A Night of Victories, a Night of Dreams, a Night of Change, the one night of the year where ever single championship in the WWE will be defended. It is Night of Champions.
Originally starting as an extension of the Vengeance PPV at the end of June, Night of Champions has always been a phenomenal concept for a PPV. It is a rarity to see all of the championships in the WWE defended all on the same show. Sadly the WWE has failed to give this PPV the hype it deserves. Night of Champions could be as big as Royal Rumble, Summerslam or Survivor Series if WWE took the time on Raw and Smackdown to stress the importance of this special occasion in the WWE calendar. This year’s event seems like more of the same. The PPV and many of the matches on the card have gotten little to no hype. Night of Champions has been built around CM Punk vs. Triple H, which is not even for a title! Like last month with Summerslam, WWE has not given many wrestling fans much confidence that this PPV will be at the quality we have seen this summer. Guess we will all have to see if WWE can pull it another great PPV this Sunday evening at the First Niagara Center for WWE Night of Champions.
Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley vs. John Morrison in a Fatal 4 Way for the U.S. Championship
It has been quite a few months since there has been a Fatal 4 Way on a PPV. The WWE needs to put a few more multi-man matches on PPVs. They spice things up and after a while singles matches just get a little stale. Well other than the Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger fighting over Vickie Guerrero’s management skills, there has been no build or hype for this match whatsoever. It was just thrown together this past week on Raw. With the men involved and the type of match, this bout would make one exciting opener. Hopefully the dust clears, we will see the Monday Night Delight, John Morrison emerge the new U.S. Championship. It will definitely boost the prestige of the U.S. Title as Ziggler has done more to hurt the titles’ stock than help it and give Morrison something to do.
Prediction: John Morrison wins the U.S. Championship
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Ted DiBiase for the Intercontinental Championship
Other than being thrown together at the last moment, this match has a little more going for it since both Rhodes and DiBiase have a history. Rhodes and DiBiase became friends and great tag team partners while apart of Legacy. When Legacy imploded early last year, Rhodes career soared while DiBiase plummeted to the bottom of the WWE. Ted was drafted to Smackdown this spring and Cody took Ted under his wing. Eventually the Undashing One grew tired of DIBiase’s constant failure and took his former friend and ally out. Ted returned to Smackdown this past Friday to get some payback. Now we have this match set for Night of Champions. Expect Cody to get the win in the first match of this new feud.
Prediction: Cody Rhodes retains
Kelly Kelly (c) vs. Beth Phoenix for the Diva’s Championship
Kelly Kelly just scraped by at Summerslam. Now we go to Buffalo, Beth Phoenix’s hometown, to see if the Glamazon can destroy the pretty model trying to pose as a wrestler and bring legitimacy to the Diva’s Championship. Ever since Summerslam, the whole storyline surrounding the Divas of Doom has been stagnant. By having Beth win the Diva’s Title, the WWE opens up plenty of great possibilities for the Divas division as the Divas of Doom begin their reign of terror, shaping the Divas division in their image.
Prediction: Beth Phoenix wins the Diva’s Championship
Air Boom (c) vs. The Miz & R-Truth for the WWE Tag Team Championship
When the WWE had Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston won the Tag Team Championships back at the end of August, they wanted to rebuild the once-great Tag Team Division. This Sunday at Night of Champions will be the first test. These four superstars have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to kick-start this tag team renaissance. To do just that, these superstars need to steal the show. They need to put on the best series of tag team matches the WWE has seen in years. It will be a huge task, but with the talent I personally believe they could do it.
Prediction: Air Boom retains
Randy Orton (c) vs. Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship
Aside from CM Punk vs. Triple H, this match has had the best build. Ever since Mark Henry took out the Big Show at Money in the Bank, the World’s Strongest Man has been on one hell of roll inducting superstars into his Hall of Pain left, right and center. There was no doubt that Henry would be the next No.1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, but at first many did not believe Mark would walk out of Buffalo with the title. How opinions can change as the WWE has done an incredible job of building the threat Henry poses to Orton’s title reign. They have built it to the point that it has been hard to see Orton retain. Sunday night in Buffalo will be the World’s Strongest Man’s best shot of ever winning the World Title, but Orton will not go done without a fight. A classic take on the Unstoppable Force vs. the Immovable Object, which should make an excellent championship bout.
Prediction: Mark Henry wins the World Heavyweight Championship
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship
While the WWE has done an incredible job of building the World Heavyweight Championship match, they have completely dropped the ball with this match. John Cena has been in squash mode for the last month. He and the WWE have done nothing to make Del Rio look like he has a remote chance of beating Super Cena. We, wrestling fans have lived with enough title changes to last the rest of the year. The thought of Cena winning the WWE Title for umpteenth time is one unsettling feeling. Alberto Del Rio HAS to beat John Cena at Night of Champions or the time and money the WWE invested to build the Mexican Aristocrat as the Next Big Thing will all be a waste.
Prediction: Alberto Del Rio retains
CM Punk vs. Triple H in a No DQ Match; If CM Punk wins, Triple H must resign as COO of the WWE
This match has been on the forefront of Raw for the past month, there should be no doubt that it will be the match to end Night of Champions. It might seem a little too soon for a match of this magnitude to happen between Punk and Triple H. Considering how Nash was not cleared to compete and how the WWE royally screwed up the build for Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena, what choice did the WWE have. Given the incredible amount of talent in this match, it should not disappoint. As much as I would love to see Punk beat the Cerebral Assassin, it would be too early for the WWE to pull the plug on Triple H as the COO of the WWE and every good story needs some adversity for the hero or anti-hero in this case. Expect the match to end in some sort of controversy in order to set up a cliffhanger for Monday’s Raw.
Prediction: Triple H wins
As the final PPV of the summer season, there is a lot riding on WWE Night of Champions 2011 to deliver much like Money in the Bank and Summerslam did before it. One paper the card looks great, but when you take a closer look you definitely see the cracks in the armour. The WWE needs to stop hyping one match to the stratosphere and rather hype up the PPV as a whole. Come Sunday evening we will just have to see if lightning will strike for the WWE a third time.
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