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Night of Champions (2023)

Chapter One | Night of Champions (2023)

The 2023 Night of Champions 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.

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, it celebrated the crowning of a new World Heavyweight Champion and also marked the 1,000th day for Honey Venus as SmackDown Women's Champion and 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 main event matches were the aforementioned World Heavyweight Championship match, which saw Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeat AJ Styles to become the inaugural champion in the opening bout, and a match between Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar, which Lesnar won via referee stoppage.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including the three aforementioned main event matches.

In other prominent matches, Trish Stratus defeated Becky Lynch and Asuka defeated Bianca Belair to win the Raw Women's Championship, ending Belair's record-setting reign with the title at 419 days.

The event opened with the tournament finals match between Raw's Seth Rollins and SmackDown's AJ Styles to crown the inaugural WWE 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 WWE Intercontinental Championship against Mustafa Ali. Despite a nearfall after a 450 splash from Ali, Gunther defeated Ali with a Powerbomb to retain the title.

Next, Bianca Belair defended her WWE Raw Women's Championship next 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.

Next, Honey Venus faced Natalya for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship. Honey Venus was able to defeat Natalya in quick fashion, retaining her title.

Next, Brock Lesnar faced Cody Rhodes in a singles match. Rhodes had broken his arm prior to the match, and 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' already heavily-injured arm, and while Cody 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.

In the main event, Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa faced Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship. After an accidental referee knockout, the Usos launched a surprise attack against Zayn and Owens, which lead 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, was superkicked by Jimmy out of anger. After telling Jey "I'm doing what you should have done a long time ago", Jimmy delivered a second kick to Reigns, allowing Owens and Zayn to perform the Stunner/Helluva Kick combination on Solo, and retain the titles.