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Night of Champions (2009)
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Date	July 26, 2009
City	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Venue	Wachovia Center
Tagline(s)	Every Championship Is On The Line
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous The Bash (2009) Next → SummerSlam (2009)
Night of Champions chronology
← Previous Night of Champions (2008) Next → TBD

Night of Champions (2009) is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which will take place on July 26, 2009 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It will be the third annual event under the Night of Champions name and the ninth annual event under the Vengeance/Night of Champions chronology. Similar to the previous two events, the concept of the show is that every championship in the company would be defended. It will feature talent from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands. Currently, eight matches are announced on the event's card.

Background

Night of Champions will feature professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that will be played out on Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, ECW on Syfy and WWE Superstars—World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) television programs. Wrestlers will portray a villain or a hero as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate into a wrestling match or series of matches. All wrestlers will be from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to a television program of the same name.

The main rivalry from SmackDown heading into Night of Champions is between CM Punk and Jeff Hardy in their conflict over the World Heavyweight Championship. One month prior to the show, at Extreme Rules, Punk invoked the guaranteed title match he earned by winning the Money in the Bank ladder match against Hardy; he defeated him, and won the World Heavyweight title. The two had constant confrontations in the coming weeks over the legitimacy of Punk's reign before meeting at The Bash in a match that saw Punk get disqualified for striking the referee, leading to Hardy attacking Punk for what he saw as dodging competition (a title cannot change hands on a disqualification). On the July 2 edition of Superstars it came to light that Punk had suffered a storyline eye injury. Punk's rebuttal to Hardy's accusation was that he struck the referee due to his inability to clearly see a target. To clear up any dispute on to who the rightful champion was, SmackDown general manager, Theodore Long, announced another match between the two at Night of Champions, which was vehemently accepted by both competitors.

The Raw brand will be represented by Randy Orton defending his WWE Championship. After defeating Triple H in a 3 Stages of Hell match at The Bash, Orton was without a contender for the championship, so on the June 29 edition of Raw, it was announced by the special guest host of the week, as well as onscreen matchmaker, Batista, that the title would be defended at Night of Champions against the winner of a single-elimination tournament. The semifinals commenced that night with Triple H defeating Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and John Cena defeating The Miz (Mike Mizanin). Triple H and Cena faced each other in the following week's edition of Raw, only to see Orton's protégés, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, interfere in the match, attacking both men. As a result, it was announced Orton would defend the title against both Triple H and Cena in a triple threat match.

After winning the ECW Championship at Extreme Rules, Tommy Dreamer has been in constant conflict with perennial ally, rival, and former ECW Champion, Christian. The former champion was given a chance to get back into the title picture by having a match with Vladimir Kozlov (Oleg Prudius) to determine a number-one contender. On the July 9 edition of ECW on Syfy, Christian won the match, thus advancing to Night of Champions to challenge Dreamer.

Edge and Chris Jericho had won the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at The Bash in a triple threat tag team match from incumbent champions, The Colóns, and Rhodes and DiBiase (collectively known as The Legacy). Two weeks following the event on the July 6 edition of Raw, the special guest host of night, Ted DiBiase (Sr.), announced Legacy would challenge Edge and Jericho for the titles. In the coming week on Raw, it came to light that Edge had legitimately torn his Achilles tendon, which required surgery, as well as sidelining Edge for a projected several months. It was announced on the next week's edition of Raw, Jericho had a storyline contractual loophole, which allowed him to choose a new partner to hold the titles with him if Edge were to be injured, this allowing him to defend the titles at Night of Champions.

Following a defense of the WWE Intercontinental Championship on the July 10 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Rey Mysterio was attacked by Dolph Ziggler (Nick Nemeth). The following week on WWE Superstars, Mysterio and Ziggler had a verbal confrontation over what transpired, leading to the announcement of Mysterio defending the Intercontinental title against Ziggler at the pay-per-view.

Matches

See also

• WWE Night of Champions
• List of WWE pay-per-view events

References

1. "Night of Champions 2009". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-05-01.
2. "WWE Pay-Per-Views To Follow WrestleMania Formula". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
3. "Night of Champions". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009-07-03. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
4. "Live & Televised Entertainment of World Wrestling Entertainment". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
5. "WWE Launches ECW As Third Brand". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
6. ^ "Preview:World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
7. Passero, Mitch (2009-07-03). "Punk cashes in for gold". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
8. Passero, Mitch (2009-07-03). "Punk crushes Hardy's dreams... again". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
9. Vermillion, James (2009-07-02). "Eye give up". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
10. Burdick, Michael (2009-07-03). "An eye for an eye". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
11. Sitterson, Aubrey (2009-06-28). "Viper's pit". World Wrestling Entertainment. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate-2009-07-06" ignored (help)
12. Sitterson, Aubrey (2009-06-30). "Animal's Kingdom". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
13. ^ Adkins, Greg (2009-07-06). "Cash is king". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
14. Rote, Andrew (2009-06-07). "Dream Come True". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
15. Medalis, Kara (2009-06-30). "Extreme Changes". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
16. "Charismatic Fate". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009-07-09. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
17. Adkins, Greg (2009-06-28). "Uninvited guests". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
18. "Edge undergoes surgery on his Achilles tendon". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009-07-10. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
19. Sitterson, Aubrey (2009-07-13). "Lean, Green hosting machine". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
20. Burdick, Michael (2009-07-10). "Anarchy in Bakersfield". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
21. Vermillion, James (2009-07-16). "Thrill of the fight". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
22. "Preview:Unified Tag Team Champion Chris Jericho & A Mystery Partner vs. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
23. "Preview:WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Triple H". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
24. "Preview:Divas Champion Maryse vs. Mickie James". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
25. "Preview:ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer vs. Christian". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
26. "Preview:Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
27. "Preview:United States Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Big Show vs. MVP vs. Carlito vs. Jack Swagger vs. The Miz". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
28. "Preview:Women's Champion Michelle McCool vs. Melina". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-24.

External links

• The official Night of Champions website

• Current events
• 2009 in professional wrestling
• Night of Champions
• Sports in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania