WWE SummerSlam 2026

WWE SummerSlam 2026

Minneapolis, MN - August 2026

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the World Heavyweight Champion was Roman Reigns, the Undisputed WWE Champion (yes, that's what they're calling the title now) was CM Punk, the Intercontinental Champion was Penta, the United States Champion was Trick Williams, the Women's World Champion was Liv Morgan, the WWE Women's Champion was Rhea Ripley (though she was out due to injury), the World Tag Team Champions were Austin Theory and Bron Breakker (aka The Vision), the WWE Tag Team Champions were Damien Priest and R-Truth, the Women's Tag Team Champions were Fatal Influence, Raquel Rodriguez was the Women's Intercontinental Champion, and Tiffany Stratton was the Women's United States Champion....and people say AEW has too many titles.

After taking a lengthy break from watching much of any WWE, I found myself nursing a sore lower back with little else to watch...

"SummerSlam Saturday" kicked off with IYO SKY challenging Liv Morgan for the Women's World Championship. IYO controlled early, but landed hard on the barricade when she attempted to use it as a launchpad. IYO once again showed why she's in the conversation for being among the top 10 workers on the planet, male or fame, in any major promotion. Not everything was super smooth, but credit to Morgan for taking a powerbomb on the floor. At one point, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez showed up and Raquel chokeslammed IYO off the top rope when the ref was distracted in a great spot. IYO took them out with a moonsault from the top but Morgan caught her with a nifty headscissors as she returned into the ring, driving her head into the mat (whether or not it was by design or not, it looked gnarly). IYO met her up top, though, and brought her down with a Spanish Fly for 2. IYO got another nearfall a few minutes later off an Ob-Liv-ian (Liv's own finish) and then went back to the top for her signature moonsault. Liv rolled away and hit a Codebreaker from the second rope for a 2 count of her own. IYO delivered a German Suplex on the apron and then an awesome Meteora into the post! Holy cow. That was great. Sky went for a moonsault but Liv got her boots up and hit her with an Ob-Liv-ian and then a 2nd one when Sky bounced up from it (after an additional Codebreaker that sent her into the ropes). That was probably the best match of Morgan's career, even if there were some noticeable moments of timing/re-positioning that felt a little bit inorganic and telegraphed the next spot. Overall, though, one they should both have been proud of. (3.5/5)

After an ad for the upcoming Street Fighter movie, I sat through a lengthy commercial break where a simple screen with the Summer Slam logo played on the screen (soundtracked by some calming music) for multiple minutes...

Mark Henry, Jimmy Hart, and an unrecognizable Dan Severn were shown in the audience before The Usos and Jacob Fatu made their way to the ring for their match against Solo Sikoa, Royce Keys, and LA Knight (who got the biggest response of anyone in the match by a noticeable degree). The bell finally rung as the show hit the 38-minute mark. Solo got a "Yeet" moment early on, which got a big reaction despite its corniness. For a 12-minute match this wasn't too bad, but it wasn't anything special either. What hurt this for me most was how obvious and blatant the WWE "method" of tag matches was on display with Sikoa basically disappearing for the entire second half and various other guys not even being on the apron for extended stretches so that, if you turned it on mid-match, you'd think it was a singles match. Its something that you can't "unsee" once you see it. Compared to the Trios match I watched yesterday from Dynamite (Brodido and Mike Bailey vs. the Don Callis Family), this was not nearly as good. (2/5)

GUNTHER vs. Nick Aldis was the next match. Aldis got to enter the ring to Oasis' "What's the Story, Morning Glory?," which made for a cool moment. Cole and Barrett talked up Aldis' background, mentioning his NWA Championship run (and that Barrett had his first match ever against him). GUNTHER controlled most of the match, chopping Aldis back down after every hope spot. Aldis has never been a particularly exciting performer, but the crowd was into this, chanting "You've Still Got It" after a superplex. Aldis got a 2-count after a powerslam, hit a nice-looking pair of elbows from the top, applied the Texas Cloverleaf but GUNTHER reached the ropes, breaking the hold. He went for another powerslam but GUNTHER escaped and ended up hitting him with a powerbomb before applying the full body sleeper. Aldis got to his feet but GUNTHER brought him back down to the mat and was forced to tap. Not a bad match at all and definitely helped by a crowd that really got behind Aldis. (3/5)

The next but saw Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, and Paige take on the trio of Fatal Influence - Jacy Jayne, Lainey Reid, and Fallon Henley. Jayne hit a cannonball on Brie on the outside that looked good but I'm not sure why the decision was made to have Brie play the face-in-peril for so long considering she was coming off an injury and was generally the weaker of the two Bellas in terms of in-ring performance. The crowd was not as into this as the previous few matches, but that could be expected. I liked the finish, which saw Paige shove Nikki out of the way to prevent her from taking Jayne's spinning forearm but ended up eating one herself moments later to end the match. The Bellas "turned" on Paige after the match, which got a huge reaction from the crowd. This was too short to be offensive, even if it wasn't a great match, and the post-match segment was really well done. (2.5/5)

Cody Rhodes challenged CM Punk for the WWE Championship in the next match. I liked the Street Fighter pre-match stuff, but thought Rhodes' giant silver skull mask was silly. Punk came out wearing gear that was an homage to the old Minnesota North Stars, which I doubt most in the audience understood as the team hasn't existed for over 30 years. Lots of chop-trading throughout the contest. This was definitely more of a "human game of chess" than an all-out bomb-throwing contest or "video game" match with Punk and Cody targeting specific body parts and working them over. Highlights included Punk's not-so-pretty-but-ultra-realistic counter to Cody's Disaster Kick, a very good Super Cody Cutter late in the match, an awesome (but missed) elbow drop from the ring through the announce table by Punk, Rhodes countering a GTS attempt into a figure four, even Punk's Terry Funk-esque moonsault (which, by not connecting, made it look even more desperate). I didn't love Rhodes' spinning Alabama Slam attempt (it just looks too goofy), Punk kicking out of a Cross Rhodes (I like my finishers protected), but these were minor elements in a match that felt "old school" in the best way because of its emphasis on selling and spreading out the bigger sequences. The surprise return of Orton in the final minute led to the finish with Punk retaining after Rhodes (who'd already taken an RKO) took a second (or third?) GTS. A solid match, though maybe a hair short of "must watch" despite being one of the better Cody matches I've seen in recent years. (3.5/5)

Night One ended with Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar in a Hell in a Cell "rubber" match. I have not seen the other Femi/Lesnar matches (and very few Oba Femi matches at all) so I went into this with some excitement (even if I didn't think the outcome was ever in question). This was a solid clash of two super-heavyweights, both men showing off their strength at various points. I wasn't expecting them to go "deep" in terms of runtime and give them credit for making their 12-minute match feel like it was a bigger, more epic battle than it would seem. There wasn't any blood and there was very minimal use of the cage, making the stipulation pretty meaningless, but Lesnar did use the steps and some chairs to punish Femi. The cameraman missed Lesnar's first "tribute" to The Undertaker, when he and Femi were sitting, facing eachother, and Lesnar laughed in his face ala the classic Taker/Lesnar meme from their 2nd Hell in a Cell match. The 2nd tribute went much better as Lesnar tried to put Femi down with a Tombstone on the exposed wooden planks of the ring. Femi kicked out and, within a minute, hit Lesnar with his powerbomb finish for the second time to get the clean W. After the match, Lesnar passed the torch by raising Femi's arm. Nothing super special, but a solid match. (3/5)

Night 2 began with Sami Zayn vs. Finn Balor....vs. GUNTHER vs. Kevin Owens (?!?!) in a Number One Contender's match. Nick Aldis' surprise appearance and announcement, especially Kevin Owens making his return after a 17-month absence, got a massive response from the live crowd. Zayn's reaction was priceless as well. Owens took out Balor and GUNTHER to start things off before going face-to-face with his one-time best friend, who he hugged and then slugged. Owens hit a huge swanton cannoball to the floor, showing no hesitation or fear, but got locked in a GUNTHER sleeper when he attempted a Stunner. GUNTHER make the centerpiece of the match it this point, him and Balor delivering some quality minutes before Owens came back in, clearly the fan favorite. Sami tried to steal the win with a sneaky pin on Balor but only got 2 and a "Sami Sucks" chant broke out. Owens attempted to crush him with a swanton, but Zayn got his knees up. He tried to follow it up with a Helluva Kick but GUNTHER caught him with a sleeper and brought him to the mat. Coup De Gras by Balor on both men! 1...2....barely a kickout by Zayn! Good sequence there. GUNTHER tried a sleeper on Balor but Balor rolled out and Owens came in to take over. He stunned GUNTHER but Sami caught him with a Blue Thunder Bomb for 2! Zayn played to the crowd and went for another Helluva Kick but Owens caught him with a Superkick and a Stunner to end it. Really good match with a somewhat flat ending due to GUNTHER and Balor disappearing a little bit after breaking up so many similar pin attempts. At under 10 minutes, this match needed a few more minutes to "cook," but the emotion that came with this being Owens' return pushed it close to "must see" territory. (3.5/5)

Trick Williams (with his hype man, rapper Lil' Yachty) defended his United States Championship against the returning Baron Corbin in the next match. This was not my thing. I've not seen many Trick Williams match but had heard good things. He was okay, but nothing remarkable. The commentators hyped up Baron Corbin as having gone on something of a "journey" in his time out of the WWE, noting that he had become a top ranked Jiu-Jitsu competitor, winning tournaments in his time away from the company. Unfortunately, watching him, I didn't see any of that technique integrated into his in-ring character. This felt like the same old Corbin minus any of the big, dumb comedic elements he used to sprinkle in to make him at least somewhat unique. I disliked Williams setting up a table in the early going too, a blatant MacGuffin set-up that killed every nearfall that subsequently happened as the audience knew the match wouldn't end till someone went through the plywood. Speaking of the audience, their reaction to Corbin's post-match pose with the title was comically quiet. Also, the table bump looked weak. They tried hard and they didn't embarrass themselves, but there was almost nothing good to say about this match. (1.5/5)

The 5-Woman Ladder Match for the Interim Women's Championship was next, with Charlotte Flair, Chelsea Green, Lash Legend, Jade Cargill, and Tiffany Stratton all competing. This was fun - most ladder matches are - but very sloppy at times with all sorts of awkward bumps and moments of obvious re-positioning and cooperation to get to the next spot. In a sense, its a good thing that the wrestlers are more careful in these high-risk environments and nobody is taking the kind of super-dangerous bumps we might see in a similar match produced by AEW or in the indie scene, but I'd be lying to say if it didn't take me out of things a bit to see "the strings." Lash Legend had some impressive strength spots, Tiffany Stratton took an insane bump off a ladder to the outside (where she was thankfully caught), and Chelsea Green was mega over with the crowd. The worst spot of the match saw Charlotte hanging from the title, dangling in mid-air, and barely caught byCargill and Legend when they yanked her down (it looked like she might've shattered both of her ankles on the fall but was thankfully fine). Just not the right spot for Charlotte when you have Stratton, a college-level gymnast, in the same match (personally I would've advised against the spot entirely unless you had someone like Liv Morgan, a one-time competitive cheerleader, doing that sort of fall). I did like the arrival of B-Fab and Michin to play spoiler as I did not expect their interference (to be fair, I don't watch enough SmackDown to be familiar with how often they run in during Jade's matches). Overall, solid but more memorable for its winner than for the match itself. (2.5/5)

A "Human Monies on a Pole" match followed with Dominik Mysterio taking on Danhausen. Danhausen is not known for his in-ring work, but he wasn't the worst wrestler I've ever seen. Some of his bumps looked awkward and he looked absolutely gassed after the third minute, but he got to catch his breath once JD McDonaugh and the "Minihausens" got involved. Speaking of the "Minihausens," Cole noted that one of them was El Torito, the former mascot for the mostly-forgotten Los Matadores team. Smart move by WWE to include him in this match as his brief spotlight minutes were fun. Joe Hendry eventually made his way to the ring, knocking out JD with a guitar and then cheering on Danhausen at ringside. Mysterio made his way towards the cash but Danhausen met him on the top rope. Mysterio had his hands on the bag but Danhausen pointed to him and a weak "explosion" from the post caused Mysterio to drop to the mat in a very goofy finish. This match has a putrid score of just 1.54 on Cagematch (unlike mine, their scale is out of 10). I don't think it was that bad; it only went 7 minutes, Masacrita Dorada did some cool stuff, and there was enough run-ins and ga-ga to save both Danhausen and Mysterio from having to work an actual match. Was it good? But it didn't overstay its welcome and it wasn't boring. (1/5)

Chad Gable challenged Penta for the Intercontinental Championship in the next match. This was probably the best-wrestled match on either night as they cut a really good pace and they had good chemistry. Gable was the hometown hero and it was nice to see him land the big W, but I do not like the corny, big wave claps that he does. Seems like a less organic, much less cool attempt to get something over like the Yes Chants or Jey Uso's "yeeting." This was an impressive match and hopefully not a sign that the WWE is going to halt Penta's push because he was still very over with this crowd despite being in a defunct "heel" role. (3.5/5)

Main event time for Night 2 - Roman Reigns defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Seth Rollins. The time between the first sounds of Reigns' entrance theme and the first physical contact between Seth Rollins was a solid 9 minutes, which was the general pace of the early going. This wasn't much of a surprise if you've seen any Roman Reigns matches in the past 5 years. Rollins did some jabbering in opening minutes, gloating a bit about his win/loss record over Roman (which was parroted on commentary). To his credit, Cole said Rollins had beaten Reigns in every "major" match, which is true (if you include Raw matches, Reigns is actually 3-and-5 against Seth). Still, the idea that Reigns was somehow coming into this match as the one who had to finally overcome an opponent that he'd never properly defeated after 10+ years was a bit ridiculous considering how dominant Reigns has been for the past 5 years. Anyway...Rollins controlled early, hitting a series of dives that sent Roman into the barricade and then the Spanish Announce Table. Reigns cut him off from a fourth (?) attempt with an uppercut and then a Driveby dropkick. Roman brought Rollins into the crowd for some brawling (but mostly just walking and selling). Reigns delivered a suplex onto the floor that looked great. Rollins recovered quickly and delivered a leaping knee back at ringside. Rollins went for a Spear on the outside, got caught in a front-choke, and then powerbombed through the Spanish Announce Table! Very good spot there. Once again, Rollins recovered relatively quickly and returned fire with a powerbomb of his own, sending Reigns through the English Announce Table. I get the parity they were going for, but kinda wish they had spread those spots out so it wasn't so obvious (and didn't rely on Rollins bouncing back from being put through a table in less than a minute). Back in the ring, Rollins went for a Pedigree but only got 2.9. Rollins went for a Stomp but ran into a Superman Punch for another very good nearfall (not necessarily in terms of believable finishes as much as great timing on Rollins' kickout). Roman went for a Spear, but Rollins countered it into a Curb Stomp for yet another nearfall. Again, I like the parity going on with each guy dodging/kicking out of one of the other's signature strikes, but would've liked some space between them to make it a bit less of an obvious tit-for-tat/"your turn my turn" deal. Rollins hit a Superplex but couldn't get the Falcon Arrow as Roman locked in a standing Guillotine Choke. I dug it mostly because I hate the Superplex-into-a-Falcon Arrow spot. Rollins did a good job selling the choke but would not tap, powering up to his feet and bringing him all the way up (and over) in a suplex-like position. Roman hit a spear but only got 2.5! Great false finish there. Roman talked shit as he hit Rollins with a series of punches on the mat. He went for another Spear, but Rollins countered with one of his own for 2. Rollins did more jabbering as he set up for Roman for a Buckle Bomb. He went for a Stomp but Reigns evaded it and hit a Buckle Bomb of his own and then a Stomp of his own. More jawing followed, leading to a strike exchange. Rollins accidentally took out the referee but then hit a Rebound Lariat! Roman countered with a Dirty Deeds DDT! Holy Dean Ambrose! Roman went for a Spear but took out the referee! Stomp by Rollins! I figured we'd get a visual pin there but Rollins ended up in the corner and saw that it would be futile. Rollins eyed the timekeeper's area, stepping over the referee on the outside to get there. He grabbed a steel chair, a symbolic reference to WrestleMania 31. He looked like he might clobber Reigns with it but his hesitation cost him as Roman nailed him with an uppercut and the chair left his hands. Roman now had a chance to use the weapon, lifting it up and contemplating hitting Rollins in the back with it, but decided to toss it aside. They went face-to-face in the center of the ring again and traded blows, both showing considerable fatigue. Rollins slapped Roman's face, begging him to fight his hardest, and then delivered some Kawada kicks. Roman struck back and hit a Superman Punch but Rollins stayed on his feet. Roman went for a Spear but Rollins countered it into a Pedigree! A Curb Stomp followed soon after! Rollins went for a Super Stomp from the top but Roman evaded it and hit a Spear! Then another! Still no referee! Roman regrouped in the corner and hit a third spear! This time the referee was there to make the count. This was very good, though not "one of the greatest main events in SummerSlam history" like Cole said. (4/5)

All in all, SummerSlam 2026 was not the type of show that will get me back into the swing of watching every WWE PLE like I did for so many years. While I've criticized AEW for its marathon PPV experiences (despite enjoying most of the matches), the actual amount of wrestling compared to advertisements and, because I was watching on delay (?), "bumper" screens where there was absolutely no content at all aside from a SummerSlam logo and a message saying the show would resume shortly, was embarrassingly low. Across two nights, there really should be more than a whopping 3 hours of in-ring action with only the two World Championship matches going over 15 minutes. That being said, when we did finally get some actual wrestling, it was largely good and even great. The IYO SKY/Liv Morgan match overdelivered. Kevin Owens' surprise appearance provided a huge spark to Night 2's opener. Penta/Gable was strong. I liked both World Championship matches and the Hell In A Cell match was physical enough to work even if it wouldn't rank as an all-time great cage match. With a Kwang Score of 2.79-out-of-5, though, this didn't offer enough consistent quality to make it a should-watch, especially if you've tired of the Roman Reigns' formula.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver