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GUNTHER has joined the WWE SmackDown roster. He appears to be positioned for a title match against Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at WWE Clash in Italy.
Paul Heyman revealed on the May 8 episode of WWE SmackDown that he owed GUNTHER a favor, which involved getting him an Undisputed World Title match against Cody Rhodes at WWE Clash in Italy. The segment featured Heyman presenting a contract for the match, followed by GUNTHER attacking Rhodes and applying a sleeper hold before Rhodes escaped.
Paul Heyman's favor to GUNTHER is an Undisputed WWE Championship match against Cody Rhodes at the Clash In Italy premium live event. GUNTHER will challenge Rhodes for the title at the event.
Tiffany Stratton successfully defended the WWE Women's US Title against Giulia on the April 24 episode of SmackDown. This marked Stratton's first title defense since winning the championship.
Kevin Nash stated that there is one specific WWE star who is one of the only things that "amuses him" in professional wrestling currently. Nash indicated this particular wrestler represents one of the few aspects of WWE that still entertains him in the business today.
WWE opened the May 8 episode of SmackDown with a tribute graphic for Ted Turner, who died on May 6, 2026, at age 87. Turner had been living with Lewy body dementia since publicly revealing the diagnosis in 2018, though his official cause of death has not been released.
Shane McMahon is not back on WWE's active roster, despite social media claims suggesting his status had changed on WWE.com. According to Fightful Select, McMahon's status has remained exactly the same with no actual movement taking place behind the scenes on WWE's roster page.
WWE is taking a more aggressive approach to removing clips circulating online, particularly content from livestreams and streamer reactions. According to Fightful Select, the company is now using a company called 'StreamEnforcement' that employs bots to automatically track and remove clips at scale, making this the most widespread takedown effort WWE has undertaken.
Bully Ray believes Roman Reigns should have lost his title to a "super-hot star" on the WWE Raw episode following WrestleMania 42. The wrestling personality expressed this opinion about when Reigns should have dropped his championship.
WWE SmackDown on May 8, 2026 featured Tiffany Stratton defending the WWE Women's United States Championship against Kiana James and a 6-Woman Tag Team Match with WWE Women's Champion Rhea Ripley and Charlexa facing Fatal Influence. The show also included a singles match between WWE Tag Team Champion Damian Priest and MFT's Talla Tonga, with Jacob Fatu opening the show and GUNTHER making an appearance.
Jacob Fatu has explained why he will not change the name of his finishing move, the Tongan Death Grip, after bringing it back to WWE. The WWE wrestler provided reasoning for keeping the original name of his signature maneuver.
WWE SmackDown star Sami Zayn has addressed whether he has fully turned heel following his attack on the gingerbread man during last week's show. Zayn provided an explanation regarding his current character alignment after the incident.