WWE SmackDown results, grades (July 17): Cody Rhodes, Gunther set the stage for Saturday Night's Main Event

"WWE SmackDown" was in Albany, New York on Friday — July 17 — to prepare for tomorrow's Saturday Night's Main Event in Madison Square Garden. All eyes were on CM Punk and Cody Rhodes, who now have to attempt to keep their match between just them, as Gunther and Sami Zayn loom.Logic out the window This needs to be made abundantly clear right off the bat — tonight's "SmackDown" was the definition of WWE "just doing [expletive]." Almost every portion of this show had a "WTF" reaction somewhere in its shuffle. To start things off, Gunther appeared. You know, the guy who should probably be fired within kayfabe for assaulting the "SmackDown" general manager last week. Instead, there's no suspension. No repercussion. He's actually got a chance to be rewarded, as replacement GM Adam Pearce revealed that if he and Zayn beat Rhodes and Punk tomorrow, they'll get added to a Fatal 4-Way world title match at SummerSlam. Brother, what? At least Pearce flat-out said if it were up to him, Gunther would be fired. This will obviously lead to his punishment being an Aldis match. ... I use the word "obvious" with much more hope than it deserves. Nothing is obvious right now, as evidenced by this segment.WOW! 🤯If Gunther and Sami Zayn win tomorrow night at #SNME, they will be ADDED to the Undisputed WWE Title match at #Summerslam! pic.twitter.com/G371cba6hO— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2026 To make it all even funnier, Gunther started his promo by saying he's been mistreated since arriving on the blue brand, conveniently overlooking the fact that his "mistreatment" included an immediate title opportunity. You can call this "heel work," but it's just poor writing. Rhodes heard enough, and stormed out to attack Gunther and get a match for the night's main event.Cody Rhodes vs Gunther TONIGHT! 👏Now THAT is a Main Event! pic.twitter.com/OQUWeowDD6— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2026 Gunther and Rhodes worked the physical, deliberate style you'd expect, as we've seen frequently as of late. The story centered around Rhodes' health, with the stakes looming for his and Punk's tag match — the latter of whom eventually arrived, prompting another obvious question: Why wouldn't Punk just get either guy disqualified? This was an entirely pointless match that did nothing more than serve the ego of Rhodes' character. That rightfully annoyed Punk earlier in the night, yet he did nothing about it. The match continued until Zayn resurfaced for the first time since losing the Undisputed WWE Championship and blindsided Punk at ringside. Rhodes came after him, and Zayn retaliated to give Rhodes the DQ win. As expected, there was a less-than-0% chance of a clean finish here.Sami Zayn ATTACKS CM Punk out of NOWHERE! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/r26Rmq2hLM— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2026 "SmackDown" then went off the air with a brawl between all four, and it couldn't have been any more chaotic in the worst way. This whole storyline is so all over the place that it's difficult to care, which is a damn shame for a program between Rhodes and Punk, of all people.IT IS CHAOS!!! @CodyRhodes and @CMPunk take on @SamiZayn and @Gunther_AUT TOMORROW NIGHT at #SNME! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/MC6EsS9mcj— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2026 Break glass in case of emergency OK. To throw out a sprinkle of positivity, I'll say that I like WWE making people qualify for a title match. And that's where the positivity ends. Rhea Ripley's knee injury is serious enough to force the creation of an Interim Women's Championship, but not to strip her of the title altogether. I really don't have any issue there, because as a result we'll get a five-woman ladder match at SummerSlam. The first two qualifier matches, though? Genuinely, WWE may not have been thinking.🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨Due to Rhea Ripley’s injury, Adam Pearce announces that an interim WWE Women's Champion will be crowned in a Ladder Match at #SummerSlam. pic.twitter.com/HtX9k8WYab— WWE (@WWE) July 17, 2026 First and foremost, Tiffany Stratton — the Women's U.S. Champion — had a qualifier match against Jacy Jayne. We've known that Stratton's title is a completely irrelevant waste of leather, but once again, tonight highlighted that in spades. Even on commentary, Joe Tessitore buried the title by saying Stratton "wants the big one." So why the hell should we care about the one she has if she and the company both don't? Listen, I've been a Stratton guy since she joined the main roster. She's great. But worst of all, she defeated Jayne clean as a sheet. The new, fresh, great heel on the scene gets completely left out of a star-making match opportunity that she arguably should have gone on to win. Especially when WWE itself debuted Jayne and Fatal Influence by attacking Ripley. How does this happen? It wrote itself for them — and they buried it along with one of their titles.It's TIFFY TIME ⏱️@tiffstrattonwwe qualifies for the Interim WWE Women's Title Ladder Match at #SummerSlam! pic.twitter.com/1bElg7AE6m— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2026 In the other qualifier match, Jade Cargill and Nia Jax were booked against each other not to wrestle. The match started, and nearly immediately Charlotte Flair attacked for revenge for what Cargill did to Alexa Bliss last week. But, like an absolute buffoon, Flair gave Cargill the win to advance to the ladder match by attacking her. Simply an unbelievable level of stupidity from one of the most legendary wrestlers in your company for the past decade. And again, WWE rewarded someone for ruining a match by giving Flair a shot against Jax next week. Jax was rightfully pissed and attacked Flair after the match, then complained to Pearce to set that up. It was one of the few logical moments on this whole show.The Queen @MsCharlotteWWE with some REVENGE on Jade Cargill! 👊 pic.twitter.com/LjxII6TsLJ— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2026 👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑 Believe it or not, tag-team wrestling got a chance to shine on this "SmackDown" when The War Raiders took on Fraxiom. It was an unsurprisingly great match that moved fast, pitting the big dudes against the high-flying smaller guys. Sadly, Fraxiom had no chance, as WWE has continued to tease the Raiders against R-Truth and Damian Priest. But purely from an in-ring perspective, this match was the best thing "SmackDown" had going by a country mile.The War Raiders pick up the WIN after a FANTASTIC match! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/cZxrXPWCpp— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2026 I give Friday's "SmackDown" a crown score of: 👑 2.5/10 👑WWE SmackDown full card results and grades: Cody Rhodes def. Gunther — 👑3/5 👑 The War Raiders (Erik and Ivar) def. Fraxiom (Nathan Frazer and Axiom) — 👑 4/5 👑 Interim Women's Championship Ladder match qualifier: Jade Cargill def. Nia Jax — 👑 0/5 👑 Interim Women's Championship Ladder match qualifier: Tiffany Statton def. Jacy Jayne — 👑 2/5 👑 Finn Bálor def. Talla Tonga — 👑 2.75/5 👑Recap "SmackDown" with Uncrowned's live blog: