The latest WWE Night of Champions is in the books, coming to a close with a big win for Sami Zayn and all of his fans, which includes more than a few of us here at Wrestling Inc. While that certainly looms large, it was far from the only thing to happen on the show, and we'll be covering just about all of it here both good and bad.Of course, we'll be honing in on our own opinions rather than detailing every moment of every match. For that, you'll want to check out our WWE Night of Champions 2026 results page. Here we'll be sharing our thoughts on the big title change, as well as Oba Femi and IYO SKY being crowned King and Queen of the Ring, respectively. You'll also read our takes on Danhausen's latest curse, some pacing issues with one of the mid-card matches, and more. If you haven't already, feel free to share your takes in the comments as well.
We all know by now that Danhausen's ability to curse is legitimate;we've seen the proof over and over again. I don't have any problem with Danhausen cursing Liv Morgan, as she quite clearly deserved it. However, I think it's fair to say that WWE should be a little more careful as to when they allow Danhausen to unleash that dark magic of his.In tonight's case, Danhausen cursed Morgan immediately prior to her Queen of the Ring finals match against SKY. That made it extremely clear who was going to win that match, because (as previously stated) it's been established that the curse works. If the company wanted to go this route and have Danhausen curse Morgan, it would've been better if it had happened this past Monday on "WWE Raw." That way, the audience would at least have a chance to let it slip to the back of their mind, rather than essentially killing the tension of the match ahead.At any rate, I'm happy that SKY won that match, and it was nice to see her immediately challenge Morgan to a rematch for the title at SummerSlam. It seemed possible that the company might've been building to Morgan vs. Ripley at SummerSlam, but whether that was never a serious idea or Ripley's apparent injury is throwing a wrench in things, it looks like the title picture will be playing out a bit differently, and that's a relief. Based on the success rate of Danhausen's curse, though, Morgan may have an uphill battle ahead of her if she wants to retain her title against SKY.Written by Nick Miller
While I had already predicted IYO SKY to take the victory here over Women's World Champion Liv Morgan, I was still glad to see it, and when "Trouble, Trouble" hit during Danhausen's little segment before the match, I knew where things were going. Giving Danhausen another successful curse, this time over Morgan, was cute, and a good way to get the "Very Nice, Very Evil" one out in front of the crowd, and on ESPN for all fans in the US tonight.But the best part of this wasn't just SKY's victory, but the match overall. I thought Morgan got a lot of offense in, especially in the first half of the bout, and I thought she looked really good against SKY. And, as Michael Cole has been telling WWE fans for the last few days, SKY is indeed one of, if not the, best professional wrestlers in the world.Many fans, myself included, didn't think Morgan needed to be in this tournament at all, and while I still fully believe that, she at least needed to have a strong showing tonight, which she did. That certainly doesn't excuse Triple H's terrible booking, but it kept the champion looking kind of strong, or at least not too silly, even in defeat.At one point, Morgan caught SKY's missile dropkick, which was pretty impressive as I didn't expect SKY to miss one of those. It almost looked as though WWE was actually booking Morgan to win it all when she pushed SKY off the top rope during an Over the Moonsault attempt. SKY landed on the top of the steps and sold her knee throughout the rest of the match, which allowed for Morgan to lock in a brutal looking single-leg crab. The champion then almost had SKY pinned with a Codebreaker after it looked like she was going for her Oblivion, which was a nice little offensive fake-out, on her part.In the end, she took a Spanish Fly from SKY really well, and it was the moonsault to win the bout, as I'm sure many of us expected, or at least hoped for. SKY then challenged Morgan to her title match at SummerSlam, and now, Morgan has some direction for the rest of the summer, which is a lot more than she had before finding herself in the Queen of the Ring tournament. I really liked this match overall, and I especially loved the outcome and the challenge that finished off the first hour of Night of Champions. Thankfully, Morgan now has something to do that involves her own title, and SKY will get a big match at "The Biggest Party of the Summer."Written by Daisy Ruth
I honestly thought this premium live event was pretty darn good, though that may be, in part, due to it taking place in the afternoon when I'm in a better mood. Either way, I found it pretty difficult to find something to hate about it. And even now, I only really mildly disliked how much offense Jey Uso got in against eventual King of the Ring winner Oba Femi.I'm not too much of an Uso hater, but I am a huge fan of Femi, and I prefer to see him decimate guys. Maybe it's the dominant way he's been portrayed in recent months, ever since his win against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, but it just didn't feel like this match should have gone on as long as it did. In addition to needing to take up time during that first free hour on ESPN in the states, I guess I kind of get why it was booked this way. Uso still needs to look strong since he's aligned with World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and the Bloodline. But, if he got squashed by Femi, there could have been more of a story there between him and Reigns.Maybe WWE doesn't want to run too many angles within the Bloodline right now, and there's a lot going on with Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa. So Reigns can be disappointed in Uso, but not too much, as he did put up a good fight against Femi, and even Reigns would have to admit that's pretty impressive. It's also likely Femi challenges Reigns to a title match at SummerSlam, though he probably has to deal with Lesnar first, and Uso can get involved there as well, having been the Bloodline member to go toe-to-toe with Femi once before.I disliked how much offense Uso got in today against Femi, but I didn't expect Femi to get the win, so I can't be too upset. There was no interference from Lesnar to cost Femi the match, which is what I fully expected and would have bet on, so overall, I can't complain too terribly much. Femi could have gotten a more dominant victory, but "The Ruler" is now "The King," and that is a very good thing for WWE programming.Written by Daisy Ruth
The one match I didn't expect to really love today was Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker in a steel cage match, and I usually am all for a good stipulation match on a premium live event. I expected to be bored because I wasn't invested in their storyline at all any longer, as it had really lost its luster and probably should have concluded at Backlash. These guys absolutely proved me wrong with their pretty brutal battle and I ended up loving it. The finish was exactly what I expected, as I knew WWE wasn't going to put Breakker over here, but the rest of the match was great.Breakker looked really strong throughout and took a lot of big bumps, including Rollins' superplex from the top rope, where Breakker was basically dangling at the very top of the cage. If a straight-up superplex wasn't enough, he also went through a table at the end of it. Before that, he took a chair shot to the head when Rollins dropkicks the one Breakker was holding, which busted him open. We don't often see blood in WWE unless it's accidental, and I really added something here. It helped Breakker looked like the "bada**" WWE is always telling us he is.After that table spot, Breakker speared himself through another table set up in the corner. The guy really took a beating and kept going, and it may not be for everyone, but since I had such low expectations for this match, I really liked it. Breakker didn't look like a slouch for as much offense as he took, either, and he was back on his feet pretty quickly after a lot of these spots. He hit a beautiful Frankensteiner, though that could be in part to the camera angle and how Rollins took the move, sending Rollins into a pile of chairs below.There was another spot where Breakker dodged a stomp into a spear, and even though that was a pretty expected moment, it still looked good. At the end, instead of taking a regular stomp, Breakker stopped in the moment to taunt Rollins, egging him on, and he ended up taking the move from the second rope.While I had predicted the outcome of this match, I certainly didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. And now, thankfully, Rollins and Breakker can move on from one another. While I would have preferred Breakker go over here, I'm just glad this feud is done, and the competitors had a good match to put a bow on it.Written by Daisy Ruth
Tonight's show was overall very enjoyable, and there were several great and anticipated title matches scheduled, but I was sorely disappointed in the pacing of the Men's United States Title defense.For two men who have egos bigger than their physical statures, I was surprised to see Trick Williams' second televised defense clocked in at less than 11 minutes. Both he and Ricky Saints had great chemistry in this match. It just felt rushed. Now, I'm not sure if they were limited on time because there were still two other matches after, including Cody Rhodes' triple threat title defense, or what. Come to think of it, the timing of the Women's United States Championship match was short-paced too.I'm hoping that tonight isn't the last time we'll see these two clash. Saints' in-ring technique today was brilliant. I liked the head games he played throughout his match with Williams. And that elbow drop... flawless! Without a doubt, I believe Saints' time to capture his first-ever main roster title is upon us very soon. And, of course, Williams is a megastar. He's been killing it since his main roster debut. Let's hope they can run it back ASAP.Written by Brie Coder
Sami Zayn won the WWE Championship, becoming the first-ever Muslim WWE Champion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and completing an endeavor of decades; all while his peers dismissed him as a non-factor in the title match.The match played much to that vein, with Gunter swatting Zayn away as he looked to get into it with Cody Rhodes. Gunther continued to focus on the defending champion, treating his fellow challenger with a dismissive contempt before Zayn proved to be much more than a non-factor.Eventually the action went to the outside and it was Gunther benefiting from being treated as a third wheel, taking advantage as Rhodes backdropped Zayn through an announcer's desk to deliver powerbombs to put Rhodes through the other.He then looked to have the match won with a choke on Rhodes in the ring. But Zayn returned at the right time to save his opportunity. That saw the first real time that Gunther saw Zayn, battering him with chops before Zayn psyched himself up and looked to have the "Ring General" beat with a Helluva Kick.Zayn proved to be much more than a third wheel despite going into the match very much a third wheel. This was his moment, yet it always felt like it was an inch away from slipping away. But he kept plugging away, escaping every finisher, reversing every submission, until eventually he held Rhodes down for the count of three.There aren't many wrestling moments that yield an audible "Oh my God" from this writer, and yet this was one of them. Having grown so used to the ideas that Zayn challenges and fails, Rhodes always kicks out, and Gunther is inevitable, it really felt as though he was the unlikeliest winner even in the place he was most likely to win outside of maybe Montreal.Even still, he did win. He won in a really good match and he did it clean over the defending champion. Gunther is protected from another defeat and Zayn is truly the Undisputed WWE Champion after a performance of finding his spots as and when they mattered.What a way to culminate the journey of the "Underdog from the Underground." The former El Generico is WWE Champion. While never carrying the same hype or pomp and circumstance, this was a performance in the vein of Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30 with a similar result. A proverbial B+ player finally got that extra credit. And it was great to see.Written by Max Everett
