Tonight’s WWE SmackDown will emanate live from Greenville, South Carolina.
WWE Champion Cody Rhodes retained his title over Drew McIntyre at last weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event after using the title belt as a weapon. The answer as to what is next for Rhodes will be answered tonight.
Jade Cargill will celebrate on tonight’s show after she defeated Tiffany Stratton last Saturday to capture the WWE Women’s Championship.
Chelsea Green will get a chance to protect her record as the longest-reigning WWE Women’s United States Champion tonight as she challenges current champion Giulia for the title.
Men’s United States Champion Ilya Dragunov will host another open challenge as his young title run continues.
In a clash of former Women’s Champions, Charlotte Flair will battle Nia Jax, who fell to Flair’s tag team partner Alexa Bliss last Friday.
After a backstage skirmish, Rey Fenix goes one-on-one with Talla Tonga.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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– Our show kicked off with a recap of last week’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, specifically as it pertained to Cody Rhodes retaining his Undisputed WWE Championship over Drew McIntyre. This segued right into our opening segment with the aforementioned Rhodes.
Cody Rhodes kicks off SmackDown
The champion arrived in his usual grand manner, pyrotechnics and all, to the cheers of the crowd in Greenville. As Rhodes entered the ring and took a microphone, he opened by asking what the crowd wanted to talk about. He said that we could talk about what happened at SNME last week, stating that Drew McIntyre was the one who introduced the Undisputed WWE Title as a weapon during the match. Rhodes responded that his reluctance to pull the trigger has cost him time to time, something that McIntyre obviously had no issue with. That said, Rhodes called McIntyre the most “self-sabotaging athlete” in this business, which meant that the Scotsman was now fully well behind him.
Rhodes said that he wanted to do something different tonight, with that something different being sitting in the crowd with the fans to decide who’d be next for the Undisputed WWE Championship. That’s when the music of Aleister Black interrupted. Black arrived to the ring with Zelina (nee Vega) and had something to say.
Black talked about how he set Damian Priest on fire as he confronted Rhodes in the ring, showing the issue being the “size” of the Undisputed WWE Title. As Rhodes tried to step up to Black, Zelina slapped him in the face. This brought out Nick Aldis to make it official for tonight: Cody Rhodes vs. Aleister Black as the main event on SmackDown.
This is something thankfully different to kick off SmackDown, and a Black vs. Cody main event is something that is a bit fresh, so I’m at least interested to see where this goes.
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– Michael Cole and Corey Graves teed up the rest of tonight’s show as we saw Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, as well as new WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill arriving to the arena. We then cut to U.S. Champion Ilja Dragunov making his entrance, but not before he was confronted by Tama Tonga of the M.F.T.s.
U.S. Title Open Challenge: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
As Dragunov’s challenger stepped out, Tommasso Ciampa walked out and was indignant about being rejected last week and being called a “jackass” by the U.S. Championship last week. He demanded that the bell be rung on this match. Once Ciampa entered the ring, Dragunov said that he accepted the challenge… but from Johnny Gargano.
The match kicked off as Ciampa provided a bit of a distraction to Dragunov, which allowed Gargano to strike early against the champion. Gargano attempted a superkick, but Dragunov caught it and hit a set of German suplexes consecutively. Dragunov then battered the back of Gargano’s neck with elbow strikes before he delivered a suplex as we headed to a break in the action here.
Our match returned from commercial as Dragunov blasted Gargano with an uppercut to the face. The challenger matched the effort with an uppercut of his own, but the Constantine Special by Dragunov connected right on the button. With Gargano stunned in the corner, he was open for a big boot from Dragunov, followed by a diving knee for the near-fall.
Gargano used the ropes to get himself back to his feet as he stopped Dragunov’s dive from the top with a kick to the gut. Another kick by Gargano was then immediately followed by a Poison Rana for a near-fall for the challenger. Gargano lifted Dragunov up to the top rope, but the U.S. Champion lit his chest up with chops, followed by an elevated headbutt. Dragunov leapt off the top rope with a senton, but that wasn’t enough to put Gargano away.
With Gargano dazed in the middle of the ring, Dragunov attempted the H-Bomb, but was countered with a boot to the face. Gargano, however, couldn’t escape Dragunov’s standing uranage. Another attempt at a Constantine Special was thwarted by Candice LeRae at ringside as the referee was distracted. This opened Dragunov up for a tornado DDT to the outside by Gargano, followed by One Final Beat. Dragunov somehow kicked out of that at two.
Gargano tried for a dive from the apron, but was stopped by a kick from Dragunov. The U.S. Champion lifted him up from the middle rope for a superplex, as one final H-Bomb put an end to this 19th U.S. Title defense in Dragunov’s favour.
Ilja Dragunov def. Johnny Gargano via pinfall to retain the United States Championship
Another fantastic U.S. Title match that felt somewhat short, especially compared to other Open Challenge matches we’ve had before. That said, Dragunov continues to be a highlight of these shows since his return and he certainly brought out the best in Gargano, who got a chance to dig into some of that NXT magic for this one.
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– As Nick Aldis was discussing something with a referee, Sami Zayn once again tried to ask to have Rey Fenix’s back against Talla Tonga later tonight. Aldis rejected Zayn’s request, as he was not medically cleared. Zayn warned that he wasn’t able to watch for longer as the M.F.T.s ran roughshod over everyone. Once Zayn left, R-Truth appeared and asked Aldis if he could be in the tournament for John Cena’s final opponent. In Truth’s words, he said he was putting “his balls” in Aldis’ hands. After the SmackDown GM told Truth he was already in the Cena tournament, Truth said that he didn’t want his balls in Aldis’ hands anyway.
– We got a recap of Jade Cargill’s Saturday Night’s Main Event victory over Tiffany Stratton, which made her the new WWE Women’s Champion.
– Backstage, a defeated Johnny Gargano talked about his loss to Tommasso Ciampa. The Fraxiom duo of Nathan Frazer & Axiom showed up to rub a little salt in the wounds, particularly towards Ciampa for being rejected two weeks in a row by Dragunov.
Jade Cargill celebrates her WWE Women’s Title win
Once Cargill got into the ring, she made it short and sweet. What happened to Tiffany Stratton would happen to anyone else in the SmackDown’s women’s locker room. That’s because Cargill was “that bitch”.
As Cargill left and made her way to the ramp, she was interrupted by Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, who were entering for our next match. Cargill took time to taunt Flair briefly, which got enough of Flair’s attention that she tried to confront Cargill. Bliss got her tag partner to focus herself on her upcoming match against Nia Jax before anything physical could happen, however.
Pretty much just a short promo from Cargill that didn’t really need to go on for long, which does neatly help get around any sort of perceived limitations promo-wise from Cargill.
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– Backstage, Chelsea Green was getting herself hyped up for her Women’s U.S. Championship match against Giulia later tonight. That’s when Michin & B-Fab showed up to talk trash to her. As Green was boasting about being the greatest women’s champion on SmackDown, Jade Cargill appeared behind her. Green backed off and took her leave. B-Fab had a confrontation with the new WWE Women’s Champion afterwards, which led to a match between the two to be set for next week.
Nia Jax vs. Charlotte Flair (w/ Alexa Bliss)
The match got underway as Flair and Jax locked up in the middle of the ring. Jax used her strength to push Flair aside, as she then weathered a shoulder tackle from her foe. Jax facewashed Flair with a hand, but got taken down with a Lou Thesz Press. Jax shrugged that off and pushed Flair into the corner. Flair answered with a dropkick, followed by a headscissors takedown as she played to the crowd afterwards.
Back in the corner, Flair chopped at Jax, but got thrown into the corner, which led to her getting crushed and an ad break halfway through this one.
We returned from commercial as Flair attempted to fight back with a boot from the apron. She then went up to for the diving crossbody that landed on Jax. Flair fired away with chops to the chest of Jax, then the running clothesline to ground her gargantuan foe. Flair headed to the top rope and connected with the moonsault. One, two… no! Flair attempted to lock in the Figure-Eight, but Jax responded with a sitdown powerbomb that wasn’t enough to put this one away.
Jax dragged Flair near the corner as she looked for the Annihilator. Flair escaped, but found herself on Jax’s shoulders for a move of some kind. That, however, was countered as Jax fell victim to a diving elbow from the apron. Jax’s attempt at a Samoan Drop was countered into a Tornado DDT for the near-fall. Outside the ring, Lash Legend attacked Alexa Bliss and put her in a sleeper hold. This caused enough of a distraction as Jax won this with the Annhilator.
Post-match, it was clear that Legend was now aligned with Jax.
Nia Jax def. Charlotte Flair via pinfall
The match was not my cup of tea, but the partnership between Lash Legend & Nia Jax is at least somewhat interesting to partially freshen up SmackDown’s women’s division. Hopefully something’s cooking on that front.
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– A video package for the tournament to decide John Cena’s final opponent at the December 13th Saturday Night’s Main Event aired, narrated by the man himself. Afterwards, a video from Nick Aldis revealed the two matches that have been drawn so far: The Miz vs. Jey Uso and LA Knight vs. a surprise opponent.
– Backstage, Nia Jax and Lash Legend were interviewed about their new partnership. Jax called Lash her friend, something that she knew from their encounters on NXT. Lash said that this was only the beginning.
Women’s United States Championship: Giulia (c) (w/ Kiana James) vs. Chelsea Green (w/ Alba Fyre)
Green’s AAA Mixed Tag Team Champion partner, Ethan Page, was in the crowd and congratulated her as she made her way to the ringside area.
Green started off with a hard slap to Giulia’s face. She got a headbutt for her troubles, followed by a vertical suplex. Giulia caught Green with a knee to the face, but that wasn’t enough for the victory. Green got Biel thrown into the corner by Giulia, as she then found herself trapped across the ropes, and a knee to the face.
Kiana James got involved with a slap to the face to the stunned Green, which got her a superkick to the face by Alba Fyre. In the midst of this chaos, Green snuck in a roll-up pin with feet on the ropes to pick up the win and the Women’s U.S. Championship.
Chelsea Green def. Giulia via pinfall to win the Women’s United States Championship
This was not good, sorry to say. While I’m glad Chelsea got the win, and the result was certainly shocking, this certainly needed a bit more time to cook, and I’m not sure if people will be up for Giulia losing her title in only her third defense in the manner that she did here. It does highlight that there are underlying problems with how weak SmackDown’s women’s division is even with the new champions we’ve got, something that needs to be fixed.
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– The M.F.T.s plotted backstage ahead of Talla Tonga’s match with Rey Fenix. Solo Sikoa wanted to see Talla crush Fenix in their match. As the M.F.T.s left, we saw the Wyatt Sicks emerge from the shadows, as they kept a watchful eye on Sikoa’s group.
– As Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss were recovering from their tough night, Asuka — disguised as a doctor — spat her blue mist in both their faces before she and Kairi Sane made their escape.
Talla Tonga (w/ The M.F.T.s) vs. Rey Fenix
The Motor City Machine Guns & Shinsuke Nakamura snuck up behind the M.F.T.s and attacked them, which evened the odds for Fenix.
Once the match started, Fenix hit a feint between the ropes as he went after Talla’s legs with kicks to the back of his legs. Talla fought back by throwing Fenix down with a standing flapjack. With Fenix on the apron, Talla kicked him down, which sent Fenix crashing into the apron. Outside the ring, Talla threw Fenix into the barricade as we got a break in the action.
We returned from commercial as Fenix’s attempt at a springboard was met by Talla easily pushing him aside, to the amusement of Solo Sikoa at ringside. Talla clotheslined Fenix and began to pummel him in the corner with hard elbow strikes. Fenix created some separatation by avoiding a running attack from Talla, which allowed him to hit a feint kick to the big man’s face.
Fenix’s attempt at a sunset flip was stopped by Talla, who nailed his foe with a huge uppercut. As Fenix recovered on the apron, he avoided the big boot from Talla. He hit the Goodbye, Amigo kick on a stunned Tallaw as he then took off from the top rope with a crossbody for the near-fall. Fenix blasted Talla with a superkick to his kneeling foe. He tried to go for a dive, but Talla caught him for a chokeslam for the victory.
After the match, Sikoa tried to get Talla to chokeslam Fenix again, but Sami Zayn ran down with a chair in hand. Sikoa and Talla backed off.
Talla Tonga def. Rey Fenix
I honestly did not enjoy this match, but that might be largely due to me not really vibing this whole rebooted M.F.T.s. storyline, but I did somewhat appreciate the David vs. Goliath story that was attempted here. Other than that, not really much to write home about.
Next Week on SmackDown
- Jade Cargill vs. B-Fab
- Last Time is Now Tournament Rd. 1: The Miz vs. Jey Uso
- Last Time is Now Tournament Rd. 1: LA Knight vs. ???
– The Miz was interviewed about his match with Jey Uso last week, as well as what he did to Carmelo Hayes last week. In Miz’s eyes, that was a reminder of what he was capable of. He said that he made Hayes relevant and that once he beats Jey Uso next week, he will be the one to end John Cena’s career.
Cody Rhodes vs. Aleister Black (w/ Zelina)
The two sized one another up and got into a chain wrestling battle to start off, with neither Black nor Rhodes having the upper hand early on. Shortly after, Rhodes lifted Black up for a standing suplex throw. He attempted his signature dropdown uppercut, but Black caught him with an armbar. Rhodes went for the Disaster Kick, but was met by a kick from Black instead, which took us to the final break of the evening.
SmackDown’s main event returned as Rhodes avoided a kick from Black and attempted the roll-up pin. Black responded with a boot to the face and another quick cover. In the corner, Black attacked Rhodes with chops and a kick to the chest, as he then hit him with the knee in the gut. Rhodes fought back with a running clothesline, followed by a successful Disaster Kick and the near-fall. Rhodes sized up Black for the Cross Rhodes, but Black countered and hit a fierce kick to the face for the two-count.
Black attempted a back suplex, but had that countered by Rhodes, who answered right back with the Cody Cutter for yet another near-fall. As Black got himself up, Rhodes tried for the Dusty-style strikes, but was met with a knee and a jackknife suplex from his foe. Black went for the Black Mass, but tried for the Cross Rhodes. That attempt was reversed as the two traded kicks that took each other out. Just as Black and Rhodes were recovering, Drew McIntyre appeared and hit the referee with a Claymore Kick.
Things descended into chaos as Black and McIntyre tried attack Rhodes with a two-on-one assault. Damian Priest ran down as a brawl broke out between everyone. Nick Aldis appeared after all this and announced that McIntyre was suspended indefinitely. The Levesque & Fitting producer credits appeared as McIntyre shouted repeatedly at Aldis that, quote, “his back was against the wall”.
Cody Rhodes vs. Aleister Black went to a No Contest
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It was an alright main event, and I suspect McIntyre’s “suspension” is to cover for him filming the Highlander reboot. That said, it does leave a hole in SmackDown’s world title scene, especially as it relates to who could Cody Rhodes face next while McIntyre is off TV.
The show itself, however, was not something I enjoyed watching. If 2025 has shown us anything, it’s just how much the bloom is off the rose with regards to Triple H’s booking post-Vince. SmackDown as a weekly show is a prime example of that. I enjoy the U.S. Title Open Challenges, yes, but everything else is either just there or not at all entertaining, sorry to say.
