Night of Champions (2026)

Background

Night of Champions is a professional wrestling event produced by the American company WWE, established in 2007.^[1] It was held annually, airing via pay-per-view (PPV) as well as livestreaming beginning in 2014, but was discontinued after the 2015 event until it was reinstated in 2023, although an event was not held in 2024. The event is characterized by having championship matches. In early 2018, WWE began a 10-year strategic multiplatform partnership with the Ministry of Sport (formerly General Sports Authority) in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's social and economic reform program.^[2][3] The 2023 Night of Champions was the first Night of Champions held in Saudi Arabia, which was in Jeddah, and it was the ninth event under this partnership.^[4]

On March 17, 2026, POST Wrestling reported that Night of Champions was internally scheduled for Saturday, June 27 in Saudi Arabia. The event's status was initially subject to speculation due to the 2026 Iranian strikes on Saudi Arabia;^[5] notably, Formula 1 had cancelled the 2026 Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix due to the strikes.^[6] However, on April 23, WWE officially confirmed that the event would proceed as planned on June 27 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This marks the second consecutive year the venue will host the event and the 15th event under the Saudi Arabian partnership.^[7]

In addition to airing on traditional PPV worldwide, Night of Champions will be available to livestream on ESPN's direct-to-consumer streaming service in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, SuperSport in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Abema in Japan.^[8] This marks the first Night of Champions to livestream on ESPN in the United States.

Storylines

The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results will be predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,^[9][10] while storylines will be produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.^[11]

During the May 25 episode of Raw, the 25th King of the Ring and fourth Queen of the Ring tournaments were announced to begin on the June 1 episode, subsequently held across episodes of Raw and SmackDown. It was later confirmed that the 2026 finals would take place at Night of Champions with the winner of each tournament receiving a match for a world championship at SummerSlam.^[12][13] During the Clash in Italy post-show on May 31, the brackets for both tournaments were revealed, with first round matches consisting of fatal four-way matches with the winners advancing to the semi-finals, and then the winners of the semi-finals advancing to the finals at Night of Champions.^[14][15] The semifinals of both tournaments began on the June 15 episode of Raw. Oba Femi and Iyo Sky, both from Raw, advanced to the finals of the King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournaments, respectively.^[16]

In April 2025, Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, and Paul Heyman formed an alliance, with Bronson Reed joining the alliance in May to form the The Vision.^{[17][18][19][20]} However, months later on the October 13 episode of Raw, Breakker and Reed turned on Rollins, attacking him and expelling him from the group.^[21] They later added Logan Paul and Austin Theory to the group.^[22][23] In early 2026, The Vision were repeatedly attacked by masked individuals, later revealed to have been orchestrated by Rollins, who was previously out due to injury.^{[24][25][26][27]} On Night 1 of WrestleMania 42, Rollins lost his match against Gunther after Breakker returned from injury and struck Rollins with a spear.^[28] At Backlash on May 9, Breakker defeated Rollins.^[29] On the May 11 episode of Raw, Rollins helped Joe Hendry and the Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) defeat The Vision (Breakker, Paul, and Theory). As Rollins helped Dawkins get up after the match, Breakker attempted to spear Rollins but Rollins moved, causing Dawkins to get hit. Later that night, Rollins attempted to form an alliance with the Street Profits, but Ford was furious at him.^[30] On the following week, Rollins defeated Theory. After the match, Dawkins came out to help Rollins fend off Paul and Theory, and then Ford followed to help his partner. Ford asked why Dawkins came to the ring and then shoved him away to take a spear from Breakker. This allowed The Vision to continue their attack on Rollins.^[31] A week later, Rollins and Ford argued over a potential alliance, leading to a match later that night with Rollins defeating Ford. After the match, Theory appeared on stage with Dawkins, proceeding to slam his head with a steel chair. Later that night, Ford told Rollins that Dawkins needed them.^[32] On the June 1 episode, Rollins defeated Breakker with the help of Ford, who took out Theory.^[33] A week later, Rollins was in a first round match of the King of the Ring tournament. When Theory prevented Rollins from getting the pinfall, Ford came out to brawl with Theory. Breakker then speared Rollins, causing Rollins to get eliminated from the tournament.^[34] On the June 15 episode, Rollins challenged Breakker to a steel cage match at Night of Champions, which Breakker accepted and it was subsequently made official.^[16]

Tournament brackets

King of the Ring

Queen of the Ring