The 2023 edition of Night of Champions turned into a night of change, as two new champions were crowned and a family was torn apart.
Here are my takeaways from Saturday’s event.
Jimmy Uso says “Enough is ENOUGH!”
Guys, Jimmy Uso is in so much trouble.
Not only did he embarrass Roman Reigns, he did so by superkicking the Tribal Chief — not once but twice.
The superkicks were preceded by Jimmy and his brother Jey mistakenly superkicking Solo Sikoa during the tag team title match against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.
Reigns saw this and basically disowned his cousins as a result. That was enough for Jimmy Uso to kick the daylights out of him … twice.
Jey Uso witnessed his brother’s defiant act, and was once again asking, “Why you do that?” It was very reminiscent of the scene that played out back at the Royal Rumble, when Zayn hit Reigns in the back with a steel chair.
Speaking of Zayn, he and Owens took advantage of the Bloodline family strife to pick up the win and retain their titles.
Obviously, this makes things pretty complicated within the Bloodline. As much as Jimmy Uso seemed dead set on leaving the group, Jey Uso still seems very reluctant. Will Sikoa have feelings about this? Will he begin to defy the Head of the Table?
Regardless, it will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
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Seth Rollins is your new World Heavyweight Champion
Yes, Seth Rollins and AJ Styles were vying for a consolation prize known as the World Heavyweight Championship. But at least the fans could look forward to watching them do what they do best: Tear the house down.
On Saturday afternoon, they did just that.
Great match aside, though, it is hard for me to be fully invested in what happens with this title. I am happy that Rollins won and is the first champion of this particular chapter in the title’s lineage, but it feels hollow in some ways when you know it is not the top prize. To make a sports comparison, it felt like Rollins won the NFC East. No, not the NFC. The NFC East. The champion of the NFC gets to challenge for the ultimate prize two weeks later. The champion of the NFC East, or any of the NFL’s divisions, do not.
This feels more like a division title because it is nice, and you get a hat and a t-shirt (or in this case a nice-looking belt), but everyone knows there’s more to accomplish. Unfortunately for Rollins, he will have to work extremely hard to make me — and many others — feel differently.
Roman Reigns STILL closes the show
In case you needed any more evidence as to who the real world champion in WWE is, look no further than Night of Champions, when the World Heavyweight title match opened the show, but the “Undisputed” champion still ended the show … in a tag team title match, no less.
Cody Rhodes passed out, but doesn’t tap out
The story coming into the match was that Cody Rhodes was going to face Brock Lesnar with a broken arm, which sounds wild but it kind of fits Rhodes given he wrestled with a torn bicep last year.
As far as we know, this is just a storyline injury, and it played into the finish Saturday when Rhodes passed out from the pain while Lesnar had a kimura on the broken arm.
Rhodes gave it his all — he even hit the Cross Rhodes three times — but the pain eventually became too much to bear, and instead of tapping out, Rhodes passed out.
For what this was, it was well done. Passing out instead of tapping probably won’t have the same impact for Rhodes as it did for Steve Austin back in 1997, but I really liked that WWE went back to that particular well in this story.
Also, because Lesnar won, we’re going to get a third match in this rivalry, and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to it.
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Asuka dethrones Bianca Belair
In a bit of a surprise outcome, Asuka defeated Bianca Belair Saturday to become the new Raw Women’s Champion. Belair’s historic reign ends at 416 days.
I am not totally surprised that Bianca lost the title at this point, but I am surprised that it came after a pretty lackluster story.
The match itself was pretty good considering the fans in Saudi Arabia didn’t seem to be all that interested in this match — or any other women’s match for that matter, which is an entirely different discussion.
I thought the finish was pretty unique with Asuka spitting the mist on her hand so she could just smear the mist on Belair’s face instead of spitting it, which she missed earlier in the match.
Belair sold it like her eyes were melting out of her head, which allowed Asuka to kick her in the head twice to become the new champion.
It will be interesting to see where this narrative goes, as it feels like an unfinished story, and Belair is entitled to a rematch.
Zoey Stark helps Trish Stratus pick up a win
On paper, Trish Stratus going against Becky Lynch is a dream match. In reality, it was kind of … meh. I don’t take joy in saying that because I believe Stratus and Lynch are capable of better.
But the biggest takeaway coming out of the match, for me, was Zoey Stark helping Stratus pick up the victory. Stark was stationed under the ring and put a swift hurting on Lynch while the referee wasn’t looking, which allowed Stratus to hit the Stratusfaction for the 1-2-3.
The match was a little underwhelming, but at the very least we got a new wrinkle in a story that sorely needed one. Pairing Stark up with Stratus is a positive on multiple fronts. First, it gives Stark the proverbial rub of being associated with a WWE Hall of Famer in Stratus. Stratus may not be in her prime, but there is still some cache to her name.
Second, it gives Lynch someone to beat up on when Stratus is not around. There’s definitely something to be said for that.