WWE Night Of Champions 2026: 8 Things That NEED To Happen
A night of SummerSlam setup, shocks, splits and...throwbacks to 1993?!
SmackDown takes centre stage on Night Of Champions 2026 thanks to the strength of Sami Zayn muscling in on WWE Title showdowns between reigning main man Cody Rhodes and robust wrestling machine Gunther. Sami's heel turn got off to a shaky start due to that Gingerbread Man business involving rising star Trick Williams, but he's been so glorious one might rename him Bobby Roode during this top title tilt.
At NOC, Zayn, Gunther and Cody will scrap for the latter's belt.
Other matters to be settled include both the King and Queen Of The Ring tournaments, as well as whether or not Triple H is about to give up completely on Tiffany Stratton. 2025's female MVP (Most Valuable Push) could be elbowed out of the way so Jade Cargill has something to put on the line vs. Charlotte Flair come SummerSlam this August.
Speaking of Trick Willy, he meets NXT > main roster jump Ricky Saints for the United States strap, and there's the not so small matter of ex-Vision colleagues Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker inside a solid steel cage. All of that comes before rumours that retiring/not retiring (WWE can't make their minds up) Brock Lesnar could well be in Riyadh for the PLE too.
This will be a Roman Reigns-less show, which must be a bummer for locals, but there's enough star power on hand generally to soften that blow. Here's absolutely everything that simply must happen over in Saudi Arabia this weekend, both crownings and top title business included.
8. Carmelo Hayes Helps Trick Williams Win
That is not a typo.
Wait, why would Melo help Trick retain his United States Title? Well, to screw regular rival Ricky Saints over and keep the belt on someone he's vowed to beat. Basically. Hayes wants a crack at Williams, and his character doesn't like the thought of Ricky stepping on his head to take that glory for himself despite being so new to the main roster.
It's a simple story, one which will probably peak with a Triple Threat (that looked to be the plan before they went a similar route with the WWE Title picture instead), but it's a solid enough direction for these guys right now. Over in Riyadh, seeing Carmelo rush out to get involved in the match between Trick and Saints makes sense.
Then, on follow up episodes of TV, Williams can get hot at his old NXT running buddy turned enemy for sticking his nose into the champ's business. Naturally, Ricky would be battering down the door of GM Nick Aldis to demand a fair rematch too. One Hayes triumph later, and we'd have that Triple Threat that's seemed so elusive on the next Saturday Night's Main Event or at SummerSlam.
That is, of course, unless WWE has something even bigger in mind for Trick this August. That'd be unfortunate for Melo and Saints, but they need only look at how Ilja Dragunov was casually swept to one side for proof of how fickle Hunter's booking can be.
In the short term, keep Hayes involved in this shindig.