According to Aldis, it was during this same weekend that he learned the two would then face off in the ring at WWE SummerSlam. "But then when [WWE executive Ed Koskey] told me I was, that was in Saudi Arabia, I went, 'When is SummerSlam?' Ed, there's a big difference between physique shape and ring shape. Regardless, Aldis moved forward under the assumption that he would indeed wrestle GUNTHER. Aldis' WWE in-ring debut later came on night one of SummerSlam in Minneapolis, with GUNTHER ultimately forcing him to tap out to the sleeper hold.