WWE Night of Champions 2013 Review

Every championship is on the line as Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton headline the event for the WWE Championship. Also, CM Punk seeks revenge against his old manager in Paul Heyman in a no disqualification handicap match. It's the 2013 edition of Night of Champions!

Match 1: WWE Intercontinental Championship - Curtis Axel (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
After Triple H came out and got interrupted by both Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel, Axel was then forced to defend his gold against Kofi Kingston. Little fun fact, Kingston challenged Chris Jericho on the 2008 edition of Night of Champions. Like that match, this one also went unannounced prior to the start of the event. Tells you a lot where his career has gone unfortunately. Good action here to start off the night with Axel struggling to find his rhythm against the faster Kingston, goes well with Axel being unprepared for this match. Even still, Axel is able to swat Kingston away like a flay by planting him for his finisher to secure the win and retain the title before heading into his second match later in the night.
Winner: Curtis Axel
Rating: ***

Match 2: WWE Divas Championship - AJ Lee (c) vs. Natalya vs. Naomi vs. Brie Bella
AJ Lee was talking smack leading up to this contest about the new reality show in Total Divas which caused animosity between the ladies. They all ganged up on AJ early on in the match but after lots of sloppy wrestling spots, AJ was able to lock Natalya in a Black Widow to secure the win and retain her championship. We are still in 2013 and still are not able to get a quality match from the women. Come back in a couple more years.
Winner: AJ Lee
Rating: *1/4

Match 3: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Rob Van Dam
Very strange to see Ricardo Rodriguez accompany Rob Van Dam to the ring, always felt like he worked so much better as heel with Alberto Del Rio. His character was just doomed from the start once Del Rio dropped him. As expected, solid match here with Van Dam doing his usual array of innovative moves while Del Rio relentlessly attacking Van Dam like the great heel he is. After a failed Five Star Frog Splash, Del Rio locked Van Dam in a Cross Armbreaker and refused to break it once Van Dam reached the bottom rope. The referee then called for a disqualification as the crowd booed in disgust. Afterwards, with the help of Rodriguez, Van Dam hits a Van Daminator on Del Rio for his troubles. Enjoyed the match for what it was but just wasn't enough to be the show stealer as I was hoping for. Also, JBL notoriously hates ECW, so why was he hyping the Van Daminator? I thought he was a heel who would be so disgusted by this? Regardless, nobody likes a disqualification finish for a title match and this one is no exception.
Winner: Rob Van Dam
Rating: ***

Match 4: Fandango vs. The Miz
Is there any other wrestler who's star fell faster and harder than The Miz? He went from headlining WrestleMania to facing Fandango in the middle of a PPV. Thankfully, he has risen back to the top in 2018 and deservedly so, the dude is a star. Basic match here between the two with Fandango's star falling just as fast as the star fell for The Miz. Miz was able to lock in his Figure Four submission hold to submit Fandango for the win.
Winner: The Miz
Rating: *1/2

Match 5: Handicap Elimination - No Disqualification - Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman vs. CM Punk
CM Punk looks to get his redemption against his former manager in Paul Heyman as he must take on both him and Curtis Axel in a handicap elimination match. Heyman stood ringside in fear as he watched Axel try to take out Punk before he could get his hands on Heyman. The match basically consisted of Punk and Axel hitting each other with kendo sticks before Punk finally locked Axel in an Anaconda Vice. Axel taps and it is now time for Punk to get his hands on his former manager. Punk handcuffs Heyman and has himself a field day by teeing off on Heyman with a kendo stick before out of nowhere, Ryback appears and drives Punk through a table set up in the corner. Ryback places Heyman's body over an unconscious CM Punk to pick up the win. The match served its purpose but it wasn't anything spectacular and it just didn't make sense when the referee didn't end the match when Heyman said he was tipping while he was handcuffed. The Ryback spot was fine and sets up for a bigger match down the line with Punk getting his revenge on Heyman becoming a bigger deal.
Winners: Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman
Rating: **3/4

Match 6: WWE United States Championship - Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
At this point, the crowd was a bit deflated after the roller coaster ride that was the last match and these two had to suffer from that. Didn't help that the action wasn't the most enthralling thing in the world and the crowd could just not care any less. With that even taken into account, they still wrestled a pretty decent match and one that didn't overstay its welcome. Ambrose is able to easily retain his title as Ziggler's career looks to continue headed down a spiral around this time.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Rating: **

Match 7: WWE Tag Team Championships - The Shield (c) vs. The Primetime Players
After Dean Ambrose retained his championship, it was time for his Shield brothers to do the same against The Primetime Players. The Shield were still heels at this point and were running through the entire roster like nothing, unfortunately for The Primetime Players, they didn't stand a chance. With that being said, the match was at least competitive and Titus O'Neil continued to show some flashes of what a great superstar he could really be. However, O'Neil would later eat a Spear from Roman Reigns that would eventually seal the match.
Winners: The Shield
Rating: **1/2

Match 8: WWE Championship - Randy Orton (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
With no outside interference being tolerated for this contest, Daniel Bryan looks to score some retribution against Randy Orton and regain the WWE Championship. These two are so good that it almost looked like they weren't trying, they placed their spots nicely throughout the match and made every move and every hold make sense. I think we all tend to forget how good Orton is in the ring, he moves effortlessly and can make the simplest of moves look like the smoothest thing you have ever seen. Maybe because my expectations were really high for this, the match just didn't make me jump out of my seat. It was enjoyable but once Bryan hit a running knee on Orton to win the match, I couldn't help but think to myself, "That's it?" Even though they were set to have more matches down the line, I still felt like there should have been more here. For those who forgot, Triple H would go on to strip Bryan of his championship a night later on Raw which basically renders this match a complete angle towards his journey to WrestleMania. Something about this match was just missing, the celebration just didn't give me goosebumps and I wasn't convinced that this match made up for the lackluster card.
Winner: Daniel Bryan
Rating: ***3/4

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
I can't recall the last time I gave such a low score to a PPV, but this event certainly deserved it. The card didn't deliver on its expectations with the main event not being enough to save the show. While it was cool to see Daniel Bryan regain the WWE Championship, it just felt underwhelming and didn't allow me to forget how poor the rest of the card was.
Rating: 4.25/10