Was WWE Night Of Champions 2015 The Greatest Ever?

Wow.

It took three months, but my prediction that Austin would NOT win Big Brother 17 came true. Credit to him for weaseling out of a few difficult situations, but the target on his back was far too big for far too long. When he was evicted, he mentioned getting into the entertainment because of how his time in wrestling ended. Curious wording there. I do look forward to seeing what Austin has in store next. Maybe an exclusive interview with yours truly?

Regardless, Big Brother 17 is over this Wednesday night. Two of my three pre-season favorites made the final four before a single episode aired, so I will chalk that up as a ‘W’ for me! There is always next season starring yours truly…am I right casting directors?

Right?

Reader Feedback

Troll Force 3000: losing the United States Title to Neville the night after Summerslam on RAW would have been hotshot booking that would have undervalued the Summerslam Title vs Title Match. You made the title vs title match, you have to make plans to have one guy hold both belts, not have someone have a one day reign with one of the titles, making the company look like it does not know what it’s doing when it comes to booking talents for terms longer than 5 minutes Having Rollins defend both titles in his quest to prove he’s a great champion is a better idea.

My scenario would be months worth of story line and not hotshot at all, with Neville always falling short versus Seth Rollins but FINALLY able to overcome him here. Regardless, I agree with you…if the title reign is indeed lengthy. If the United States Title goes right back to John Cena at Night of Champions or someone else soon, then yeah – I will stick to my original idea.

VicVenomBytes: Watry delivers the most consistent insightful and accurate posts on TNA on this site. Hate to say it but it’s true.

I only read my own pages, so I can’t comment on your first point. Your second point is right. My thoughts on TNA have been accurate 99.999% of the time. Just now it is coming to light and can no longer be denied with the false “blind TNA hater” label.

Dan: if owen hadn’t died i’m sure he would have got at least a world heavyweight title run when the brands split

The problem with that is believing he would still be in WWE three years later. Seems most friends and family say he was eyeing up a post-wrestling career already in 1999.

Ben Piper: Nice Lost reference.

Thanks BEN (Linus?). Just re-watched the entire series for the first time since the show ended in 2010. Had it on my mind.

Geoff: Not going to knock anything about the column. One point I have to make is the mighty have fallen comment about TNA. Surely they would have had to have been mighty in the first place.

Good correction. My bad.

Carl Rood: I don’t normally have the problems with you most commentators seem to, but something you wrote here was very bad. Titles should never be used to “give someone a boost”. It doesn’t work. It never works. The champion makes the title, not the other way around.

We’ve seen it time and time again. If a wrestler isn’t hitting it off with the fans for whatever reason (writing/booking, speaking ability, in ring talent), giving that person a championship does nothing to fix that. Look at a lot of the guys who have been IC champion in recent years and compare that to history of legends who had few, if any significant title reigns. Guys like Roddy Piper and Jake Roberts didn’t need hardware to become Hall of Famers. They were great story tellers (in and out of the ring). That’s what gets you remembered, not title reigns.

It’s why no one should really care whether or not Cena ever breaks Flair’s record. I like Cena, but he’s not as good as Flair. He just wrestles in a time where title reigns are much shorter on average and he’s the only one to have been able to consistently remain healthy and popular. That’s no small accomplishment and he deserves more adulation than he gets, but he’s no Flair and I’m sure he’d agree. The number or reigns might be something to brag about for a short time, but historically it’s not going move Flair from his real spot as one of the 2 or 3 greatest of all time.

Always quality posts Carl. Not going to comment on your Cena/Ric Flair paragraph. Otherwise, this would be the world’s longest column. I agree and disagree with your main argument about title belts. In my mind, talent wins overall. The legends you named could go their whole careers without gold. Big deal. Give them a microphone and a 20 minute match on pay-per-view; they will be fine. On the flip side, I thought making Rusev the United States Champion in 2014 was a great next logical step. I feel The New Day move up a notch in terms of characters with the tag straps along. Even Ryback, without the IC Title, he is doing nothing. With the championship, it allows him to have a constant direction and a spot on television every week. Those are just a few examples where I believe it can help.

Overall though, you’re right. Talent is talent, with or without a title belt being added to “give someone a boost.”

Rab D Nesbitt: You need to change the title of this article to “The Current State of **American** Wrestiing”, since it really only is US wrestling that covers.

I do follow the US scene (mostly indy’s, since the mainstream scene, come on now!) but wrestling is World Wide.

This reviewer says WWE are better than TNA. Wow, good for them, what an achievement.

The title of the column is out of my hands. It could be called “No Explanation Needed” for all I know come publishing time. Once the content is sent in, the boss is in charge of the rest.

Aspasius: I think I’ve figured out Watry’s game plan here. He uses this controversial & ignorant trolling gimmick on every wrestling website he’s ever been on to gain attention to further his career plans. I am certain he eventually wants to be on some godawful trashy reality TV show and is counting on the fury of the IWC to get him enough notoriety. It’s why he aggressively pushes his social media so much all the time and happens to mention Big Brother every five seconds.

His paper-thin wrestling knowledge and lack of desire to actually go and learn any more actually reminds me of Russo…another guy who wanted to use pro wrestling to land work in the entertainment world in anything OTHER than pro wrestling.

Well, you are wrong on most accounts. No surprise there.

1. There is no trolling or gimmick. Everything I say I believe and is 100% my opinion. I said that from day one.

2. I have auditioned for Big Brother multiple times, so if you consider that trashy reality TV, then yes – I have been very open about wanting to be on the show.

3. I think “aggressively push his social media” is exaggerating. My Twitter account is plugged at the end of every column, hardly any promotion at all.

4. Same with “mention Big Brother every five seconds.” Another grand exaggeration in attempts to make a point.

5. Finally, I can’t speak for Vince Russo, but I love wrestling. Besides, there is nothing for me to do in the entertainment world right now, minus a summer spent in the Big Brother house!

Was that five seconds?

*wink wink*

WWE Night Of Champion 2015 Thoughts

Going into the pay-per-view last night, I gave WWE props for keeping the momentum going from Summerslam. Instead of just accepting a dull Fall season, we got Sting returning for a main event title match, the Dudleyz back in the tag team scene and ever had a fun “mystery partner” tease to speculate about. Now, some fans probably were not as excited as others for those story lines in 2015, but the fact remained – WWE was making a legitimate effort for Night of Champions. It was not some throwaway B-PPV that was just treading water until October’s Heck on a Deck.

How did everything end up?

IC Championship – Good choice for the opener. Ryback won the IC Title a few months ago and had done a nice job carrying the belt. With Kevin Owens officially wrapped up with his NXT story lines and far away from John Cena, it was time to give him some gold. With the other titles all busy elsewhere, that left Ryback and the IC Championship. Fairly entertaining bout with a lively crowd always helps your cause. Even though the constant roll-up pin attempts at Night of Champions did get annoying, it was still fresh in the opening contest. Congrats to Kevin Owens, well deserver. I look forward to this title reign.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev – You know, WWE is really trying to get me to care about this feud. Nice effort but not going to work. I jokingly said Rusev should end up with both girls and leave Ziggler laying. Now? Just put Lana back with Rusev (what I have wanted all along) and have Ziggler turn heel with Summer Rae. Why not? This thing has already passed the point of absurdity. Just go all the way with the nonsense. As for the match? It was a match…that I hope we don’t see again for a long time. Clever way for Ziggler to win though. Honestly, who throws a shoe?!?!

WWE Tag Team Championship – When the bell rang to start the tag team title match, I texted my buddy that The Dudleyz would win but only by DQ. Sure enough, that is what we got, and I think it was the best decision. PPVs usually have at least one funky finish, so you might as well get it out of the way before the main events. The New Day get to retain (right move), and the Dudley Boyz got to stand tall by putting someone through a table (right move). Bring on the Tables Match next and maybe Spike Dudley to make it three on three? Maybe. Fun stuff at Night of Champions.

Divas Championship – Charlotte is the NEW Divas Champion, and it was a nice moment. Nikki Bella broke the record on Monday night (covered it immensely in my Jay’s Ways column the past month or so). With her being a heel and always sneaking away with the title, it was finally put up or shut up time with no more advantages on her side, and the face won clean. Simple yet effective. Nikki cheated, lied, and used her friends to keep title for nearly a year, and when all of that was gone, she lost via tap out. Tapout – you know, like the brand with Charlotte in the commercial. Yeah, very good championship match with the proper finish coming off the past 300 days and RAW last week.

Wyatt Family vs. The Shield…and Chris Jericho – Admittedly, this was a minor disappointment. I had suspected Chris Jericho as the mystery partner for weeks but ultimately thought WWE had a bigger ace up their sleeve. Guess not. There are only so many Attitude Era names available. Kudos to WWE for not having Braun Strowman lose so soon. The jury is still out on his actual in-ring skills but for now, the company is not letting up on treating him as a monster. beating Jericho was a step in the right direction for that to continue. What DID make this more interesting was the ending and post-match scene. Jericho obviously pulled a selfish move in tagging himself into the match, right when Roman Reign was about to win. Then he lost. Not being too happy, he walked right past Dean Ambrose, brushing his shoulder. Since WWE made it a point to mention it was Ambrose’s idea to bring in Jericho, my guess is they feud?

United States Championship – Match of the night as expected. John Cena always bring his A-Game, and Seth Rollins has proven time and time again for the past 12 months to be the right choice to lead the way into the future (and present). Like most of Night of Champions, this was the correct result. I never believed the Summerslam title for title stipulation was going to last long (thinking Neville would get the US Title out of this all), and as we see, it did not last long. Cena is the United States Champion again, and he can go back to having great television matches with his open challenge. Rollins keeps the WWE World Title and can move on to his next feud. I like it!

WWE World Championship – Not a fan of someone wrestling twice in the same night (or almost THREE times!), but this worked well. It had a sense of Vengeance 2001 when Chris Jericho beat The Rock and Stone Cold to unify the WWE World Titles in two separate. Imagine Rollins being able to brag forever about beating Cena and Sting in the same night?!?! He would never shut up. Okay back to the bout. I thought Sting looked about as good as he will in 2015 and hung in there with Seth Rollins. Yes, there were smoke and mirrors to reach (almost) 15 minutes, but it was enjoyable and gives Rollins another huge accolade on his already growing resume. Fans can whine and cry all day long about The Stinger losing again, but the counter is making him World Champion in 2015, so good luck making sense of that. The post-match shenanigans with Sheamus and Kane felt a little tacked on, but WWE had been teasing a Kane/Rollins showdown for months. Look like we will finally get it at Heck on a Deck.

Fine by me.

Overall, this gets two thumbs up from yours truly and actually created some headlines. Is there enough buzz and interest to jump start those lagging RAW ratings? Probably not but as a stand alone three hour PPV, this was quality…

…quality that I want to compare to past Night of Champions shows. Since the 2007 edition was still called Vengeance, that event will not count. Let’s begin with 2008 and move towards 2014!

2008

Pretty ho hum. A weak under card with Mark Henry becoming the ECW Champion as the biggest note worthy event. He ended up being a great draw for the brand and let us get a glimpse of how awesome the Hall of Pain would be years later. Fun tag team title match with Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly defending against newcomer Ted DiBiase Jr. and a mystery partner…who ended up being Cody Rhodes in a fairly surprising heel turn! Eh, I enjoyed it. Edge retained his World Title over Batista, Kofi Kingston bested Chris Jericho for the IC Title (thanks Shawn Michaels!), and the main event saw Triple H defeat John Cena clean in the middle of the ring in an ‘epic’ clash.

2009

Much better than the 2008 version but still nothing major or anything that jumped off the page. Remember Jeri-Show? Ah, memories. Christian winning the ECW Title was the big story from the under card, all but setting up the eventual WWE/ECW exit from Tommy Dreamer. Randy Orton kept the WWE Title over John Cena and Triple H in a WrestleMania 24 rematch, while the main event saw Jeff Hardy beat CM Punk for the World Title. Revenge for the Money in the Bank cash-in weeks earlier. He would not hold the belt very long, as he was leaving the company, but the message was still loud and clear – Hardy was a legitimate main eventer in WWE and CLOSING pay-per-views over Cena, HHH, Rey Mysterio, Christian, Orton, Chris Jericho, Big Show, and others. Sad to see where he ended up six months later and is still today. Such a massive blunder.

2010

Probably one of the more under rated shows. Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes were paired up (didn’t last long), and WWE was in the midst of unifying the Womens/Divas Championship onto Michelle McCool. Such a great time to be a wrestling fan. I only say that kidding a little because Big Show beat CM Punk at Night of Champion 2010, but on the flip side, Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz for the United States Championship in a great bout. The under card more than held its own, as the two main events brought a mixed bag. Kane was the World Champion and feuding with The Undertaker on Smackdown. Paul Bearer would so be introduced into the story line, and for a blast from the past type of nostalgia, this was fine. Surprisingly, Kane won all three matches on pay-per-view and did so in pretty convincing fashion. The Big Red Monster was indeed a monster again…until Edge won the World Title off him months later. Then Kane turned face, and yeah. Nothing. The closing bout saw a red hot Randy Orton defeat Sheamus for the WWE Title in a six pack challenge also featuring Wade Barrett (cashing in on his NXT victory), Edge, Chris Jericho (who said he would leave if he lost), and John Cena. The live crowd went wild for anything and everything Orton related in mid-2010, so it was only fitting an RKO would bring home a NEW WWE Champion!

2011

A nothing event with three entertaining main events. Can a Night of Champions PPV have three main events? Well, in my mind, the answer is yes. First off, a heel Mark Henry beat a face Randy Orton CLEAN for his first World Title in WWE. Afterwards, he gave a very passionate speech and just took a huge dump on all the naysayers, doubter, haters, and everybody who ever ripped him in his career. Very strong emotion and one of the highlight of 2010. The Hall of Pain was so amazing, and Henry had finally put all the pieces together to be a credible top player in WWE. John Cena beat Alberto Del Rio via submission to win the WWE Championship. Del Rio had JUST won the belt a monster earlier at Summerslam, and he also regained it two weeks later at Heck on a Deck. Why the quick and pretty pointless switch here then? Rumor has it the previous week had a low rating, and Cena winning the gold would ‘pop’ a number. It probably worked but set a bad precedent for ADR as a main eventer right off the bat. The main event saw Triple H vs. CM Punk in a No DQ match. If HHH lost, he was out as WWE COO. Honestly, I have written enough about this story line through the years. Everybody knows what happened here (HHH won), what happened afterwards (Punk become champ for over year), and how their final scene in 2014 ended up (Punk STILL being bitter towards HHH over this decision and many others leading to his walk out). All disappointing yet very poetic.

2012

Team Heck No as tag champs? Heck yeah man, heck yeah! Daniel Bryan and Kane made that thing so fun, and rumor has it Vince McMahon took a liking to Bryan during this all which allowed the future Yes Man to open up more and show his personality. That very personality that brought him clean wins of Sheamus, Orton, Cena, HHH, and Batista in the years to come. Sheamus beat ADR in their never ending series of bouts to retain the World Title. WWE was still dead set on The Celtic Warrior being a top face, and while it did kinda-sorta work, they shifted soon after when Big Show would dethrone him a month later. CM Punk vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship was the Night of Champion 2012 main event. As usual, it was entertaining and with Punk being a new heel, you knew he would escape with the gold somehow, which is exactly what happened. Both men had their shoulders down at the same time, which meant yes, Punk would escape with the gold.

2013

This was a strange year. A lot of it was good, with The Shield rising up and the John Cena-WrestleMania redemption story playing out. However, it all felt like a jumbled mess at times never coming together 100%. That was Night of Champions 2013. Rob Van Dam was fresh off a big return and in the World Title picture. WWE was trying to do something with Curtis Axel, which I predicted would be a bust from the onset, all three members of The Shield were champs, and with Cena injured – it was up to Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan to carry the WWE Title main event picture. With The Authority screwing with Bryan at every turn, how in the world could be beat Mr. RKO for the belt? Eh, he did…but didn’t. In a situation comparable to the infamous Jericho/HHH “title change” from April 2000, Bryan did beat Orton for the title to the roar of applause. Yet, anybody who was watching knew right away it would not hold up as a crooked referee was involved with a fast count.

2014

With a main event as big as Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena for the WWE World Title, what could go wrong with the pay-per-view? Besides the non-finish and strange placement of Seth Rollins getting involved afterwards (made sense in hindsight I suppose)? I mean Jericho and Orton had a better than expected bout. Rusev was a beast dominating guys like Mark Henry. AJ Lee and Paige were having a feud (with Nikki Bella and others making cameros). Oh, and there were multiple title changes on the under card? What wrong then? None of it went anywhere. The Goldust/Stardust/Cody Rhodes/Whatever pairing was blown off right before WrestleMania and has led to nothing. The U.S. and IC Titles were still meaningless in late 2014 and would find higher ground in 2015 but with different title holders. Back to Cena and Brock, their Royal Rumble 2015 rematch was hyped as their final battle ever but last minute, it was changed to a triple threat bout with Seth Rollins, so I guess we may get that ‘final battle’ again at some point. This time with a decisive finish.

*exhales*

Okay, that went way longer than anticipated. Sorry about that. The concept seemed like a good idea in my head. Tell me what you all think. How does WWE Night of Champions 2015 match up compared to the past events? I would rank it as the best ever or at least one of the best ever.

What do YOU think?

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