WWE Night of Champions Review - May 27, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Seth "Freakin" Rollins def. AJ Styles in the Finals of the World Heavyweight Championship Tournament to Become the Inaugural World Heavyweight Champion

Fans were already arguing that the World Heavyweight Championship feels less than with Roman Reigns still holding two belts, and putting the tourney finals on first only reinforced that. Now seeing what they did in the main event, I can see why they positioned this in the opener, but it doesn't send a strong message and I hope it doesn't become the norm going forward. The match itself was excellent, as you would expect from these two. Styles getting the surprise win would have been cool, but I can't argue with making Rollins the inaugural champion. He's been Raw's uncrowned world champ for quite some time.

Trish Stratus def. Becky Lynch

Stratus' heel run has left a lot to be desired, so I wasn't sure what to expect from her here, especially since we only saw her in the ring once at WrestleMania 39 and her last singles match was almost four years ago. To her credit, however, I thought she fared fairly well here aside from a few sloppy spots. It was a quality contest on the whole with both women giving it a great effort and the crowd being into the action. I expected a Stratus win, but I didn't think it would happen thanks to an assist from Zoey Stark. That was a cool twist. I love the move to pair them together as its puts Stark in a prominent spot early on in her run on Raw and allows her to work with someone who's over in Lynch.

Intercontinental Champion Gunther def. Mustafa Ali

There was zero reason to think Ali was winning the title, but despite how he's been booked as the ultimate enhancement talent in the past six months or so, this crowd was behind him as he had the homefield advantage to a certain degree. Ali plays the underdog role exceptionally well and thus he was a fun foil for Gunther. They made the most of the time they had and thus it was exactly what it needed to be.

Asuka def. Bianca Belair to Win the Raw Women's Championship

While not on the level of their WrestleMania encounter, this was still pretty good with an invested crowd. I hate that the mist has essentially become Asuka's identity in recent years, but I liked that she at least got clever with it this time by wiping it on her hand and rubbing it into Belair's eyes to blind her before beating her. That outcome came completely out of nowhere, but I don't hate it. Asuka being the one to end Belair's historic reign is fine, but I maintain it should have happened at WrestleMania. Hopefully being back in chase more will give Belair a fresh coat of paint.

SmackDown Women's Champion Rhea Ripley def. Natalya

As incredible as Ripley is, I was least excited for this match on the show because of how the build was nearly nonexistent and how Natalya has been a non-factor for years now. That's why I was elated when it ended after a minute or so. Ripley won clean, too, so it's not like there's a reason for a rematch, either. This was the correct use of Natalya (yes, even on her birthday), but I have no idea why this had to happen on the pay-per-view.

Brock Lesnar def. Cody Rhodes by Referee Stoppage

This was another top-notch outing from these two. Having nothing on the line and no stipulation to work with was tough, but they told a strong story with Lesnar targeting the injured arm of Rhodes and Rhodes having to fight from underneath. Rhodes kicked out of an F5 and was competitive with Lesnar, so this was not a one-sided win for Lesnar by any means. Rhodes passing out to a damn Kimura lock was goofy, but I appreciated that it protected Rhodes in defeat. A third match should not be happening, but since it is, they went about setting it up the proper way.

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens def. The Bloodline (Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa)

It's actually amazing that this event fell on Reigns' 1000th day as champion, and yet he didn't defend his belt(s). This was a wonderful main event, nonetheless. The action was very entertaining and there was some suspense surrounding the outcome because The Bloodline could have realistically won. I assumed The Usos would factor into the finish somehow, but I didn't think Jimmy Uso would actually attack Reigns on this show. That was a cool cliffhanger heading into SmackDown next Friday. The Bloodline saga has been in a holding pattern since WrestleMania, so I'm glad there was finally some progression.

Overall Show

WWE has done a nice job of making the Saudi Arabia shows much more must-see in the last year and a half. This was an enjoyable event on the whole with two terrific matches that opened and closed the show. There weren't any super questionable booking decisions, no matches were bad, and the midcard breezed by. I was also left looking forward to what's next. All in all, WWE continued their streak of thumbs-up pay-per-views in 2023 with Night of Champions. 

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