WWE Night Of Champions 2025 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners

With WWE Night of Champions reportedly set to go ahead as scheduled despite recent tensions in the Middle East, it seems Riyadh will indeed host the 2025 King and Queen of the Ring tournament finals, with Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Asuka, and Jade Cargill competing not just for crowns, but for a shot at bigger and better gold at SummerSlam. Meanwhile, in keeping with the longtime theme of the event, titles will be defended at Kingdom Arena as well, as Solo Sikoa seeks to dethrone former Bloodline ally Jacob Fatu for the men's United States Championship while John Cena and CM Punk lock horns one last time for the Undisputed WWE Championship. The men's Intercontinental title was initially set to be on the line as well, but an injury to Dominik Mysterio caused it to be replaced with two non-title matches: Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross, and Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez in a Street Fight.

Does it seem like the most difficult card to predict in the world? Probably not. Are the WINC staff still here to make predictions for every match? Absolutely! Let's get to the picks!

In a relatively late addition to the Night of Champions card, Sami Zayn will be locking up with ongoing thorn in his side Karrion Kross in singles action. The bout follows weeks of Kross stalking and goading the "Underdog from the Underground" and the announcement that Dominik Mysterio's Intercontinental title defense against AJ Styles would be postponed through the champion's injury. Zayn and Kross interacted backstage after the announcement, with Kross telling Zayn he would never become WWE World Champion despite making it his goal to do so, thus prompting Zayn to punch him in the face as their match was later confirmed. 

As a result, Kross will be wrestling at his first WWE Premium Live Event since WrestleMania 40 over a year ago. Though he doesn't appear to be the favorite to mark it with a win, at least according to the Wrestling Inc. staff poll, with a majority of 87% backing Zayn to emerge victorious in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. For Zayn it might be impromptu but his inclusion on the Night of Champions card doesn't ring as too much of a surprise, given that he was last in the ring only to fall short to King of the Ring finalist Randy Orton. This weekend will be his third PLE this year, having previously entered the Royal Rumble match and lost an Unsanctioned match against Kevin Owens at Elimination Chamber, but he has yet to pick up a win.

Written by Max Everett

Raquel Rodriguez and Rhea Ripley's history repeats itself once again, as the two are on a collision course to Saturday's Night of Champions event. When it comes to this match between bitter rivals, we are counting on Ripley to bring the victory home, as 93% of the Wrestling Inc. staff are confident that "The Eradicator" will take the win over the Judgement Day's enforcer.

After sharing the ring with each other multiple times in NXT, Rodriguez and Ripley resumed their tensions after Rodriguez's 2024 return, where she aligned herself with Ripley's then-rival, Liv Morgan. As Morgan's muscle, Rodriguez has primarily existed in Ripley's periphery, often as an extra body in Ripley's ongoing tensions with Morgan and the Judgement Day.

Things changed, however, in this year's Queen of the Ring tournament, when Ripley ran interference during Rodriguez's Queen of the Ring tournament qualifying match. Rodriguez had a tournament win within her grasp as she planted Stephanie Vaquer with a Big Boot and Chokeslam combo, but before Rodriguez could score the win, Ripley pulled her old rival out of the ring and into the Riptide. Ripley tossed whatever remained of Rodriguez back into the ring, where Rodriguez was flattened by a hip attack from the returning Asuka. Asuka pinned Rodriguez to progress in the tournament, and Rodriguez was filled with hate for Ripley.

Rodriguez took her frustrations out on Ripley by planting her old rival into a table during a promo segment on the following episode of "WWE Raw," with an assist from Roxanne Perez. After the segment, Ripley stormed backstage and demanded a match with Rodriguez, to which Adam Pearce agreed to, under the Street Fight condition.

With disqualifications off the table for Saturday, anything can happen. We're just nearly certain that Ripley will walk out of Riyadh with the victory.

Written by Angeline Phu

"The Samoan Werewolf" Jacob Fatu has proved himself to be a formidable United States Champion since winning the gold in his WrestleMania debut this year, but not all of us are sold on the fact he'll successfully defend it at Night of Champions. Only 60% of us believe Fatu is retaining, with the others siding with Fatu's cousin, Solo Sikoa. Fatu turned his back on his family at Money in the Bank and prevented Sikoa from ascending the ladder to grab the briefcase, after Sikoa was seen telling JC Mateo backstage on "SmackDown" the day before that his cousin was "all gas, no brains."

Fatu is so over with WWE crowds that the 60% of us who believe he's retaining also believe he'll be fine going off on his own, or possibly aligning with Hikuleo, who has been wrestling in dark matches and even on "WWE Main Event" recently. It's possible that WWE could fly him out to Saudi Arabia to make a shock debut to align himself with his babyface family member. For those of us who don't believe Fatu retains, it's likely because the Bloodline storyline, no matter who it involves and whatever you call it these days, is never truly over, and the Fatu and Sikoa feud isn't likely to end anytime soon.

However, with Fatu getting his first huge victory at WrestleMania, it doesn't seem likely that WWE will let him lose in front of the rowdy Saudi Arabian crowd, especially when the company deems these shows so important. It seems like that, especially ahead of the 2026 Royal Rumble, WWE would want to keep Fatu hot in front of the Riyadh audience. Sikoa is getting better and better on the microphone and his in-ring work was never in question, but we still believe it's going to be Fatu to go over here, due to his massive popularity with the fans.

Written by Daisy Ruth

This year's Queen of the Ring final is set with Jade Cargill facing Asuka for the opportunity to challenge for either the WWE Women's or Women's World Championships at SummerSlam. Cargill saw off 2024 Queen of the Ring Nia Jax, Michin, and Piper Niven in the first-round four-way before fending off Roxanne Perez in the semi-finals on Monday. Meanwhile, Asuka secured her spot first by beating Ivy Nile, Raquel Rodriguez, and Stephanie Vaquer before Alexa Bliss in the semis, having returned for the first time in over a year specifically for this run in the tournament – her first overall entrance into Queen of the Ring. 

However, the poll put to the Wrestling Inc. team shows a belief that Cargill will go one step further to avenging last year's quarter-final elimination, with 87% predicting the former AEW star to win this weekend. The final stands to be just Cargill's sixth traditional singles contest this year, and besides the title shot would mark a significant turnaround for her record of 2-2-1; Cargill's sole win prior to the tournament had been her grudge match with reigning Miss Money in the Bank, Naomi, at WrestleMania 41, and being crowned Queen of the Ring would put both in the Women's title picture with their feud seemingly unresolved.

Written by Max Everett

Sixteen years' worth of history will meet at Night of Champions, as "The Viper" Randy Orton is due to meet his former Legacy teammate, "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes, in singles action at Saturday's King of the Ring tournament finals. While both men have the prestige to claim the tournament victor's guaranteed title opportunity at SummerSlam, we at Wrestling Inc. are backing Rhodes, with 87% of our staff putting their faith in the former Undisputed WWE Champion.

The King of the Ring tournament has been a road to redemption, for both Rhodes and Orton. After pinning Cena in a tag team match at Money in the Bank, Rhodes blew through the King of the Ring competition as he took out Andrade, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Damian Priest in the tournament's first round, before following up with an impressive win over friend and former WWE Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso in tournament semifinals. Long-time friend and former rival Orton is the only person between Rhodes and a title shot — the first Rhodes has had since he  dropping the Undisputed WWE Championship to John Cena at WrestleMania 41. Saturday's match is the culmination of Orton's ambitious return as well, as the 14-time world champion returned to the ring after a painful Backlash loss against Cena to breeze past LA Knight, Carmelo Hayes, Aleister Black, and Sami Zayn.

Should Rhodes best Orton come Saturday, "The American Nightmare" will be crowned King of the Ring for the first time in his career and earn a shot at Cena's world title. Their SummerSlam match would be Rhodes and Cena's first singles encounter since their controversial WrestleMania 41 match, where Cena dethroned Rhodes in the culmination of a historic heel turn. Anything can happen Saturday, but we firmly believe that Rhodes will make good on his theme's lyrics, and rule over his kingdom.

Written by Angeline Phu

There is no doubt in any of our minds that John Cena doesn't leave Riyadh, Saudi Arabia without the Undisputed WWE Championship in tow. A full 100% of us here at WINC believe the "Never Seen 17" will defeat CM Punk at Night of Champions in what will likely main event the afternoon. While fans thought the rivals' final altercation would come at Money in the Bank, where they had their most historic match back in 2011 when Punk "walked out" of the company with the WWE Championship, Punk wouldn't challenge Cena until the June 9 episode of "WWE Raw," two days after MITB.

Cena quickly agreed to the match, but only if it happened in Saudi Arabia. Punk, who has been infamously against WWE holding shows in the kingdom, has decided to travel to Riyadh for the first time since rejoining WWE in November 2023, to attempt to take the title off Cena. It will be the first time the pair have squared off one-on-one since February 2013, when they faced each other on an episode of "Raw." Despite Punk going back on his word, which to be fair, was given when he wasn't working for WWE, to travel to Saudi Arabia, we 100% still think Cena gets the victory in the match.

That's due in part to our prediction for the 2025 men's King of the Ring tournament, which we believe Cody Rhodes wins. The pair are likely to face off at SummerSlam with Rhodes taking the title back, possibly kickstarting Cena's redemption tour as a babyface in some way. As of this writing, before "WWE SmackDown" in Riyadh on Friday, Cena has only 17 dates left during his retirement tour. 

Money in the Bank holder Seth Rollins continued to call out Punk on Monday's episode of "Raw," so we believe Punk is headed toward challenging "The Visionary" for the World Heavyweight Championship sometime in the future.

Written by Daisy Ruth