As WWE Night of Champions draws near in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, there will undoubtedly be lasting impacts on SmackDown up ahead.
The upcoming changes include potential new allies to program changes that have already been confirmed by the company.
Here are six changes to WWE SmackDown after Night of Champions 2025.
6. Jimmy Uso Gets A New Ally
On the SmackDown before Night of Champions 2025, Jimmy Uso faced off against JC Mateo in a singles match.
After the match, when Solo tried to embrace Jimmy but got a slap across the face instead, Mateo and Sikoa would wage a beatdown on Uso until Jacob Fatu ran out to the make the save.
Later in the parking lot when Jimmy insisted that he didn’t need Jacob’s help, Fatu reminded Uso that he didn’t need his help the week before either. When the exchange got tense, Uso noted that he was giving due respect to Jacob for having stood up to Solo.
Possibly teasing a future alliance between the two, it could be that Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu end up creating the next big Bloodline duo.
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5. Naomi Takes Over
After Tiffany Stratton was able to retain her WWE Women’s Championship on the SmackDown before Night of Champions in a Last Woman Standing match against Nia Jax, there is presumably set to be an interesting showdown on the way for SummerSlam.
After the Queen of the Ring tournament final is determined, it could be Asuka facing IYO SKY for the Women’s World Championship at the first-ever two night SummerSlam – or Jade Cargill facing off against Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women’s Title.
Even if Cargill doesn’t win the Queen of the Ring, it still seems entirely likely that Ms Money in the Bank Naomi is going to continue her mission to dominate the women’s division.
Still carrying her Money in the Bank briefcase, Naomi shows no signs of slowing down her pursuit of Tiffany Stratton either – making it seem as though heading into SummerSlam, everybody should “proceed with caution”, as Naomi would say.
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4. No More CM Punk
Since John Cena is the Undisputed WWE Champion and this is his last year, his feuds have followed him between Raw and SmackDown.
While Cena has been feuding of late with CM Punk, there have been multiple appearances by the Best in the World on SmackDown – which is seemingly set to halt after Night of Champions.
Since both King of the Ring finalists Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes are currently drafted to SmackDown, one might expect that the rumble over Cena will continue on the blue brand.
Unless of course Punk picks up the victory – in which case he could be taking up residence on Fridays for the foreseeable future.
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3. New United States Championship Feuds
While it still remains to be seen if there will be any shift in the men’s United States Championship with the match at WWE Night of Champions 2025 between Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa – there was already a title change on SmackDown.
Zelina Vega lost her United States Championship to Giulia in a match in Riyadh, marking a potential further shift in tone for the women’s mid-card title on SmackDown.
While previously held by inaugural winner Chelsea Green for an entertaining run, Vega was champion for the last 63 days.
With the 2025 WWE Draft on the horizon, it seems that perhaps Giulia could be poised to go to war with a brand new crop of foes on the blue brand.
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2. Returns to 2 Hours
As confirmed on the June 27 edition of SmackDown, next week’s show will mark an important occasion.
WWE SmackDown will be returning to a two-hour broadcast next week for the July 4 edition of the show.
Michael Cole would also share that the upcoming June 30 edition of WWE Raw on Netflix would have a special start time of 6pm EST/3pm PST, since that taping in Pittsburgh set to also film the next episode of SmackDown.
SmackDown began running at three-hours back in January 2025, with the length receiving some mixed reviews from fans.
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1. The Dark Cody Rhodes Era Begins
In order to be able to get back into the hunt for the Undisputed WWE Championship and a shot at revenge against John Cena, Cody Rhodes may need to pull out all the stops.
One of those might be to have a precarious finish to the King of the Ring tournament final against Randy Orton – even if the scenario holds plausible deniability for Cody at first.
Since Orton already came incredibly close to capturing the King of the Ring in 2024 – a career achievement he has yet to accomplish – via a suspicious finish with GUNTHER, we could see lightening strike twice.
Unlike John Cena’s heel turn, Cody’s shift towards the dark side could be subtle but begin to unfurl after WWE Night of Champions 2025.
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