Full 2025 Night Of Champions Predictions Including John Cena, CM Punk And Thoughts On Solo Sikoa

I can’t remember a premium live event of the Triple H era with this much uncertainty and chaos. Even if you put aside all the turmoil in Saudi Arabia-adjacent countries in the Middle East, which led to some WWE employees allegedly getting temporarily stranded in Qatar, we only had two finalized matches for Night Of Champions heading into Monday Night Raw, one of which promptly got cancelled. That’s right. Dirty Dominik Mysterio vs AJ Styles is off because of an injury issue, leaving John Cena and CM Punk as the sole match finalized more than a week before the event.

Fortunately, that’s a rematch a lot of us have been waiting more than a decade to see, and it’s not exactly like the rest of the card is an afterthought either. It may have taken way too long to get there, but I’m excited for the finalized Night Of Champions card. A lot of the matches, even if they weren’t made official weeks ago, have been quietly building for awhile like Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu, Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez and Sami Zayn and Karrion Kross.

I have a lot of theories as to what is going to happen, but before I get into those, here’s a quick look at how I’ve been doing with my predictions. As a reminder, I’ve given my thoughts ahead of every PLE since WrestleMania 38, and while I’m not exactly The Undertaker at WrestleMania, I’m still pretty pleased with this performance…

Randy Orton Vs Cody Rhodes In The King Of The Ring Final

Randy Orton has been pushed as the sentimental favorite by the commentary team, who have referenced him losing in the finals to Gunther under questionable circumstances last year. Given how over he is with the crowd and his status as a future Hall of Famer, he should always be considered a threat to win anything. It would tell a nice circular story to see him get a bit of redemption in the tournament, but I just don’t see it happening here.

The King Of The Ring winner is going to get a shot at either John Cena or Gunther in a World Championship match at SummerSlam. We just saw Orton lose to Cena a few months ago in a match no one thought he was going to win, and we watched him lose to Gunther multiple times last year. I definitely believe he has at least one more World Championship run in him before he retires, but none of the circumstances make sense for it to be right now.

Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes trying to win The WWE Championship back that he lost at WrestleMania seems like a SummerSlam main event to me. Whether Cena holds onto the title or CM Punk beats him, it doesn’t really matter. Rhodes versus either of those guys is a match fans want to see and one that would sell a lot of tickets.

Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes

Jade Cargill Vs Asuka In The Queen Of The Ring Final

I’m a lot more conflicted on the ending here. I could make a good case for why either of these two should win. Asuka just returned from an injury that kept her out for over a year, and while she’s been a World Champion before, many WWE fans feel the company has never pushed her hard enough and for long enough. A win here would likely set up a match at SummerSlam with Iyo Sky. Given their shared history both inside and outside WWE, there’s all the ingredients to create a really intriguing storyline.

You could say the same thing for Jade Cargill. Well, sort of. There’s not really a compelling story there with WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton, but there certainly is with Naomi who holds the Money In The Bank briefcase. We’ve already seen multiple teases of Naomi almost cashing in on Tiffy Time, and if she does, Cargill would be the perfect opponent for her at SummerSlam. Plus, it would leave the door open for Bianca Belair to somehow get involved, or at least be an interested observer likely to feud with whoever wins.

I would love to see Asuka and Iyo Sky at SummerSlam, but I think WWE is going to see more upside in the Cargill, Naomi and Bianca Belair storyline. Plus, I kind of feel like we’re going to get Iyo and Rhea Ripey at SummerSlam; so, I’ve got to ride with Jade.

Predicted Winner: Jade Cargill

Jacob Fatu (Champion) Vs Solo Sikoa For The United States Championship

Credit to Solo Sikoa and the writers backstage for realizing his character wasn’t working. He had some aura after he was first called up to serve as Roman Reigns’ chief enforcer, but too many losses in key spots and the emergence of Jacob Fatu made it impossible to see him as a credible main eventer. Everyone involved could have tried to keep forcing it, but instead, they moved his character into a much more comedic direction.

That pivot has allowed him to show off his personality, which has a loveable and goofy energy like his brother Big Jim Uso. If Jey sticks with singles for a few more years, I could definitely see WWE finding a way to bring together Solo and Big Jim for a wacky tag team run that could get over big time with fans. I’d love to see that.

But all of that is also why he’s obviously going to lose here. Jacob Fatu is still on the serious path, and he has future WrestleMania main eventer potential. He’s been a dominant United States Champion, and losing to someone who is often depicted as hapless would be a big blow to his momentum. I guess we could see a storyline where JC Mateo interferes or another new Bloodline member debuts, but I just don’t get why you’d want Fatu to take a loss here.

Predicted Winner: Jacob Fatu

Rhea Ripley Vs Raquel Rodriguez In A Street Fight

Raquel is another performer who I think has really started to find her footing. There was some grumbling online when she was first paired with Liv Morgan and Judgment Day. To be honest, she seemed a little stiff and out of place during her first few appearances, but that’s definitely not the case anymore. She’s really started to get comfortable with her character, and she’s also low key delivered some of the best matches in the history of the women’s tag team division alongside Morgan. When they’re given time and good opponents, they can bring it.

It’s a credit to her that she feels like a believable opponent for Rhea Ripley, but let’s be honest, she’s not beating Rhea Bloody Ripley. Mamí is the biggest star in the history of women’s wrestling, and if she’s going to be in non-title programs, she needs to win an overwhelming majority of the feuds she’s involved in. That means beating Rodriguez here.

I think the better question isn’t who is going to win this match. It’s how much time is this match going to get. For Raquel’s sake, I’d love for this to get fifteen minutes or so and have some back-and-forth action. If Raquel has the upper hand for even 40% of this match, that’s a big win for her character and will make taking a loss here very worth it.

Predicted Winner: Rhea Ripley

Karrion Kross Vs Sami Zayn

Hardcore wrestling fans have gotten behind Karrion Kross in a big way over the last several months. He’s done some great work in limited minutes interacting with characters behind the scenes on Raw, and his social media game has been top notch, as he’s delivered several talking head promos and press conference appearances that have circulated widely on social media. His merchandise has started moving at head-turning rates, and the loudest fans online, or the IWC as they’re called, would love to see this be the start of a big Kross push.

Win or lose here, it feels like that’s happening. This match is his first at a premium live event since WrestleMania 40, and it’s his first singles match at a PLE since 2022. That’s a big vote of confidence, and it will hopefully lead to him and Scarlett getting re-signed and given more and more opportunities in big moments.

Whether or not he wins this match, however, likely has a lot more to do with Sami Zayn and what WWE wants to do with his character. Zayn’s run over the last several years has been the stuff dreams are made of. He became a prominent part of The Bloodline, main evented WrestleMania 39 and ended Gunther’s historic Intercontinental run at WrestleMania 40. Since then, however, he’s been stuck in the mud a little bit. The fans still love him, but he’s been unable to really get to a World Championship level, which he’s been loudly announcing he wants to do for more than a year.

There’s a scenario here where he wins and starts building back up in a conventional, babyface way to try and get another World Championship shot. Then again, there’s another scenario where he loses to Kross, who has been telling him he needs to get his hands dirty for months, and uses that as inspiration to turn heel. We’ll see.

Predicted Winner: Karrion Kross

John Cena (Champion) Vs CM Punk For The WWE Championship

I always thought CM Punk was going to be the guy to take the title off John Cena after he turned heel. They have so much shared history, and Punk is due for another run at the top. He’s earned a chance to be the face of WWE for a little while, but the vibes feel off here. I just don’t know that Triple H, Bruce Prichard and company would take the strap off Cena at an afternoon PPV in Saudi Arabia, especially with a two night SummerSlam outside New York City happening in a little more than a month.

It also feels a little early in Cena’s retirement tour for him to lose. They may want him to reestablish himself as a babyface before he goes, but he doesn’t need half a year to do that. I also don’t really get what he’d do at SummerSlam if he loses here. The only goal he ever talks about is leaving with the title. If he loses, it stands to reason he’d want to go after the title, not try and even the score with Solo Sikoa or something random like that.

I don’t know that this match is going to end whatever is going on between CM Punk and John Cena. It feels like there’s a lot more meat left on the bone, especially after Cena’s fantastic Pipe Bomb promo during Monday Night Raw. Punk needs a chance to answer back on the microphone. Because of that, I expect a finish that leaves the door open for more to happen.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

Night Of Champions will stream on Saturday afternoon on Peacock in The United States and in Netflix in most other countries. On both services, it's free with a paid subscription.