Cody Rhodes is your new King of the Ring, and Jade Cargill has ascended the throne in her own right as the new Queen of the Ring after defeating Randy Orton and Asuka respectively at WWE Night of Champions at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 28, 2025!
How did this go down tonight, what led to this, and what could be on the horizon? Let's break it all down!
How the Brackets Played Out:
Asuka returned to action following over a year's absence due to injury and won her Round 1 Fatal 4-Way over Ivy Nile, Raquel Rodriguez, and Stephanie Vaquer. She then beat Alexa Bliss to make it to the finals opposite Jade Cargill, who had originally beaten Michin, Nia Jax, and Piper Niven, before taking out Roxanne Perez in the semifinals.
The Round 1 Fatal 4-Way for Cody Rhodes was opposite Andrade, Damian Priest, and Shinsuke Nakamura, while Randy Orton beat Aleister Black, Carmelo Hayes, and LA Knight. In the semifinals, Orton beat Sami Zayn and Rhodes beat Jey Uso in two respectful bouts.
Match Details:
As they know each other so well, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton were able to counter each other and anticipate many of the other's maneuvers—but in true Apex Predator fashion, an RKO can come out of nowhere. The difference here was that it just couldn't put The American Nightmare away for good.
Orton eventually introduced a steel chair to distract referee Charles Robinson, before using that distraction to expose a turnbuckle. However, that would blow back in his face as Rhodes would use that on Orton instead, before hitting Cross Rhodes for the win.
As a result of this, along with John Cena retaining the Undisputed WWE Championship over CM Punk tonight, the main event for the two-night SummerSlam premium live event has been settled as Rhodes will get an opportunity to win back his title he lost to Cena at WrestleMania 41.
There isn't as much to talk about in the match between Cargill and Asuka, as it was only eight and a half minutes long compared to Rhodes and Orton going just shy of twenty minutes. But one noteworthy thing is the pinfall, which happened after Jade hit "Jaded". Since she goes for a pin that sees her bend her opponent backward, she went too far and Asuka's shoulders clearly went up. The referee ignored it, as this was the scheduled finish of the match, but it means that not only has Orton lost in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament in Saudi Arabia two years in a row, but just like his shoulder was up last year in his match against Gunther, Asuka's was up at the pinfall here. Should we just assume next year, those two things will happen again for a trifecta?!
Regardless of the botched pinfall, Jade is your Queen of the Ring, which means she's going on to face the WWE Women's Champion—whoever it may be—at SummerSlam.
Personal Reactions & What Happens Next?:
With regards to Rhodes, I feel like the game plan from the very start heading into WrestleMania was to come back around to The American Nightmare winning the title back at SummerSlam. That will probably end the heel turn for Cena, too, who will somehow see the error of his ways and spend the remaining few months of his farewell tour wrestling as a babyface. Meanwhile, if Rhodes walks out of WrestleMania with the title, he'll have Seth Rollins to worry about, but it's entirely possible The Visionary cashes in his Money in the Bank contract at SummerSlam and steals it immediately away from Cody. That briefcase is going to heavily factor into the title scene for this belt, as I don't think Rollins has Gunther and the World Heavyweight Championship in his sights. For now, though, Rhodes should celebrate winning the coveted crown.
The options for where Jade goes from here are all revolving around Naomi's Money in the Bank briefcase. Scenario 1, Jade fights Tiffany Stratton and Naomi becomes a factor there, either stealing the title away before Jade can win it, or capitalizing to beat Jade right after she captures the title. Alternatively, Naomi can cash in on Stratton before SummerSlam, win the title, and be the person who Cargill fights at SummerSlam. At this point, my prediction has changed from before, and I now think Jade fights Tiffany, Naomi cashes in during the match and wins, before feuding with Jade, who then either wins the title and then fights Bianca Belair at WrestleMania, or fails to win the title, Belair beats Naomi, and Jade wins the opportunity to challenge Belair. In any fashion, Belair vs. Cargill at WrestleMania with Naomi being a conduit to get to that point is where I think WWE is heading.
What do you think about our new King and Queen of the Ring? Do you think they'll win their world title matches at SummerSlam? Drop your reactions, predictions, and other thoughts in the comments section below and keep the discussion going!