Night of Champions (2015) – Recap & Thoughts

Night Of Champions (2015)Night of Champions is in the books. There were some decent matches on the card but overall I’ve got to say it was a pretty flat event. That stands to reason as the WWE is coming off one of its biggest PPVs of the year with SummerSlam and they’re in their “down time” of the year when they’re going up against Monday Night Football and other programming.

As we do for every PPV, Mark and I got together after Sunday family dinner and sat down and watched the show. G & C watched the first couple of contests with us. I’ve got to say…. seeing them get excited about pro wrestling makes me feel like I’m doing this parenting thing right. Wife does not agree…

I didn’t see the pre-show match but I’m guessing it was a good one as The Cosmic Wasteland (Stardust and The Ascension) defeated Neville and The Lucha Dragons. Too bad that wasn’t on the main card because I’m sure I would have enjoyed it. I know why they put these types of matches on the pre-show but I wish they wouldn’t.

Kevin Owens Defeats Ryback For The Intercontinental Championship

Night of Champions - Owens v RybackThis was a good match. I was glad to see Owens get the title here and I’m really looking forward to his run. Owens continues to impress me. I’ve not watched all of his stuff in NXT but I’m guessing it’ll be well worth it to go back and do just that. I didn’t care for a rake to the eye getting the win because it makes Ryback look weak but it also didn’t detract all that much as it was consistent with the heelish Owens. I’ll be very interested to see who they line up next for Kevin to defend against. Cesaro would be my choice.

Dolph Ziggler Defeated Rusev

Night of Champions - Rusev v ZigglerYawn. The fact that we didn’t get a clean finish here just sucks. It’s going to lead to more soap opera booking at least for Rusev. That sucks. I’m hoping at the very least that they will get Ziggler away from this program but with Lana being on the shelf I’m guessing he’s in a holding pattern with Rusev. They need to turn him heel and put a rocket up his ass. He’s too good to be floundering like this.

The Dudley Boyz Defeated The New Day By Disqualification

Night of Champions - Dudley Boyz v New DayI’m pissed about this finish. Either put the titles on The Dudley Boyz or put New Day Over clean. Hell, you could have done the exact same thing with Woods going through the table after the match with New Day getting the victory. Hated the DQ here. I know they’re setting up a longer term program here but this isn’t the way to do it in my opinion. The good news is we’re most likely looking at a Dudley v New Day match at Hell in a Cell which will mean one thing… more tables.

Charlotte Defeated Nikki Bella For The Divas Championship

Night of Champions - Charlotte v Nikki BellaThis proves 100% that the Nikki Bella title run was a big ol “Fuck You” to CM Punk and AJ Lee. I actually enjoyed the match with Nikki going old school and focusing on a body part. I love that Charlotte is a 2nd generation superstar and the daughter of the great Ric Flair, but Ric needs to stay away from this. He shows up and snags the spotlight from her and the entire “Divas Revolution”. And for the love of God… stop crying Ric. It’s a work. You knew she was going to win.

The Wyatt Family Defeated Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho

Night of Champions - Wyatts v SHIELD & JerichoThis was a decent little match and provided a good way to get the Wyatts (and Strowman) over. It was silly to have Jerico tag himself in only to get submitted a minute later. It was even sillier for them to tease a Jerico / Ambrose program but at least we’ll get to see Ambrose shine there and that’s a very good thing because Ambrose is my favorite guy on the roster currently. Perhaps a final heel run for Jericho? Guessing we’ll find out on tonight’s RAW.

John Cena Defeated Seth Rollins For The US Championship

Night of Champions - Cena v RollinsThis was a good match. Actually scratch that… it was a great match. I was guessing Rollins would go over here but I’m not unhappy to put the title back on Cena. I’m sure this match pissed off quite a few wrestling fans, but think about it. If they didn’t take it off Rollins it would have gotten stale really quickly. This way Rollins looks strong still for losing to Cena, the US Title can go on it’s own path and Rollins is still World Champ. Regardless of your opinion of him, Cena is the best thing going in pro wrestling. I’m guessing he’ll go back to his weekly US Open challenge and it’ll be awesome.

Seth Rollins Defeated Sting To Retain The World Heavyweight Championship

Night of Champions - Sting v RollinsThis was decent for what it was. They must be paying Sting a SHIT ton of money for him to come in and lay down in his first two matches. Though I can’t really blame the guy. I’m sure he wants to be a WWE Hall of Famer one day, and if getting beat is the way to do that then more power to him. Toward the end of the match it appeared that Sting got legit injured. Props to him for powering through and finishing the match – hope it’s nothing too serious. I could have done without Kane but I know quite a few folks like him. I’m just personally over him whether he’s got a mask or not. I really liked the Sheamus tease but have a feeling we’re going to be getting that quite often here in the foreseeable future.

Final Thoughts

Hell in a Cell - Undertaker v LesnarThere were some good things to come out of last nights events including a couple of title changes. Perhaps the biggest news though to come out of last night was the announcement that The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar will go at it one more time next month at Hell in a Cell. I’m actually really glad that they’re not going to string this out until WrestleMania 32. I’m guessing this will be the end of Taker v. Lesnar and Lesnar will get a decisive victory and Undertaker will go the mutual respect route and shake his hand afterward. With this rubber match out of the way we’ll be well on the way to my predicted Sting vs. Taker at WrestleMania 32.

Seth Rollins came out of last night looking good. He wrestled two outstanding matches and is still the champion. We’ve got new champions in Owens, Charlotte and Cena to set up programs tonight and there’s been rumbles that Daniel Bryan may be cleared to wrestle as well. The WWE has been bringing the big guns to the table (Taker at SummerSlam, Sting at NOC) so it wouldn’t be shocking to see Bryan to return at an upcoming PPV as well.

Did you watch Night of Champions? What’d you think?

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