SummerSlam 2026 Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This past weekend, World Wrestling Entertainment held its second-ever two-night SummerSlam at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The event featured 12 matches along with some notable angles and returns. Rather than go match by match and give arbitrary ratings, I’m going to simply call out my top highlights and lowlights.

The Good

The Return of Kevin Owens

What else could it be? Owens had been gone from the ring for almost 18 months due to a serious neck injury that required surgery and threatened his career. His unscheduled return for an impromptu fatal four-way match drew the loudest pop of the weekend. Owens then went on to win the match, setting up a tantalizing first-time encounter with WWE Champion CM Punk and injecting life into a suddenly stacked main-event scene on SmackDown. There’s some built-in tension with Punk, as Owens is friends with AEW’s Young Bucks. The promos and in-ring work should be excellent. Other highlights:

• It’s time to dust off the “You deserve it” chants for Chelsea Green and Chad Gable, both of whom won long-overdue titles on Night 2. Gable, in particular, who languished as Shorty G under the previous regime, more than earned his moment.
• It was a good weekend for Solo Sikoa and Nick Aldis as well. Aldis, a former champion in NWA and TNA, finally got to perform on the big stage. Meanwhile, it was nice to see Sikoa get some love from the crowd as he has languished ever since breaking away from Roman Reigns.

The Bad

Hell in a Cell

Although the match between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi wasn’t bad, what exactly was the point of the cell? The entire layout of the match better fit a standard No-DQ stipulation as they built around spots within the ring. After what CM Punk and Drew McIntyre accomplished in bringing back the aura of Hell in a Cell, this match fell flat. This wasn’t violent enough for the cell, and not having blood was a mistake. It also didn’t help that Femi missed the exposed wood panels with his finisher, making Lesnar lose clean to a standard move. Other lowlights:

• Baron Corbin beating Trick Williams means WWE doesn’t have a male singles champion under the age of 40; Punk is 47, Reigns and Corbin are 41, and Gable is 40.
• Danhausen can be entertaining in small doses, but his match with Dominik Mysterio was somehow too goofy and not goofy enough. Also, it’s weird that Mysterio is the top champion in AAA, but in WWE he’s jobbing to Danhausen.

The Ugly

Mug Root Beer

Lash Legend’s nasty-looking powerbomb on Tiffany Stratton made its case, and “BM Punk’s” questionable incident made him the butt of social media jokes. On a cleaner note, the latest in WWE/TKO/ESPN’s relentless advertising barrage gets the nod. After Gable won the Intercontinental Championship in his home state, he brought his wife, kids, and parents into the ring to celebrate. It was the end of a redemption arc that began in early 2025 and mirrored his promo after getting unmasked in Mexico. Rather than allowing Gable to bask in the moment, a guy in a dog mask showed up as part of a cross-promotion for Mug Root Beer. Gable would go on to chug the root beer while Michael Cole said, “He’s got that dawg in him.” Gross.

Related: The 10 Best Matches in SummerSlam History