WWE Night of Champions 2011: 15 Greatest Moments in Night of Champions History

Four years ago, WWE allowed all three respective brands, including the now defunct ECW, to complete on every scheduled pay-per-view card. In the process of revamping the pay-per-view lineup for the year of 2007, WWE introduced their newest concept that June: Night of Champions.

As a play of WCW's Clash of Champions event from two decades ago, the innovation of WWE's Night of Champions intrigued viewers given the stipulation that every present championship was up for grabs. Although that rule has since been tweaked and the event was later moved to the month of November, the annual event still ranks as one of the most exciting shows of the year given that anything is bound to happen.

Throughout the four-year span of Night of Champions, 15 significant moments have supported this theory and have made the show a must-see program every year it finally arrives. Please note the following are ranked based upon my personal opinion, but feel free to drop a comment with your thoughts on the matter.

With WWE Night of Champions 2011 only mere days away, could we see some significant similarities from these past moments to the upcoming event this Sunday? 

15. Drew McIntyre Alligns with Cody Rhodes To Win the WWE Tag Team Titles

Last year was the point in time when WWE started to pay hardly any attention to their tag team division, slowly started to letting it slip into irrelevancy. Due to the stunning lack of stables on both shows, WWE didn't even bother to advertise a tag team championship beforehand, simply due to the fact that no one cared anyways.

Given the fact that the Hart Dynasty were being forced to defend their belts with the event being Night of Champions, Creative threw together a five-team gauntlet match for the belts, which inevitably saw the debuting duo of unlikely allies Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes ending the five-month title reign of the third-generation Superstars.

Both Rhodes and McIntyre were floundering in mid-card over on SmackDown at the time, so it came as no surprise they were just being used as filler champions for the meantime. Nearly a month after winning the straps, the Dashing Duo dropped the WWE Tag Team Championships to Nexus members John Cena and David Otunga in an impromptu bout at the Bragging Rights event. 

14. WWE Legends Sargent Slaughter and Jimmy Snuka Return

Similar to last year's Night of Champions, there were no definitive challengers set to contend for the WWE Tag Team Championships against Deuce N' Domino at the 2007 event. Shockingly, the open challenge was answered by two WWE Hall of Famers, Sargent Slaughter and Jimmy Snuka.

If you didn't already know, Deuce is the adopted son of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, so that made this match all the more special. Although it was the team from the other side of the tracks walking out with the belts still around their waist, Snuka and Slaughter cleared house following the contest with some help from another famous tag team, Rick Martel and Tony Garea.

13. Christian Wins His Second ECW Title

Upon returning to the WWE in early 2009, Christian made it his primary goal to win his first world heavyweight title in the company by capturing the ECW Championship. Upon clearing that accomplishment at Backlash, his reign as champion was prematurely ended a month later at the hands of the near-retiring Tommy Dreamer at Extreme Rules.

After numerous unsuccessful attempts in recapturing the gold from Dreamer in subsequent weeks, Christian earned himself one more match for the title at the Night of Champions event. In another solid match from the two seasoned veterans, it was Captain Charisma who began his second reign as champion that night, holding the title for the next seven months in the Land of Extreme.

12. Candice Michelle Wins Her First (and Only) Women's Championship in WWE

Since arriving in the WWE many years ago, Candice Michelle was always looked upon as the typical WWE Diva, being the "eye candy" of the division so to speak. However, as time passed, Michelle would improve immensely in the ring and become one of the most must-see Divas on Monday nights.

At Vengeance: Night of Champions in 2007, Michelle successfully defeated then-Women's Champion Melina to capture her first taste of gold in the WWE. Ironically enough, Michelle's victory would be the only title change of the entire night. 

11. Johnny Nitro Captures the Vacant ECW Championship

Throughout the entire first half of 2007, CM Punk was on the quick rise to the top of the WWE following stellar performances at WrestleMania 23, Judgement Day and ECW: One Night Stand. With these impressive victories, Punk would have to earn himself the prestigious ECW Championship at Night of Champions with Bobby Lashley vacating the title upon his move to Raw that June.

However, there was only one man preventing Punk from the ECW Championship: his Night of Champions opponent and 2007 WWE Draftee, Chris Benoit. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the bout never came to fruition due to Benoit's mysterious absence from the event.

In his place, the debuting Johnny Nitro would opportunistically replace the Rabid Wolverine and capture the belt that cemented his main event potential for years to come. Nitro, who later renamed himself John Morrison a short while later, would hold the belt for the remainder of the summer

10. Mickie James Wins the Divas Championship

Since moving to Raw in the 2009 WWE Draft, then-Divas Champion Maryse was made a primary target in the eyes of many Divas on the flagship show, specifically Mickie James. For nearly three months, the two met on a handful of occasions, but James was never able to snag the title in order to cement her already impressive legacy in the WWE.

At Night of Champions in 2009, James finally earned that chance, and soundly defeated the French-Canadian to capture her first Divas Championship, ending Maryse's near seven-month title reign in the process. With this victory, Mickie James became the second Diva in history to win both the Divas and Women's titles, behind Michelle McCool. 

9. Mark Henry Wins His First World Championship

It's said that every few years, Mark Henry receives a monster push following renewed interest in his character at the hands of WWE Creative. This can be supported with the biggest match of his career against the Undertaker at WrestleMania 22, and the push he began to receive with his subsequent appearances on the ECW brand in mid-2008.

Although the advertised bout at Night of Champions was scheduled to be then-ECW Champion Kane defending against the rightful No. 1 contender Big Show, Henry earned his spot in the Triple Threat Match by pinning Kane five nights prior one-on-one.

With Kane and Big Show representing the Raw and SmackDown brands respectively, the World's Strongest Man brought the strap back to the Land of Extreme with his first championship win in nearly a decade. Will history repeat itself when Henry contends for the prestigious World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Orton this Sunday?

8. Kofi Kingston Wins the IC Title Upon His Raw Debut

In early June 2008, then-Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho turned his back on the WWE Universe by attacking the legendary Shawn Michaels in a brutal fashion. Going into that year's Night of Champions event, no opponent was scheduled to challenge Jericho for the title given HBK's storyline injury, but with the stipulation of the pay-per-view, Jericho arrived in Texas that summer's night ready for an open challenge.

Accepting that challenge was the rising Kofi Kingston, who had since been drafted over to Raw in the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft. With some help from a vengeful Heartbreak Kid at ringside, Kingston would pin Jericho in perhaps the biggest upset of his career to capture the prestigious Intercontinental Championship for the first time.

Since that memorable night, Kingston has gone on to hold the Intercontinental title an impressive two more times, as well as hold the United States and WWE Tag Team Championships on a handful of occasions.

7. Triple H Finally Defeats John Cena

At WrestleMania 22, John Cena successfully retained his WWE Championship against Triple H for the first time ever. Although they've almost always been competing on the same brand together, a rematch between the two titans was never scheduled for quite some time.

After coming off of impressive victories against JBL and Jeff Hardy, John Cena was prepared to challenge then-WWE Champion Triple H for the title come Night of Champions in mid-2008. The fact that the Game had never before defeated Cena one-on-one was brought up constantly, and made for a very intriguing main event pay-per-view match.

Despite being shockingly drafted over to SmackDown six days prior, it was Triple H who emerged victorious and set the score one to one. They would meet on a few more occasions following this, but the anticipation was never replicated following that night.

Ironically enough, Cena has challenged for the prestigious WWE Championship three years in a row at the annual event, but has always come up short. Let's hope this Sunday that the aforementioned streak stays intact. 

6. Daniel Bryan Captures the United States Championship from the Miz

On the television premiere of the highly anticipated NXT program, The Miz was placed as Daniel Bryan's pro in storyline, a duo that didn't quite get along due to their extraneous background. Their heat carried over to Bryan's return to WWE last summer, where The Miz struck the American Dragon from behind two consecutive nights in a row.

Going into last year's Night of Champions, the odds seemed stacked against the likes of Daniel Bryan, especially with fellow NXT alumni Alex Riley in Miz's corner. In what turned out to be the highlight of the night (and a major mark-out moment for this viewer), Bryan subsequently made the Awesome One tap to his infamous LaBelle Lock and captured the United States Championship.

Bryan went on to restore some prestige to the belt by holding the belt for an impressive six months, while Miz went on to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and win the WWE Championship that November.

5. Kane Finally Defeats the Undertaker

Building towards last year's Night of Champions, it was revealed that Kane was indeed the culprit who put his brother, the Undertaker, in a comatose state over Memorial Day weekend. Upon his return, Undertaker made the challenge for Kane's World Heavyweight Championship, and was highly confident seeing that Kane had never been successful in ever defeating his broken brother.

However, Kane went on to prove many naysayers wrong by defeating Taker in a more-or-less clean fashion in their No Holds Barred Match at the event. Surprisingly, the Devil's Favorite Demon would do the exact same thing at the next two pay-per-views, subsequently burying Undertaker alive at Bragging Rights in October.

4. Unifying the Women's and Divas Championships

Say what you want about the dying Divas division, but there's no question that unifying the two titles was a brilliant idea given the depleted roster of Divas they have to work with. In a Night of Champions rematch from the previous year, Michelle McCool represented Lay-Cool in defeating Melina in a Lumerjill Match to become the inaugural Unified Divas Champion.

My thoughts on the matter would immediately change upon learning that it was the prestigious Women's Championship in place of the pointless Divas Championship toy belt the following night on Raw. However, I guess it's a good thing they ended up retiring it seeing that they can no longer do further damage to the belt and its rich history.

3. Cody Rhodes Turns on Hardcore Holly

Although it may not seem as important as some of the other top-ranked listings, when you really consider what impact this particular moment made, it certainly deserves the No. 3 spot.

In the first half of 2008, then-World Tag Team Champions Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes looked to revitalize the tag team division on Raw, but quickly grew stale as an alliance. The debuting Ted DiBiase Jr. managed to cause some dissension between the two, eventually buying out the second generation Superstar in turning on Holly and joining him as his tag team champion partner.

The shocking turn of events led to something much bigger in coming months, as the youthful duo went on to form the controversial Legacy stable with Randy Orton for a year and a half. Now, Rhodes serves as a credible Intercontinental Champion on SmackDown, and has only this moment to credit for his success.

2. Jeff Hardy Captures His Third and Final World Championship

In what turned out to be the feud of the 2009 summer season, Jeff Hardy and CM Punk clashed over the World Heavyweight Championship on numerous occasions. By July, it was heavily rumored that Jeff was on his way out of the WWE, and would more than likely lose to Punk in their blow-off match at Night of Champions.

However, this turned out not to be the case, as the Enigmatic Enigma shockingly captured his third World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of the pay-per-view, with the crowd going crazy for the change. The reign wouldn't last long, though, as the feud culminated a short month later with Punk regaining the title at SummerSlam and Hardy inevitably departing the company by the end of the summer.

With this victory presumably being Hardy's last ever World Heavyweight Championship win in WWE, it made that moment all the more special looking back on it now. 

1. The Forming of Jeri-Show

We may have been treated to the formation of Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase at Night of Champions in 2008, nothing can beat the debut of Jeri-show only one year later. After Chris Jericho's partner, Edge, pulled out of the tag team due to a severe injury in mid-2009, the Rated-R Superstar was forced to relinquish his half of the tag titles.

In a very similar situation to the previous year, many speculated Ted DiBiase to turn his back on Rhodes and join Jericho in a familiar fashion, due to the fact that Jericho's mystery partner silhouette on the website fit DiBiase. Reports even predicted for Chris Masters to make his WWE return that evening, while a scattered few thought Christian might fit the bill.

However, WWE once again did what they do best in proving the audience wrong by instead going with the Big Show as the mystery partner, who was subsequently pulled out of the Six-Pack United States Championship match scheduled for later in the evening. Although many were disappointed to see such a perfect opportunity be wasted on the World's Largest Athlete, the unlikely alliance of Jericho and Show, later collectively known as Jeri-Show, would bring prestige back to the tag team division while adding some extra star power as well.

Jeri-Show went on to dominate the tag team scene for nearly five months, eventually splitting in early 2010 due to being a part of separate brands. Nonetheless, this shocking moment made for one of the greatest moves in the respective division in a very long time.

Thanks for reading, Bleachers, and feel free to state your thoughts on the rankings and anything I failed to mention. As always, your "likes" and feedback are always appreciated. GSM out.

Visit my web site at Next Era Wrestling and my WrestleRant video blog for more of GSM's thoughts and writings, along with WWE/TNA news, recaps and more. Follow me on Twitter @SAVE_US_GSM.