WWE Night Of Champions 2025 Review
As soon as WWE signed a deal to start doing shows in Saudi Arabia, there was controversy. For multiple reasons, people said WWE shouldn’t be doing business with the country. It has continued for every show, even now, seven years later.
This has been something different entirely, though. We’ve had the usual concerns about the Saudi government, but with the United States having issues with the country of Iran, people are worried that the WWE performers could be targets for some sort of attack by the Iranian military. On top of that, CM Punk has found himself taking a lot of heat for even attending this show, after his previous comments over WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia.
WWE is approaching this like business as usual, no matter what the outside talk has been. What will that do for the show itself? There are six matches on the card. Two titles matches, the King Of The Ring finals, the Queen Of The Ring finals, a Street Fight, and a highly anticipated match involving… Karrion Kross? Time to see how it all goes.
Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes – King Of The Ring Finals (Winner Receives A Shot At The Undisputed WWE Title At SummerSlam)
Good choice to be the opener. Two of the most over wrestlers in the business today, with a World Title shot at SummerSlam on the line. This should be fun.
As expected, the crowd is singing along to both men’s entrance themes, and they’re LOUD as they do so. Hearing thousands and thousands of people singing these songs never gets old. Both songs were basically played in their entirety.
Early on, Orton begins to sell a back injury. With his recent history of back issues, you can’t help but pay closer attention when he’s selling back pain. Even if it’s just a sell, there’s always a bit of legitimacy to it. If you’ve ever had back issues, you know it’s something that doesn’t just go away.
Cody wraps Orton around the ring post, and the crowd boos. During the show opening footage of the wrestlers entering the building, Cody received what was mostly a face reaction, but you could definitely hear a percentage of the crowd booing him then.
This crowd in Riyadh has been red hot from the start. It will be interesting to see if they can keep the energy going, but so far, this is yet another WWE event where a non-American crowd makes the American crowds look bad.
To continue my point from earlier, Cody is now on the “boo” end of the dueling “boo” and “yay” punches. This crowd loves them some Randy Orton. They’re fired up for everything he does. He has hit two RKO’s so far, and the crowd nearly blew the roof off of the building both times.
Orton fought hard, but he lost his second straight King Of The Ring finals contest. Cross Rhodes puts Orton down after Cody shoved Orton into the exposed turnbuckle (that Randy himself exposed). Cody gets the big title shot at SummerSlam. The match was fun, but it was made even more fun by a super hot crowd. 3.5 Stars
Rhea Ripley vs Raquel Rodriguez – Riyadh Boulevard Street Fight
Raquel’s entrance draws approximately negative two decibels of noise from the crowd. Ouch. It’s not just because she’s a woman, either, as the crowd pops for Rhea’s entrance.
A Collar-and-Elbow Tie-Up to start a Street Fight. Oh. Okay then.
The actual Street Fight has begun. Rhea is tied up in the ropes, and Raquel is absolutely wearing her out with a kendo stick. Goodness. Those are going to leave marks.
Speaking of leaving marks, now Rhea is punishing Raquel with belt whips. If there’s any positive for Raquel here, it’s that she’s in Saudi Arabia. Anywhere else, and she would have a lot more bare skin showing, and this beating would be worse.
Roxanne Perez spawns out of nowhere and attacks Rhea to just about zero reaction. She is quickly taken out of action, though.
Rhea picks up the win after an Avalanche Riptide from atop a table that was positioned across the top rope. That was really impressive. The match itself was decent. It was a physical, hard-hitting match, but it was also really slow. Neither woman is going to be confused with the speedy wrestlers from Stardom, and when they’re facing each other, the pace is definitely slowing to a crawl at times. 3.25 Stars
Sami Zayn vs Karrion Kross
This is the first match on television or pay-per-view for Karrion Kross in over three months. He hasn’t won a match on television or pay-per-view since December 9th, 2024. If you want to find the last time he won a singles match on television or pay-per-view, you need to go back to July 29th, 2024. It has been quite the journey for the man, who has continued getting himself more and more over, even without having many matches.
After a bit of a down spot in the previous match, the crowd is back to being hot for “their” guy, Sami Zayn. They’re not as loud as they were during the opening match, but they’re at least louder than they were for Rhea vs Raquel.
After the slower pace of the previous match, having a slowly paced match with Kross on the offensive is an interesting choice. Sami’s offense is a lot faster paced, but Kross has been in control for most of the action so far. What I’m worried about is the fact that neither of the remaining three matches on this show are going to be fast paced, either.
Sami with the Helluva Kick for the pin and the win. On commentary, Michael Cole said it was a “miracle” for Sami. I wouldn’t go that far, Michael. As I said, the pace of the match was slow, as a lot of Karrion Kross matches tend to be. That doesn’t necessarily mean the match was bad, though, of course. I just would’ve preferred to see more action, instead of the taunts and gaps between action. 3 Stars
Jacob Fatu vs Solo Sikoa – WWE United States Title Match
Fatu, one of the fastest rising stars in the business, makes his entrance to a relatively quiet reaction. Well, this crowd was fun for a while. I’m sure they’ll come alive again for Cena vs Punk, but they haven’t been anywhere near as good as they were during the opening match.
LOL @ Solo performing Jacob’s Boogeyman tribute taunt. It’s amazing how much of a personality Solo has been allowed to showcase recently, after spending so long as the silent enforcer of The Bloodline. The guy is hilarious, and definitely has his brother Jimmy’s sense of humor.
Unfortunately, I dealt with some internet issues and missed large chunks of the match, including the finish. I had to look it up and find out that a returning Tanga Loa and a debuting Hikuleo (simply referred to as Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa’s brother) helped Solo become the brand new champion. While I wish Fatu’s title reign would’ve been longer, I can’t complain too much. Solo is deserving of this spot, and Jacob isn’t hurt much, as it took three men and a distraction from JC Mateo to take the title from him.
No rating for this, as I didn’t witness enough of the match.
Asuka vs Jade Cargill – Queen Of The Ring Finals (Winner Receives A Shot At Their Brand’s World Title At SummerSlam)
My internet seems to be cooperating with me again. It appears someone just didn’t want me to see Jacob Fatu lose his title.
I didn’t get to type anything for this match, as nothing really happened. Jade, even after four-plus years as a pro wrestler, hasn’t really gotten the hang of things. Don’t get me wrong… she has improved. She’s definitely better now than she was when she debuted. However, her improvements are in such small increments, even though she is being asked to do more and more. She is your brand new Queen Of The Ring after what was, for all intents and purposes, an easy win. The match didn’t make the ten-minute mark, and I’m not even sure it made the eight-minute mark. 2.5 Stars. It was just… there. Poor Asuka. The crowd wasn’t happy. There was almost zero reaction to Jade winning the match, and the crowd booed her post-match “don’t ever let anyone tell you who you are” promo.
John Cena vs CM Punk – Undisputed WWE Title Match
The Saudi crowd doesn’t seem too upset at Punk over his previous comments about the country. His half-assed apology to Saudi Arabia and its people seems to have worked. They popped big for his entrance, and sang along to his music, but there were some noticeable boos during his match introduction.
Speaking of the match introductions, I need Mark Nash to speed it up. He’s not bad at the gig, but holy shit, he speaks so slowly. THEEEEE NEVERRRRR BEFOREEEEE SEEEEEEEN SEVENTEEEEEEEEEEEEN. Get it out already, my man.
These two have definitely gotten the crowd back into the mix, even if the match has been pretty slow to start. No surprise there.
We’ve reached the “finisher spam” portion of the match. Punk has now kicked out of three Attitude Adjustments, and the crowd is on fire for it. We’ve had “this is awesome” chants, as well as “fight forever” chants. I wouldn’t say the match has been a classic to this point, but it has been a fun watch.
Cena grabs the title and goes to hit Punk with it, but he has a change of heart, and he throws the belt back out of the ring. It leads to Punk hitting him with a GTS for a near fall. Yet another chapter in the story of Cena eventually turning face again before retiring?
Ref Bump~! Punk calls for another ref to come out, but instead, Seth Rollins’ music hits. Rollins, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Paul Heyman come out. Rollins isn’t dressed to wrestle, and he isn’t bringing a ref with him, so it doesn’t look like he’s here to cash in, but time will tell.
Rollins sends Bron Bronson and Bronson Bron Bron in to attack Punk. The ref is still unconscious, because of course he is. Bron and Bron put Punk through the announce table, and Rollins calls for a ref. Charles Robinson sprints to the ring with the speed of a cheetah, only to be taken out by Cena! Cena takes Rollins out! Penta is here! Bron Breakker makes his way to the ramp and he brawls with Penta, but Sami Zayn is here! Sami and Bron brawl their way to the bottom of the stage area, and Penta dives off the ramp onto them. In the ring, Cena takes Bronson Reed out with an Attitude Adjustment after Punk recovered enough to stop a Tsunami attempt. We’re back to a one-on-one match after Punk and Cena basically had to help each other.
Punk extends his hand to Cena, who accepts it. The two men hug, but Cena goes to attack him. It’s blocked, but Rollins gets back in the ring and attacks Punk with the briefcase. Rollins hits a Stomp on Cena, but gets thrown out of the ring by Cena, who steals the pin and retains his title.
That had all the bells, whistles, smoke, and mirrors that we’ve come to expect from John Cena matches in 2025. Whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you and your own personal opinions. Personally, I enjoyed the match, as I knew what to expect. As I said, it wasn’t a classic or anything, but it did its job, and that’s what matters. 3.25 Stars
Interesting show. No great matches, and a hot-and-cold crowd. Enough happened that I would give the show my recommendation if you didn’t watch it, but just barely. If you missed it, your life wouldn’t be altered in any way.
If you did watch the show, what did you think? Did you agree with my takes on things?
