WWE Night of Champions 2013 Review

WWE Night of Champions 2013 took place at the Joe Louis Arena in Detriot on Sunday 15th 

September. It is supposed to be the night where all the Championships are decided, although   the Intercontinental Championship is not being defended. Anyway, ignoring that, let's take a 

look.

The Kick-Off Show match was to determine the No 1 contenders to face Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins for the Tag Team Championships in a Tag Team Turmoil match. The teams taking part were The Prime Time Players, 3MB, The Real Americans, The Usos and Tons of Funk. 3MB and Tons of Funk start off the match and that doesn't last too long as 3MB are eliminated when Drew McIntyre is pinned with a roll up by Sweet T. The Real Americans are next and beat up Sweet T. Brodus gets the hot tag and beats up Cesaro. Brodus splashes Cesaro but Swagger breaks up the pin. Swagger tags himself in without Brodus knowing. Brodus powerslams Cesaro and covers him and Swagger takes advantage and applies the Patriot lock on Brodus to make him tag out and eliminate Tons of Funk. The Usos are the next team to arrive and dominate for a little while. The Real Americans then get the advantage and wear down Jimmy Uso. The Usos are eventually eliminated when Jimmy tries a top rope move on Swagger. Swagger ducks and grabs Jimmy's ankle in mid air and applies the Patriot lock to make him tap out. The Prime Time Players are the last team to take part. Titus O'Neill hits Swagger with a fallaway slam then he gets hit on the knee. Titus gets the tag to Darren Young who immediately gets the Patriot lock put on him. Young gets out of it and hits the gutbuster to get the win. I rushed the match was a bit rushed at times. However, I thought it was fun to watch.
Winners: Prime Time Players
Predictions: 1 for 1

We now to go to the event itself and it starts with Triple H coming out and making the announcement that the WWE Championship match between Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan will have no interference from any of his minions. He is interrupted by Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel. Heyman, who has been finding ways to get out of his match with CM Punk, makes one last plea to avoid the match. Triple H, remembering his feud from last year with Heyman and Brock Lesnar, refuses the plea. Curtis Axel then speaks and makes it worse by referring to his victories over Triple H. Triple H decides to give an impromptu match for the Intercontinental Championship with Axel facing the first guy that he encounters in the back. I quite enjoyed this segment and Heyman was great, with the way he looked and everything. As for Axel, well, it proves why he shouldn't talk. 

The first person that Triple H encountered was Kofi Kingston (for fuck's sake!) so we have Kingston facing Axel for the Intercontinental Championship. Kingston gets the early advantage and Axel goes outside to regroup. Axel eventually stops Kingston's momentum with a running dropkick followed by clotheslining him over the top rope. Axel tries to Irish whip Kingston into the steel steps but he climbs the steps then the ropes and hits Axel with a crossbody. When the action goes back into the ring, Axel is able to get some momentum. Axel tries to hit Kingston with a clothesline but it's reversed into a DDT. Kingston hits the boom drop and tries the trouble in paradise. Axel ducks it and sends Kingston into the turnbuckle. Later on, Kingston looked like he won it when he hits the SOS but Axel kicks out at 2 and a half. The end comes when Axel has Kingston on his shoulders and pushes him onto the ropes. Axel then hits the Hangman's facebuster to get the win. I thought the match was actually pretty decent and I loved Heyman's reactions throughout the match.
Winner: Curtis Axel
Predictions: N/A 

The next match is for the Divas Championship as AJ Lee defends her title in a fatal four way match against Natalya, Naomi and Brie Bella. AJ, upon realising that her opponents are about to gang up on her, tries to flee but fails and proceeds to get fucked up. Brie sends AJ out of the ring and clotheslines Naomi and Natalya to get the early advantage. Naomi and Brie fight it out for a little while and AJ and Natalya go back in. Naomi tries to hit Natalya with a crossbody but misses. Later on, Natalya takes down Naomi and then bodyslams Brie on top of her. JBL on commentary aruges that that is a cover (I'll get to that later) and then Natalya hits the double sharpshooter. AJ stops it with a kick to the back of Natalya's head. She then applies the Black Widow to make Natalya submit and get the win. I thought the match was quite good and surprisingly fast paced. I know that JBL was complaining that Brie was covering Naomi but both shoulders were down so it doesn't count in my book. I know some people were unhappy with Natalya taking the loss but in terms of the story of the match, it made sense.
Winner: AJ Lee 
Predictions: 1 for 2

The World Heavywieght Championship is on the line as Rob Van Dam challenges Alberto Del Rio. RVD gets the early momentum with a monkey flip and later on, a spinning kick to Del Rio whilst he was laid over the crowd barrier. Del Rio gets the momentum after a snap suplex followed by a kick to the back of the head. Del Rio keeps his momentum with kicks to the head. The match goes back and forth for a while with highlights including a backstabber by Del Rio for 2; a moonsault by RVD; and a split-leg moonsault by RVD for 2. RVD eventually goes the 5-star frog splash but Del Rio puts up his knees. Del Rio applies the cross armbreaker and RVD gets to the ropes. However, Del Rio refuses to let go of the move so the referee has no choice but to disqualify Del Rio. Afterwards, Del Rio proceeds to continue to beat up RVD and grabs a chair. However, Ricardo Rodriguez grabs it and RVD does the van damninator. I quite enjoyed this match and whilst I wasn't too sold on Del Rio getting disqualified, it does make sense as they're trying to show how ruthless Del Rio has become. 
Winner: Rob Van Dam
Predictions: 2 for 3

Next is a bonus match as Fandango takes on The Miz, which I assume is for the WWE 

Dancing Championship. Early on, Miz goes for the Figure-4 but Fandango gets to the ropes. 

Miz goes to the top rope, but a distraction by Summer Rae gives Fandango the chance to get the advantage. Fandango puts Miz in a leg scissors but he later on, gets sent out of the ring. Fandango puts Miz under pressure with a groung bearhug. Miz starts his comeback with a few clotheslines. Miz focuses on Fandango's right knee and goes for the skull crushing finale but Fandango gets out of it and hits a suplex. A few minutes later, Fandango goes for the top rope legdrop but he misses and eventually Miz applies the figure 4 to get the win. The match wasn't anything special as I'm not a big fan of Fandango's wrestling ability and I don't like Miz as a face anymore.
Winner: The Miz
Predictions: N/A

We now get an elimination tag team match with Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman taking on CM Punk, which was made no disqualification in the Kick Off Show. Both Punk and Axel start holding kendo sticks and Punk proceeds to fuck Axel up with one. He hits Axel with a Russian leg sweep then does a suicide dive to Heyman, who was standing by the announce tables. Heyman is thrown into the ring and is about to get hit with a kendo stick when Axel low blows Punk. This gives Axel the advantage, hitting Punk with the kendo stick. Axel grabs a chair but Punk fights back. When Axel clotheslines Punk in the back of the head, Axel grabs a table and puts it into a corner. He tries to suplex Punk through the table. Punk tries to reverse it but Axel hits the suplex, sending him away from the table. Axel wears Punk down with a chinlock but Punk later on, sends Axel into a chair that Axel had put inbetween two turnbuckles. Punk hits a running knee followed by a clothesline. Punk goes for the Macho Man elbow drop but Axel rolls away. When Punk tries a suicide dive, he gets hit with a chair. Axel hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Axel continues his assualt with the kendo stick but Punk eventually hits the GTS then the Anaconda vice to make Axel submit. Heyman immediately flees but gets caught when he goes back into the ring. Heyman pleas for mercy but it doesn't last long as Punk hits Heyman with a kendo stick. Punk gets some handcuffs from his boots and handcuffs Heyman. Punk then hits Heyman in the ankles with the kendo stick and continues to fuck Heyman up with it. When Punk is about to hit Heyman again, Ryback comes out and sends Punk through the table. Ryback then puts Heyman on top of Punk to give him the win. Ryback then carries Heyman out to the back. I really enjoyed this match especially with Heyman's reactions throughout the match. As for Ryback, I was surprised that he is now the new Paul Heyman guy, but it could really benefit him if it's done right.
Winners: Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman
Predictions: 3 for 4

We now get the United States Championship match as Dean Ambrose is challenged by Dolph Ziggler. Early on, Ambrose mocks Ziggler who then gets hit with a dropkick followed by 10 elbow drops. Ziggler continues the pressure before getting hit with an Alabama slam. Ambrose wears down Ziggler with a chinlock and later on, a super plex. Ambrose goes to the top turnbuckle but Ziggler grabs him and hits a top rope X-Factor for 2. Ziggler does the ten punches in the corner followed by a clothesline for 2. He then applies a sleeper but Ambrose gets out of it with a back suplex. Ziggler hits the fameasser for 2. Ziggler tries another avalanche splash but misses and this gives Ambrose the opportunity to hit the headlock driver to get the victory. It was quite a good match which was very technical, although I thought it was a bit short.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Predictions: 4 for 5

The penultimate match is for the Tag Team Champions as the Prime Time Players take on Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. Rollins and O'Neill start the match and Rollins mocks O'Neill. O'Neill manages to grab him and throw him away. Young is tagged in and he continues his team's early dominance and hits a powerslam for 2. Rollins gets Young into his corner and tags in Reigns to get some momentum. That doesn't last too long but eventually Rollins bounces Young's neck off the ropes to get a foothold on their momentum. Young hits an overhead belly to belly suplex to get the chance to tag in O'Neill. He eventually does, despite the best efforts of Reigns and Rollins, and O'Neill proceeds to shoulder charge Rollins into next week for 2. O'Neill hits a sitout spinebuster for 2. The end comes when Reigns takes out Young and rolls him into the ring. While the referee is distracted with Young, Reigns destroys O'Neill with a spear to get his team the win. I thought the match wasn't too bad and it was quite fun to watch as well. 
Winners: Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins
Predictions: 5 for 6

 

The main event wasfor the WWE Championship as Daniel Bryan challenges Randy Orton.
After a back and forth start, Orton hits a second rope backbreaker toget the momentum. He bounces Bryan off the ropes for a 2 count andlater on, keeps on stamping on the hands and feet to cripple Bryan.Bryan hits Orton with a clothesline, followed by 2 flying kicks to the corner. Orton kept on rolling out of the ring to regroup and the first two times, he is hit with a suicide dive. The third time, Orton hits Bryan on the head then he does his hanging DDT, only this time on the outside of the ring. When the action goes back inside the ring, Orton goes for the RKO but Bryan pushes him into referee Scott Armstrong, who rolls to the outside. A second referee, Rod Zapata, comes in and then Orton goes for another hanging DDT but Bryan gets out of it and applies the LeBell Yes No Lock and Orton manages to get to the ropes. Bryan does a superplex then a flying headbutt for 2. At this point, Scott Armstrong, who had been checked by a doctor, comes
back in and resumes referring the match. Orton hits an overhead suplex. However, when he goes for the RKO, Bryan gets out of it and hits the running knee to get the win.




I enjoyed the match, although I wasn't initally happy with the result. I thought that Bryan overcoming the odds at the first attempt was the wrong decision. However, the next night on Raw, Triple H held the WWE title up in abeyance and I was ok with that, as it shows Bryan constantly being screwed by the new corporation.
Winner: Daniel Bryan
Predictions: 5 for 7



I thought that Night of Champions was quite a decent event as some of the matches were pretty good and I'm quite intrigued to see where they go with the Bryan/Corporation feud.