Wait just a second, that's not the name of the pay per view! It's Night of Champions! Oh please, you and I both know that the selling point of this PPV is the Punk/HHH match. That's the match that's gotten the most attention over the past month and that's the match that has sold the most tickets and will sell the most PPV buys. The sad part is that, even if I wanted to name the highest drawing match next to the Punk/HHH match...I don't think I'd be able to do it. It's a pretty clear cut two way tie, but Orton/Henry has been built up far better than Cena/Del Rio, and people actually see Mark Henry as a legitimate obstacle for Orton, where Del Rio is just another notch in John Cena's ring post...but at the same time, Cena sells tickets by being on the card more than Orton, and it isn't even close. So which one is a better match? I'll let you judge that, but it's my job to predict how the storylines are going to play out tonight.
The Card Structure
Match 1. Dolph Ziggler (c) v John Morrison v Alex Riley v Jack Swagger for the US Championship
Match 2. Cody Rhodes (c) v Ted DiBiase for the Intercontinental Championship
Match 3. Air Boom (c) v Awesome Truth for the Tag Team Championships
Match 4. Kelly Kelly (c) v Beth Phoenix for the Diva's Championship
Match 5. Randy Orton (c) v Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship
Match 6. Alberto Del Rio (c) v John Cena for the WWE Championship
Match 7. Triple H v CM Punk in a No DQ match where if CM Punk wins Triple H must resign as COO
Pretty simple, basic card structure - you've got to have a curtain jerker to get the crowd involved, and that's what the US Title match is. Then the Rhodes/DiBiase match should be great, but not exactly a match full of highspots, so the crowd has a chance to come down from the high that the US Title match brought them up to. Air Boom is another high spot match so again we need the Divas match to even out the tone, and then the (if you can really call it that) triple main event with the World + WWE titles being defended and the ACTUAL Main Event, the Punk/HHH match.
Dolph Ziggler (c) v John Morrison v Alex Riley v Jack Swagger for the US Championship
This should come to no surprise, but I'm predicting John Morrison to come out of this match with the United States Championship. The key in this match is that Dolph Ziggler does not have to be pinned in order to lose the championship. I think that John Morrison will pin Jack Swagger for the three count causing Ziggler to absolutely lose his lid and beat the living tar out of Swagger. Vickie goes to defend Swagger, Ziggler throws her off him to continue the beatdown. This leads to Vickie slapping Dolph and "breaking up" with him. Dolph Ziggler, a newly freed man, can chase after his US Title claiming that he was never pinned and is the rightful US champ; basically, keep up his heel persona but have HIM talking on the mic instead of Vickie. Let Vickie be Jack Thwagger's mouthpiece so we never have to hear that lithp ever again. That leaves out Alex Riley, who is a babyface, so naturally, he'll continue poking fun at Vickie Guerrero and feud with Jack Swagger because of it. This match establishes a new champion and the result establishes two new fresh feuds that at least one of could culminate in a great match at Hell in a Cell and/or Vengeance.
Winner, and NEW United States Champion: John Morrison
Cody Rhodes (c) v Ted DiBiase Jr for the Intercontinental Championship
I wish I could say that DiBiase could win the title tonight, but the fact of the matter is that as soon as DiBiase wins the title it ends any semblance of a feud that he and Rhodes had - same as what happened when Alex Riley beat The Miz in their first PPV match against each other. Rhodes retains, but DiBiase finds a way to get another title shot and wins it within a month. I absolutely love that this match was made and frankly I think it deserves way more buildup than it got, just because of the history between these two. Rhodes retains, ideally via disqualification to make DiBiase look strong in defeat, and this feuds continues on to Hell in a Cell, hopefully with DiBiase winning the title there.
Winner, and STILL Intercontinental Champion: Cody Rhodes
Air Boom (c) v Awesome Truth for the Tag Team Championships
This match is interesting because nobody really seems to know who is going to win. You can't help but ignore how massively over Air Boom is with the live crowd, but Miz and Truth are getting booed more than the heel WWE Champion. So who walks out with the titles? The best part about this match is the fact that there are four talented guys getting time. How do you prolong a feud? By giving the heels a win over the babyface champions. I think Awesome Truth wins the titles and this feud continues with Air Boom dropping the belts and needing to regain them back at the next PPV. Awesome Truth wins by sneaky, heel tag team tactics that are so desperately missed in the WWE today. It'd be great to see a Kings of Wrestling debut here, but I highly, HIGHLY doubt that'll happen - if KoW does debut, though, expect Air Boom to retain to drop the belts to the heel KoW.
Winner, and NEW Tag Team Champions: Awesome Truth
Kelly Kelly (c) v Beth Phoenix for the Diva's Championship
Let's be honest with ourselves here: there is no way Beth Phoenix is losing this match. Kelly Kelly has held the Divas title longer than anybody since Maryse held it for 6 months in the beginning of 2009. Kelly Kelly already beat Beth Phoenix in a title match at the last PPV. This could be Beth Phoenix's last shot at Kelly's title, and her being one half of the Divas of Doom, the WWE would have made the DoD look completely weak and pointless if Kelly goes over here. Beth Phoenix in dominating fashion to continue the feud between the DoD and basically the rest of the Divas roster, hopefully this DoD faction can last until Kharma comes back to make a three woman wrecking crew unrivaled by any Divas faction in the history of professional wrestling.
Winner, and NEW Diva's Champion: Beth Phoenix
Randy Orton (c) v Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship
Randy Orton can't lose the belt in this match. At the same time, Mark Henry can't look weak in this match or lose his #1 contender spot. How do we achieve the desired results without overbooking too much? Have Orton win by disqualification. Mark Henry is an absolute monster who obliterates opponents and can't be stopped. Randy Orton stopping him in one try makes Henry look like a joke and makes Sheamus look even worse since he was the guy who Henry beat so bad that he couldn't even answer a 10 count at the last PPV. If Orton beats Mark Henry clean, how does that make Sheamus look? Not very good. So, simply put, Orton needs to retain the title, but not cleanly. I think the final result will be a double disqualification, with Orton and Henry battling each other outside of the ring and Henry running towards the ring but not entering the ring in time to answer the 10 count, then possibly attacking the referee.
Winner, and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Randy Orton
Alberto Del Rio (c) v John Cena for the WWE Championship
Alberto Del Rio is having trouble garnering the heat that he had pre-Wrestlemania. I think he's having that trouble because he looks weak and didn't have enough build up as champion. How can you give Del Rio the push of a lifetime? He needs to make John Cena tap out. John Cena has tapped out before, to Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit, so even though the commentators build it up like he never has, it wouldn't be the first time. Del Rio makes Cena tap in the upset of the night to retain the WWE championship and give Del Rio the rub of a lifetime. The following night on Raw Cena gives the "I'm sorry, I underestimated Del Rio" speech to the WWE universe. This way we don't end both main event championship matches in DQ and the right guy goes over. The best part about this is that if Del Rio can't capitalize on the rub, there are two PPVs over the next 5 weeks that the WWE can have him drop the title at out of desperation.
Winner, and STILL WWE Champion: Alberto Del Rio
Triple H v CM Punk in a No DQ match where if Punk wins Triple H must resign as COO
This is the big match of the night. This match could go one of two ways. If these guys legitimately dislike each other, this could be the biggest disappointment of a match since that Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels match in Montreal in 1997, or the Lesnar/Goldberg match from Wrestlemania XX. If it's just a work, and I'm fairly sure it is, this could take Match of the Year from Punk/Cena at MitB. You've got two of the best storytellers in the business right now in a match whose only form of buildup was spoken word. THAT is exciting on its own, then you add the fact that it's a No Holds Barred match, a match that somehow has become Triple H's forte, and you've got a recipe for sheer brilliance. Don't expect wristlocks and suplexes in this match, though: that would be a delusional mistake. This is a fight. Don't mistake it for a technical exhibition.
As far as the result of the match, goes, I think Kevin Nash is going to help Triple H to beat Punk. This makes Punk look strong because it took two guys to beat him, and keeps Triple H on TV at the same time as revealing the truth behind the text sent from Trips' cell phone. It's a massive payoff that still leaves room for the story to continue and opens up an entire new chapter in said story. I do believe that our Survivor Series match this year will revolve around this feud culminating in a Triple H led faction vs a CM Punk led faction. This could pick up Match of the Year, Feud of the Year, and has the potential to earn Survivor Series that PPV of the Year spot that Money in the Bank currently holds. Either way, I do think that Nash costing Punk the match is the way to go in this one.
Winner, and STILL WWE COO: Triple H
There you have it. To sum things up, 6 of our 7 matches involved titles, and 3 of them had title changes. The overall dynamic of the WWE landscape hasn't been changed much, but Triple H and Kevin Nash have revealed their shenanigans to the world and CM Punk, which should help Raw ratings. Alberto Del Rio now looks like a legitimate, credible champion and John Cena may or may not still be the #1 contender, not that it matters - as long as he's on the card, it draws money. Cena is above championships. Randy Orton is still World Champion but Mark Henry is also still #1 contender and looks as angry and dangerous as ever, with their next match MOST LIKELY being No DQ match. The Divas and Tag Team Titles changed hands and are now held by heels, so the matches you saw involving those titles will likely be the same matches at the next PPV with the title on the other side. Cody Rhodes is still Intercontinental Champion but Ted DiBiase is most likely next in line. And, of course, the United States Championship is now firmly in the waste of John Morrison with Dolph Ziggler owed a rematch, most likely at the Hell in a Cell PPV.
Final Card + Predicted Results
United States Champion: John Morrison
Intercontinental Champion: Cody Rhodes
Tag Team Champions: Awesome Truth
Diva's Champion: Beth Phoenix
World Heavyweight Champion: Randy Orton
WWE Champion: Alberto Del Rio
HHH v CM Punk: Triple H
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