WWE, after running hot for several years, appears to be cooling off. Raw viewership is down, and SmackDown’s numbers are down as well. WWE’s ticket prices, especially at the start of 2026 have drawn sustained fan pushback throughout the year.

Current champions and the established headliners

WWE is leaning heavily on the two names most tied to the boom that started a few years back: Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes. Rhodes holds the WWE Championship on SmackDown as “The American Nightmare,” while Reigns carries Raw’s World Heavyweight Championship. The company is going back to that well in hopes that what worked over the past few years will keep working now and into the future.

That earlier surge peaked around 2023, when WWE was in its biggest boom period in nearly three decades. The turnaround was driven in large part by the returns of CM Punk and Cody Rhodes, plus the rise of Roman Reigns and The Bloodline.

Night of Champions card and SummerSlam stakes

Rhodes’ triple threat WWE Championship defense against Gunther and Sami Zayn headlines one side of the Night of Champions picture. On the other, Reigns’ cousin Jey Uso faces Oba Femi with King of the Ring on the line and a SummerSlam world title opportunity waiting for the victor.

The most probable Night of Champions outcome appears to be Rhodes retaining the WWE Championship while Uso defeats Femi to win King of the Ring, possibly with interference from Brock Lesnar. That path would likely set up Jey Uso vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE title at SummerSlam, along with Lesnar vs. Femi III in what could be framed as Lesnar’s retirement match.

That booking route is widely viewed as the safest WWE can take. An alternative path would push Oba Femi as King of the Ring winner and eventual world champion rather than sticking with predictable storylines centered on Rhodes and Reigns.

Oba Femi’s main roster rise

In 2026, Raw and SmackDown have seen an influx of talent that is not as established as the top veterans but has stood out on its own. That group includes rising names on both brands:

• Trick Williams
• Je’Von Evans

None of those names has made a bigger immediate splash than Femi, billed as “The Ruler.” Within weeks of his main roster debut, he generated the kind of crowd reaction WWE stars chase for years. His pops remain among the loudest in the company, the sort of seismic audience response that reads like main event star power already.

Femi is positioned at that level even after a loss to Brock Lesnar in their second match at Clash in Italy last month. A Lesnar vs. Femi rubber match looks like a virtual lock for SummerSlam on the safe booking track, though Night of Champions presents a platform to go all in on Femi instead.

The creative fork ahead of Night of Champions

Rhodes as WWE Champion and Reigns in the middle of the latest Bloodline drama both read as familiar territory to many fans tracking the product. Crown Femi as King of the Ring and push him toward a world title reign, and WWE would be betting on fresh momentum rather than repeating the same headline names that carried the post-2022 creative reset.

When WWE turned things around creatively in late 2022 and into 2023, Punk and Rhodes were the headline additions. In 2026, Femi’s rapid impact and sustained crowd heat put him at the center of that same type of conversation ahead of Night of Champions, with Jey Uso standing between him and a SummerSlam shot at either Rhodes or Reigns.