{"id":263351,"date":"2026-09-19T03:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T03:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/19\/47-year-old-legend-makes-surprise-appearance-on-wwe-smackdown-after-nick-aldis-confirms-his-absence\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T03:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T03:03:15","slug":"47-year-old-legend-makes-surprise-appearance-on-wwe-smackdown-after-nick-aldis-confirms-his-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/19\/47-year-old-legend-makes-surprise-appearance-on-wwe-smackdown-after-nick-aldis-confirms-his-absence\/","title":{"rendered":"47-year-old Legend Makes Surprise Appearance on WWE SmackDown After Nick Aldis Confirms His Absence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5219023\" data-slug-id=\"2838334\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the opening segment of this week&#8217;s WWE SmackDown, general manager Nick Aldis announced that a 47-year-old legend will not be part of the show. However, the superstar made a surprise appearance in the main event of the program, interfering in a world title match.<\/p>\n<p>Nick Aldis opened this week&#8217;s WWE SmackDown by introducing Sami Zayn. The Master Strategist addressed his world championship win before being interrupted by Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/kevin-owens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Kevin Owens<\/a>. Both Gargano and Owens staked their claim to the gold. Meanwhile, Aldis said nobody deserved a title rematch more than CM Punk.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\nThanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>The National Treasure later announced that Punk will not appear on this week&#8217;s program. He also booked an Undisputed WWE Championship match between Owens and Zayn. In the main event, the 47-year-old legend made a surprise appearance to exact revenge on The Prizefighter after he cost him the world title last week.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>The Master Strategist ultimately pinned Owens after interference from CM Punk. Following the contest, The Second City Saint hit both Zayn and KO with a GTS. Punk will now compete in a Triple Threat Match against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/finn-balor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Finn Balor<\/a> and Gunther for a spot in the 2026 Money in the Bank Ladder bout. It will be interesting to see whether Zayn and Owens influence the contest&#8217;s outcome on WWE SmackDown.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bottom-tagline bottom\" data-tab=\"bottom\">\n<p>Get all the hottest wrestling news FIRST by clicking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=sportskeeda.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\" class=\"bottom_tagline_link\" data-tab=\"bottom\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Pratik Singh<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/wwe\/news-47-year-old-legend-makes-surprise-appearance-wwe-smackdown-after-nick-aldis-confirms-his-absence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the opening segment of this week&#8217;s WWE SmackDown, general manager Nick Aldis announced that a 47-year-old legend will not be part of the show. However, the superstar made a surprise appearance in the main event of the program, interfering in a world title match. Nick Aldis opened this week&#8217;s WWE SmackDown by introducing Sami [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":263352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-263351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}