Rhea Ripley will defend the SmackDown Women's Championship against Natalya at WWE Night of Champions, it has been confirmed.

This weekend's event will be the ninth show in WWE's decade-long deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the first event following the recent 2023 WWE Draft. The Jeddah Superdome Arena in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will play host to this Saturday's event, which was previously going to be WWE King & Queen of the Ring

During this week's Raw, Rhea Ripley interrupted a returning Apollo Crews to call out Natalya, declaring that she going to "make an example" of the Canadian at Night of Champions. The two crossed paths during the May 8, episode of Monday Night Raw, when Natalya interrupted Ripley's beatdown on Dana Brooke. As part of this week's promo, Ripley also promised to end the career of Natalya at the upcoming Saudi show. The match was later confirmed on Twitter by the official WWE account.



The Queen of Harts hasn't tasted singles victory since the February 3, episode of SmackDown, when she won a fatal four-way match against Shayna Baszler, Shotzi, and Zelina Vega.

Ripley plans to make an example out of Natalya, but this angle could stem over into a feud for Dominik Mysterio. During a backstage segment, Apollo Crews returned the favor from earlier in the show by interrupting Ripley's promo. When Dominik made it clear that Crews should not interrupt 'Mami' Crews fired back, asking what exactly was Mysterio going to do about it.