by WWE Night of Champions will be held this coming Saturday, June 27th in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. It marks the second consecutive PLE for the WWE outside of the United States as Clash in Italy was held in late May. While that card in Italy was explosive with several huge headliners, this one may lack a little of the main star power but still has plenty of big names and intriguing matchups worthy of talking about.
Here now are the six matches currently scheduled to take place on the card, with possibly more to be named later this week as we still have one Smackdown and one Monday Night Raw left to air.
Tiffany Stratton defends her WWE Women’s Unified United States Championship vs Jade Cargill.
Pick – Tiffany Stratton
Reason- Going from the World title just last month to the United States Championship for Cargill has be a huge step down. Plus, there is little to any heat behind this feud as Cargill has seemingly been focused on feuding with Charlotte Flair instead. This match does seem a little out of nowhere and the WWE has already shown they are behind this renewed push of Stratton while being cooled on the heat of Cargill. I’m not going to say this is a sure thing, but it does seem like a comfortable bet to make that Stratton walks out still carrying the belt.
Seth Rollins vs Bron Breakker
Pick – Bron Breakker
Reason – I’m sorry, but I’m ready for this feud to be over, it has been awful after a hot start. Injuries on both sides ruined this entire thing. I still feel that Bron has a world of potential and has shown he can go in the ring and on the microphone both. I truly believe that Rollins was originally penciled in to be a heel world champion for a very long time before the injury bug creeped up on him again in the fall of 2025.
I would love to see a renewed monster push for Breakker to begin again and see where it goes with a healthy run this time. Rollins has shown in his career time and time again, he is not meant to be a babyface and needs to remain a heel. This simply isn’t working for me anymore.
WWE United States Champion Trick Williams vs Ricky Saints
Pick – Trick Williams
Reason – Is it just me, or has this entire run of Ricky “Starks” Saints been a total disappointment, even going back to his run in NXT? Every reaction he gets, if he does, seems forced. We all understand he is the real life close friend of Cody Rhodes and relative of his wife Brandi, but how far can that get you? Saints failed to impress me in AEW and that hasn’t changed since, despite the new employer.
Trick Williams is over with the fans and one of the Superstars currently on the main roster who can get a genuine crowd reaction with anything he does. He never really, “chased” this belt but more or less was given a title match one week before WrestleMania. However, even with that said the fans don’t show him resentment for any of that. Williams can be a five tool player while Saints has a very murky future still to be figured out.
Iyo Sky vs Liv Morgan for Queen of the Ring
Pick – Iyo Sky
Reason – One thing is for sure, whomever wins is challenging Rhea Ripley at Summerslam. They both have history teaming with her and facing off against Ripley and would present intriguing storylines. I mean, Morgan can’t exactly challenge herself and Iyo has never lost to Ripley, which makes the plot line even thicker.
Now, there are a few ways this could easily change. The first being that Sky wins and uses the logic of “if I beat Morgan once, I can do it again but this time for her belt”. Or the injury to Ripley is worse than we believe and they take the belt in a completely different direction that none of us see coming.
My initial thought when this tournament started was that Charlotte winning it was a sure thing as the match with her Ripley made all the sense in the world. They had gone from enemies to friends and it seemed as though after Charlotte helped Ripley retain against Cargill in Italy, it was only a matter of time before they had their own mishap and went at it. I still say that Ripley vs Charlotte is the dream, “rematch” we all want to see, as it would actually be the third in their trilogy.
With rumors of Charlotte and Rhea Ripley both being hurt messing those plans up, they may have to pivot to Morgan vs Rhea or Iyo for Liv, or who really knows. But for now, I’m going to stick with Iyo Sky winning and them giving Ripley another 5 weeks to get healthy for SummerSlam.
Jey Uso vs Oba Femi for the King of the Ring
Pick – Jey Uso
Reason – Brock Lesnar returns one more time to cost Oba the match and allow Jey Uso to win. This accomplishes several things as it sets up the rubber match between Oba Femi and Brock at either Saturday Nights Main event at MSG, or most likely WWE SummerSlam in Brocks home state of Minnesota.
Jey has been name dropping Cody Rhodes in a potential title match for awhile now and I would have to believe that is where we go with this. Jey already had one World Title match against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam 2023 and it didn’t go his way, does he dare run it back?
My long-term booking here has Jey winning the Crown and losing to Cody. He then shakes Cody’s hand after the loss, showing a sign of weakness and causing The Bloodline to turn on him the next night. Jey is not set to play second fiddle again to Roman again and I simply don’t see him lasting very long in that role.
WWE Undisputed Heavyweight Champion defends against Gunther and Sami Zayn
Pick – Cody Rhodes
Reason – I kind of gave it away already with my last prediction but Cody is a sure thing here. Sami, despite doing the best work of his career was inserted into this match to take the pin from Cody. They cannot and will not have Gunther lose in three straight outings. This gives the WWE an out and keeps Gunther looking strong as both losses to Cody were in disputed ways and Sami does what he does best, makes the top guy shine!
