WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night 2 Review
Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match
Night 2 of WWE SummerSlam 2026 was supposed to kick off with a singles match between Finn Balor and Sami Zayn to determine the new Number 1 Contender for the Undisputed WWE Championship! However, Nick Aldis had other plans, adding his SummerSlam opponent Gunther to the match, only to then make it a Fatal 4-Way! The fourth competitor: Kevin Owens! KO got an incredible pop, with fans in the crowd genuinely emotional seeing the return of The Prizefighter! In my opinion, Kevin Owens is one of the absolute best of this generation, so he will instantly make Friday Night SmackDown at least 5x better! Sami Zayn’s reaction was also priceless, with him once again getting completely screwed whilst also seeing his best friend return from a career-threatening injury! Gunther didn’t really do much in this match; he was just there because he’s Gunther, whilst I do feel a little bit for Finn Balor as the window to get back to a World Title feels narrow again! In the end, a Stunner to Sami was enough for Kevin Owens to score the win, and I tell you what, Punk VS Owens is going to be box office!
Grade: B
United States Championship: Trick Williams VS Baron Corbin
The first Title to be defended on Night 2 of SummerSlam saw Baron Corbin return to a WWE ring to challenge Trick Williams for the United States Championship! To be honest, this match didn’t really work for me, with the chemistry between the two competitors feeling a little off! I think Trick Williams is really good in the ring, but he needs someone at least on his level in the ring with him in order to deliver a decent contest! Whilst Baron Corbin does arguably have the best signature/finisher combo in the form of the Deep-Six/End of Days, his actual in-ring ability isn’t the strongest! I did like when Corbin sent Lil Yachty into the barricade, whilst Yachty would also go through a table after incidental contact from Williams! Corbin would then take advantage of this, nailing Trick in the face with his US Title before he delivered an End of Days to successfully become Champion! Baron Corbin being a Champion in WWE in 2026 is certainly a choice, but it should allow Trick Williams to move up the card!
Grade: C
WWE Women’s Championship Ladder Match
With Rhea Ripley out indefinitely, WWE decided that they needed to crown an “Interim” WWE Women’s Champion as Tiffany Stratton, Charlotte Flair, Jade Cargill, Lash Legend, and Chelsea Green battled it out in a 5-Way Ladder Match! They definitely played it safe in this match, in comparison to the iconic 2023 Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, but that was probably for the best as nobody got injured! Tiffany Stratton was definitely the performer who took the most bumps, with Lash Legend Powerbombing her onto a ladder! After Chelsea Green sent Tiffany crashing onto everyone on the outside, it looked all but certain that Chelsea was going to get the win, only for Michin and B-Fab to run down and ruin everything! However, after Flair, Cargill, Stratton, and Legend all took each other out of the equation, Green was able to recover her way up the ladder and grab the Title, meaning Chelsea is now officially a World Champion! Talk about someone who earned this moment; Chelsea Green is a true success story!
Grade: B-
Dominik Mysterio VS Danhausen: Human Monies on a Pole Match
21 years after his custody was fought over, Dominik Mysterio faced Danhausen in a “Human Monies on a Pole Match”! As expected, this was always going to be pretty silly, with JD McDonagh’s quick interference being combated by the Minihausens! The guy from the Backlash Tag match was back, hitting all his big moves on Dom and JD, before Joe Hendry arrived to smash McDonagh with a guitar! Danhausen would then curse Mysterio, leading to the AAA Mega Campeon being hit by fireworks, as DH grabbed his Human Monies to hopefully put an end to this feud! This was completely harmless, but I can’t give it any more than that!
Grade: C
Intercontinental Championship: Penta VS Chad Gable
The penultimate match of the weekend saw Penta and Chad Gable go one-on-one with the Intercontinental Championship on the line! This was a great wrestling match, although it probably could’ve and should’ve lasted longer than 11 minutes! Everything felt very smooth; the chemistry between Penta and Chad was strong, and that’s not a surprise given that these are two of the best wrestlers in the world today! Whilst Penta would hit a ridiculous Mexican Destroyer on the apron, Gable was somehow able to kick out, using homefield advantage to full effect as Master Gable locked in the ankle lock on Penta, forcing the Luchador to kick out as Chad Gable finally became Intercontinental Champion! Just like Chelsea Green, Chad Gable fully earned this moment! Also, massive shoutout to Penta as his run as IC Champ was fantastic!
Grade: B+
World Heavyweight Championship: Roman Reigns VS Seth Rollins
And in the Main Event of SummerSlam 2026, a 14-year-old chapter finally came to an end as Roman Reigns and Seth “Freakin” Rollins battled over the World Heavyweight Championship! This was absolutely fantastic, one of the best matches I’ve seen all year, and potentially one of the greatest SummerSlam matches ever (which is already an incredibly high bar)! Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins are the two greatest performers of this generation in my opinion (along with AJ Styles), and they told a wonderful story right from the entrances, with the Shield music hitting before Rollins came out in all white, the opposite of the all-black look that he’s had on Raw for months! The actual wrestling itself was good, with both men taking strong bumps through the English and Spanish announce tables! However, it was all about the story, with Reigns and Rollins both trash-talking one another, whilst there were also a couple of nice odes to the third Shield member, Dean Ambrose! We then got arguably the best moment of the entire weekend, where Roman Reigns finally let everything from the past go, dropping the steel chair, unlike Rollins all those years ago! This just meant that we got a proper match between two all-time greats, with Reigns eventually winning after delivering multiple Spears! Whilst I didn’t like the idea of Roman Reigns finally beating Seth “Freakin” Rollins heading into the weekend, this was honestly the best and arguably only way that they could’ve done it, with Reigns finally letting go of the past! The show then went off the air with Seth and Roman doing the iconic Shield fist bump, signalling an end to one of WWE’s greatest chapters!
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