real logic to that. Here's hoping that they go somewhere with this because on the surface right now, it doesn't make much sense.

Match placement on the card: The placement of a few of the matches didn't seem to really make sense. I thought they would've dragged out Jericho's choice for a little while longer and thrown that match near the middle to the end. The IC Title match should have been closer to the front/middle. Ziggler has made great strides in recent months, but to have him in the match right before the main event was a tough spot to fill for his first singles match on PPV. This last one isn't much of a surprise but it still bugs me; am I to believe that both female titles and the U.S. and IC Titles are all more important than the ECW Title? WWE tries (half-heartedly) to make you think that the ECW Titles is similar to a third "World Title." However, it was the first singles match on the card in which every title was on the line. Maybe I'm being picky here, but I don't think it makes much sense.

OVERALL SHOW

The PPV overall wasn't bad. There was only one poorly worked match and that was the Divas Title match. Everything else that dragged the show down (if you want to say that) was questionable storytelling and potential booking of who won the matches. As solid as most of the matches were, there really wasn't any sense of drama when it came time for the finish (unless you count the WWE Title debacle). It seemed like the time was right to let Swagger become the U.S. Champion and start to give him a title push on Raw. What better way for Swagger, "The All-American American" to start a strong run on Raw as U.S. Champ? I'm sure it will happen sooner or later, but I'm hoping they don't let him mire with nothing significant to do for too long. I think Jericho's pick for a partner was a disappointment to at least 90 percent of the viewing audience. I don't think Punk losing the title is going to pull the rug out from underneath him, but I still don't think it was the right move unless there has been some hidden agreement between WWE and Hardy for him to stick around for a least a few more months. Solid matches, questionable decisions. Night of Champions was a B-minus PPV. If you really want to spin it into a positive, here goes; TNA Victory Road was only last Sunday and you can think about what kind of gem that one was!

Tony Donofrio is a new Hits & Misses Specialist covering WWE PPVs. Contact Tony at PWTorchTD@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter

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