WWE Night Of Champions 2023: Cody Rhodes Winning And 5 ...
Cody Rhodes remains the biggest full-time star in WWE. (Credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesWWE Night of Champions 2023 will feature what is being dubbed as a star-studded “triple main event”: Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes, AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns teaming with Solo Sikoa to challenge Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.
It’s hard to disagree with that tagline, either. Emanating from the Jeddah Super Dome in Saudia Arabia, Night of Champion indeed feels like a massive show, especially for what has traditionally been a B-level event. The blockbuster spectacle is the second major show outside of the continental US this month alone, with Backlash in Puerto Rico ranking among the best non-Big Four WWE shows in recent memory and setting viewership records in the process.
Night of Champions should be equally as special. In addition to Lesnar vs. Rhodes II, Styles and Rollins will fight to crown a new World Heavyweight Champion while Reigns will attempt to add another title to his haul when he challenges for the Undisputed Tag Team Championship.
On paper, WWE Night of Champions 2023 looks like a fantastic show in the making, but will it live up to expectations? That depends upon how the creative team books it.
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Bianca Belair Finally Drops The WWE Raw Women’s ChampionshipWWE’s women’s title picture is an unexplained mess, with SmackDown’s Bianca Belair holding the Raw title and Raw’s Rhea Ripley holding the SmackDown title. That problem could be avoided if the titles were simply rebranded altogether, and the lack of long-term focus on both belts really demonstrates that they are booked without any long-term plan in mind.
Speaking of long-term, what else is there for Belair to do as women’s champion? She’s now topped 400 days as Raw champ despite her title reign being mostly lackluster. Chalk that up to both the creative team and Belair’s struggles to develop her promo skills or any hint of a relatable gimmick. Belair badly needs to tweak her character, but any buzz about a possible heel turn feels more like just Internet chatter than a legitimate creative direction.
Belair is clearly positioned as WWE’s top female star and one of its biggest stars in general, so it’s difficult to envision her turning to the dark side anytime soon. However, Belair’s current booking has turned her into a “Super Cena”-like unstoppable babyface, and that won’t bode well for her down the road. See: The way Belair was booed mercilessly at Backlash.
Belair needs to drop the title soon in order to finally be an underdog for a change. Why not to the newly villainous Asuka at Night of Champions?
Kevin Owens And Sami Zayn Retain As Roman Reigns Gets PinnedThe story entering the tag title match is simple-yet-effective: Reigns wants to get the job done himself after the Usos failed to do it. Twice. So, WWE can—or should—go one of two ways here. Either Reigns wins to bring the tag titles to The Bloodline, or Reigns loses by taking a rare pin.
The latter scenario, however, would be infinitely more interesting. Reigns continues to have beef with Jimmy and Jey because they have been unable to eradicate the Owens and Zayn “problem.” Reigns, of course, has been unbeatable for three years, but it would be a compelling storyline twist if he lost to Owens or Zayn—but preferably the latter—after chastising the Usos for doing the same.
That could spawn so many interesting storylines for The Bloodline while potentially setting up Reigns vs. Owens or Reigns vs. Zayn for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam as well as Reigns vs. a Bloodline member long-term.
Trish Stratus Cheats To Defeat Becky LynchWWE Raw’s women’s division is a bit deeper than SmackDown’s, but it’s telling that the part-time Trish Stratus is penciled in as Raw’s No. 2 heel behind only Rhea Ripley.
Couple that with the fact that Stratus was a part of the WWE draft, and it’s clear that she will be around beyond Night of Champions as she continues to feud with Becky Lynch, Raw’s top babyface. At one point, Lynch vs. Stratus was slated for SummerSlam, and it’s certainly still possible that’s the case. After all, there isn’t much else for Stratus or Lynch to do in the immediate future other than feud with one another.
While this rivalry hasn’t clicked as well as one might expect, WWE would be wise to extend this feud well into the summer. That necessitates a Stratus win at Night of Champions, ideally in cheap fashion to cement her as a loathed heel.
Seth Rollins Becomes World Heavyweight ChampionWhen WWE announced the World Heavyweight Championship tournament, all signs pointed toward Seth Rollins becoming the inaugural champion. He’s a heavy betting favorite, too. There’s no need to deviate from that plan.
Tossing aside the purely logical reasoning of Rollins being on Raw (where the title will stay) and AJ Styles just moving to SmackDown, and all you need to do is listen to WWE fans’ reactions to Rollins to see why he’s the right choice at the right time. Rollins is arguably WWE’s most popular babyface, and what’s more, he hasn’t held a world title since 2019.
That’s a crying shame, as Rollins has developed into perhaps the best overall performer in all of pro wrestling during that span. This truly special performer deserves a title reign that will lead to him feuding with top Raw stars like Gunther and Drew McIntyre in the near future. WWE can’t go wrong with that.
Injured Cody Rhodes Soundly Defeats Brock LesnarFast & Furious fans know the classic line uttered by Dom Toretto: ““It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning.” But in pro wrestling, that’s not always true.
Sometimes a WWE star can win by losing, and other times a star can lose by winning. At WWE Backlash, did Cody Rhodes really win when he pinned Brock Lesnar in fluke fashion? You could certainly argue that he didn’t. After all, in his two biggest matches—against Reigns at WrestleMania 39 and against Lesnar at Backlash—Rhodes failed to beat either star in convincing fashion. In fact, he lost one and barely eeked out the other.
What Rhodes needs as he attempts to make his way back to a Universal title show is a clean and clear victory over Lesnar. “The Beast” has recovered from big losses time and time again, but Rhodes needs a big victory now before his quest to be Universal Champion goes off the rails.
On Monday’s Raw, Lesnar viciously attacked Rhodes and seemingly broke his arm in-storyline, which perfectly sets the stage for Rollins to pull off another Hell in a Cell-type miracle and pick up incredible victory while he’s less than 100 percent. While WWE could have Lesnar win and have Rhodes win the rubber match, it’s doubtful WWE can continue this feud and keep it entertaining.
