First official match set for Night of Champions

It appears as though CM Punk will be defending his WWE Championship against John Cena at Night of Champions, and there will likely be some kind of stipulation put in place. However, although that match will happen, it has not been made official. We do, however, have a title match set for the big pay-per-view, as Sheamus will be defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio… again.

If you saw Summerslam, you know what happened between these two. If not, let me give you a bit of a recap. In the closing moments of the title match between Sheamus and ADR, Sheamus had the pin. Before the referee counted to three, ADR got his foot across the bottom rope, which would normally cause a pin break and force the match to continue. However, the referee did not see ADR’s foot, and continued to count the pin, thus giving the win to Sheamus, causing him to retain his title in the process.

The next night on Monday Night RAW, ADR faced Randy Orton in a one-on-one match. ADR appeared to have the match won after a version of the Backstabber, however, Orton got his foot on the rope, much like ADR the night before. This time, though, Sheamus was at ringside, and pointed the foot out to the referee, stopping the pin and allowing the match to continue. It was eventually won by Orton, following an RKO.

A few days later on Smackdown!, the show’s General Manager, Booker T, had to make a decision regarding this situation. He stated that, despite ADR’s protests, Sheamus would retain the title, but ADR would be granted a rematch, due to the circumstances. However, because ADR continued to protest, Booker changed his mind. Instead, he made a match between ADR and Orton (who was also claiming he deserved a title match thanks to his win over ADR on Monday), with the winner getting the next shot at NoC. Later in the night, ADR defeated Orton cleanly, once again claiming the #1 contender position and getting yet another match with Sheamus at NoC.

Not counting No Way Out (where ADR was removed from his match due to a concussion, but was scheduled to face Sheamus in a cage for the title), this will be the fourth PPV in a row headlined by these two. They faced off in a 4-way at Over the Limit (also featuring Orton and Chris Jericho), they had a singles match at Money in the Bank, another one at Summerslam, and now a third at NoC. You should also expect some kind of stipulation to be added this time, thanks to the ending of the Summerslam match.

Personally, I think it’s time to end this feud. While the matches have been good, they have not been THAT good. For whatever reason, ADR and Sheamus just really aren’t clicking as opponents, and it shows. Not only that, but it’s pretty obvious to me that fans are getting bored with this series. While having a series is fine, it only really works when the two guys/teams involved really have something special in the ring (see: Punk/Bryan), and these two don’t have it. They are both good at what they do, just not against each other. Hopefully, this will be the final installment.