Nick Aldis Was Shocked By WWE SummerSlam Match Against Gunther

Nick Aldis admits he never saw his SummerSlam match with Gunther coming, saying WWE’s decision to put him back in the ring caught him completely by surprise.

The 2026 SummerSlam match marked Aldis’ first WWE match and his first time competing in a ring in almost three years. Aldis temporarily stepped down from his role of SmackDown General Manager to accept Gunther’s challenge, putting his role in authority on hold for the showdown.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, the SmackDown General Manager admitted the match came as “a total shock,” even though people close to him had been telling him for months to stay ready. According to Aldis, both his wife, Mickie James, and Randy Orton warned him not to get too comfortable outside the ring. (via WrestlingInc)

“That doesn’t mean that this one didn’t come as a like total shock because it did … there were two people when there were other moments where it looked like that might be on the cards. Two people that said to me, you have to stay somewhat ready because they’re not going to give you three months’ notice, like you’re going to get a couple weeks.” One was Mickey [James], and one was Randy [Orton], because last year at WrestleMania, a lot of people felt like maybe that was a possibility … I remember Randy talking to me at WrestleMania and kind of saying, you need to stay ready cause it’s going to happen and they’re going to do it like that. Like it’s going to come out of nowhere.”

While Gunther picked up the victory, the story didn’t end there. At the SummerSlam post-show, Triple H tore up Aldis’ resignation letter and reinstated him as SmackDown General Manager, bringing him back into the role he had held before SummerSlam. On Night 2, Aldis added Gunther and a returning Kevin Owens to the match to determine the No. 1 contender to the Undisputed WWE Championship, changing Finn Balor vs Sami Zayn into a fatal-four-way.