WWE SmackDown Live Updates, Results and Highlights Before SummerSlam 2026

Finn Balor hit the ring to kick off the night's show and wasted little time recalling the 2016 SummerSlam, where he went from the high of becoming the first Universal Champion to the lows of having to vacate the title due to injury.

Before he could go much further, Sami Zayn interrupted the proceedings, just 48 hours before he battles the leader of the Balor Club in a No. 1 Contender's Match in Minneapolis.

Zayn took exception to the Undisputed WWE Championship Match at SummerSlam featuring CM Punk and Cody Rhodes, and not him.

He looks forward to Rhodes winning, though, because, as he put it, "I already beat Cody Rhodes and I know I can do it again!"

He called Punk the "biggest piece of trash, bar none." He mocked Punk's pipebomb promo from 2011 because now he has "graduated to corporate poster boy No. 2!"

Balor cut The Last Real Good Guy off and told him to have some balls and come to the ring to talk to him, face-to-face.

"Everyone knows how great you are. You probably should have been WWE champion four or five times now. Well, maybe two or three times," Zayn said, almost disingenuously. "This moment belongs to me."

He continued, "It's bigger than the WWE Championship. It's bigger than you; it's bigger than me. It's about JUSTICE!"

Balor asked about justice for him and the 10-year journey it took him to get back here.

"If it took you 10 years and you haven't gotten close, maybe you should just take the hint," Zayn said.

Balor traded barbs with Zayn, who pretended to be flabbergasted by the gall of his SummerSlam opponent. "If you were any other guy, I would drop you right now. But I won't...because I am a GOOD GUY."

Earlier today, Cody Rhodes arrived at the arena ahead of his final face-to-face with Undisputed WWE Champion CM Punk later tonight.

Elsewhere, Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green were shown backstage, continuing to bond as they prepare to battle B-Fab and Michin later tonight.

Lash Legend arrived alongside Nia Jax as she prepares to battle Giulia for the final spot in the Interim WWE Women's Championship Ladder Match.