Before our tag team contest of the night, Dolph Ziggler was interviewed backstage, along with Big E Langston and AJ Lee. I hear people crying for Ziggler to strike out on his own, but this trio is so fantastic. AJ has been thrown around the locker room, from guy to guy, but she just feels so “at home” next to Ziggler. I think given his impending World Title win, she could easily become what Lita was to Edge. They are really allowing AJ to cut loose in this program. And Big E…what is there to say about this guy? He’s large and imposing, but these random comedic bits always catch me off guard. That’s a good thing.
A pre-recorded series of videos airs, featuring Rumble victory claims from damn near the full WWE roster. The only people that actually stood out to me were, somewhat hilariously, Ryback and the Prime Time Players. Let’s do it! Millions of dollars, millions of dollars…
Tag Team Championship Match
Team Hell No (c) def. Team Rhodes Scholars
Rating: B
“He’s like a hair explosion versus a jacked-up Freddy Mercury. World’s toughest vegan!” -JBL
Anybody who says Team Hell No aren’t helping the belts, should probably rethink their position after this match. What is your alternative? To go back to the days of Kofi Kingston and R-Truth? No offense meant to either of those suburb singles stars, but they didn’t matter as a tag team. They had no competition, and were never featured prominently. Kane and Daniel Bryan, on the other hand, are in major segments several times a night, on both Raw and Smackdown. They are in 2-3 television matches every week, and during their reign groups like Rhodes Scholars, Prime Time Players, and MystCara have risen up as legitimate challengers.
I was surprised to see Kane and Bryan retain. Not because I feel their time as a team is up, but because handing Rhodes and Sandow so many back-to-back losses over the course of two months isn’t helping them. To a degree, they’re still being featured on weekly programming with the champions, so the rub is there. But after losing so many times to Kane and Bryan, how can they be taken as a legitimate threat to the belts from this point on? The answer is to keep putting them up against other teams from now until post-Mania, giving them a few solid wins, and then try again. I want to see more non-title feuds between WWE’s tag teams; they certainly have enough of them now to make it happen.
As far as the actual in-ring quality of this match, I loved watching Daniel Bryan work both of his opponents. It was subtle, but catching Rhodes’ dropkick in mid-air was probably my favorite technical spot of the night. CM Punk may be the self-proclaimed “best in the world”, but if I had to put my money on the best straight up pro wrestling going today, I’d have to bet on Daniel Bryan. As for Kane, it never stops amazing me how he continues to work a full-time schedule, not to mention the consistency of his matches at 45-years-old. Hulk Hogan didn’t look that good in his 20’s.
