The 2 biggest news items coming out of this week’s SmackDown were: SummerSlam’s scheduled WWE Title match between CM Punk and Cody Rhodes will become a Fatal-4-Way should Gunther and Sami Zayn emerge victorious at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Also, WWE will crown an interim Women’s Champion via a ladder match in early-August. Then, injured champ Rhea Ripley will meet the winner to determine who holds the belt going forwards.
That last one won’t work for fans tired of the interim gimmick and all of the injuries that have blighted the division in 2026. In fairness, the fact that key figures keep having their momentum halted by injury isn’t the company’s fault, and they’re trying to come up with a satisfactory workaround without stripping Rhea of her title. Fair enough.
A couple of qualifiers took place on Friday’s show. Did they work? Read on to find out.
Gunther and Cody clashed yet again in the main event, Charlotte Flair looked like an absolute moron in the babyface role, there was a rare chance for the blue brand’s tag-team division to shine, Finn Bálor continued his path towards upper card stardom as a face, and Blake Monroe was badly let down once more. How many times?!
SmackDown was a mere speed bump on the road to SNME and SummerSlam, but the rejigged 2-hour runtime does make the weekly flash past in the blink of an eye. Here’s all the good and bad from Triple H’s latest, including that welcome Saturday night stip.
