diff --git a/redhat/release/update-to-head.sh b/redhat/release/update-to-head.sh
index 7ab506edd21..8529ed32ca3 100755
--- a/redhat/release/update-to-head.sh
+++ b/redhat/release/update-to-head.sh
@@ -53,11 +53,16 @@ robot_trigger_msg=":robot: triggering CI on branch '${redhat_ref}' after synchin
 # Reset release-next to upstream main or <git-ref>.
 git fetch upstream $upstream_ref
 if [[ "$upstream_ref" == "main" ]]; then
-  git checkout upstream/main -B ${redhat_ref}
+  git checkout upstream/main -B ${redhat_ref}-ci
 else
-  git checkout $upstream_ref -B ${redhat_ref}
+  git checkout $upstream_ref -B ${redhat_ref}-ci
 fi
 
+# RHTAP writes its pipeline files to the root of ${redhat_ref}
+# Fetch those from origin and merge them into the the ci branch
+git fetch origin $redhat_ref
+git merge origin/$redhat_ref --no-edit
+
 # Update redhat's main and take all needed files from there.
 git fetch origin $midstream_ref
 git checkout origin/$midstream_ref $custom_files
@@ -67,15 +72,9 @@ if [[ -d redhat/patches ]]; then
   git apply redhat/patches/*
 fi
 
-# RHTAP writes its pipeline files to the root of ${redhat_ref}
-# Fetch those from origin and apply them to the the release branch
-# since we just wiped out our local copy with the upstream ref.
-git fetch origin $redhat_ref
-git checkout origin/$redhat_ref .tekton
-
 # Move overlays to root
 if [[ -d redhat/overlays ]]; then
-  git mv redhat/overlays/* .
+  mv redhat/overlays/* .
 fi
 
 git add . # Adds applied patches
@@ -83,8 +82,6 @@ git add $custom_files # Adds custom files
 git commit -m "${redhat_files_msg}"
 
 # Trigger CI
-# TODO: Set up openshift or github CI to run on release-next-ci
-git checkout "${redhat_ref}" -B "${redhat_ref}"-ci
 date > ci
 git add ci
 git commit -m "${robot_trigger_msg}"