Gunther Eyes SmackDown Slot Before Clash in Italy — Royce Keys
royce keys has a new date to watch: Gunther is advertised for SmackDown on May 29, 2026, and that booking has pushed his Cody Rhodes storyline back to the front of WWE planning. The signal is not subtle. After WrestleMania 42, Gunther’s path points toward another title run, and Rhodes may be the man in the middle.
WrestleMania 42 Reset
WrestleMania 42 is where the current thread began, with Gunther defeating Seth Rollins and his feud with Cody Rhodes reigniting. He then shifted from RAW to SmackDown after attacking Rhodes, which gives the May 29 appearance more weight than a routine roster stop. In practice, that puts Gunther on the same brand as the championship picture he is being linked to.
Gunther has already retired Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles, so WWE is not treating him like a midcard stopgap. That track record makes the speculation around a title win at Clash in Italy more than idle chatter, because the company has a history of placing him in matches that change the top of the card rather than simply fill television time.
Cody Rhodes And Clash
Cody Rhodes may lose the title at Clash in Italy, and the article’s framing is direct: he could drop the championship to Gunther. If that happens, the title picture changes immediately from a Rhodes defense to a Gunther reign, and SmackDown’s main-event lane becomes easier to map around a champion who has already been placed against top names.
There is also a second route being floated: if Randy Orton returns before Clash in Italy, WWE could book him against Rhodes at SummerSlam 2026. That possibility makes the title situation more complicated, because a future Orton program works better without the championship attached, which is why the idea of Rhodes losing the belt has entered the conversation in the first place.
May 29 On SmackDown
May 29, 2026 is the immediate checkpoint. Gunther’s advertised SmackDown appearance gives WWE a built-in stage to keep the Rhodes angle moving, and it is the clearest date on the board before the company reaches Clash in Italy. For readers tracking the title picture, that show is the one to watch because it can either sharpen the path to a Gunther challenge or hold the line until the next swing in the bracket.
The smarter read is that WWE is keeping the title door open for a reason: Gunther is being positioned as a serious challenger, Rhodes is being left vulnerable in the storyline, and Orton’s return could alter the summer layout. If you want the next real clue, it is likely to come from what Gunther is asked to do on SmackDown, not from the speculation around him.
