GUNTHER Vs. Cody Rhodes Undisputed WWE Title Match Confirmed For Clash In Italy 2026

Published: 2 hours ago by Liam | Last Updated: 2 hours ago by Liam

Liam has been reporting & analyzing wrestling news for over eight years, and is currently the Managing Editor at WrestleTalk.com. Immersed in wrestling for 18 years, he has over 11,000 published articles in addition to leading and overseeing WrestleTalk.com's coverage.

GUNTHER will officially challenge Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Clash In Italy 2026 on May 31 in Turin.

Last week, it was revealed that Paul Heyman’s favor to GUNTHER from the Seth Rollins WrestleMania match build was to set up GUNTHER moving to SmackDown for an Undisputed WWE Title match against Cody Rhodes.

However, GUNTHER hesitated to sign the contract last week and then again this week, which led to Royce Keys coming out and basically saying if GUNTHER wasn’t going to sign the contract, then Keys would.

WWE SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis then came out and made the match for tonight’s main event – GUNTHER vs Keys, with the winner challenging Rhodes at Clash In Italy.

It was GUNTHER who emerged victorious in the #1 contender’s match, officially booking his ticket to the Inalpi Arena at the end of the month.

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Solo Sikoa had come out to try and help Royce Keys and slid him a chair to use while the referee was down, but Keys rejected it and actually struck Sikoa with the chair.

The distraction allowed GUNTHER to follow up with lariat and a powerbomb for the win.

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Undisputed WWE Championship Win Could Be The Perfect Recovery For GUNTHER

With Roman Reigns reigning as the World Heavyweight Champion on Raw, there’s every argument that GUNTHER should win the Undisputed WWE Championship at Clash In Italy.

WWE didn’t do a great job of keeping GUNTHER hot after he retired John Cena and AJ Styles as his road to WrestleMania ended up being a bit muddled and rushed due to an injury to his planned opponent Rey Mysterio.

However, this match against Cody Rhodes presents the perfect opportunity to get back on track and for the Austrian to hold THE top championship that has been held by Reigns, Rhodes and John Cena over the past few years.

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It would also effectively set up a Crown Jewel Championship match against Reigns for later in the year, which could be a big attraction as well.

Not only would a title win be a big positive for GUNTHER, but it could also be a worthwhile reset for Rhodes to go back into chase mode too.

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