WWE SmackDown Live Updates, Results and Highlights Before SummerSlam 2026

CM Punk cut off Cody Rhodes' entrance, infuriating The American Nightmare and instigating a passionate response as they made their way to the ring.

"You had to know we were on this collision course," Rhodes exclaimed.

"Did I know I was going to ruffle some feathers? Yeah, you bet your ass I did," Punk said. He took a shot at the Superstars in the back who complain about the same guys in the main event scene.

"I've gotta know who the better wrestler is between the two of us. You know, for business purposes," Punk said, a line that piqued Rhodes' interest.

"It sounds like CM Punk double-talk, which I should know," Rhodes said, adding that Punk knew it was personal.

"I didn't come back to make friends, Cody. I also didn't come back to lose friends, but if it comes down to losing friends or losing the title, tomorrow's not going to be your night, pal" The Best in the World responded.

Admitting that "tomorrow" bothered him, the QB1 of WWE asked, "What do you want to do tonight?"

They teased a fight, with Punk dropping the title and taunting his SummerSlam opponent. A brawl ensued, with Rhodes getting the best of his opponent and clotheslining him over the ropes.

Punk recovered and sent Rhodes over the commentary table. They took turns tripping each other up on the table before referees and producers arrived at ringside to separate them.

They failed. Punk and Rhodes teed off on each other, relentless in their pursuit of a fight, as the show went off the air.

The final spot in the Ladder Match to determine the interim women's champion was filled Friday night when Giulia battled Lash Legend.

The Beautiful Madness, seeking to rebuild momentum for herself on the SmackDown brand, took the fight to her less-experienced opponent.

Giulia rocked Legend with the Arrivederci knee strike but the NXT export kicked out at two.

Legend overwhelmed Giulia with the Lash Extension seconds later for the win.

WINNER: LASH LEGEND

And with that, Giulia's run in WWE feels about as dead as it possibly can be. She has no momentum, and all of the excitement surrounding her signing with the company two years ago has been extinguished by some truly horrendous booking.

Giulia is going to make a lot of money for a wrestling company in the future. Whether it is WWE or someone else will be determined by how the company handles her booking moving forward.

A new hype video for Roman Reigns' World Heavyweight Championship defense against Seth Rollins in the main event of Sunday's SummerSlam card aired.

Set to "Villain" by From Ashes to New, it did as good a job, if not better, of laying out the decade-long story between the OTC and The Visionary.

Back from the break, Fenix rallied, answering his opponent's hard forearm shot with a crossbody. He added a Death Valley Driver to McDonagh, but The Irish Ace recovered, shook off a kick, and delivered a running Spanish Fly for a near-fall of his own.

"99-percent of wrestlers on the planet could not pull that move off fresh as a daisy. McDonagh can!" Barrett exclaimed on commentary.

Fenix recovered but found himself crotched on the top rope amid further involvement from Mysterio. The referee ejected him from the ringside area. An irate Dirty Dom found himself confronted by Danhausen and his Minihausens.

The champion fought his way back into the match and downed McDonagh to secure the win with the Mexican Muscle Buster and a successful title defense.

WINNER: REY FENIX

A good match between the workhorse of WWE, McDonagh, and the woefully underutilized Fenix.

Before Fenix and McDonagh clashed for the brand's world cruiserweight title, Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett recapped the news from earlier this week that the first-ever Las Vegas AAA Triple Mania has been moved to MGM Grand Arena.

Back in the squared circle, McDonagh and Fenix grapple for the early advantage, locking fists and testing strength, never releasing their grips. When McDonagh did, Fenix answered with an arm drag.

Dominik Mysterio attempted to interfere from the ringside area, but Fenix fought through it. A dive to the floor missed, and McDonagh delivered a springboard moonsault to seize control entering the picture-in-picture timeout.

Commercial break.

With members of the Green Bay Packers at ringside, including All-Pro Micah Parsons, United States champion Trick Williams entered the arena to a thunderous ovation.

He insulted his SummerSlam opponent, Baron Corbin, claiming he looked like a jacked-up Tommy Pickles, an insult that lands with the 30-plus crowd, if nothing else.

He called out Corbin, who methodically discussed how he would attack Williams and beat him this weekend.

Williams claimed Corbin was no badder now than he was the first time he was there and reiterated that he wanted to fight his rival tonight. Corbin refused and called him a "dumb rookie who doesn't understand."

Champion and challenger exchanged insults, with Williams getting the final word ahead of their battle.

On a night that has featured some quality pre-taped promos, this was a feud that would have benefited from one instead of what we got. It was not particularly good and certainly did nothing to make the audience any more excited to see a match that is not nearly as hot as Williams vs. Carmelo Hayes would have been.

In a pre-taped promo, former SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis said he relished the opportunity to fill that role, but it was never his first dream. He wanted to be a wrestler, and he did, to a great degree of success.

Footage from TNA Wrestling aired, looking at his run there as world champion.

He said that when a man is pushed to the limit, he only has one choice. That choice is to battle Gunther at SummerSlam.

He vowed to win his first match in WWE and avenge the beating he suffered at the hands of The Ring General a few weeks back.

Cathy Kelley asked CM Punk about his Undisputed WWE Championship defense against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam.

He said that he does not feel like The American Nightmare is his friend now, and he knows he will not be tomorrow night when the bell rings, but that is OK. He doesn't have to be friends.

Before he could go further, United States Champion Trick Williams interrupted, claiming Punk is lucky he lost last week because he would have won at SummerSlam and come for the top prize in the game.

"I wish you would have won," Punk said. He ended his retort by telling Williams to work his way up because when he does, he is going to "whoop that Trick."

Priest sparked a babyface comeback as the show returned from the break, exploding into the ring and taking the fight to both opponents.

Ivar and Erik halted his momentum, downing the former world champion, until Truth made the save.

Having lost control of the action, though, referee Charles Robinson called for the bell, throwing the match out and ensuring there would be no undisputed tag team champions.

RESULT: NO CONTEST

The teams brawled through the crowd and back to the ringside area, where Tama and Talla Tonga attacked, heeding their father's warning and tearing through all four competitors.

The second-generation stars stood tall, both sets of tag titles in hand, joined by Haku in the center of the ring.

Reintroducing the MFTs to the tag title picture is the right call for their sake, but it will take considerable effort from the creative team to re-establish them as a threat. After all, Finn Balor knocked off both men in consecutive weeks, despite a distinct numbers disadvantage.

Two sets of tag team titles were on the line as WWE Tag Team Champions R-Truth and Damian Priest squared off with AAA Tag Team Champions The War Raiders.

Truth entered the arena in a Green Bay Packers Micah Parsons jersey, complete with the customary cheese head. All fun and games were over in short order as Erik and Ivar exhibited the strength and fury that has carried them to multiple tag team title reigns.

They threw Priest into the guardrail, sent Truth into the timekeeper's guardrail, then Ivar squashed The Archer of Infamy with a running splash on the arena floor as the show headed to the timeout.

Commercial break.

Backstage, AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix was sharing a word with Nathan Frazer and Axiom when The Judgment Day's AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh interrupted the proceedings.

Mysterio suggested that Fenix was hiding in Mexico, to which the luchador said he was representing the country and was ready for a fight. McDonagh accepted, stating it was about time he won singles gold in WWE.

Next, a pre-taped promo from Talla and Tama Tonga aired in which their father, the legendary tough guy, Haku, hyped them up and told them to "go make them fear again."

Fenix vs. McDonagh and an MFTs tandem with renewed focus? Let's go!

Green found herself isolated from her partner as Cargill applauded on the floor.

The heel's control of the bout would be short-lived, though, as the former two-time United States champion created separation and tagged in her partner.

Tiffy Time reigned supreme as Stratton exploded into the match, taking out her opponents and scoring a near-fall. She wiped out B-Fab at ringside but was pulled off the apron by Cargill.

Back in the ring, Green fought out of a superplex attempt and sent Michin to the mat below. She set B-Fab up for an Unprettier, but Michin caught her and joined B-Fab to deliver the BTA for the win.

WINNERS: B-FAB and MICHIN

After the match, Charlotte Flair entered the arena, staring down Cargill as she stalked toward the squared circle. Stratton and Green pulled their opponents to the floor, leaving The Storm and The Queen to conduct their business.

Flair and Cargill teed off on each other with hard right hands before the former rocked her rival with a big boot. The second-generation star stood tall, sending a message to Cargill before sharing the ring with her at SummerSlam on Sunday.

Women's United States Champion Tiffany Stratton and partner Chelsea Green were already in the ring when the show returned from the break.

Their opponents, B-Fab and Michin, entered alongside Jade Cargill to the former WWE women's champion's theme song.

Stratton and Green started hot, leaving the heels reeling early.

A double sliding flatliner left the babyfaces rolling, entering another timeout.

Commercial break.

As Balor and Zayn wrapped up their promo segment, Gunther attacked from out of nowhere. He beat both men down and complained that neither man should be No. 1 contender. That should be him.

"What do I have to do?!" he asked Raw general manager Adam Pearce. "Do I have to beat your ass, too?" he continued, referencing the beatdown of Nick Aldis that led to their match at SummerSlam.

Balor attacked Gunther, but The Ring General fended him off, only to find himself on the receiving end of an assault by Aldis, who left The Career Killer reeling to wrap up the show-opening segment.

A solid start to the show that promoted two SummerSlam matches, it may have run a bit long, but had the crowd eating up the fiery action toward the end. Zayn remains one of the best characters on the show, though, and the rejuvenated Balor is a nice addition to Friday nights.

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.