WWE’s Night of Champions Is Still Happening, but a Match Has Been Pulled Due to Injury
Events of the past few days involving Iran, Israel, and the United States had led to some doubt regarding whether or not WWE’s Night of Champions event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, would continue on as planned. That was due to the rising conflict between the three countries and how that affected the potential safety of WWE crews and talent, in addition to potential travel issues, but as of right now, WWE is moving forward with the event, which will take place on Saturday, June 28th. That said, it will not go on fully as planned, as tonight WWE cancelled one of the night’s Title matches due to an injury.
During Monday Night Raw, Adam Pearce broke the news to AJ Styles, who was supposed to have a match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Dominick Mysterio. Unfortunately, Pearce revealed that Mysterio is going to be out of action due to an injury, though he did reveal it isn’t a long-term injury, as Pearce told Styles that once Mysterio was good to go, he would get the first shot at him and the Title.
That would suggest that WWE isn’t vacating the Intercontinental Championship, and that would only be the case if they had a storyline reason to move the Title or if Mysterious wasn’t expected to be sidelined for a substantial amount of time. It’s not clear what the injury is, but in his attempted interview he did mention his ribs weren’t 100%, though he kept getting cut off by boos from the crowd before he could go into any sort of detail.
King and Queen of the Ring
Two of the biggest matches of the night are part of the Queen and King of the Ring tournaments, which had their last semi-final matches during tonight’s Monday Night Raw. On the women’s side, Jade Cargill and Roxanne Perez battled for the chance to head to the finals, and it was ultimately Cargill who won that chance, which means she will face Asuka at Night of Champions for the mantle of Queen of the Ring and a Title shot at SummerSlam.
On the men’s side, the last semi-finals match was between two good friends in Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes. Jey and Cody have helped each other out and fought side by side quite a few times over the past few months, but tonight they had to put that aside for the chance to win the King of the Ring mantle and a Title shot. They left it all out in the ring, and it was ultimately Rhodes who walked away with the win. Rhodes will now face another old friend in Randy Orton in the finals match.
As for who wins both of those match-ups, this would be a way to get Rhodes back into the Title picture against John Cena, allowing him a rematch to possibly reclaim the Championship. You could also see Orton winning this and taking on Cena, though Orton vs Gunther has a nice ring to it as well. For Cargill and Asuka, there are compelling options for both, but given that Asuka just got back into the mix and a rivalry with former teammate Iyo Sky is literally right there, it’s easy to see WWE going that route. On the other hand, Cargill vs Stratton or Sky is a fresh new feud, and both could act as a big spotlight for Cargill.
Night of Champions
- Undisputed WWE Championship Match: John Cena (C) vs. CM Punk
- United States Championship Match: Jacob Fatu (C) vs. Solo Sikoa
- Queen of the Ring Finals: Asuka vs. Jade Cargill
- King of the Ring Finals: Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton
- Street Fight: Rhea Ripley vs Raquel Rodriguez
- Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross
Night of Champions will take place on Saturday, June 28th at 1 PM EST.
What do you think of the Night of Champions card? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa.
