Night of Champions 2012

Night of Champions was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE, which took place on September 16, 2012 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the fifth annual WWE Night of Champions event (sixth including Vengeance: Night of Champions) and the thirteenth in the WWE Vengeance/Night of Champions overall chronology. The theme to the Night of Champions event is that all sanctioned championships are defended on the card.
==Background==
Night of Champions featured professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that play out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portray villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.
One featured match involves champion Sheamus against Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship. Upon being defeated by Sheamus again at SummerSlam, Del Rio felt that because the referee did not see that his foot was on the bottom rope during the pin that cost him the match, he deserved yet another chance at the championship. Sheamus felt that Del Rio had enough chances to beat him and said that Randy Orton, who just returned from suspension, deserved a chance at the championship. Del Rio would go on to defeat Orton and get another chance to claim the championship from Sheamus.
Another highly promoted match was CM Punk defending the WWE Championship against John Cena. This storied rivalry that was rekindled on July 23rd at Raw 1000 when Cena cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase against Punk and failed to win the championship due to interference by Big Show that resulted in a disqualification. This led to a triple threat match at Summerslam featuring Punk, Cena, and Show. During the match, Cena would have Big Show beat only to be thrown out of the ring by Punk, who would steal a victory. The following night on Raw, Punk would be granted the right to chose his next challenger to face at Night of Champions. The champion was quick to announce that he would face John Cena, on the condition that he would admit on live television that CM Punk is the "best in the world." Cena would refuse to do so, leaving a big question mark on who would face the champion at the event. The following week however, Raw General Manager AJ Lee would announce that it was "her decision" to make the match official, regardless of any stipulation Punk had put into place.
One of the preliminary matches featured Daniel Bryan and Kane (known as Team Hell No) against Kofi Kingston and R-Truth for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The previous month at SummerSlam, Bryan defeated Kane by reversing his Tombstone Piledriver into a small package to pin him. After the match, Kane was angry at being outsmarted by Bryan and searched the backstage area for him. Over the following weeks, the two were forced by Raw General Manager AJ Lee to enroll in anger management classes hosted by Dr Shelby. They even had a hug it out match. At the request of Dr Shelby, they formed a Tag Team with the fans choosing their name has Team Hell No. On the September 10th edition of Raw, they defeated the Prime Time Players to become number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Titles.
The Divas match scheduled was Layla defending the WWE Divas Championship against Kaitlyn. Six months prior, Layla won the title at Extreme Rules by defeating Nikki Bella. On the August 20th episode of Raw, Kaitlyn won a Divas battle royal last eliminating Eve Torres to become number one contender for the Divas Title. Over the following weeks, Eve dismissed her heel characteristics by being friendly and nice to both Layla and Kaitlyn. On the September 3rd edition of Raw, Eve defeated Kaitlyn and shook her hand after the match before doing the same to Layla (who joined commentary for the match). The following week, Layla, Kaitlyn and Eve won a six diva tag team match against Beth Phoenix, Natalya and Alicia Fox when Eve pinned Fox. After the match, Eve celebrated by hugging Layla and Kaitlyn and raising both their arms.
The other championship matches featured The Miz defending the Intercontinental Championship in a Fatal Four-Way Match against Cody Rhodes, Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio and Antonio Cesaro defending the United States Championship against Zack Ryder. 
The only singles match on the card was Randy Orton versus Dolph Ziggler. The feud got started on the August 31st episode of SmackDown, when Orton defeated Ziggler in a singles match. Ziggler won the rematch between the two on the September 3rd edition of Raw. Ziggler then interfered in Orton's matches twice leading to a match between the two for the event.
==Presentation==
In partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Night of Champions set was adorned with pink ribbons representing breast cancer awareness, and the middle rope of the ring was colored pink instead of the usual white. In addition, John Cena would also change his shirt design and arm bands to include the color pink with his shirt saying "Rise Above Cancer".
==Results==
;
;
*Pre-show: Zack Ryder defeated Brodus Clay, Primo, Epico, Justin Gabriel, Tensai, Tyson Kidd, Michael McGillicutty, Darren Young, Titus O'Neil, Jinder Mahal, JTG, Drew McIntyre, Ted DiBiase, Heath Slater & Santino Marella in a 16-Man Battle Royal to become the #1 contender for the WWE United States Championship (5:43)
*The Miz (c) defeated Cody Rhodes, Sin Cara, and Rey Mysterio in a Fatal Four-Way Match to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship (12:05)
*Kane & Daniel Bryan defeated R-Truth & Kofi Kingston (c) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship (8:30)
*Antonio Cesaro (c) defeated Zack Ryder to retain the WWE United States Championship (6:40)
*Randy Orton defeated Dolph Ziggler (18:24)
*Eve Torres defeated Layla (c) to win the Divas Championship (7:05)
*Sheamus(c) defeated Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (14:25)
*CM Punk (c) fought John Cena to a draw in a WWE Championship Match (26:55)
==Other on-screen talent==
;Commentators
*Michael Cole
*John Bradshaw Layfield
;Ring announcer
*Lilian Garcia
*Justin Roberts	
;Referees
*Mike Chioda
*Chad Patton
*Charles Robinson
*Jack Doan
*Scott Armstrong
==See Also==
*List of WWE pay-per-view events
*WWE Event History
*Night of Champions
*Event gallery
==DVD release==
* Night of Champions 2012 on DVD
==External links==
* Night of Champions 2012 Official Website
* Night of Champions 2012 at CAGEMATCH.net
* Night of Champions 2012 at Online World of Wrestling
* on WWE Network
Category:Night of Champions
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events
Category:2012 pay-per-view events