By Ryan Kester

John Cena wins MITB

I went into this match with relatively low expectations, and I was treated to pretty much what I expected. There was a lack of any traditionally huge ladder match spots and the pace was slow considering the participants. All in all I feel like I was bored through the whole affair because the finish was never in doubt and that cut out the drama that a professional wrestling match needs.

John Cena does nothing for me with the briefcase. He's at the point in his career where he does not need the WWE Championship and he really can't do anything new with the belt. Still, he's the mainstay of WWE so if he's going to be involved in the WWE Championship picture, then at least the belt can be featured in the main event again.

CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan

From top to bottom, this match was just fun. All three individuals played their parts well and they put on one hell of a show. I once again enjoyed everything AJ did. Her emotional range and the ability to portray one emotion before slipping seamlessly into the next is simply impressive.

It will be interesting to see where WWE goes from here. For the longest time this story has been the only thing worth watching on WWE television, and now it has to come to a close. Punk's path is pretty well set at this point, but I am curious to see what happens with Daniel Bryan and AJ now that this story has reached what appears to be its payoff.

Smackdown MITB

This was the more traditional MITB, turned up to eleven. There were some fun spots involved but they were all buried by the pacing involved. Anytime a spot happened, the participants were feverishly moving on to the next and the previous spot failed to have all meaning. This is what I dislike about spot fests.

All-in-all this match had the same type of problem that the previous MITB match had, the end was never really in doubt. WWE's roster is paper-thin these days, and Ziggler is the only man that has been around the main event picture. Still, this match was at least entertaining, albeit in watching a train wreck type of way, but it never left me feeling bored. Worried about the participant's health, perhaps, but never bored.

Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio

I've already banged on during this whole build with how both men involved need a metric ton of character development, so I won't rehash that here. Simply put, this match didn't mean much simply because the two men involved haven't been given enough time to matter nor were they given a compelling story to work with. Luckily, Del Rio was put away fairly convincingly, so I hope Sheamus can move on to a feud that inspires creative to give his character a bit of attention.

Overall Show

Last night's show was lackluster. The WWE Championship match was entertaining, but otherwise this was a terrible follow-up to last year's historic edition of the show.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at @TheRyanKester.

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