{"id":163388,"date":"2026-06-22T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=163388"},"modified":"2026-06-22T09:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:04:15","slug":"5-fantastic-non-title-matches-wwe-night-of-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2026\/06\/22\/5-fantastic-non-title-matches-wwe-night-of-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Fantastic Non-Title WWE Night of Champions Matches"},"content":{"rendered":"

WWE Night of Champions<\/a> is a night that features the best from the gold wearers of WWE. It\u2019s a night where every strap, from the top level to the mid-card, is defended. Night of Champions is the time of year when WWE puts a spotlight on its champions and lets them rule the evening. Gold drapes everything in the arena, and the world sees the best champions that World Wrestling Entertainment has to offer.<\/p>\n

Now, as much as Night of Champions has been about the title holders in WWE, it has not always been about championships. There have been a small number of matches at the PLE with no gold on the line.<\/p>\n

Matches that have included some of the best wrestlers in the history of WWE, putting on contests that were just as great as the championship matches that surrounded them. Below is a list of 5 great non-title matches in Night of Champions<\/a> history.<\/p>\n

Randy Orton v Dolph Ziggler (Night of Champions 2012) <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Dolph Ziggler<\/a> and Randy Orton\u2018s tenures ran parallel to one another, but they never engaged in a big program. Which is a shame because when they were paired up, they produced incredible matches, their Night of Champions tilt in 2012 being the best example. The contest had nothing on the line, other than pride, but that didn\u2019t stop Orton and Ziggler from putting on an incredible match.<\/p>\n

This match was hidden on a card full of championship matches, so it deserves a better look than most have given it. Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler had incredible chemistry, and the wrestling was crisp and furious. Both men kept a fast pace for nearly 20 minutes, with both doing a fantastic job of selling the other’s offense. It\u2019s a shame that this didn\u2019t translate into anything of substance between Ziggler and Orton.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Triple H v CM Punk (Night of Champions 2011) <\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n

The Summer of Punk was chugging ahead full steam in 2011. The Second City Saints\u2019 issues with the front office were well documented, and after a bait-and-switch involving Kevin Nash, it was announced that Triple H and CM Punk would battle at Night of Champions.<\/p>\n

There was no championship on the line, but there was Triple H\u2019s standing in the company. Had he lost, he would relinquish his control of WWE, and CM Punk would vanquish a big thorn in his side.<\/p>\n

The battle for control of WWE\u2019s soul was full of emotion. It was common knowledge that CM Punk and Triple H couldn\u2019t stand one another. There were fundamental differences between the two men, but they were able to come together and produce a fantastic match.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

The pace was methodical, but the tension between the two men kept the action compelling. The only thing that kept this match from being considered great was the fact that Triple H went over. It slowed the momentum of CM Punk\u2019s rise to the top.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Randy Orton v Chris Jericho (Night of Champions 2014) <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sometimes, a championship didn\u2019t need to be on the line for a match to capture the interest of the wrestling world. When Chris Jericho decided to poke fun at Randy Orton, the Viper took it upon himself to attack Y2J. It was a vicious assault, and it wasn\u2019t long before WWE decided to book a match between these two legends at Night of Champions.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A photo of former WWE and current AEW star Chris Jericho (Photo Credit: By Ed Webster – Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania XXVIII, CC BY 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=50034379)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Jericho<\/a> and Randy Orton had the history to kick this match into high gear from the get-go. There was no feeling-out period; both men just started throwing their best shots at one another in the hopes of scoring a quick victory. Too bad that Randy Orton and Chris Jericho weren\u2019t willing to give up the fight that easily.<\/p>\n

Seeing these two take up their old issues was a ton of fun. The action was tight and spilled out of the ring, adding another level of intensity to the match. Everything was ramping up perfectly when an RKO out of nowhere sealed the victory for Orton.<\/p>\n

The Wyatt Family v Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose & Chris Jericho (Night of Champions 2015) <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Wyatt Family was in sore need of reinforcements when Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt. That came in the form of a monster by the name of Braun Strowman. He helped the Wyatts in their battle against two-thirds of the Shield,<\/a> forcing Ambrose and Reigns to call in their own backup in the form of Y2J. Chris Jericho had been off for close to 9 months, and the crowd erupted when his entrance music hit.<\/p>\n

As far as 6-man tag matches go, this one was a fun watch. Jericho\u2019s return started the fun off, and it continued with 13 minutes of chaos. The tags were furious throughout the match, and 5 of the men did a great job hiding Braun Strowman\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n

The world knew he was earmarked for greater things, but there was still plenty of work to be done before he got there. Strowman looked like the monster WWE wanted him to be. All 6 men were booked well here, and in the end, it was the hubris of Chris Jericho that cost his team the win. That was a nice little touch to the storytelling surrounding this match.<\/p>\n

Mark Henry v Rusev (Night of Champions 2014)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Rusev<\/a> was being lauded as WWE\u2019s next big heel. He was a force in NXT, and when he came up to the main roster, a few sacrificial lambs needed to step up. WWE needed some big names to fall at Rusev\u2019s hands, and Mark Henry was first up. He and Rusev were involved in a few altercations on Raw, and when it became too much, Mark Henry challenged the Bulgarian Brute to a match at Night of Champions.<\/p>\n

This match was a straight-up display of power. Both men were known for their strength, and that was what they leaned on throughout the match.<\/p>\n

There was no wrestling to be seen, just two hosses using every power move in their arsenal. Mark Henry was the veteran who had the experience, but everything he threw at Rusev, including a World\u2019s Strongest Slam, was repelled. Rusev solidified his monster status in WWE by beating one of the strongest men in the world.<\/p>\n

\"WWE
The official WWE Night of Champions logo. (Photo Credit: WWE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WWE Night of Champions is a night that features the best from the gold wearers of WWE. It\u2019s a night where every strap, from the top level to the mid-card, is defended. Night of Champions is the time of year when WWE puts a spotlight on its champions and lets them rule the evening. Gold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4518,"featured_media":163392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7205,2192,3],"tags":[107,140,58,77,75,9746],"class_list":["post-163388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wwe","category-history","category-wrestling","category-wwe-universe","tag-chris-jericho","tag-cm-punk","tag-randy-orton","tag-roman-reigns","tag-triple-h","tag-wwe-night-of-champions"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163388"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163394,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163388\/revisions\/163394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}