WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night 1 – Best and Worst – Serious injury ruins heel turn; Oba Femi botches against Brock Lesnar

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But first, a couple of honorable mentions. Liv Morgan’s first Women’s World Title defence may have come too late, but her match against IYO SKY was still great. Meanwhile, Solo Sikoa remaining a babyface was the right decision.

#3. Best: Ring rust, what’s that?

Nick Aldis swapped his suit for tights and delivered a fantastic babyface performance against Gunther at SummerSlam. The SmackDown general manager wrestled his first WWE match, fighting from underneath against The Ring General. His execution and timing were flawless.

Going by his performance, you wouldn’t know Aldis hadn’t wrestled in three years. WWE’s presentation of him was also incredible. He entered to “Morning Glory” by Oasis and was over right from the start. Nick Aldis may have tapped out and lost the match, but he left SummerSlam a winner. The post-match ovation he got was proof of that.

#2. Best/Worst: An underwhelming SummerSlam Night 1 main event

When WWE announced Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi as the main event of SummerSlam Night One, I expected fireworks. It had to be something special to usurp CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes from its rightful spot. What we got was a decent battle featuring weapons and power moves, but it failed to live up to its position on the card or the Hell in a Cell stipulation.

The one spot that felt worthy of it was Lesnar’s Tombstone Piledriver onto the exposed wood. Femi wasn’t able to land his final Fall From Grace Powerbomb on the wood, though, resulting in an unfortunate botch. If we take that and the underwhelming flow of the match out of the equation, the final outcome was objectively the right call.

Oba Femi is now a made man, especially after Brock Lesnar publicly endorsed him at the end of SummerSlam Saturday. I can’t wait to see what’s next for The Ruler, but WWE has a real task on its hands to ensure they don’t botch the follow-up to his big win.

#1. Worst: Bella in, Bella out

This is terrible timing. Just when Nikki Bella returned from her broken ankle, Brie goes down with a shoulder injury. It seems pretty serious, as well. She looked uncomfortable in the ring towards the end of the six-woman tag team match, and was heavily favoring her right shoulder.

It was so bad that Brie Bella was reduced to an awkward onlooker as Nikki betrayed Paige after the match. She turned heel alongside her twin sister and the two of them left together, but she couldn’t join in the attack. This has seemingly ruined WWE’s plans for the newly heel Bella Twins.

Hopefully, Brie’s injury isn’t as serious as feared; otherwise Nikki Bella will go into her feud with Paige all alone. The Anti-Diva may not need a new tag team partner anymore, which could affect the plans for whoever that might have been.

#1. Best: CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes is worth the hype

This should have remained the main event of SummerSlam 2026 Night One. CM Punk and Cody Rhodes left everything they had in the ring. They engaged in a physical and technical war for close to 30 minutes. This is the kind of professional wrestling I, and many others, enjoy.

Both stars suffered injuries over the course of the match, with Rhodes hurting his shoulder and Punk tweaking his knee. That didn’t stop them from beating each other up. In the end, The American Nightmare got screwed. Randy Orton made his WWE return and RKO’ed Cody.

This allowed CM Punk to hit one final GTS and retain his Undisputed WWE Championship. So, while The Best in the World continues his title reign, Cody Rhodes will resume his rivalry with Randy Orton following SummerSlam. I sincerely hope Pat McAfee and every other celebrity stay away from this blood feud.

The Viper attacked The American Nightmare immediately upon his WWE return, which indicates he isn’t going to go after Punk’s championship, at least for the time being. Orton costing Cody Rhodes the title also signifies how much he hates the former AEW star, since he is foregoing his own ambitions to get a piece of his ex-student.

While I have no faith in WWE giving this angle the appropriate care and attention, at least the moment was cool. Welcome back, Randy Orton!