Hiya!

Well, we are done with the first half of what the WWE claims is the “biggest party of the summer.” I’m actually glad they’ve put more effort into SummerSlam as I’ve always felt there was something lacking with the show. Splitting it up into 2 nights so they focus on delivering actual good matches was a big step in the right direction. I already enjoyed Night 1 so let’s see if the WWE can keep it up with Night 2!

The first match of Night 2 was supposed to be Sami Zayn vs. Finn Balor to see who would become the #1 contender for Smackdown‘s greatest prize: the Undisputed WWE Championship. Before the match started, however, returning Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis made an announcement: he was making this into a Fatal Four Way and adding GUNTHER and a returning Kevin Owens into the mix! While I was already okay with just Sami Zayn and Finn Balor going at it, adding both GUNTHER and Kevin Owens made this infinitely more interesting!

I do love how Zayn and Owens hugged each other before they began wailing fists at one another. Nice touch. Despite being out of action for several months, Kevin Owens looked pretty good like he was before his injury. Some of the highlights included KO hitting a swanton from the top rope to the outside to his opponents, Owens blocking a superplex attempt by Balor to hit one of his own, Sami blocking a swanton attempt by Kevin and Balor hitting his Coup de Gras finisher to both Zayn and GUNTHER.

The finish came after Kevin Owens started his own stunner party, hitting both Finn Balor and GUNTHER with his finishing move in quick succession. Kevin then tried to hit the stunner to Sami but Zayn reversed it and turned it into his trademark blue thunder bomb for a 2-count. Sami then set Kevin up for his Helluva Kick finisher but Owens countered with a superkick. KO then followed it up with a kick to the gut and a stunner to win the match and become the #1 contender for the Undisputed WWE Championship.

As exciting and fast-paced this match was, it did come off as a little “spotty” with them allowing there to be a little 1-on-1 mini-bout before someone interfered. It’s standard practice for every Fatal-Four Way but I will admit, because of how quick the spots were, it wasn’t that obvious. I honestly would’ve preferred Sami Zayn to win because I’m a big Sami Zayn stan. Still, I understand giving Kevin Owens the spot as he is the returning hero. Wouldn’t make much sense to have him come back to a losing effort, right?

The next match had Trick Williams (accompanied by Lil Yachty) defending the United States Championship against another returning WWE Superstar, Baron Corbin. I will admit I wasn’t all that interested with this match as I don’t think Trick Williams has done much to raise the prestige of the United States Championship and Baron Corbin is, well, kinda boring. Still, there were a few highlights like Corbin hitting his deep six trademark to Williams while they were outside the ring, that loooong wait for Lil Yatchy to get in position to blindside Baron with a kendo stick and Trick flipping over to avoid getting hit with Corbin’s End of Days finisher to hit a modified fireman’s carry slam.

The finisher came after Corbin kicked out of the pinfall attempt after the fireman’s carry slam. Williams went for his Trick Shot kick finisher but Corbin grabbed him and nearly hit him with another deep six. Baron then went for End of Days again but, once again, Trick flipped through the move and hit a spinning kick but he only got a 2-count. Trick then went for his Trick Shot knee strike finisher but Baron rolled out of the ring to avoid it. Corbin then grabbed the United States belt but Lil Yachty prevented Baron from bringing it into the ring. Williams then tried to protect his friend by striking Corbin but this led to Baron falling on Lil Yachty. This send the rapper through a table which Trick Williams set up (for no reason until now). While the official was distracted with the carnage, Corbin hit Williams with the belt, hit his End of Days finisher to get the pinfall victory and become the NEW United States Champion!

Well, this was a very soulless affair. It was slow and plodding. I can’t lay all the blame on Lil Yachty and that botched kendo stick spot as both Baron Cobin and Trick Williams looked like they were sleepwalking through the match. Chalk it up for both of them simply not having good chemistry with each other. Even so, this was boring!

The next match was a ladder match to become the new Smackdown Women’s Champion… for now. This had Jade Cargill, Charlotte Flair, Lash Legend, Tiffany Straton and Chelsea Green gunning for the strap. Lots of highlight here, actually, like Legend grabbing Stratton out of the air to slam her into a ladder, Charlotte slamming Stratton face first into a ladder with Tiffany getting revenge by flapjacking Charlotte onto the same ladder seconds later, Cargill hitting her Jaded finisher to Green on the same ladder again, Lash powerbombing Stratton onto another prone ladder from the 2nd turnbuckle and Flair holding onto the thing that holds the Smackdown Women’s Championship because Cargill swiped the ladder from underneath her and

The finish saw Tiffany Stratton climbing the ladder to retrieve the belt but Chelsea Green decided the Smackdown Women’s Championship was more important than her friendship with Stratton. She shoved the ladder, sending Stratton to the outside to collide with the other competitors! Green then took another ladder and started to climb to get the belt. Unfortunately, Cargill’s “assistants” B-Fab and Michin, dragged Chelsea down. They then helped Jade back in the ring for her to climb but Charlotte fought off B-Fab and Michin. Flair climbed up the same ladder while Tiffany and Lash climbed another. Jade then transitioned to a middle ladder to push off the one Stratton and Legend were on, taking them out. Charlotte and Jade both took themselves out. This left Chelsea Green all by her lonesome to once again climb up, retrieve the belt to become the NEW Smackdown Women’s Champion… for now!

This was a very fun match! The spots were pretty good, even though they did kind of re-use that same ladder bit for a good chunk of the time. I do love the buildup to Chelsea winning as it did look like she was going to get screwed by Jade Cargill’s minions. The finish did seem a little off as I didn’t really see why Charlotte and Jade fell off. Still, it was nice of the WWE to give what the fans wanted: a championship to Chelsea Green.

The next match was Danhausen vs. “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio in a “Human Monies on a Pole” Match. The winner is the one who retrieves the white sack with the big cartoony dollar symbol on it because “haven’t you watched wrestling?” Anyway, there really weren’t any wrestling highlights to talk about. There were, however, quite a bit of shenanigans to talk about, like Dominik’s fellow Judgement Day colleague, JD McDonagh, making his presence felt by attacking Danhausen and hitting a beautiful moonsault. This led to, of course, the Minihausens rushing in to attack JD but McDonagh wiping them out… except for Toritohausen. Toritohausen took out JD with a headscissors, a springboard headbutt and a tornado DDT.

The finish came as the Minihausens tried to get the Human Monies but Dirty Dom attacked them before they could. Toritohausen retaliated by hitting Mysterio with flying headscissors from the top rope and followed it up with a flipping suicide dive. Danhausen started to climb the turnbuckle to retrieve the Human Monies but McDonagh hit Danhausen to stop him. McDonagh then took out Toritohausen by slamming him into the barricade. Just then, Joe Hendry, who was attacked by The Judgement Day during this feud, made the save by walloping JD with a guitar. Both of the legitimate competitors climbed the turnbuckle and started fighting to get the bag of Human Monies. Dirty Dom got the upper hand and pushed Danhausen off. Danhausen then cursed Dominik, leading to the fireworks on the post where the bag of Human Monies was hooked to fire, taking out Mysterio. Danhausen was then able to grab the bag of Human Monies to win the match. He then celebrated by tossing the Human Monies to the crowd. Don’t worry; it’s fake money.

Was this a classic to be remembered for all time? Not in the least! What this was is mindless comedy wrestling at its best. It’s dumb, crazy and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It’s also just very entertaining. However, I do know this will have an expiration date and fans will eventually get tired of Danhausen’s antics. Until that time does happen, I’m just here to enjoy the ride.

The next match had Penta defending the Intercontinental Championship against Chad Gable. While there really isn’t a feud here to latch on to, the big draw here is this is sort of the culmination of Chad Gable’s apology tour. I’ve always admired Chad Gable as an in-ring competitor and I love Penta’s antics. So, I was expecting a lot from these two. As expected, there were a lot of highlights crammed into this match, including Gable delivering a flipping guillotine legdrop to a bent over Penta, Penta hitting with a superkick as Chad was flying in with a moonsault attempt, Penta leaping over the top rope to crash into Gable and Penta reversing a big splash attempt to strike with his Sacrifice arm pull to further damage Chad’s shoulder.

The finish came after Penta attacked Gable’s shoulder. Penta then went for a Mexican Destroyer but Chad blocked it, rolled through and locked in his Ankle Lock submission finisher. Penta managed to roll through to get out of the hold and sent Gable to the corner. Penta tried to attack but Chad locked in a hanging armbar instead. Penta then tried to his a Mexican Destroyer while Gable was standing on the ring apron but Chad blocked it again and hit a german suplex to Penta onto the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring!). Gable then hit a moonsault from the top rope to the outside to Penta. Chad hit a flying headbutt for a 2-count. Gable then tried a superplex but Penta fought out of it and this allowed Penta to finally hit a Mexican Destroyer to Chad onto the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring!). Penta went for another Mexican Destroyer in the middle of the ring but Gable turned it into an Ankle Lock instead. Chad locked in a leg grapevine as well, leading to Penta to tap. Chad Gable is the NEW Intercontinental Champion!

This was a really good match! While I kind of wish it lasted a bit longer, what they did was more than enough to satisfy my appetite for some really exciting wrestling. Having Chad Gable win the Intercontinental Championship after the journey he went through was definitely the right call here. Even so, both men pulled off some really exciting in-ring action here.

The final match of Night 2 of SummerSlam was for the biggest prize on the RAW brand: The World Heavyweight Championship. This saw Roman Reigns defending the belt against Seth Rollins. Oddly enough, I’m not too high on this matchup as, well, haven’t we’ve seen this more than a dozen times already? I really hope they pull out the stops here to make this worth my time. Some of the highlights in this match include Reigns suplexing Rollins onto a steel plate, Rollins trying to ape Roman’s schtick by doing a spear but The OTG blocking the move and powerbombing Seth through the Spanish announce table, Seth retaliating by powerbombing Roman through the English announce table, Reigns blocking a falcon arrow to lock in his guillotine submission on Rollins and both Seth and Roman hitting each others’ finishers to try to get the pinfall victory.

The finish came as the two did the dueling punches routine with Roman hitting Seth right into the official, knocking the referee out. Seth retaliated by hitting Roman with a “wacky line,” Dean Ambrose‘s, their former SHIELD compatriot, signature move. Roman then hits Dean Ambrose’s Dirty Deeds double-underhook DDT finisher to Seth. Reigns went for a spear but hit the official instead, downing him once more. Rollins hit a Curb Stomp but, as there was no official, it was all for naught. Seth got a steel chair and tried to hit Roman with it but Reigns slugged him before he could. Reigns picked up the chair and thought of using it but he decided against it.

A big fistfight starts between the two with Reigns eventually getting the upper hand. Roman hits a superman punch but Seth is too hyped up! Reigns went for a spear but Rollins countered it with a Pedigree. Seth set up for another Curb Stomp but Roman rolled out of the way. He still hit it on his 2nd attempt. Rollins climbed to the top rope to set up for a massive Curb Stomp from there but Reigns rolls out of the way and hits a spear! Reigns hits another spear but can’t go for the pin as there’s still no official. Reigns then hits a 3rd spear just as the official comes to. He gets the pinfall victory to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and still be the top dog of the RAW brand. After the match, both Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins seemingly patch things up with a SHIELD fist bump.

Honestly, I really didn’t think much of this match until we got the dueling powerbombs through the announcer tables. Once we got to that point, things finally started getting good. I don’t really understand why they needed the referee bump spot. It was generally only there to show how Roman Reigns didn’t want to use the steel chair when he could have. That could have been told in another way, like Reigns refusing to beat down on Rollins when it was obvious he couldn’t defend himself. Even with these complaints, I have to say I was pretty entertained by the end.

All-in-all, SummerSlam’s Night 2 was pretty good with the weakest match being the match for the United States Championship. Even so, I have to say I liked Night 1 slightly better overall. Not that Night 2 was a bad show. It just didn’t have the same impact Night 1 had for me. Still, as a whole, SummerSlam 2026 was a great watch.

Byee!

What did you think of SummerSlam 2026 Night 2? Let me know in the comments section below!