Vengeance: Night of Champions

Vengeance: Night of Champions
Promotional poster featuring Bobby Lashley, Edge, and John Cena
PromotionWorld Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)Raw
SmackDown!
ECW
DateJune 24, 2007
CityHouston, Texas
VenueToyota Center
Attendance15,000[1]
Buy rate243,000[2]
Tagline(s)"Night of Champions"
Pay-per-view chronology
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One Night Stand
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Vengeance chronology
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2006
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Night of Champions chronology
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2008

Vengeance: Night of Champions was the seventh annual Vengeance as well as the inaugural Night of Champions professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on June 24, 2007, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. It was the final Vengeance event until 2011, as Night of Champions continued in its place. Per the theme of the event, every match on the card was contested for one of WWE's nine then-active championships; only one person won a championship and the others were retained.

The main event featured the Raw brand. It saw John Cena defend the WWE Championship in a fatal five-way match against Mick Foley, Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton, and King Booker. Cena won the match and retained the title after pinning Foley. The featured match from the SmackDown! brand was a Last Chance match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Edge and Batista, in which Edge emerged victorious via countout.

Chris Benoit was originally booked to face (and defeat) CM Punk to win the vacant ECW World Championship. However, he did not show up, and was replaced by Johnny Nitro—who won by pinfall after performing a corkscrew neckbreaker from the middle rope. Following the event, it was discovered that Benoit had murdered his wife and son, and then committed suicide.[3]

  1. ^ "Night of Champions results". Pro Wrestling History. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved April 22, 2008.
  2. ^ Clark, Ryan (August 2, 2007). "ECW Rating Is In, PPV Buyrates On The Decline, More". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  3. ^ Sherwood, Roxanna (September 5, 2007). "Benoit's Dad, Doctors: Multiple Concussions Could Be Connected to Murder-Suicide". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved October 21, 2011.