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The WWE Night of Champions pay-per-view is in the books!
Tonight’s event of the month had a couple of lousy matches, but overall the PPV was pretty solid. We saw multiple title changes, a Superstar return, and a main event that was full of drama.
So what happened at Night of Champions? Would the man in the picture above factor into the main event? Would the potential spoilers come true? The editors of Daily DDT, Mike Smith and Rob Wolkenbrod, give their takes on every match on the card.
Click “Next” to see their thoughts on Night of Champions!
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The Usos vs. Gold and Stardust: WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Result: Gold and Stardust defeat The Usos for the WWE Tag Team Championship.
Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take: At first, I thought this match to kick off Night of Champions was just going in a standard Raw tag team direction, but about halfway through, this match became a lot of fun.
There wasn’t any huge spots, but the action became very entertaining. The near pin-falls kept me guessing on who could win the match. When you can’t tell who’s going to win a match, that’s when you know the wrestlers in the ring are doing their jobs very well.
The Usos’ reign as champs was good, but it was time for a change. I’m looking forward to the reign of the bizarre ones.
Mike’s Take:
Go back to a year ago, this time. That’s right about the time that Cody Rhodes and Goldust started stealing the show in tag team matches every night. When their run ended, The Usos slotted right into that role, and now they got the chance to do it together.
They delivered.
This match was awesome, and it was really cool to see Goldust and Stardust pick up the win. I can’t wait to hear Stardust’s first promo now that he is a champion.
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Sheamus vs. Cesaro – WWE United States Championship Match
Result: Sheamus defeats Cesaro to retain the WWE United States Championship.
Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take: I did not have a ton of expectations for this match because I assumed WWE wouldn’t give this match a lot of time, but wow was I wrong. That match was awesome!
Sheamus and Cesaro had some excellent chemistry in the ring and put on a phenomenal performance for the fans in Nashville. Like the previous match, the near pin-falls from some great moves from the two competitors made this match a spectacle.
These two deserve a rematch at Hell in a Cell just for the guarantee of another great performance, however, I would expect WWE to have a new challenger for the title next month.
Either way, well done by two talented individuals in what turned out to be the match of the night.
Mike’s Take:
Two fantastic matches to start the show.
It was power vs. power, and these guys put on a great show. Everybody loves to talk about Cesaro, but Sheamus does not always get enough credit. He’s really good and he proved it here.
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Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz: WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Result: The Miz defeats Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Rating: 3.4 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take: Well, Miz and Ziggler traded the Intercontinental Championship again.
The match was decent, but we’ve seen similar action like this on Raw. It just didn’t seem special and the cheap win put the mark on that.
I don’t mind having the Florida Georgia Line come on commentary for a few minutes to talk about being on Tribute for the Troops, but having them on for the entire match was a distraction. They should have been on for two minutes, cut to a quick commercial, and brought out Miz and Ziggler.
There was just too many things here that made this fall flat for me. It didn’t help either that it followed two terrific matches to open the show. This feud seems like it will continue, though. Let’s see what happens.
Mike’s Take:
Great heel win for Miz. He almost pulled Ziggler’s tights off of him.
This was a solid match, but it was hurt by the commentary team focusing too much on guest commentators/country band Florida-Georgia Line. Though, Damien Mizdow did his best to make it great with his mirroring of Miz, including post-match, when he was holding up an imaginary title.
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Mark Henry vs. Rusev
Result: Rusev defeats Mark Henry.
Rating: 2.2 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take: This match was just very slow from start to finish. Again, this is something we could have seen on Raw and not at Night of Champions.
Most fans understood from the beginning that Rusev was going to win, as he is being built up as a monster heel. There was never much doubt about him winning.
Judging by the commentary, it seems like Rusev will face a new opponent at Hell in a Cell. It would be nice for it to be a bigger name so there’s actually some doubt created in his matches.
Two good and two less than inspiring matches so far. Let’s see if we can get some more good.
Mike’s Take:
I was not into this match at all.
I’m not a Rusev fan, but he has really impressed me in his past few PPV matches. The same can not be said for Henry, who I just can’t find any use for. They had to use everything they could to get America behind him, and it looked weak, especially after it was so easy with Swagger.
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Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton
Result: Randy Orton defeats Chris Jericho
Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take: To say this match exceeded my expectations is an understatement. That was a great performance put on by two future members of the WWE Hall of Fame.
Jericho and Orton both showed up and put on what were arguably their own matches of the year. It was some great action that had the crowd heavily invested in it as the contest progressed. Some may have said the finish was predictable, but it doesn’t matter, the RKO mid-air will always be awesome.
For a feud that had very little build up, the culmination of it certainly delivered and topped two more heavily promoted battles that preceded it.
Mike’s Take:
Orton was Orton. Jericho was Jericho. This match was amazing the whole way, but the finish was spectacular.
Jericho took the RKO off the top-rope beautifully, and Orton accentuated with a beautiful pose right before he went for the cover.
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Paige vs. AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella: Divas Championship Match
Result: AJ Lee defeats Paige and Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship.
Rating: 3.4 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take: This was a decent match overall. It wasn’t incredibly chaotic like most triple threat matches are.
I was very surprised that Brie Bella didn’t interfere in this. It leaves me with three questions:
- What was the point of putting Nikki in this then?
- Was it for the purpose of hyping this for a future episode of Total Divas?
- Where does this make their feud stand?
The title change was a little surprising. I didn’t think Paige would trade back the title with AJ, but I’d think it’s to keep their rivalry going for a few more months. I wouldn’t mind some more of them since WWE has no other worthy Divas Championship contender.
This match left me with more questions than answers. Tomorrow’s fallout from this Night of Champions match will be interesting.
Mike’s Take:
I’m just going to say it, the MVP of this match was Nikki Bella.
Nikki was great throughout the match, using her power advantage, as she dominated both of her competitors. Unfortunately, she was not involved in the decision.
AJ was able to lock in the Black Widow on Paige, and Paige did a great job selling the move, but still fighting to power out. In the end she did not, and AJ got the win. I was very pleased with this match.
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Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena: WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
Result: John Cena wins via disqualification, but Brock Lesnar retains.
Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take: The story of the Night of Champions main event and the drama following it made for a good main event.
Cena put up much more of a fight than he did last month at SummerSlam and at times looked he was going to win back the title. AA after AA, STF after STF, he was weakening the Beast Incarnate. He was weakened enough to take a curb stomp from Seth Rollins, who tried cashing in his briefcase. After Justin Roberts announced that he was cashing it in, Cena immediately attacked Rollins and sent him scurrying away.
I won’t mind seeing this feud culminate inside the cell because at this point, it’s fitting. Hell in a Cell matches aren’t meant for the beginning of a rivalry like WWE has sometimes done in years past. Hopefully we see this and Ambrose-Rollins take place in the structure.
Mike’s Take:
The ending of this match was not well-received by some, and I don’t really get it.
I understand that some people may not like how strong Cena looked, but he never put Lesnar down, before Seth Rollins attacked and caused a DQ. Lesnar proved himself to be indestructible.
I was on the edge of my seat for the entire sequence with Rollins. Who did the right thing by attacking Cena, and trying to take him out of the equation. Rollins then hit a vicious curb stomp on Lesnar, who sold it very well. Rollins almost cashed in, but Cena attacked him before the bell rang, so the cash-in never actually occurred. Lesnar ended it all with an F-5 to Cena.
I thought everybody came out of it looking great. Not to mention that Cena and Lesnar had a great match before the DQ.
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Final Thoughts
Tonight was a good night, but left a lot of questions following Night of Champions.
- Where does the Bella feud go from here?
- Will The Miz and Dolph Ziggler feud continue?
- Where does Cesaro go from here?
- Where does Bray Wyatt factor into the equation of all of this tomorrow?
- Who challenges Rusev next?
- Does Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose battle at Hell in a Cell?
- Will Rollins factor into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match next month since he screwed Cena?
- Are we going to see Lesnar before HIAC?
We will have until October 26th to see if all of these questions are answered. Stay tuned.
What are your thoughts on Night of Champions? Leave your comments below!