WWE Night of Champions 2025 - Best and Worst - New Bloodline member debuts; huge double turn at SummerSlam?

The 2025 Night of Champions premium live event was a mixed bag. There were some great things on the show, but it wasn't perfect.

The biggest matches delivered, while others were solid enough to be passable. Among them were Jade Cargill's win over Asuka in the Queen of the Ring Final, despite a botch at the end, and Sami Zayn defeating Karrion Kross.

So, without further ado, here are the biggest positives and negatives from Night of Champions 2025.

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#3. Best: Battle of the Mamis

Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez - Night of Champions 2025 (Image via WWE.com)

Rhea Ripley defeated Raquel Rodriguez in a hard-hitting Street Fight at Night of Champions, with both women working quite hard. Mami took a lot of damage, especially with Roxanne Perez coming in to help the Judgment Day member. However, she ended up on top with a Riptide off a table on the top rope.

Formerly known as Big Mami Cool, Rodriguez showed why she should be feared as one of WWE RAW's top women. She and Ripley always have great chemistry in the ring, particularly in stipulation matches. Hopefully, though, this means that The Eradicator will challenge IYO SKY for the Women's World Championship at Evolution.

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#2. Best/Worst: Cody Rhodes teases a heel turn at Night of Champions

Cody Rhodes won the 2025 King of the Ring tournament and honored Randy Orton after their match. However, how he emerged victorious at Night of Champions was questionable. The American Nightmare sent Orton into an exposed turnbuckle before hitting Cross Rhodes for the win.

Admittedly, The Viper was the one who tried to cheat first, but this might be a sign that Rhodes is turning heel soon. That is far from ideal. He is still incredibly over as a babyface and is set to challenge John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam.

Even if it makes storytelling sense, Cody Rhodes must not turn heel. WWE would be stripping itself of its biggest babyface, as a result. Randy Orton turning on his real-life friend after what happened at Night of Champions would be a more intriguing scenario anyway.

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#1. Worst: It's still going?!

Jacob Fatu lost the United States Title to Solo Sikoa at Night of Champions, following the debut of Hikuleo. The big man chokeslammed The Samoan Werewolf onto the announce table, allowing Solo to pick up the easy win. This, along with Tonga Loa's return, means that The Bloodline is back in full force.

There's just one unfortunate problem. Nobody cares.

The Bloodline story effectively ended when Roman Reigns regained the Ula Fala from Sikoa on the first RAW of 2025. Despite that, WWE is still trying to make this stable relevant. The addition of new faces to The Bloodline isn't helping anybody, especially since we know Solo Sikoa is not The Tribal Chief.

It looks like their primary role on SmackDown after Night of Champions will be to sell for Jacob Fatu. No disrespect to JC Mateo, Tonga Loa, and Hikuleo - now known as Tala Tonga - but it's like beating a dead horse at this point.

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#1. Best: A chaotic end to Night of Champions

So much happened at the end of Night of the Champions that it's hard to digest. Seth Rollins nearly cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, and John Cena hinted at a babyface turn, while Penta and Sami Zayn made special appearances.

CM Punk looked to have Cena's number after stopping a low blow attempt, only for Rollins to stomp him. This allowed The Last Real Champion to retain his title, in what may have been his best WWE match of his Retirement Tour so far.

He and Punk had a typically great back-and-forth match before the chaos, before they worked together to take out Bronson Reed. The two of them always create magic in the ring, so here's to hoping they will get to dance again, even though Triple H said Night of Champions was their last ever match.

The fact that John Cena teased a babyface turn on the same night Cody Rhodes hinted at turning heel. They will face off for the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam, so could we see a good ol' double turn? While not ideal, it's certainly possible!

These WWE moments were totally off-script - Check now!

Edited by Divesh Merani