WWE Night of Champions 2011: Booking the Epic Event

What's up, ladies and gentlemen? My name is Eric Kanes and today, I will be fantasy booking Night of Champions.

I usually only do this for big PPVs, such as SummerSlam and Survivor Series, but in this case, I thought the card would be fun to book, so why not?

As always, you guys know the drill. There will be three parts to every slide:

The Story: This is how I'd book the story behind the feud going into the event. How did this match come about? This part might be a bit shorter than usual since I only have 4 weeks to book.

The Match: This is how I'd book the actual match and who I'd book as the winner of this match.

The Aftermath: This is what would happen to the competitors after this PPV match. If I can't come up with a good aftermath scenario, then that match can be considered pointless.

With all of that said, let's get this show on the road!

Six-Man Cruiserweight Championship Match

Sin Cara (Hunico) vs. Evan Bourne vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Trent Barretta vs. Justin Gabriel

The Story: I am a strong supporter of bringing back the cruiserweight championship. There are a bunch of smaller guys floating around, competing on Superstars, and pretty much going nowhere. Instead of burying all of them, why not create a division that revolves around them?

On an upcoming edition of SmackDown, have Triple H announce that one of the changes he is making as COO is bringing back the cruiserweight division. Have him announce that at Night of Champions, a brand new champion will be crowned in a six-man match. However, these won't just be any six men competing. They'll have to earn their spots.

In the following weeks, have six qualifying matches. Have all of these matches on either RAW or SmackDown, give all of them 8-12 minutes, and have the announcers put over their importance. Have Sin Cara defeat Primo, Evan Bourne defeat JTG, Kofi Kingston defeat Heath Slater, Tyson Kidd defeat Yoshi Tatsu, Trent Barretta defeat Curt Hawkins, and Justin Gabriel defeat Santino Marella.

Some people might question putting Kofi Kingston in this match but he's really not above midcard level at the moment. Having him in this match is better than leaving him off the card and it also gives a rub to whoever beats him.

Now that we've got six men, let's get to the match.

The Match: Have these six guys open the show. Give them 15 minutes and let them go all out. An opener like this can really get the crowd going. Eventually, have all of the guys hit their finishers on one another. Sin Cara ends the sequence by hitting his finisher on Trent Barretta and gets the win.

The Aftermath: As Sin Cara is celebrating with the title post-match, the real Sin Cara comes out and points at the title as the announcers wonder what's going on. On the following edition of SmackDown, have it be revealed that there's been a fake Sin Cara ever since Money in the Bank.

At Hell in a Cell, have Mistico vs. Hunico for the cruiserweight championship. Mistico goes over and continues being Sin Cara. Hunico moves on to a tag team with fellow luchador, Averno.

Kelly Kelly (c) vs. Beth Phoenix

The Story: Beth Phoenix earns another title shot against Kelly Kelly. What else can be done?

The Match: The ending to their SummerSlam match was a mistake. Let's not repeat that. In this match, just have Beth annihilate Kelly in under five minutes.

The Aftermath: In the coming months, Beth and Natalya dominate the divas division. Beth successfully defends against Eve Torres, AJ, and whatever other face divas there are.

Meanwhile, Trish Stratus returns and offers to take Kelly under her wing. Every single week, show vignettes of Stratus training Kelly, the same way she trained the Tough Enough rookies. Eventually, have Kelly return much more meaner and vicious.

At Survivor Series, have Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix with Trish in Kelly's corner and Natalya in Beth's corner. Natalya tries to interfere but gets beat down by Trish.

With both of them out of the equation, Kelly "overcomes the odds" and gets a clean victory over Beth after a 10-minute match. An upset roll-up win won't make Kelly any more of a star. This scenario will.

Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Morrison

The Story: R-Truth and John Morrison have one more grudge match on RAW except this time, it's a "Loser Leaves RAW" match. Morrison is on his way to victory but The Miz costs him the match (we'll get to this in just a bit).

John Morrison shows up on SmackDown and asks Zack Ryder to re-sign him but Ryder refuses because he's not his broski. At that point, you can have a comedy segment where Zack's dad pleads with Zack to resign him until he finally does.

Ryder finally signs him but says that he still doesn't like him. He puts John in a handicap match with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.

Rhodes and DiBiase gang up on Morrison during the match but Morrison is able to somehow fight them off and pick up the win. Post-match, they both beat Morrison down.

However, since Morrison was able to get the win, Teddy Long books him in an Intercontinental Championship match with Rhodes at Night of Champions.

Right now, moving Morrison to SmackDown is a must. He's got no place in the RAW main event scene with CM Punk and John Cena as the top faces and there are a bunch of guys like Rey Mysterio, Big Show, and Kofi Kingston who are at his level or above his level.

Simply put, he has a much better chance of getting over on SmackDown. Plus, there are a lot more fresh guys for him to work with and a lot more time for him to put on matches. Can you imagine 15 minute matches against Daniel Bryan, Christian, or Tyson Kidd? Enough said.

The Match: Give these guys 15 minutes on PPV and they can potentially steal the show. Have Morrison put up a valiant effort but fall just short to Rhodes, after DiBiase interferes.

The Aftermath: We'll get to this in the World championship slide.

Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Alex Riley vs. Jack Swagger

The Story: From now on, have Vickie Guerrero manage both Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger separately. Have Jack Swagger face Zack Ryder in a No. 1 contender's match for the U.S. title and have him pick up the win with Vickie's help.

However, Alex Riley claims that he deserves a U.S. title shot because he defeated Jack Swagger on last week's edition of Superstars and he technically defeated Dolph Ziggler two weeks ago on RAW. Triple H believes that Riley's claims are valid so he sets up a triple threat match.

Leading up to Night of Champions, the big story is that Vickie is managing both Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger and they part of the same match with a title on the line. They both tell her that she better make up her mind by Night of Champions.

The Match: At Night of Champions, Vickie comes out with Dolph and then walks to the back and comes out with Swagger. The three men wrestle without Vickie getting involved until Riley hits his finisher on Ziggler. He covers but Vickie distracts the ref.

Off the distraction, Dolph hits the Zig Zag on Riley but Swagger tosses Dolph out of the ring and picks up the win and the title. He celebrates with Vickie while Dolph looks on, looking jealous.

The Aftermath: Vickie continues managing only Swagger going forward. I'd prefer to have Michael Cole managing Swagger but Vickie works too. T

he bottom line is that Swagger is more talented than Dolph in just about every category and he's one of the most underrated talents on the roster. Simply put, he deserves this push a hell of a lot more than Dolph does.

The Usos (c) vs. The Miz and R-Truth

The Story: Every champion must defend their title every 30 days which means Otunga and McGillicutty have to defend their titles eventually. They defend them on SmackDown against The Usos, who pick up the win.

Meanwhile on RAW, The Miz and R-Truth continue getting screwed week in and week out the way they are now. R-Truth calls it a c-o-n-spiracy. I call it terrible booking. It's time to make the two relevant again.

To start an edition of RAW, have The Miz come out to claim that he deserves to get the next title shot. John Cena comes out next and says that he's the one who deserves a title shot. R-Truth is out next and he states his case.

Finally, CM Punk comes out and gives his reasons. Triple H comes out and says that only two of the men in the ring have legitimate claims to a title match - John Cena and CM Punk. Both Truth and Miz flip out in the ring and yell about how it's unfair.

Later on backstage, R-Truth walks up to The Miz and claims that it's all part of the conspiracy. Then, Truth says that they obviously won't be getting any singles title matches.

However, what if they could team up and end the conspiracy? Management can't stop both of them. The Miz thinks about it but comes to the conclusion that R-Truth is crazy.

Later on, The Miz has a match with Rey Mysterio. Mysterio hits the 619 and is about to hit the splash when R-Truth runs out. Off the distraction, Miz picks up the win. Backstage, Truth emphasizes that Miz would not have won on his own.

The next week, Truth has the "Loser Leaves RAW" match with Morrison. Morrison is on his way to victory but Miz costs him the match. Miz is finally convinced and the two men are now official allies. The following week, they beat Otunga & McGillicutty in a No. 1 contender's match for the tag team titles. The match is on.

The Match: The Usos get some offense in but in the end, Truth and Miz end up winning after one helps the other.

The Aftermath: Truth and Miz go on to have a lengthy title reign...at least, until they are needed in the main event scene again. They defeat a thrown together tag team (e.g. Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston) every month until eventually, Kings of Wrestling debut and pick up the upset victory.

Having KOW defeat Truth and Miz will give them a lot more of a rub than beating a team with no credibility like Otunga and McGillicutty.

Randy Orton (c) vs. Christian vs. Sheamus vs. Mark Henry

The Story: We've seen Orton vs. Christian far too many times while I don't think anybody is too interested in seeing Henry vs. Sheamus again. Instead of getting those individual matches, why not combine them and have a Fatal Four Way? It's something fresh and it gets all four guys on the card.

The Match: The biggest story of the match is that Orton, Sheamus, and Christian keep trying to take down Mark Henry but he just keeps coming back. At one point in the match, you can even have Orton and Christian double team Henry to put over how tough he is.

To end it, have Orton hit the RKO on Christian while Henry hits the world's strongest slam on Sheamus. Orton covers Christian while Henry covers Sheamus. However, the referee only sees Orton so he counts to three and declares him the winner.

The Aftermath: Post-match, Henry goes crazy and starts yelling, "I did not lose!" As Orton is celebrating, have Henry attack him and hit his signature combination of the world's strongest slam and a splash. Then, have him put his leg in a chair and "break" it.

On the following edition of SmackDown, Teddy Long announces that since Orton won't be able to make it to Hell in a Cell, he has no choice but to vacate the title.

Instead, there will be an 8-man tournament concluding at Hell in a Cell to crown a new world heavyweight champion. Keeping Orton off TV for a few weeks shouldn't be that big of a problem with all the other talent and the interest going on with the tournament.

The tournament participants are Mark Henry, Sheamus, Christian, John Morrison, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, & Jinder Mahal.

In the end, it comes down to Mark Henry and John Morrison. At Hell in a Cell, the two have a Hell in a Cell match. Morrison uses the cell to his advantage and does his parkour stuff but in the end, he is overpowered by Henry.

On the next edition of SmackDown, Orton returns. At Vengeance, it's Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton. Henry goes over. Eventually, when someone beats him (Daniel Bryan is my suggestion), they'll almost instantly become a star.

Daniel Bryan vs. Wade Barrett

The Story: Wade Barrett beat Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam, so he has now earned a shot at the Money in the Bank briefcase.

The Match: Barrett and Bryan are given 10-12 minutes once again. In the end, Barrett goes for Wasteland but Bryan catches him with a submission hold, causing him to tap out. Bryan retains his briefcase.

The Aftermath: Several others (Jinder Mahal, Brodus Clay, etc.) challenge Bryan for the briefcase leading up to WrestleMania but he defeats all of them. Build him up properly. At WrestleMania, he wins his first world title.

Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. John Cena vs. CM Punk

The Story: I don't think I have a lot of writing to do here because the story is pretty much already written. Both John Cena and CM Punk have re-match clauses.

However, John Cena is feuding with Alberto Del Rio going into the PPV while CM Punk wants answers from Kevin Nash, Triple H, John Laurinaitis, and everyone involved.

Leading up to the PPV, we get more and more clues each week but we never quite find out why Kevin Nash attacked CM Punk. However, Triple H still claims that he had nothing to do with it and to prove it, he bans Kevin Nash from ringside at Night of Champions to ensure a fair ending.

The Match: Give these guys 25 minutes and let them work. Del Rio may be abominable on the mic, but he can work pretty good matches against the right opponent. One of those opponents is CM Punk. Remember the triple threat match with Punk and Rey? This is what this match needs to be like.

At the end of it, have CM Punk hit the GTS on Alberto Del Rio and then on John Cena. Then, from out of nowhere, Triple H himself runs into the ring and takes Punk down, finally turning heel. He then goes under the ring, gets his sledgehammer, and nails Punk.

At this point, Del Rio wakes up and gets the pin and the win. Del Rio celebrates with the title while Kevin Nash, John Laurinaitis, and Stephanie McMahon come out and join Triple H to end the show.

The Aftermath: Cena continues chasing the title and wins it after the Mexico tour. There is no credible argument for Del Rio being champion right now. He's just not ready.

They can build him up properly and then have him win the title but keeping the title on him right now will do more harm than good in the long run (see: Jack Swagger, Sheamus).

As for CM Punk, he goes on to feud with the "corporate" stable, leading to an eventual blow-off match with Triple H.

Final Thoughts

And there you have it, folks. Did you like this card and the proposed storylines? Let me know in the comment section below.

I did propose eight matches which is a bit more than WWE has been doing lately. However, if you limit the backstage segments, fill up all three hours, and don't have any dudes dressed in garbage bags coming out to interrupt the show and sing, then it can be done and all of the matches could still get a decent amount of time.

Until next time, I'm out!

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