Reigns Stands Tall to end stellar SummerSlam Weekend: Show Results and Review

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — SummerSlam Sunday has ended, bringing the 2026 edition of the ‘Biggest Party of the Summer’ to a close. After an incredible night one, the WWE somehow matched its effort from a night ago and surpassed it in some regards. 

Let’s not waste any time, and get straight into the results from SummerSlam Sunday. 

Kevin Owens defeats Sami Zayn, Finn Balor and Gunther to become the No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship 

After the amazing opening match between Iyo Sky and Liv Morgan last night, the WWE understood the assignment for tonight’s opener. It was supposed to be a singles match between Finn Balor and Sami Zayn, but right before the bell rang, reinstated SmackDown GM Nick Aldis announced he'd be adding a competitor. It was Gunther, the man who defeated Aldis last night. Aldis then let Gunther enter the ring, before he announced one more addition to the match, a returning Kevin Owens. U.S. Bank Stadium absolutely erupted, as the crowd favorite was finally back after over 15 months of dealing with a neck injury. 

That energy they gave KO remained for the entirety of this fun match. Owens came out of the gates hot, hitting swanton bombs all over the place, inside the ring and out. The match also saw the long awaited face-off between Sami and Owens who have a long history. The two hugged it out before mutually agreeing it was time to tear each other apart. Possibly the best spot of this match came when Gunther had Sami in the sleeper, and Finn Balor went up and simultaneously hit the Coup de Grace on Sami. Later, after giving stunners out to Balor and Gunther, Kevin and Sami battled it out one last time, when KO delivered a super kick, followed it up with a stunner, and pinned his best friend to earn the number one contendership, much to the delight of the crowd. Michael Cole said it best post match, “Welcome to the KO Show.” The upcoming feud between him and CM Punk should be great. 

Baron Corbin defeats Trick Williams (c) to win the United States Championship

Since Baron Corbin returned to the WWE a few weeks ago, it is clear that the creative team is trying to market him as a beast who is better than ever and is now a serious threat to everyone. Corbin dominated the early goings with his ruthless aggression. Lil Yachty got involved, before being slammed into the barricade by Corbin. After more back and forth in which Trick got off some offense but was mostly being overpowered, Corbin again caught Yachty on the ring apron, before Trick punched Corbin, causing him to push Yachty off the ring apron into a table that had earlier been set up. Corbin capitalized on the distracted referee, clocking Trick with the custom U.S. title and hitting the End of Days, pinning Trick to become the new champion. The crowd doesn’t seem convinced of Corbin, but with this quick push, I’m intrigued to see where they go next. As for Trick, he is extremely over with the crowd, and maybe not having the title could allow him to move up in the SmackDown rankings. 

5-Way Interim WWE Women's Championship Ladder Match: Charlotte Flair vs. Jade Cargill vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Chelsea Green vs. Lash Legend

Ladder matches and big WWE PLE’s are like strawberries and bananas, they just go together beautifully, and they hit every time. This time around was no different, as these women came out and put on a hard-hitting show for the electric Minnesota crowd. Lash Legend, who just earned her spot in this match on Friday, shined in this grueling style of match. At one point, she was on the top with Stratton and threw her into the air before power slamming her down into the ladder. After more action in which every woman nearly won this match, the electric finishing sequence began. Chelsea Green first ran up to her recent best friend Stratton who was alone on the ladder, and pushed her off to the outside. Green then scaled the ladder and had the title won, before Cargill’s goons Michin and B-Fab attacked her, leaving her feet hanging from the ladder and her head parallel to the floor. After the other women came back and all took each other out, Green opened her eyes, and at the same time as the crowd, realized she was all alone. They stood up and screamed as she pulled herself up and scaled the ladder as quickly as she could and grabbed the title, sending the place into a frenzy. Chelsea Green is the interim WWE Women’s Champion. 

Danhousen vs Dominik Mysterio – Human Monies on a Pole

In a night full of championship and contendership matches, the Danhausen vs Dirty Dom Mysterio Human Monies on a Pole match survived as the outlier. Any match that has Danhausen in it is going to be the entertainment part of the night, and it was no different this time around. JD McDonaugh came out to help Mysterio, before the Minihausens came out and wreaked havoc on the Judgement Day. When it seemed like Mysterio would claim the money, Joe Hendry came out and clobbered JD with a guitar, before helping Danhousen topple Mysterio, on his way to claiming the Monies and winning the match. 

Chad Gable defeats Penta (c) to win the Intercontinental Championship 

Some stories are too perfect not to tell. Chad Gable has been one of the best wrestlers in the WWE for years, but had never held a singles title coming into SummerSlam Sunday. He lost to Penta and then went on a journey to mock Luchador wrestling. He ended up respecting the art of Lucha Libre and having one of the greatest matches in WWE history in the El Grande Americano  ‘Mask vs Mask’ match on May 30th. He has since earned the forgiveness of the Luchadors and people he offended, and earned the number one contendership for the IC title. It just so happens that the IC champion is Penta, the man who sent Gable down a spiral, and it just so happens that SummerSlam 2026 is in Gable’s hometown. The opportunity was right there for the WWE, the story too perfect not to tell. Gable came down to ringside and hugged his family, before he and Penta exchanged words of respect, and the action began. Both superstars played to their strengths, with Penta moving early and often, and Gable relying on the slower more methodical route, hitting a flurry of German suplexes. Gable hurt his shoulder in the middle part of the match, and was nursing it throughout the remainder, which Penta tried to take advantage of. Both wrestlers loved using the ring apron, as Gable hit Penta with a German on the apron, when Penta responded with a Mexican Destroyer there as well. Just when all looked bad for Gable, he was able to counter Penta’s destroyer attempt inside the ring, when he grabbed hold of his ankle, and synched in the ankle lock. Poetically, Penta just barely got his fingers on the bottom rope when Gable pulled back, sat down and locked it in even deeper in the middle of the ring, forcing Penta to tap out. The story was too perfect not to tell, and the WWE told it. Gable then cried as he accepted his title from the referee, and was shown respect by Penta. His family entered the ring to celebrate, and he cut a promo similar to the one he did after the Mask vs Mask match, stating his name, acknowledging his raucous home fans, and realizing he had accomplished his dream. Well done WWE. 

Roman Rollins defeats Seth Rollins to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

If I take you through everything that happened in this match, you’d be reading for an hour. Allow me to try my best to paint the picture of this SummerSlam main event. It was brilliant. It was transcendent. It was five stars. It lived up to the expectations that come with this stage, while also shattering all of them into pieces. These two titans of the industry, after coming into the game together, finally got their payoff match, and wow, did it deliver. Both men stood and just took in the big match feel even after the bell rang, further drilling the importance of this into everyone's minds. The early goings were aggressive as you’d imagine, including a few minutes outside the ring where the referee gave Seth and Roman leeway to destroy each other. Roman hit his shield-style powerbomb to Seth through one announce table, while Seth then countered him and returned the favor through the other table. Back inside the ring, the storytelling and the action was just getting started. We saw Roman hit a spear and Seth hit a stomp. Kickouts. We saw Seth hit Roman with a spear, and Roman reply with a buckle bomb and a stomp. Kickouts. We saw Roman lock in the guillotine for over a minute. Seth found a way out. Seth hit Roman with a Dean Ambrose-style rebound clothesline, and Roman hit him back with Ambrose’s signature Dirty-Deeds. Both answered by kickouts. Shortly after came the bulk of the story. Roman accidentally knocked the referee out of the ring, when Seth hit him with a stomp, and went to grab a steel chair, the weapon that ended the Shield 12 years ago. Roman countered and took the chair from Seth, when he thought about everything. He thought first about the betrayal Seth caused to him 12 years ago when he put the chair through his back. He then thought about how he hit Seth with the chair at WrestleMania 40, but it cost him. He threw the chair down this time, he and Seth came together in the middle of the ring, a mutual agreement that they would end this fair and square. You could feel the tension in the ring and the anticipation in the building. Seth countered a Roman spear attempt with a pedigree which he has done many times, before going for a super stomp, which Roman countered, and turned into a pair of spears. After the second, Roman knew it was over. While the referee was getting back into the ring, Roman said to Seth “it’s always been me and you”, before hitting one last spear and finally beating Seth, putting an end to this lifetime feud between the two. After celebrating, Roman made the gesture of putting his fist into the middle of the ring, as the Shield used to do, before Seth got up and joined fists with him, acknowledging the history and the storytelling between the two.

Overall Show Review

In my opinion, SummerSlam nights one and two amounted to the best PLE product of the year. Honestly, both night one and two individually have an argument to be called better than any other night of PLE this year. The stories that the WWE was able to tell, the returns, the drama, the 2.99 kickouts, the turning of new pages, the respect between superstars, all of it was special. All of it felt worthy of an event that the WWE is trying to put on par with WrestleMania. Funny enough, the times WWE creative has seemed to struggle the most this year has been between PLE cycles, with not featuring certain superstars enough or repeating storylines. But at the PLE’s themselves, since WrestleMania night two especially, things have been top tier and delivering on all cylinders. Tune back in tomorrow to see more on the aftermath of SummerSlam, and new stories beginning on Raw.