RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Where were you when Sami Zayn finally did it? Where were you when Sami Zayn, after years of coming up short, after losing nine world championship matches, got back up nine times and won it in his tenth? That’s right, in the outstanding Night of Champions main event triple threat, the ‘Underdog from the Underground’ overcame Cody Rhodes and Gunther, and celebrated his first WWE championship in his second home of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
This match marked the end of a very good Premium Live Event, the 12th iteration of Night of Champions to be exact. Though only three titles were on the line, King and Queen of the Ring winners were crowned as well, which helped this PLE feel as special as it deserved to.
Here are the full results and breakdowns of each match on the night, starting with the biggest surprise in the WWE in recent memory, Sami Zayn finally winning the big one.
WWE Championship: Sami Zayn def. Cody Rhodes (c) and Gunther.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it happened. How did it happen? Let’s rewind to before the match started. Sami Zayn, a proud Muslim, came out to the ring first in the traditional Saudi dress, to a massive ovation from the crowd. From the beginning, the feeling was there of what if this actually happens?
Gunther was booed, as expected, and Cody was cheered as well, which takes us to the action. These three put on, dare I say, a classic of a triple threat match from start to finish. Every superstar had their moments. Gunther slammed Cody onto the announce table twice, breaking it the second time around. Cody flipped Sami through the table as well, and even hit an impressive double Cross Rhodes onto his opponents. Sami, per usual, never stopped coming forward, hitting a slew of Helluva kicks, and also countering a powerslam from Gunther and turning it into a Mexican Destroyer of sorts.
The finishing sequence was cinematic. Cody re-enters the ring and hits a super cutter onto Gunter. Cody then grabs Sami for a Cross Rhodes, before Sami counters and hits a Cross Rhodes of his own. He goes for a Helluva Kick when Gunther intercepts and locks in the sleeper. Cody then comes back and hits the double Cross Rhodes, before grabbing Sami to hit a second and final one, when Sami slips through, locks Cody’s arms under his legs, rolls him up, and the referee counts 1…2…3. He did it.
The creative team pulled the trigger on Zayn, took advantage of his recent momentum and his ‘Last Real Good Guy’ persona, and rewarded him with the ever-so-elusive world title. Now, will he just lose it back to Cody on a random SmackDown episode sometime soon like Drew McIntyre did? Who knows. But at the very least, like Sami said in his fiery post-match promo, he doesn’t care what happens next, because he can finally say he did it. Well played, WWE.
King of the Ring Finals: Oba Femi def. Jey Uso | Queen of the Ring Finals: Iyo Sky def. Liv Morgan
For a breakdown of the King and Queen of the Ring matches, view this article I uploaded earlier, with full match details and a look forward for both winners.
Femi, Sky win WWE King and Queen of the Ring
Steel Cage Match: Seth Rollins def. Bron Breakker
This match had the most backstory of any on the card, featuring former brothers and partners turned bitter foes after Breakker and the Vision betrayed Seth Rollins late last year. Breakker beat Rollins at Backlash last month, before Rollins got his get back a few weeks ago on Raw, so this cage match served as the likely conclusion to the ending of this rivalry.
Before the match began, the intensity was turned up as Rollins and Breakker grabbed a variety of weapons from under the ring and threw them into the cage. The match was as advertised, hard hitting and brutal. Both stars got their fair share of chair and kendo stick shots off, while also utilizing the cage to tear each other apart.
The ending of this match told a heck of a story. Coming into, and during the match, Rollins shouted at Breakker, things like “we’ll see what type of man you are” in the cage. He also made it clear one of them needed to win in the middle of the ring, not by escaping the cage. Yet as the match went on, and Breakker tasted his own blood, his mentality noticeably shifted, and he started trying to escape. Even after Rollins hit a monster suplex off the cage through a table, Breakker came back and hit an avalanche spear. When Rollins kicked out, doubt set into the mind of Breakker. He tried escaping again, when Rollins stopped him, and sent a wild Breakker through a table, which then led to Rollins hitting two stomps, including a final one from the ropes, picking up the victory and seemingly ending this feud. Seth’s experience kept him grounded, and Bron’s inexperience led to panic, resulting in Seth’s win.
United States Championship: Trick Williams (c) def. Ricky Saints
The buildup to this match has been rather fun, with Trick Williams and Ricky Saints being two of the best and most interesting promos in WWE today. They had history in NXT, and they brought that animosity into the main roster as well, with the excellent heel work of Ricky and the star power that Trick has continued to grow, drawing the interest of many.
Trick’s sidekick Lil Yachty was kicked out of the match thanks to some trickery from Saints, but after this, the match followed a rather simple playbook. The two went back and forth, it even appeared that Ricky had the upperhand, before he went for his Revolution DDT one too many times, when Trick countered, hit the Trickshot, and won the match. After the match, Trick and Yachty dodged an attack from, and delivered their own beatdown to Saints, including a ‘People’s Elbow’ from Yachty that the announce team brilliantly billed the ‘People’s El-Boat.’
Women’s United States Championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) def. Jade Cargill
Nearly a year after their WWE Women’s Championship match at SummerSlam 2025, Tiffany and Jade renewed their rivalry at NOC, and had a very fun match.
After some back and forth action, it seemed like Tiffany had the advantage when Jade’s posse of Michin and B-Fab came out and ambushed the champion. Lucky for her though, her new bestie Chelsea Green came out and neutralized the attack, cleaning up Jade’s help. When Jade now had the upper-hand, one more superstar came out to help Tiffany, the Queen Charlotte Flair. It was Cargill and her posse who attacked Charlotte before her QOTR semifinal match last week, so Charlotte returned the favor, clocking Cargill with the title, allowing Tiffany to hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever, and retain her title.
Final Takeaways
This PLE delivered some quality matches. But when you have a main event as electric and with as amazing of a finish as the WWE Championship Triple Threat did, it elevates everything else that happened in the show. The WWE also did the right thing for what it had set up in the KOTR and QOTR tournaments, which will have big consequences come SummerSlam. I will say, the Saudi crowd did feel dry for a good part of the show, especially in the those KOTR and QOTR finals matches, which caught me by surprise. They did an amazing job as always on the entrances, but failed to meet the standard like they usually do in the middle parts of some matches. Still, I am satisfied with this PLE, and especially look forward to seeing who Oba Femi chooses to go after, and where they go with Sami Zayn as a World Champion now.
