WWE Night of Champions 2014: Matches with Biggest Historical Implications

With World Wrestling Entertainment's annual September pay-per-view event Night of Champions just hours away, anticipation is at a fever pitch for a show that could very well dictate the direction the company heads in throughout the remainder of 2014.

Anytime WWE presents a major event, the potential for a historic match, moment or segment is significantly higher than in a normal televised or live show. The promise of a title change or monumental moment is significantly higher as are the chances that something exciting and out of the ordinary will occur.

Expect Night of Champions to be no different.

As the first major pay-per-view event outside of the initial six-month subscription period of the WWE Network (which you can subscribe to for only $9.99), the company recognizes how important it is to leave fans wanting more, to make them want to either resubscribe if they opted not to or sign up for the first time.

Fans have to be dazzled by the results and feel as though they missed something truly special or historic and thus decide that they cannot afford to miss another event on the revolutionary network. They must see match results that pique their interest and stand apart from anything they could see on free television each and every week.

These are the matches with the potential to do not only do that but earn a spot in the history books for years to come.

Credit: WWE.com

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar

At SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar brutalized and demolished John Cena in one of the most impressive displays of total domination ever witnessed by WWE fans. Lesnar overmatched, outclassed and humbled Cena at one of the company’s premier events, leaving fans shaken by what they had just witnessed.

At Night of Champions, Cena not only has the opportunity to avenge that loss but the chance to tie legendary, two-time Hall of Famer Ric Flair's unprecedented mark of 16 heavyweight title reigns. It would be a major accomplishment for Cena even if championships tend to change hands more frequently than they did in Flair’s day.

Speaking of titles changing frequently, should Cena escape his war with Lesnar as champion, there is no guarantee that he will make it out of Nashville with the title in his grasp. Seth Rollins’ Money in the Bank briefcase ensures that he will one day strike from out of nowhere, cash in the guaranteed title opportunity that lies inside and capture wrestling’s top prize.

Who’s to say that will not happen Sunday night?

Credit: WWE.com

Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton

With every exit from the ring, Chris Jericho inches closer and closer to one day calling it a career. He is getting older, though it may not always look like it, and has so many other interests outside of the world of wrestling that there will come a time when a return to the ring is no longer appealing.

There are no indications that that time is near, but Sunday night Jericho will compete in his final match before turning his attention back to his band Fozzy, the promotion of his upcoming autobiography and any other gigs he has outside of the ropes.

With WWE taking a more youth-based offensive heading into the future, there are only so many times Jericho can step back into the ring before he begins to stunt the growth of those WWE is counting on to become major Superstars. He knows that and is unlikely to do to them what so many of the established stars did to him during his time in WCW.

Is Jericho vs. Randy Orton likely to be Y2J’s final match? Absolutely not, especially given the poor build to the contest. What it could be, though, is the first stop on a goodbye tour that could literally begin the next time Y2J steps through the curtain.

Enjoy him while you can, because performers like Chris Jericho simply do not exist anymore.