King & Queen of the Ring, Forbidden Door, Great American Bash & More | No-Contest Wrestling

It was a stacked weekend for professional wrestling, and the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast, hosted by O'Shea Jackson Jr. and TJ Jefferson, sorted through all of it. The headline, the one that put a smile on both faces, was a new undisputed WWE champion of the world: Sami Zayn.

For Jackson and TJ, the win landed as a genuine feel-good moment rather than a shock. The story with Cody Rhodes and Gunther had been building for months, and when the three-count hit, there was no arguing the résumé behind it. "How could you not be happy for a man who's dedicated his entire life to the thing that we love so much at the highest level?" Jackson asked. TJ ran through the journey, from the generic El Generico days and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla to NXT to main-eventing WrestleMania, calling Zayn a man who has taken lemons and made lemonade at every stop.

Both hosts pushed back hard on the online chorus already branding Zayn a transitional champion. TJ singled out Vince Russo comparing the reign to David Arquette's, and rejected it outright. Their plea was simple: let Zayn ride. "Just give us some wrestling matches," TJ said, floating open challenges and a 15-to-20-minute banger with Chad Gable as exactly what the run should be. Even if Cody Rhodes is the obvious next contender, taking the belt off too soon, they argued, would only hand ammunition to the critics.

The King of the Ring result made perfect sense to them. Oba Femi won the crown, joining a lineage that includes Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H. What confused some fans was Femi deferring his title opportunity, but the hosts read it clearly: Femi is not giving up the shot, he is banking it for SummerSlam so he can first settle a score with Brock Lesnar. That collision is headed for a Hell in a Cell, and both hosts could not hide their excitement about adding Lesnar and Femi to that violent history.

On the women's side, Iyo Sky defeated Liv Morgan to become Queen of the Ring and wasted no time issuing her challenge. And the segment that lit TJ up most was Seth Rollins cutting what he called a top-10 Rollins promo, telling Roman Reigns, "We are closer to the end than we are to the beginning." The Shield brotherhood, the pair agreed, makes a SummerSlam meeting feel like something you have to witness in person.

The weekend was not only WWE. Over at AEW's Forbidden Door, Kenny Omega and Zack Sabre Jr. turned in a tremendous match, and the hosts made a point of defending Sabre as one of the best in the world even in defeat. The show they could not stop raving about was Will Ospreay versus Swerve Strickland. "Truly one of the best wrestling matches you were going to see," TJ said, comparing the pair's chemistry to Rollins and Reigns.

They also touched NXT's Great American Bash, praising the promotion for reclaiming a name that once stood, in the old NWA and WCW days, as the summer's biggest event. For two lifelong fans, it was a weekend that reminded them why they never miss a week.