WWE: Night Of Champions 2013 Preview

“All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien

WWE has been on one hell of a streak since Payback a few months ago, and it doesn’t look like they’re about to slow down anytime soon. Night of Champions is stacked with intense rivalries, all waiting to boil over and erupt at any given second. It looks like I’m going to be on the edge of my seat for just about every match – including the Divas Championship thanks to AJ – and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Let’s get some quick predictions and some of my hopes on paper. I hope AJ retains the Divas title and I think she will. It doesn’t make sense for her to drop it now. The Divas title looks important for the first time since its debut and it’s all thanks to AJ’s pipebomb-esque promos. And the way she burned Jerry Lawler was pure gold (no pun intended). She deserves to run with that championship until Natalya really guns for it, or someone like Tamina decides to intervene.

Moving on to CM Punk’s bitter rivalry with his former best friend, Paul Heyman, this one’s obvious. I love Heyman’s promo work, but that kendo-stick attack was uncomfortable to watch and woke up the mark in me. I want to see CM Punk destroy Heyman and Axel. No more holding back. Punk needs to go barbarian on this one.

Prime Time Players need to bag some gold, baby! But I doubt that’s going to happen. The Shield have power in their grasp, and if they were untouchable before, their recent affiliation with Triple H’s regime makes them immune to all attacks. PTP will have their push. I just doubt NOC is their time.

As for the clash between RVD and Alberto Del Rio, I think I see a swerve by Ricardo Rodriguez. I wish he’d just get back to being Del Rio’s lackey already. Plus, I like Del Rio and want him to hold the championship for a while longer. RVD’s great, I love the guy, but Del Rio’s a great champion and I’d like to see him hold it until the Rumble at least.

And then there’s the match between Daniel Bryan and the face of the WWE, Randy Orton for the WWE Championship that Bryan held for about 5 minutes at Summerslam. I hate to say this, but I’m torn on this one. The mark in me wants to see Bryan kick the living s*** out of Orton and bag that championship and smear it all over Triple H’s corporate face *huff huff huff* But the mark in me loves the story of struggle and perseverance. I’d like to see Bryan work as the underdog for a while longer. The struggle makes this feud very, very interesting.