Sami Zayn's refereeing shapes the first finish
A major theme early in the match was whether Zayn was being an impartial referee. Commentary offered some slight critiques from the desk, but nothing egregious stood out during the opening minutes.
Rhodes connected with a Cody Cutter in the early minutes. Gunther attempted to leverage himself on the ropes while applying a submission, which Zayn stopped. Zayn got in Gunther's face and told him that he was breaking the rules. Gunther seemed annoyed that Zayn was not being as biased as he had hoped. The challenger got in Zayn's face once again after a near fall moments later.
Rhodes countered a powerbomb from Gunther into a Cross Rhodes. A pin attempt was stopped by Zayn, who spotted that, just like at Clash in Italy, Gunther had a boot under the bottom rope, which counts as a pin break. Rhodes grew frustrated at Zayn and shoved him. Zayn shoved back, incidentally pushing the champion into a sleeper hold from Gunther.
Zayn appeared worried that he might have caused the finish to the match. Rhodes made his way to the ropes to break up the submission. Gunther was late to let go of the hold, so Zayn grabbed him by the head and peeled him off. Gunther was mad at Zayn again and shoved him twice. Zayn responded with a slap. Gunther reacted by powerbombing Zayn.
After surviving several instances where he easily could have been disqualified, Gunther ate a top rope Cody Cutter, then a Cross Rhodes. A new referee entered the ring to count the pin, but Gunther just narrowly beat the count.
Gunther dodged a top rope dive from Rhodes, scored a shotgun dropkick, then connected with a huge powerbomb. He went for the pin, but Zayn pulled the replacement referee out of the ring to stop the count.
Zayn, frustrated about how Gunther had handled him earlier in the match, helped Rhodes get into a roll up pin position, then did an ultra fast three count to end the match in 11 minutes. Rhodes defended again against Gunther, though the challenger arguably has another argument as to how he got screwed out of a title win. The match was described as overbooked, and the 11 minute runtime fell short of what many hoped to see from a commercial-free Undisputed WWE Championship rematch.
Rhodes demands a restart after backstage fallout
Backstage after the break, Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Sami Zayn, and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis were seen arguing. An irate Rhodes returned to the ring, grabbed a microphone, and demanded to restart his match with Gunther with a new referee.
After dropping Zayn with an attack in gorilla position, Gunther charged to the ring and another title match between Rhodes and Gunther was underway. The restarted bout opened with the two trading sleeper holds. That stretch ended after Zayn hit the ring and dropped Gunther with a Helluva Kick, causing a disqualification finish.
During a post match scuffle between Rhodes and Zayn, Zayn inadvertently struck Rhodes with the Undisputed WWE Championship. A frustrated Zayn then stormed out of the ring.
