WWE Night of Champions 2014: Power Ranking Every Match at PPV
Sunday night, World Wrestling Entertainment delivered a Night of Champions pay-per-view that featured a stacked card and some truly inspired performances from the men and women involved.
Whether it was Randy Orton and Chris Jericho wrestling an old-school-style match or Sheamus and Cesaro beating one another senseless in a match for the latter's United States Championship, the show featured some tremendous wrestling.
While none of the matches are likely to have lasting effects in the ever-changing world of sports-entertainment, their quality helped make Night of Champions one of the more solid wrestling shows of the year.
Even if the booking, at times, made little sense.
Eager to find out which matches succeeded more than others? Take a look at the power rankings for every match on the Night of Champions card.
7. Intercontinental Championship Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz
1 of 7
When was the last time Dolph Ziggler was involved in the worst match of the night?
Involving comedy acts R-Truth and Damien Sandow, not to mention the abomination to country music that is Florida Georgia Line, will do that to a match.
When a major part of the contest involves Ziggler lying ringside while two country singers shove Sandow around and destroy whatever shred of credibility he had left at that point, you know you're watching something incredibly awful unfold before your eyes.
That Ziggler and Miz, two of the brightest midcard acts in WWE, were so easily overshadowed by stupid comedy and D-list celebrity involvement should be cause for concern within management.
The match was nothing special, never even making it to the level of some of the more solid bouts fans had been exposed to on Raw and absolutely nowhere near as good as Ziggler and Miz's contest from SummerSlam.
6. Mark Henry vs. Rusev
2 of 7
From the moment tears poured down Mark Henry's face while Lilian Garcia sang a beautiful rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner," fans were absolutely electric for the World's Strongest Man's match against the hated Rusev.
Then the match started and those same fans remembered that they were watching a match between Mark Henry and Rusev.
The heat fell off significantly following the opening bell, the problem being that neither Rusev nor Henry is flashy enough to retain or regain fan interest once boredom sets in. The slow, lumbering nature of the bout, which can be attributed to an aging Henry, really took the Nashville fans out of the bout.
By the time Rusev blasted the former World Heavyweight champion with two side kicks and forced him to tap out to the Accolade, the fans were ready for the next match on the card. That was a shame, because the effort was clearly there on the part of the two competitors. They just never really jelled in a way that allowed them to have a very good match.
5. Divas Championship Match: AJ Lee vs. Paige vs. Nikki Bella
3 of 7
There was a lot to like about the Divas Championship match Sunday night.
Paige and AJ Lee continued to show developing chemistry, building off their exceptional SummerSlam match, while Nikki Bella never looked out of place with her opponents. In fact, the self-absorbed Bella Twin played her role to perfection, delivering some straight power maneuvers that included basing for the powerbomb/superplex spot late in the contest.
The finish was executed to perfection, with Paige attempting to break free of AJ's vaunted Black Widow finisher, only to fail and have no other choice but to tap out.
Had the crowd been hotter for it than it was, the Triple Threat title match may very well be recognized as one of the better Divas matches in recent history. The action was crisp and fluid, something the women's bouts cannot always claim.
4. WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar
4 of 7
Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena at Night of Champions started off very much like their SummerSlam bout did a month earlier. One of the Superstars came out on fire, hit his finishing maneuver and scored a pin attempt early. Except, this time it was Cena doing the overwhelming and Lesnar who was forced to retreat and recover just seconds into the bout.
From there, things settled down, with Lesnar predictably taking control and wearing the leader of the Cenation down. But Cena showed great resiliency, hanging in there even when the punishment was unbearable.
The home stretch of the match was outstanding, with each Superstar resorting to signature power moves to try to put the other away. Cena delivered four Attitude Adjustments and looked to be on his way to regaining the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the 16th time when Seth Rollins interfered, drawing a disqualification finish.
It was a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise strong match between two guys who showed some outstanding chemistry with each other. The Rollins finish, and the failed Money in the Bank cash-in, made no sense and ensured that the match ended on an otherwise sour note.
3. WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos vs. Stardust and Goldust
5 of 7
The opening match of the evening was another outstanding WWE Tag Team Championship defense by The Usos as they met Goldust and Stardust.
In a fairly standard tag bout, with the heels isolating one of the babyfaces until a hot tag sparked an energetic finish, all four competitors managed to add their own little flair to help elevate the action to the next level.
The finishing sequence was particularly hot, with Goldust executing a somersault plancha seconds before Jimmy Uso exploded over the top rope and on to Stardust.
Unfortunately for the Usos, their greatness had a cap and that cap was six months, as they dropped their WWE Tag Team Championships.
The win for Goldust and Stardust was the culmination of a yearlong rise back to the top of the tag team ranks. After being lost in the shuffle earlier this year, Cody Rhodes reinvented himself with the Stardust character and now has the opportunity to make up for the disappointing conclusion to his first title reign with his older brother.
2. United States Championship Match: Sheamus vs. Cesaro
6 of 7
Take two guys who have established themselves as the best workers in the industry, pair them up with little or no backstory to speak of and let them beat the unholy hell out of each other. That is the formula that WWE followed in its booking of Sheamus vs. Cesaro at Night of Champions, and it was a formula that proved infallible.
Cesaro wore Sheamus down with uppercuts and forearms, ducked out of the way of a Brogue Kick and caught the champion with an impressive slam. All of that offense, his complete and utter dominance of Sheamus throughout the middle portion of the contest, led only to a two-count. It stunned Cesaro and left him searching for answers.
How would he defeat Sheamus?
He would not, as it turned out. The Celtic Warrior blasted Cesaro with the Brogue Kick to retain his title, winning his toughest test to date.
Hopefully, the outstanding match was enough to win them favor with WWE Creative and better stories to support their stellar ring work.
1. Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton
7 of 7
Chris Jericho and Randy Orton are grizzled vets of the mat game. They have been around for quite some time, wrestling main events across the world and scoring victories over the biggest stars the industry has ever seen.
At Night of Champions, the Superstars clashed in a great old-school wrestling match that was never too fancy, never too overbooked, but retained its quality thanks to smart sequencing and tremendous psychology on the part of The Viper.
The facial expressions and body language of the third-generation star really told the story of the match. Orton had a somewhat euphoric look on his face as he set Jericho up for the punt. Instead, Jericho countered the strike and rolled him up for a near-fall.
Jericho withstood the middle rope DDT and climbed the ropes, his comeback in full force. Suddenly, he made a leap of faith that resulted in an RKO and the end of his night.
Orton's win helps provide him with a bit of momentum, while Jericho rides off into the sunset with another quality match on his already sparkling resume.
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