Night of Champions (2013)

The professional wrestling matches at Night of Champions involved professional wrestlers in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.[3][4]

Following his win over John Cena at SummerSlam, Daniel Bryan lost the WWE Championship when special guest referee and chief operating officer Triple H attacked Bryan, allowing Randy Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the championship. Triple H and the McMahons stated that it was "best for business" because Bryan did not "fit the mold" to be WWE Champion. Naming Orton the new "face of WWE", they also formed an alliance with The Shield. Leading up to Night of Champions, Bryan was forced to compete in several challenging matches, including a steel cage match with Wade Barrett, a gauntlet match against all three members of The Shield, and a match with Big Show. After defeating Dean Ambrose on the September 9 episode of Raw, Bryan was again assaulted by The Shield and Orton.

On the August 26 episode of Raw, AJ Lee interrupted the celebration over Brie Bella's victory in a SummerSlam rematch against Natalya, berating the cast of Total Divas, calling them "interchangeable" and "expendable" and stating that they were not good enough to be wrestlers, so they went into reality TV.[5] On the September 2 episode of Raw, AJ Lee interfered in a triple threat match between Natalya, Naomi, and Brie Bella, which was to determine the number one contender for her Divas Championship. As a result, Stephanie McMahon scheduled AJ to defend her Divas Championship in a fatal four-way match against Natalya, Naomi and Brie Bella at Night of Champions.[6]

On August 5 episode of Raw, Rob Van Dam defeated World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match after Ricardo Rodriguez's interference backfired. After the match, Del Rio attacked Rodriguez for his actions. Two weeks later, Rodriguez returned to inform Del Rio that he was now representing Van Dam. Van Dam continued to attack Del Rio, both on Raw and SmackDown, and on the August 26 episode of Raw, Van Dam won another non-title match over Del Rio due to a distraction by Rodriguez, earning Van Dam a World Heavyweight Championship match against Del Rio at Night of Champions. On the September 6 episode of SmackDown, Del Rio cost Van Dam a non-title match against Randy Orton, and attacked him after the match. The following week, Vickie Guerrero forced Rodriguez to face Del Rio. After winning the match, Del Rio put Rodriguez in the cross armbreaker until Van Dam made the save.

After being defeated by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, CM Punk continued his feud with Paul Heyman, thus starting another one with Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel by attacking him the next night on Raw. Four days later on SmackDown, Axel challenged Punk to a match, which Punk accepted. On the August 26 episode of Raw, Punk defeated Axel and by vote of the WWE Universe, Heyman was forced to face Punk in the ring, but Axel interfered and helped Heyman attack Punk. Brad Maddox granted Punk's wish of facing Heyman by giving him an elimination handicap match at Night of Champions against Axel and Heyman.

On the September 9 episode of Raw, a tag team turmoil match was scheduled for the Night of Champions Kickoff pre-show, with the winners challenging champions Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns (of The Shield) later in the night.

On the September 13 episode of SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler faced Dean Ambrose for an opportunity at the United States Championship at Night of Champions. Although Reigns and Rollins interfered when Ziggler was about to win, he was still given the championship match.

The next night on Raw, Daniel Bryan was stripped of the WWE Championship by Triple H, because of a fast count by referee Scott Armstrong; Triple H accused Bryan of having conspired with the referee and punished Bryan more by putting him in a match with Roman Reigns; though Bryan won, he was again assaulted by the rest of The Shield and Orton. Orton put Bryan's head in between the folds of a chair, but before he could further injure Bryan, most face wrestlers ran to the ring and attacked Orton and The Shield, with Bryan finishing them off with a high knee to Seth Rollins.

On the September 20 episode of SmackDown, Triple H gave Van Dam a rematch with Del Rio at Battleground for the World Heavyweight Championship. Immediately afterwards, Del Rio viciously assaulted Van Dam backstage.

Punk continued to feud with Heyman and his newest client Ryback. On the September 23 episode of Raw, a match between the two was scheduled for Battleground.

AJ Lee continued her feud with the members of the Total Divas cast. On the September 23 episode of Raw, Brie Bella pinned Lee during a 10-diva tag team match, leading to a title match at Battleground.

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