In case you’re not keeping track Night of Champions will
be the first WWE pay-per-special event to fall after the expiry date of the initial
batch of Network subscriptions. Because of that many people, including myself,
expected everything possible would be done could to make it a can’t miss (or,
if you prefer, must see) showing. Not only have they not done that but they’ve
opted to present a card which is decidedly uninspiring.
Take Randy Orton and Roman Reigns for example. They had
been at loggerheads since the night after WrestleMania, albeit indirectly.
They’d faced off in six man tag matches at Extreme Rules and Payback, been in
the same ladder match at Money in the Bank, and the same championship match at
Battleground. It took until SummerSlam for them to have a full length,
competitive match that didn’t dissolve into nonsense.
You’d think that after waiting so long to pit the two
against one another in a singles bout WWE would want to have them face off in a
rematch on the following pay-per-spesh. That’s their usual approach and the
pairing’s still fresh, so it would have made sense. Instead they brought the
rematch forward to the “season premiere” edition of RAW and then had ‘The
Viper’ randomly attack Chris Jericho later in the night, for no reason other
than to set up a new match for Night of Champs. That’s the same Chris Jericho
who’s deciding third encounter with Bray Wyatt had opened that episode of RAW
instead of taking place at NOC.
Those rematches, in and of themselves, were good ideas.
Reigns failed to get the second clean victory he probably needed but Orton
didn’t beat him. Meanwhile Bray Wyatt did get the victory he deserved in his
cage match against Chris Jericho. He won the feud. Unfortunately these results
have left us with Reigns being shunted into a match against Seth Rollins,
Jericho and Orton facing off because someone in WWE feels they have to be used
on the show, and Wyatt being left off the announced card altogether.
But the lack of thought doesn’t end there. Instead of
saving the first televised encounter between Rollins and Reigns for a
pay-per-view WWE decided to give it away for free on the September 15 RAW.
After they’d announced it for Night of Champions. The logic of that, if there
is any, completely escapes me.
Rollins versus Reigns is a match that could and probably
should have been kept in reserve for a later date when both men are more
established. The issues they’re fighting over are terribly generic. Rollins has
cost Reigns a match with Orton and smacked him with the Money in the Bank
briefcase. Very little has been made of their shared past in The Shield, save
for Rollins stating over and over again that he “created” Reigns.
The rivalry could almost have written itself. The first
televised meeting between the two former Shield members deserved more. Both men
are also at a point where they really need steady victories. Frankly it would
have made more sense for WWE to keep them apart until after next year’s
WrestleMania and have Rollins cash in on newly crowned champion Reigns (that
assumes a lot, but they seem safe assumptions right now).
But that’s not what we’ve got. With this scenario the
best thing WWE could do is have Reigns go down to a screwy finish. That would
keep heat on Rollins and protect Reigns from looking too heavily pushed,
something which will lead to crowds turning on him if WWE aren’t careful.
That Jericho v Orton match is going to be as forgettable
as all of their other matches. With ‘The Highlight of the Night’ set to
disappear again soon he’ll probably lose this match. Orton will probably get to
do the angle that writes him off TV, either on this show or RAW the next night,
but it would be nice if the accolade was given to Rollins via his new cement
block skull-annihilation finisher.
Speaking of accolades, Rusev will face proud American
Mark Henry (how seamless was that?).
I don’t think this one needs much discussion. ‘The World’s Strongest Man’ is a
physically intimidating big lad who can be sacrificed to make Rusev look good.
It’s all about building Rusev up. Expect Henners to put up a spirited fight
before being trapped in The Accolade.
Because of the show’s name the rest of the matches on the
show will be for championships. Outside of the WWE championship match only one
of those defences interests me: the Intercontinental title match between
challenger The Miz and champion Dolph Ziggler. Their rivalry hasn’t blown
anyone away over the last month but enough has been done to make it clear why
they’re facing each other here and to make it more than just another dispute.
Miz has done some solid work with his new Hollywood gimmick while ‘The Show
Off’ is just about the best choice for IC champ on the current roster. If WWE
wants to make that title mean something again this is the sort of approach they
need to stick with: an athletic, popular babyface being spotlighted and
sensible booking that creates a logical reason for matches to happen. Ziggler
to win.
The lesser of the two mid-card straps, the US
championship, will be defended by Sheamus against Cesaro. I love Cesaro. I’m
not keen on Sheamus but if I’ve got to watch him wrestle ‘The King of Swing’ is
the sort of opponent I’d like to see him against. I still think the best use
for the US title is to add heat to Rusev but this will at least be an enjoyable
hossy showdown. Either man could leave with the gold but I’ll pick Cesaro just
because that’s what I’d prefer to see.
Tag champs, brothers, and sons of Rikishi, Jimmy and Jey
Uso will face former tag champs, brothers, and sons of Dusty Rhodes, Goldust and
Stardust at Night of Champions. The story of this match is that the dusts have
turned heel and become poor sports. No reason has been given for this change of
behaviour. We’ve been left to assume it’s happened because they know how
convenient it would be for the writing team or, if we’re feeling generous,
because Cody Rhodes taking on a Goldust-inspired character has tipped him over
the edge and driven him insane, with Goldy going along with his craziness for
the ride.
This will hopefully be a fun, entertaining match that
gets twelve minutes to draw people in and to churn out near falls. A title
change would be interesting and it’s not impossible, especially with Jey Uso’s
storyline leg injury, but I think the champions will retain. WWE have gone out
of their way to protect the Usos in title matches since they won the belts in
March. I’ve thought that approach would stop before and I’ve been wrong so I’ll
stick with them this time.
The Paige and AJ Lee feud will rumble on for another
month. This time it’s Paige making the defence after AJ lost the belt at
SummerSlam. The thing that will set this match apart is Nikki Bella’s
involvement. She was awarded a title match after turning on her sister at SummerSlam,
being dubbed the ideal face of the Divas division by Stephie Mac.
After the last few AJ versus Paige matches I’ve given up
on saying they could do something special. That feeling was based on their
ability and passion for wrestling. They’ve shown no hint of having particularly
good chemistry with one another. It’s unlikely Nikki Bella is going to improve
things there. That’s not to say she won’t win: her alignment with The Authority
(or Steph at least) could see her win via shenanigans. I’ll predict a Nikki
victory (a Niktory) because it would provide a change of scenery for the
women’s division. Just not a terribly promising one.
Finally there’s the Cena v Lesnar rematch. Their SummerSlam
match was many things: the second big fight match to headline SummerSlam in a
row; a masterful bit of storytelling; a promising sign of WWE building for the
future; and a joy for anyone who feels Cena doesn’t job enough, amongst others.
It is unlikely to be these things again.
Part of the reason SummerSlam worked as well as it did
was that it was unexpected. People thought Lesnar would win the championship
but I don’t think anyone thought it would come about in a glorified squash
match. The impact would be lost a second time around because it would be
expected and because it’s been shown Lesnar is capable of dominating Cena in
such a fashion. There’s also the issue of Cena’s status effecting things: WWE
were willing to sacrifice him in that fashion once but it’s tough to see them
doing it again so soon, even though Cena’s character is so established that it
could withstand a second such loss with ease.
Another story is needed for Cena and Lesnar’s second 2014
encounter. I think e’ve been given a clue to it in Paul Heyman’s promos over
the last five weeks. He has told Cena on several occasions that to beat ‘The
Beast’ he must become a beast. WWE tried doing this story at WrestleMania XXX
in Cena’s first match with Bray Wyatt (something which Heyman has referenced)
but they didn’t quite pull it off. There were a few reasons for that, the main
one being that the crowd hadn’t been primed to expect it, so they didn’t react
accordingly to the spots of Cena almost snapping and lobbing chairs at Wyatt (something
Cena had no problem with at Extreme Rules the next month). Without the narrative
exposition of Michael Cole it just looked like Cena was either indecisive or
forgetting the plan for the match.
This won’t be a problem at Night of Champions. Heyman
taunting that Cena will have to break his hustle, loyalty, respect code of
ethics has been a significant part of the build-up to this match and people
will understand moments in the match based around Cena struggling to not go too
far. Hopefully this match will make use of the excellent promo work (and I
should point out Cena’s been had his moments opposite Heyman) to tell that
different story and keep people interested in a different kind of way to the
SummerSlam mauling.
I’m picking Lesnar to win, because of my belief in the
long term plan for Reigns toppling him at WrestleMania 31. Cena could win and
lose the title back to ‘The Pain’ before ‘Mania but what would be the point of
that? It would make a Reigns win far less of an achievement.
The main event is clearly what’s propping Night of
Champions up. The undercard isn’t bad but there’s nothing there that will make
anyone renew their Network subscriptions. If they’d wanted to WWE could have
made this show far bigger than it looks right now. Triple H could have had a
match. ‘The Game’ would have been a far more interesting opponent for Reigns at
this point than Rollins. They could have advertised Ambrose for a return too. He’s
advertised for the following night’s RAW and is expected to be free for NOC. I
understand why a PPV appearance from him wouldn’t be advertised (surprise
return to get a big pop as he seeks retribution on villainous ol’ Seth Rollins
an’ all that) but if they’re trying to give people reasons to stay with the
Network, or sign up for the first time, they need to be using their bigger
names effectively.
Night of Champions looks like a show that could be good.
The undercard has potential and the main event is big. But that’s not enough
for a company struggling to encourage people to buy into their ne long term
business plan.
Predictions
summary:
Seth Rollins to defeat Roman Reigns
Rusev to defeat Mark Henry
Dolph Ziggler to defeat The Miz
The Usos to defeat Goldust and Stardust
Cesaro to defeat Sheamus for the United States championship
Nikki Bella to defeat Paige and AJ Lee for the Divas championship
Randy Orton to defeat Chris Jericho
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