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It was a star-studded episode of SmackDown this week as WWE rolled into Philadelphia. The episode featured the fallout from an exhilarating two-night SummerSlam event last weekend. Cody Rhodes kicked off the show this week, with a promo segment. The star was six days removed from losing his Undisputed WWE Championship match at SummerSlam. WWE SmackDown kicked off with the biggest stars Rhodes quickly turned his attention towards Randy Orton and called out the Viper. He was irate after Orton attacked him at SummerSlam, preventing him from winning back the WWE title. With Randy not showing up, the American Nightmare started addressing his loss to CM Punk at Minneapolis. This led to the WWE Champion making his way to the ring. The Best in the World clarified that he had no role in Randy hitting an RKO on Cody. He even suggested the two of them go looking for Orton and beat down on him. Rhodes was convinced and left the ring before announcing that he would find Orton before the end of the night and exact revenge for his loss. Just then, Kevin Owens showed up, marking his first appearance on the blue brand since April 4, 2025. The star returned at SummerSlam and won a fatal four-way match to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship. Things quickly got heated up between Punk and Owens as the two stars were face-to-face exchanging words with each other. General manager Nick Aldis stepped in to calm things down between the two men. Owens then explained that he was forced to leave wrestling for 17 months due to his neck injury. But KO claimed that he was used to proving people wrong, and he was back again after many had written him off. Things are getting HEATED in Philly! 😱 And it's only just the start between Kevin Owens and CM Punk… 👊 pic.twitter.com/Myk857YXA7 — WWE (@WWE) August 8, 2026 Owens also called out Punk for his arrogance. But the WWE Champion was ready with a response, claiming that people like Owens had benefited the most because of the sacrifices Punk made. KO mentioned that it would be sweet to win the WWE title after 10 years, especially from Punk. Owens went on to insult the champ, claiming that Punk taught him what not to do and even called him a “miserable piece of sh*t.” This was the boiling point as the two men were face-to-face again and Owens shoved CM Punk. WWE officials and referees got into the ring to prevent the situation from escalating further.