WWE Night of Champions 2023 Preview: Full Card, Match Predictions & More
WWE Night of Champions 2023 is coming up this Saturday and before the event takes place, let’s run down everything you need to know about the upcoming pay-per-view.
Who is scheduled for the card? How interesting does the show seem? What’s going to happen with all the matches?
Here is a full preview of WWE Night of Champions 2023.
PPV EVENT INFORMATION
Date: Saturday, May 27, 2023
Start Time: 12 p.m. ET (kickoff), 1 p.m. ET (main show)
Location: Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
MATCH CARD, PREDICTIONS & HEAT INDEX ANTICIPATION LEVELS
(as currently advertised; card is always subject to change)
Temperature Scale = Scorching > Hot > Lukewarm > Temperate > Chilly > Cold > Freezing
Heat Index is my assessment of how interesting the segment is, including how excited I am for the match and how intriguing the feud has been. The hotter, the better. Scorching translates to not being able to wait to see it, while Freezing means I couldn’t possibly care less and think it will be awful.
WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins
Heat Index = Hot / Lukewarm
Prediction: Seth Rollins wins.
Thoughts: Not quite Hot or Lukewarm. Somewhere in the middle. That’s because this match has no heat to it beyond just the curiosity of who will win the championship. However, since we know this is a Raw-exclusive title, that is kind of neutered by having Rollins as the clear and obvious favorite. On paper, these two against each other is great. But I think WWE should stop coasting on just putting 2 names on a marquee and saying it needs no story or build or momentum, and they’ll just get the job done in the ring. To be perfectly honest, I’m not excited about a Rollins run right now, so that’s also a factor making me feel deflated.
UNDISPUTED WWE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (c) vs. Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa
Heat Index = Hot
Prediction: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn win.
Thoughts: On an event with the Night of Champions name, not only are several titles not defended, but one of those people is on the card and fighting for a different belt. Sure. Let’s have Royal Rumble without that match, too, right? Maybe Survivor Series can not have a traditional Survivor Series elimination match? Wait, they already did that last year. Anyway, The Usos will inadvertently cost Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa this match, probably with a disqualification ending, or at least with Sikoa being pinned and not Reigns, naturally. I’d like to move on from the Bloodline’s in-fighting AND from Owens and Zayn feuding with them. I’ll just barely give this a Hot. It’s more so Lukewarm, but I’m feeling generous.
SINGLES MATCH:
Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes
Heat Index = Lukewarm
Prediction: Brock Lesnar wins.
Thoughts: Double-dipping on the “we don’t want Cody to win the other title and we can’t bother to follow up the Roman Reigns story so…distraction!” feud? Well, Cody won the last one through a fluke. You know what that means. Brock has to win this one, cause you can’t just have Brock lose legit, let alone twice, even if one of them is a weak win. Anyway, why is this not an Unsanctioned Match if they went with the angle that Cody’s not necessarily medically cleared to compete? That would make this No DQ, which would spice it up from just being a total copy/paste of their previous match. Maaaaaaaan I wish I cared more about this, but it ultimately doesn’t matter. It’s a shame this isn’t the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match.
SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Natalya
Heat Index = Freezing
Prediction: Rhea Ripley wins.
Thoughts: WWE cares so little about this feud that they decided to not even have a feud. Nattie just popped up and Rhea said the equivalent of “I guess I’ll kick your ass” two or three times. Yikes. That’s the best we can do. Okay. Well, the best I can do is to say Ripley retains, and I don’t see why WWE hasn’t addressed how the wrong titles are on the wrong brands.
RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Bianca Belair (c) vs. Asuka
Heat Index = Chilly
Prediction: Bianca Belair wins.
Thoughts: Again, why is Bianca Belair the Raw women’s champion while on SmackDown and vice versa with Ripley? Also, why am I supposed to care about a rematch between Belair and Asuka from WrestleMania when they didn’t do anything to build that feud initially, and to build THIS follow-up, all they did was wait a few weeks, then have Asuka spit in her face again? Lazy. Belair retains in what will be a fine match, but something I’m sure if you missed, you wouldn’t be missing anything.
SINGLES MATCH:
Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus
Heat Index = Chilly
Prediction: Becky Lynch wins.
Thoughts: Going with the theme of “this is a bigger deal on paper than it will be in execution”, there’s no way this match is great. Sorry, but Trish Stratus just isn’t in her prime anymore, and even then, I think history’s been kind to the rose colored glasses everyone looks back through and says she was great for her era. Adding in that they’ll have to wear those body suits and the crowd might be kind of zoned out for this means they’ve got an uphill battle I don’t think they can surpass.
INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Gunther (c) vs. Mustafa Ali
Heat Index = Lukewarm
Prediction: Gunther wins.
Thoughts: Woooooow poor Mustafa Ali. Not only was he not given the obvious spot of teaming with Owens and Zayn against Imperium on Raw, but instead, his whole segment was saying everyone thinks of him as a loser, and Brock Lesnar then reiterating that point immediately. Brutal. And he’s going to get a brutal beating here, too. Gunther’s not losing that gold any time soon—especially not to Ali.
OVERALL PPV:
How excited am I for the event as a whole?
Heat Index = Temperate
Thoughts: To be honest, I wish this event and Backlash were just 1 show, taking the best elements and combining them together, rather than having 2 events that I feel are stretching things. Some matches will be good or at least okay, while others will be disappointing, but I don’t anticipate any of them to be Match of the Year candidates or anything particularly special. This will be an event that is important to history books merely because a title was established, and that’s about it.
What do you think is going to happen at WWE Night of Champions? Which matches are you most excited to see? Keep the discussion going in the comments below!
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