10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Night Of Champions
Don't be surprised if Triple H manages to beat both Owens and Rollins this Sunday...
This Sunday, the Raw brand presents the first-ever Clash of Champions Pay-Per-View. While the name is only a slight modification from the "Clash of the Champions" event WCW used to run semi-regularly during the late '80s and 1990s, the show itself is a spiritual successor to Night of Champions - an annual WWE PPV where all of the company's titles were on the line.
This year, for the first time, the show is a single-brand PPV as only wrestlers from Raw will be present. Still, all of the red brand's championships will be on the line, from Kevin Owens's Universal Title to T.J. Perkins's brand-new Cruiserweight Title.
It's refreshing that, at least one evening a year, a bevy of championships are all treated as important. Indeed, ever since the PPV concept was established in 2007, every available title has been featured and given its own moment to feel important.
Still, that doesn't mean that the show didn't have its share of bad matches, ridiculous booking examples, and moments that are simply better off forgotten. Like every WWE show - and like Clash of Champions moving forward, undoubtedly - Night of Champions has more than a few sore spots.
Here are 10 things WWE wants you to forget about Night of Champions...
10. Mysterio Refuses To Job To Ziggler (2009)
One of the hottest feuds of 2009 was the Intercontinental Title program between Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio. Together, the two former world champions managed to make the secondary belt feel important and, at one point, Mysterio even put his mask on the line. When the dust was settled, Mysterio won the programme and came away with the championship.
Despite the fact that Mysterio was promised a long reign with the IC Title to keep him happy and prevent him from leaving the company, the month after his feud with Jericho ended, he was asked to drop the title to Dolph Ziggler. As late as the day of Night of Champions 2009, Ziggler was scheduled to win the belt, but Mysterio apparently balked and plans were changed.
Instead of putting over the new star, Mysterio beat Dolph clean at Night of Champions. The feud continued, and Mysterio won again at SummerSlam. He only lost the title just before serving a Wellness Policy suspension and, even then, he dropped it real-life friend John Morrison, not "The Showoff".