WWE SummerSlam Saturday live results: CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes
WWE SummerSlam kicks off tonight.
Six matches are scheduled for the first night of the two-night event.
CM Punk will defend the WWE Championship against Cody Rhodes. Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar will square off inside Hell in a Cell.
Liv Morgan will put the Women’s World Championship on the line against 2026 Queen of the Ring winner Iyo Sky. Nick Aldis will wrestle his first WWE match as he goes up against Gunther.
LA Knight, Solo Sikoa, and Royce Keys will team up to take on Jacob Fatu and The Usos. In a six-woman tag team match, The Bella Twins and Paige will face Fatal Influence.
The scheduled matches are listed below:
- WWE Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. Cody Rhodes
- Hell in a Cell match: Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar
- Women’s World Championship: Liv Morgan (c) vs. Iyo Sky
- Nick Aldis vs. Gunther
- LA Knight, Solo Sikoa & Royce Keys vs. Jacob Fatu & The Usos
- The Bella Twins & Paige vs. Fatal Influence
Our live coverage kicks off at 6 p.m. Eastern.
*********
Live! From Minneapolis, Minnesota. SKOL~!, or something.
— Vaughn Evelyn sang “God Bless America” to kick off the show.
Michael Cole & Wade Barrett were on commentary.
Iyo Sky v. Liv Morgan for the WWE Women’s World Championship
Liv Morgan wore gear to the ring that was voted on by fans through a poll on the Wingstop app. Morgan is undefeated at SummerSlam according to Michael Cole.
The commentators also made note that this was Morgan’s first title defense since winning the championship at WrestleMania.
Sky stomped Morgan in the corner and did hit Morgan with a double knee into the chest. The fight went out of the ring, and Sky floored Morgan with a forearm. Sky tried to set up a move off the ring barricade, but Morgan tripped her up. Back in the ring, Morgan leveled Sky with a shotgun dropkick.
Morgan stomped and kicked away at Sky to take control. Morgan gave Sky the Three Amigos, then followed up with an enziguri. Morgan backed Sky in the corner for a running knee. Sky came back with a cazadora and a double stomp to the gut, and both women were down.
Sky took the offense, snapping Morgan’s arm against the top rope and following up with a missile dropkick from the top. Sky followed up with a meteora in the corner. Morgan tried to retreat to the apron, but Sky hit a sunset flip powerbomb to the floor.
Back in the ring, Sky went to the top for her moonsault. But Roxanne Perez came out to distract the referee so new Women’s Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez could send Sky crashing to the mat with a chokeslam. Sky regrouped and sent Morgan over the top rope with a backdrop. Sky then took out Perez and Rodriguez with a moonsault from the top to the floor.
Morgan caught Sky with a rana as she stepped through the ropes. Morgan went to the top, but Sky caught her with a shotei. Sky then sent Morgan crashing to the mat with a Spanish Fly for a near fall.
Morgan and Sky exchanged “Boo!/Yay!” punches, with Morgan actually winning the exchange. But Sky came back with a double-underhook face buster, then followed that up with a doulbe-underhook into a backbreaker. Morgan went for the Oblivion, but Sky countered with a version of Cross Rhodes. Sky then hit the Oblivion on Liv for a near fall.
Sky bounced to the top and went for the moonsault, but Morgan got out of the way. Morgan came off the middle rope with a Codebreaker and got another near fall. Morgan went for Oblivion again, but Sky ducked and Morgan landed on the apron. Sky slipped through the ropes and grabbed Morgan to give her a German suplex on the apron. Sky hit a meteora on Morgan against the ring post, injuring her own knee in the process.
Back in the ring, Sky went for another moonsault, but Morgan got out of the way. Morgan went for the Oblivion again, but Sky flipped through it. But, Morgan anticipated that and hit a Codebreaker, then caught Sky on the rebound with the Oblivion, and finally got the pinfall.
The finishing sequence was amazing.
Match Result: Liv Morgan retained the Women’s World Championship by pinning Iyo Sky (13:35)
— Mark Henry, X-Pac, Dan Spivey, and “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart were all shown in the crowd.
The Usos & Jacob Fatu v. LA Knight, Royce Keyes & Solo Sikoa
The Bloodline B-Team got some kind of special Gears of War entrance. The Usos did not come out through the crowd or do the “Yeet!” music and dance. Jacob Fatu came out in a werewolf mask. LA Knight got the biggest reaction of anyone from the crowd.
Knight’s team charged the ring to start the match. Jimmy Uso took out Keyes and Knight with a dive.
In the ring, Sikoa and Jey squared off, and Sikoa got the advantage. Sikoa then gave the sound guys the signal, and they played the “Yeet!” song so Sikoa could dance and the crowd could do the yeet dance.
Sikoa dropped Fatu with a Samoan drop, but Fatu no-sold it and hit Sikoa with a superkick. Fatu followed up with a Samoan Drop and a senton. Jimmy stomped away at Sikoa in the corner.
The Bloodline worked over Sikoa in the corner while the crowd chanted “Let’s go Solo!” Fatu hit Sikoa with a hip attack in the corner. Fatu dropped Knight with a superkick to send him to the floor. Sikoa and Fatu clotheslined each other and both men were down.
Tags were made and Royce Keyes brawled with Jimmy Uso. Keyes planted Jimmy with a World’s Strongest Slam. Jey ran in and got a spinebuster. Fatu tried to jump in, but got knocked off the apron. Jimmy caught Keyes with a series of superkicks.
Jimmy pulled Keyes to the mat and went to the top. Keyes followed Jimmy up, and after a serious struggle, Keyes eventually powerslammed Jimmy from the middle rope.
Knight and Jey were tagged in, and Knight was all babyface fire against Jey. Fatu tried again to jump in, but Knight knocked him off the apron. Knight dropped a big elbow for a near fall. Jey came back with a spear and got his own near fall.
Jey went to the top, but Knight popped up and superplexed him off the top. But Jimmy dove off another corner and hit a splash. Sikoa took out Jimmy with an uranage, but Fatu took out Sikoa with an implant DDT. Keyes drove Fatu through the mat with a spinebuster.
Fatu and Keyes went to the floor. Fatu charged at Keyes, but Keyes caught him and powerslammed him over the barricade into the timekeeper’s area.
Back in the ring, Jey hit Knight with another spear. Jimmy came off the top with another splash and covered, but Knight kicked out at two.
The Usos set up for 1D, but Sikoa grabbed Jimmy and hit him with the Samoan Spike. Knight then caught Jey with the BFT and got the pinfall.
Match Result: LA Knight, Royce Keyes, and Solo Sikoa defeated The Bloodline when Knight pinned Jey Uso after a BFT (11:03)
— I usually ignore the commercials, but they added “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan to the newest Wheatley American Vodka ad. Good for you Jim. Go get that vodka money.
Gunther v. Nick Aldis
Nick Aldis’ entrance music sounded pretty awful. Also,Chris Van Vliet (the guy who does all the podcasts) was in the front row. Michael Cole didn’t acknowledge this, even though he was talking about Aldis having been on his podcast this week.
Gunther jumped out of the ring after a brief exchange to stand on the ring announcer’s table and taunt Aldis. Back in the Rin, Gunther caught Aldis with a chop, but Aldis fired back with punches. Aldis caught Gunther in midair and powered him up into a vertical suplex. Aldis hopped up to the middle rope, but Gunther caught him with a chop to send Aldis to the floor.
On the floor, Gunther got in the face of Aldis’ wife Mickie James while working over Aldis. Back in the ring, Gunther put Aldis down with another hard chop. Aldis battled back with chops of his own. Gunther countered an Irish whip into the corner. Aldis reversed a whip into the corner then caught Gunther with a backbreaker. Gunther escaped Aldis going for a cloverleaf and locked in a sleeper.
Aldis sent Gunther into the turbuckles to escape the sleeper, but Gunther cut him off with a lariat. Gunther tried to go to the top but Aldis caught him with a superplex, and both guys were down.
The crowd chanted “you still got it!” for Aldis, which, no. Aldis started another comeback and got floored with a lariat. Aldis caught Gunther with a flying clothesline, then hit a Davey Boy Smith style powerslam for a near fall.
Gunther missed a boot in the corner. Michael Cole called a bodyslam from Aldis a “Michinoku Driver.” Aldis came off the top with an elbow, once to Gunther’s chest and once to his back. Aldis then locked Gunther in the “King’s Lynn Cloverleaf,” which is the same as a Texas Cloverleaf, but it’s being applied by a guy from King’s Lynn, England. But Gunther made it to the ropes.
Aldis tried for another powerslam, but Gunther slid out and went for the sleeper. Aldis countered with his own sleeper, but Gunther broke that with a Saito Suplex. Gunther hit a powerbomb, then locked in another sleeper. Aldis fought to his feet, but Gunther pulled him back down and added a body scissors. And Aldis had to tap out.
Match Result: Gunther tapped out Aldis (11:38).
The first half they were going for “careful meticulous mat wrestling” but it felt more like “slow and plodding.” But it got good enough by the end. After the match, Aldis celebrated with his family, even though he lost.
The Bellas & Paige v. Fatal Influence
Fallon Henley and Brie started the match, and Brie almost immediately went to the “Yes!” kicks to get a reaction. Jacy Jayne and Lainey Reid were assaulted by Nikki and Paige on the floor. On the floor, Brie got stomped against the ring steps, then Jayne followed up with a cannonball against the ring steps.
Back in the ring, Jayne squashed Brie with a senton for a near fall.
Reid got the tag and wore down Brie with a chinlock. Brie started to work her way over to make the tag, but Lainey Reid cut her off.
Nikki got the tag and hit a series of clotheslines on Reid. Nikki sent Henley into Jayne, then clotheslined Jayne so she effectively DDT’d Henley.
Nikki floored Reid with a forearm. Henley tried to interfere, but Paige broke that up with a superkick.
Brie floored Jayne with a forearm. Brie was either completely gassed or hurt. She must have hurt her shoulder somewhere, because she was holding it and trying not to bump.
The match was really falling apart here. Paige got a blind tag and caught Jayne with a sunset flip for a near fall. Paige got distracted, and Jayne hit a rolling forearm on Paige to get the pinfall.
Match Result: Fatal Influence were victories when Jayne pinned Paige (7:32).
This match was a total mess.
After the match (and to the surprise of no one), The Bellas attacked Paige after the match. Brie added some half-hearted kicks while holding her shoulder, and Nikki gave Paige the Rack Attack 2.0. Nikki Bella said “don’t ever take my spot,” which makes no sense, since the story was Nikki was injured and she gave her spot to Paige.
Cody Rhodes v. CM Punk for the WWE Undisputed Championship
TV recapper for the Observer website, starting in 2021 with AEW Dark. Currently covering the Monday Night Raw beat.