City Nashville, Tennessee Date 21 September 2014 Sponsor Mountain Dew Attendance 12,000 | Night of Champions (2014) Hell in a Cell (2014) Venue Bridgestone Arena Promotion WWE | |
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Tagline(s) Rematch. Resolve. Redemption. Theme
song(s) "Night of Gold" by CFO$
"Big Epic Night" by Jim Johnston Night of Champions (2014) Night of Champions (2015) Location Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee, United States | ||
Night of Champions (2014) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on September 21, 2014, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and was the eighth annual Night of Champions event.
Contents
Eight matches took place at the event. Of the five championships contested, three changed hands. The main event saw John Cena defeat Brock Lesnar by disqualification (with Lesnar retaining his WWE World Heavyweight Championship), after it was interfered by Seth Rollins. The event had 48,000 buys (excluding WWE Network views). The previous year's drew 175,000 buys.
Background
The professional wrestling matches at Night of Champions featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.
At SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar defeated John Cena to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the August 19 edition of Main Event, a rematch was scheduled for Night of Champions.
At SummerSlam, Paige won the WWE Divas Championship against AJ Lee. On the September 1 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon granted Nikki Bella a title match at Night of Champions, but they were interrupted by AJ, who reminded Stephanie of her rematch. On September 5, Stephanie decided that Paige would defend the title against AJ and Nikki in a Triple threat match.
On same show, Dolph Ziggler, who at SummerSlam had defeated The Miz for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, lost a rematch by countout. On the September 2 episode of Main Event, another title defense against The Miz was scheduled for the event.
On the August 25 episode of Raw, Cesaro by defeated Rob Van Dam and thus became the number one contender for the WWE United States Championship, held by Sheamus.
On the August 18 edition of Raw, Mark Henry attacked Rusev, who retaliated on September 1 of Raw, by attacking Henry during a match pitting Henry and Big Show against Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. On the September 5 edition of SmackDown, Henry challenged Rusev to a match at Night of Champions, with Lana accepting on Rusev's behalf.
On the August 18 episode of Raw, Gold and Stardust defeated WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos in a non-title match. A week later, Goldust and Stardust won a title match by count-out and attacked The Usos after the match. Goldust and Stardust attacked the Usos again after their respective matches against Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso on the following episodes of SmackDown and Raw, resulting in Jey Uso injuring his leg. On September 8, the Usos were scheduled to defend the title against Gold and Stardust at the event.
On the September 1 episode of Raw, Chris Jericho insulted Randy Orton on his Highlight Reel show. A week later, Orton attacked Jericho who was being medically treated after losing to Bray Wyatt in a steel cage match. On September 9, a match between Jericho and Orton was scheduled for the event.
Event
On the pre-show, Christian returned the "Peep" Show with Chris Jericho as the show's guest. Analysis was provided by a pre-show panel of Booker T, Alex Riley, Big Show, and Renee Young.
Preliminary matches
The actual pay-per-view opened with The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) defending the WWE Tag Team Championship against Goldust and Stardust. The Usos dominated throughout the match until Jey attempted a Samoan splash on Stardust but landed on Stardust's raised knee. Stardust immediately rolled-up Jey for a pinfall, thus winning the title.
Next, Sheamus defended the United States Championship against Cesaro. Sheamus executed a Brogue Kick to score a pinfall.
After that, Dolph Ziggler defended the Intercontinental Championship against The Miz. The Miz was accompanied by his "stunt double" Damien Mizdow, while Ziggler was accompanied by his ally R-Ziggler. Miz rolled up Ziggler while holding his tights to win the match and his fourth Intercontinental Championship.
The next match on the card was scheduled between Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. The match was cancelled the day before the event, as Reigns was rushed to the hospital for surgery on an incarcerated hernia, and was deemed unable to compete. Rollins walked to the ring to claim a victory against via forfeit. While in the ring, Dean Ambrose attacked Rollins. The Authority emerged from backstage to separate the two and restore order. Security later tied Ambrose's hands behind his back and escorted him out of the arena.
In the fifth match, Rusev faced Mark Henry. During the match, Henry executed The World's Strongest Slam, but couldn't capitalize. In the end, Henry submitted to The Accolade.
In the next match, Randy Orton faced Chris Jericho. In the end, Jericho executed a Codebreaker but Orton kicked out. Jericho dove off the Top Rope but Orton countered into a mid-air RKO and pinned Jericho to win the match.
In the seventh match, Paige defended the Divas Championship in a triple threat match against Nikki Bella and AJ Lee. After leaving Nikki Bella unconscious out of the ring, AJ forced Paige to submit to the Black Widow to win the title. With this win, AJ Lee ties the record for most reigns alongside Eve Torres with three.
Main event
In the main event, Brock Lesnar defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against John Cena. Cena executed an AA but Lesnar kicked out at one. Lesnar then applied the Kimura Lock four times, but Cena reached the ropes to break it. Cena later executed a second AA on Lesnar, but Lesnar kicked out at two. Cena later applied the STF, but Lesnar countered the hold. Lesnar then applied a fifth Kimura Lock, but Cena escaped by repeatedly driving Lesnar into the corner. Cena then executed a third AA on Lesnar and applied a second STF, but Lesnar reached the ropes. Cena applied a third STF, but Lesnar again reached the ropes. Cena then locked Lesnar in a fourth STF, but Cena let Lesnar out of the hold when he refused to submit. In the end, Cena executed a fourth AA on Lesnar. As Cena went for the cover, Seth Rollins attacked Cena with the Money in the Bank briefcase, causing a disqualification. Rollins attacked Lesnar with a Curb Stomp and then attempted to cash in his contract but Cena attacked him before the match could actually begin. Lesnar then executed an F-5 on Cena to close the show.
Aftermath
The following night on Raw, The Miz defended his Intercontinental title against Dolph Ziggler in a Night of Champions rematch. Ziggler regained the title after rolling up The Miz with a handful of tights. During his weekly interview with Michael Cole, Triple H scheduled a battle royal for the September 26 episode of SmackDown, with the winner receiving at title match against Ziggler later in the night.
Reception
Night of Champions received mostly positive reviews. The Sheamus vs. Cesaro match was highly acclaimed, despite its short length. James Caldwell, from PWTorch, gave the Main Event three 3/4 out of five stars. He called it a "solid title match". However, he complained about the Intercontinental and Divas title changes. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter called the US Title match and the Orton vs. Jericho "excellent matches." About the US Title match, he said it looked "like a G-1 match with a lot of stiff blows and reversals back-and-forth."