Cody Rhodes Choked Out By Gunther In Post-Match Attack
Cody Rhodes returned to in-ring action on the May 1, 2026 episode of WWE SmackDown, beat Ricky Saints in a non-title match, and then got choked unconscious by Gunther in a post-match attack that planted The Ring General firmly in the SmackDown title picture.
Rhodes opened the show by announcing he had been medically cleared after his WrestleMania 42 win over Randy Orton, which left him with an orbital injury and an eye that was completely shut for a stretch. The match with Saints was set up moments later when Saints made his SmackDown debut and challenged him.
The Match Itself
The match went on later in the show. After a clean handshake, Saints took Rhodes down with a couple of arm drags and smiled at him on the mat. Saints controlled most of the picture-in-picture commercial break, sending Rhodes to the floor multiple times. Rhodes hit the Disaster Kick and Cody Cutter combination but couldn’t put Saints away. The finish came when Saints went for Roshambo, Rhodes countered into an inverted facelock, and spiked him with the Cross Rhodes for the clean three count.
Multiple reviewers noted the Cross Rhodes was unusually nasty, with Yahoo Sports calling it “a spike if I’ve ever seen one.”
Gunther’s Attack
While Rhodes was celebrating, Gunther’s music hit. The Ring General came to the ring, locked in the Gojira Clutch, and choked Rhodes out. Then he reapplied the hold on the unconscious Rhodes. Referees flooded the ring and had to physically pry Gunther off Rhodes before he would release.
The crowd reaction was the part that drew the most attention. The Tulsa fans booed Rhodes throughout the match and chanted “you suck” at Gunther while he stood tall, but the energy was clearly with Gunther rather than the champion. Cageside Seats called the post-match the moment that “immediately planted [Gunther] into the ‘SmackDown’ title picture.” Yahoo Sports wrote that the crowd reaction “said everything about how ready people are to see change.”
What This Means For The Brand Split
Gunther has been a Raw fixture since the brand split was reset, most recently defeating Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 42. His showing up on SmackDown to attack the Undisputed WWE Champion is the loudest signal yet that WWE is not enforcing its own brand split in 2026, something both Yahoo Sports and Cageside Seats noted in their write-ups. Yahoo Sports went as far as to say commentary “[tried] to protect the illusion of a brand split in 2026” but “they aren’t fooling anyone.”
For Gunther personally, the move gives him a fresh canvas after multiple high-profile programs on Raw. WWE’s WWE.com X account posted the moment with the caption: “.@Gunther_AUT has his sights set on the Undisputed WWE Championship.”
The Sami Zayn Element
Earlier in the night, Sami Zayn approached Rhodes backstage to take issue with Rhodes calling him sarcastic last week. Zayn told Rhodes being the golden boy isn’t an insult and that they’re the last of a dying breed and essentially the same person. Rhodes shot it down, told Zayn they aren’t the same, and walked off. With Zayn losing it on a Gingerbread Man costume later in the show and Gunther jumping Rhodes after the bell, Rhodes is heading into Backlash week with two parallel issues to deal with on top of whatever Gunther wants from him going forward.
Ricky Saints’ Side Of It
For Saints, the match was as good a debut as he could have asked for despite the loss. The story going in was that Rhodes and Saints (formerly Ricky Starks in AEW) had history dating back to when Saints answered Cody Rhodes’ TNT Championship open challenge in 2020 in his AEW debut. SmackDown commentary danced around naming AEW directly but referenced “their history” multiple times. WrestleTalk wrote that “being positioned with WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is a good start to life on SmackDown for Ricky Saints and suggests management is already behind him.”
Saints’ opening promo was singled out as the highlight: “I’m the hottest, newest, flyest free agent in the business. If you don’t know about me, you better ask about me. I’m everything your baby mama wishes you were.”
Where The Title Picture Stands
With Gunther laying claim to the Undisputed WWE Championship and no Backlash title match for Rhodes announced as of this episode, all signs point to the next pay-per-view after Backlash being the destination for the program. Backlash on May 9 is currently topped by Roman Reigns vs. Jacob Fatu for the World Heavyweight Championship, leaving the SmackDown Undisputed WWE Championship picture wide open for Gunther to take. Fan reaction online was nearly unanimous that Gunther vs. Rhodes is the match SmackDown needs.
