Night of Champions 2013 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE, which took place on September 15, 2013 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. It was the seventh annual Night of Champions PPV, and the eighth PPV in the 2013 lineup. Josh Mathews, Alex Riley, Booker T and Santino Marella hosted the Night of Champions pre-show. The usual theme of this PPV is that every championship in WWE will be defended.
Background
Night of Champions featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Following his win over John Cena at SummerSlam, Daniel Bryan lost the WWE Championship when special guest referee and COO Triple H hit Bryan with a Pedigree, which allowed Randy Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the championship himself. This began a feud with Bryan, Orton, Triple H, and the McMahons, who stated that this was done because they did not feel Bryan "fit the mold" to be the face of the WWE. They named Orton as the new face of WWE. This was followed by an attack by The Shield and an RKO by Orton. Bryan tried to invoke his rematch clause on the August 23 edition of Smackdown, but Orton said the match would be fought at Night of Champions. Later in the show, Bryan defeated Wade Barrett in a steel cage match, and was again hit with an RKO by Orton. Three days later on Raw, Triple H presented Orton with a brand new Cadillac Escalade, and Bryan came out to insult the two. Because of this, he was put into a gauntlet match against the three members of The Shield. Later in the night, Orton defeated Christian in a non-title match, and Bryan appeared on the TitanTron to boast about winning at Night of Champions and to reveal that he trashed Orton's Cadillac by spray-painting "Yes!" all over it. Bryan won the match after pinning Seth Rollins, but Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns were disqualified. The Shield beat Bryan down as Triple H came out and motioned for them to triple powerbomb Bryan. Orton then went to the ring and hit an RKO on Bryan.
On the August 5 edition of Raw Rob Van Dam defeated World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio in non-title match after Ricardo Rodriguez's interference backfired. After the match, Del Rio viciously attacked Rodriguez. On August 19 edition of Raw Rodriguez returned and informed Del Rio that now he is representing Rob Van Dam, with the latter attacking Del Rio twice on Raw, and on the August 23 edition of SmackDown. On the August 26 edition of Raw, Rodriguez cost Del Rio a non-title match against Van Dam, allowing him to defeat Del Rio again. Brad Maddox announced because of Van Dam's victory, he earned a World Heavyweight Championship match at Night of Champions.
After being defeated by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, CM Punk would continue his feud with Paul Heyman, thus starting another one with Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel by attacking him the next night on Raw. Four days later on SmackDown, Axel would challenge Punk to a match, which Punk accepted. On the August 26th 2013 edition of Raw, Punk would defeat Axel in a singles match and by vote of WWE Universe, Heyman would be forced to face Punk in the ring, but Axel would interfered and beat down Punk. Heyman also joined in the assault. Maddox granted Punk's wish of facing Heyman by giving him an elimination handicap match at Night of Champions against Axel and Heyman.
On the August 26, 2013 episode of Raw, AJ Lee interrupted the celebration over Brie Bella's victory in a rematch against Natalya, cutting a worked shoot promo on the cast of Total Divas. On the September 2 episode of Raw, AJ Lee interfered in a triple threat match between Natalya, Naomi, and Brie Bella, which was to determine the #1 contender for her Divas Championship, leading to the match being stopped and her getting beat down afterwards. Later that night, Stephanie McMahon announced that AJ would defend her Divas Championship in a fatal four-way match against Natalya, Naomi and Brie Bella at Night of Champions.
On the September 9, 2013 episode of Raw, it was announced that a Tag Team Turmoil Match to decide the #1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship would take place during the Night of Champions Kickoff, with the winners challenging champions The Shield (Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins) later in the night.
On the September 13, 2013 edition of SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler faced Dean Ambrose for a title shot opportunity for the United States Championship at Night of Champions. Although Reigns and Rollins interfered when Ziggler was closing in on the win, he was still given the championship match.
Aftermath
The next night on Raw, Daniel Bryan was stripped of the WWE Championship by Triple H, because referee Scott Armstrong made a fast 3-count, and Triple H seemed to think Bryan was in on it as a conspiracy. He then punished Bryan more by putting him in a match with Roman Reigns; though Bryan won, he was again assaulted by the rest of The Shield and Orton. Orton put Bryan's head in between the folds of a chair, but before he could further injure Bryan, the majority of face WWE superstars ran to the ring and attacked Orton and The Shield, with Bryan finishing them off with a high knee to Seth Rollins.
At Night of Champions 2013 Rob Van Dam won his World Heavyweight match by disqualification when Alberto Del Rio refused to release the Cross Arm Breaker, despite Van Dam reaching the ropes. On the September 20th episode of SmackDown, Triple H gave Van Dam a rematch with Del Rio at Battleground for the World Heavyweight Championship. Immediately afterwards, Del Rio would proceed to viciously assault RVD backstage.
CM Punk began feuding with Paul Heyman in July after Heyman cost him the Money in the Bank ladder match for a WWE Championship contract. This resulted in Punk fighting and losing to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2013. Punk continued to feud with Heyman and his other client, Curtis Axel resulting in a handicap elimination match at Night of Champions 2013. After Axel was eliminated, Punk handcuffed and beat down Heyman much like Heyman had done to him a couple of weeks prior on Raw. However, Ryback made the save, putting Punk through a table and costing him the match. On the September 23 episode of Raw it was announced that Punk would face Ryback at Battleground.
Reception
Shore, from ProWrestlingNet, said that the event was absolutely terrible, "by far, the worst PPV of the year". Jason Powell, from ProWrestlingNet, said that the event was "highly forgettable" and the title change "didn't feel like a real WWE moment". James Cadwell, from PWTorch, said that the main event was "acceptable, but not strong enough to push this PPV out of thumbs down territory." He gave the Bryan/Orton main event a 3 stars out 5, the highest note of the event.
Results
- Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
- (c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
- Kickoff show: The Prime Time Players defeated The Usos, Tons of Funk, The Real Americans and 3MB in a Tag Team Turmoil No. 1 Contender’s Match (11:03)
- Curtis Axel (c) defeated Kofi Kingston to retain the Intercontinental Championship (13:54)
- AJ Lee (c) defeated Brie Bella, Natalya, and Naomi in a Fatal 4-Way match to retain the WWE Divas Championship (5:36)
- Rob Van Dam (w/ Ricardo Rodriguez) defeated Alberto Del Rio (c) by Disqualification in a World Heavyweight Championship match (13:30)
- The Miz defeated Fandango (w/ Summer Rae) (7:51)
- Curtis Axel & Paul Heyman defeated CM Punk in a No disqualification Elimination Handicap Match (15:43)
- If Paul Heyman did not compete, he would had been fired.
- Dean Ambrose (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE United States Championship (9:45)
- The Shield (Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns) (c) defeated Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil & Darren Young) to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship (7:30)
- Daniel Bryan defeated Randy Orton (c) to win the WWE Championship (17:40)
Tag Team Turmoil match
| Order | Team | Elimination | Eliminated by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3MB (Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre) (with Jinder Mahal) | 1 | Tons of Funk |
| 2 | Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay and Tensai) | 2 | The Real Americans |
| 3 | The Real Americans (Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro) (with Zeb Colter) | 4 | The Prime Time Players |
| 4 | The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso) | 3 | The Real Americans |
| 5 | The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil) | Winners |
Other on-screen talent
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See also
- List of WWE pay-per-view events
- World Wrestling Entertainment/Event history
- Event gallery
- Night of Champions
DVD release
External links
Night of Champions 2013 Official website
Night of Champions 2013 at CAGEMATCH.net
Night of Champions 2013 at Online World of Wrestling
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