WWE Night of Champions
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| WWE Night of Champions | |
|---|---|
.png) WWE Night of Champions logo used from 2014–2015 | |
| Other name(s) | Vengeance: Night of Champions |
| Promotion(s) | WWE |
| Brand(s) | Raw (2007–2010) SmackDown (2007–2010) ECW (2007–2009) |
| First event | Vengeance: Night of Champions |
| Last event | 2015 |
| Event gimmick | All active championships on WWE's main roster were defended |
WWE Night of Champions was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a Connecticut-based professional wrestling promotion. It aired live and was available only through pay-per-view (PPV) and the WWE Network. The inaugural event took place on June 24, 2007, and was a crossover with Vengeance. In 2008, Vengeance was dropped in favor of Night of Champions and it took over the June PPV slot. The concept of Night of Champions was that every championship promoted on WWE's main roster from 2007 to 2015 was defended. In 2016, Night of Champions was replaced on the PPV schedule by the similarly themed Clash of Champions.
History[edit]
Night of Champions was a pay-per-view (PPV) event consisting of a main event and undercard that prominently featured championship matches. It was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE; the "WWE" acronym became an orphaned initialism for the promotion in 2011).[1] The inaugural event took place on June 24, 2007, under the name Vengeance: Night of Champions at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas and aired live on PPV—this was a crossover event with Vengeance, which was discontinued in 2008 in favor of Night of Champions (though Vengeance returned as a one-off event in 2011 and again in 2021).[2] In the nine editions of Night of Champions, the WWE Championship was defended in the main event seven times (the last two of which it was known as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship),[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] with the now-defunct World Heavyweight Championship defended in the main event once,[9] and in 2011, the main event was a non-championship match.[10] In 2014, Night of Champions became available on WWE's online streaming service, the WWE Network, in addition to traditional PPV.[7] In 2016, Night of Champions was replaced on the PPV schedule by the similarly themed Clash of Champions.[11][12]
Concept[edit]
The concept of Night of Champions was that every championship promoted on WWE's main roster from 2007 to 2015 was defended.[11] Originally, the theme was that every active championship promoted by WWE was defended, but after the establishment of NXT as the promotion's developmental territory in 2012, which introduced its own set of championships, the theme from 2012 onwards was that only WWE's main roster championships were defended.[5][6][7][8] In 2010,[4] non-title matches began to be included on the card as less championships became available due to WWE unifying several titles that eventually led to the dissolution of the first brand extension in August 2011;[10] after the final title unification in December 2013, WWE had just five titles on their main roster through the 2015 event.[7][8] In total, 10 different WWE championships were defended at the pay-per-view over its nine events.
| Year | WWE | World Heavyweight | ECW | Intercontinental | United States | World Tag Team | WWE Tag Team | Women's | Divas | Cruiserweight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007[2] |  | | | | | | | |  | |
| 2008[3] | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2009[9] | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2010[4] | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2011[10] | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2012[5] | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2013[6] | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2014[7] | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2015[8] | | | | | | | | | | |
- Notes
- The 2007 event, which was titled Vengeance: Night of Champions, was the only Night of Champions event to feature the original WWE Cruiserweight Championship, as the title was deactivated in September that same year.[2]
- The WWE Divas Championship was established shortly after the 2008 event.[9] At the 2010 event, the original WWE Women's Championship was unified into the Divas Championship, thus retiring the Women's Championship in favor of continuing the Divas Championship, which very briefly became known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship.[4]
- In 2009, the World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship were unified as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, but remained independently active until the World Tag Team Championship was decommissioned just before the 2010 event in favor of continuing the WWE Tag Team Championship, which dropped the "unified" moniker.[4]
- In February 2010, the ECW brand was disbanded, deactivating the ECW Championship along with it.[4]
- In December 2013, the World Heavyweight Championship was unified into the WWE Championship, retiring the World Heavyweight Championship while the WWE Championship became known as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.[7]
Events[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Sacco, Justine; Weitz, Michael (April 7, 2011). "The New WWE" (Press release). Connecticut: WWE. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "Vengeance: Night of Champions (2007) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ a b c "Night of Champions (2008) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ a b c d e f g "September". WWE Official Calendar 2010. World Wrestling Entertainment.
- ^ a b c d "WWE Night Of Champions #WWENOC". TDGarden.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
- ^ a b c d Cutting, Devin (2013-01-11). "COMPLETE DETAILS AND LOCATIONS ON ALL 2013 WWE PPV EVENTS". PWInsider. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Night of Champions 2014". prowrestlinghistory.com. Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Johnson, Mike. "COMPLETE 2015 WWF PPV SCHEDULE". pwinsider.com. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Night of Champions 2009". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ a b c d "WWE presents Night of Champions". HSBC Arena. Retrieved 2011-08-15.
- ^ a b "WWE Night of Champions history". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
- ^ "Get WWE Clash of Champions 2016 tickets now". WWE. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ Powell, John (2007-06-24). "Vengeance banal and badly booked". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "WWE Champion John Cena def. King Booker, Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley & Mick Foley (Challenge Match)". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
- ^ Bishop, Matt (2008-06-30). "Big names still on top after Night of Champions". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.