Shortly after John Cena made fairly easy work of R-Truth at Saturday Night's Main Event, Truth was informed his WWE contract would not be renewed and he would be released from the promotion. Fan and locker room backlash to WWE's decision was so strong that WWE reversed course and gave Truth a new deal.

Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown" kicked the build to Night of Champions into high gear and continued the push toward a massive clash between CM Punk and John Cena.

Several WWE superstars including Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and LA Knight challenged John Cena for his WWE Championship.