It was time for another live event for Gonzo, Kurt, my girlfriend Lindsey and I. With Night of Champions hailing from Buffalo, we made the hour-and-a-half trek to Marine Midland...I mean HSBC...I mean First Niagara Center, for the first PPV held in Buffalo since Armageddon 2008, when Jeff Hardy won his first World Title.

We met Gonzo at the University of Buffalo, as he was coming from the Bills game (and still wearing his Bills jersey...Trent Edwards was an odd choice). Lots of talk of the Bills game on the light rail ride to the arena. We also tried to guess the dark match, and I thought we'd see Justin Gabriel in some form, with his 450 splash getting the crowd in a good mood for the show.

We got the tickets late and ended up with restricted view seats, and they certainly were restricted: we were about four rows from the top of the arena, sitting slightly behind the entrance. That means we didn't see the nice set-up and didn't see the wrestlers until they were about halfway down the aisle. Also: Pyro itself is not loud - they actually set off explosions backstage to make them sound loud. And that's right....they were right in front of us. The Raw GM podium was present, for those wondering.

Daniel Bryan vs. Heath Slater: We did bring both of these guys up in our discussion about possible dark matches, but not against each other. Crowd was hot for Bryan. It was the usual pre-show dark match, going five minutes and Bryan went over with the LeBell Lock. We did discuss how if Triple H won tonight, Bryan should cash in his briefcase for the COO title.

Lawler, Cole and Booker came out. Good pop for King and Book, and great heat for Cole, except for some yokels a few rows down who were chanting his name. Just before we went live, there were "CM Punk" and "We Want Ryder" chants.

(1) Air Boom vs. R-Truth & The Miz: This was a pretty nice opener. Miz's new face-crusher move is sweet. We thought it would be Miz who'd make fun of Buffalo...but that came later. ***

(2) Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase: No heat for this one. Some knew DiBiase turned face on Smackdown, some didn't. Or some just don't like DiBiase. More "Let's go Ryder" chants here and some "boring" chants. Rhodes winning was no surprise- they haven't built Ted well enough yet. *1/2

Someone in the crowd said if Nash returns he'd rip his chair out of the floor. Not sure if it was meant in anger or excitement. And of course, Christian made fun of the Bills. I'm not a Bills fan and even I think that's gotten old. And proof that fans will chant anything: "one more match." At least there weren't many "what" chants.

(3) Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger vs. John Morrison vs. Alex Riley Great near-fall by Riley on the DDT. Fans were lukewarm to him up to that point. This match was hurt by the focus being on two heels throughout the build-up, leaving fans no strong face to get behind. The finish we've seen a million times is now a million and one times. **1/4

They changed ring mats twice during the show. I believe the first time was at this point.

(4) Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton: They say you don't understand the size of wrestlers until you see them live. The same goes for the wet spots Henry leaves on the mat, mostly from his hair and head I think. This match was the definition of methodical, not even trying to test Henry's abilities or what Orton could get out of him. Still, the win and the finish was great, as was Henry's post-match interview. And there were plenty of fans live who were cheering him. **

(5) Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly: I referred to this as Buffalo's CM Punk vs. John Cena. Kelly got booed badly and I don't know if she knew how to react. She held the title over her head with one arm during Beth's entire entrance. That was weird. Also weird: Beth losing here. I don't get it. The Divas of Destruction have done nothing of note since forming and Kelly has beaten and outsmarted them at every turn. Fun match for the crowd reaction at least *1/2

I went to the bathroom during this match and Lindsey got a soda. While I waited for her, the lady working the concessions had a good laugh at my Miz t-shirt ("Hello, I'm Awesome") and complimented me on it.

(6) John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio: I sense a tag match coming: Cena & Justin Roberts vs. Del Rio and Rodriguez. The Let's Go Cena/Cena Sucks chants were deafening, but that was really the only big heat the match got, other than Cena's signature moves. These guys don't seem to mesh well together in the ring. **1/2

(7) Triple H vs. CM Punk: Gonzo said if Punk wins, they should drop ice cream bars from the ceiling. The guy behind us didn't pull out his chair when Nash interfered, but that could've been because there was a fight behind us during this one, which made it hard to concentrate on the match, and therefore I won't give it a star rating. It would be tough anyway given the interference. And that big bald security guy Triple H used to balance himself when standing on the barricade? That was Kurt's dad. Kurt said he sent his dad a text to "stick the winner." He mentioned his dad and the guy sitting in front of us noted he used to work with him. Small world. Lot to digest after this one, most of which will (hopefully) be fleshed out on Raw.

Overall, probably a 5.0. Match quality wasn't quite up to what I expected, with no real blow-away matches. Nothing was awful, but nothing really stood out (except for the main event, but perhaps not for the right reasons).

Check out my special post-show Livecast with James Caldwell on Blogtalkradio.com. Also, be on the look-out for more in-depth thoughts on the PPV in my column in the upcoming Torch newsletter.

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