WWE Night Of Champions 2026 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners

WWE Night of Champions 2026 is nearly upon us, a six-match card that features crowns, belts, and pride on the line. But who will emerge from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as king, queen, and champion? That's what the Wrestling Inc. staff are here to predict.

We'll be honest — this is a tough one. Aside from one match we all picked unanimously, the WINC crew was split almost down the middle for almost every other contest, and none more so than the King and Queen of the Ring tournament finals. We've been crushing our collective guesses lately, going 9-0 at AEW Double or Nothing and 4-1 at WWE Clash in Italy, but this card may prove to be our kryptonite — especially since in one case, we couldn't even come to a consensus. But you can't win if you don't play, and we still feel confident that we know how Night of Champions is going to go down, even if that confidence is misplaced. Enough waffling — let's get to the picks!

In official in-ring competition, Bron Breakker and Seth Rollins are tied with one win a piece. On a larger scale of events, they're also tied.

Breakker kicked off their feud by blindsiding Rollins with a spear last October, thus writing "The Visionary" off WWE television and simultaneously expelling him from The Vision. Rollins retaliated by coordinating a brigade of masked men to attack the remaining Vision members, one of whom caused Breakker to face an early elimination in the 2026 Men's Royal Rumble. At WrestleMania 42, Breakker returned to spear Rollins, which ultimately cost him his grand stage match against "The Ring General" GUNTHER.

Breakker's momentum continued to roll when he defeated Rollins in singles competition at WWE Backlash. Rollins eventually shifted things back into balance when he scored a win over Breakker on "WWE Raw," then distracted him and Austin Theory during their WWE World Tag Team Championship defense weeks later. This interference proved pivotal as Breakker chased Rollins into the crowd, leaving Theory alone in the ring to be pinned by The Street Profits.

Considering all the aforementioned events, Rollins and Breakker are 3-3 in their feud. The most recent, however, is the most telling.

WWE, more often than not, will book the loser of an PLE match to stand on top of the go-home show preceding it. By that logic, Breakker, who just suffered a tag title loss on "Raw," is more likely to emerge victorious over Rollins at Night of Champions. If WWE truly wants to get him back in the world title picture too, a Steel Cage Match win over Seth Rollins, a multi-time world champion himself, would certainly help. That's why 64% of us are backing Breakker at NOC.

Written by Ella Jay

Trick Williams will defend his United States Championship he won back at WrestleMania 42 against Ricky Saints, who defeated Carmelo Hayes for the opportunity, at Night of Champions. This was by far the easiest match for us to predict, and 100% of us here at WINC believe "Trick Willy" is walking out of Riyadh with the belt still around his waist.

Williams is one of the most over stars on "WWE SmackDown" right now and Saints taking the belt off of him just doesn't make sense for the product. Williams is more than likely going to hold the gold through SummerSlam, at least, where he could very well face both Saints and Hayes in a triple threat bout.

It's not clear if the champion will have rapper Lil Yachty by his side, but if he does, he's got an even bigger chance of retaining via shenanigans behind the back of the referee. Even if he doesn't, Williams could still win by nefarious means, perhaps using an exposed turnbuckle like Saints did against Hayes in their number one contender's match on "SmackDown." If done right, WWE could use this match to further a triple threat feud between these stars, which is what we're hoping for.

If Williams isn't going to be elevated to the main title picture anytime soon, he should hold the United States Championship for a good length of time. All of us can agree that he's insanely over, and that he shouldn't be losing the title to Saints in Saudi, and we are hopeful that Williams is headed toward a big match at "The Biggest Party of the Summer."

Written by Daisy Ruth

Night of Champions will feature two former WWE Women's Champions battling for the Women's United States Championship, and while Jade Cargill is coming off a big loss at WrestleMania, as well as a follow up loss in Italy, 64% of the Wrestling Inc. staff think that Tiffany Stratton will keep her reign intact just a little longer.

Stratton's reign represents something of a rebound, as she hasn't been sniffing around the women's main event scene since losing her title last year. While Cargill is in need of a similar rebound, there is a season for everything, and Night of Champions simply won't be it. Cargill will likely end up back in the main event scene, as she seemed to have natural chemistry with Rhea Ripley, but that is purely speculative.

Stratton has only been champion for roughly 60-something days, and it feels like Cargill has enough going on in the women's main event scene. A win at SummerSlam might be in Cargill's future, if she's going to win the title at all, but Stratton is leaving Riyadh as she entered: champion.

Written by Ross Berman

With an even split amongst our poll, the race for the 2026 WWE King of the Ring is the tightest it could possibly be.

Given his dominance in "WWE NXT" and WWE's main roster, half the Wrestling Inc. staff consider Oba Femi as a natural fit for the KOTR crown. After all, it's extremely rare that one willingly hands over an "NXT" title to make way for their main roster call-up. That move right there shows that WWE thinks very highly of Femi. In case you're not convinced, it's worth noting that just one month prior, Femi went toe-to-toe with Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night's Main Event. Femi lost, not by pinfall or submission, but by disqualification after "The Scottish Warrior" Drew McIntyre attacked Rhodes mid-match. This sequence of events kept both champions looking strong, while also giving the WWE Universe a taste of Femi's main roster potential against its top guy.

Should Femi claim the King of the Ring crown, WWE could reasonably run back him vs. Rhodes at WWE SummerSlam (assuming Rhodes retains his title at Night of Champions first). Or as Femi noted on "Raw," he could challenge WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, whom many have envisioned as the predecessor to Femi's inevitable first main roster world title since WrestleMania 42.

On the other side of the votes lies Jey Uso, the cousin of Roman Reigns and former co-tag team champion alongside Cody Rhodes. Should he beat Femi at Night of Champions, Jey asserted that he'd go on to challenge Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam. Those of us betting on Jey, however, believe that he'd actually go after Reigns for a rematch of their 2023 SummerSlam title match, which revolved around Universal and WWE Titles. Jey has once before wanted to prove himself as "Tribal Chief" material within The Bloodline, so who's to say that he won't try to again by facing Reigns, the long-time holder of that position?

There is a legitimate possibility for Jey to take on either Rhodes or Reigns at SummerSlam. Considering that Brock Lesnar is waiting in the wings to continue his feud with Femi, there's also a real possibility of "The Beast" crashing this King of the Ring finals clash and helping Jey defeat "The Ruler." In turn, Jey would then vie for a world title at "The Biggest Party of the Summer," while Femi and Lesnar likely battle each other at the same event, which emanates from the latter's adopted home state.

Written by Ella Jay

Both the King and Queen of the Ring tournament finals are live for all fans on ESPN ahead of the rest of the Night of Champions card, and that's where we're predicting IYO SKY defeats Women's World Champion Liv Morgan to take the crown. We were nearly torn down the middle on this one, however, with 57 percent of us casting our vote for SKY, though quite a few of us aren't too confident with that prediction.

After the initial four-way matches, SKY defeated Morgan's Judgment Day stablemate Raquel Rodriguez to get to the premium live event. Morgan bested an injured Charlotte Flair after she was taken out by Jade Cargill, Michin, and B-Fab.

Many of us in that 57 percent went with SKY, because, in addition to comparing their in-ring abilities, where the "Genius of the Sky" has an upper hand, we think Morgan doesn't belong in this tournament in the first place. If she can't even defend her own title, which she hasn't, not in a single match since winning the gold from Stephanie Vaquer at WrestleMania 42, we doubt that WWE is going to make her a double champion.

While Morgan will always have a story when it comes to WWE Women's Champion Rhea Ripley, so does SKY, and we believe a lot more fans want to see the former RHIYO go one-on-one once again at SummerSlam, if Ripley is healthy. We think that match would be a bigger draw to possibly sell some more tickets and ESPN subscriptions for "The Biggest Party of the Summer." Morgan will likely be on a crash course with Vaquer when she finally returns, and we don't think she'll have the Queen of the Ring crown to get in the way of that.

Written by Daisy Ruth

At Night of Champions, 57% of the Wrestling Inc. staff are living by that old adage, "Nothing ever happens." It is not WrestleMania, SummerSlam is around the corner, and therefore, there is likely no reason to expect the WWE title will change hands in Saudi Arabia.

The rest of the crew was literally split. Half of the remainder think Gunther might pull it off, while the other half of the remainder think Sami Zayn will finally have his moment, holding the world title in Riyadh.

Another thing bolstering the hopes of the 57% is that Rhodes already lost his title earlier this year, leading to a brief Drew McIntyre reign. It just doesn't feel likely that Rhodes is going to be dethroned just 100-something days later. It's more likely that Rhodes pins Sami Zayn, leaving Gunther to — yet again — whine about the fact that he has yet again lost without being defeated. First his foot was under the rope, then Sami Zayn cost him, and now he'll lose without being pinned or submitted. His grievances are his whole character at the moment, and most of the staff expect him to remain aggrieved heading into SummerSlam.

Written by Ross Berman