Over the last few weeks, I've been really critical of the corporate storyline in the WWE. Why? Put quite simply there wasn't enough balance. While it's great that the corporate regime has looked strong, the good guys have looked rather neutered in what they've been able to accomplish. I know that comes with giving the heel faction credibility, but when the leader is the corporate head of the company that just came off to me as overkill. Luckily, the scale seemed a little more even this week as it set up more of an even playing field. Let's not get too ahead of myself. The show opens with Triple Hi introducing the face of the company Randy Orton who says that protecting the image of WWE is his number one priority concert (insert wellness policy violation joke here). Randy says he doesn't want anyone to disrespect or deface the company. That's what Daniel Bryan did last week spray painting his new car. He says that he will take a page out of Daniel Bryan's book saying that does he deserve a title shot at Night of Champions? No. Is Daniel Bryan a B+ player? Yes. Triple H speaks up and says, a COO has many responsibilities one of which is to present the best product possible. And says that maybe Bryan has too lofty a goal getting the WWE championship. Hunter jokes about bring back the Cruiserweight Title and European Title for Daniel. He says that the fans have confused Bryan on the difference between popularity and real stardom. Triple H says the fans are really getting Bryan hurt bringing up that Doink was popular too but he didn't deserve a title shot. Hunter then says Daniel Bryan should give up his WWE championship match at Night of Champions and forgo the pain. Bryan comes out and says he doesn't remember Doink getting the crowd reaction that he does. He says that he's not giving up his title shot. Daniel says Randy has been given everything face and has had to work for nothing. Daniel says he knows he can beat Randy Orton if they compete one-on-one. No one ever told Orton, he couldn't do anything But Daniel always had his critics and worked from the bottom the top, the bearded superstar begins to insult Randy Orton calling him a kiss up to the boss. Triple H then says he shouldn't be angry at Randy bringing up Big Show making a match between the two for later in the night. We find out that we will hear from CM Punk later in the night about his feelings heading into Night of Champions. We come back from commercial and find Randy Orton and Triple H gloating about the Daniel Bryan-Big Show match. Cody Rhodes comes into the picture and respectfully asks why Orton does not want to face Daniel Bryan. He thinks it will be good for business. Triple H says he will forgive Cody for that as he's got a lot on his mind with his upcoming wedding this week (to former WWE ring announcer Eden Stiles) Orton and Hunter asked if each other were invited to the wedding saying no matter they will give Cody a gift with a match with Randy Orton tonight. And Triple H adds that he better be a winner. Otherwise he may not be around for too much longer. They begin with action in the ring with the Miz versus Fandango. Not a bad match, the only thing of note was the fact that the former Johnny Curtis legitimately broke his nose during the match. In the end, the Miz wins with the patented Figure 4 Leg Lock. Summer Rae seems to get more and more physical as the weeks go on. I wonder when they're going for the trigger on her in the ring. Because if you haven't watched NXT she can work. Daniel Bryan is backstage warming up when Booker T pops up to talk him out of the match with The Big Show. Booker says that Daniel Bryan should not be prideful raging against corporate machine and give up his title shot. Daniel uses the WWE Hall of Famer's classic line and says it's not about the money. It's about his life. (As random as this was as these segments usually are.I think Booker T did a better job establishing the motivation of Daniel going forward.because you want a babyface to have clear motivation in his actions.) They show a recap of the Paul Heyman-CM Punk segment from last week. Dolph Ziggler has a match in which he doesn't know his opponent thanks to Brad Maddox. Dean Ambrose comes out of the crowd attacking the Show Off running his shoulder into the ring post. Ryback, his scheduled opponent, makes his way to the ring destroying Dolph with a Meat Hook clothesline and Shellshock for the victory. (The only thing that sucks about this is that is Ziggler is seemingly firmly cemented in the mid-card for the foreseeable future. I understand that someone has to be secondary player in all this. I thought that will be the Miz but it looks like that is not the case anymore. It looks like the main focus is on Daniel Bryan, The Big Show and perhaps Cody Rhodes going forward.) Triple H and Stephanie are backstage when Brad Maddox comes in and says that Big Show refuses to compete tonight. Stephanie says she will take care of it and she will do it in front of everyone. We come back from commercial Stephanie is in the ring and talks about her relationship with Big Show saying that she knew him ever since she was twelve years old (which I don't think the timelines really match up there). She brings out Big Show and says that she understands he has reservations, but he has to live up to his obligations. If he doesn't he will be in breach of contract and he needs the money thanks to bad investments. Stephanie brings up family members and his health saying that larger athletes don't live as long. She adds what opportunities are outside of WWE for him. Stephanie then hugs Big Show saying he's got a do what's right for his family. (While I like the segment, it's not without its problems. They made you really understand the giant and his mindset. Stephanie was probably the best thing in this. I thought her delivery was spot on as the disingenuous friend manipulating the heartstrings. So they say WWE can take back his ironclad contract? Is it the point of an ironclad contract that legally is safe from any tomfoolery from the company to take it away And they did this same angle two years ago? Hopefully this doesn't turn into Big Show turning again at Night of Champions.) We come back commercial and see that Big Show on a rampage backstage. In a relatively competitive match The Primetime Players defeat Slater and Jinder Mahal. The streak continues. Brad Maddox is backstage on the phone when he is interrupted by Paul Heyman. Heyman asks if Maddox is doing what's right for business putting him in matches against CM Punk. This brings in the COO who says that he respects Heyman's ability to get out of certain things, but this will not be one of them. And he hopes gets the beating he deserves. (I always like when they stay consistent with storylines.) Next up, we get the phenomenal match between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes. The two go back and forth for quite some time. Rhodes looks the best he has in years and showed that he belongs at the top the card. In the end, Randy takes advantage of an injured knee on Cody to hit the RKO for the victory. Triple H follows the match by saying it hurts him to say this but he is fired. Later on in the night, Cody gave an excellent promo probably his best in his WWE career. Rhodes really became a strong babyface in that promo saying he lost fair and square, but the stipulation was the problem. He says the WWE has always had a vendetta against the Rhodes family. His father was a legend and they put him in polkadots and made him dance. He said he loves his brother as a natural athlete. But the company put him in face paint and he's never been the same since. Cody was almost in tears when he brought up his fiancée saying he doesn't know what he's going to do as he exits the building. (If WWE plays this right, we could have a top star when Cody returns to television in a few weeks. I imagine after his honeymoon. The fact that they gave him this kind of exit gives me hope for the future..I would not be surprised if he pops back up at the pay-per-view. You can't fire somebody that has already been terminated) Backstage, Big Show is attempting to talk Daniel Bryan as continues to warm up for the match. Show says his back is up against the wall and doesn't want to hurt Bryan. Bryan says he knows the predicament he has been put in but he's not going to take it easy. Daniel says he's going to prove he can win like he did when he cashed in his Money in the Bank at TLC 2010. ( I understand what the going for here , but if you were Big Show what you want to make your boss happy. Messing with the match certainly doesn't seem like that would help matters much for both men.) We hear from CM Punk in a very misplaced segment. I think it should it came before the Cody Rhodes-Randy Orton match just for the energy level. That being said, another great promo Punk did not break any new ground here. With Singapore cane in hand, he promises to get a hold of Paul Heyman. They strangely replay the package of the beat down last week as Punk stands in the ring. (I think it's just me but the feud between Heyman and Punk while still solid puts Chicago's favorite son in a weird position. This corporate takeover is perfect for the rebel antiauthority figure to comment on but given that storyline is still ongoing. The voice of the voiceless is rather quiet when it comes to management.) We hear from Bray Wyatt, who says that Kane is lying in the bed of fire that made. Really good promo. Damien Sandow loses to Rob Van Dam as his World Heavyweight Champion opponent looks on. The divas have a three-way dance that is stopped by AJ Lee. Natalya, Naomi and the Bellas beat up the Divas champion who is at ringside doing commentary and decided to interfere. This leads to Stephanie McMahon signing a fatal four-way match for Night of Champions with the Divas title on the line. And finally in the main event, with roster once again looking on Big Show attempts to not hurt Daniel Bryan until the scrappy dazzler continues to combat the big man full blast. Show gets angry and looks to give KO punch to Bryan but looks to leave. Hunter comes out and orders him back in the ring. Big Show decides to leave, and Triple H orders The Shield beat up Bryan. The Giant attempts to make the rescue but COO stops him , threatening to fire the big man. Daniel receives a triple power bomb as Big Show looks devastated. Hunter asked him to do the KO punch to Bryan. Big Show refuses, Stephanie comes down and told Big Show to do it for his family. Show looks to knockout Triple H but Stephanie stopped him. Big Show finally KO's Bryan. Show exits the ring despondent with Stephanie and Hunter as Randy Orton comes in and stands over the fallen Daniel Bryan as they go off the air. Overall, I think this was a much better show than in recent weeks. As we saw some more of people from the Babyface side of things. It'll be interesting to see what they do with Cody Rhodes point forward as she may be the hero we've been looking for.