WWE Night of Champions
Night of Champions | |
---|---|
The WWE Night of Champions logo | |
Promotions | WWE |
Brands | Raw SmackDown |
Other names | Vengeance (2001–2006, 2011) Vengeance: Night of Champions (2007) |
First event | Vengeance (2001) |
Last event | Night of Champions (2016) |
Event gimmick | All active WWE championships are defended |
Night of Champions is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by professional wrestling promotion WWE.[1] The event was previously known under the name Vengeance with the inaugural event taking place on December 9, 2001 and replacing the regularly scheduled WWE Armageddon for that year. The 2002 event featured the Raw and SmackDown! brands. The event was made exclusive to the SmackDown brand in 2003, and in 2004 it was made exclusive to the Raw brand. In 2007, following WrestleMania, all PPV events became tri-branded. Vengeance took over WWF Fully Loaded's scheduled date in July 2002 and later moved to June in 2005, switching schedules with The Great American Bash.
Name change
The 2007 event was promoted as Vengeance: Night of Champions and featured all WWE titles being defended. In 2008, the event dropped the Vengeance name and continued to promote as Night of Champions, later moving to September in 2010. In 2011, WWE scheduled both a Night of Champions and Vengeance event where the latter name would replace WWE Bragging Rights on the October 2011 event card while Night of Champions retained its original slot.[2] In 2012, the Vengeance name was removed from the scheduled event calendar for that year.[3]
Concept
Starting in 2007, the concept of this pay-per-view is that all WWE titles are defended. Starting in 2010, non-title matches were also included on the card.
WWE's currently active titles as of 2015 are:
- WWE World Heavyweight Championship 2007–present
- WWE United States Championship 2007–present
- WWE Intercontinental Championship 2007–present
- WWE Tag Team Championship 2007–present
- WWE Divas Championship 2009–present
In previous years, other titles that have been defended at the pay-per-view include:
- WWE Cruiserweight Championship 2007
- ECW Championship 2007-2009
- World Tag Team Championship 2007-2009
- WWE Women's Championship 2007-2010
- World Heavyweight Championship 2007-2013
History
Night of Champions is a pay-per-view event consisting of a main event and undercard that feature championship matches and other various matches. The first event was produced as a pay-per-view event for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the former name of WWE. The inaugural event took place on December 9, 2001 at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California and aired live on PPV. The name "Night of Champions" was taken from the WCW Monday Nitro's final episode of the same name that aired on March 26, 2001.
In 2002, WWF was court ordered to change their name, which resulted in the promotion changing its name to WWE.[4] Earlier in the year, WWF held a draft that split its roster into two distinctive brands of wrestling, Raw and SmackDown,[5] and the ECW brand was added in 2006.[6] Before the draft, matches featured wrestlers from the roster without any limitations; after the draft, matches only consisted of wrestlers from their distinctive brands. The first Vengeance event to be produced under the WWE banner and with roster limitations was Vengeance (2002), which took place on July 21, 2002. The following year, WWE announced that PPV events, excluding WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble, would be made exclusive to each brand; Vengeance was made exclusive to the Smackdown! brand in 2003 and in 2004 was made exclusive to the Raw brand. After three years of being produced as a brand exclusive event, Vengeance (2006) was the final Vengeance event that was brand exclusive, as WWE announced that PPV events from April 2007 onwards would feature all three brands of WWE.[7]
Dates and venues
See also
References
- ^ "WWE Night of Champions history". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
Before WWE's June pay-per-view event was called Night of Champions, it was dubbed Vengeance. Take a look back at the many memorable moments.
- ^ "WWE Presents Vengeance". WWE. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
- ^ "Upcoming events listing". WWE. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
- ^ "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Drops The "F" To Emphasize the "E" for Entertainment". WWE. 2002-05-06. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ "WWE Entertainment To Make RAW and SMACKDOWN Distinct Television Brands". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2002-05-27. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ "WWE Launches ECW as Third Brand". WWE. 2006-05-25. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ "WWE Pay-Per-Views To Follow WrestleMania Formula". WWE. 2007-03-14. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ^ Morinaro, John (2001-12-10). "Jericho new WWF World Champion". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance (2001) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance 2001 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance (2002) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance 2002 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ Clevett, Jason (2003-07-28). "Angle takes Vengeance on Lesnar". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance (2003) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance 2003 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2004-07-12). "Canadians have Edge at Vengeance". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance (2004) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ Sokol, Chris (2005-06-27). "Batista retains with a Vengeance". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance (2005) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance 2005 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ Plummer, Dale (2006-06-21). "DX returns with a Vengeance". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ Zeigler, Zack (June 24, 2006). "Charlotte Bobcats Arena". WWE. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
- ^ Powell, John (2007-06-24). "Vengeance banal and badly booked". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Vengeance: Night of Champions (2007) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18. [dead link ]
- ^ "WWE Champion John Cena def. King Booker, Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley & Mick Foley (Challenge Match)". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
- ^ Bishop, Matt (2008-06-30). "Big names still on top after Night of Champions". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "Night of Champions (2008) Venue". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-18. [dead link ]
- ^ a b c "Night of Champions 2009". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ a b c "September". WWE Official Calendar 2010. World Wrestling Entertainment.
- ^ a b Cutting, Devin (2013-01-11). "COMPLETE DETAILS AND LOCATIONS ON ALL 2013 WWE PPV EVENTS". PWInsider. Retrieved 11 January 2013.