WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night 1 Winners, Live Grades and Reaction

After weeks of buildup—and in the case of at least one feud, years of waiting—we have finally arrived at the annual SummerSlam weekend.

The two-night premium live event kicked off on Saturday at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis with six matches. Here's a look at the card from Night 1:

• Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar (Hell in a Cell)
• LA Knight, Solo Sikoa and Royce Keys vs. The Usos and Jacob Fatu
• Gunther vs. Nick Aldis
• The Bella Twins and Paige vs. Fatal Influence
• Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky (Women's World Championship)
• CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes (Undisputed WWE Championship)

Let's take a look at what went down at Saturday's half of SummerSlam.

Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky (Women's World Championship)

Rich Wade/WWE via Getty Images

Last time in action: Sky defeated Roxanne Perez (Raw, July 13), Morgan lost to Sky (Night of Champions)

The first match of Night One saw Liv Morgan finally defend her world title after holding it for 100 days, and her challenger was none other than Queen of the Ring Iyo Sky.

These two have faced each other in several singles, tag and six-woman tag matches over the last couple of years, so they have built up a lot of chemistry in that time. You could see how familiar they were with each other's style.

The champion took control right out of the gate, but The Genius of the Sky didn't let her keep it for too long. The match quickly turned into a competitive back-and-forth fight with both women leaning into their strengths.

Sky used her speed and agility, while Morgan tried to take some shortcuts to keep her title. Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez showed up to give Liv an unfair advantage.

There were times when it felt like it took a little too long to set up certain moves, but it wasn't enough to ruin the match. It just slowed them down a bit too much in places.

The final few minutes were definitely the best part of the match. Sky was definitely the star of this match, but in the end, Morgan prevailed to retain her title. Not to take anything away from Morgan, but The Genius of the Sky was responsible for all of the best moments.

Result: Morgan defeated Sky

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• You can really tell Morgan loves her custom entrance music.
• It's always a little weird at first when a wrestling show takes place in the sunlight.
• The way Sky hit a double knee in the corner looked painful for Morgan. She sold it well with her facial expressions.
• Sky got caught up in the ropes at one point, but she recovered quickly.
• Sky's moonsault to Rodriguez and Perez looked good.

The Usos and Jacob Fatu vs. Royce Keys, Solo Sikoa and LA Knight

Kevin Sabitus/WWE via Getty Images

Last time in action: The Usos lost to MFTs (SD, May 1), Fatu defeated Knight (Raw, July 20), Keys lost to Finn Balor (SD, July 24)

The ongoing Bloodline side quest continued on Saturday with this six-man match featuring Jimmy and Jey Uso, Fatu, Knight, Keys and Sikoa. Gears of War was the sponsor for this match, so there were some props on the stage to advertise the game during the entrances.

These six men have been fighting for several weeks, and in the case of some of them, several months, so it was hard to feel like this was going to settle anything.

However, all six of these guys are talented performers, so we knew we would get some solid action in this bout. It started off with a little chaos before they settled into things.

Unfortunately, they slowed down a bit too much, and you could feel the crowd waiting for something exciting to happen to have an excuse to cheer. Even when the pace would pick up a bit, it never felt like there was a sense of urgency to anything.

Keys and Fatu took each other out at ringside. With a little help from Sikoa, Knight was able to hit Jey with the BFT for the pin and the win. This match had its moments, but it fell short of expectations.

Result: Knight, Keys and Sikoa defeated The Usos and Fatu

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Mark Henry was shown sitting in the crowd. He looks like he has slimmed down a lot.
• The Gears of War stuff felt so tacked on. There were so many ways they could have incorporated it into the entrances in a more interesting way than having a few props on the stage. Fatu's mask was kind of cool though.
• Sikoa doing the encore of Jey's music instead of Jey was hilarious.
• Keys having so much trouble getting Jimmy up in the corner for an avalanche slam was unfortunate.
• The way Keys slammed Fatu over the barricade looked good.