Vengeance: Night of Champions

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Vengeance: Night of Champions
Promotion
World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)Raw
SmackDown!
ECW
DateJune 24, 2007
CityHouston, Texas
VenueToyota Center
Attendance15,000[1]
Buy rate243,000[2]
Tagline(s)"Night of Champions"
Pay-per-view chronology
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The Great American Bash
Vengeance chronology
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2011
Night of Champions chronology
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2008

Vengeance: Night of Champions was the seventh annual

championships
; only one person won a championship and the others were retained.

The

Batista
, in which Edge emerged victorious via countout.

Chris Benoit was originally booked to face (and defeat) CM Punk to win the vacant ECW World Championship. However, he did not show up, and was replaced by Johnny Nitro—who won by pinfall after performing a corkscrew neckbreaker from the middle rope. Following the event, it was discovered that Benoit had murdered his wife and son, and then committed suicide.[3]

Production

Background

The event was held at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 2001.[4] From that inaugural event until 2006, the event was promoted solely as Vengeance, but in 2007, WWE retitled the seventh Vengeance as "Vengeance: Night of Champions". It took place on June 24, 2007, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.[5] While the previous three Vengeance events were held exclusively for the Raw brand, the 2007 event featured wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW, as following WrestleMania 23 in April, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued.[6]

With the event's subtitle of "Night of Champions", the theme of the event was that every championship promoted by WWE at the time was contested. These included the four championships on Raw—the

ECW World Championship.[5]

Storylines

John Cena as WWE Champion.

The main

ECW World Championship.[7] After being stripped of the title, Lashley began to pursue the WWE Championship.[7] On the June 18 episode of Raw, Foley, Orton, Booker, and Lashley all cut promos on why they deserve to be the number-one contender to the WWE Championship. Cena also cut a promo on who he believed deserved to be the number one contender to the championship. Following this, Interim General Manager Jonathan Coachman announced that all five men would compete for the title in a match billed as the "WWE Championship Challenge" at Vengeance.[8]

The main feud heading into Vengeance on the

Last Chance" match at Vengeance.[10] On the June 22 episode of SmackDown!, Batista and Ric Flair defeated Edge and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). Midway through the match, Flair and MVP brawled outside the ring, leaving Edge on his own against Batista. Batista gained the pinfall after executing a Batista Bomb on Edge.[11]

The feud between The Hardys (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) and Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch began at Backlash. At Backlash, The Hardys defeated Cade and Murdoch to retain the World Tag Team Championship.[12] At the following event, Judgment Day, Matt and Jeff defeated Cade and Murdoch once again to retain the titles.[13]

Event

Other on-screen personnel
Role: Name:
English
commentators
 Jim Ross (Raw)
Jerry Lawler (Raw)
Michael Cole (SmackDown!)
John "Bradshaw" Layfield
(SmackDown!)
Joey Styles (ECW)
Tazz
(ECW)
Spanish commentators Carlos Cabrera
Hugo Savinovich
Interviewer
 Todd Grisham
Ring announcer Justin Roberts
Referees Charles Robinson
Mike Chioda
Chad Patton
Jack Doan
Mickie Henson
Marty Elias
Jim Korderas
Scott Armstrong
Mark Yeaton

Preliminary matches

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, Super Crazy defeated Carlito in a dark match.[14]

The event began with a video package of the event and its theme, "Night of Champions", followed by opening

pinfall on Jeff to win the match and retain the titles.[15]

The second match was between

Jimmy Wang Yang for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.[5] The match began with Yang and Guerrero locking up, followed by Yang in control through most of the match. After Yang missed a moonsault, Guerrero executed a Gory Bomb. Shortly after, Guerrero performed a Frog Splash
on Yang. Afterwards, Guerrero pinned Yang to win the match and retain the Cruiserweight Championship.

ECW World Championship
.

The third match was between

enzuigiri. Nitro delivered a corkscrew neckbreaker and pinned Punk to win the match to become the new ECW World Champion.[16][17][18]

The fourth match was between

Samoan Spike to Santino.[19]

The fifth match was between

low blow. MVP then performed the Playmaker and pinned Flair to retain the United States Championship.[20]

The sixth match was an open challenge by Deuce 'n Domino to any tag team for the WWE Tag Team Championship, which was accepted by Jimmy Snuka, who just happens to be Deuce's real-life father and Sgt. Slaughter.[5][21] Snuka and Slaughter controlled most of the match; however, Deuce 'n Domino got the win after Deuce pinned Snuka. After the match, Deuce 'n Domino attacked Snuka and Slaughter until Tony Garea and Rick Martel came into the ring to assist Snuka and Slaughter.[21]

Main event matches

Edge defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Batista at the event.

The seventh match was between Edge and Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship.[5][22] This was a Last Chance match, meaning if Batista lost, he could not get another shot at the World Heavyweight Championship as long as Edge was champion. Batista originally won the match by disqualification after Edge executed a low blow; however, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long restarted the match with the stipulation that Edge could lose the title by disqualification. Edge won the match after Batista was counted out, thus retaining the title,[22] and with the match stipulation, Batista would be unable to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship as long as Edge was the champion. After the match, in complete frustration, Batista attacked Edge and performed a Batista Bomb on him outside of the ring onto the ground before leaving him with the title.

The eighth match was

spinning heel kick on Melina to win the Women's Championship.[23][24]

The main event, billed as the "WWE Championship Challenge", saw John Cena defending the WWE Championship against King Booker, Bobby Lashley, Mick Foley, and Randy Orton.[5][25] Throughout the match, all five men gained an advantage over one-another at one or more spots. One spot in the match saw Lashley dive over the top rope onto the other four competitors. Towards the end of the match, Cena executed an FU on Lashley through an announce table. Cena won the match and retained the title after pinning Foley following an FU.[25]

Aftermath

The scheduled June 25 episode of Raw was going to be a three-hour memorial to "

Mr. McMahon". However, due to the real-life death of Chris Benoit, the show opened with McMahon standing in an empty WWE arena, acknowledging that his reported death was only of his character as part of a storyline.[26] This was followed by a tribute to Chris Benoit that filled the three-hour timeslot.[27] Once the details of Benoit's actions became apparent, WWE made the decision to remove nearly all mentions of Chris Benoit from their website,[28] future broadcasts, and all publications.[29]

Chavo Guerrero went on to defend the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in a Cruiserweight Open at

Jimmy Wang Yang, Jamie Noble, Funaki, and Shannon Moore. Hornswoggle also entered the match at the bell, but immediately escaped the ring and hid under it. With all of the cruiserweights down, with the exception of Noble, Hornswoggle came out from under the ring and delivered a Tadpole Splash to Noble. He pinned him afterwards to win the match and the Cruiserweight Championship.[30][31]

Candice Michelle and Melina continued to feud over the WWE Women's Championship. The two had a rematch at The Great American Bash for the title. Michelle pinned Melina after delivering a Candy Wrapper to retain the title.[32]

On the July 2 episode of Raw, Umaga defeated Santino Marella in a rematch to capture the Intercontinental Championship.

Beat the Clock" tournament to become the number-one contender to the WWE Championship.[33] At The Great American Bash, Lashley faced John Cena for the WWE Championship in the main event. Cena retained the title after an FU from the top rope.[36]

On the June 26 episode of ECW on Sci Fi, CM Punk defeated

two out of three falls match to become the number one contender to the ECW World Championship.[37] At The Great American Bash, Punk faced John Morrison (formerly known as Johnny Nitro) for the ECW World Championship. Morrison retained the title after hitting Punk with both of his knees.[38]

On the July 6 episode of SmackDown!,

triple threat match.[43]

Vengeance: Night of Champions would be the final Vengeance until the event was

orphaned initialism.[47] Additionally, this would be the only Night of Champions event, as well as the final Vengeance event, to feature the original Cruiserweight Championship, as the title was retired in September 2007,[48] and it was the only Vengeance event to feature the ECW World Championship, and the final Vengeance event to feature the World Tag Team Championship and WWE Women's Championship, as the three titles were retired in February, August, and September 2010, respectively.[49][50][51] Night of Champions continued as an annual PPV until its 2015 event, which was the final Night of Champions, as it was replaced by the similarly themed Clash of Champions in 2016.[52] However, Night of Champions was reinstated in 2023.[53]

This was also the last Vengeance event and only Night of Champions event to be in 4:3 format, as in January 2008, all WWE shows went to high definition.

Results

No.Results
dark match

Tournament brackets

Semifinals Finals
      
CM Punk Pin
Marcus Cor Von
06:45
CM Punk Pin
Johnny Nitro(*) 08:15
Chris Benoit Sub
Elijah Burke 06:38

(*) – Johnny Nitro was an impromptu replacement added by WWE due to the absence of Chris Benoit, explained on-air as being due to “personal issues". It was later discovered by local Georgia law enforcement officials that Benoit had murdered his wife and son, and then killed himself in their home.[citation needed]

References

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External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vengeance:_Night_of_Champions&oldid=1219966874"