Night of Champions 2013 Night of Champions 2013 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by WWE , which took place on September 15 , 2013 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit , Michigan . It was the seventh annual Night of Champions PPV , and the eighth PPV in the 2013 lineup . Josh Mathews , Alex Riley , Booker T and Santino Marella hosted the Night of Champions pre - show . The usual theme of this PPV is that every championship in WWE will be defended . Background . Night of Champions featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre - existing feuds , plots , and storylines that played out on WWE ' s primary television programs . Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches . Following his win over John Cena at SummerSlam , Daniel Bryan lost the WWE Championship when special guest referee and COO Triple H hit Bryan with a Pedigree , which allowed Randy Orton to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the championship himself . This began a feud with Bryan , Orton , Triple H , and the McMahons , who stated that this was done because they did not feel Bryan " fit the mold " to be the face of the WWE . They named Orton as the new face of WWE . This was followed by an attack by The Shield and an RKO by Orton . Bryan tried to invoke his rematch clause on the August 23 edition of " Smackdown " , but Orton said the match would be fought at Night of Champions . Later in the show , Bryan defeated Wade Barrett in a steel cage match , and was again hit with an RKO by Orton . Three days later on " Raw " , Triple H presented Orton with a brand new Cadillac Escalade , and Bryan came out to insult the two . Because of this , he was put into a gauntlet match against the three members of The Shield . Later in the night , Orton defeated Christian in a non - title match , and Bryan appeared on the TitanTron to boast about winning at Night of Champions and to reveal that he trashed Orton ' s Cadillac by spray - painting " Yes ! " all over it . Bryan won the match after pinning Seth Rollins , but Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns were disqualified . The Shield beat Bryan down as Triple H came out and motioned for them to triple powerbomb Bryan . Orton then went to the ring and hit an RKO on Bryan . On the August 5 edition of " Raw " Rob Van Dam defeated World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio in non - title match after Ricardo Rodriguez ' s interference backfired . After the match , Del Rio viciously attacked Rodriguez . On August 19 edition of " Raw " Rodriguez returned and informed Del Rio that now he is representing Rob Van Dam , with the latter attacking Del Rio twice on " Raw " , and on the August 23 edition of " SmackDown " . On the August 26 edition of " Raw , " Rodriguez cost Del Rio a non - title match against Van Dam , allowing him to defeat Del Rio again . Brad Maddox announced because of Van Dam ' s victory , he earned a World Heavyweight Championship match at Night of Champions . After being defeated by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam , CM Punk would continue his feud with Paul Heyman , thus starting another one with Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel by attacking him the next night on " Raw " . Four days later on " SmackDown " , Axel would challenge Punk to a match , which Punk accepted . On the August 26th 2013 edition of " Raw " , Punk would defeat Axel in a singles match and by vote of WWE Universe , Heyman would be forced to face Punk in the ring , but Axel would interfered and beat down Punk . Heyman also joined in the assault . Maddox granted Punk ' s wish of facing Heyman by giving him an elimination handicap match at Night of Champions against Axel and Heyman . On the August 26 , 2013 episode of " Raw " , AJ Lee interrupted the celebration over Brie Bella ' s victory in a rematch against Natalya , cutting a worked shoot promo on the cast of Total Divas . On the September 2 episode of " Raw " , AJ Lee interfered in a triple threat match between Natalya , Naomi , and Brie Bella , which was to determine the # 1 contender for her Divas Championship , leading to the match being stopped and her getting beat down afterwards . Later that night , Stephanie McMahon announced that AJ would defend her Divas Championship in a fatal four - way match against Natalya , Naomi and Brie Bella at Night of Champions . On the September 9 , 2013 episode of " Raw " , it was announced that a Tag Team Turmoil Match to decide the # 1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship would take place during the Night of Champions Kickoff , with the winners challenging champions The Shield ( Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins ) later in the night . On the September 13 , 2013 edition of " SmackDown " , Dolph Ziggler faced Dean Ambrose for a title shot opportunity for the United States Championship at Night of Champions . Although Reigns and Rollins interfered when Ziggler was closing in on the win , he was still given the championship match . Aftermath . The next night on " Raw " , Daniel Bryan was stripped of the WWE Championship by Triple H , because referee Scott Armstrong made a fast 3 - count , and Triple H seemed to think Bryan was in on it as a conspiracy . He then punished Bryan more by putting him in a match with Roman Reigns ; though Bryan won , he was again assaulted by the rest of The Shield and Orton . Orton put Bryan ' s head in between the folds of a chair , but before he could further injure Bryan , the majority of face WWE superstars ran to the ring and attacked Orton and The Shield , with Bryan finishing them off with a high knee to Seth Rollins . At Night of Champions 2013 Rob Van Dam won his World Heavyweight match by disqualification when Alberto Del Rio refused to release the Cross Arm Breaker , despite Van Dam reaching the ropes . On the September 20th episode of " SmackDown " , Triple H gave Van Dam a rematch with Del Rio at Battleground for the World Heavyweight Championship . Immediately afterwards , Del Rio would proceed to viciously assault RVD backstage . CM Punk began feuding with Paul Heyman in July after Heyman cost him the Money in the Bank ladder match for a WWE Championship contract . This resulted in Punk fighting and losing to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2013 . Punk continued to feud with Heyman and his other client , Curtis Axel resulting in a handicap elimination match at Night of Champions 2013 . After Axel was eliminated , Punk handcuffed and beat down Heyman much like Heyman had done to him a couple of weeks prior on " Raw " . However , Ryback made the save , putting Punk through a table and costing him the match . On the September 23 episode of " Raw " it was announced that Punk would face Ryback at Battleground . Reception . Shore , from ProWrestlingNet , said that the event was absolutely terrible , " by far , the worst PPV of the year " . Jason Powell , from ProWrestlingNet , said that the event was " highly forgettable " and the title change " didn ' t feel like a real WWE moment " . James Cadwell , from PWTorch , said that the main event was " acceptable , but not strong enough to push this PPV out of thumbs down territory . " He gave the Bryan / Orton main event a 3 stars out 5 , the highest note of the event .