Before becoming its own event in 2008, Night of Champions was originally intended to be a one night only theme for the 2007 installment of the Vengeance pay-per-view. The show saw all of WWE's active championships up for grabs for the first time ever. While every other title was defended at the event, the ECW Championship was declared vacant going in due to Bobby Lashley being stripped of the strap at the 2007 WWE Draft. The tournament to crown a new champion came down to CM Punk and Chris Benoit, but due to Benoit no-showing, ECW's newest acquisition Johnny Nitro served as his replacement. Prior to this night, Nitro had some success to his credit as a former multi-time WWE Tag Team and Intercontinental champion, but he hadn't meant anything in so long that fans had no reason to care about him being Punk's opponent. Punk had been chasing the championship since his debut and many thought this was his night. However, that didn't prove to be the case. After a lackluster showing from both men, Nitro emerged victorious as the new ECW champion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtcyfy3GGfc It wasn't a terrible match by any means, but it paled in comparison to the contest Punk could have had with Benoit. It's no wonder why Punk was so sour when talking about his series of matches with Nitro from that summer.
Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.
