Tonight’s WWE SmackDown in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania is the last stop before Saturday Night’s Main Event.
John Cena himself is not scheduled to appear on SmackDown, but on the eve of his last match ever, WWE will take a special look back at the 17-time World Champion’s career.
WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is set to take on NXT Champion Oba Femi tomorrow night at Saturday Night’s Main Event in an exhibition showdown. Tonight, Rhodes addresses that upcoming bout.
Tommaso Ciampa finally gets a shot at the United States Championship tonight after an incensed Ilja Dragunov took exception to Ciampa’s unwanted interference during his open challenge defense last week against Carmelo Hayes.
And Damian Priest reunites with his fellow Terror Twin Rhea Ripley as they face Aleister Black and Zelina Vega in mixed tag team action. Black has continued to be a thorn in Priest’s side, enlisting the aid of his wife Vega to help. This has led to Priest calling on Ripley to even the odds.
Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
**********
– The show opened with a recap of the Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre situation that opened up last week’s SmackDown, including Rhodes’ attack on McIntyre and demanding that he be reinstated so he can exact some revenge on him.
– Corey Graves & Michael Cole welcomed us to the show as they discussed a post on social media that SmackDown GM Nick Aldis posted earlier regarding an invitation he sent out to McIntyre. Backstage, Cody Rhodes is confronted by Mr. Aldis, who has a letter from McIntyre’s attorneys claiming an unsafe working environment is why he will not be at SmackDown tonight. Rhodes took the paper and crushed it up before he walked down to the ring for our opening segment.
Cody Rhodes opens SmackDown
As Rhodes made his way to address the crowd, the commentators discussed his match tomorrow night at Saturday Night’s Main Event against NXT Champion Oba Femi and the possibility that the McIntyre business could become a distraction for Rhodes.
“What do you want to talk about,” started Rhodes as he turned the subject immediately to the aforementioned McIntyre and the claims that SmackDown is an “unsafe work environment”. Rhodes said that there’s a reason McIntyre is kicking officials and not mingling with the crowd and the reason why he’s not WWE Champion is because he’s “half in”. Rhodes noted that if he were McIntyre’s boss, he’d fire him, but he can’t, so that’s why he’ll just kick his ass instead.
Before Rhodes could go on further, he was interrupted by the NXT Champion himself, Oba Femi. Without missing a beat, Femi marched to the ring and stood face to face with the Undisputed WWE Champion.
Femi opened his piece by saying he liked Rhodes’ passion, but he was worried about the wrong man because McIntyre wasn’t here, when he should be worrying about the man standing before him. Femi introduced himself to Rhodes, stating he was “the mountain that you cannot conquer”. Femi claimed that the future isn’t some far away thing, and the future was here and now — it was him. Femi then quoted Cena’s entrance music, declaring that Rhodes’ time was up, and that his time was now.
Rhodes responded that it was admirable Femi quoted Cena, but he said that he was the man that beat John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Title. As Rhodes tried to leave, Femi stopped him and raised his NXT Championship over his head. Rhodes then raised his WWE Championship in response as the two men faced off to end the segment.
A great segment to sell us on this Rhodes/Femi match for tomorrow night. It’s probably the one match I am looking forward to. And if I’m being honest, it’d be amazing if Femi pulled off the upset on Rhodes to get the win tomorrow.
**********
– Ilja Dragunov was met by Fraxiom, who offered to help him even the odds against Tommaso Ciampa if Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae got involved. Dragunov respectfully declined the offer, stating that he was going to follow John Cena’s example and bring the fight to Ciampa and #DIY if they wanted it so badly.
United States Championship: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Ciampa backed Dragunov into the corner right away and teed off with strikes and chops to the champ. The two then got into an exchange of hard-hitting attacks against one another, but Dragunov got the best of the exchange with a hard boot to the jaw of Ciampa. The challenger took advantage by hitting the injured knee of Dragunov, as he followed that with a running knee.
Dragunov forced Ciampa into the corner and struck him with a hard running boot to the face. Outside the ring, Ciampa barely avoided a running charge from Dragunov, who couldn’t stop his forward momentum and ended up crashing into the steel steps. Ciampa took over with a suplex that caused Dragunov’s hurt knee to impact against the side of the steps as we took a break in the action.
This U.S. Title match returned from commercial as Dragunov fought out of a rest hold from Ciampa. He attempted the Constantine Special, but his bum knee buckled at the last second, rendering him unable to hit his bread & butter. Dragunov, however, did manage to ground Ciampa with a nice jumping enzuigiri to the side of the head of his foe. The U.S. Champion struck with his interlocking German suplexes on Ciampa, connecting with two of them as he then struck him with hard elbows. Dragunov tried to lift Ciampa up, but he couldn’t do it due to the knee. With some effort, Dragunov finally lifted up Ciampa with his standing uranage for the near-fall.
Dragunov had to hobble his way up to the top rope, which gave Ciampa enough of an opening to kick him aside onto the apron. Ciampa then hoised Dragunov and hit an Air Raid Crash on the hardest part of the ring, but that still wasn’t enough to put Dragunov away. In another top-rope skirmish, Dragunov got the better in a duel with Ciampa, as he then took off with a missile dropkick to the side of the challenger’s head. We then went to a picture-in-picture break with both men down.
We returned to full-screen action with Dragunov attacking Ciampa, who was left stunned seated on the top rope. A hard chop left Ciampa in a bad way as Dragunov got on the top rope. The challenger targeted Dragunov’s knee, which allowed him to hit with an avalanche Air Raid Crash. One, two…. NO! In the preceding skirmish, Dragunov had his nose busted open as it dripped with blood.
Both men faced off in the middle of the ring and got into it again with a battle of brutal strikes, as Ciampa targeted Dragunov’s knee with a dragon screw. Dragunov countered a German suplex by Ciampa and hit the Torpedo Moscow. At this point, Johnny Gargano ran in and distracted the referee, while Candice LeRae attacked Dragunov. This opened Dragunov up for a running knee from Ciampa. However, that wasn’t enough to put the determined U.S. Champion away. Dragunov finished this match off as he countered Ciampa’s Fairytale Ending into a pinning combination to retain the U.S. Title.
After the match, Gargano and Ciampa attacked Dragunov until Carmelo Hayes made the save, much to the delight of the Wilkes-Barre crowd. As #DIY beat a hasty retreat, Hayes helped Dragunov back up to his feet as the two shared a moment of respect.
Ilja Dragunov def. Tommaso Ciampa via pinfall to retain the U.S. Championship
Another amazing entry in the U.S. Title match lineage — even if it wasn’t officially part of the Open Challenge. Ciampa and Dragunov beat the absolute hell out of each other and these U.S. Title matches continue to be one of the few reliable shining lights of SmackDown. The way Dragunov wrestles and how he sells really added a lot to this match and it really looked like we were going to see a new U.S. Champion. That’s how good this was.
**********
– Cathy Kelley was with Je’von Evans, who was asked about his big match tomorrow teaming up with TNA’s Leon Slater against AJ Styles & Dragon Lee. The Miz interrupted and complained about how he wasn’t booked tomorrow for John Cena’s final show. This led to Evans challenging Miz to a match for later tonight. We got a Wyatt Sicks VHS interruption thing that declared that they were here.
The Wyatt Sicks issue a challenge
The group led by Uncle Howdy made their way down to the ring in their usual manner. Once the group was assembled in the ring, Howdy talked about Solo Sikoa’s attempts to discredit his family as of late, stating that Sikoa might not have the power to within to look himself, but Howdy did. He said that Sikoa’s real family (the original Bloodline) turned their back on him because he used and abused those he claimed to love. Howdy called Sikoa delusional for claiming that the M.F.T.s ran SmackDown, because as long as the Wyatt Sicks had the WWE Tag Team Titles, the M.F.T.s run nothing. Howdy then issued a challenge to Sikoa and the M.F.Ts that if they wanted the tag titles, they should come and get them.
Solo Sikoa’s entrance music played, but he and his M.F.T.s appeared on the titantron. Sikoa said that the Sicks didn’t call the shots, he did. He said that they were going to do things his way, as the Wyatts had better prepare for war. Sikoa threatened the Sicks by telling them to give the tag titles to the M.F.T.s, as he ended his promo by invoking Bray Wyatt as he told the Sicks to “run”.
Interesting segment, and the attempts to by Solo to use Bray Wyatt’s words as a way to get into the head of Uncle Howdy/Bo Dallas is at least something that adds some needed heat to an otherwise dull feud.
**********
– Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss were in their locker room as the former tried to get the latter hyped up for their match with Lash Legend coming up next. Rhea Ripley appeared and wished Bliss luck on her match that was coming up after the break.
– Clips of celebrities and sports heroes like Eli and Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Snoop Dogg, Jelly Roll, among others congratulating John Cena on his career were shown. In the crowd, Bayley and Sol Ruca were shown ahead of their one-on-one match tomorrow night in Washington, D.C.
Alexa Bliss (w/ Charlotte Flair) vs. Lash Legend (w/ Nia Jax)
Bliss avoided a jumping kick from Legend early as she then got on her massive opponent’s shoulders. Bliss then sent Legend out of the ring with a hurricanrana. As Bliss tried to leap from the apron, she was caught by Legend, who then threw Bliss rib-first onto the top of the timekeeper’s barricade.
Back in the ring, Legend targeted Bliss’s left arm as she then lifted her high before dropping her for a hard clothesline to the face. Legend leapt up for a massive splash on Bliss for a near fall. Legend again used her strength to catch a leaping Bliss, but she got felled when Bliss countered her move into an armdrag. Legend weathered Bliss’s offensive onslaught and caught her with a forearm referred to as “The Lash Minute”. On the apron, Jax tripped up Bliss as Flair got involved and took her down. Legend then headed outside and hit Flair with a boot to take her out of the equation. In the ring, Legend finished off Bliss with her impressive-looking Lash Extension finisher.
Lash Legend def. Alexa Bliss via pinfall
Hard to say much about a match that didn’t really have enough time to cook, but credit to Bliss for selling the heck out of Legend’s impressive offense, so I suppose the job of making Legend look like a threat was accomplished.
**********
The Miz vs. Je’von Evans
Miz got the advantage early with a shoulder block on Evans as he taunted the crowd. The Young OG got himself back up after being shoved by Miz and hit him with an athletic dropkick, followed by a springboard hurricanrana that sent Miz out of the ring. As Evans tried to go for a high-risk move, Miz got ahead of him and hit a knee on Evas. That advantage was fleeting as Evans leapt on the apron and floored Miz with a standing moonsault.
The veteran took over the match as he sent Evans into the ring post, as he then targeted the arm, which led to a break in the action.
We returned from break as Miz had Evans trapped in a crossface submission, but the rookie turned that into a pin attempt to escape theh old. Evans mounted a comeback with a leaping punch, followed by his rebound enzuigiri kick on Miz, but that was only enough for a two-count. Evans headed to the top and looked for a moonsault, but Miz got out of the way and dropped his foe instead. Miz then connected with the Faux-Knuckle Shuffle before he tried his own take on the Attitude Adjustment. Evans landed on his feet and sent Miz to the outside before he soared over the top rope with a high-flying dive.
Miz tried to counter the OG Cutter into a Skull-Crushing Finale, but got rolled up into a pin. After a sneaky cheap pin attempt on Evans by Miz, this match came to its end with Evans finally connecting with the OG Cutter to pick up the victory.
Je’von Evans def. The Miz via pinfall
A good showcase for Evans and his high-flying offense, but I think we’ll hav e a much better chance to see him show out especially as he teams up with Leon Slater against AJ Styles & Dragon Lee.
**********
– Rhea Ripley was confronted by Nia Jax and Lash Legend, who threatened to do what they did to Alexa Bliss to her. Ripley was unmoored by the threat as she told them that she and IYO SKY were gunning for the Women’s Tag Titles. Afterwards, Ripley was met by WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill.
– Just as Michin was walking down for her match with Jade Cargill, she was attacked by the WWE Women’s Champion in the Gorilla Position, which put her out of commission. Cargill then walked out to the ring, the apparent match she was going to have now cancelled.
In the ring, Cargill said that what happened to Michin was what was going to happen to those who’d mess with her, because she was that bitch. A battered and bruised Michin emerged from the back with a kendo stick as she struck the champion repeatedly. Cargill recovered and hit a big boot, as she then put a table away. In the ring, she chokeslammed Michin and stood tall over her.
If we’re being honest, I’m not sure what this accomplishes with regards to Cargill’s title run. It’s probably the biggest casualty of how barebones the SmackDown women’s division is, and I’m not certain if even adding a third hour to the show starting January 2nd, 2026 will be a cure for that.
**********
Saturday Night’s Main Event: John Cena’s Final Match card
- The Last Match: John Cena vs. Gunther
- Showcase Match: AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs. Je’von Evans & Leon Slater
- Champion vs. Champion: Cody Rhodes vs. Oba Femi
- Showcase Match: Bayley vs. Sol Ruca
Mixed-Tag Match: The Terror Twins (Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley) vs. Aleister Black & Zelina
Black attacked Priest as he was posing on the top rope to start us off, but he soon found himself shelled by a clothesline from Priest that sent him out of the ring. Priest pointed towards Ripley and made the tag even as Zelina leapt on his shoulders. Back in the ring, Ripley blasted Zelina with clotheslines followed by a knee to the face, and then one more clothesline as we took a picture-in-picture break.
SmackDown’s main event continued as Zelina targeted Ripley’s arm with a submission over the corner, followed by the Meteora from the top rope for a near-fall. Zelina went after Ripley’s knee and whiffed on some sort of leg scissors move that she tried for. Zelina opted to connect with a DDT instead. Ripley caught Zelina and threw her down as she got the hot tag for Priest.
Priest took on legal man Black and dropped him with a suplex that got a near-fall. He had Priest targeted for a clothesline, but Zelina provided a good enough distraction, which allowed Black to hit Priest with a discus knee strike, then a bridging German suplex for the near-fall. As Ripley tagged in, things began to break down with Black and Zelina nailing stereo moonsaults on their respective foes on the outside.
Zelina tried to go for a crossbody, but she was caught by Ripley and had her set for Riptide. Zelina escaped and hit a rough looking Code Red before hitting a proper one for a near-fall. Ripley recovered and lifted up Zelina before she slammed her to the ground. Black broke up the subsequent pin attempt by pulling at Ripley’s leg.
Ripley and Priest had Zelina and Black at their mercy as they hit dual Razor’s Edges on them. This match then came to an end with Ripley getting the win from Riptide on Vega. The show simply ended with the Terror Twins celebrating their victory.
The Terror Twins def. Zelina & Aleister Black via pinfall
**********
An okay main event marred by some rather sloppy spots on the part of Zelina, especially with how rough the landing was on those spots for both her and Ripley. Fortunately, things didn’t turn out for the worse on those spots.
Other than that, this week’s episode was actually decent, and the focus on future stars like Oba Femi, Lash Legend, Je’von Evans, and Ilja Dragunov was a nice tie-in and lead-up to tomorrow’s Saturday Night’s Main Event show. The U.S. Title scene continues to be the one thing that’s doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of carrying SmackDown, in spite of how poorly booked it can be at times under the purview of Brian “Road Dogg” James. Those matches are reliably entertaining and often end up being the highlight of a given episode, something that has been very consistent since late August.
