Night of Champions 2013: Daniel Bryan Wins, but the Booking Sours the Night

Curtis Axel's surprise Intercontinental Championship defense against Kofi Kingston is created during the opening segment, giving the match almost no advance build but enough time to become a legitimate contest. Kingston supplies the pace and the crowd's stronger reactions, while Axel works a steadier control game and repeatedly tries to slow the match down. The challenger creates several brief comeback opportunities without ever making the championship feel genuinely endangered. Axel survives the strongest burst and cuts Kingston off before the finish can become more dramatic. He lands the Hangman's Facebuster and scores the clean pin. The match is technically sound and gives Axel a credible retention, but its impromptu setup makes it feel closer to a long television title defense than a featured pay-per-view attraction.

AJ Lee's Divas Championship Fatal 4-Way against Brie Bella, Naomi and Natalya gives the Total Divas story a direct championship setting, but the short runtime keeps the match from developing much beyond quick exchanges. Each challenger gets a brief opportunity to threaten AJ, and the champion spends much of the match looking for openings while the other three women collide. Natalya creates the strongest late momentum and appears close to taking control once the field narrows. AJ waits for the opening and traps Natalya in the Black Widow. Natalya submits, allowing AJ to retain without pinning the other challengers. The result protects the champion and fits her character, although the match needed more time to make the four-way stipulation feel fully consequential.

Rob Van Dam and Alberto Del Rio work a good World Heavyweight Championship match until the finish deliberately prevents the rivalry from reaching a satisfying conclusion. Van Dam's pace and aerial offense give Del Rio a different challenge, while Ricardo Rodriguez's presence adds a personal layer after his split from the champion. Del Rio repeatedly returns to the arm and the Cross Armbreaker, trying to make the challenger fight from a physical disadvantage. The key moment comes when Del Rio refuses to release the Cross Armbreaker at the referee's five count. Van Dam wins by disqualification, so Del Rio keeps the championship. The post-match Van Daminator gives the challenger a visual payoff, but the title match itself ends with another reason to continue the feud at Battleground.

The Miz and Fandango occupy the card's least consequential singles slot, and the match never escapes the feeling of a weekly television program placed inside a championship-themed event. Fandango controls enough of the early action to establish his rhythm, while Miz works toward the Figure Four as the obvious finishing threat. The pace is steady and both wrestlers execute the basic structure cleanly, but there is little escalation because the rivalry carries limited stakes. Miz creates the final opening after avoiding Fandango's offense and attacks the leg. He applies the Figure Four Leglock and forces the submission. The clean finish is useful, yet the seven-minute match leaves almost no lasting impression compared with the championship stories surrounding it.

CM Punk's handicap elimination match against Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman is built almost entirely around the expectation that Punk will finally get his hands on Heyman. Punk first has to remove Axel, and he does so after using a kendo stick, hitting the Go to Sleep and forcing the Intercontinental Champion to submit to the Anaconda Vise. That leaves Heyman alone and apparently trapped. Punk catches him, attacks him with the kendo stick and seems seconds from ending the feud. Ryback suddenly interferes and drives Punk through a table. Heyman is placed on top of Punk and scores the pin. The angle is effective at extending the story and introducing Ryback as Heyman's newest ally, but it denies the match the cathartic payoff its stipulation promises.

Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler produce a compact United States Championship match that benefits from both wrestlers working at a faster pace than much of the middle card. Ziggler's movement creates several openings and makes Ambrose defend from uncomfortable positions, while the champion repeatedly turns exchanges into rougher, more controlled sequences. The match is given enough time to feel legitimate without overstaying its role beneath the larger stories. Ziggler creates a late comeback and appears close to breaking through after a series of quick counters. Ambrose shuts the sequence down and lands Dirty Deeds. The clean pin allows him to retain and protects The Shield's championship presence. It is a good supporting title match, although it never reaches the urgency of the night's strongest programs.

The Prime Time Players earn their WWE Tag Team Championship opportunity by winning the Kickoff turmoil match, so they enter the pay-per-view title bout with a clear underdog story but very little recovery time. Darren Young and Titus O'Neil generate enough offense to keep the match competitive, while Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins control most of the structure through sharper teamwork. The challengers receive a brief late push and force The Shield to reset. Reigns eventually creates the decisive opening with a Spear on O'Neil. Rollins follows by scoring the pin, allowing the champions to retain. The match is functional and advances The Shield's reign, but the short runtime and same-night challenger setup prevent it from feeling like a major championship defense.

Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton close Night of Champions with the strongest conventional match on the card and what initially appears to be a major payoff in Bryan's fight against The Authority. Orton slows the pace and repeatedly tries to cut Bryan off before the running offense can build, while Bryan keeps forcing the champion into faster exchanges and submission threats. The closing sequence becomes increasingly urgent after the referee is briefly knocked down. Bryan counters an RKO attempt and eventually lands the Running Knee. Referee Scott Armstrong counts the pin quickly, and Bryan wins the WWE Championship. The crowd gets the celebration the story needs in the moment, but the next-night reversal of the result retroactively turns the finish into another chapter of the Authority conflict rather than a lasting coronation.