RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Filled with surprise returns and title changes, WWE SummerSlam 2026 certainly shook up the landscape for professional wrestling for the second half of the year. With the dust now settled from the three - night weekend and less than 24 hours to have digested it all, the Uncrowned Horsemen are back for our official exit survey, simultaneously looking back at the weekend that was and ahead to what it all means moving forward.
Let’s ride!
1. What's your grade for the entire SummerSlam weekend? What was your favorite moment or match?
Jackman: Evidently summer brings out my cheerful side, as I was pretty satisfied with the whole weekend. If we're doing letter grades, I'd say B, verging on a B+. I thought it was consistently better than WrestleMania. Nearly all of the matches landed and there was an urgency to the overall event that you don’t always get at these larger shows.
Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins was the best match of the weekend, but the best moment had to be Chad Gable getting his flowers. He's worked his tail off over these few years and the callback to his mask vs. mask match (with the whole "my name is Chad Gable" speech) was well done. It was really nice for his family to get to see him triumph for once too.
What was that Michael Cole line? "If you give to this business, it gives back." Not a true reflection of pro-wrestling history by any means, but it suited this occasion down to a tee.
Riggs: An incredibly comfortable B+. Night 1 pretty handily beat out Night 2 for me, thanks to all the good booking decisions regarding winners. The only real misses were probably Baron Corbin dethroning Trick Williams as U.S. Champion, and there were several beats — or no beats at all — throughout a handful of matches that kept SummerSlam from being a perfect event. But it was still a great weekend of matches for WWE.
As for my favorite moment, I'm just a real sucker for a massive crowd reaction, and Kevin Owens' return was special, man. Especially as the Night 2 starter. It was just so, so good. But right up next to it is easily Nick Aldis' in-ring WWE debut . From the entrance to the closing farewell in the ring with his family, it was as lovely as you could have hoped. Triple H reinstating Aldis as the "SmackDown" general manager at the end of the night admittedly dampened the whole fun of it, but hopefully there's more here. WWE can’t close the chapter on Aldis’ wrestling career so swiftly and abruptly after that.
Nick Aldis looked like he barely missed a step in his first match in three years. WWE via Getty Images
Sulla-Heffinger: I’ll agree with Drake here, a B+ sounds exactly right for this weekend. Both nights had memorable matches and moments and — perhaps most importantly — felt like equals.
As far as my favorite match/moment, it’s hard not to appreciate the performance of both Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins to close out Night 2. Even with some minor gripes (that ref was out for way too long ) and the absence of Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley, it was a fitting conclusion to The Shield saga that started well over a decade ago.
Dansby: Looking back on the weekend, I enjoyed both nights, with Night 2 getting the slight edge. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins, Penta vs. Chad Gable, the No. 1 Contender Fatal 4-Way, and Iyo Sky vs. Liv Morgan were the clear standouts.
There are definitely a few matches and moments I could nitpick, but overall I'd give SummerSlam a solid B-. The biggest issue wasn't the wrestling. It was the lack of investment heading into the show. Too many matches suffered from weak builds, leaving fans with little reason to care about the outcomes before the bell rang. Fortunately, most of those matches overdelivered once they started. If anything, SummerSlam gave me optimism that WWE is heading toward a much stronger finish to 2026.
The new WWE Women's Champion. WWE via Getty Images
2. Who should Chelsea Green’s first title defense come against? Do you see her holding the championship until Rhea Ripley is cleared?
Dansby: Chelsea Green feels like the perfect person to eventually drop the title back to Rhea Ripley ... or maybe not.
Green has a real opportunity to breathe new life into the top of the women's division. The more she escapes with questionable victories and wins by the skin of her teeth, the more entertaining she'll become as champion. Honestly, I'd even consider having her beat a returning Ripley before eventually dropping the championship to the division's next breakout star.
I still think Giulia is destined for that spot. As the year goes on, I expect fans to fully get behind her, and she feels like someone who should be in the championship picture by year's end.
Riggs: I'm still pretty shocked they went the Green route after the “WWE: Unreal” situation. The whole thing really makes you wonder, especially with Green playing into it on the post-show.
"I am going to dedicate this title to Michael Hayes" 🫡 @ImChelseaGreen pic.twitter.com/R9nZ8LTfnA
— WWE (@WWE) August 3, 2026
Nonetheless, having her hang onto the title until challenging Ripley would feel very odd with where we currently stand. Despite the win, Green has yet to be established as a serious competitor in any sense at all. She won her qualifier match good and clean, but outside of that she's not done much winning, and was practically handed the spot here. Not that she doesn't deserve it — her character’s direction just needs to change very quickly.
With that in mind, I don't see how something involving Tiffany Stratton doesn't linger. But you know the real answer here: Nia Jax was still screwed out of this whole match. She's getting reinserted directly into the title picture where nobody wants her. That's the best way WWE can think of to further fuel Green support.
Sulla-Heffinger: Nia Jax does make a ton of sense in this spot and a surprise win over he...
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