WWE Night Of Champions 2013

Image Source: Wrestling
DVD Network

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: September 15 2013
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Attendance: 10,500

Well, a lot has changed in WWE since SummerSlam. John Cena is on the shelf, meaning that he will miss an extended period of time from the ring for the first time in nearly five years. More importantly from an on-screen standpoint, however, is the modern-day Corporation which was set up at SummerSlam when Triple H helped Randy Orton to defeat Daniel Bryan via Money In The Bank cash-in to become WWE Champion, and on Raw the following night when Triple H's actions were endorsed by Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon. Add to that Orton being crowned "The face of WWE", the McMahon regime telling Bryan that he is nothing more than "a B+ player" and The Shield serving as unofficial bodyguards for the heel rulers, and it's safe to say that business has well and truly picked up, to quote the great Jim Ross. All of this has made Raw genuinely interesting to watch lately.

But back to the subject matter, because in the midst of all this, we had Night Of Champions. The absence of Cena and the heavy focus on Bryan vs. The New Corporation (or whatever they're called) created a big downside for NOC; that being, due to a lack of real attention to other rivalries, nothing else on the show seemed PPV-worthy beforehand. Okay, Alberto Del Rio vs. Rob Van Dam for the World Title sounded intriguing, but the extension of the CM Punk vs. Paul Heyman feud would come via a match that had "Raw" written all over it. The other announced matches (I assumed that more would be added, since NOC is the night when every WWE Championship is supposed to be defended) didn't raise hopes, either. So, whilst recent PPVs have been very good or great, and Raw has been a lot better since SummerSlam, Night Of Champions ultimately felt inconsequential, at least beforehand.

Triple H tried to erase such thoughts when he opened NOC by suggesting that it would be an unforgettable night, only to be interrupted by Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman, who criticised HHH (continuing their spat from May/June) and tried to get Heyman out of fighting Punk later on. HHH was having none of it and, in fact, pointed out that since Axel was the IC Champion, he would have to defend his title as well as fighting Punk later in the show, as HHH said that the next man out of the curtain would be Axel's opponent. Before getting to that, it's worth pausing to wonder this: sure, the continuity of HHH still being enemies to Axel and Heyman despite his heel turn is nice, but why have a heel punish a heel in a babyface-like manner so soon after the big angle at SummerSlam? Even Brad Maddox or Vickie Guerrero could have handled this task to maintain HHH's heel turn (unless you want to be cynical and assume that HHH still wants to be cheered regardless of him being a villain once again).

Anyway, Axel's opponent turned out to be Kofi Kingston, who despite recently returning from injury with a new look (well, he now wears long tights), still seemed like a bit of a let-down of a surprise opponent, although his previous IC Title reigns make him a worthy challenger. Considering that this match didn't have much going for it, it turned out to be pretty good. It was a lengthy match (over 13 minutes), but both men did a good job of keeping the crowd invested, and putting together an adequate title match. It wasn't anything special nor was it even the best match of the night, but it was well-executed and was better than I expected. As back-handed a compliment as this may read, it was very good filler. Axel got the win in the end, as expected. It wasn't a career-defining victory by any means, but it was a good win for Axel considering that he was bound to fall to CM Punk in what would be his second match of the night.

We then got a Fatal Four Way match for the Divas Title, which would see AJ Lee defend her butterfly-covered crown against Natalya, Brie Bella and Naomi. This was set up when AJ, on the August 26 edition of Raw, cut an incredible promo - which some called a "Pipe Bomb-shell" - by unleashing some worked-shoot comments on the cast of Total Divas (which is almost the entire female crew at this point). The TD girls didn't appreciate AJ's interview (which may have been the best promo ever cut by a woman on WWF/WWE programming), and so we got this match as a consequence. AJ's chances of retaining the Divas Title were reduced when some of the females who are not on Total Divas who had been helping AJ in her anti-TD crusade - Aksana, Layla and Alicia Fox - told AJ beforehand that they were no longer supporting her. Why, I don't know, but either way, AJ's odds of winning seemed slim.

So, of course, AJ did win, and it's no surprise that she did, because the matches against Kaitlyn and that great promo on Raw make her the absolute best female in WWE right now, possibly the best since the Trish Stratus/Lita era. The match itself wasn't that memorable; it was better than Divas matches had tended to be in the past, but it couldn't hold a candle to any of the AJ-Kaitlyn bouts. The best spot belonged to Natalya, who revived her secret weapon for multi-person matches, the double Sharpshooter, which she used to make Brie and Naomi suffer. Ultimately, this weakened the Bella and Funkadactyl enough that they couldn't save Natalya from submitting to the Black Widow, and keeping the Divas Title on AJ.

As noted earlier, the first meeting between Alberto Del Rio and Rob Van Dam sounded like an enticing prospect, as did the possibility of RVD winning the World Heavyweight Championship if he conquered ADR. In the run-up to this bout, WWE made the questionable decision of having Del Rio kick Ricardo Rodriguez to the kerb after three years as a perfect wrestler/manager (or wrestler/announcer) combo. RR had just returned from a suspension, so perhaps this was WWE's way of punishing Ricardo, but still Del Rio and Ricardo are far more effective with each other than they are being separate (although as the actual wrestler, Del Rio will cope far better without Ricardo than vice versa). To counter-balance this somewhat, Ricardo linked up with Van Dam, and gave RVD a personal ring announcement at the beginning of this match, much to Alberto's chagrin, and remained at ringside throughout the bout.

This was a really good mix of high-flying offence, fairly stiff kicks, submission attempts and finisher counters and reversals. RVD remains fairly fresh since his return at Money In The Bank, and Del Rio is doing a good job of justifying his reign with WWE's second most important championship. Unfortunately, the entertaining action was hampered when WWE tacked a pretty poor finish to this match, considering that this was a PPV encounter: Del Rio was disqualified when he refused to break his Cross-Armbreaker on the referee's count of five. An annoyed RVD repelled a post-match ADR chair attack with a Van Terminator to Del Rio, which popped the crowd and slightly made up for the crap ending. Sure, WWE is planning to present a rematch between the two men, but surely they could have come up with something better than this; they could have even composed a better way to reach a disqualification decision than what we saw here.

Fandango fought The Miz next. Fandango got a big reaction, with many in attendance Fandangoing, but that aside this was another filler bout. It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't really enhance the entertainment value of this event either. It did, however, bring an end to the mini rivalry between Fandango and Miz, so it did serve a purpose at least. Miz won by submission with the Figure-Four Leglock, and there isn't really anything else I could write about this bout, so let's move on.

Following this was the second most promoted match on the show, as CM Punk battled Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman in a handicap elimination match. After Heyman betrayed Punk at Money In The Bank, Brock Lesnar was unleashed upon Punk and defeated him in an outstanding brawl at SummerSlam. But with Lesnar back in hibernation until late 2013 or early 2014, Heyman would need to take a different approach to continue making Punk's life miserable. This came when Axel helped to handcuff Punk's, erm, hands behind his back, and Heyman repeatedly belted him with a kendo stick in a pretty violent angle by PG standards. As a result, this 2-on-1 bout was made, with the near-guarantee that Punk would get his hands on Heyman and exact revenge on the evil former owner of ECW.

Considering the elimination aspect, this of course meant that Axel had no chance of winning himself, and so after some decent but unspectacular exchanges, Punk sent Axel packing with the Anaconda Vice. I forgot to mention that this was also a No Disqualification bout, so at this point Punk had Heyman at his mercy. Heyman had supposedly not slept and hadn't shaved for weeks because he was so fearful of consequences here, which was funny. And that anxiety was justified when Punk unleashed a brutal kendo stick beating of his own on Heyman, and aimed to have Heyman meet karma (not Kharma, the former WWE female talent) when Paul's hands were cuffed behind his back. This led to a swerve, which I expected but wasn't sure of what the details would be, as Ryback ran in and speared Punk through an upright table. Punk's back suffered a nasty cut as a result, but more notably was how Ryback then picked Heyman up and laid him on the downed Punk for the win. So, Paul Heyman pinned CM Punk. It looks like Punk vs. Ryback is next to extend Punk vs. Heyman, which considering that we saw Punk vs. Ryback for several months not that long ago is not exactly the most exciting thing to look forward to. The only hope is that Punk vs. Ryback is a one-match affair that ultimately leads us to the true Punk-Heyman score-settler. Given the result of this match, it shouldn't be hard to work out the outcome when Punk and Heyman collide again (unless Brock Lesnar is retrieved by Heyman to make that task harder for the self-proclaimed "Best In The World").

We then got a Shield double, beginning with Dean Ambrose defending his United States Title against Dolph Ziggler. On paper, this had the potential to be really good and a Match Of The Night contender. Unfortunately, however, it felt like just another match. I'm not sure if it's because of the low crowd reaction to much of the bout, or if it was down to a lack of any real action. There were some decent spots (particularly a Ziggler X-Factor to Ambrose off the ropes), but really there was nothing to distinguish this from a match that you would watch on a typical episode of Raw or SmackDown. It's a shame because this could have been a career-making match for Ambrose, and for such a standout moment, there are few more qualified opponents than the talented and fearless Ziggler. In the end, the combination of a fairly disinterested crowd and a dearth of big or memorable moves resulted in a disappointing match. I thought that WWE might have switched the gold to Ziggler here to ensure a title change on this PPV (it was Night Of Champions, after all), but as it turned out Ambrose picked up the minor upset with a Headlock Driver.

The Shield have been associated closely with excitement and unpredictability this year; they have ensured that everybody is interested in their matches regardless of their opposition. For Ambrose on this night, though, that wasn't the case, and while he was boosted by the win, it wasn't a match which will be replayed over and over in the future. For Ziggler, this defeat (and bear in mind that this was a demotion following his World Title adventures in the spring and summer) spelled another blow for the master of the Zig Zag, as what began as a really promising year threatens to go off the rails, especially since he couldn't even have the bragging rights of having delivered a thrilling match on this particular card.

Better was the other Shield-related match, as Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns defend the WWE Tag Team Championships against The Prime Time Players. Titus O'Neil and Darren Young had earned this bout on the pre-show by winning a tag team turmoil match, defeating 3MB, Tons Of Funk, The Usos and The Real Americans. Given some of the talent in that multi-team scrap, it was a bit of a surprise that the PTP were chosen as contenders, but following their unannounced babyface turn and a bit of a push up the card since then by WWE (this came about that Darren Young officially announced that he was gay in a media interview in August, although it hasn't been mentioned on the air yet by the company), it perhaps should have been expected.

O'Neil and Young did not win the titles, but they made the most of their supercard opportunity with their best showing yet as a team (or in any form, as a matter of fact). They had the benefit of facing the hungry up-starts Rollins and Reigns, who all year have done a great job of making their opponents look good (Ambrose usually does this as well; he just didn't in his match with Ziggler). Reigns picked up the win for his team when he nailed Titus with a Spear. This wasn't the best Shield match of the year by any means, but it was a creditable showing by the Hounds Of Justice, as they took a potentially filler bout to a slightly higher level. And based on their performances here it is possible that the PTP will get a title run someday. Overall, this match was a success.

Ever since SummerSlam, HHH and company have done their damndest to establish their authority by punishing Daniel Bryan, as well as other babyfaces like Big Show (who is supposedly broke) and Cody Rhodes (who was fired after a match with Orton for speaking out against the baddies). Bryan has stood up to the evil owners, but his every attempt to make a comeback has been withstood, as has almost every other fight-back by any of the consequential babyfaces. After all, what can the good guys do, since the rulers who are making their lives miserable are running the company? , and as a matter of fact the episode of Raw on the night after the supershow under review here was arguably the best of the entire year. And it set up an intriguing Bryan vs. Randy Orton title match, in Bryan's mandatory rematch following his short-lived reign at SummerSlam. But since HHH announced earlier that there would be no outside interference, one had to wonder how Bryan would be denied, since a title victory under the circumstances seemed very unlikely.

This was a very entertaining main event match, but I personally was expecting slightly more; I thought that based on the in-ring action, this had the potential to be a classic feud. And it may very well be, but their first PPV meeting here, whilst of a high standard, fell slightly short of being something that you would remember for a long time when it was over. Perhaps it was due to a lack of time, as this encounter felt a bit truncated. Nevertheless, it was still a very good match, definitely the best of the night. And it had a finish which was unexpected, as Bryan caught Orton with a Running Knee and won clean as a sheet, regaining the WWE Title and joining the Detroit crowd in an extended "Yes! chant celebration as the show went off the air. Against the odds, albeit without any obstacles on the night, Daniel Bryan was the new WWE Champion.

Or was he?

At the time, I noticed that referee Scott Armstrong's three-count was a bit fast, although it wasn't acknowledged by the announcers. The lack of an appearance by any of the McMahons or HHH, or even The Shield, made me think that this would be the swerve; the thing which prevented that "too good to be true" moment for Bryan. And so it proved on Raw the following night, when HHH pointed out Armstrong's mistake and after Armstrong appeared to tell Bryan that their scheme was busted, HHH announced that the title was vacant, or in abeyance as he classed it. Bryan seemed confused by Armstrong's suggestion that he and Daniel were working together, meaning that the veteran official was probably really in the power couple's back pocket all along. It was just odd that the title wasn't returned to Orton, as a rematch for the gold at Battleground was instead announced.

That aside, which disappointed many fans (least of all Bryan himself, following his five-minute title run at SummerSlam), this edition of Raw was very momentous and entertaining. As well as the angle, we had a vicious Randy Orton beatdown of The Miz in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and in front of his parents; a classic heel performance from Stephanie McMahon as she forced Big Show to punch out Dusty Rhodes following the treatment of Cody and Goldust (who returned for one night on the pre-NOC Raw and was beaten by Orton in a match that was far better than expected), and a big angle to close the show as many of the babyfaces finally stood up to the evil owners, lifting Bryan on their shoulders to at least declare him their preferred face of WWE.

So, Raw continues to provide some real entertainment with the modern take on the babyface wrestler vs. heel owner(s) storyline, but unfortunately, Night Of Champions ended up being the filler show that I expected. From an in-ring standpoint, it was a good show, although the best match was still a notch below the standout bouts at most of the PPV events we've seen this year. It just felt inconsequential, transitional, like an event where if you missed it, you didn't miss that much. Only the main event angle and Ryback joining forces with Paul Heyman were key storyline moments, and neither on their own made NOC a must-see show. (In a totally unrelated issue, I was wondering why The Wyatt Family weren't on this card considering how much their official WWE debut had been hyped.) I enjoyed ADR vs. RVD and Bryan vs. Orton, and I was pleasantly surprised by Axel vs. Kofi and The Shield vs. The PTP. Overall, though, this was probably the weakest supercard of the year so far in WWE. It was never going to be as good as SummerSlam, since Brock Lesnar wasn't competing and John Cena is now injured, but it still could have at least given the likes of Extreme Rules or Payback a run for their money. Hopefully, WWE will transfer some of the excitement generated by the Bryan vs. The WWE Brass storyline onto PPV so that the next show, Battleground, will provide as much excitement as most episodes of Raw have been lately.

Overall Rating: 6/10 - Reasonable

Night Of Champions 2015

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 178 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: November 16 2015

(To read a full event review of WWE Night Of Champions 2015, click here.)

The 2015 edition of Night Of Champions is now available on DVD. Watching the event a few months down the line provides an interesting insight into how much things have changed for a number of reasons.

The opener between Ryback and Kevin Owens is a decent Intercontinental Title bout, although it's clearly a step down from KO's previous PPV encounters with John Cena and Ryback. The subsequent Dolph Ziggler-Rusev bout continues the love quadrangle storyline which at this point was past its sell-by date, and would soon become known as a calamity when it was abruptly dropped shortly after NOC due to Lana announcing her real-life engagement to RuRu.

The Tag Team Title match between The New Day and The Dudleyz is intriguing to see in hindsight because, at the time, it seemed entirely possible that New Day would lose the straps to the veterans, whereas such a decision nowadays would be a little bit controversial given New Day's popularity. Still, the match is fun to watch (Xavier Woods playing the Rocky tune on his trombone is hilarious), as the rivalry was the most notable tag feud for a while at this point.

Watching the Divas Title scrap between Nikki Bella and Charlotte is less intriguing than it was in September because the impact of the finish is much lower than at the time when Nikki had held the belt since Survivor Series, and upon second viewing, it feels like Charlotte takes a non-stop beating until the finish.

The six-man tag between The Wyatts and the team of Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and mystery partner Chris Jericho is notable for the high-impact action and the big pops for the babyface team (Roman's cheers must have been music to his ears considering the boos which accompanied him since Royal Rumble 2015 and continue to do so today); I didn't realise how huge the reaction was to Jericho's return. It's slightly dampened when watching it again by the fact that the teased Y2J heel turn went nowhere (at least in relation to Dean and Roman), and the expected yet disappointing omission of the fan lining up with the ex-Shield "brothers" beforehand (disappointing because of Bray Wyatt's brilliant ad-lib of "Is that your partner?")

The double main event sees Seth Rollins in action twice, defending the United States and WWE Titles against John Cena and Sting respectively. The match with Cena is really good and, to me, a better match than their SummerSlam encounter, although Rollins looks inferior to Cena in its aftermath. Seth vs. Sting is a match that fans either loved or hated; I personally enjoyed it, but time has proven that the neck injury Sting suffered towards the end could indeed be career-ending, which makes the finish of the match hard to watch.

There are post-match shenanigans involving Sheamus (who got a huge ovation, a one-off in a year of apathy for The Celtic Warrior) and Kane, after which Rollins had took two Attitude Adjustments, a Scorpion Deathdrop, a Brogue Kick, a Chokeslam and a Tombstone Piledriver (which must be some kind of a record). The DVD extras are limited to an interview with an almost-heelish Dudleyz (bear in mind that they were babyfaces at the time) and a fun six-man tag pitting Neville and The Lucha Dragons vs. Stardust and The Ascension, highlighted by an incredible dive by the babyface squad.

Night Of Champions 2015 is definitely not a bad event, but while the final three matches are worth watching, the card as a whole still feels like a B-show. Nevertheless, if you decide to relive this show on DVD, you should find it to be an entertaining viewing.

Overall Rating: 6.5/10 - Okay

WWE Night Of Champions 2014

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: September 21 2014
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Attendance: 12,000

One major main event rematch stood out as the selling point for Night Of Champions beforehand. Indeed, the second biggest bout on the card had to be cancelled prior to show time (more on that later), the third most important scrap hadn't received much in the way of promotion, another match had a predictable result, and the other championship clashes were either rematches or were simply showdowns that didn't capture one's imagination in the run-up to the PPV. Fortunately, the quality of the action on display generally outweighed the uninspiring line-up, and so we ended up with a worthwhile show, even though NOC delivered some questionable results.

Opening the show was then WWE Tag Team Title match, pitting The Usos against Goldust and Stardust. The Dust Brothers took on a new layer when Cody Rhodes transformed into Stardust in June, and then they bizarrely (no pun intended) turned heel on the Usos shortly after SummerSlam, thus leading us to this PPV showdown. It had the potential to be a good match on paper, and so it proved on the night, but does anyone really want to boo Goldust at this stage of his career? And while the Stardust character is something different, I'm not sure if this is something that the "WWE Universe" really wants to see either.

The Usos, in contrast, have had a great year in the ring: having been greeted positively since their fairly big push began in late 2013, they have since main evented Raw, won the Tag Titles, had an association with John Cena, and generally delivered the best WWE tag bouts in years, including a barn-storming opener to Battleground alongside Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. Therefore, given the odd (another unintentional pun) direction that The Dust Family have gone in lately, it seemed like The Usos would triumph here. But no: after countering a Jey Uso splash, Stardust surprisingly rolled Jey up for the pinfall and the tag straps. The crowd responded well to the shock title change, but unless The Usos are slated to regain the belts shortly, this seemed like a strange booking decision. Still, it does make the new champions relevant again, having seen their own push fizzle out shortly after the year began.

While Sheamus vs. Cesaro had an enjoyable battle at Payback in June, their rematch reeked of laziness by the WWE creative team. Sheamus' run as United States Champion hasn't exactly been a roaring success (his star power has reduced with every passing month), while Cesaro has seen his fortunes plunge since it was abruptly decided that he was no longer a Paul Heyman Guy. Having already seen Cesaro fail to capture the title with Heyman at his side, surely his chances of winning a rematch here were slim. And why did we have to wait nearly four months for the Swiss Superman to get a second chance? Actually, the answer comes from the response to another question: WWE didn't have anyone else slated to challenge Sheamus on the night when every title was at stake. In other words, this match was filler.

Still, the two men gave us a fun bout in their last PPV meeting, and we got another entertaining battle here. This might have been superior, in fact: the action was of a high quality, and both men were really laying in those blows. I thought going in that Cesaro might have won, in order to provide this show with a title change in a match that wouldn't have affected WWE's long-term plans, and to help rehabilitate Cesaro's career. Instead, WWE opted to keep the title on Sheamus following a Brogue Kick out of nowhere. The hope is that Sheamus is given fresh opposition to build on his strong performance here. As for Cesaro, though, it seems that things will only continue to get worse for the man who was supposed to become one of the company's biggest breakout stars after WrestleMania XXX.

If you were watching the Intercontinental Title match between Dolph Ziggler and The Miz in the arena, you probably would have enjoyed it: although it wasn't as good as their SummerSlam opener, it was a fair effort which saw their respective managers R-Ziggler (R-Truth serving as Dolph's stunt double; hearing the announcers debate how similar the two men are visually was awkward) and Damien Sandow (Miz's stunt double) provide some commotion at ringside, the distractions generally leading to Miz surprisingly rolling up Ziggler to regain the IC Title.

If you watched it at home, however (as I did), the match would have felt entirely pointless (and it did). That's because WWE decided to put country band Florida Georgia Line on commentary, as they are performing at Tribute To The Troops in December. That's nice of them to get involved, but since they had no connection to those involved in the match, and are soft-spoken (they are country singers, after all), it just served to reduce the importance of this bout. At times, the announcers were more concerned with FGL than they were with the IC Title action in the ring. They did get involved near the end (to a big cheer, incidentally), but their overall presence made the match feel like it didn't matter. And, in the long run, it didn't, because Dolph actually beat Miz to get the gold back 24 hours later on Raw. Situations like this don't exactly enhance one's entertainment of WWE television. Sandow is showing potential as Miz's stunt double, though, which is something to take from it all, I guess.

Match four was supposed to pit Roman Reigns against Seth Rollins. However, Reigns had to have emergency hernia surgery days before NOC, which it was revealed would keep him out of action for a few months. One wonders whether WWE knew this would happen, since Roman actually pinned Seth on Raw the previous Monday. The timing of their Raw match felt odd (why would they meet on TV if they had a PPV scrap six days later?), so perhaps his surgery was known within WWE. Either way, Rollins no longer had an opponent, and so he decided to come to the ring and "officially" beat the absent Reigns by countout.

Enter Dean Ambrose. Last seen being Curb Stomped into a centre block on Raw the night after SummerSlam, and been injured since (he's actually been making a film for WWE Studios), Ambrose returned here to a huge ovation; one would have thought that Dean hadn't been on television for months, rather than a few weeks. That's a sign that his feud with Rollins has been warmly received, with this moment being the next chapter: the two ex-Shield members had a wide brawl, with Triple H coming out to have Ambrose thrown out of the arena. One suspects a supercard clash between Rollins and Ambrose at Hell In A Cell. Will WWE allow them to settle the score inside the cage itself? This would be a perfect feud to put inside the Cell, especially given the level of crowd support right now for Ambrose (and the encouraging heel heat that Rollins is now getting from fans).

The next encounter to enter the ring was Rusev vs. Mark Henry. Although Henry is as stale as any WWE character, WWE did a good job of making this match seem rather important (with Henry supposedly fighting for America itself against the Russian sympathiser), particularly by actually positioning their Raw confrontation in the main event slot, and with Lilian Garcia singing the American national anthem with passion prior to the match, to the point that Henry was in tears, overcome with emotion. Either that or he was upset that fans might chant Sexual Chocolate at him again once the bell rang.

This was your standard WWE big man match, and your standard American vs. anti-American battle for that matter. It held one's attention, and the fans were on the World's Strongest Man's side, but realistically nobody believed that Rusev's undefeated record would end here to Henry. And it didn't: Rusev picked up the win, by making Henry submit to the Accolade which was a minor shocker. Given Mark's post-match reaction, and his previous locker room chatter with Big Show, one suspects that a) Show will face Rusev next, b) Henry will turn heel (again) on Show and feud with him (again), or c) Show will turn heel (yet again) and feud with Henry. None of the options are particularly exciting, but at least Rusev's star continues to rise. I have to point out that JBL on commentary criticises every American who submits to Rusev, but has yet to challenge the Bulgarian Brute himself (and probably won't, since he is retired). What a hypocrite, eh?

On paper, Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton looked like being a fun match. However, the promotion of this meeting between two former World Champions was as follows: Y2J insulted Orton when talking to Triple H on Raw a few weeks earlier. Orton responded by beating up Jericho in the trainer's room one week later (inexplicably saying "What? It's the Season Premiere", which is embarrassing more than it is threatening). The PPV match was made. And that was it! Besides, Y2J has just lost a feud to Bray Wyatt, and Orton had recently lost virtually every feud he had been involved in from WrestleMania onwards. Like Sheamus vs. Cesaro, this felt like more filler.

Fortunately, though, Y2J and Orton rose above the almost non-existent storyline to provide us with a great match, easily the best of the night, and probably their best meeting to date. After a deliberately slow-building start, it evolved into a highly-competitive battle chock-full of big moves and dramatic near-falls. In the end, Y2J leapt back-to-front from the corner only to taste an RKO that won the match for Orton (basically, the spot by which Orton beat Christian for the World Heavyweight Title on a 2011 edition of SmackDown). Speaking of Christian, I forgot to mention that Captain Charisma had Y2J as his guest on The Peep Show (during the, erm, Kick-Off Show), with the highlight being a genuinely funny comment from Orton whereby he described Y2J and Double-C as being the real-life version of Terrance and Philip from South Park. Yes, I am a South Park fan. And I was a fan of this match: a true show-stealer, bouts like this are evidence that, sometimes, all you need is two really capable wrestlers and a free rein to just tear it up. A superb match, and a good way for Y2J to bow out as he ends his latest WWE run.

The matchmaking for the Divas Title bout was questionable. The main female storyline since SummerSlam has concerned Nikki Bella's shock heel turn on twin sister Brie at SummerSlam, and subsequent Raw segments with Nikki making all kinds of unpleasant remarks about Brie. Never mind that the acting has been atrocious (Nikki is better than Brie, but not by much), the segments generally dull, the remarks at times unnecessarily harsh, and the whole thing compromised by The Bellas' Twitter account basically telling us: this is a storyline (yes, I know they don't really despise each other, but why hit us in the face with such information?). Meanwhile, in an unrelated tale, AJ Lee is looking to regain the Divas Title from Paige in their ongoing (less cluttered, and actually more enjoyable) feud.

As the two were not linked, the only way to suitably bring them together would have been Paige vs. Nikki (with Stephanie McMahon rewarding Nikki for helping her beat Brie at SummerSlam, although it would have been heel vs. heel), or a four-way involving both Bellas, Paige and AJ. Instead, we got a compromise in the form of a 3-way, which kinda makes sense in making Brie feel ousted (the Authority are meant to hate her, remember), but just felt weird. A 4-way was the, erm, way to go here. Not that it mattered: the result was the most unexpected of the three (I expected Nikki to win so that she would become the Authority's golden girl, or at least for Paige to keep the title). AJ would win here (making her title loss at SummerSlam another pointless title switch), and by making Paige submit to the Black Widow. Although it feels like it's had its time after this latest title change, it looks like AJ vs. Paige will carry on, but why didn't Brie interfere to deny Nikki the title and thus enhance their feud? Whoever is booking the Divas division is not exactly doing a flawless job right now. One could say that about WWE in general right now, to be honest.

A good example of this came in the promotion for the main event, funnily enough. To recap: having previously been the 1 in 21-1 (he ended The Undertaker's WrestleMania undefeated Streak, if you're unaware), Brock Lesnar absolutely smashed John Cena to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam. Although Cena has been, well, Super-Cena for years now, this was a true beating, so it's understandable that to portray Cena as a threat to Brock's title in their rematch here at Night Of Champions, he had to look strong in the interim. (Some would argue that a weakened Cena challenging the almighty Lesnar would have been a better twist, but that's another story). As part of this, though, Cena was booked to destroy all three members of the once-unstoppable Wyatt Family. Not just Bray Wyatt, not just Luke Harper, not just Erick Rowan. All of them. And with Big Show and Mark Henry cheering him on, almost as if all three established names were giving an FU to those who criticise the staleness of the WWE product. This drubbing was such a setback for the Wyatts that none have been seen on WWE TV since. Meanwhile, Vince McMahon was probably happy: Cena was now Super-Cena again!

Despite this, some very good promos between Cena and Paul Heyman in the remaining few weeks of the NOC run-in helped to build this match up as a real talking point. Lesnar is part-time, so keeping the title on him might represent a challenge. But he's been so dominant that surely they couldn't have him lose here? Plus, could Cena feasibly become WWE Champ after being mauled so convincingly by Brock in their previous showdown? Yet he surely wouldn't be destroyed again, would he? Two big-names battling for the title in a main event where the outcome is of genuine intrigue. That's a hark back to the old days, isn't it?

Joking aside, one genuinely did wonder how WWE would handle this match, especially since the chances are that a Lesnar victory here would probably mean a fairly long title reign for The Beast. Lesnar immediately charged at Cena (who was wearing oddly-coloured camouflage shorts, almost like he'd forgotten his own and had to quickly find a replacement pair), as he did at SummerSlam, but unlike last time, it was Cena who hit an early finisher in the form of an AA. Like an excessively difficult videogame character, Lesnar kicked out at one! Brock then began hitting German suplexes on Cena, although the odds of him hitting 16 of them again were unlikely (he didn't).

Several more suplexes mixed with some brutal strikes meant that Cena was once again reeling at the feet of Lesnar as the match rolled on. But Cena struck back with a desperation AA, this time getting a two-count. With Brock somewhat reeling, Cena managed to apply an STF, only to be reversed into a Kimura Lock. Although it once broke Triple H's arm (twice) an d Shawn Michaels' arm too, and Cena had taken a beating, John managed to counter it by picking Brock up whilst in the hold and slam him down. A third AA and another STF later, and suddenly Cena looked like he was one big move away from becoming Champ. He hit a fourth AA and pinned the seemingly-finished Brock, only to be attacked by ... Seth Rollins???

Rollins hit Cena with his Money In The Bank briefcase, causing a disqualification. Seth then shockingly hit Lesnar with a Curb Stomp, and the clocks turning in his head suggested that he had an unmissable chance to cash in MITB on Lesnar. But before the most unlikely title change in years could occur, Cena hit Rollins with an AA, only to taste an F5 from Lesnar, who left looking stronger than a man who had tasted five finishers normally would, but still somewhat weaker, yet satisfied that through it all, he remained the World Champion.

In hindsight, the outcome of this match was always going to be a controversial decision, since the negatives of either man winning by pinfall or submission under any circumstances probably outweighed the positives in some form (that, by the way, is the philosophy to take going forward: if you get a major match where both men could be harmed should they lose, expect a DQ finish). Rollins appearing was a surprise, and him avoiding a beating from Lesnar is intriguing. Might Seth be Brock's opponent somewhere down the line? Meanwhile, Cena coming so close to winning may have annoyed those who see Brock as something of a modern-day King Kong, but it does open the door to a potential Cena-Lesnar decider inside and at Hell In A Cell. That's assuming, of course, that Lesnar appears on every PPV while he holds the title, which isn't a guarantee. The match itself was enjoyable, but it won't be remembered as much as their previous supercard showdown.

On the whole, then, Night Of Champions was basically a show which didn't have a great reason to exist, and didn't leave much in the way of memorable moments. That being said, we got a fantastic match between Jericho and Orton, a few good matches elsewhere on the card, a surprise return of sorts for Dean Ambrose, further momentum for Rusev, and an engaging main event (even if the ending felt like a bit of a let-down at the time) with intriguing potential storyline avenues for those involved. It certainly wasn't the best WWE PPV of 2014, but it delivered enough that Night Of Champions ended up being a worthwhile three hours of wrestling-related entertainment.

Overall Rating: 7/10 - Respectable

WWE Night Of Champions 2015

Image Source: TV Newsroom

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWE
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: September 20 2015
Location: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Attendance: 14,369

On the surface, the annual WWE Night Of Champions has decreased in importance over the last few years, not because the show itself is inconsequential, but because with fewer titles than at any point since the mid-1990s, WWE now regularly promotes PPV cards where every Championship is at stake. However, if you look closely, that hasn't been the case. Since the WWE World Titles were unified at TLC 2013, reducing the title count to five, we have seen Payback 2014, Hell In A Cell 2014, Survivor Series 2014, TLC 2014 and Fast Lane 2015 without a World Title match; Royal Rumbles 2014 and 2015 featured no other matches for Championship gold; Elimination Chamber 2014, WrestleMania XXX and Extreme Rules 2014 did not feature a United States Championship match, nor did Money In The Bank 2014, Battleground 2014 or SummerSlam 2014; WrestleMania 31, Battleground 2015 and SummerSlam 2015 did not see the Divas Title at stake; the Intercontinental Title wasn't on the line at Extreme Rules 2015 (although it was supposed to be defended, to be fair) or at Payback 2015; and the first two John Cena-Kevin Owens bouts at Elimination Chamber 2015 and Money In The Bank 2015 were not for the U.S. Title.

Therefore, by chance or by design, Night Of Champions remains the only WWE PPV where all five regular titles are on the line. That could change in the future, especially if the Intercontinental and United States Championships are ever unified, as has been rumoured (and desired) for years now. But regardless, for all intents and purposes, NOC is still the one show where all straps are at stake. Phew!

The main storyline heading into this year's instalment of the gold-themed PPV series was based on Seth Rollins and the fact that becoming a double Champion at SummerSlam ended up being a double-edged sword; not only would he be required to defend the WWE World Title against Sting in a historic showdown, but he was also scheduled to put the United States Title on the line against former champ John Cena. Adding to his woes, Sheamus had strongly hinted that a Money In The Bank cash-in would be likely, since Rollins would theoretically be physically spent after wrestling two huge matches (and back-to-back matches at that). It seemed unfathomable that Rollins would remain a double champ after NOC, under the circumstances, but would Rollins have any gold at all or could he pull off a miracle? And if he did retain a title, which one would it be?

The Kick-Off show featured a six-man tag team match pitting the newly-formed Cosmic Wasteland combination of Stardust and The Ascension against Neville and The Lucha Dragons. The continuation of a long storyline which began with Stardust first threatening Arrow star Stephen Amell back in June, this was by and large a standard pre-show bout, save for a sensational triple dive by the good guys, with Sin Cara and Kalisto hitting tope/senton dives at the same time as a Neville moonsault, all to the floor before a huge ovation. In the end, Stardust sacrificed one of his partners by shoving Viktor into Neville, who was about to hit the Red Arrow, and then connected with Queen's Crossbow (formerly Cross Rhodes) on Neville for the victory.

I assume that Neville and Stardust will square off at least once more, if not a future Amell-Stardust singles match, but I don't see how much more WWE can do with this feud, or with Stardust as the whacked-out weirdo, for that matter. He has undoubtedly shown previously unseen charisma, but if WWE doesn't plan to bring back Goldust for one last match with his brother under the Stardust guise, I don't really see the point of the character continuing. It'd be different if this was a unique, fresh new persona, but it is really an extension of the more famous gimmick which Dustin Rhodes/Runnels first played in 1995. I don't mind seeing more of Stardust as Stardust, but can't we just get Cody Rhodes?

The PPV card kicked off with the Intercontinental Title match between Ryback and Kevin Owens. Going in, I expected a win for the villain here, because as good a job as Ryback has done with the IC Title since winning it at Elimination Chamber, there isn't that much more he can do with it, unless he entered a red-hot feud with a super-over bad guy. Owens arguably fits that role, but he actually stood to benefit more from winning the gold here, especially since his momentum has fizzled out a bit since the end of the Cena feud at Battleground.

And, as expected, Owens did win the match. The two matched up well and exchanged a good number of big moves; there were cool spots and last-second kick-outs, but not enough to seem over-the-top or to reduce the impact of finishing moves (a frequent problem in WWE matches this year). As a matter of fact, no finishers were used here at all, although Ryback did try to hoist Owens up for Shell Shocked. It was this which allowed the Canadian to rake the Champ's eyes and roll him up for the three count (which met with great approval amongst the Houston throng). This was a good opener, but it felt like a precursor to bigger and better things, so I'd like to see these two have a rematch at Hell In A Cell.

Speaking of Hell In A Cell: it was announced after the opening contest in a video package that Brock Lesnar would face The Undertaker in a HIAC match at the Hell In A Cell card (to conclude Lesnar's "Road To Hell Tour", which takes in a Madison Square Garden match with Big Show on the WWE Network and a Stone Cold podcast appearance). I'm happy that this feud will presumably be ending at HIAC rather than being dragged on until WrestleMania 32; I've enjoyed their interaction, especially over the summer, but I don't think a great number of fans want to see them meet at another Mania. With plans having changed, one begins to wonder who Lesnar and Taker will now face at WrestleMania. More importantly in the short-term, though, can these two produce a HIAC contest to remember in the PG era, especially given how brutal and extremely bloody their last Cell match was at No Mercy 2002? (This will be the second HIAC rematch, by the way, after John Cena-Randy Orton at HIAC 2014.)

Next up was Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev. I have to be honest, this feud hasn't exactly piqued my interest. It started way back in May with Lana leaving Rusev (or Rusev dumping Lana, depending on your point of view) and Lana going off with Dolph Ziggler. A subsequent foot injury to Rusev led to him eventually introducing Summer Rae as his "new" Lana, and storyline injuring Ziggler until Dolph returned for a SummerSlam showdown that ended in a double countout. A mixed tag team match seemed assured, until a wrist injury to Lana meant she was out of the picture. Meanwhile, WWE had begun hinting at a possible Ziggler-Summer Rae affair, complete with prolonged "drama" and somewhat dodgy acting skills. Overall, the feud has given those involved a purpose on television, but it has that dreaded "fake" feel; in other words, unlike the Edge-Lita-Matt Hardy saga of 2005 (which started out real, to be fair) or other similar plotlines, this one has felt like soap opera from the start.

So, my hope was that NOC would mark the end of the feud. If it does prove to be that way, it will fortunately end on a high as Ziggler and Rusev produced an impressive match, and an improvement on their meeting at SummerSlam. Summer Rae's presence ended up bungling things for her so-called man, as her attempted interference saw her thrown out by the referee, and a shoe thrown at the ref ended up hitting Rusev, which led to a Zig Zag and a Ziggler win. I am hoping that over the next few weeks, Ziggler is slowly removed from Rusev and Summer Rae on television and is directed into something that fans (or male fans, at least) can appreciate based on Ziggler's in-ring skills. A Show-off he may be, but a great actor, he ain't. As for Rusev? At this point, the once-unstoppable Bulgarian Brute appears to be on a downward spiral, and I am unsure at this point what could elevate him back to the upper mid-card. (Oh, and Ziggler's tights featured a picture of Lana's face. Just thought I'd mention that.)

Match three pitted The New Day (NEW DAY!) against The Dudley Boyz. New Day have continued to grow in popularity since regaining the Tag Team Titles at SummerSlam, to the point where they are now one of WWE's most popular acts despite their heel roles. They were on form again here with another daft pre-match interview, and Xavier Woods (sporting a new, ridiculous black-and-red hair style) played the trombone at ringside during the bout in a mixture of being annoying and being downright hilarious. Case in point: Kofi Kingston at one point had Bubba Ray Dudley on his knees and delivered a series of punches, while Xavier was playing the Rocky theme on the trombone. Priceless. WWE should strike while the iron is hot and release an iTunes album of Xavier performing several famous tunes on the trombone; it'd be more entertaining than some of their theme songs these days.

As for The Dudleyz: having returned as a surprise to a monster pop on Raw the night after SummerSlam, they were focused on winning their first WWE Tag Titles since 2004. Despite a lukewarm reaction when they came out here, they performed well, save for a botched top rope suplex by Bubba that almost broke Big E's neck. I fully expected a non-finish here, since New Day shouldn't lose the gold (or bronze?) while being so popular and wildly entertaining, and The Dudleyz are too soon into their comeback to lose a PPV doubles bout. And that's exactly what happened, as Xavier's interference prevented Bubba pinning Kofi off a 3D, leading to a Dudleyz DQ win. Afterwards, New Day left their opponents laying and hilarious reneged on their "Save The Tables!" campaign by planning to put one or both Dudleyz through a table. But instead, a reversal of fortunes saw Xavier taste a 3D through a table. This feud will continue, most likely culminating in a Tables match on PPV where The Dudleyz will once again win the Tag Team Titles.

Following this was the Divas Championship match between Nikki Bella and Charlotte, the build-up to which had been somewhat controversial. Having reigned as Champ since Survivor Series 2014, Nikki was closing in on setting a new all-time record for the title that was born in 2008. A Raw match with Charlotte was make-or-break, as she would either lose the title on the night she equalled the record or would lose it. As it turned out, the highly over-used Twin Magic trick kept the title on Nikki allowing her to set a new record, but with a rematch pencilled in for NOC. As poor as the manner in which this was achieved was (give us a new heel tactic, WWE), more frustrating were two other aspects of the circumstances by which Nikki achieved this milestone. It seemed that this was done purely to beat AJ Lee's previous record for the simple reason that she left WWE, and that is partly because AJ married WWE's public enemy number one, CM Punk, a few months after he left WWE. Whether you agree with their explanations for leaving WWE or not (although we never got one in AJ's case, besides the assumption that her marriage to Punk was causing internal issues), this was an unbelievably petty way of trying to make fans "forget" about the contributions of AJ - WWE's best diva since the heydays of Trish Stratus and Lita - and to "punish" her and Punk, as if they care, nearly two years after Punk originally left the company. The other rumoured explanation for Nikki's record-breaking reign sounds even more blood-boiling; the rumour has been that Nikki's boyfriend John Cena has prevented WWE from taking the title off Nikki more than once since she became Champ, thus partly explaining the slightly muddled manner in which the "Divas Revolution" began in July. If the latter is true, then Cena may someday be left with no choice but to turn heel, such will be the animosity towards him, especially considering that Nikki is not exactly the best female wrestler of her generation, despite what WWE's hype machine says. (That being said, nobody complained when Cena supposedly opened doors for Zack Ryder to achieve success in late 2011, nor for the rumours that he and Triple H have been responsible for Cesaro's mini-push over the last couple of months, no doubt because both men are or were popular with hardcore fans. That's wrestling for you.)

Apologies for that long paragraph, but it required a lengthy explanation. Back to the match at hand: the original rumour that WWE was only keeping the title on Nikki until she broke AJ's record appeared to be true as Charlotte finally ended it here following a Figure-8 (which Nikki was barely in before tapping out). It was a decent match, based on Nikki targeting Charlotte's legs, but not one which will be remembered that much. The post-match celebration between Charlotte, her Team PCB cohorts Paige and Becky Lynch and her dad Ric Flair (Whooooo!) was more notable than the bout it was concluding. The hope is that the "Divas Revolution" will now truly explode, with potential title bouts for Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Becky, Paige and possibly Bayley if she's called up, along with the other main roster girls and forgotten females like Natalya. The even greater hope is that the era of Bella boredom is now over. Unfortunately, the news that Brie and Nikki's mother - their mum! - is marrying John Laurinaitis ("the former Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, and the former General Manager of Raw and SmackDown ... People Power!") suggests that this won't be the case. Criticise Triple H all you want, but at least his family only integrated with one influential wrestling person, not three.

Match five was a source of intrigue beforehand, as Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman and Luke Harper would battle Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and a mystery partner. All sorts of names were thrown about to be partnering with the former Shield members, from NXT star Baron Corbin to The Rock himself, along with such names as Kane, former Wyatt member Erick Rowan and Randy Orton. I was half-expecting a Daniel Bryan comeback for some reason, and during the show, frequent Rey Mysterio references made me think that HE might have showed up, despite how nonsensical it would have been in the storyline. What we weren't expecting, unfortunately, was a fan to get in the ring and line up with Reigns and Ambrose, leading security to hurl him out to a smattering of boos (although if you can find the brief picture online, the visual of him standing as a possible member of The Shield was funny; even funnier was Wyatt taking advantage by shouting "Is that your partner?" A hilarious adlib, in my opinion.). This is the fourth time in the last two months that a fan has gotten close to or even launched a form of attack on a WWE star during a show (and all linked to former Shield members, bizarrely), and follows an incident at the London SmackDown in April where several fans jumped in the ring before the tag team main event as a guerrilla marketing stunt. In all seriousness, WWE has to tackle this problem, because the last thing that anybody wants is for a wrestler to be seriously hurt by an idiot fan. Even more worryingly, any fans who do try stunts like this are likely to take a far more severe beating by security, and maybe even by the wrestlers themselves.

Anyway, the mystery was solved when Chris Jericho came out to join up with Reigns and Ambrose to a positive reaction. I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting it to be Y2J (I'm not sure why, since he has been heavily involved with WWE on virtually everything which isn't Raw, SmackDown or a PPV), so it was a nice surprise. Some fans weren't happy, but Jericho does have history with The Wyatts, and no matter who the partner was going to be, one sensed that the Wyatts would win, meaning that in the end the partner's identity wouldn't matter. And fair play to Y2J, as the established veteran in his first proper WWE in-ring appearance since NOC 2014 (he fought Neville in a great match in Japan, but that was a one-off showing) cleanly put over Strowman via submission to his as-yet-unnamed choke. Jericho had slightly heelishly tagged himself in from Reigns moments earlier, and he acted like a villain by angrily bumping past Ambrose and Reigns after the bout. It looks like Y2J will be sticking around, and appears to be turning heel for a feud with Reigns and/or Ambrose. If it brings an end to the Wyatts/Shield-of-sorts rivalry, I won't mind, since it's been going on since Money In The Bank now and, to me, has run its course. (By the way, my WWE Network connection went a bit fuzzy from midway through the Divas bout through to the vast majority of this match. I still saw everything, but the picture wasn't very clear; I haven't researched online, but I do hope that this was a one-off and that the WWE Network signal will be strong for Hell In A Cell and forthcoming events.)

And so we come to Seth Rollins' double duty of doom. First up was a United States Title defence against John Cena, which by and large resembled their SummerSlam match, only with slightly fewer flashy moves by Rollins and the knowledge in people's minds that we couldn't see too much of Seth's repertoire here, because he still had to face Sting (and possibly Sheamus) later on. Fortunately, Cena's performance was an improvement on his SummerSlam appearance, as he delved more into his arsenal of moves and generally gave more than we saw when these two last faced off on August 23. Cena countered a Rollins turnbuckle powerbomb attempt into a sweet hurricanrana, avoided a frog splash and hit a tornado DDT. Rollins maintained control, however, most notably by treating us again to a top rope suplex into a second standing suplex, but to no avail.

Seth also hit a Five-Knuckle Shuffle earlier in the match in an attempt to mock Cena, but the egg would be on Seth's face by the end of the bout as Cena cleanly pinned him with an AA to regain the U.S. Title. I wasn't that surprised at the result, but given that Cena's AA has actually been unsuccessful more often than it has been successful in recent months, it was unexpected that he would only require one Attitude Adjustment to win here, and against the World Champ no less (even if that particular title wasn't at stake here). In the end, the match served its purpose; Cena and Rollins shouldn't feud again until there is only one title at stake, meaning that Cena will probably now move on to a new opponent, probably via the United States Open Challenge (might WWE be daring and call up Samoa Joe to follow in the footsteps of Kevin Owens?). Actually, when you think about it, Cena and Rollins are now right back where they started, which would lead some to argue that the entire exercise was a bit pointless. (Incidentally, prior to this match, it was Tweeted that before Rollins-Cena, every WWE title was in the possession of a former NXT grappler. Food for thought.)

But then, of course, we had Seth's next match, for the WWE World Title against Sting. Rollins originally tried to run away, but Cena brought him back and drilled him with an AA. I actually thought at this point that WWE would swerve us and have Sheamus cash in MITB on Rollins here, and then lose the WWE Title to Sting. But WWE adhered to the main plan, and had Sting then come out quite quickly to begin his challenge at Rollins' crown, his first ever crack at the WWE Championship. This actually made Rollins look more like a babyface, if anything, especially as he then took a fairly prolonged beating from The Stinger. But Seth turned things around when he gave Sting an awkward and painful-looking shove through an announcer's table off of one desk. It was hard to tell if Sting's head collided with a monitor or not; either way, Sting was hurting.

Rollins then took firm control of the bout, even hitting Sting with two turnbuckle powerbombs, one of which apparently caused a serious neck injury to Sting. Details are sketchy right now but some are reporting that Sting's career could be at jeopardy as a result. I truly hope not, primarily for his health and because it'd be a shame to miss out on the Sting-Undertaker match, which prior to this incident seemed a certainty with Taker-Lesnar being moved to Hell In A Cell. This explains the pause in the NOC main event where it appeared that Sting couldn't continue. But he rallied and ended up trapping Rollins in the Scorpion Deathlock, which Seth escaped via the ropes the first time, and which second time he reversed into a cradle for the clean-as-a-sheet pinfall win. I thought that, considering his age (56), Sting's performance here was superb, and I was surprised he even agreed to take the turnbuckle powerbombs which have ultimately caused an injury. If it does end up being his last match, performance-wise he went out on a high, although I was surprised that WWE had him lose cleanly, even if the match was cut short due to Sting's neck problems (that being said, it wasn't the deflating, let-all-the-air-out-the-room loss that Sting suffered to Triple H at WrestleMania 31, partly because many didn't actually expect him to win here, and partly because most hardcore fans didn't really want Rollins to lose the World Title).

It seemed that Rollins had done his double duty (and very well, I might add), but then Sheamus' music hit and he levelled Rollins with a Brogue Kick, and signalled for the referee to begin his official cash-in of the Money In The Bank. The official took a bit too long, which indicated to me that something would prevent the moment from coming to fruition (whenever MITB is cashed in for real, it's usually done quick as a flash). The obstacle would come in the form of another comeback, this time the unexpected return of Kane, complete with mask and old (well, 2011-2014) attire! We last saw Kane getting his leg smashed by Brock Lesnar in July, and being insulted heavily by Rollins for being the victim of said attack, so it wasn't surprising that Kane chokeslammed Rollins. It seemed that Sheamus would get his moment of glory after all, until Kane also chokeslammed him, and then tombstoned Rollins to end the show. It looks like we're finally getting that Rollins-Kane title feud, five months after most expected it, while it appears that Sheamus will have to wait until he cashes in MITB (which is a good thing, because few were enthralled by the prospect of Sheamus winning the World Title here).

On the whole, I liked Night Of Champions, but it was lacking the elements that would have made it a great show. It had several good matches, two surprise returns and three title changes, but none of the bouts grabbed you like Lesnar-Taker at SummerSlam or any of the Cena-Owens showdowns. And while it was good to see Jericho and Kane return, they weren't exactly comebacks which you will remember for years to come. So, a good effort by WWE, and the show was certainly no worse than expected, but I am hoping for more from Hell In A Cell next month, when it looks like we'll get Rollins vs. Kane and the end of the feud between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker.

Overall Rating: 7/10 - Respectable