Alright, this review is a few days late because I've been traveling all week. Sue me.
SummerSlam 2026 was yet another skimpy WWE broadcast resembling a couple of McDonald's Happy Meals. If you like mostly short, forgettable undercards and overlong main events where not that much really happens, this is the pair of shows for you.
The first night was a passable affair, with a couple of decent early bouts that could've been much better with more time and less WWE "production," followed by two main event-type matches, one of which was fine but too long, the other of which took place inside a cage that wasn't ever used.
The second night was easily the worst PPV show I've seen in 2026, with a mostly bad undercard, a pair of matches that didn't get enough time to reach their potential, and a main event that could've been pretty great had ten minutes of nonsense been cut from it (and with a story that didn't feel like AI slop).
Night 1 started with the best or second-best match of either show, Liv Morgan vs. IYO Sky for the Women's World Title. Once again IYO proved herself the best wrestler on the entire roster, and it pisses me off that the company doesn't see her as being on the same level as Rhea and Liv. These two got thirteen-plus minutes and it was one of the few undercard matches that didn't quite feel like it got shortchanged. Still, it should've gone a few minutes longer. IYO fired up after an Oblivion, but Liv hit a Codebreaker and a second Oblivion to retain the title. Weird finish to have a fire-up followed by an immediate loss. But this was the best match of the first night. ***3/4
Next up was the Bloodline trios match, with Jacob Fatu and the Usos (who are supposed to be the heels I guess but you wouldn't really know it from the crowd reaction to them) facing LA Knight, Solo Sikoa and Powerhouse Hobbs. This was full of decent action with a few miscues. They put Knight over big here, giving him the pin over Jey Uso with BFT. I guess he's challenging Roman next, which should make for a pretty awful title match. ***
Gunther then faced Nick Aldis, who looked in tremendous shape and got a good crowd reaction. This was a good mix of Gunther's ground and pound vs. Nick's power offense. Aldis got some hope spots with a cloverleaf near-submission, but Gunther made the ropes, hit his powerbomb and eventually got the tapout with a choke. And then shortly after this match they announced that Aldis had been reinstated as the Smackdown GM, which made this entire program pointless. ***1/4
The worst match of the night pitted the Bellas and Paige against Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid, in a sloppy, heatless seven-minute affair. Brie Bella apparently injured her shoulder early in the match, which didn't help things. In the end Jayne pinned Paige, and then the Bellas turned heel on her, to a big crowd pop of course, because in WWE "moments" are what the crowd gets invested in, not the actual story being told. *1/2
What really should've been the last match was next, as CM Punk defended the WWE Title against Cody Rhodes, after two-plus years of teases. This got 29 minutes but would've been a better match at 24. They did the WWE version of the classic old-school match and it mostly worked, aside from Punk doing the worst-looking moonsault ever and missing Cody completely. Hey Phil, you're not coordinated enough to do spots like that, so don't try. Punk also did the Macho Man elbow to the announce table but Cody moved and Punk landed sorta feet-first on the table. It fed into the story of Punk's knee being injured but I suspect that wasn't on purpose. There was a ref bump at the end which allowed a returning Randy Orton to hit the ring and take Cody out with an RKO. Punk then hit a GTS for the win. A very predictable but mostly competently worked WWE main event. ***3/4
In the actual main event slot was the Hell in a Cell match between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi, and they got just under twelve minutes of some finisher spamming, chairs tables, and Brock ripping up the ring mat. What they didn't do was use the fucking Cell, at all. Why was this even in a cage? They did put Oba over big here, having him kick out after three consecutive F5s and also a Tombstone on the exposed wood. Oba then hit a powerbomb, not on the wood for some reason, for the win. Post-match Brock announced Femi as the future, but none of this felt as effective as the first time they did this, at WrestleMania. WWE is so risk-averse they can't even properly execute a layup like pushing Oba Femi. This was fine but nowhere near what a Hell in a Cell should be. ***1/4
So Night 1 was a show. It was fine. Easy to get through, only one bad match. Nothing approaching the Match of the Year conversation, or even the WWE Match of the Year conversation. But at least it wasn't Night 2....
Best Match: Liv vs. IYO
Worst Match: Women's trios
What I'd Change: Give Liv-IYO five more minutes and Punk-Cody five fewer minutes. Have the Brock-Oba match actually be a proper HIAC with some blood and some use of the goddamn cage.
Most Disappointing Match: Given how good Punk vs. Roman was I expected Punk-Cody to be much stronger.
Most Pleasant Surprise: I guess that the opener got almost adequate time?
Overall Rating: 7/10
Alright, now for Night 2. Jesus this show stunk. The best thing on Night 2 was the main event, and while most of that was very good, it lost major points for featuring so much excruciating WWE "cinema" and thus dragging like crazy.
The show opened with what was supposed to be Sami Zayn vs. Finn Balor for the top contender spot. But newly reinstated Smackdown GM came out and changed it to a three-way featuring...*checks notes*...his sworn enemy Gunther. Why would he do this? Because reasons. And then he changed it again to a four-way featuring the returning Kevin Owens, which got a massive reaction, probably the biggest on either night. And this workrate bonanza in front of the Minnesota crowd at their hottest was allotted...*checks notes*...eight-and-a-half minutes. Simply stunning. They did a bunch of rushed stuff, everyone started hitting finishers, and Owens pinned Sami after a Stunner. Well, Punk vs. Owens for the title should be good anyway. This could've been great if it had gotten actual time. ***
Next up was the first of three dismal matches on this show, one of the worst three-bout stretches WWE has provided in years and years. Trick Williams vs. Baron Corbin for the US Title wasn't even a good free TV match. Why the actual fuck is Corbin back in this company? Lil Yachty got on the apron toward the end, Trick punched Corbin who then knocked Yachty off the apron through a table (sort of), and Corbin used the distraction to hit Trick with the belt and take him out with End of Days. Yes, the charismatic young Trick Williams lost the US title to the never-over 41-year-old Baron fucking Corbin. The same Baron Corbin who as a main event challenger in 2019 only drew one-third of the Tacoma Dome for a PPV. Yeah let's get him back in the company and immediately put a title on him. *
Next was one of the weakest ladder matches I've seen, as five women vied to become the Interim WWE Women's Champion. Lash Legend got most of the offense in this, but Minnesota native Chelsea Green was the crowd favorite. Unfortunately the action was sloppy and not very memorable. They did a couple spots where someone shoved the ladder and the person climbing fell off. Finally Green climbed and got the belt and the crowd popped. But this was pretty weak-ass stuff and I can't imagine Rhea Ripley vs. Chelsea Green for the title is a match anyone was clamoring for. *3/4
Capping off this triumvirate of suck was the Dominik Mysterio-Danhausen Money on a Pole match. This was basically a Doink the Clown match, with a bunch of little people dressed like Danhausen interfering and mostly fighting with JD McDonagh. Danhausen himself did very little here, and the match ended with Dom going for the bag of money but Danhausen cursing him, causing a pyro to go off near the bag. Dom fell to the mat and Danhausen retrieved the money to win. If he has the ability to cause an explosion that incapacitates his opponent, why the actual fuck didn't he do that at the start? Supernatural powers in wrestling are dumb as shit. Danhausen then gave out the money to the crowd, and it wasn't even real fucking money despite the story being that he was getting back $100k. WWE is a parody of pro wrestling. DUD
What probably should've been the best match suffered from only going eleven minutes and being a WWE-produced bout. Gable did his best Kurt Angle impression here and it was his submission wrestling vs. Penta's Lucha style. There was a very bad-looking Destroyer on the apron where Gable's head came nowhere close to the mat. Gable snared the anklelock and did the Angle leg grapevine, and Penta tapped immediately. Gable celebrated in the ring with his family, in tears, and then WWE sent a fucking root beer mascot into the ring to join the party, because every inch of WWE programming is for sale to the highest bidder. WWE could fuck up typing "BOOBS" on a calculator. ***1/2
Finally we came to the Roman Reigns-Seth Rollins main event, a pretty excellent 20-minute match that took 33 and felt like 60. The idea that this story was built entirely around Shield memba berries in 2026 is straight-up fucking laughable. As is the idea that, as Michael Cole put it, "These are two of the most important figures in WWE history." Jesus H. Christ, this company loves to suck its own dick - "Everything about the current product is the best shit we've ever done." We got a lot of good action here, but it was punctuated with rancid moments of WWE "dialogue," where the two guys would trash-talk each other with the sound sweetened so you could hear what they were saying. This shit is embarrassing and I feel like even Vince "we make movies" McMahon wouldn't do this during a main event. Maybe he did at some point, I don't remember, but it wasn't on this level of stupid. There were loads of Shield callbacks, like each guy powerbombing each other through announce desks, stealing each other's big moves, and even paying homage to Jon Moxley with Seth doing the rebound lariat and Roman doing a Paradigm Shift DDT (For the record, Moxley is the best former member of The Shield by a wide margin). Finally there was a ref bump, which was kinda pointless since neither guy ended up cheating (They each teased using a chair but both thought better of it). Seth went for a top rope Curb Stomp but missed, and Roman hit three spears to win. Could've been a great match had it been produced by any other company. Instead it was just a very good match with some awful parts. ***3/4
Can we be done with Shield nostalgia now? The group wasn't even together two years and WWE's been jerking it off as one of the most important things of all time, for TWELVE YEARS since they broke up. Yeah, this show mostly sucked and even the good parts didn't reach four-star territory.
Best Match: Roman vs. Seth
Worst Match: Dom vs. Danhausen
What I'd Change: Cut the main event down to 25 minutes and get rid of the "cinema," give Chad vs. Penta another five minutes or more, have Trick Williams feud with ANYONE else, stop trying to do ladder matches with people who have no experience in ladder matches, and put the Dom-Danhausen match in the box and throw it in the ocean.
Most Disappointing Match: Penta vs. Chad
Most Pleasant Surprise: I guess that Kevin Owens is back
Overall Rating: 4/10
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