TJR: WWE Night Of Champions 2026 Preview – 3 Title Matches!
It’s WWE Night of Champions, featuring a Cody Rhodes-Gunther-Sami Zayn triple threat match, Seth Rollins-Bron Breakker in a cage, King and Queen of the Ring Finals, and more.
The WWE Night of Champions PLE is back again. Even though there are 11 active titles on Raw and SmackDown right now, only three championship matches will take place at Night of Champions. A big reason is that the King and Queen of the Ring Finals are set to take place at Night of Champions as well. Many WWE PLEs throughout the year have only five matches, but this one has six, so at least that’s some growth. It’s another early show since it’s in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It was announced by WWE that the King and Queen of the Ring Finals matches will also air on ESPN in the first hour for the fans in the US, so I’ll lead off with those in the preview.
You can watch WWE Night of Champions, streaming live Saturday, June 27, at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on the ESPN App with an ESPN Unlimited plan in the United States and on Netflix internationally.
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King of the Ring Finals: Oba Femi vs. Jey Uso
The King of the Ring winner will receive a WWE Title match or World Heavyweight Title match at SummerSlam.
I’m torn on my prediction for this match. On the one hand, I think WWE could absolutely fly Brock Lesnar all the way to Riyadh to have him cost Oba Femi the King of the Ring Finals, and give Jey Uso the win, which would set up Jey for a WWE Title match at SummerSlam. On the other hand, Oba Femi is going to be a major WWE superstar, and I think it’s important to capitalize on his momentum, so having him win King of the Ring and face Roman Reigns (or Cody Rhodes) at SummerSlam would be a big deal. With SummerSlam being two nights, you could even have Oba face Brock Lesnar on Saturday SummerSlam and then get his championship match on Sunday SummerSlam. I would love to see that.
Regarding Jey Uso, I don’t mind him as a performer, but I know some fans are sick of him and react unfavorably whenever he wins a big match, like beating Je’Von Evans in the King of the Ring semifinals. I don’t think Jey “needs” to win King of the Ring, nor do I want him to, but it wouldn’t surprise me if WWE pulled the trigger on it. I know the story is for Jey to challenge for the WWE Title if he wins, but what if they change that story and have Jey challenge Roman Reigns at SummerSlam after all? It would be a twist, that’s for sure.
My pick for King of the Ring is Oba Femi. I don’t know what kind of schedule Roman Reigns is going to be on after SummerSlam, so if he’s going to be away, then you might as well go all the way with Femi and put the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on him at SummerSlam. I would have him face Brock Lesnar on Saturday and then Roman Reigns on Sunday. If you truly want to crown Oba Femi as the next “Ruler” of WWE, then this is a great way to do it. If Jey Uso wins, then I think it will only be because Brock Lesnar costs Femi, but they could also have Jacob Fatu cost Femi to set up a Femi/Fatu rivalry with the idea that Roman Reigns doesn’t want to face Femi, so he sent Fatu there to cost him. I just think Femi winning is the best booking move. Ride the momentum of Oba Femi, WWE. That’s what I say.
Winner AND King of the Ring: Oba Femi
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Queen of the Ring Finals: Liv Morgan vs. IYO SKY
The Queen of the Ring winner will receive a Women’s WWE Title match or Women’s World Title match at SummerSlam.
I like Liv Morgan, but I don’t like how her Women’s World Title has been booked. I think the creative team has done a poor job of booking certain titles post-WrestleMania, especially the Women’s World Title. Liv Morgan won that title more than two months ago and has zero televised title defenses. I think that’s ridiculous and bad booking. How hard is it to build up a match, even for an episode of Raw, and book Liv to get a win? It should have happened. When Jade Cargill was WWE Women’s Champion, they barely had her defend the title, too. I don’t get it. Lazy booking.
When Liv Morgan entered the Queen of the Ring tournament as the Women’s World Champion, it made me think she was going to make the finals and lose. That’s still my prediction. Iyo Sky should win this, which then sets up Sky to challenge Morgan for the Women’s World Title at SummerSlam. There have been hints and teases of dissension within The Judgment Day in recent weeks, so it makes me think Liv will try to win because of an assist from Raquel Rodriguez and/or Roxane Perez, but I think that assist will go wrong, and then Sky will capitalize to get the win.
Winner AND Queen of the Ring: Iyo Sky
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Women’s United States Championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Jade Cargill
These two have met in the past, and Jade Cargill beat Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women’s Title last November. Since then, Jade has improved a lot after having some very good matches with Rhea Ripley. I think they’ll have their best match together this time. It’s also nice to see the Women’s US Title in a PLE match because it usually is ignored at PLEs, but with Rhea Ripley out with a legit knee injury, WWE felt the need to feature this title, and I think that’s a good call.
While I think a title change is possible, the way this has been booked makes me think that Jade is going to try to use her friends, B-Fab and Michin, to help her win, but then I see Stratton getting the win because of her new ally, Chelsea Green, who is gaining popularity with the fans. Jade has been dominant on SmackDown nearly every week, so it makes sense for Green to help Stratton win as the finish to this match. I also think Cargill doesn’t really need the secondary Women’s US Title, and it’s more likely that she wins the WWE Women’s Title again instead of this title.
Winner: Tiffany Stratton
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United States Championship: Trick Williams (c) vs. Ricky Saints
This is the easiest match to predict on the card. I don’t see any reason why Trick Williams should lose the United States Title after winning it about two months ago. I can see Ricky being in the hunt for the title for a few months, but there’s no reason to do a title change now. It also seems likely that Trick’s former friend/foe, Carmelo Hayes, will be in the US Title picture again, so perhaps it will be a triple threat match at SummerSlam. I’d love to see Ilja Dragunov back in the hunt because that guy is too damn good in the ring, and I don’t know why he’s been kept on the sidelines.
I think Trick and Ricky will have a solid match, but I don’t see it standing out on a card like this. It won’t be bad or anything like that. I’m just saying there should be better matches at NOC.
Winner: Trick Williams
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Steel Cage Match: Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker
I liked their two previous singles matches and rated them both highly above the four-star level (out of five). Bron Breakker got the win at Backlash in an excellent match, and then Seth Rollins got his win back in a terrific Raw main event on June 1st. Now they get to put an end to the rivalry (in theory) with a Steel Cage Match, which is usually used to end a feud.
The idea behind a Steel Cage is to prevent others from interfering in the match. That makes logical sense since Breakker has The Vision as allies who could interfere, so based on the cage stipulation, we are left to assume there won’t be interference in this match. Of course, it’s WWE, so we have seen interference in Steel Cage Matches many times before. I think The Vision’s Austin Theory may try to help Breakker win, but I don’t think it will work.
If Jey Uso is going to win the King of the Ring tournament and go on to face the WWE Champion at SummerSlam, then I think Seth Rollins should win this and then face Roman Reigns for the World Title at SummerSlam. However, I picked Oba Femi to win King of the Ring, so that makes me less sure about this match. Breakker is the younger guy, and having him win the feud makes a lot of sense, although I don’t know if he’s going to get a main event push after that. I think, based on the story of the feud, Rollins should win, and I have no problem with that. It’s a tough match to call, but I’m going with Rollins for the win. I also think it could be the match of the night.
Winner: Seth Rollins
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Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Gunther vs. Sami Zayn
Whenever there is a triple threat match, it suggests that a champion could lose a title without getting pinned or submitted, and I think that’s a possibility in this match. However, my prediction is that Cody Rhodes is going to retain the WWE Championship in this match, and he’s going to face CM Punk at SummerSlam.
If you read my SmackDown reviews regularly, then you know I haven’t loved the booking of this story just because I think Zayn could have been built up better. Zayn lost clean to Cody Rhodes on SmackDown a month ago and hasn’t won a single match since then, yet now he’s gifted a WWE Championship match just because he’s an annoying guy who acts like a heel, yet thinks he’s a babyface? I think WWE’s creative team could do a better job of building up title contenders, and this is a perfect example of that. With that said, Zayn is obviously a great wrestler who always has entertaining matches, so I expect it to be an interesting match. Zayn is beloved by the fans in Saudi Arabia, so if he’s going to win the WWE Title, then it’s not a bad place for him to do it.
There will probably be some people thinking Gunther will win the WWE Title by pinning Zayn, or perhaps pinning Rhodes after Zayn costs Rhodes the match. I wouldn’t mind that at all. I just think WWE is going to go into SummerSlam with Cody as the WWE Champion because they teased the Cody-Punk match on the Raw after WrestleMania, and I think we’ll see it at SummerSlam. If Gunther wins, I certainly wouldn’t mind that at all. However, my official prediction is for Gunther to retain.
Winner: Cody Rhodes
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BONUS TOPICS FOR WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
The Cody Rhodes-Gunther-Sami Zayn match just because I want to see what kind of finish they come up with.
The Match I Think Will Be The Best
I’m going with Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker in a Steel Cage Match.
Longest Match
Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker in a Steel Cage Match around 20 minutes.
Shortest Match
Oba Femi vs. Jey Uso around 10 minutes. The Tiffany Stratton-Jade Cargill match could be shorter, too.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
I’m at 7.5 out of 10 for this show. It’s a good lineup, but I think it’s missing something to rate it higher. I think the Steel Cage Match should be very entertaining, and I’m intrigued to see how the WWE Title and King of the Ring matches will be booked. Other than that, I think the match quality should be solid. In terms of stories, I wish there was more intiruge about some of these matches. The WWE Creative team is doing a decent job these days, but I want the stories to be better. I don’t know if anything will stand out above the others.
I’ll be back with a review of Night of Champions on TJRWrestling.net on Saturday. You can also tweet me on X/Twitter at @johnreport.
If you want to send an email, send it to me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading.