WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night 1: 3 Things We Hated & 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s review of WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night 1, the show that gave us a Liv Morgan victory, a Nick Aldis debut, a Randy Orton return, and the official putting over (if not quite crowning) of Oba Femi. As you might expect, the Wrestling Inc. staff have thoughts about all those things, and some quite strong opinions on them!

If you missed the show and need to catch up, as always, you can do so via our WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night 1 results page, which includes some things we're not covering here — like the six-man tag involving The Bloodline, or the six-woman tag involving Fatal Influence. This column is strictly for the WINC crew's opinions about the matches and moments that stood out to us the most, either in a positive or a negative way. In other words, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night 1!

It feels worth noting before getting into the subjectively bad part of this match that the actual in-ring portion of Liv Morgan versus IYO SKY was the best action of the night hands down. That's to be expected, honestly, considering both the women in the match belong to the upper echelon of wrestlers in the world. But the result and the overall shortness of everything just felt underwhelming when all was said and done.

Morgan was defending her Women's World Championship for the first time in 106 days, almost four months on from capturing the title from Stephanie Vaquer at WrestleMania. That's simply not good enough for a world champion whichever way it is cut, especially when this same weekend there will be an Interim Women's Championship match because the reigning champion is inactive.

Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez tried to interfere as one could have predicted, given that no Judgment Day member's match can ever come without the same cookie-cutter interference bulls***. All that served was to take away from the good match that was beginning to unfold, and then by the time everything started to feel like it was picking up again, Morgan had hit ObLivion and that was the end of the match.

If one is making their first world title defense in 106 days, then the expectation is that match is going to be a reminder as to what has been missing. This was shorter than it might have been as a "WWE Raw" main event. It was even shorter than the Queen of the Ring final between them at Night of Champions. It was almost an entire five minutes shorter than the non-title match between SKY and Asuka at Backlash, and it was over five minutes shorter than Morgan's QOTR semi-final bout against Charlotte Flair.

When it was over, Morgan was still champion. It would have been nice to see SKY win the title, and the result wouldn't have felt so much of a kick below the belt if the past few months hadn't been so tedious. Now there's going to be more scream promos, more interference-laden matches and obnoxiousness, with very little reason to expect any compelling progress as it pertains to the Judgment Day tensions arising during the Queen of the Ring run.

Written by Max Everett

I am happy to report that Nick Aldis vs. GUNTHER lived up to my, and most of the Wrestling Inc. staff's, expectations.

Unlike GUNTHER's match with WWE commentator Pat McAfee last year, his one against the "WWE SmackDown" General Manager didn't feel like it was dragging along. We found its pacing to feel just right, with reasonable potential to stretch on longer.

Also unlike GUNTHER's match with McAfee, WWE treated Aldis as a legitimate competitor. The company made sure to highlight Aldis' pre-WWE experience, which included successful runs in TNA Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance. A graphic even listed Aldis' world championship accomplishments. It was Aldis' introduction as "The National Treasure," complemented by an Oasis song, however, that cemented him as a truly formidable challenger to "The Ring General." 

For those who hadn't seen Aldis perform before, they were then treated to a mix of technical wrestling and shows of strength. And for a moment, I even believed that GUNTHER might tap out to the King's Lynn Cloverleaf.

All in all, I'd say that Aldis' WWE in-ring debut proved successful. Who knows, it might open the door for more action too.

Written by Ella Jay

The surprise return of Randy Orton notwithstanding, I thought the Undisputed WWE Championship match pitting a defending CM Punk against Cody Rhodes was very underwhelming. I wasn't a big fan of this feud going into it, as there was quite a bit of story between the two men to play upon, and yet WWE basically boiled it all down to friendship. I found all their promo segments leading up to tonight pretty boring, but I was still surprised to find out that their match wasn't main eventing the show tonight.

When we got to the match, however, I can see why. The bout was just under a half hour, according to Cagematch, the usual run time for a normal championship match on a major premium live event, but it still felt like it went on forever. At some points, especially in the first 20 or so minutes, it felt like things were moving in slow motion. It felt like any other Undisputed WWE Championship match I've seen lately, despite Rhodes and Punk not facing each other one-on-one since 2008. For whatever reason, I felt like I had seen this before, and that likely has to do with the blue brand's top title scene and Rhodes always being in it.

There were a few spots, on Punk's end, that just looked awful tonight. In addition to his horrible moonsault that missed Rhodes by a longshot, Punk's Go to Sleeps just don't look great lately, especially when he's wrestled a long match. That's partially due to the camera angle, at points, and it was noticeable tonight. You could also see the referee bump coming from a mile away, from the way they set up the move and the way the camera was positioned. But, that's also something that happens in every WWE title match, so it wasn't surprising. I'm a noted Punk hater, but even thinking realistically, he's been injury-prone over the years, and the elbow drop from the top rope to the commentary desk, with Rhodes getting out of the way at the last second, probably wasn't the best idea, despite it not looking too bad.

At least the match wasn't overbooked with interference — just Orton, and no Kevin Owens, who I thought may come out to neutralize Orton. However, that means Rhodes is going to feud with Orton, probably for the shot to get back at Punk, and that just adds another guy into the main title picture on the blue brand, which is already a bit of a mess with GUNTHER, Sami Zayn, and Finn Balor, at least. This match didn't even live up to my low expectations tonight.

Written by Daisy Ruth

From the moment that Cody Rhodes returned to WWE in 2022, a WrestleMania clash pitting him against Randy Orton skyrocketed to the top of my dream match list. Unfortunately, when that dream finally became a reality at WrestleMania 42, it really became a nightmare (thanks, Pat McAfee). With McAfee now out of the picture and Orton back for vengeance, though, WWE has an opportunity to make things right.

The story between Rhodes and Orton is simple. Rhodes watched Orton soar to the top of WWE while directly learning under him. Fifteen years later, Rhodes himself has reached the mountaintop as Undisputed WWE Champion on three different occasions, while Orton hasn't touched any major gold in nearly six years. In a way, it might seem that Rhodes has surpassed Orton, so naturally, "The Viper" is out to prove the opposite. At the same time, a 15th world title would put him one step closer to potentially overtaking a record set by John Cena.

All the pieces for a successful Orton-Rhodes battle on WWE's grandest stage were there. Late, unnecessary additions then clouded it, and in turn made many viewers, including myself, lose interest in something we had long craved. Fortunately, some rearrangements and subtractions have now seemingly put this dream match back on the table.

Orton's mid-match return and RKO to Rhodes at SummerSlam suggested that his program with his former mentee is far from finished. And if you ask me, the fallout might actually be the best thing for it.

Rhodes no longer has the Undisputed WWE Championship, which means this chapter will be fueled by pure blood and bitterness. And considering that the world title scene is more than saturated (CM Punk, GUNTHER, Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, and a potentially returning Drew McIntyre say hello), the former Legacy members finally have a chance to stand apart and not get eaten by it.

The foundation for a Rhodes-Orton do-over is there. Now it's up to WWE's creative team to stay on course and turn it into something compelling.

Written by Ella Jay

The much-anticipated main event between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi inside Hell in a Cell arguably did what it set out to do: Femi beating Lesnar clean in the middle of the ring to make their series 2-1. Lesnar even went one step further to return to the ring and put his opponent over on the microphone, a truly rare moment with all the intent to make Femi out to be the "Next Big Thing."

That said, it came after a bout that did little to actually use the stipulation. This could have easily just been a No Holds Barred match with the spots that did occur. One table was used and so were a few chairs, but other than that this match was a finisher-fest much in the same way the past two had been. That was until Lesnar ripped the padding of the ringmat to expose the boards beneath, dropping Femi onto it with a Tombstone Piledriver, hearkening back to his last time inside the structure against The Undertaker.

Femi kicked out of it, avoiding what would have been a hell of a gut-punch. But then he hit Fall From Grace and that was the end of it; worse still was that he hit the move on the padded part of the ring when the boards were right there begging to be used.

While it was cool to see Lesnar putting Femi over, potentially in his last match, one is left with the feeling that this was a trilogy for the sake of it. Femi was already over heading into his first match with Lesnar. He was even more so after defeating him. Then to necessitate this match he took his first loss on the main roster. Everything felt wholly unnecessary when all was said and done.

Three Lesnar matches spent trying to accomplish what had already been accomplished after one match. Matches that could have been spent giving that rub to other talent on the roster, win or lose. If this is Lesnar's last match, it could have been with someone like Gunther, Royce Keys, or Jacob Fatu. That would have given value to Femi's King of the Ring win and he could have been crowned as champion, while a credible challenger was being built opposite the "Beast Incarnate."

A waste of a Hell in a Cell match, a waste of a Lesnar match, and a waste of the King of the Ring. Not the ideal hat-trick.

Written by Max Everett

Oba Femi can now officially move on from Brock Lesnar, with a glowing endorsement from "The Beast Incarnate" himself, after he emerged victorious from their Hell in a Cell match. It was the first HIAC of Femi's career, and though the ending could have been done a bit better, I thought he did an excellent job. On commentary after the bout, Michael Cole made it a point to call him "The Next Big Thing," a la Lesnar in 2002, which felt like a big deal.

While I'm certainly no fan of Lesnar, objectively, looking at his career overall and leaving any other thoughts about him out, him putting Femi over, once again, is major. Lesnar took a loss to Femi not once, but twice, and while I do believe ending their story at WrestleMania 42 would have been best, especially for Femi in King of the Ring, this is how it happened. If it had to happen this way, Femi winning twice is the best outcome, especially in a company that's completely fallen off in the booking department.

I thought the match was pretty darn good, maybe not as good as their WrestleMania match, but certainly entertaining. Femi took a beating from Lesnar and kept bouncing back up, which is cool to see in a match like this when one, we've seen it before, and two, you want to see someone win as badly as I wanted to see Femi emerge victorious. Femi had hit some more impressive powerbombs, and whatever he calls the move where he shot-puts a man across the ring, in their previous bouts, but I thought he still looked great in what he did tonight.

As for the ending, Femi getting up from the Tombstone on the exposed wood was a bit much, and I thought it should have just been an F5 he had already popped up from, instead of a new move that probably should have put him away. Femi also could have hit that final Fall From Grace on the exposed wood, but it's highly likely that Lesnar didn't want to take that bump, especially after taking a bump through a table in the corner earlier in the match.

While it looked like SummerSlam was going to go off the air with Femi striking his signature pose, Lesnar got back in the ring and hugged him and raised his hand. He went a step further and put Femi over on the microphone, which might not have been entirely necessary, but was a nice touch. Lesnar put his stamp of approval on Femi, but more importantly, showed we're moving on from this feud, and hopefully "The Ruler" is on to much bigger and better.

Written by Daisy Ruth