WWE Vengeance 2011 Results: The Good, the Bad and the Meh

Vengeance came live from glorious San Antonio, Texas.  The second pay-per-view this month, the WWE needed a good one to capitalize on the short PPV cycle.  Hit up Mike Shannon's blog if you need a rundown.

Eight matches were on the card with five titles on the line.  The PPV featured double duty by the United States Champion, a big Tag Team match and the CeNation's "Commander-In-Chief" in his last chance for the WWE title for a while.  This will be a shorter than usual article due to me feeling under the weather.  That said, let's get to it.

The Good

- Air Boom/Zig Swag.  Very good tag team match that saw Air KABOOM retain the belts.  Standard formula, more or less, but a good match with some fun moments.  Good opener to the PPV to get the crowd warmed up.  

- Ryder/Ziggler.  Alright match, but served to make Ziggler look strong.  Ryder put in a good performance as well.  Good story and kept from making Ryder look overly weak.  I hope the feud continues as I've enjoyed the work they've done thus far.

- Beth/Eve. Eve > Kelly Kelly.  Actually, a good match for the gals, and it served as some redemption for the division.  The amount of time felt right, and Beth looked really good in the ring.  I hope they aren't done with this one.

- Rhodes/Orton.  Solid match, solid ring work in general.  I suspected Orton would pick up the victory after taking two straight losses on recent pay-per-views.  Not as much as it could have been, but if the feud is just getting going, then there isn't a reason to blow it all just yet.

- Triple H & Punk v Awesome Truth.  Not booked the way I would have done it, but ultimately, a good match.  I was a little surprised Miz and Truth went over Punk and Trips.  Overall, however, there is still some mileage left in the feud with Punk and Awesome Truth, while Nash segues to Trips.  That said, I hope Trips is OK.  He looked like he landed absolutely wrong after taking the Jacknife from Nash. 

- Henry/Show.  Great effort by both men, which was needed to make the match watchable.  This actually was a good match, honestly, and the ring implosion was an awesome effect.  Henry looked like a monster by being able to get up under his own power while Big Show had to be carted away.

- Del Rio/Cena.  Great match, though, they didn't get to the various weapons as soon as I would have liked.  But still the match of the night, and great storytelling with a few humorous spots.  Del Rio retaining was absolutely the correct call.  All in all, if there was a match to "make" ADR, this was it.  Not a match of the year, but possibly a top 10?

The Meh

- Sheamus/Christian.  This wasn't a bad match, but it felt like it belonged more on TV than a PPV with Sheamus defeating Christian.  That said, the ring work was, more or less, just signature spots.  I was hoping Christian would win to further the feud through Survivor Series, but I guess it's in blow off mode now.

The Bad

- Punk Booking.  I have to complain about something.  That's three losses in a row for Punk on PPVs.  So much for his momentum. *sigh*  Here's hoping he gets some sort of victory at Survivor Series.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

Hot crowd tonight, which always helps.  Not Chicago hot, but good enough.

The Last Hit Theorem isn't foolproof, but it's close enough. 

Cole was actually tolerable tonight.  Booker is the man, however.

For once, there were no title changes tonight.  Interesting...

Follow this equation: ring implosion + good crowd = "Holy sh_t! Holy sh_t!' 

Ziggler manned up tonight.  Nice job Ziggy. #HEEL

If Nash were to disappear from TV forever after tonight, I wouldn't mind one bit.

Overall Grade:  B+

Very good PPV with hardly a weak match on the card.  Some good storytelling and good matches.  Interesting heel-heavy booking tonight, but that actually is expected due to needing a hot, face-heavy booking that I'm expecting at Survivor Series.

This was also expected to be a transitional PPV.  Honestly, I was expecting simply filler, but there was some legitimate effort all around tonight.  Great job by Del Rio, Ziggler, Ryder, Beth and Eve.  Question becomes, was it worth the cash? 

Ultimately, I do believe so.  Definitely better than Hell In A Cell with some good matches and good storytelling.