The fourth annual WWE Night of Champions came to you, live on pay-per-view, from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL where every championship in the WWE was on the line! In his toughest test to date as WWE Champion, Sheamus would defend his WWE Title against five of the WWE’s best Superstar, four of them former WWE Champions, as Sheamus would defend against John Cena, “The Viper” Randy Orton, “The Rated-R Superstar” Edge, Chris Jericho, and the leader of The Nexus, Wade Barrett, in a Six Pack Elimination Match! In an intense rivalry stretching over the past thirteen years, brothers would go to war with the World Heavyweight Title on the line as, for the first time since being put in a vegetative state back in May, The Undertaker would compete on pay-per-view as “The Phenom” would be out for revenge against the man responsible for putting him in a vegetative state, his own younger brother, Kane, with Kane’s World Heavyweight Title on the line in a match with no disqualifications, no count-outs, no rules, and no mercy as the brothers would clash in a No Holds Barred Match! After using his girlfriend, SmackDown Consultant Vickie Guerrero, to successfully retain the Intercontinental Title in his last two defenses by getting himself disqualified and counted out, Dolph Ziggler would defend the Intercontinental Title against the Superstar who has been the victim of the Dolph & Vickie power couple for over a month, Kofi Kingston, but this time, if Dolph Ziggler is disqualified or counted out, then he will lose the Intercontinental Title to Kofi Kingston! In a rivalry going all the way back to the first season of NXT where they were a dysfunctional Pro & Rookie pairing, the rivalry has gotten even more intense since SummerSlam where Daniel Bryan replaced The Miz on Team WWE in the battle against The Nexus; a rivalry that has seen The Miz attack Daniel Bryan and lay him out with the Skull Crushing Finale on the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase and has seen Daniel Bryan force The Miz to tap out to the LeBell Lock on more than one occasion and, now at Night of Champions, “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” & United States Champion The Miz will defend his United States Title against “The American Dragon” himself, Daniel Bryan! Over the last several weeks, Big Show has been the main reason for the complete implosion and disbanding of The Straightedge Society and, now at Night of Champions, the former leader of The Straightedge Society, “The Straightedge Savior” CM Punk would be looking to get revenge as Chicago’s own CM Punk would go one-on-one with “The World’s Largest Athlete” Big Show! The incredible lineage of the Women’s Championship goes all the way back to 1956 when the late, great Fabulous Moolah was crowned the first champion and, since then, several legendary women have held the title from Sensational Sherri to Lita to Trish Stratus to Melina to Beth Phoenix and, now at Night of Champions, the legendary Women’s Championship will become unified with the Divas Championship as the self-proclaimed “co-Women’s Champion” Michelle McCool would go one-on-one with Divas Champion Melina in a Lumberjack Match with several RAW & SmackDown Divas surrounding the ring, including the other half of LayCool, Layla, where the winner of the Title Unification Match will become known as the sole champion of the Divas division of both RAW & SmackDown and can lay claim to being the first unified Women’s & Divas Champion in WWE history! With every championship in the WWE on the line at Night of Champions, The Hart Dynasty would also be defending their WWE Tag Team Title at the event, but against a to-be-determined team!
>>Match Results<<
- Intercontinental Championship: Title Changes Hands on a DQ or Count-Out: Dolph Ziggler (c) (with Vickie Guerrero) def. Kofi Kingston by pin following the Zig Zag to retain.
- Big Show def. CM Punk by pin following the Knockout Punch.
- United States Championship: Daniel Bryan def. The Miz (c) (with Alex Riley) by submission to the LeBell Lock to win the United States Title.
- Women’s & Divas Title Unification Lumberjack Match: "Co-Women’s Champion" Michelle McCool (with Layla) def. Melina (c) by pin following a big boot to unify the Women’s & Divas Titles into the Unified Diva’s Title.
- World Heavyweight Championship: No Holds Barred: Kane (c) def. The Undertaker by pin following the Tombstone Piledriver to retain.
- WWE Tag Team Championship: Tag Team Turmoil: Drew McIntyre & "Dashing" Cody Rhodes def. The Hart Dynasty (c) (with Natalya), Jey & Jimmy Uso (with Tamina), Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov, and Evan Bourne & Mark Henry to win the WWE Tag Team Titles.
- WWE Championship: Six Pack Elimination Match: Randy Orton def. Sheamus (c), John Cena, Edge, Chris Jericho, & Wade Barrett (with The Nexus) to win the WWE Title.
>>Detailed Results<<
The show kicks off with the Intercontinental Championship on the line as Dolph Ziggler, with his girlfriend, SmackDown Consultant Vickie Guerrero and Vickie’s NXT Rookie Diva, Kaitlyn in his corner, would defend the Intercontinental Title against former champion Kofi Kingston with the stipulation that, if Dolph Ziggler gets disqualified or counted out, then Kofi Kingston will be crowned the new Intercontinental Champion! Early on in the match, Dolph Ziggler is sent to the outside and Rookie Diva Kaitlyn runs over to tend to Dolph and, upon seeing this, Vickie Guerrero ordered her Rookie Diva to the backstage area, leaving Vickie alone at ringside as the Intercontinental Title match continues! During the match, with Kofi Kingston vulnerable, Vickie Guerrero was ready to deliver a slap to Kofi, but once he realized that, if the referee saw Vickie deliver the slap, he would be disqualified and lose the Intercontinental Title, Dolph Ziggler orders Vickie to let him do it on his own! Kofi Kingston would then come from behind and try to hit Trouble in Paradise, but Dolph Ziggler would duck out of the way, resulting in a rough landing in the ropes for Kofi and, one Zig Zag later, Dolph Ziggler would have his hand raised, still Intercontinental Champion!
Moments before going one-on-one with Big Show, Chicago’s own “Straightedge Savior” CM Punk proclaims that he “loves” his hometown, but he despises the “inhabitants” of Chicago! Punk continues that the Chicago citizens “ruined” his city with the “corrupt politicians” and “corrupts police officers”, as well as the Chicago White Sox before proclaiming that the Chicago residents make him “sick” and that they are the “scum of the earth”! Punk continues that he is “proud” to live there, but he is not “proud” to be among the resident before proclaiming that Chicago should be “burned to the ground” a second time so he can build a “Straightedge Utopia” in its place! CM Punk then turns his attention to Big Show and states that it is his “house” and he does not “run from anybody” before proclaiming that he is “David” and Big Show is “Goliath” and his “slingshot” is “the power of almighty Straightedge”!
After running down and insulting his hometown of Chicago before making some bold proclamations for his match, Chicago’s own “Straightedge Savior” CM Punk would go one-on-one with the giant thorn in his side in recent weeks in “The World’s Largest Athlete” Big Show! Despite putting up a valiant effort, CM Punk would find himself at the mercy of the jaw-rattling Knockout Punch of Big Show en route to Big Show picking up the win!
Then it was time for the United States Title to be defended as “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” & United States Champion The Miz, with his “apprentice” Alex Riley in his corner, would defend the gold against his seven-month rival, “The American Dragon” Daniel Bryan! Despite working over the left arm of Daniel Bryan throughout the match and despite frequent attempts at interference by Alex Riley, The Miz was unable to find a way to beat Daniel Bryan and Bryan would take advantage of the frustration from The Miz to catch Miz in the LeBell Lock and force The Miz to tap out to become the new United States Champion!
Then it was time to unify the Women’s & Divas Titles in a Title Unification Lumberjack Match as self-proclaimed “co-Women’s Champion” Michelle McCool would go one-on-one with Divas Champion Melina with several RAW & SmackDown Divas, including the other half of LayCool, Layla, as well as Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, Maryse, Alicia Fox, The Bella Twins, Rosa Mendes, Gail Kim, Jillian, Tamina, & Natalya serving as the Lumberjacks for the all-important Title Unification Match to determine the sole top Diva of both RAW & SmackDown! During the match, the referee was distracted by a Lumberjack brawl on the outside, Layla would enter the ring and attack Melina, but Melina would throw Layla to the outside! However, this would allow Michelle McCool to come back in and deliver a big boot to Melina en route to unifying the Women’s & Divas Titles to become the first Unified Diva’s Champion in WWE history!
Then it was time for the thirteen year war to come to a head as Kane would defend the World Heavyweight Championship against the man who he put in a vegetative state back in May in his older brother, The Undertaker, as the brothers would clash in a No Holds Barred Match for the prestigious World Heavyweight Title! Throughout the match, the two brothers would put it all on the line in the unruly match and, despite the punishment, The Undertaker would fight back and would hit the chokeslam on Kane, but when Undertaker went for the Tombstone Piledriver, Kane would counter and deliver the Tombstone Piledriver himself en route to successfully retaining the World Heavyweight Title against his brother, The Undertaker! After retaining the gold against The Undertaker, has Kane solidified himself as the true “dominant brother” or is this sibling rivalry just getting underway?
Then it was time for the WWE Tag Team Titles to be put up for grabs as WWE Tag Team Champions The Hart Dynasty would defend against four other tag teams in a Tag Team Turmoil match where two teams will start the match and when a team is defeated, another team will come out and the last team standing will be the WWE Tag Team Champions and The Hart Dynasty would defend against Jey & Jimmy Uso first in Tag Team Turmoil! With some help from Tamina, Jimmy Uso would find an opening to blast Tyson Kidd with a super kick en route to eliminating The Hart Dynasty, meaning that one of the three remaining teams are guaranteed to becoming the new WWE Tag Team Champions! Jey & Jimmy Uso would then face the undefeated team of Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov, but after a seemingly inadvertent distraction by Tamina, Jimmy Uso would deliver a Samoan Drop to Santino en route to eliminating Marella & Kozlov! With two teams down and two teams to go, Jey & Jimmy Uso would then face the unique pairing of Evan Bourne & “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry! Jey & Jimmy Uso would not be able to match the strength of Mark Henry and Jimmy Uso would ultimately fall to the World’s Strongest Slam by Mark Henry, followed by Air Bourne by Evan Bourne en route to Jey & Jimmy Uso being eliminated! Then it was down to two teams as Evan Bourne & Mark Henry would face the team that beat the then champions, The Hart Dynasty, on SmackDown as Bourne & Henry would face the team of “The Sinister Scotsman” Drew McIntyre & “Dashing” Cody Rhodes with one of them guaranteed to become the new WWE Tag Team Champions! In the end of a chaotic match, it was “Dashing” Cody Rhodes catching Evan Bourne with the Cross Rhodes en route to pinning Bourne to win the WWE Tag Team Titles for himself and Drew McIntyre!
Then it was time for the main event as the most prestigious championship in the WWE would be on the line as Sheamus would defend the WWE Championship against John Cena, “The Viper” Randy Orton, “The Ultimate Opportunist” Edge, Chris Jericho, and the leader of The Nexus, Wade Barrett, in a Six Pack Elimination Match where the only ways to be eliminated are by pinfall or submission and the last Superstar standing will be the WWE Champion! The first elimination would come courtesy of the RKO by Randy Orton on Chris Jericho en route to Jericho being the first Superstar eliminated! After being the first Superstar eliminated, a disappointed and downtrodden Chris Jericho would make the slow walk to the back! The next elimination would come after an intense sequence of events as Edge would lay out Sheamus with the Spear and would also lay Randy Orton with the Spear, but John Cena would ultimately catch Edge and deliver the Attitude Adjustment en route to eliminating Edge from the match! During the match, John Cena would be the only Superstar standing in the ring when the other four members of The Nexus come out and distract John Cena long enough for their leader, Wade Barrett, to catch John Cena and deliver the Wasteland to Cena en route to eliminating Cena from the match! Wade Barrett & The Nexus would then focus their attention on Randy Orton, but the eliminated John Cena would grab a steel chair and waylay David Otunga & Michael Tarver with dual chair shots to the back and Randy Orton would lay Heath Slater with the RKO and would ultimately lay Wade Barrett out with the RKO as well en route to eliminating the Nexus leader! It would then come down to champion Sheamus and Randy Orton, but when Sheamus went for the Celtic Cross, Orton would counter and hit the RKO en route to pinning Sheamus and becoming the new WWE Champion! Now that Randy Orton is back on top as the WWE Champion, what challenges await the new champion down the road?