Night of Champions (2015)

Night of Champions (2015)

Promotional poster featuring Sting
Theme
song(s)		 "Night of Gold" by CFO$
Information
Promotion WWE
Sponsor(s) Mattel
Date September 20, 2015
Attendance 14,369
Venue Toyota Center
City Houston, Texas
WWE Network event chronology

SummerSlam (2015) Night of Champions (2015) Live from Madison Square Garden
Night of Champions chronology

Night of Champions (2014) Night of Champions (2015) Night of Champions (2016)

Night of Champions (2015) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on September 20, 2015 at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.[1] It was the ninth event under the Night of Champions chronology. This was the second Night of Champions event to be held in Houston, after Vengeance: Night of Champions in 2007.

Eight matches were contested at the event, with one match on the pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins defeated Sting to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The card, which featured Sting's first WWE pay-per-view main event and title match, generated 77,000 buys (up from the previous year's 48,000).[2] The bout would prove to be the last of Sting's career.

Background

Night of Champions featured professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds or storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers portrayed heroes (faces) or villains (heels) as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[3][4]

Chris Jericho was revealed as the mystery partner teaming up with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose against The Wyatt Family. This was Jericho's first televised match since The Beast in the East in July, and only his second since December 2014.

At SummerSlam, Seth Rollins defeated John Cena to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and win Cena's WWE United States Championship.[5] On the August 24 episode of Raw, The Authority attempted to present Rollins with a statue for winning, but instead Sting made his return to the WWE for the first time since the night after WrestleMania 31 and attacked Rollins, challenging Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by raising it over his head.[6] Triple H then announced on the WWE Network that Rollins would defend the title against Sting at Night of Champions.[7] On the August 31 edition of Raw, Cena invoked his rematch clause to face Rollins for the United States Championship at Night of Champions.[8]

Sting competed in his fourth match (second on a WWE PPV) against Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This was Sting's first title match and first main event.

At SummerSlam, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper.[5] On the August 24 episode of Raw, during a rematch between the two teams, Braun Strowman made his WWE debut, allinging with Wyatt and Harper and attacking Reigns and Ambrose.[6] On the August 31 episode of Raw, Strowman made his in-ring debut, defeating Ambrose by disqualification.[8] On September 5, it was announced on WWE.com that Wyatt, Harper and Strowman would face Reigns, Ambrose and a partner of their choice in a Six-man tag team match at Night of Champions.

At SummerSlam, Dolph Ziggler and Rusev fought to a double countout.[5] On the September 7th episode of Raw, it was announced that Ziggler would face Rusev in a rematch at Night of Champions.[9]

At SummerSlam, The New Day defeated previous champions The Prime Time Players, The Lucha Dragons, and Los Matadores in a Fatal 4-Way tag team match to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.[5] On the August 24 episode of Raw, after The New Day defeated The Lucha Dragons, The Dudley Boyz returned to WWE and attacked The New Day.[6] On the August 31 episode of Raw, The Dudley Boyz defeated The New Day.[8] On the September 7 episode of Raw, it was announced that The New Day would defend the titles against The Prime Time Players the following week, and the winners would defend the titles against The Dudley Boyz at Night of Champions.[9] On the September 14 episode of Raw, The New Day defeated The Prime Time Players, thus setting up The New Day vs. The Dudley Boyz for Night of Champions.

On the September 7 episode of Raw, Kevin Owens interrupted Intercontinental Champion Ryback's interview.[9] On the September 10 episode of SmackDown, Owens attacked Ryback during his lumberjack match against Seth Rollins.[10] On the September 14 episode of Raw, Ryback announced that he was granted permission by The Authority to defend the championship against Owens at Night of Champions.[11]

At SummerSlam, PCB (Paige, Charlotte and Becky Lynch) defeated Team Bella (Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Alicia Fox) and Team B.A.D. (Naomi, Sasha Banks and Tamina) in a Three team elimination match.[5] On the August 31 edition of Raw, three Beat the Clock challenge matches were held to determine a new number one contender to face Nikki for the WWE Divas Championship at Night of Champions. Lynch defeated Fox in 3:21, Charlotte defeated Brie in 1:40, and Paige and Banks wrestled to a time limit draw, giving Charlotte the win and the title shot.[8] On the September 7 episode of Raw, Charlotte announced she was granted permission by The Authority to face Nikki for the title the following week.[9] On the September 14 episode of Raw, during the match, Nikki switched places with Brie and Charlotte pinned Brie instead. Stephanie McMahon announced Charlotte as the winner by disqualification, thus she did not win the title, but announced a rematch between Nikki and Charlotte at Night of Champions, and that should Nikki be disqualified or counted out, she would lose the title.[11]With this win Nikki Bella surpassed AJ Lee record of 295 days and hence becoming the longest reigning WWE Divas Champion.

At SummerSlam, Neville and Stephen Amell defeated Stardust and King Barrett.[5] On the September 3 edition of SmackDown, Neville was scheduled to face Stardust, but The Ascension attacked Neville and allied with Stardust, preventing the match from occurring.[12] On the September 17 episode of Raw, Neville allied with The Lucha Dragons and the trio attacked Stardust and The Ascension.[11] It was then announced that Neville and The Lucha Dragons would face Stardust and The Ascension on the Night of Champions Kickoff show.

Broadcasters

The English commentators were Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and John "Bradshaw" Layfield while there also Spanish and German commentators ringside, broadcasting live inside the arena. Lilian Garcia and Eden Stiles handled ring introductions. The analysis team was hosted by Renee Young and consisted of Booker T, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves, broadcasting live outside the arena, while JoJo and Tom Phillips served as social media correspondents.

Results

No. Results Stipulations Times[13]
1P The Cosmic Wasteland (Stardust, Konnor, and Viktor) defeated The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) and Neville Six-man tag team match[14] 9:44
2 Kevin Owens defeated Ryback (c) Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship[15] 9:32
3 Dolph Ziggler defeated Rusev (with Summer Rae) Singles match[16] 13:47
4 The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) defeated The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) with (Xavier Woods) (c) by disqualification Tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship[17] 9:57
5 Charlotte (with Paige and Becky Lynch) defeated Nikki Bella (c) (with Brie Bella and Alicia Fox) by submission Singles match for the WWE Divas Championship
Had Nikki been counted out or disqualified, she would lose the title.[18]		 12:41
6 The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Braun Strowman) defeated Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Chris Jericho by submission Six-man tag team match[19] 13:04
7 John Cena defeated Seth Rollins (c) Singles match for the WWE United States Championship[20] 16:01
8 Seth Rollins (c) defeated Sting Singles match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship[21] 14:56
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • P – indicates the match took place on the pre-show

Aftermath

Following the event, WWE confirmed that Sting sustained an injury during his match with Rollins.[22][23] It was reported to be a neck injury that had occurred after Sting received a powerbomb onto a turnbuckle.[24][25] After defeating Sting, Rollins was later attacked by the returning Kane, who turned face as a result after Sheamus tried to cash in his money in the bank contract. The title match with Rollins would be Sting's final bout: on April 2, 2016, during his WWE Hall of Fame induction speech, Sting announced his retirement from pro wrestling.

On the September 21 edition of Raw, when Charlotte was celebrating her victory over Nikki Bella at Night of Champions, her teammate Paige went at Charlotte with a rant on how there is no Divas Revolution, telling Charlotte the reason she won the Divas Championship was because of her father Ric Flair and telling Becky Lynch that she is irrelevant out of PCB, thus turning heel in the process.

Later in the same show, Randy Orton joined forces with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose as he attacked The Wyatt Family.

Before Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns revealed Chris Jericho as their mystery partner, a fan managed to jump the barricade and get into the ring without getting caught by security.[26] WWE would later release a statement on this situation, stating that "WWE takes the safety of our performers very seriously, and any fan entering the ring area will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."[27]

Ryback invoked his rematch for the Intercontinental Championship against Kevin Owens on the October 1 episode of SmackDown, where Ryback would end up beating Owens by count out when he purposely failed to climb back into the ring for the count of 10, meaning Owens retained the championship. After becoming the number one contender to the title by defeating Rusev, the two had a rubber match at Hell in a Cell, where Owens defeated Ryback via pinfall to retain and end the feud.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Johnson, Mike. "COMPLETE 2015 WWF PPV SCHEDULE". pwinsider.com. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.pwtorch.com/site/2015/11/25/4159/
  3. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on 18 November 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on 18 November 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Caldwell, James. "CALDWELL'S SUMMERSLAM REPORT 8/23: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of Lesnar vs. Taker, Title vs. Title, more matches". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 Tedesco, Mike. "WWE RAW Results - 8/24/15 (The Dudleys, Sting return)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  7. ↑ Caldwell, James. "WWE NEWS: Three big returns on Raw - WWE Title Main Event set for Night of Champions". PWTorch. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Tedesco, Mike. "WWE RAW Results - 8/31/15 (Sting/Cena challenge Rollins)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Tedesco, Mike. "WWE RAW Results - 9/7/15 (Sting trashes Rollins' statue)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Martin, Adam. "WWE Smackdown Results - 9/10/15 (Seth Rollins vs. Ryback)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Tedesco, Mike. "WWE RAW Results - 9/14/15 (Sting has first RAW match)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  12. ↑ Namako, Jason. "WWE Smackdown Results - 9/3/15 (Tag team main event)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  13. ↑ Caldwell, James. "CALDWELL'S WWE NOC PPV REPORT 9/20: Live Night of Champions Coverage from Houston - Seth Rollins's double duty, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  14. ↑ Clapp, John. "Neville & The Lucha Dragons vs. The Cosmic Wasteland (Kickoff Match)". WWE. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  15. ↑ Clapp, John. "Intercontinental Champion Ryback vs. Kevin Owens". WWE. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  16. ↑ Clapp, John. "Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev". WWE. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  17. ↑ Pappolla, Ryan. "WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. The Dudleyz Boyz)". WWE. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  18. ↑ Clapp, John. "Divas Champion Nikki Bella vs. Charlotte". WWE. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  19. ↑ Pappolla, Ryan. "Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and a partner of their choosing vs. The Wyatt Family". WWE. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  20. ↑ Melok, Bobby. "United States Champion Seth Rollins vs. John Cena". WWE. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  21. ↑ Clapp, John. "WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs. Sting". WWE. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  22. ↑ WWE.com staff. "Sting injured at Night of Champions 2015". WWE. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  23. ↑ Adkins, Greg. "Exclusive: Sting on his injury, his condition and whether or not that was his last match". WWE. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  24. ↑ Cole, Mike. "Report: Sting Suffered ‘Significant’ Neck Injury At WWE ‘Night Of Champions’". NESN. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  25. ↑ Fowler, Matt. "WRESTLING WRAP UP: STING INJURED AT NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS". WWE. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  26. ↑ Pritchard, Bill. "Fan Enters Ring At WWE Night Of Champions". WrestleZone. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  27. ↑ Pritchard, Bill. "WWE Issues Statement On Fan Run-In At WWE Night Of Champions". WrestleZone. Retrieved 20 September 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.