Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s live coverage for "WWE SmackDown" on July 24, 2026, coming to you live from the Oakland Arena in Oakland, California!Jade Cargill may have advanced to the Interim Women's Championship SummerSlam Ladder Match during last Friday's episode of "SmackDown" when she defeated Nia Jax via disqualification thanks to interference at the hands of Charlotte Flair. Tonight, Jax will have another chance to earn her spot in the Interim Women's Championship SummerSlam Ladder Match when she collides with Flair in a qualifier match while Kiana James will be going head-to-head with Chelsea Green in another qualifier match. Along with Cargill, Women's United States Champion Tiffany Stratton also secured her spots in the Interim Women's Championship SummerSlam Ladder Match last Friday, defeating Fatal Influence member Jacy Jayne.GUNTHER and Sami Zayn looked to turn the Undisputed WWE Championship match at WWE SummerSlam into a Fatal Four-Way by securing a win against match participants Cody Rhodes and titleholder CM Punk at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event last Saturday. However, "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis intervened to make sure that wouldn't happen by getting involved in the match. Following such, Punk and Rhodes are both set to make appearances on tonight's show as they prepare for their Undisputed WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.Additionally, the aforementioned GUNTHER will be making an appearance on tonight's show after WWE CCO Triple H announced during the SummerSlam Kickoff show this past Sunday that he would be squaring off against the aforementioned Aldis at the upcoming August 1 and August 2 Premium Live Event.We are live! Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore greet audiences at home as Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis are waiting in the ring. We then head over to a video recapping the recent tensions between Aldis and GUNTHER.
Pearce welcomes fans to "SmackDown" and introduces GUNTHER. GUNTHER then makes his way to the ring.Pearce says GUNTHER and Aldis have had the chance to review the contract for their SummerSlam match, then informs Aldis that he can't compete as an official WWE Superstar as the "SmackDown" General Manager which means he will have to relinquish the role of "SmackDown" General Manager upon signing the contract. He also notes that he will be taking over as "SmackDown"General Manager, then says there's also a clause that states Aldis is returning to competition of his own free will and WWE assumes no responsibility for what happens to Aldis.Pearce asks Aldis if they're crystal clear on the terms of the contract, and Aldis says he knows what he's signing. He the signs the contract, but GUNTHER says their match will be the greatest moment of Aldis' career. He says since joining "SmackDown", Aldis has had an issue with him and he realized that issue is jealousy. GUNTHER says Aldis never made it as a WWE Superstar and says he got it all when he walked into the door from the titles to the money to the accolades. He says Aldis had to be honest with himself that he just isn't good enough and says he'll fulfill Aldis' dream and signs the contract.GUNTHER says he'll turn Aldis into a legend and will have him join the list of names such as John Cena, Goldberg, and AJ Styles that he's retired. He says he'll end Aldis' career before it's properly started and looks to leave, but Aldis stops him and says GUNTHER keeps repeating himself. He says if GUNTHER believed anything he was saying, he wouldn't keep repeating himself to him and says GUNTHER is really just trying to get him to believe everything he's saying about him. He says GUNTHER never thought it would come to a match between them and says he saw in GUNTHER's eyes that he wants nothing to do with their match at the SummerSlam Kickoff show because GUNTHER is the one to put his career in jeopardy. HE says GUNTHER will go from the "Career Killer" to the man who's boss made a b**** out of him.Aldis and GUNTHER begin brawling, but Pearce attempts to separate the two men. Aldis is sent crashing into Pearce, but GUNTHER low blows Aldis and powerbombs him through the table in the ring.We then head backstage, where Sami Zayn hijacks a camera to once again vent his frustrations with the recent Undisputed WWE Championship ongoings and the current Undisputed WWE Championship SummerSlam match. He questions why Aldis gets to have a match with GUNTHER and runs into Pearce, where he demands that Pearce fix the situation as he says Aldis screwed him over at Saturday Night's Main Event as well. He asks Pearce to make the SummerSlam Undisputed WWE Championship match a TripleThreat, but Pearce declines to do so and says a Fatal Four-Way Match between Trick Williams, Damian Priest, Finn Balor, and Royce Keys will be held tonight. He says the winner will face Zayn in a Number One Contenders Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam, but Zayn voices his anger about having to earn his way back to the Undisputed WWE Championship. Pearce tells Zayn to take it or leave it, and Zayn says he'll take it.Brie Bella and Paige then make their way to the ring. Fatal Influence follows, with Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley bragging about being the new Women's Tag Team Championship and Jacy Jayne making it clear she wants some gold of her own as she calls out Women's United States Champion Tiffany Stratton.
Brie levels Reid with a right hand, then delivers a knee to her off the ring steps. The pair get back into the ring back from the break, and the bell sounds.Reid delivers a double ax handle to Brie, then jams her knee into the back of Brie's neck. Reid continues to wear down Brie and whips her into the corner spine first, then levels her with a right hand. Brie connects with a Russian Leg Sweep on Reid and pins her, but Reid kicks out and looks to land an elbow drop on Brie.Brie rolls out of the way and fires off the Yes Kicks on Reid, then delivers a knee strike to her and goes for a pin. Reid kicks out and sends Brie crashing into the corner spine first, but Brie catches Reid with a Bulldog and ascends to the top rope. Henley looks to interfere, but Brie sends her crashing off the ring apron with a kick. This opens the door for Reid to join Brie on the ropes, but Brie sees Reid crashing into the mat face first.Jayne hops up on the apron and gets in Reid's face, but Paige pulls her off the ring apron. Brie looks to land a Sunset Flip off the ropes on Reid, but Reid sits down into a pinfall. The referee catches her hand on the ropes, allowing Brie to reverse the fall for the win.Winner: Brie BellaAfter the match, Fatal Influence looks to beat down Paige and Brie, but Nikki Bella's music hits and she makes her way out to the ring to return from injury. She lands a Rack Attack 2.0 on Jayne, then challenges Fatal Influence to a Six Woman Tag Team Match at SummerSlam on behalf of herself, Brie, and Paige.We then head backstage, where Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green ponder the thought of each of them winning the Interim Women's Championship at SummerSlam. Blake Monroe approaches Green and tells her to worry about her Women's United States Championship rather than Green. She then tells Stratton to polish the belt for her.Back at ringside, Green makes her way out. Kiana James follows.
The bell rings and Green slaps James. She dropkicks James out of the ring and off the apron, then looks to fly. James intercepts Green with a right hand and fires off knees on Green's midsection on the outside, then drapes her across one of the barricades midsection first and delivers a superkick on her.James dumps Green back in the ring, but Green delivers a Russian Leg Sweep to James and goes for a pin. James kicks out, but Green catches her with Unprettier for the win.Winner: Chelsea GreenCody Rhodes then makes his way to the ring.
Rhodes asks the live crowd what they want to talk about and calls out CM Punk. Punk then makes his way out and begins to gets defensive about hitting Rhodes with the strap of the disputed WWE Championship belt.Rhodes tells Punk to stop with the term paranoid and says he's not paranoid, then says he accepts Punk accidentally hitting him with the Undisputed WWE Championship belt strap. He says Punk has the title that WWE revolves around and says he wants to beat Punk for himself, then says he doesn't like Punk and takes the fans back to 2011. He says Punk cut his infamous Pipe Bomb and he exactly followed that promo, going on to drop a nuke in the professional wrestling business. He says he was aware that the fans wished that he was Punk, then says he can respect Punk and says for their story to have a proper ending, he has to beat Punk at SummerSlam.Punk says he casts a large shadow that Rhodes and a few others can't get out from underneath from. He says brothers fight, but if Rhodes watched him do those great things, he was smart enough to pay attention. He says whether Rhodes did them bigger or better is for the fans and history to decide, but says Rhodes is lying to himself about being able to handle taking the Undisputed WWE Championship off someone he loves. He says if Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, and John Cena are Rhodes' enemy, that makes him Rhodes' only friends and says he promised years ago he would stab Rhodes in the front. He says he'll break Rhodes' heart at SummerSlam.Rhodes says himself and Punk will be tagging at Live Events and says he has a gift for Punk to give him after their tag team matches. Punk responds by saying he has a gift for Rhodes at SummerSlam: a beating. He claims to be the best in the world as a wrestler and on a microphone, then says he'll be beating Dusty's kid.Punk looks to leave, but Rhodes stops him and says he wants his music to be played instead of Punk's so that Punk has a preview of the music he'll be hearing at SummerSlam.Hard refresh this page for updates ctrl + F5 on Windows; Cmnd + shift + R on Mac
