WWE Night Of Champions Kickoff Show
After the usual Kickoff Show stuff, with the panel running down several of tonight’s scheduled matches, as well as a quick check-in with the social media lounge, we finally head down to the ring where Michael Cole, JBL and Jerry Lawler welcome us to our first match of the evening.
Cosmic Wasteland vs. Neville & The Lucha Dragons
Out first comes The Ascension and Stardust, who are collectively known as Cosmic Wasteland. Out next are their opponents, first out are the Lucha Dragons. Out next is their tag-team partner, “The Man That Gravity Forgot” — Neville.
The bell sounds and here we go with our Kickoff Show match of the evening. The big boy of The Ascension, Konnor, kicks things off with Sin Cara of The Lucha Dragons. Konnor dominates with his size and strength early on, however Sin Cara eventually uses his speed and high flying offense to take control and tag in Kalisto.
Kalisto comes in and picks up where Sin Cara left off, taking it to Konnor until Konnor cuts him off with a knee to the cut. Konnor tags in Stardust. Stardust goes to work on Kalisto as the fans boo.
After some back-and-forth action, the finish came when Stardust sacrificed one of his Ascension tag-team partners, which allowed him to hit his finisher on Neville for the 1-2-3.
Winners: Cosmic Wasteland
WWE Night Of Champions 2015
The Kickoff Show concludes with one final discussion from the expert panel, and then we shoot to the pay-per-view, which opens up with the usual bad-ass video package. The package focuses on all of the current WWE champions, as all of them will be defending their titles tonight at Night Of Champions. Michael Cole informs us that there are 14,369 fans inside the sold out Toyota Center in Houston, Texas for tonight’s show.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
– Ryback (c) vs. Kevin Owens
From there, we head to the ring where Lilian Garcia introduces our first match, which is for the I-C title. With that said, Ryback’s music hits and out he comes to the ring for tonight’s opening match.
After that, Kevin Owens’ music hits and the fans in Houston pop pretty damn loud for the former NXT Champion. Owens makes his way to the ring for his one-on-one contest against Ryback for the I-C title.
The bell sounds and Ryback immediately out-powers Owens, shoving him down flat on his ass as the fans break out in “Fight Owens Fight! Fight Owens Fight!” chants. Ryback floors Owens with a big shoulder tackle.
Owens backs Ryback into a corner and chops and punches away at him, only to be leveled on his ass by “The Big Guy” once again. Ryback then dumps Owens to the floor and leads the fans inside the Toyota Center in a “Feed Me More! Feed Me More!” chant.
Finally, Owens slams Ryback shoulder-first into the ring post on the floor. Ryback is selling his arm and now Owens is focusing his offensive attack on the “injured” shoulder of the I-C champ. Owens, now fully in control, mocks Ryback and taunts the fans.
Owens enjoys a lengthy period of time in control of the offense, however Ryback catches Owens with a big elbow and then turns him inside-out with a huge clothesline. Ryback going for the Shellshock but because of his “injured” arm, he drops Owens, who rolls Ryback up for a close near fall. Owens goes back to work on the hurt shoulder of “The Big Guy.”
Eventually, Ryback fights back again. He pulls the straps down and hoists Owens up for the Shellshock. Owens, while up, rakes the eyes of Ryback, which sets up a quick roll-up. 1-2-3. Owens wins. We have a new I-C champ!
Winner and NEW WWE Intercontinental Champion: Kevin Owens
