WWE SmackDown live results: CM Punk and Cody Rhodes come face to face
WWE SmackDown tonight is scheduled for the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Three segments are scheduled for the show, which will be the go-home episode of SmackDown before WWE SummerSlam on Saturday and Sunday.
CM Punk and Cody Rhodes are scheduled to come face-to-face one final time before Punk defends the Undisputed WWE Championship against Rhodes at SummerSlam.
Also scheduled for tonight, the WWE Tag Team Championships will be on the line as Damian Priest and R-Truth defend against the War Raiders, Erik and Ivar.
Plus, the final qualifying match for the WWE Interim Women’s Championship ladder match at SummerSlam will take place, with Julia facing Lash Legend.
Tonight’s lineup:
- CM Punk and Cody Rhodes come face-to-face
- WWE Tag Team Champions Damian Priest and R-Truth vs. Erik and Ivar
- WWE Interim Women’s Championship ladder match qualifier: Julia vs. Lash Legend
Our live coverage kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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– Our show got going with the pre-requisite arrivals of our cast of players for tonight’s show, including CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Chelsea Green & Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill and the Baddies, Lash Legend, and Giulia, among others.
Finn Balor kicks off SmackDown
The man who will face Sami Zayn on Sunday for a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship made his way down to the ring to a good ovation from the Green Bay crowd.
After Balor got into the ring, he took the mic and started off how every time SummerSlam season rolled around, his minds raced back to 2016. That was the year where he won the Universal Championship, the highest of highs, which was followed by the lowest of lows when injury forced him to relinquish the belt. And now, in 2026, Balor spent years and years to scratch and claw to reach those glories again. He said that with the Balor Club behind him, they were so close to getting back. That was when Sami Zayn interrupted him .
Zayn said that he understood that this was an emotional time for Balor, but there were things that he needed to get off his chest. Zayn complained that the Punk vs. Rhodes match should’ve been a triple threat match. He said that everyone had a skin in the game, but Zayn noted how he wanted Cody Rhodes to win at SummerSlam, for the simple reason that he had already beaten him once, and that he could do it again.
That said, Zayn noted that there was a small part of him that wanted Punk to win over Rhodes. He called him a hypocrite for becoming a corporate poster boy. Zayn talked about how it would be a treat for him to take the title back from the man who allegedly stole it from him. Balor interrupted and challenged Zayn to get in the ring and say whatever it was he wanted to say in his face.
Zayn marched down to the ring and told Balor he had all the respect for him and that he oculd easily have been a world champion many times over. However, Balor needed to understand the moment, which supposedly belonged to Zayn. He said that this moment was all about justice, namely justice for Sami.
Balor again cut off Zayn, talking about how this was his moment and that he worked hard for ten years to get to this point. Balor pointed out that Zayn held the title for nine days, not because he was injured or screwed over, but simply because Zayn lost.
Zayn said that Balor’s remarks sounded like fighting words, and that if he didn’t respect Balor as much as he did, he would’ve dropped him already. But, Zayn said he wouldn’t do that because he was a good guy. As Zayn tried to make exit, Gunther entered the ring and attacked both Balor and Zayn, laying the two out with lariats.
Gunther took the mic and called himself the real number one contender. Adam Pearce appeared on the stage as Gunther confronted him. Balor attacked Gunther from behind as Zayn joined in and it became a massive brawl amongst the three. Gunther took Zayn and Balor out with a double clothesline, but Nick Aldis ran in and got into it with Gunther. Inside the ring, Aldis countered Gunther’s powerbomb into a Texas Cloverleaf. As the security forces tried to break both guys up, Gunther hit Aldis with a big boot.
I think I’ve been clear on how the Aldis/Gunther feud has been one of the few best parts of the SummerSlam build. Whether that speaks about how weak the road to SummerSlam has been and how well this feud has been built is up to you to decide, but I think it’s a bit of both. That said, Zayn’s “last real good guy” thing has been an entertaining aspect.
WWE SmackDown recapper. Former NXT PLE/WWE Saturday Night's Main Event/fill-in recapper.