WWE Night of Champions 2011 Results: Air Boom Beats Awesome Truth, What It Means

The controversial opener of WWE's Night of Champions pay-per-view saw tag team champions Air Boom defeat new team The Miz and R-Truth by disqualification after an irate Miz lost his temper and struck the referee, following the incompetent ref blowing one too many spots during the match.

It was a decidedly puzzling outcome; DQ openers on WWE PPVs are rather rare, after all. However this result may sense if we look at the long-term picture and what WWE likely have planned for both teams following the match.

Miz and R-Truth opened the show with a fantastic rendition of R-Truth's theme in which they berated the thousands of fans in attendance, reminding us again of the fun, crazy chemistry they share. Whether or not they realize it yet, WWE have stumbled on to something genuinely special with these two and would be foolish not to capitalize on it.

While the match—which itself was very good and getting a decent reaction from the Buffalo crowd—had a rather weak ending, it nonetheless served to illustrate management's new efforts to get over the long-neglected tag team championship to the fans as credible belts worth holding.

Indeed, the tag titles have become a complete afterthought in recent times and, when asked who the current tag team champions were, most fans, except the truly die-hard enthusiasts, would struggle to remember. The likes of David Otunga and Heath Slater were achingly dull and couldn't hope to capture the attention of the live audience and/or the viewers at home. The thrown together comedy act of Santino Marella and Koslov weren't up to much either. Sadly, because management didn't seem to care, the division was relegated to the sidelines for a long time.

Recently though, we've seen a drastic change in direction and all indications are that the booking team are taking the belts somewhat seriously again. That former WWE champion The Miz and former main eventer R-Truth have become embroiled in a feud with new champions Air Boom augments the prestige of the belt.

Following that, in the match's opening moments, announcers Michael Cole and Booker T went to great lengths to put over the tag team belts on commentary, noting the famous teams that had held the prestigious belts, from DX to Edge and Christian. Booker T even spoke glowingly about his own stint with the titles with old partner Goldust in 2002. It's rare for the tag titles to be put over like this, and it was surely a sign that the titles are now higher on Vince McMahon's priority list.

Importantly, this match indicated that the tag belts have also become the focus of the new Awesome Truth conspiracy storyline. Throughout the lively opener, the new and unnamed referee kept screwing up and making decisions that benefited Air Boom and worked against their challengers. As noted, Miz eventually lost it with the referee over his increasingly dumb calls and brutally assaulted him. R-Truth at first seem to be attempting to calm down his agitated tag partner, but then he flipped his lid and hit the referee, too.

Never mind Randy Orton, clearly these two are the ones who need anger management classes!

In an interview with Matt Striker after the calamitous DQ ending, an unrepentant Miz and R-Truth claimed the shoddy officiating proved there was a conspiracy against them and COO Triple H was likely involved. HHH may also have been on the grassy knoll too, but that hasn't been confirmed yet. The two later got involved in the main event between Phil Brooks and Paul Levesque, sorry, I mean, Triple H and CM Punk. They, and seemingly everyone else in the world, interfered beat up both men. Clearly, this conspiracy angle is going somewhere.  

Summarily, I found the result of the tag match and the post-match comments extremely interesting for a few reasons: The Miz and R-Truth have clearly been established as the heels in this program with Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston, but the unnamed official clearly did make several screw ups. Notably, Miz had the match won at one point, thanks to a powerful skull-crushing finale on Evan Bourne, but the dopey ref had his back turned. It's rare for babyfaces be the benefit of underhanded behaviour in WWE, where the heel/face lines are usually clearly established.

So, with this in mind, is it possible that Awesome Truth are right, and someone in power was out to get them? Heck, we know from the CM Punk/Nash/HHH angle that there are clearly some sleazy power dealings going on behind the scenes and certain talents are being intentionally held down. If it is indeed the case that the ref was biased and deliberately cheated them, could this development lead to a face turn for Miz and R-Truth? It's an interesting, promising idea, and certainly the pairing is enjoyable and over enough for the fans to rally behind and support.

While many critics will no doubt be infuriated at the let-down ending of the match, and certainly we'd like a cleaner, more definitive ending in the case that there's a rematch, wrestling fans should actually be encouraged.

Despite the DQ result, the hitherto forgotten about tag titles were put over strongly as something worth winning (and big players Miz and R-Truth cared enough about attaining them to completely lose it when they thought they were being screwed), and the intriguing Air Boom/Awesome Truth rivalry will likely continue, with an interesting new dynamic that will make fans wonder just who exactly are supposed to be the good guys here.