WWE Star Returns On SmackDown, Sets Up SummerSlam Match

WWE

A WWE star made their return on tonight’s SmackDown show, setting up a match for SummerSlam next weekend in Minneapolis.

Back at the Royal Rumble, Brie Bella would make her return to WWE television in the Women’s Royal Rumble match, reuniting with her twin sister Nikki Bella, who returned to WWE television the prior year.

The Bella Twins were set to feature in the Women’s Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania 42, until Nikki Bella would suffer a foot injury weeks out from the show.

In her place, Paige would make her return to WWE after 8 years away to be Brie’s replacement partner at WrestleMania, with her and Brie winning the Women’s Tag Team Championship.

Nikki Bella Returns On WWE SmackDown, Lays Out SummerSlam Challenge

Brie and Paige lost the Women’s Tag Team Championship to Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley of Fatal Influence at Saturday Night’s Main Event last weekend in Madison Square Garden.

On tonight’s WWE SmackDown show, Brie Bella picked up a singles victory over Lainey Reid, which led to a three on one assault from Fatal Influence on Paige and Brie.

This led to the return of Nikki Bella to WWE television for the first time since WrestleMania, with her evening the odds against Fatal Influence.

Nikki would then challenge Fatal Influence to a six-woman tag team match at SummerSlam next weekend.

WWE Money In The Bank 2026: Who Needs It Most?

After being moved around several times, WWE Money in the Bank 2026 looks to be firmly placed at Saturday, October 10 from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.

While still three months away, it’s already looking like it’ll be a vitally important event for certain names on the roster, many of whom could be solely reliant on the briefcase if they are ever going to reach the main event scene.

Perhaps more than anyone, LA Knight is in desperate need of a Money in the Bank win, and quite frankly that sentence was also true in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Knight has been unsuccessful in all three of his Money in the Bank Ladder Matches, and should he enter this year’s match, it truly feels like win or bust for his chances of ever capturing, what many feel is a well earned first-ever world championship.

Someone who has time on his side, but could certainly benefit massively from a Money in the Bank win is Bron Breakker. After coming desperately close to winning the World Heavyweight Title on the first Raw of 2026, and reportedly being at one point planned to win the 2026 Royal Rumble, Breakker suffered back-to-back losses to Seth Rollins and has now slipped all the way back down the card into the World Tag Team Title division.

Much like LA Knight, Finn Balor is another name who feels like a now or never pick for the Money in the Bank, and he has been riding a nice wave of momentum on SmackDown as of late. Whereas Dominik Mysterio, similarly to Bron Breakker, could certainly use the briefcase to bring him back on track towards being a future main event level heel, rather than being terrorised by Danhausen.

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• wwe
• SummerSlam
• Nikki Bella

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