Longtime wrestling analyst thought CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes from WWE SummerSlam was “very bad”
As seen during the 2026 WWE SummerSlam Saturday PLE, CM Punk defeated Cody Rhodes to retain his WWE Championship. Longtime wrestling analyst Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline.com was critical of the match as he issued the following comments…
“I thought this CM Punk-Cody Rhodes match was very bad. I thought this was the worst match involving a major championship since John Cena had that run where he was a heel and all of his matches were bad.
Like, this match was so slow. The crowd was dead until, like, the last five minutes or so. CM Punk, for reasons I cannot explain, just like Brock Lesnar, like 30 seconds in, this guy’s purple. And then he decides, ‘I’m going to do some crazy sh*t.’ He did, I’m pretty sure, the worst moonsault I have ever seen in a main event match on the main roster from any company. I mean, it was so horrible.
And don’t yell at me. This is just on the internet. They have determined CM stands for ‘Cannot Moonsault.’
They had another spot where Cody went for a Cody Cutter. I think CM Punk was supposed to dropkick him out of midair, but he sort of did a falling Yakuza kick, which the announcers covered for by claiming that his leg hurt.
He also tried a flying elbow off the post through Cody and the table, which I couldn’t even believe he conceived of trying. Cody moved. He landed on his feet on the table and then went flying.
I don’t know how he survived the match. I mean, even like there was one spot at the end where Cody did a Cross Rhodes. It was the slowest Cross Rhodes I’ve ever seen in my life. And just like, I mean, this was a world title match in 2026.
Dude, I just can’t. I cannot sit here and say that this match was good. I cannot do that with a clear conscience.”