All 8 WWE Night Of Champions 2015 Matches Ranked From Worst To Best

Night of Champions 2015 was an interesting show, to say the least. It featured seven matches on the main show, plus a pre-show match that was meant to excite the crowd in order to prepare them for the matches that would follow.

Naturally, by virtue of scheduling, booking and overall presentation, some matches were better than others. Though it would be unrealistic to expect every single match on a secondary September Network show to be a stellar performance that showcases the best of every performer, whenever one tunes in to watch one of these shows, there’s an expectation that the contests would be better than what’s seen on regular programming.

So now the question is, ‘which matches were well-executed, and which ones left a lot to be desired?’

This article will rank all eight NoC 2015 matches from worst to best. This ranking will be based on a number of factors, including: technical skill and diversity of moves, how ‘special’ the match feels (i.e. is it a PPV-quality match or does it feel like a regular TV match?), fan excitement and noise, storyline progression (where applicable), and most importantly, how much these matches will convince fans to tune in to subsequent shows to find out what happened.

As usual, each match will get a star rating between * and *****, with an ‘average’ match being given a rating of **.

Yes, this match was worse than one that took place on the pre-show.

While it was an interesting dynamic to see a slow-moving power-oriented wrestler fighting against a smaller, more agile opponent, there was something about this match that made it drag on for the first two thirds of it. Maybe it was the lack of crowd interest (they were chanting ‘We Want Lana’ loudly at one point), or maybe it was a series of moves that showed how they didn’t connect very clearly on camera. But the match was disappointing for the most part.

While the final five minutes or so featured some much-needed action that really brought the crowd back into the contest, the finish once again demonstrated several problems with WWE’s booking philosophy. Instead of having Ziggler pin Rusev 100% cleanly, which would’ve made him look that much stronger after taking so many kicks and signature moves, Rusev was made to look like a fool twice in one match. First when he started celebrating (despite not hearing a bell), and then after getting hit with a shoe and actually sold it.

So while both men did look strong during the actual match and put on a competitive contest, they were the victims of an unnecessary finish that that made everyone look foolish in the end.

Both of them deserve better than this.

Final Rating: **1/2