WWE Night of Champions (September 2015)

Original Airdate: September 20, 2015

From Houston, Texas; Your Hosts are Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, and Jerry Lawler

Opening WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Ryback v Kevin Owens: Ryback looks gassy tonight. That's not code for anything, by the way. I'm talking about farts, folks. Ryback tosses Owens around to start, and press-slams him over the top to the outside. Guess he's not very pleasant after the beans. He keeps coming, but gets the wind knocked out of him via the ring post, and Owens goes after the shoulder. Inside, Kevin works the arm in dull fashion, but runs into a clothesline, and Ryback front-powerslams him for two. Powerbomb, but Owens counters with a backdrop, so Ryback changes gears to a spinebuster for two. Meat Hook, but Owens counters with a superkick for two. Ryback throws a lariat, but can't Shell Shock him due to the shoulder, and Owens schoolboys him for two. Single-arm DDT gets two, and he tries a fujiwara armbar, but Ryback powers to his feet in the hold, and slams his challenger to escape. Shell Shock, but Owens rakes the eyes, and schoolboys him for the title at 9:32. I love and appreciate ring psychology as much as anyone, but this was a lot of arm-barring. Decent sell job from Ryback though. *

Rusev v Dolph Ziggler: Ziggler's switch to long pants makes him look (even more) like 1993 Shawn Michaels, complete with the biker boots. He sticks and moves at Rusev, but gets trapped in a cobra clutch, so he uses a stunner to escape, and follows with a nice dropkick. Sleeper, but Rusev shrugs him off, and puts him down with a spinheel kick for two. Rusev dumps him to the outside, as the camera crew makes my night with some extended close-ups of Summer Rae playing his cheerleader. And people say the WWE sucks today? Back in, Rusev bodyslams him a couple of times, but Ziggler manages a sloppy cradle for two to counter a third slam. Rusev reacts with a clothesline before Dolph can follow-up, however, and he slaps on a chinlock. Ziggler escapes and tries another dropkick, but gets countered with a slingshot. Another bodyslam, but Ziggler manages to reverse this time, and drop him in the corner. Dolph blitzes him with clotheslines to setup a stinger splash, then adds a neckbreaker for two. Bodypress, but Rusev counters with a swinging side slam for two, but a roundhouse kick misses, and Dolph schoolboys him for two. Fameasser, but Rusev counters with a stungun - only to undershoot it, and take the fameasser anyway for two. Dolph goes to the top, but Rusev knocks him back down to earth, and roundhouse kicks him for two. Again, but Dolph counters into a sleeper, but Rusev escapes, so Ziggler puts him down with a visually impressive DDT for two. That was pretty fucking cool, with Rusev basically staying vertical for few seconds after getting planted. Shockingly, they don't even do a replay. I'll never understand their criteria for those. Rusev with another roundhouse kick for two, and it's Accolade time, but Ziggler counters with a sloppy superkick for two. Summer gets involved, but accidentally hits Rusev with her shoe, and Ziggler Zig-Zags him for the pin at 13:48. As technically okay as the SummerSlam match, but didn't quite have the same mojo. Ziggler was also pretty sloppy tonight. * ¼

WWE Tag Team Title Match: The New Day v The Dudley Boyz: Kofi Kingston starts with D-Von Dudley, and peppers him with a dropkick. Kofi controls a reversal sequence, but makes the mistake of disrespecting D-Von, and pounded in the corner. Tag to Bubba Dudley, but Kofi manages to bail to avoid the Death Drop, and stalls on the floor as he huddles up with his partners. Tag to Big E, and he threatens to buttfuck the guy named Bubba. Isn't that usually the other way around? Headlock, but Bubba side suplexes him to escape, then superplexes him for two. Tag back to Kofi, but he runs right into a backdrop, so Xavier Woods runs interference to allow Kingston to sneak up with a dropkick. The champs cut the ring in half on Bubba, but Kofi runs into the Bubba Bomb, and D-Von gets the tag. He's a house of arson to ignite a four-way brawl, but New Day don't like those odds, and turn it into a five-way - getting disqualified in the process at 9:59. This was okay, but it was painfully obvious that the Dudley's - despite still being entertaining and competent in structuring a match around their limitations - just couldn't keep up with the younger guys, and New Day had to throw themselves around like madmen to makeup for it. *

WWE Diva's Title Match: Nikki Bella v Charlotte: If Nikki tries to save the title by countout or disqualification, Charlotte wins the match and the belt. Gotta dig the guy in the ICOPRO t-shirt in the first row. Nikki stalls to start, and causes Charlotte to tweak her knee while going after her. Nikki snap suplexes her into the ropes to fuck with her knee some more, then proceeds to kick her leg out from under her leg for a bit. She tosses Charlotte to the floor and demands the referee start counting, but the challenger beats the count in. Nikki punishes her with more abuse to the leg, nearly popping out of her top while wrenching on a submission. Now there's the kind of psychology anyone could appreciate! Dropkick to the knee gets two, and another snap suplex into the ropes works, but Charlotte manages a crucifix cradle for two to avoid a dive onto the leg. Nikki cuts her off with a half-crab, however, then dives off the middle rope with a forearm to clip the knee for two. Clothesline gets two, and Nikki wraps the leg around the post a couple of times to setup a ring post figure four. Back in, Nikki hooks the bad leg for two, then goes back to the half-crab, but Charlotte's squad distracts the champ, and Charlotte schoolgirls her for two. Bella with a sleeper, but Charlotte fights her off, and hits a neckbreaker, followed by a big boot for two. Backslide, but Nikki jabs at the knee to block, and hits a kneeling facebuster for two. Frustrated, she just outright starts punching at the knee, then ups the ante with a snap suplex into the turnbuckles. Back up to the middle rope for another flying forearm to the knee, but this time Charlotte manages to spear her down to block, and she slaps on the Figure Eight for the title at 12:37. Not on par with what the girls at NXT are doing, but certainly one of the better main roster Diva's matches in forever - given plenty of time, and actually building a match around psychology. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this was, actually, as I was expecting nothing going in. ***

Six-Man Tag Team Match: The Wyatt Family v Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Chris Jericho: Jericho is a mystery partner. Luke Harper starts with Ambrose, and Dean quickly snapmares him over to setup a seated clothesline. Dropkick into the ropes leads to a tag to Reigns, and Roman jumping clotheslines him. Tag to Jericho for a flying fist, and a flying bodypress for two. Walls, but Luke blocks, so Jericho throws an enzuigiri instead for two. Tag to Roman, but Harper dodges the Superman Punch, and passes to Braun Strowman. He's a big 'un. Reigns sticks and moves, then tags out to Ambrose for some tandem sticking and moving, but Braun shrugs them both off. Jericho tries a flying axehandle, but gets press-slammed to the floor for his troubles. Tag to Bray Wyatt, but Dean manages to reverse a neckbreaker, and tags are made to Harper and Reigns. Roman drops him like a Samoan, and delivers a sit-out powerbomb for two, but runs into the wrong corner, and gets nailed by Braun. The Wyatt's cut the ring in half on Reigns, but he manages to shrug off Bray long enough to tag out to Jericho. Chris comes in hot with a bulldog on Wyatt to setup the Walls, but Harper saves. Six-way brawl breaks out from there, and Reigns Superman's Braun to setup a flying elbowsmash from Dean. Spear by Roman, but Jericho stupidly tags himself in as Roman prepares to go for the kill, and walks into the Yokosuka Cutter followed by a lifting arm triangle choke to end it at 13:02. Energetic enough, but total cookie cutter stuff, and Jericho as any sort of surprise on a major scale just doesn't work these days. Like, a couple of weeks ago, he walked into a movie theater my friend manages (saw The Green Inferno, for those curious). That was a pleasant surprise. Jericho as a mystery partner on pay per view in 2015? Less so. ¾*

WWE United States Title Match: Seth Rollins v John Cena: Seth's rocking the badass alternate white gear here again ala SummerSlam, though this is firmly after Labor Day now. Faux pas, Sethelah. Cena controls the initial lockup, but misses a cross corner charge, and Seth delivers a blockbuster for two. Sleeper, but Cena won't quit (nor should we expect him to, what, a full two minutes into the damn match), so Rollins hangs him in a tree of woe to setup a flying double-stomp for two. Seth puts the boots to him, but wastes time leading the crowd through a wave, and John schoolboys him for two. Why are they doing house show spots? I mean, I get that Rollins still has another match to work immediately following this, but come on! Seth keeps hammering him in dull fashion, but trying his own version of the five knuckle shuffle earns him a pair of shoulderblocks, and a modified side suplex. Cena with the real Shuffle, but Seth kicks him in the head to block, and sleeper-slams him for two. Pedigree, but John counters with another modified side suplex, and a front-flip piledriver gets two. FU, but Seth snaps his throat across the top rope to block. He heads up, but Cena counters with a Samoan drop off the top - only for Rollins to counter with a running powerbomb into the corner, which is in turn countered back by Cena with a rana into the corner! Great sequence there. Slugfest goes Rollins' way, but a bodypress is countered with the FU - only for Rollins to counter with a pair of superkicks for two. Another great sequence - the timing there was unbelievable! Rollins dumps him to the floor for a somersault tope suicida, but barely connects with it. Back in, Seth tries a flying frogsplash, but Cena dodges, and delivers a tornado DDT for two. John heads up, but Seth is ready with a superplex, which he rolls right into a falcon arrow for two. That spot is ridiculously cool, though it bears mentioning that seemingly all of the cool spots nowadays are completely unrealistic (in the sense that the cooperation is glaringly obvious). Sometimes the less obviously choreographed stuff works better, but this era tends to gravitate more toward the eye-popping stuff. Cena fights back with the STF out of nowhere, but Rollins counters up with a powerbomb into the turnbuckles for two. Pedigree, but John backdrops him and tries a bodypress (really?), Rollins rolling through and trying an FU - only for Cena to counter with an inverted vertical suplex. John-boy with a flying fameasser, and the FU quickly follows for the title at 16:01. Well, this one certainly picked up, after a somewhat slow start. Maybe not quite on par with their SummerSlam match, but certainly derivative of it, and another strong showing overall. *** ½

Main Event: WWE World Heavyweight Title Match: Seth Rollins v Sting: Very little rest time for Rollins here, as Sting makes his entrance almost immediately following the bell of the previous bout. That's smart booking, as it gives the crowd a plausible reason to believe Sting could actually beat Rollins here, in his weary state. Sting blitzes him at the bell, and immediately goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Rollins has the ropes before he can roll him over. Seth snaps his throat across the top rope, and tries a 2^nd rope bodypress, but Sting rolls through for two. Deathdrop, but Rollins blocks, so Sting backdrops him over the top. Sting follows for a few shots into the steps, and a close-up of the announce table as they brawl in that direction reveals a roll of duct tape on the desk. I know duct tape is, like, a cure-all for many of life’s problems, but why the hell would you need it while calling a wrestling pay per view is beyond me. Inside, Rollins gets to do his Flair impression off of a pair of cross corner whips, and he tries bailing, but Sting follows. Sting tries putting Rollins through a table, but Seth manages a hard shove - Sting flying back through the Spanish announce table, in a solid bump. Despite leaving Sting in a heap, Rollins decides to take the belt and leave rather than finish him, but then randomly changes his mind, and goes back over to bodyslam Sting on the remnants of the table. Inside, that gets two. Sleeper-slam gets two, and the falcon arrow is worth two. Powerbomb into the turnbuckles gets two. Pedigree, but Sting manages to backdrop him onto the apron, then shove him off into the rail. Seth hustles back in to try and cut a battered Sting off before he can recover, but the challenger is ready with clotheslines, and the Stinger Splash hits. Flying bodypress to the outside by Sting, and the Deathdrop on the way back in gets two! Another Stinger Splash, but he makes the mistake of trying a ten-punch follow-up, and gets countered with a running powerbomb into the buckles - landing wrong, and knocking himself silly in the process. Sting legitimately can't maintain a vertical base as a result, so EMTs are called in, and the match stops to a halt as they check on him. Rollins keeps the crowd engaged with taunts, but you can see the concern written on his face. Not that that's a bad thing. Back in business, and Seth goes for the Pedigree, but Sting counters to the Deathlock. Rollins is in the ropes, so Sting tries pulling him back - only to take an enzuigiri. Pedigree is countered into the Deathlock again, but this time Seth is able to counter with an inside cradle to retain at 14:56. This wasn’t an all-time classic, or anything, but Rollins did a great job of masking Sting’s limitations here, and Sting left it all out there in the ring – doing everything physically possible to try and hang with Rollins, even to the point where his wellbeing was at risk. ** ¾

BUExperience: Much like the main event, this won’t go down as an all-time classic, but it was (as most WWE pay per views are in this era) solid throughout, if immediately forgettable. Rollins’ double-header and the Diva’s title match are all quite strong, however, and worth checking out.

**