Cody Rhodes To Sami Zayn: I Can’t Wrap My Head Around The Fact That You Are Best Friends With Kevin Owens, At Least He Has Been WWE Champion

Cody Rhodes mentions Kevin Owens on WWE SmackDown.

At WWE Night of Champions 2026, Cody Rhodes will defend his Undisputed WWE Championship against Sami Zayn and Gunther in a triple threat match.

During the 6/26 WWE SmackDown, all three wrestlers from this match came face-to-face. Cody was the first one to enter the ring. He was interrupted by Sami.

The American Nightmare asked Sami to stop playing victim, and during his promo, he brought up a mutual friend.

“You know something that I can’t wrap my head around? The fact that you are best friends with Kevin Owens. Oh no, let’s go there, right? That you’re best friends with Kevin Owens because there’s two main differences I see with you and him. One, Kevin Owens would have come out here, said what he meant, and stab me in the front, not the back. The other, at least Kevin Owens has been WWE Champion.” 

Cody’s words upset Sami as he asked him to keep Owens’ name out of his mouth.

The segment continued with Gunther appearing as well, followed by the two King of the Ring finalists: Jey Uso and Oba Femi. The show ended with a brawl between Cody, Gunther, Sami, and Jey.

Fans can read results from this week’s WWE SmackDown in our results section. They can also head over to YouTube for the post-show review and highlights stream.