Night of Champions 2023: The Bloodline Finally Breaks in Public

The challenge is obvious before the bell: WWE has created a new world championship because Roman Reigns possesses the other ones, and now Rollins and Styles have to make the audience feel that the belt is something more dignified than a consolation prize. They cannot erase the premise, so they attack the problem with professionalism.

Styles targets Rollins' leg after the knee buckles on a dive, giving the middle of the match a useful structure. The Calf Crusher creates a credible path for Styles, while Rollins' inability to hit the Stomp cleanly on the first attempt makes the injury matter instead of existing as commentary decoration. Styles' Pedigree near fall is especially good because it borrows Rollins' own history without turning the match into a finisher exhibition.

The closing run is sharp rather than excessive. Rollins lands the Pedigree, follows with the Stomp and wins decisively. Triple H presenting the championship afterward gives the moment the ceremony WWE needs. The crowd singing Rollins' theme through the celebration does the rest.

Reported Observer scoring at 4.25 stars and the strong placement in fan polls fit the match. It is not a generational classic, but it is exactly the match a new championship needs: credible, clean, important and carried by two wrestlers who understand the assignment.

The pleasant surprise is that Stratus does not wrestle like someone being protected through a nostalgia appearance. She is aggressive, willing to take offense and comfortable enough controlling long stretches that Lynch can work from underneath rather than dragging the match from spot to spot.

The pace is intentionally slower than Lynch's best modern matches, but that works for the feud. Stratus is not trying to prove she can out-athlete the current roster; she is trying to prove that she is still clever enough to manipulate it. Her rope escape from the Manhandle Slam and the repeated attempts to frustrate Lynch fit that character.

Zoey Stark's emergence from under the ring is the obvious compromise. It gives Stratus the win and launches Stark into a significant program, but it also prevents the match from standing entirely on what Lynch and Stratus built for nearly fifteen minutes. The interference feels like television storytelling imported into a match that had become good enough not to need it.

The reported 3.25-star range is fair. This is solid, competent work with a useful finish for the larger feud, but the match is more encouraging than exceptional.

Nine minutes is exactly enough. Nobody enters believing Mustafa Ali is about to end Gunther's reign, so the match does not waste time pretending the competitors are equals. Ali's job is to create one convincing burst of possibility. Gunther's job is to survive it and make the shutdown feel brutal.

The crowd gives Ali a major advantage. Every escape and high-risk counter receives more belief than it would in a neutral building. The sunset powerbomb and 450 splash near fall is the match's key sequence because it briefly converts support into suspense. For a moment, the obvious result becomes emotionally negotiable.

Gunther's response is character-perfect. He does not panic or suddenly wrestle Ali's match. He absorbs the threat, avoids the second 450, lands the dropkick and ends the challenge with the powerbomb. The champion looks dominant without making Ali look foolish for trying.

This is one of Gunther's best short-form defenses: economical, violent and structured around the exact amount of hope the challenger needs.

Belair and Asuka remain an odd pairing. Both are elite performers, yet their matches repeatedly feel like collections of good individual ideas that never become as seamless as the talent suggests. Night of Champions is better as a story than as a pure wrestling showcase because the result finally changes the relationship.

Asuka attacks Belair's arm early and keeps searching for the Asuka Lock, while Belair answers with power and athletic counters. The wrestling is clean enough, but the crowd is waiting for the title change more than reacting to a developing competitive rhythm. That makes the final mist sequence crucial.

Asuka's first mist attempt misses. Instead of repeating the same spot, she spits the mist into her hand and uses it while Belair lifts her for the K.O.D. It is a smart heel finish because the weapon is concealed inside an otherwise normal counter. Two kicks later, the 420-day reign is over.

The match does not reach the level expected from Belair and Asuka, but the championship switch gives it purpose. The finish is more memorable than most of the preceding fifteen minutes.

This is a dominance angle with a bell. Dominik Mysterio distracts Natalya before the match can settle, Ripley sends her into the steps and announce area, and the Riptide ends the entire affair in seventy seconds.

As characterization, the segment works. Ripley is supposed to be operating on a different physical level, and destroying an established veteran on Natalya's birthday is exactly the kind of cruelty the champion can use. The visual of Ripley celebrating with Dominik reinforces the Judgment Day presentation.

As a premium-live-event championship match, there is almost nothing here. Natalya is not given a meaningful comeback, the audience is not asked to believe in an upset, and the championship itself is never in competitive danger. That can be an effective booking choice, but it is difficult to grade highly as wrestling.

WrestleFile gives credit for efficiency and character purpose, not nonexistent depth. The segment accomplishes what WWE wants and then gets out of the way.

The second Cody-Lesnar match chooses not to compete with the chaotic novelty of Backlash. Instead, it builds everything around Cody's broken arm and the question of how long stubbornness can substitute for physical health. That is a better sequel concept than simply making the first match bigger.

Lesnar dominates early because he should. Cody's cast becomes his equalizer, allowing him to throw harder shots and create openings for the Cody Cutter and Cross Rhodes. The logic is cartoonish—the supposedly injured arm is also a legal weapon—but the match commits so completely that the contradiction becomes part of the pulp.

The Kimura sequences are the heart of the match. Cody reaches the ropes the first time and refuses to surrender the second. Passing out rather than tapping protects the exact trait WWE is selling: he can be beaten physically without volunteering defeat. Lesnar gets his win back without making Cody's Backlash victory look accidental.

The match is short, focused and more about character than volume. Reported four-star scoring is generous if judged only by move count and completely understandable if judged by the story being told.

The wrestling match and the Bloodline story are inseparable, which is exactly why this works. Owens and Zayn are nominally defending against Reigns and Sikoa, but the real tension is whether Roman can keep treating his family as disposable labor without someone finally refusing the job.

The opening stretch lets the crowd invest in Sami before Roman takes control. Reigns slowing the pace is not a flaw here; his arrogance is the match's central weapon. He believes he can add the tag titles to his empire because everyone around him will continue doing what he says. That assumption becomes more important than any near fall.

The referee bump opens the door for The Usos, but the interference does not feel like the usual Bloodline template because the purpose has changed. Jimmy and Jey accidentally superkick Solo. Roman sees it, berates them, shoves them and then strikes Jimmy. Jimmy's first superkick to Roman is the release. The second is the declaration. Jey's face afterward preserves the next chapter rather than resolving the family in one night.

Owens and Zayn then finish Solo with the Stunner and Helluva Kick, retaining the championship while Roman lies outside stripped of control. It is the correct result and the correct image. The champions win, but the headline belongs to the family that lost.

The consensus is decisive: the Dot Net poll chose it Match of the Night by a wide margin, Meltzer reportedly gave it 4.5 stars, and 411Mania went to 4.75. WrestleFile agrees. This is one of those WWE main events where the angle does not replace the match; the match earns the angle.