Reviews

The John Report: WWE Night of Champions 2026 Review – LIVE!

WWE Night Of Champions Review 2026
WWE Night Of Champions Review 2026 - Images via @WWE on X

This is a review of WWE’s Night of Champions featuring a Cody Rhodes-Gunther-Sami Zayn match for the WWE Title, plus the King & Queen of the Ring Finals.

The Night of Champions PLE is here with the King and Queen of the Ring Finals set to take place, along with just three title matches. Even though there are 11 titles on the WWE main roster, this 6-match show only has three title matches. I don’t book it, my friends. I just review it. I think the match quality will be strong, but I think they should have added another title match or two. At least there are six matches instead of just five at some WWE Premium Live Events.

There was a two-hour Night of Champions Countdown Show on WWE’s YouTube channel, but I don’t review those shows. I’m watching on Netflix in Canada with a 1 p.m. ET start time.

It has been announced that the Oba Femi-Jey Uso match in the King of the Ring finals will open the show. The Queen of the Ring finals will be the second match. Let’s get to the main show.

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WWE Night of Champions
From Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Saturday, June 27, 2026

They showed some pre-show superstar walking of Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Liv Morgan, Iyo Sky, Ricky Saints, Trick Williams, Sami Zayn, Gunther, and the WWE Champion Cody Rhodes was shown last. It was a packed house in the Kingdom Arena.

A video package aired to set up the Night of Champions PLE featuring the wrestlers competing on the show. Triple H narrated the video so the people who hate him can have something to complain about. Great video as usual.

It was Michael Cole and Corey Graves on commentary. Wade Barrett is usually on the PLE’s with Cole, but I like Graves too. They are all good to me, including Joe Tessitore. Mark Nash was the ring announcer.

The King of the Ring crown was in the ring as Jey Uso made his entrance in the crowd. The crown was removed from the ring as Jey was Yeeting on his way to the ring, and the fans showed him love. The Yeeting took a while.

Oba Femi got a huge pop with the fans shouting for his entrance and chanting “Oba” for his strut on the way to the ring. It’s one of the coolest entrances in WWE, and it’s so simple. That’s a nice reminder that the simplest things can work very well in pro wrestling. You don’t need to overcomplicate it.

King of the Ring Finals: Jey Uso vs. Oba Femi

The winner is crowned King of the Ring and gets a WWE Title or World Heavyweight Title match at SummerSlam.

Femi tossed Jey into the turnbuckle, but then Jey came back with punches that didn’t even stun Femi. Femi hit a shoulder tackle to knock Jey down. Femi charged, so Jey bailed to the floor. Jey was able to get the advantage on the floor and he hit two suicide dives in a row to send Femi into the barricade. Femi was still on his feet and stopped a suicide dive with a forearm to the face. Femi gave Jey a shoulderbreaker onto the thigh. Femi sent Jey hard into the turnbuckle. Femi whipped Jey into the turnbuckle again. Femi tried Fall From Grace, but Jey slipped behind and hit Femi with two kicks to the head. Jey went up top and hit an Uso Splash, but didn’t even get a one count on the cover. Femi hit a massive Chokeslam for a two count. Femi charged and Jey stopped him with three superkicks in a row. Jey hit a shoulder tackle against the turnbuckle. Jey followed up with a Spear. Jey went up top and hit an Uso Splash, but he couldn’t cover. Jey rolled off Femi without doing a cover. Jey went up top and hit another Uso Splash, and this time it got a two count. Jey applied the Sleeper hold and applied a body scissors around the waist. Femi’s eyes got big and he got back to his feet. Femi actually hit the mat a few times, but it was not a tap out. Femi hit two running uppercuts to knock Jey down. Femi picked up Jey and tossed him across the ring. Femi hit Fall From Grace for the pinfall win. It went about 8 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Oba Femi

Analysis: *** I thought the match was good, but it was also kept short instead of being a long, drag out fight where they kicked out of a lot of finishers. Jey Uso did hit his Uso Splash a few times, but Femi was able to kick out and finish off Jey quickly after that. When Femi was in NXT, he did great in longer matches, but I think on the main roster, WWE wants him to win more decisively and that’s what we saw here. I’m certainly happy that Femi won and not Jey Uso. I know people predicted Brock Lesnar would cost Femi the match, but I’m glad that didn’t happen either.

Oba Femi celebrated as the WWE King of the Ring and has earned a shot at the World Heavyweight Title or WWE Championship at SummerSlam. SmackDown GM Nick Aldis presented Oba Femi with the King of the Ring crown.

Oba Femi was interviewed by Byron Saxton in the ring. Femi said that it feels so good to be The Ruler and become The King. Femi said that Jey Uso couldn’t beat fate or destiny, and most importantly, you couldn’t beat Femi. Femi said that he is the mountain that you cannot conquer. Femi said he’s the one, the chosen one…the King of the Ring…Oba Femi.

Analysis: A simple speech for the new King of the Ring, Oba Femi. I think they’ll put him against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Femi faced Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam night one, too.

A commercial aired for Club WWE, featuring John Cena.

They had 4 minutes of ads, so on Netflix, we got moving graphics of WWE superstars with graphics saying, “We’ll be right back.”