WWE heads back to Saudi Arabia this Saturday for their latest WrestleMania-quality event in The Kingdom, Night of Champions. Routinely, these events have featured big-name matches with the likes of Logan Paul, Goldberg, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, and others but this time around, the show will largely be carried by the regular WWE roster.
Ahead of the big event, here is Haus of Wrestling’s official preview and predictions for WWE Night of Champions 2023.
PREVIEW: GUNTHER is obviously poised for big things in WWE’s future. The German juggernaut had an impressive showing earlier this year in the men’s Royal Rumble match, entering first and lasting the entire duration of the bout. In the end, the leader of IMPERIUM was thrown over the top rope by Cody Rhodes but quickly bounced back from that loss with a big WWE WrestleMania 39 win over Sheamus and Drew McIntyre, retaining his Intercontinental title.
Ali, on the other hand, is in a very weird spot on the WWE card at the moment. The former cruiserweight has adopted a sometimes overly confident personality in recent months, and it has led to a few televised wins over talent like Alpha Academy’s Otis. However, this past Monday on Raw, Ali attempted to cut a heartfelt promo ahead of this match and was roundly cut off by Brock Lesnar who told him to, “Get a life, kid!”
PREDICTION: GUNTHER but after Ali’s post-Raw promo, I really want it to be Ali. I just don’t think it will be.
PREVIEW: The build to Belair versus Asuka at WWE WrestleMania 39 must have lit the creative room on fire because they decided to carry the feud over onto another premium live event. All kidding aside, the build to this match at Mania didn’t grab me, or really anyone, by storm, and my attitude as it has worn on has not changed. Somewhat confusingly, both women were drafted to Smackdown so no matter who wins, it would appear the WWE Raw Women’s Championship will be around the waist of a blue brand star. I guess we’ll figure out what to do about that later.
PREDICTION: Bianca Belair
PREVIEW: Following his loss to Cody Rhodes at WWE Backlash, Brock Lesnar unleased an attack on The American Nightmare that really hasn’t stopped since. The Beast made it clear following his initial ambush that he wants a fight against Rhodes at Night of Champions, and a fight he shall get but possibly not with Rhodes at full capacity. This past Monday on Raw, Lesnar attacked Rhodes once again, and broke his arm, in storyline, of course. Despite Triple H’s objections to him competing this Sunday, Rhodes has decided to press on and will do his best to pick up the victory with one arm seemingly tied behind his back.
PREDICTION: Brock Lesnar
PREVIEW: Trish Stratus didn’t just return to WWE for a one-off payday at WrestleMania 39, she came back to show she can still hang with the best of them. Following her six-woman tag team victory at Mania, alongside Becky Lynch and Lita, Stratus turned on Lynch, costing her the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. In the weeks since Stratus has antagonized the red-haired star in a program that looks to just be getting going. With more business to be done between the two women down the road, I find it hard to believe Lynch will pick up the win here.
PREDICTION: Trish Stratus
PREVIEW: AJ Styles said the quiet part out loud this past week when he conceded that the newly debuted WWE World Heavyweight Championship is secondary to Roman Reigns’ WWE Universal Championship. Despite the lackluster reveal of the title, or how they stripped it from the waist of Reigns, this match will surely deliver. Many believe Rollins is the overwhelming favorite to win but expect multiple near-fall finishes that lead to you believing Styles could pick up the win.
PREDICTION: Seth “Freaking” Rollins
PREVIEW: BetOnline has Rhea Ripley as the overwhelming favorite to win this match, more so than any other champion defending their title this Saturday. With only a 1 in 100 chance of losing her belt to Natalya, this match may be the easiest to overlook on the whole card.
While it seems like a foregone conclusion that the massively popular Ripley will fall to the Hart family member, stranger things have happened. This past week, Mercedes Mone failed in her attempt to capture the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship against Willow Nightingale. Mone suffered a legitimate injury, leading to the finish of the match being changed, and if something unfortunate like that happens in Jeddah, it’s possible Natalya could pick up a surprise win.
PREDICTION: Rhea Ripley but maybe put $10 on Natalya just in case. That long-shot bet could pay off big if things go awry!
PREVIEW: Even though WWE is advertising this show as having three main events, I think most WWE fans know that whatever match Roman Reigns is in, is the main event. The feud between Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and The Bloodline has carried on for months now and has produced some of the best television the company has ever done. Notably, Zayn’s work leading into WWE Elimination Chamber, as well as the match itself, made for exceptionally compelling content.
Now, Reigns is stepping up himself, along with Solo Sikoa, to do what The Usos couldn’t at WrestleMania 39, defeat Owens and Zayn. Along with that, The Tribal Chief aims to bring WWE’s tag gold back into The Bloodline fold, possibly replacing the space around his waist laid bare when he was stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It seems highly, highly unlikely that Reigns will be the man to take the pin if his team loses but with Owens and Zayn so hot, don’t be shocked if Sikoa is left looking at the lights, and dealing with an angry Reigns on Smackdown.
PREDICTION: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn