WWE Night of Champions 2023: World Heavyweight Championship

The brand-new World Heavyweight Championship for the brand that did not select Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns in the 2023 WWE Draft was announced by WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H on the April 24 episode of Raw. Triple H also announced that the champion would be crowned at Night of Champions. Reigns’ selection for SmackDown over Raw during the draught became Raw the sole holder of the World Heavyweight Championship. A tournament with wrestlers from both brands and a bracket for each brand was planned to crown the new champion. On the May 8 and May 12 episodes of Raw and SmackDown, respectively, the first round and semifinals for each bracket were planned. 

Each episode’s first-round matchups consisted of two triple-threat matches, with the victors moving on to the semifinals of a singles tournament later that evening, and the respective winners moving on to the Night of Champions title event. On May 7, the 12 competitors in the event were made public on WWE’s YouTube account. 

Seth Rollins’s Road to Night of Champions

Seth Rollins first defeated Damian Priest and Shinsuke Nakamura in a Triple Threat match via pinfall. Rollins hit Nakamura with a pedigree and successfully pinned him to win the match. In the other Triple Threat match at RAW, Finn Bálor emerged victorious as he defeated Cody Rhodes and The Miz via pinfall. Finn Bálor received some help as Brock Lesnar came from nowhere to hit an F5 on Cody Rhodes which allowed Bálor to hit coupe de grace on the Miz and win the match by pinfall. Rollins later came head-to-head against Finn Bálor later in the main event of the night. The Architect for much of the match looked to be in a winning position, once he hit the Irish Captor with a pedigree everyone thought the match was over but to everyone’s surprise, Finn kicked out of the pin. Rollins then hit Finn with a stomp to win the match via pinfall.

AJ Styles’s Road to Night of Champions

AJ Styles first defeated veterans Rey Mysterio and Edge via pinfall. Rey Mysterio had already hit Edge with a 619 and was going for the win as he jumped from the top rope when Edge speared him in midair. AJ Styles reaped the benefit of the mistimed spear that harmed Edge as well, Styles then hit the Rated R Superstar with a phenomenal forearm to win the match via pinfall. Bobby Lashley won the other triple threat match via pinfall against Sheamus and United States Champion Austin Theory.  Sheamus had hit Theory with a brogue kick, seeing this Lashley quickly threw Sheamus out of the ring to pin Theory. Style and Lashley later came against each other for the main event of the night where Styles emerged victorious as he defeated Lashley via pinfall.

Seth Rollins vs AJ Styles

Seth “Freakin” Rollins won the bracket for Raw, while AJ Styles won it for SmackDown. As a result, Rollins will meet Styles at Night of Champions in the World Heavyweight Championship tournament final.

Also Read: Here is a look at top WWE Rivalries written by Paul Heyman

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