Outside of the tasty high drama of its headline bout, WWE’s Night Of Champions was a promising affair that probably underdelivered on balance. The show also featured obvious tournament winners in Cody Rhodes and Jade Cargill – much like last month’s Money In The Bank. Hmm.
King Of The Ring Final – Cody Rhodes def. Randy Orton: Like Rhodes’ feud with Kevin Owens last year, the story here was that Randy’s not quite ready to be horrible to his friends in order to be successful.
The emotional crux of the match was Orton hesitating before attempting a punt kick and Rhodes ultimately making use of an exposed turnbuckle to secure the win. Cody hadn’t removed the pad though so he’s not being outright heelish in taking advantage – but he is taking advantage, and he didn’t hesitate to do so, even against a friend. If Rhodes is on a slow burn heel turn, the indicators have been well placed and well pitched to be intriguing without giving everything away too soon.
All this to say, the character work here was really good. The match was probably only slightly let down by the flow of its finish which didn’t quite electrify the live crowd.
Street Fight – Rhea Ripley def. Raquel Rodriguez: This entertaining hardcore match was Rodriguez’s best showing in some time. It was also, I think, a missed opportunity.
Rodriguez wrestled this one with power and a mean-spiritedness that made her look every inch Ripley’s counterpart in the “being a hoss” department. Rodriguez’s preparedness to take advantage of the stipulation and dole out brutality with weapons was great throughout. Combined with the emotion Ripley puts into every in-ring performance, this was a potential star-making match.
The finish, however, with Ripley overcoming both Rodriguez and the interfering Roxanne Perez meant this great work kinda just went to waste in the moment. With the story told in the ring so effectively, this was a chance to cement Rodriguez as a true force on the main roster. Instead she just remains Judgement Day’s nominal hoss who rarely comes through.
Sami Zayn def. Karrion Kross: Following his exceptional promo just after WrestleMania, I was delighted to see Kross booked in this featured match. I hadn’t completely grasped this during his time in NXT, but after listening to him speak, I now understand Karrion Kross as a passionate artist who is absolutely desperate to be out there practising his craft.
Like Rodriguez above, Kross needed the win here to further both his character and narrative arcs. And despite the feelgood moment of a marquee win in front of an Arab audience, Zayn actually would have been well served by a loss here. He’s in the midst of a crisis of confidence and Kross getting in his head to deliver a crushing loss would have benefited Zayn’s longer term arc.
United States Championship – Solo Sikoa def. Jacob Fatu (c): Get hype for Bloodline 3.0, because Tonga Loa’s back and now Hikuleo is here!
The match itself was fine, but ultimately a vehicle to get to the shenanigans. The win here for Sikoa hopefully signifies his new squad configuration as one that will have some success and raise some storytelling stakes.
This match was also a chance to consider the moveset overlap amongst the various members of the Anoa’i family – or more pressingly, the need for clear(er) differences.
The basic shared moveset works well as long as everyone has their own unique stuff to go alongside it. Roman Reigns is the best example with a bunch of moves that only he does (Superman Punch, guillotine choke, leaping clothesline, Drive By) but everyone else only has maybe one? Jey Uso now has the sleeper, Jimmy Uso has the Uso In The Wind, Fatu’s got the moonsault and Sikoa has the Samoan Spike. I’d love to see everyone carve out their own niche a little further when it comes to in-ring work.
Queen Of The Ring Final – Jade Cargill def. Asuka: This was one of those occasions where the threads of the booking feel too visible and the performance just doesn’t manage to produce a compelling journey to the expected destination.
Cargill keeps improving both on the mic and in the ring, but the story here with Asuka really didn’t work. If Jade was winning this tournament, and beating one of the best in-ring performers of any generation to do it, her victory needed to be propelled by a meaningful character arc. In the event though, Cargill simply survived the Asuka Lock and hit Jaded for the win. Outside of “Jade is very strong and also tough”, the match itself had no driving story – a stark contrast to Rhodes and Orton’s opener.
Undisputed WWE Championship – John Cena (c) def. CM Punk: Devising a kayfabe reason for CM Punk, or rather Phil Brooks, to abandon his shoot critical stance on WWE shows promoted in Saudi Arabia was admittedly quite clever but extremely annoying.
The match itself was good, and immersive in and of itself even prior to the shenanigans kicking off. I’m starting to think that the key to avoiding complaints of “overbooking” is to ensure the thing is already really cooking before anything extracurricular happens. That way, any interference or subterfuge can feel complementary or shocking or whatever the intended vibe is, rather than compensatory. In this regard, Cena / Punk was a noticeable contrast to Sikoa / Fatu earlier in the night.
And with the shenanigans, the last ten or so minutes here were dramatically chaotic with a real “anything can happen in the WWF” feel.
Cena momentarily hearing a voice of conscience and declining to use the title belt against Punk is a great follow-up to Cody Rhodes opting to make use of an exposed turnbuckle earlier in the night. Are we heading for a double turn at SummerSlam? monique.gif
Shoutout to Charles Robinson for taking a full-speed Cena shoulder charge bump and getting that new trading card he wanted out of it! A genuinely funny and effective spot.
And a gentle memo on briefcases – between Seth Rollins and Naomi, I’m going to need at least one of the briefcase wielders to actually call their spot and schedule a cash-in in advance with a booked match. Nobody ever has the (kayfabe) courage to do this anymore, and the endless “will they, won’t they?” in two divisions for months on end can be a little much – possibly a hangover from how much WWE overplayed the angle with Tiffany Stratton last year.
Curtain Call: This wasn’t a weak show necessarily, but outside of the lively headliner, it was a show with two themes: obvious winners and missed opportunities.
With Rhodes and Cargill winning their respective tournaments, it was important to have their journeys to victory rooted in character. Cody’s was, Jade’s wasn’t. And in Rodriguez and Kross, WWE had an opportunity to strengthen the depth of their current TV cast. Both appear regularly but make little impact – victories on the night could have shifted that for both.
With the headliner, WWE proved that a few months out from WrestleMania, the men’s main event scene still has untold dramatic possibilities with performers who can comfortably conjure chaos and produce the kinds of slow-motion replayable moments WWE prides itself on.
Onwards to Evolution where I expect matches (and ideally, stories) for both top tier women’s singles champions!!
SDCC COVERAGE SPONSORED BY MAD CAVE
