The SmarK Rant for WWE Summerslam 2026 – 08.02.26 (Night Two)

The SmarK Rant for WWE Summerslam 2026 – 08.02.26 (Night Two)

Live from Minneapolis, MN

Your hosts are Michael Cole & Wade Barrett

#1 contender match: Finn Balor v. Sami Zayn v. Gunther v. Kevin Owens

Nick Aldis returns to power and adds Gunther to the match, which doesn’t really feel fair to either of the other guys. And then he doubles down and adds the returning KO, which really screws Sami over. Good to see him back, he was talking like he might not be returning at one point. KO hits Gunther and Balor with cannonballs in the corner while Sami looks on in shock, but then they hug and slug it out. KO with a senton and Sami bails, so Kevin clears the ring and goes up with a cannonball to the floor onto the pile. Back in the ring, Kevin walks into a sleeper from Gunther, but the others break it up. Gunther and Balor slug it out, and Finn gets the inverted DDT for two and throws chops in the corner. Gunther fires back with his own, but Sami breaks that up, so Finn tosses him and goes up, missing the double stomp on Gunther. Gunther with a powerbomb for two, into the crab, but Owens breaks that up and stomps him down in the corner. KO goes up and Finn cuts him off, but Kevin brings him down with a neckbreaker off the top, and Sami steals the pinfall attempt for two. Sami and Finn fight on top and Sami loses that battle, but KO tries a swanton and misses. So we get the dumb spot where the ref tells the heel to back off and NOT attack the injured babyface, but Sami charges anyway, walking into a choke from Gunther as a result. Finn breaks that up with the Coup de Grace on Sami for two, however. That actually looked like a three count. KO runs wild with stunners, but Sami hits him with the Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Kevin catches Sami with a superkick and another stunner, and that finishes at 8:31 to make KO the #1 contender. Well KO-Punk is certainly something very different and probably a hell of a match too. This was all action, but really short. ***1/2

US title: Trick Williams v. Baron Corbin

Oh goodie, he’s back. Well if Trick can get a good match out of Corbin I’ll be impressed. Trick stomps him down in the corner and clotheslines him to the floor, where he finds a SLIM JIMS table already. Baron backs off and Trick charges outside, walking into the Deep Six on the floor as a result. Baron runs him into the post and stairs to take over. Back in the ring, Corbin slugs away on the mat and beats on him in the corner. “There is no flash, no style” to Corbin, notes Cole. I love shoot comments that aren’t supposed to be shoot comments. Corbin keeps beating him down, but Trick fights back from the apron and Baron drops him to the floor as a result. So Trick’s friend Lil’ Tugboat gets involved and Baron kicks his ass as well. Back in the ring, Trick finally gets some offense with a neckbreaker and a uranage for two. Corbin goes to the eyes to cut him off, but Lil Dinghy hits Corbin with his kendo stick and Trick gets two. Trick escapes End of Days and boots Corbin down for two, but Corbin necks him and heads out to grab the title belt. Lil Schooner tries to stop him, but Corbin sends him through the SLIM JIMS table, hits Trick with the belt, and finishes with End of Days at 9:15 to win the US TITLE?!? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Amazing booking decision. Uncle Paul is playing 4D chess with that one. 10/10, no notes. Trick continues to have shitty PPV matches, for those keeping track. *1/2

Interim Women’s title ladder match: Charlotte Flair v. Chelsea Green v. Tiffany Stratton v. Jade Cargill v. Lash Legend

Since when they do they do interim titles? Is this ROH all of a sudden? Lash attacks Tiffy on the floor and slams her into a ladder. Into the ring, Charlotte hits Lash with chops, but Lash slams her onto a ladder. Chelsea and Tiffany decide to team up and slug it out on Jade and Lash, but that ends quickly with Jade clearing the ring. Flair hits Jade with a flying bodypress and brings the first ladder in, but Lash takes her out and makes the first climb. Tiffy saves with a codebreaker, but Chelsea makes the climb and gets cut off. Lash grabs another ladder and Tiffany wedges her into the corner with it, but Lash chokeslams her into the ladder bridge in a pretty sick bump. I really hate those bumps. Charlotte makes the climb and grabs the belt, but Jade pulls out the ladder and leaves her hanging from the belt before pulling her down and running her into the ladder. Tiffy runs Lash into the ladder and makes the climb, but Chelsea turns on her and pushes the ladder over, sending Tiffany onto the pile outside. And that leaves Chelsea to climb up and grab the title, but Jade’s minions run in and pull her down. So Jade climbs, but Charlotte follows her up and we get the spot with everyone on top of the ladders slugging it out while Chelsea hangs upside down. And then she pops up again, and grabs the title at 12:00. Well is certainly a night of bizarre upsets, but good for Chelsea. I found the ending really overbooked, as they had the finish with Chelsea winning the first time and then did the fakeout with everyone running in. But the match was still really good and exceeded expectations. ***1/2

Human Monies on a Pole: Dominik Mysterio v. Danhausen

Dom goes for the money immediately and Danhausen pulls him down and dodges a 619 before hitting some corner clotheslines. Dom stomps him down and tries the Three Amigos, but Danhausen reverses out to an inverted DDT. This brings out JD for the beatdown because this is no DQ, but the midgets make the save and run wild on Dom and JD. Danhausen makes the climb, but JD cuts him off, so Joe Hendry makes the save even though no one said his name. Danhausen and Dom fight on the top, but Danhausen triggers an explosion in Dom’s face and grabs the cash at 6:52. Eh, I had no idea what any of this was about and there wasn’t really a wrestling match in any of this. It was just a bunch of stuff. I’m sure if I was watching the weekly TV I’d grasp the deep storyline behind it, though.

Intercontinental title: Penta v. Chad Gable

Hey, good to see Chad finally getting a push after having the match of the year a few months ago. Penta takes him down with a cradle for two and snaps off a rana, but Chad hits him with a flipping kick before running into a boot in the corner. Penta with a backbreaker for two, but Gable catches him on a springboard and hits him with the rolling germans for two. Penta goes for the arm, but Gable runs him down and goes up for a moonsault, which misses. Penta gets two off that. Penta with the mule kick in the corner, but Chad catches the leg and rolls him into an anklelock. They take it to the floor and Penta hits him with a dive out there. Back in, Penta with Made in Japan for two. Gable suplexes him into the corner for two and goes up again, but he misses another one and Penta catches him on the mat and snaps the arm for two. Penta goes to work on that, but Chad rolls him into another anklelock and Penta escapes that. So Chad tries a hanging armbar in the corner and then hits him with a german suplex on the apron, THE HARDEST PART OF THE RING. They head to the floor again off that as Gable moonsaults him on the floor, and back in with a flying headbutt for two. They fight to the top, but Penta brings him down with a destroyer on the apron, and that only gets two. That’s one where it looks horrific but it’s totally safe. Penta charges and Chad grabs another anklelock, and Penta can’t make the ropes and taps out at 11:11 to give Gable the IC title in his hometown. A little short but balls to the wall action from start to finish. ****

Oh and then TKO turns his heartfelt celebration with his family into a goddamn ROOT BEER COMMERCIAL, because of course they do.

WWE World title: Roman Reigns v. Seth Rollins

I know it’s a broken record at this point, but it took 30 minutes from the end of the last match to the starting bell of this one. Great if you need to break for supper or something I guess. I have the closed captions on this for one for various reasons, and I’m amused that they note “The crowd sings Oh Whoa Oh” for Seth. Is that seriously the name of his theme song? Also Seth deserves to lose tonight just for his ridiculous gear. He looks like a bucket of ice cream. They fight for the lockup and Roman wins that battle, but Seth hits him with a sling blade and they’re at a stalemate. Seth slugs away in the corner, but Roman puts him down with clotheslines, so Seth superkicks him. Roman tries the superman punch, but Seth clotheslines him to the floor and follows with the tope suicida, almost overshooting him. Roman retreats to the announce table and Seth gives him another one over there. But then he tries a fourth one and Roman punches him in the face to block it and follows with a Drive-By kick. They head into the ring and fight out there, and Roman suplexes him ono a steel ramp, but then walks into a kneelift. Seth follows with a high knee off the railing. Seth gets spicy with his own spear attempt out there, but Roman casually catches him and powerbombs him through the Spanish table.

Roman preps the other table, but Seth reverses to his own powerbomb, giving Roman a taste of his own table-flavored medicine. Back in, Seth with a Pedigree for two. Seth sets up for the curb stomp, but Roman pops up with the superman punch for two. Spear misses and Seth stomps him on the rebound for two. They fight to the top rope and Roman drops him with a headbutt, but Seth keeps coming with the superplex into the falcon arrow, but Roman counters with the guillotine to block that. Rollins powers out of that, deadlifting Reigns into a suplex, but Roman flips out of that and spears him for two. Roman has a whole soliloquy about that and beats on Seth in frustration, but Seth comes back with a spear for two. The football players at ringside jumping up and down like little kids is amusing. Seth with the buckle bomb, but the stomp misses and Roman hits him with his own buckle bomb and his own curb stomp for two. It’s a double down off that and they get into another trash talk session and slug it out, but the ref is bumped as Seth pays tribute to someone named “Dean Ambrose” with a rebound lariat and double-arm DDT. Roman escapes that, but the ref is bumped AGAIN and everyone is out. Seth grabs a chair, but Roman gets it first and then declines to use it because he wants to settle it like MEN. So they slug it out one more time while that poor referee is dead on the floor and probably in need of medical intervention, but that’s his own fault for choosing to be a referee I guess. Seth absorbs the blows and he WANTS MORE, so Roman keeps punching until Seth superkicks him. Roman with the superman punch, but Seth takes it and keeps coming with the Pedigree. Seth with a curb stomp on the second try and he goes to the top, but misses that stomp and gets speared. Another spear puts him down this time and Roman hits him with a third one, and this time the ref revives and Roman gets the pin at 33:17 to retain. Hey, the best man won, you have to give him that. This was easily Seth’s best match in FOREVER, as they went way beyond expectations and did a gigantic WWE Main Event Style finisher spam classic. *****1/2

I definitely thought Night Two was the better one from a top end perspective, with four of the matches being great, but the two that were not great were REALLY not great and I strongly disliked both of them. So Night One was a bit more consistently good with everything being decent but nothing being great. This one had the epic main event so that’s the winner for me.