Night of Champions (2012)

Night of Champions (2012)
Promotional poster featuring John Cena and the WWE Championship
Promotion	WWE
Date	September 16, 2012
City	Boston, Massachusetts
Venue	TD Garden
Attendance	14,886
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous SummerSlam (2012) Next → Hell in a Cell (2012)
WWE Night of Champions chronology
← Previous Night of Champions (2011) Next → Night of Champions (2013)

Night of Champions was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE, which took place on September 16, 2012 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. It was presented by Lions Gate Entertainment's Dredd and was the fifth annual WWE Night of Champions event (sixth including Vengeance: Night of Champions) and the thirteenth in the WWE Vengeance/Night of Champions overall chronology. The theme to the Night of Champions event is that all sanctioned championships are defended on the card. The event managed to gain 189,000 buys. That is up from last year's event, which gained a 169,000 buyrate.

Background

Night of Champions featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

One featured match involved champion Sheamus against Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship. Upon being defeated by Sheamus again at SummerSlam, Del Rio felt that because the referee did not see that his foot was on the bottom rope during the pin that cost him the match, he deserved yet another chance at the championship. Sheamus felt that Del Rio had enough chances to beat him and said that Randy Orton, who just returned from suspension, deserved a chance at the championship. Del Rio would go on to defeat Orton and get another chance to claim the championship from Sheamus.

Another highly promoted match was CM Punk defending the WWE Championship against John Cena. This storied rivalry that was rekindled on July 23 at Raw 1000 when Cena cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase against Punk and failed to win the championship due to interference by Big Show that resulted in a disqualification. This led to a triple threat match at SummerSlam featuring Punk, Cena, and Show. During the match, Cena would have Big Show beat only to be thrown out of the ring by Punk, who would steal a victory. The following night on Raw, Punk would be granted the right to choose his next challenger to face at Night of Champions. The champion was quick to announce that he would face John Cena, on the condition that he would admit on live television that CM Punk is the "best in the world." Cena would refuse to do so, leaving a big question mark on who would face the champion at the event. The following week however, Raw General Manager AJ Lee would announce that it was "her decision" to make the match official, regardless of any stipulation Punk had put into place.

The divas feud heading into the event had WWE Divas Champion Layla El defending against Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn became the No.1 contender after a botched finish to battle royal which was meant to be won by Eve Torres. Before the event Kaitlyn was attacked by a mystery woman. The opportunity to face Layla was then given to Eve.

In partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Night of Champions set was adorned with pink ribbons representing breast cancer awareness, and the middle rope of the ring was colored pink instead of the usual white. In addition, John Cena would also change his shirt design and arm bands to include the color pink with his shirt saying "Rise Above Cancer".

Event

Prior to the start of the pay-per-view, a 16-man battle royal was held. The winner of the battle royal would go on to compete for the United States Championship later in the evening. The final four men in the match were Darren Young, Titus O'Neil, Tensai and Zack Ryder. After Ryder eliminated O'Neil, Zack and Darren were fighting each other next to the ropes when Tensai threw them both over the top rope. Ryder was able to keep his feet from touching the floor and moments later he eliminated Tensai to earn the title shot.

At the beginning of the pay-per-view, Michael Cole gave the audience an update on the condition of Jerry "The King" Lawler, who was recovering from a heart attack he suffered during Monday Night Raw in Montreal the previous Monday. He was then joined in commentary by John "Bradshaw" Layfield.

The first match was for the Intercontinental Championship between The Miz, Rey Mysterio, Cody Rhodes and Sin Cara in a fatal four-way match. During the match, Cara brought out a second mask and wound up putting it over the eyes of The Miz. Cody went to give Cara the Cross Rhodes, but bumped into The Miz who gave him the Skull Crushing Finale and got the pin therefore retaining the title despite not being able to see.

Next was for the Tag Team Championship between Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) against the champion Kofi Kingston and R-Truth. Kane and Bryan kept pushing and shoving one another. The two decided to hug it out to get on the same page once again. Bryan was able to put Kofi into the No Lock but R-Truth was able to save his partner. Kane tagged himself into the match which Bryan didn't appreciate. Moments later, Kofi tried to give Kane a Frankensteiner off the top rope but Bryan held onto his partner's leg to prevent the move. Kane didn't like that and the two men started arguing once again. Bryan then tossed Kane off the top rope onto Kofi to get the win for his team and the title. After the match, the two men started yelling at one another "I'm the tag team champion!"

Next, Antonio Cesaro defeated Zack Ryder with a neutralizer to Retain the United States Championship

The fourth match featured Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler fight each other. After several failed attempts at the middle rope DDT, Orton was finally able to connect with the move outside of the ring by using the ringside barricade. Orton easily could have gotten a victory via count out but decided to drag Dolph back into the ring to get the pin. Dolph was able to put his foot on the ropes when Randy pinned him. Randy went for an RKO which Dolph was able to escape from and turn into a sleeper hold. Randy got out of the move with a judo toss and then hit a leaping Dolph Ziggler with an RKO to get the victory.

Next match was the Divas Championship match between the defending champion Layla and Eve. During the pay-per-view, someone mysteriously attacked the original number one contender Kaitlyn, so the SmackDown general manager Booker T assigned Eve to fight the Divas Champion Layla. Eve worked over the ribs of the champion. Layla was able to get a second wind but aggravated her rib pain when she missed a move off the ropes. Eve then hit a neck breaker to get the win and the title.With this win,Eve Torres became the first ever record three time WWE Divas Champion.

Then the sixth match of the pay-per-view featured Sheamus defending his World Heavyweight Title against Alberto Del Rio. Prior to the start of the match, Booker T came out and declared that his investigation was over and that the Brogue Kick was now legal to use. Sheamus immediately went to hit Alberto with it but wound up hitting David Otunga instead. Otunga was taken to the back by several WWE officials. Del Rio targeted the left arm of the champion. That led to Alberto applying the cross arm breaker which Sheamus was able to power out of. Sheamus went for the Brogue Kick but missed it which allowed Alberto to put Sheamus in the arm breaker again. He was able to escape it for the second time by sticking his leg under the ropes. Alberto then missed his flying kick which allowed Sheamus the opportunity to hit the Brogue Kick to get the win and retain his title.

And finally the main event of the evening featured the WWE Championship match between the reigning champion CM Punk and John Cena. Paul Heyman was at ringside for the champion who a year ago declared himself as being a Paul Heyman guy. Punk was wearing Yankees pinstripes for this match which took place in Boston, the home arena of Cena. This was one of many mental games Punk played in this match which featured Punk doing a lot of stalling at the beginning. Punk was able to trap Cena in the Anaconda Vice but Cena was able to power out of it and apply the STF. Punk was able to reverse the move into a crossface which Cena was able to power out of into a suplex-like move. Punk was able to recover and hit the diving elbow drop but Cena was able to kick out at 2. Punk then went for the GTS which Cena reversed into the STF. Punk was able to reach the ropes to break the hold. Punk then hit the Go to Sleep but only got a 2 count out of it. Cena got a second wind and was able to hit the Attitude Adjustment but couldn't keep Punk's shoulders down for 3 seconds. Cena missed the leg drop off the top rope and Punk followed that up with a kick to the head but still couldn't pin Cena. Punk started to slap Cena out of frustration. Out of desperation, Punk went for a moonsault and missed Cena. Punk hit a second Go to Sleep but still couldn't pin Cena. To mock Cena's WrestleMania loss, Punk hit Cena with a Rock Bottom but still couldn't get the win. Punk was visibly frustrated and lost focus for a second which allowed Cena to hit another AA. Cena then placed Punk on the top rope and hit a bridging German suplex for the pin. As Cena was about to celebrate his victory, the referee declared that both men had their shoulders on the mat for three seconds and that the match was a draw. Since the title can only change hands via pin fall or submission, Punk walked out of the show with the belt. After the match, Punk hit Cena with the belt and then stood over Cena while screaming "Respect!".

Results

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times
1	Zack Ryder won by last eliminating Tensai	16-man battle royal for a WWE United States Championship match later that night	05:43
2	The Miz (c) defeated Rey Mysterio, Cody Rhodes and Sin Cara	Fatal 4-Way match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship	12:05
3	Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) defeated R-Truth and Kofi Kingston (c)	Tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship	08:30
4	Antonio Cesaro (c) (with Aksana) defeated Zack Ryder	Singles match for the WWE United States Championship	06:40
5	Randy Orton defeated Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero)	Singles match	18:24
6	Eve Torres defeated Layla (c)	Singles Match for the WWE Divas Championship	07:05
7	Sheamus (c) defeated Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez and David Otunga)	Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship	14:25
8	CM Punk (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. John Cena ended in a draw	Singles match for the WWE Championship	26:55
(c)  – the champion(s) heading into the match

Battle Royal

Elimination	Wrestler	Eliminated by	Time
1	Heath Slater	Primo, Tensai, Jinder Mahal and Titus O'Neil	00:06
2	Michael McGillicutty	Brodus Clay	00:31
3	Ted DiBiase	Tensai	00:44
4	Primo	Brodus Clay	01:10
5	Jinder Mahal	Brodus Clay	01:21
6	Epico	Brodus Clay	01:36
7	Justin Gabriel	Tensai	01:48
8	Tyson Kidd	Tensai	02:08
9	Brodus Clay	Darren Young, Drew McIntyre and Titus O'Neil	02:58
10	JTG	Santino Marella	03:21
11	Drew McIntyre	Chris Benoit	03:36
12	Santino Marella	Titus O'Neil	04:36
13	Titus O'Neil	Chris Benoit	05:15
14	Darren Young	Tensai	05:26
15	Tensai	Chris Benoit	05:43
Winner:	Chris Benoit

See also

• List of WWE pay-per-view events

External links

• TD Garden official website
• Night of Champions official website
• Night of Champions event page