WWE Night Of Champions Preview
Eight Title Matches Scheduled For This Sunday's Pay Per View
Jul 25, 2009
Night of Champions is a truly unique Pay Per View. It is the only night of the year where every Championship in the WWE will be on the line. Here is a preview.
Maryse vs. Mickie James (WWE Divas Title Match)
They have been building toward this match for months. Unlikely to be a big payoff in terms of match quality but chances are Mickie will win a title for the first time in a while. After what happened on Raw, it is likely Miz will try to interfere only to have it backfire.
Prediction: Mickie James
Michelle McCool vs. Melina (WWE Women's TItle Match)
Two women's matches on one PPV? That's a rarity. This is likely to be the better of the two. McCool is proabably the best women's wrester in WWE and Melina is not too bad either. In the end, McCool won't be losing the title just one month after winning it.
Prediction: Michelle McCool
Kofi Kingston vs. Big Show vs. Carlito vs. Jack Swagger vs. Miz vs. MVP (U.S. Title Match)
This is likely to be an ugly match due to all the different contrasting styles. Big Show is likely to dominate early, forcing the others to gang up on him. All hell will break lose at some point and Swagger should sneak in a pin to claim the title and give him some credibility on Raw as they continue to push him as a top heel.
Prediction: Jack Swagger
Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler (Intercontinental Title Match)
This is Ziggler's highest profile match ever so he is likely to have some butterflies. Mysterio, though, should be able to carry him to a decent match. Ziggler is clearly being groomed to be a top star and a future IC champ, but he won't win the title on his first try, leading to a rematch at Summer Slam.
Prediction: Rey Mysterio
Chris Jericho & Mystery Partner vs. Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase (Unified Tag Team Title Match)
The Mystery Partner angle, which was necessitated because of the Edge injury, is an excellent way to elevate a young guy by giving him Jericho's endorsement. As far as the match, Rhodes and Dibiase are solid in the ring and any match Jericho is in is worth checking out, so this should be a pretty good match, regardless of who the mystery partner is. There are two ways this could go. Jericho and mystery partner work well and retain or mystery partner blows it, leading to a feud with Jericho. Going with the former, if only because of a desire to see Jericho on all three shows.
Prediction: Chris Jericho & Mystery Partner
Tommy Dreamer vs. Christian (ECW Title Match)
Dreamer is sure to have the home court advantage in Philadelphia, the home of the original ECW. The WWE dropped the ball though, by not making this a Hardcore Rules match. That is Dreamer's specialty and the Philly crowd would have eaten it up. In a regular match, Dreamer is limited, although Christian, being the great athlete that he is, should make this watchable. It would be a shame for Dreamer to lose his title in Philly, so look for him to escape with the gold.
Prediction: Tommy Dreamer
C.M. Punk vs. Jeff Hardy (World Title Match)
This has been an underwhelming feud and it doen't even feel like a World Title program. C.M. Punk is one of the weakest World Champions ever (not his fault, just the way he's been booked). Jeff Hardy doesn't have the feel of a main event star and a legit World Title threat, based on the fact that his two World Title reigns have lasted a month and a couple minutes respectively. Their match last month was decent but nothing special and should be about the same in this match. C.M. Punk could really use a clean win here to help his credibility as Champion but the most likely scenario is that he cheats to win, furthering his heel turn.
Prediction: C.M. Punk
Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. HHH (WWE Title Match)
This match has, by far, the most star power of any match on the card. It is actually a rematch of the Wrestemania main event a couple of years ago. The Orton/HHH feud had grown stale of late and the addition of Cena should spice things up. Cena and HHH will likely work together against Orton before turning on each other. The outcome is tough to predict as any of these three would make a credible WWE Champion going forward. Going with the same winner as the Wrestlemania match as Orton hits an RKO out of nowhere to retain. Orton goes into Summer Slam as the champ before losing the title to Cena? HHH? A returning Shawn Michaels?
Prediction: Randy Orton
