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Night of Champions
Promotional poster featuring Roman Reigns and Bianca Belair
Promotion	WWE
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown
Date	May 27, 2023
City	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Venue	Jeddah Super Dome
Attendance	13,000
WWE Network event chronology
← Previous Backlash Next → NXT Battleground
Night of Champions chronology
← Previous 2015 Next → —
WWE in Saudi Arabia chronology
← Previous Crown Jewel Next → —

The 2023 Night of Champions was the 10th Night of Champions professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American promotion WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at the Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and was the first Night of Champions held since the 2015 event. This was also the first Night of Champions to take place on a Saturday and the first held in Saudi Arabia, subsequently making it the ninth event that WWE held in the country under a 10-year partnership in support of Saudi Vision 2030.

The event was originally announced to be held as an event titled "King and Queen of the Ring", which would have revived the King of the Ring event series but with a rebranding, however, WWE decided to instead revive Night of Champions. This was the first Night of Champions held following the reintroduction of the brand split in July 2016 and the first to livestream on Peacock after the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock in March 2021. The event also replaced the previously annual Hell in a Cell event.

The original concept of Night of Champions (2007–2015) was that every main roster championship was contested. This theme was not retained for the 2023 event, and instead celebrated the crowning of a new World Heavyweight Champion and also marked the 1,000th day for Roman Reigns as Universal Champion. Instead of defending his title, Reigns teamed with Solo Sikoa to challenge Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship in which Owens and Zayn won to retain the titles. This was one of three matches promoted as part of a triple main event, the other two were the aforementioned World Heavyweight Championship match, which opened the event and saw Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeat AJ Styles to become the inaugural champion, and a match between Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar, which Lesnar won via referee stoppage. Four other matches were contested at the event, the most prominent of which saw Trish Stratus defeat Becky Lynch as well as Asuka defeating Bianca Belair to win the Raw Women's Championship, ending Belair's record-setting reign with the title at 420 days.

Production

Background

On March 6, 2023, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE announced that the King of the Ring event would be revived and rebranded as "King and Queen of the Ring" to incorporate both the men's King of the Ring tournament and women's Queen's Crown tournament, which would also replace the previously annual Hell in a Cell event. The event was scheduled to be held on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at the Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. On April 13, however, it was revealed that WWE scrapped these plans for the event and tournaments and that this Saudi Arabian event would instead be the 10th Night of Champions, thus reviving the Night of Champions event, which had previously been held annually from 2007 to 2015. According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider, the decision to change the event to Night of Champions was a creative choice to revive and bring the event to an international market. It was also reported that the change was to please business partners in Saudi Arabia and add intrigue to the show with the crowning of a new world champion.

In early 2018, WWE began a 10-year strategic multiplatform partnership with the Ministry of Sport (formerly General Sports Authority) in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's social and economic reform program. The 2023 Night of Champions was the ninth event that WWE held in Saudi Arabia under this partnership and subsequently the first Night of Champions to be held in the country. It was also the first Night of Champions to be held on a Saturday. This was subsequently the first Night of Champions held following the reintroduction of the brand extension in July 2016, where WWE again split the main roster between the Raw and SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform. In addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view worldwide and the WWE Network in international markets, it was the first Night of Champions to livestream on Peacock in the United States due to the American version of the WWE Network merging under Peacock in March 2021.

Storylines

The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

On the April 24 episode of Raw, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H unveiled a new World Heavyweight Championship for the brand that did not draft Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in the 2023 WWE Draft and that the inaugural champion would be crowned at Night of Champions. During the draft, Reigns was drafted to SmackDown, thus making the World Heavyweight Championship exclusive to Raw. To crown the new champion, a tournament was scheduled including wrestlers from both brands with a bracket for each brand. The first round and semifinals for each bracket were scheduled for the May 8 and May 12 episodes of Raw and SmackDown, respectively. The first round matches for each episode consisted of two triple threat matches with the respective winners advancing to the semifinals in a singles match the same night, with those respective winners advancing to the championship match at Night of Champions. The 12 tournament participants were revealed on May 7 on WWE's YouTube channel. Raw's bracket was won by Seth "Freakin" Rollins, while SmackDown's bracket was won by AJ Styles, thus scheduling Rollins to face Styles in the tournament final for the World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions.

At Backlash, Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar. On the following episode of Raw, Rhodes participated in the aforementioned tournament for the World Heavyweight Championship. During the first-round triple threat match that Rhodes competed in, Lesnar interfered and attacked Rhodes, costing him an opportunity at the title. Lesnar subsequently challenged Rhodes to another match at Night of Champions and Rhodes accepted. On the May 22 episode, Lesnar broke (kayfabe) Rhodes' arm. Although Triple H tried to dissuade him, Rhodes stated that he would still compete at Night of Champions.

In the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, and retained them in a rematch on the April 28 episode of SmackDown. At Backlash, The Bloodline (The Usos and Solo Sikoa) competed in a six-man tag team match in which Owens and Zayn were opponents; Sikoa won the match for The Bloodline, although there was friction between Sikoa and The Usos. On the following SmackDown, Bloodline leader Roman Reigns praised Sikoa but expressed his disappointment in The Usos due to them losing their titles and the inability to regain them. The group's manager Paul Heyman then announced that he was able to procure another tag team championship match for The Bloodline; however, instead of The Usos, it would be Reigns and Sikoa challenging Owens and Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions. This in turn marked Zayn's first Saudi Arabian event since a WWE Live tour in April 2014 due to the relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria being restored after they had been suspended amidst the Syrian conflict that broke out in March 2011, which resulted in Zayn not working at any of WWE's Saudi Arabian events since. This additionally marked Owens' first WWE Saudi Arabian event since Greatest Royal Rumble in April 2018 as he had not worked any of the other events in support of Zayn.

On the May 15 episode of Raw, Mustafa Ali won a battle royal to become the number one contender for Gunther's Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions.

On Night 2 of WrestleMania 39, Bianca Belair defeated Asuka to retain the Raw Women's Championship. During the 2023 draft, both were drafted to SmackDown. On the May 12 episode of SmackDown, during Belair's celebration on becoming the longest-reigning WWE women's champion of the modern era, Asuka, in her first appearance since WrestleMania, interrupted and shook Belair's hand only for her to spit green mist on Belair, officially turning heel. On May 18, it was announced that Belair would defend the Raw Women's Championship against Asuka in a rematch at Night of Champions.

On the May 8 episode of Raw, SmackDown Women's Champion Rhea Ripley defeated Dana Brooke in a non-title match. Afterwards, Ripley continued attacking Brooke, prompting Natalya to come to Brooke's aid. The following week, Natalya stated that Ripley attacking an already defeated woman was disrespectful, with Ripley responding that Natalya only wanted to be relevant again, also stating that if Natalya interrupted her again, she would end her career. On the next episode, Ripley stated she would end Natalya's career at Night of Champions, thus a match between the two for the SmackDown Women's Championship was confirmed for the event.

On Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, Trish Stratus teamed with reigning WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Becky Lynch and Lita in a six-woman tag team match in which they were victorious. Stratus then teamed with Lynch on the April 10 episode of Raw to defend the title on behalf of an injured Lita, who had been attacked by an unknown person backstage. They lost the match and the title with Stratus taking the pin. Following the match, Stratus attacked Lynch, turning heel for the first time since 2005. The following week, Stratus revealed herself as the mystery person who attacked Lita, and then stated that she attacked Lynch and deliberately cost her the championship because Lynch believed that she was responsible for making the women's division relevant, with Stratus claiming that she was the one responsible. Stratus also stated that neither Lynch nor the fans said "thank you" for her impact on the women's division and she did not come back to be a sidekick or nostalgia act. After weeks of Stratus taunting Lynch, Lynch made her return on the May 8 episode, attacking Stratus. The following week, Lynch challenged Stratus to a match at Night of Champions, which was accepted.

Event

Preliminary matches

The event opened with the tournament final between Raw's Seth "Freakin" Rollins and SmackDown's AJ Styles to crown the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion. In the closing moments, after an evenly competitive match, Rollins performed a Pedigree and a Stomp on Styles to pin him and become the first-ever World Heavyweight Champion. Following the match, Triple H presented the title to Rollins.

Next, Becky Lynch fought Trish Stratus in a singles match. After an assist from Zoey Stark, Stratus was able to pin Lynch for the victory.

Next, Gunther defended the Intercontinental Championship against Mustafa Ali. Despite a nearfall after a 450 splash from Ali, Gunther defeated Ali with a Powerbomb to retain the title.

In the fourth match, Bianca Belair defended the Raw Women's Championship against Asuka. Asuka was able to win the title by pinfall after blinding Belair during her Kiss of Death finisher by rubbing Belair's eyes with mist while the referee was distracted. This ended Belair's record-setting reign at 420 days.

Next, Rhea Ripley (accompanied by her Judgment Day stablemate Dominik Mysterio) defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Natalya. Utilizing distractions from Mysterio, Ripley was able to defeat Natalya in quick fashion to retain her title.

In the penultimate match, Brock Lesnar faced Cody Rhodes in a singles match. Due to Lesnar breaking Rhodes' arm on the previous episode of Raw, his arm was equipped with a titanium-enforced cast, which he utilized heavily in his offense against Lesnar. After a well-fought contest, Lesnar performed a Kimura Lock on Rhodes' injured arm, and while Rhodes was able to grab the bottom rope to break the hold, Lesnar reapplied it moments later, causing Rhodes to eventually pass out from the pain and Lesnar to win by way of technical submission.

Main event

In the main event, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defended the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against The Bloodline (Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa, accompanied by Paul Heyman). After an accidental referee knockout, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) launched a surprise attack against Zayn and Owens, which led to them accidentally delivering a double super kick to Solo in the process. Reigns witnessed this as he was recovering from an earlier attack from Owens, and after berating and repeatedly shoving Jey, Reigns was superkicked by Jimmy out of anger. After telling Jey "I'm doing what you should have done a long time ago", referencing Jey's struggle with Reigns in 2020, Jimmy delivered a second kick to Reigns, allowing Owens and Zayn to perform the Stunner/Helluva Kick combination on Solo, and retain the titles.

Results

World Heavyweight Championship Tournament

Notes

1. According to wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, the reason that SmackDown wrestlers were included in the tournament was due to WWE's attempt to retain viewership for the May 12 episode of SmackDown, as it and other wrestling programs that week were going head-to-head with the 2023 NBA playoffs.

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External links

• Night of Champions Official Website

• 2023 in Saudi Arabia
• 2023 WWE Network events
• 2023 WWE pay-per-view events
• Entertainment events in Saudi Arabia
• WWE in Saudi Arabia