Tag: smackdown results

WWE SmackDown live results: King & Queen of the Ring matches in Bologna

Posted on by Marc Quill

Days removed from Clash in Italy, WWE SmackDown emanates live from Bologna this afternoon.

Cody Rhodes retained his Undisputed WWE Championship over Gunther on Sunday, but not without some controversy attached to the result, as Rhodes’ winning pin was made while Gunther’s foot was on the bottom rope.

Rhodes is set to appear on SmackDown this evening, but Gunther will certainly have a lot to say regarding the finish.

The road to Night of Champions and the King and Queen of the Ring finals continues as we’ll see two fatal four-way bouts.

For the men, Bron Breakker, Dominik Mysterio, Trick Williams, and Damian Priest will battle for a spot in the King of the Ring semis.

On the women’s side, Kiana James, Jacy Jayne, Bayley, and Raquel Rodriguez will do battle.

We’ll find out what’s next for WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley following her successful title defense over Jade Cargill. Plus, Carmelo Hayes and Ricky Saints will continue their rivalry with another match.

Today’s show is airing live on Netflix overseas starting at 2 p.m. Eastern time and will air in its regular USA Network time slot later tonight.

**********

– Following the WWE signature, we got a recap of last Sunday’s Clash in Italy PLE, specifically from the SmackDown side of things. After that, we opened with Michael Cole (filling in for Joe Tessitore) and Wade Barrett as they were interrupted by an irate Gunther ripping apart the commentary tables.

Gunther wants justice

Gunther ranted about how he was the greatest wrestler in the world and that he intentionally put his foot on the bottom rope, which invalidates Cody Rhodes’ win on Sunday. As Gunther called out Rhodes, the theme of the Undisputed WWE Champion interrupted.

Rhodes said that Gunther was right, but he wondered why a twenty year veteran acted like he never had moments where he was “big mad”. Rhodes said that sometimes, you’re the hero or the cold-blooded sausage maker, and that he knew who was which between him and Gunther as he challenged “The Ring General” to have a rematch for the title tonight. Sami Zayn interrupted not long after.

Zayn started by saying he knew how Gunther felt with all the complaining he’s doing. He again called Rhodes a “golden boy” as Gunther told him to go away. Zayn noted that he might not know what being a world champion is like, but he knew a thing or two about beating Gunther. Rhodes told Zayn to calm down, but the mouthy Canadian wouldn’t take that for an answer.

Gunther shoved Rhodes into Zayn and locked him into the sleeper. Zayn hesitated but tried to help Rhodes. The two brawled outside as Rhodes went for a suicide dive. Gunther shoved Zayn in the path of Rhodes’ dive. Gunther backed off as Zayn refused to accept Rhodes’ apology.

This Zayn/Rhodes story is one of the better things in WWE right now, and I enjoy it intersecting with the Gunther title feud. Hope they can make it interesting.

*************

– Nick Aldis admonished Gunther for what he did before the break, but Gunther said he was being disrespected, threatening to drown Aldis in lawsuits until he got what he wanted.

Queen of the Ring Fatal Four-Way Qualifier: Raquel Rodriguez vs. Jacy Jayne vs. Kiana James vs. Bayley

This match kicked off as all four women faced off in the ring. Bayley and Raquel fought it out briefly as James and Jayne tried to go after the Judgment Day’s giantess. A clothesline from Bayley took Rodriguez out of the equation, while she hit a Bayley-to-Belly on Jayne for an early near-fall. James tried to roll-up Bayley, but couldn’t get the pin.

Jayne attempted a double stack pin on Bayley and James, but the two kicked out. The action was fast and fureious in the ring as Raquel re-entered the fray with a crossbody that took everyone out as we took a commercial break.

Back from commercial as Raquel was driven shoulder-first into the steel steps by a group effort from Bayley, James, and Jayne. On the apron, Jayne took off with a diving cannonball to take out Bayley and James. Jayne threw Bayley into the ring and hit her with a neckbreaker. The throw to the ropes as Jayne stomped away on Bayley in the corner. Kick right into Bayley’s spine was followed by a Jayne senton for another near-fall. James tried to get back in the ring, but Jayne knocked her down. James recovered and had Jayne in the cornere, but she missed with the running shoulder charge. Jayne then got Bayley and James with rolling cannonball sentons. Rodriguez joined in and hit the corkscrew splash from the corner for a close two.

Raquel placed Bayley on the top rope and punched at her. Jayne pulled Raquel down and then went after Bayley herself. Frankensteiner connects as Raquel then hit a powerbomb on Bayley, throwing her right into Jayne. Double chokeslam by Raquel, but Jayne broke it up as we took another break in the action.

Back from commercial as Jayne pummelled James in the ring, but it opened her up for a knee strike from Bayley. On the top rope, Bayley hit the diving elbow on Jayne, but James broke up the count. James blocked a Bayley-to-Belly, as she then hit the Dealbreaker and a standing moonsault for a two. Outside the ring, Jayne took Giulia out, as James got the pin and used the ropes for leverage. Jayne knocked the foot off the rope as Giulia struck her down. When James recovered, she saw Giulia and yelled at her for supposedly ruining the win, but Bayley got James with the Roseplant. Rolling Encore to Bayley, but Raquel stepped in and hit the Tejana Bomb on James for the win.

After the match, James was still angry at Giulia for costing her the win, continually yelling at her and stating that she was done with Giulia. This led to Giulia snapping and attacking James for all the insults thrown at her.

Raquel Rodriguez def. Bayley, Kiana James, and Jacy Jayne via pinfall

This was a decent start to the night’s action, but the Giulia attack on Kiana should hopefully mean the beginning of righting the course, so to speak for Giulia, who many feel hasn’t gotten her fair shake on the main roster.

*************

– Sami Zayn stormed around backstage and found Johnny Gargano as he whined about Cody Rhodes some more to him. Nick Aldis appeared and warned him to stay out of Rhodes and Gunther’s business. Zayn kept whining, but Aldis said he had a very important meeting to attend to. Zayn wondered who was important enough for the meeting as Chad Gable, the former “Original” El Grande Americano appeared. Gable walked into Aldis’ office.

Royce Keys vs. Talla Tonga (w/ Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga)

Keys stood nose-to-nose in front of Talla and got pie-faced for it. Keys responded with some strikes that barely staggered Talla. The M.F.T.s’ monster responded with a huge shoulder block. Keys attempted a powerslam, but couldn’t get Talla up as he got battered in the back. The two big men traded strikes, but Talla blasted Keys with a throat thrust that brought the powerhouse to his knees. Slam attempt was countered by Keys, as a pair of clotheslines sent Talla over the top rope, which took us to the break.

Back to SmackDown as Keys’ attempt at a slam was blocked by Talla, who dropped onto the chest of Keys. The running big boot from Talla into the corner failed to find its target, which gave Keys the opening to try and create something. Clubbing strikes from Keys rocked Talla, but not enough to ground him. Running clotheslines to no avail, as well as the slam attempt. Talla missed with a running splash into the corner, which opened him up for Keys knocking the giant off his feet with a running pounce. Finally, Keys was able to hit the powerslam on Tallla as the straps went down.

Solo Sikoa got on the apron to distract as Tama Tonga tried to instigate further. He ate a punch for his troubles at ringside. As Keys got back into the ring, he got hit with the big boot from Talla and the Talla T-Bomb for the win.

Post-match, Sikoa had Talla and Tama attack Keys until R-Truth ran in to try and make the save. The Numbers’ Game™ seemed too much as Damian Priest ran down, but not to save Keys. This left the powerhouse open for a Cutthroat from Tama, who struck with the dulled edge of an osprey.

Talla Tonga def. Royce Keys via pinfall

The Bloodline over on Raw and the M.F.T.s on SmackDown are just not grabbing my attention, and this match being more of the same when it comes to M.F.T. stuff is boring. The tease at Clash in Italy of these two factions potentially feuding is something I’m dreading and given WWE’s predilection for reheated leftovers, especially when it comes to anything Bloodline-adjacent, it’s an inevitability.

*************

– We got a vignette teasing the arrival of SmackDown’s newest arrival, Finn Balor. We’ll see him next week in a King of the Ring Fatal Four-Way where he’ll take on Jey Uso, Royce Keys, and L.A. Knight.

– Elsewhere, Damian Priest was upset about helping about someone that he doesn’t even know. Royce Keys is not someone that Priest knows, and that his priority was keeping R-Truth okay. As Priest left, the AAA Tag Team Champions, the War Raiders, appeared and said that when Priest and Truth were ready to face them, they’d be game. Truth told the Raiders that he never met either of them ever.

Rhea Ripley addresses Clash in Italy

The WWE Women’s Champion entered to a huge ovation from the Bologna crowd, fresh off of her defeat of Jade Cargill at Clash in Italy.

Ripley started by saying hello to the Bologna crowd before she talked about how she finally put the Jade Cargill chapter behind her this past Sunday. Ripley noted that she didn’t come out completely unscathed, as her knee was a little bit banged up after Clash in Italy. The Bologna crowd continued to sing their love for Ripley.

Ripley noted how Cargill came into Sunday with a gameplan to take her out, use the numbers of The Baddies against her, but at the end of the day, Cargill failed because Ripley was still the WWE Women’s Champion. As for that numbers advantage Cargill tried to play, Ripley said that she got some unexpected help in that situation as Charlotte Flair made her way down to the ring.

Flair said that she knew that Ripley didn’t ask for her help, but she had Ripley’s back because she respected her. Flair admitted after the past few weeks, she had fun teaming up with Ripley, but with the Queen of the Ring coming up in a few weeks, she knew that she was a competitor. So, for as much fun as Ripley had in teaming up with Ripley, at SummerSlam, it would be her standing in front of Ripley. That’s because Ripley still had what she wanted.

Tiffany Stratton, the WWE Women’s United States Champion interrupted things. Flair wondered if Stratton was her to apologize to her, but Stratton said she was here to call her shot for the WWE Women’s Championship. Enter Jade Cargill and fellow Baddies B-Fab and Michin.

Cargill said that since she was in the Queen of the Ring alongside Flair, she was ready to make her pay for her little sidequest on Sunday. Cargill then turned her attention to Stratton, telling her to stay out of the grown folks’ business. Cargill then said she was coming after what was her’s right now.

SmackDown’s esteemed GM, Nick Aldis cut in before Charlotte Flair said that maybe we should see her and Tiffany Stratton face off against Cargill and one of her Baddies right now. Aldis said that he never let a good idea pass her by as this match officially was made. Holla holla.

Standard setup for the Queen of the Ring fatal four-way matches involving Cargill, Flair, and Stratton happening next week. Nothing much else to say here.

*************

Charlotte Flair & Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill & Michin

Flair and Michin started off here as she got her with the rolling head-scissors before she stared down Cargill. This allowed Michin to recover and hit her with a release German suplex. Stratton tagged in and hit Michin with the running hip attack against the ropes, followed by the basement dropkick. Cargill tagged in and got Stratton with the fallaway slam, followed by the spinebuster for a near-fall.

Flair tagged in and connected with a crossbody on legal woman Michin, followed by the stepover clothesline. In the corner, Flair chopped at Michin twice before she nailed her with a big boot. Flair got Cargill and B-Fab with big boots as she hit them with a diving crossbody. This opened her up to a Michin suicide dive as we took a timeout.

Back fromt he break as Flair hit a huge back suplex on Michin to create some needed separation. Michin tried to stop Flair from making the tag to Stratton. Cargill got Flair with a cheapshot, which allowed Michin to hit the Styles Clash. One, two… Stratton broke up the count. Michin attempted a figure-four, but Flair reversed it as she sent Michin crashing into the ringpost. This allowed a hot tag from Stratton, who unleashed a back elbow on Michin and a shotgun dropkick to Cargill. Alabama Slam by Stratton to Michin as she headed up top and connected with the Swanton Bomb. One, two… Michin kicked out at two.

Pele kick from Michin allowed for the tag to Cargill, who got hit with a springboard Stunner by Stratton for the two-count. Flair and Michin took each other out, which led to Stratton and Cargill mixing it up in the ring. Cargill caught Stratton and lifted her up for the Powerbomb and the near-fall. Outside the ring, B-Fab blasted Flair with a pump-kick as Stratton got lifted up for Jaded. To no avail. On the second time around, Cargill hit Stratton with Jaded and the win.

Jade Cargill & Michin def. Charlotte Flair & Tiffany Stratton via pinfall

An alright tag match. The Cargill & Baddies faction is still doing nothing for me whatsoever, no matter how hard WWE tries with them.

*************

– Backstage, Fatal Influence attacked Paige & Brie Bella, as they interrupted a photoshoot by the WWE Women’s Tag Champions.

– A video of Cody Rhodes hanging out with contest winners at Universal Orlando’s Epic Universe was shown.

– R-Truth chatted with Royce Keys, wanting to get him to play ball with Damian Priest, or as Truth called him “D.P.”. Keys said he wasn’t willing to team up with Priest.

Ricky Saints vs. Carmelo Hayes

Saints ambushed Hayes before the bell could even ring as he attacked him in the corner before lighting his chest up with a chop. Hayes fought back and threw Saints out of the ring as he took off with the tope con hilo. In the ring, frog splash by Hayes on Saints got a near-fall. Saints wrenched Hayes’ arms and chopped him, but he got hit the springboard clothesline. A clothesline from Hayes to Saints took us to the commercial break.

We returned from the break as Saints hit Hayes with a clothesline before he kept the pressure on his foe. The running uppercut into the corner, followed by the bulldog for a near-fall from Saints. Hayes countered a Northern Lights Suplex attempt from Saints into a DDT that kept both men down. Both Saints and Hayes got to their feet and began to exchange strikes. Big Boot by Saints was met by Dirty Diana from Hayes. One, two…. 2.999999999!!!!!!! First 48 countered into a jackknife pin combination, but no three.

A bounce off the turnbuckle and the Revolution DDT by Saints on Hayes, but that wasn’t enough for the three. Powerbomb by Saints reversed into the First 48 by Hayes, but the Absolute One kicked out at two. Hayes headed up top and looked for Nothin’ But Net, as Saints used the ropes to knock his foe off balance. Out of the ring, Hayes leapt at Saints, but got hit in the gut, with the referee counting down. Hayes beat out the count as Saints argued with the referee. Hayes rolled up Saints but got only a near-fall. Hayes’ rollup was turned into a rollup by Saints, and a handful of tights got the win for Saints.

Ricky Saints def. Carmelo Hayes

I enjoy these two facing off one another and this match was another solid entry in their current duology of matches.

*************

– Trick Williams’ interview was interrupted by Bron Breakker, who stared him down. These two will be in the King of the Ring fatal four-way later on tonight.

– Chelsea Green tried to once again ask for Tiffany Stratton’s help, but got told by the Women’s U.S. Champion that she could handle it herself.

– Blake Monroe focused on Tiffany Stratton in this latest vignette heralding that she was coming soon to SmackDown (despite, again, having appeared in a brief backstage cameo two weeks ago). Monroe said that Tiffy Time was going to run into “Monroe Minutes” real soon.

Chelsea Green vs. Lash Legend (w/ Nia Jax)

Green slapped Legend in the face, as she ran out of the ring and was chased at ringside. Green slid in the ring and hit Legend with a Codebreaker. However, Legend got her with the rolling uppercut. Legend took time to play with her food as she hit the running splash on Green. Bearhug by Legend had Green ragdolled out of the ring as Nia Jax attacked with the ref focused on Legend in the ring.

In the ring, Sunset Flip by Green led to an Aloha Arn struggle, but Legend kept her balance before she absolutely tattooed Green with the big boot. Running splash by Legend was missed as Green began to try and mount a comeback., Clotheslines by Green weren’t enough to keep Legend out cold, but the top-rope-a-dope was enough to send her out of the ring. Green to the top rope and a diving crossbody onto both Jax and Legend. In the ring, Green went for another high-risk move as the missile dropkick found its target in Legend. One, two… not quite.

Un-Pretty-Her by Green, but Legend used her strength to block it and turn it into the Lash Extension for the three.

Lash Legend def. Chelsea Green via pinfall

This was decent, and the Lash Legend counter of the Un-Pretty-Her into the Lash Extension was well-executed.

*************

– We got a recap of Jacob Fatu acknowledging his Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns, on Raw this past Monday.

– Royce Keys was confronted by Solo Sikoa backstage. Sikoa said that Roman Reigns made Keys’ boy Jacob Fatu kneel like a dog, which meant Keys had nobody around. Sikoa asked if anybody checked up on him even as Keys was busting his ass. Roman Reigns didn’t. Jacob Fatu didn’t. But Solo Sikoa did. Sikoa said that they needed to get ready for war as Keyes needed to stop making it difficult, or else Sikoa would make it difficult himself.

– We got a recap of Chad Gable’s unmasking following Mask vs. Mask last Saturday in AAA. After that, AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix was chatting with the Fraxiom duo of Nathan Frazer & Axiom before Chad Gable showed up. Gable said that he and Fenix had an awesome match at WrestleMania, but it was under false pretenses. Gable noted that he wore the El Grande Americano mask originally as a mockery of lucha libre. Gable flew all the way from Italy and asked for Fenix’s forgiveness. Fenix said that he accepted Gable’s apology, but told him that he wasn’t the only one that he needed to ask an apology from.

– Elsewhere, Cody Rhodes was informed by Nick Aldis that he had to wait until next week for Gunther to announce the terms for the rematch for the Undisputed WWE World Title. We learned that this match would happen in two weeks in Kansas City, MO.

King of the Ring Fatal Four-Way Qualifier: Damian Priest vs. Bron Breakker vs. Trick Williams vs. Dominik Mysterio

Breakker didn’t waste time as he hit Williams with a German suplex to start. Priest then began to fight with Breakker as he got hit with a German suplex. Another German suplex to Williams by Breakker as he then flattened Priest with the super-speedy shoulder block. Outside the ring, Breakker stalked Dominik and got him with the massive shoulder tackle as we took a commercial break.

Back to our main event as Priest and Breakker stared down before they briefly worked together to hit an interfering Breakker with a superkick. With Breakker taken care of, Priest hit Dominik with a slam before he unleashed his flurry of kicks on Williams and Breakker, who both got deposited to the outside. Superkick to Dominik by Priest turned the AAA Mega Campeon inside out. Priest’s forearm was countered by Dominik, but that couldn’t keep him down for long. Breakker connected with the Frankensteiner for a pinfall, but Dominik broke it up.

Dominik tried for the Three Amigos, but Breakker reversed it into a military press World’s Strongest Slam. Williams broke up the subsequent pinfall attempt by Breakker. Williams and Breakker exchanged strikes as the U.S. Champion then hit him with the sidekick. There was one for Dominik, as he was then flattened by the clothesline. Neckbreaker to Priest by Williams, who then connected with the Book-End for a near-fall. Priest headed up top but he was met by Dominik. Williams hoisted Dominik on his shoulders as Priest got his shots in the prone Dominik. Breakker tried for another Frankensteiner, but that was blocked. Breakker and Williams briefly teamed up as they hit the double superplex and we headed to one last commercial break.

Our main event returned from the break with all four men fighting in the ring. Dominik moved out of the way of Breakker’s spear, which sent him crashing into the ringpost. Meanwhile, Dominik got taken for the Razor’s Edge ride by Priest. The cover, but Liv Morgan distracted the referee. Breakker grabbed Priest by the neck as he lifted him up and hit the uppercut on the crash to Earth. Breakker then took down Williams with a toss across the ring. Superkick by Dominik followed by the dropkick, which put him in the 619 position. Spear by Breakker on Priest, he got sent out of the ring with a Trick Shot knee from Williams. The cover on Priest, but Dominik pulled the ref out of the ring.

Breakker recovered and put Williams through the commentary table with his signature leaping apron clothesline. In the ring, Priest was dropkicked by Dominik, but he was met with a big boot. J.D. McDonagh tried to interfere, but he got dropped with South of Heaven by Priest. Dominik got choked by Priest, but Liv Morgan hit him with the low blow. 619 by Dominik, then the Frog Splash, and that’s it, over. Dominik Mysterio is on his way to the King of the Ring Semifinals…. and a date with Oba Femi.

Dominik Mysterio def. Damian Priest, Bron Breakker, and Trick Wiliams via pinfall.

*************

A good main event for an otherwise by-the-numbers edition of SmackDown. The dynamic between Dominik, Trick, Breakker, and Priest was great and it made for a fun four-man match to cap off the show.

Elsewhere, the show didn’t really seem all that exciting, and a lot of it stems from how the booking feels like it’s on autopilot right now, especially in the runup to Night of Champions. The reheated leftovers of things like the Bloodline don’t help, either.

Speaking of reheated leftovers, as good as the Sami Zayn stuff is, the same really can’t be said for Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther. The wrinkle of a title match on TV in a couple of weeks being preceded by a set of stipulations to be named by the challenger who complained of a questionable finish? That’s pretty much what the booking was for the Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre title feud from a few months back. In which case, don’t be surprised if Gunther does win in Kansas City, but through dubious means to set up the rubber match this Summer.

All in all, not really a SmackDown to write home about. Some good stuff (the main event, Saints vs. Hayes), but everything else just feels kind of there.


WWE SmackDown live results: Tiffany Stratton US title open challenge

Posted on by Marc Quill

The road to Clash in Italy rolls through Lexington, Kentucky, on tonight’s WWE SmackDown with a week to go until the event in Turin, Italy.

A confrontation between WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and impending title challenger Gunther is being promised after Rhodes took out the “Ring General” last week.

WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley will open the show by answering Jade Cargill’s challenge for a rematch at next weekend’s PLE.

Reigning WWE Women’s United States Champion Tiffany Stratton will hold an open challenge.

After defeating Ricky Saints last week in his return, former WWE United States Champion Carmelo Hayes will share some thoughts on reigning champion Trick Williams and his running mate, Lil’ Yachty.

Drew McIntyre will return on the show in his first appearance since losing to Jacob Fatu at WrestleMania 42.

The only match announced thus far features Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Talla Tonga.

**********

Rhea Ripley kicks off SmackDown

The reigning WWE Women’s Champion got our night going as she made her way to the ring. We got a recap of Jade Cargill’s return from two weeks ago and how the former champion and her Baddies put a beating on Ripley, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss.

“Welcme to Friday Night Mami”, Ripley opened in her usual manner. She talked about how she had one week off and everyone missed her. All Jade Cargill and her crew did was manage to piss Ripley off. She said that if Cargill wanted it so badly, she’d beat her again at Clash in Italy for the WWE Women’s Championship. As Ripley raised her belt high, her uneasy allies Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss interrupted.

Flair said that she appreciated Ripley wanting to defend her title, but she and Charlexa had their six-woman tag match tomorrow night at Saturday Night’s Main Event to look forward to. Flair wondered where Ripley was last week when Cargill and her Baddies laid her and Bliss out. Ripley said that she went home to see her family. Ripley got mad at Flair’s accusations, stating that Bliss got the most of the brunt and that if Flair couldn’t have the back of her own partner, how can she count of Flair’s help.

Fatal Influence, the trio making waves on SmackDown as of late, interrupted the proceedings. Jacy Jayne said that her group was making an impact and that Ripley, Bliss and Flair were at each other’s throats since Fatal Influence arrived. Flair didn’t have time for this as she offered any two of Fatal Influence to face her and Bliss in tag team action later tonight.

This was a good opener to establish the situation of “can they co-exist” with Ripley and Bliss/Flair.

**************

– Backstage, Alexa Bliss gave the bad news to Charlotte Flair that she wasn’t going to team up with her tonight against Fatal Influence. Instead, Flair will have to team up with Rhea Ripley, because Bliss wants the two to get their acts together and stop bickering already.

Talla Tonga vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Talla used his strength to push Nakamura away to start off, but the King of Strong Style briefly dodged a strike from the big man. Talla took over with a clubbing strike to the chest as he then stomped at his smaller foe in the corner. Talla threw Nakamura hard into the opposite corner, which left him down and out. That was followed by a scoop slam to the mat. Just as Talla charged into the corner, Nakamura dodged and began trying to hit him with kicks to the chest. As Talla staggered back against the ropes, Nakamura clotheslined him out of the ring.

That advantage was all but fleeting, as Nakamura got taken out and thrown into the barricade as we took a commercial timeout.

As we returned from commercial, Nakamura was slammed again by Talla. A chokeslam attempt by Talla was turned into a triangle choke by Nakamura, who transitioned it into a guillotine choke. Nakamura escaped the grasp of Talla as he battered him with a strike to the back of the big man’s knee. Nakamura again avoided a running attack from Talla, which left his foe trapped in the corner. On a kneeling Talla, Nakamura connected with the Scorpio Rising kick for the near-fall. Nakamura had Talla lined up for Kinshasa, but Solo SIkoa got on the apron to create enough of a distraction. This led to a running powerslam and a chokeslam by Talla for the three.

After the match, Sikoa and Talla looked like they were gonna finish Nakamura off, but Tama Tonga interrupted. After some hesitation, Tama hit Nakamura with the dulled, not-so-hidden blade of the Cutthroat. Just as Sikoa was going to hit the Samoan Spike, Damian Priest ran down with a chair in hand. The M.F.T.s backed off.

Talla Tonga def. Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall

I can’t say that I’m excited about the M.F.T. drama being a continued thing, but this match was okay. I’m not fully on board on the Talla Tonga train.

**********

– As Nick Aldis was chatting with Charles Robinson, the lights flickered briefly. Aldis told Robinson to look into it. Cody Rhodes interrupted and wondered when Gunther was coming. Aldis said that he was going to make sure that the Clash in Italy contract would be signed. Sami walked into the room and offered to help Rhodes against Gunther. “Thanks, but no thanks,” said Rhodes as he left the room.

A very petulant Zayn whined about how Cody Rhodes always going to get what he wants, unaware that Rhodes was standing behind him. This led to a match between Zayn and Rhodes to be made for later tonight.

– The M.F.T.s were in conversation backstage, as Tama Tonga said the reason everyone was coming to get them, was that everyone thinks they’re weak. He said that Sikoa had to face Damian Priest on his own, for the sake of “The Family”.

WWE Women’s U.S. Title Open Challenge: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Lash Legend

Nia Jax and Lash Legend came out, and had some words to say, as we learned that Legend was going to face Stratton for the Open Challenge.

Legend shoved down Stratton as the bell rang, and she used her size to effortlessly throw Stratton around. Another Biel throw was turned into a somersault dodge by Stratton, but Legend’s running shoulder tackle knocked her down afterwards. Stratton got back on it with a dropkick that sent her rolling out of the ring. That was followed by a vaulting press over the ropes onto Legend. An apron chokeslam by Legend left Stratton out cold as Chelsea Geen ran down to look after Stratton. That was our cue to take a break in the action.

Our match continued from the commercial break as Stratton was still under siege against the offense of Legend. In the corner, Legend attempted a move from the corner, but Stratton countered it into an Aloha Arn Sunset Flip pin attempt. Legend kicked out and then applied a resthold on Stratton. A jawbreaker from the Women’s U.S. Champ broke the hold. Legend ran right into the corner post, which allowed Stratton to hit another jawbreaker, followed by an athletic springboard stunner for the near-fall. Legend attempted a powerbomb, but Stratton countered that by sending her into the corner. Stratton went for her cartwheel Alabama Slam, but Legend caught that into a powerbomb for a close near-fall.

Legend went for the Lash Extension, but Stratton reversed it into a crucifix. Chelsea Green pushed Nia Jax into the corner, as Legend grabbed a hold of her from the ring. Stratton snuck up and got the rollup pin to retain the Women’s U.S. Title.

Tiffany Stratton def. Lash Legend via pinfall to retain the WWE Women’s U.S. Championship

That was not at all a good match. Both Stratton and Legend seemed like they were moving in molasses for the bulk of it. The only interesting aspect was Chelsea Green giving Stratton unwanted help to advance their story.

**********

– Nick Aldis was told of the power issues as he was directed to an unmarked room. In the room, we saw Danhausen was gain trying to reanimate the corpse from last week. Aldis told Danhausen to stop messing around, as the lights went out.

– Elsewhere, The Miz & Kit Wilson were interviewed, as Miz insisted that there was no curse. He complained about the Cleveland Cavaliers being cursed by Danhausen as Fraxiom rolled up. This led to a tag match between Wilson and Miz versus Fraxiom to be made for next week in Barcelona.

Trick Williams enters the scene

The United States Champion, flanked by his good friend Li’l Yachty, walked down to the ring with the crowd’s adulation for him as big as ever.

Williams and Yachty talked about what they did last week before Carmelo Hayes walked down to interrupt his old friend. The former U.S. Champion talked about how both he and Williams knew that this day was going to come. Hayes talked about how if it weren’t for Williams, he would’ve still be the U.S. Champion. However, Hayes wasn’t here to discredit Williams’ achievements as of late. But, Hayes pointed out how there’s a difference between holding a championship and carrying it. He discussed how he won the crowd over with his blood, sweat, and tears. That’s why Hayes wanted Williams to do the right thing and give the crowd what they want: Trick Williams vs. Carmelo Hayes for the United States Championship.

Yachty responded, stating that Williams had a schedule to keep, but Hayes butted in. He said that he and Williams go way back and that the old Trick Williams would never let anyone tell him what to do. Then again, Williams must be used to playing second fiddle.

Williams pointed out that we would indeed see him face Hayes right here and right now.

I enjoyed this segment. It played off of Hayes and Williams’ history and was a great way to get this match going.

**********

Trick Williams vs. Carmelo Hayes

This match kicked off after the commercial break. Williams had the early advantage with a shoulder block and a scoop slam. Hayes got back on his feet and used his agility to dodge the U.S. Champion. In the corner, Hayes chopped at the chest of Williams, which forced his foe to scurry to another corner. That didn’t leave him any peace from the chops. Williams blocked Hayes’ last chop and then delivered a hard slap that left him down and out.

Hard Irish whip by Williams was followed by the spinning kick to the face of Hayes. Standing suplex from Williams kept momentum firmly in the U.S. Champion’s side. Williams dropped Hayes throat-first onto the top rope as he sized him up for a side kick. Hayes avoided it and sent Williams over the top rope. He made a run for the ropes and looked for a big diving attack, but Li’l Yachty got in the way to protect Williams, which halted Hayes’ advance in the ring. This led to a break in the action.

Williams had Hayes in a resthold as we returned from break. The former U.S. Champ broke the hold and began to fight back. Williams and Hayes traded blows until the former hit a jumping neckbreaker as he then kipped up to his feet. Meanwhile, Ricky Saints appeared at ringside in the midst of this. Hayes recovered and hit the springboard clothesline and then followed it with Dirty Diana for a close two-count. Saints yelled at Hayes to focus on the match. Williams hit a pop-up uppercut on Hayes, but got hit with a series of superkicks from his opponent. Williams roared back with his spinning kick for the near-fall. Williams targeted Hayes for the Trick Shot, but was intercepted with First 48. One, two….. 2.99999!!!!!!!!! Hayes took notice and headed up top, perhaps looking for Nothin’ But Net. Ricky Saints provided a distraction, which didn’t seem to sit well with Williams. Saints argued with the referee as Hayes rolled up Williams to no avail. Hayes punched Saints off the apron, but that opened him up to Williams’ Trick Shot as he ended up looking up at the lights at the end of it all.

Trick Williams def. Carmelo Hayes via pinfall

That was a really good match, and I do like this U.S. Title picture opening up with Hayes and Saints being a key part of it. Hope to see more of this in the coming weeks.

**********

– Ricky Saints was badmouthing Carmelo Hayes backstage, but he got socked in the jaw for his troubles. Hayes warned Saints to stay away from his business.

– A recap of Brock Lesnar’s return on Raw was shown.

Charlotte Flair & Rhea Ripley vs. Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid

Flair and Henley started off this tag match, as the latter kicked it off hot with the head scissor takedown. Flair dragged Henley to her corner as Ripley blindtagged. Reid entered the match for Fatal Influence and had Ripley trapped in the corner for a bit. A leap from the middle rope was turned from a crossbody to a fallaway slam by Ripley. Flair tagged herself in by patting Ripley on the head. Outside the ring, Reid and Henley isolated Flair as Fatal Influence was in control as we headed to commercial.

We returned from the break with Flair trying to fend off Reid and Henley with chops. However, Reid’s well-placed superkicked folded Flair up like an accordion. Irish whip to the corner was turned into a leap over the corner by Flair. A boot for Henley, but Jacy Jayne tripped up Flair while Reid distracted the referee. Henley kept Flair grounded with a chinlock, but that got broken up. Flair attempted to reach out to Ripley as she used elbow strikes to create some distance. However, Henley prevented it. Henley was thrown out of the ring, which seemingly gave Flair the opening to tag, but Reid stopped it with a clip of the leg. Flair hit a neckbreaker on Reid, which finally gave Ripley the hot tag.

Ripley ran through Reid and Henley with a superkick in the corner, followed by a German suplex on the latter. Capoeira kick by Ripley led to the Razor’s Edge and the Shining Wizard to Reid. Henley broke the count, but Flair took her out, and then Jayne with a dive to the corner.

In the corner, Flair took the superkick from Reid, as Ripley hoisted her up for Riptide. Meanwhile, Flair blindtagged into the match and finished off Reid with Natural Selection.

Post-match, Jade Cargill and the Baddies attacked Charlexa and Ripley, as Fatal Influence joined in the attack. In the ring, Cargill took out Ripley with Jaded.

Charlotte Flair & Rhea Ripley def. Fatal Influence via pinfall

This was an alright match, but not really feeling Jade Cargill in the title picture at the moment.

**********

– Jade Cargill and the Baddies bragged about their handiwork as they also took shots at Fatal Influence in the process. Cargill promised to take her WWE Women’s Title back at Clash in Italy.

Damian Priest vs. Solo Sikoa

Priest went after Sikoa right away by taking him out as he reached the apron. The leap from stairs and a takedown from Priest, who then followed that with a hard throw to the steel steps. In the ring, Sikoa bounced back with a throat strike to Priest. However, fought back witha jumping elbow strike. On the apron, Priest was distracted by Talla Tonga, which allowed Sikoa to grab him for the scoop slam into the ring as we took a break in the action.

We returned from the break as Priest and Sikoa dueled on the top rope with trading strikes. A bell clap from Priest stunned Sikoa long enough for the superplex. Priest rose to his feet and began battering Sikoa with his strikes of the punch and kick variety. That was followed by leaping shoulder charges onto Sikoa into the corner, followed by a Broken Arrow for the near-fall. Priest charged his elbow up, as Tama Tonga created a distraction while the ref was focused on Sikoa. Talla Tonga struck Priest, who stumbled into Sikoa’s Spinning Solo. Priest kicked out and then hit Sikoa with the rebound lariat. Tama Tonga again got on the apron but got dropped to the ground. Talla Tonga got on the apron and got teed up for the kicks, but Sikoa intercepted Priest with the Samoan Spike for the win.

The M.F.T.s tried to attack Priest some more, but Royce Keys ran down and took out Talla and Tama Tonga. He sized up Sikoa to fight him, but Sikoa backed up. A delirious Priest grabbed Keys by the throat, thinking he was a threat.

Solo Sikoa def. Damian Priest via pinfall

This match was alright, I supposed. The finish being more M.F.T. interference stuff and the Sikoa/Tama tension being really wishy-washy didn’t help matters either.

*********

Saturday Night’s Main Event (5/23/26) Card:

  • World Tag Team Championship: Logan Paul & Austin Theory (c) vs. The Street Profits
  • Intercontinental Championship: Penta (c) vs. “All Ego” Ethan Page
  • Becky Lynch vs. Sol Ruca
  • Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, & Alexa Bliss vs. The Baddies (Jade Cargill, B-Fab, & Michin)
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Paige & Brie Bella vs. The Irresistable Forces (Nia Jax & Lash Legend)

– Chelsea Green ran into Blake Monroe, who remarked that she saw Green and that now she wish that she didn’t. After Monroe left, Nia Jax literally ran into Green as payback for earlier. The crack team of road agents got Jax and Legend to back off, with the damage already done to Green.

– Royce Keys was still angry about being grabbed by the throat, stating that R-Truth called him to help Damian Priest out. Priest seemed angry as he didn’t ask for Keys’ help and that for all he knew, he could be working for the M.F.T.s. Keys responded, flatly stating that if it was an issue that Priest wants, then it may very well be an issue he’s going to get if he’s not careful.

Cody Rhodes vs. Sami Zayn

Zayn offered a handshake to Rhodes, who accepted as our main event got underway. Armdrag by Zayn was followed by another handshake, but Rhodes seemed annoyed by it. Rhodes slid under a Zayn dropkick as he then hit him with the drop-down uppercut. Standing suplex was followed by Rhodes now offering a handshake of his own. Zayn refused it as the two traded chops to the chest in the corner. Zayn ran Rhodes and got hit with the powerslam. Rhodes tried to go for maybe a Cody Cutter, but Zayn tripped him up as we took our final commercial break of the evening.

Our main event returned from the break as Zayn tried to lift Rhodes up for a suplex, but he found himself taking a ride for a Rhodes suplex instead. Rhodes hit Zayn with the Dusty punches, followed by the Cody Cutter for the near-fall as the champ favored his hurt leg. Rhodes set Zayn up for Cross Rhodes, but that was reversed as he got sent over the top rope onto the apron. Rhodes then was sent crashing over the announce table by a Zayn charging attack. By the closest of margins, Rhodes made it before the count of ten on one leg. Zayn smelled blood and had Rhodes lined up for the Helluva Kick, but struck out on the swing. Rhodes hit the “Super” Cody Cutter off the corner, but Zayn just managed to kick out a two.

Zayn rolled up Rhodes but couldn’t get the win. The Blue Thunder Bomb from Zayn had similar results. Zayn went after Rhodes’ damaged leg and applied the Figure Four leglock right in the centre of the ring. Rhodes fought through the pain and managed to reverse it to put the pressure on Zayn’s knee. A rope break managed to force Rhodes to release the hold. As both Zayn and Rhodes got back to their feet, the two exchanged strikes until a Disaster Kick knocked Zayn loopy. As Rhodes had Zayn at his mercy, Gunther snuck up and applied the sleeper hold. However, Zayn completely missed the Helluva Kick That opened him up for Cross Rhodes and the win.

Post match, the mecurial Austrian put Rhodes to sleep as Zayn just left.

Cody Rhodes def. Sami Zayn via pinfall

*************

A good main event to a middle of the road edition of SmackDown. The Gunther/Rhodes feud is good stuff and is probably one of the only good things about SmackDown as of late, which has felt just kind of there.

I will say that the U.S. Title scene is at least heating up and I do like Trick Williams, Carmelo Hayes, and Ricky Saints. It’s a lot more preferrable to the Gingerbread Man antics of the last few weeks. It’s something I’ll be keeping an eye on in the coming weeks.

Not so good was the M.F.T.s stuff because I’m still not a fan of it, especially with the group whittled down to just three guys. I dunno, I’m just not a fan.

All in all, just an okay show with nothing really exciting to write home about, but thankfully nothing really awful to complain about.

WWE SmackDown live results: Gunther makes his decision

Posted on by Marc Quill

Last week, Paul Heyman revealed his favor to GUNTHER was getting him an Undisputed WWE Championship match for the upcoming Clash in Italy show, but the “Ring General” refused to officially sign the contract, even as current champion Cody Rhodes dared him to fight.

Tonight, WWE is advertising a segment where Gunther will have to officially decide whether to join the SmackDown brand.

Also announced for the show, Trick Williams will return to the University of South Carolina following his win over Sami Zayn at Backlash. Jade Cargill will also address her attack on Rhea Ripley.

Full WWE SmackDown lineup for Friday, May 15, 2026:

  • Gunther decides whether to join SmackDown to challenge Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes
  • United States Champion Trick Williams returns to the University of South Carolina for a homecoming celebration
  • Jade Cargill addresses her attack on WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley
  • Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs.
  • Damian Priest vs. Tama Tonga
  • Carmelo Hayes vs. Ricky Saints

WWE SmackDown on Friday, May 15, is scheduled for the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.

Our live coverage kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern.

*******************

– Our show kicked off with the prerequisite arrivals to the arena, including Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest & R-Truth and The M.F.T.s, Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss, and Jade Cargill’s crew. We then got a shot of hometown hero Trick Williams in the middle of the Gamecocks’ stadium as we went to a recap of last Saturday’s Backlash.

Trick Williams’ Columbia Homecoming

The night kicked off with the arrival of U.S. Champion Trick Williams to a massive hometown reaction. He was accompanied by Li’l Yachty and the Gamecocks mascot to the ring. With the “Whoop That Trick” chants loudly filling the air of the Colonial Life Arena, Williams introduced himself and said that he was back home in Columbia.

Williams said he was proud of representing WJ Keenan High School, and the University of South Carolina growing up. Williams said he remembered driving up the road to his favorite restaurant, “Kiki’s Trickin’ and Waffles”, with the chicken wings so good that you had to eat them while standing up. He recounted eating these mythical chicken wings and how they related to his now-famous “lemon-peppa steppas”.

Williams talked about his family being in the crowd as he recounted his days with the Gamecocks. So, to WJ Keenan, to U.S.C., to his mama, Williams declared himself as the star that they helped create.

The Miz rudely interrupted the celebrations, as he mocked the Gamecocks mascot and the Gingerbread Man last week. Miz said that Williams was being a joke by bringing all these costumed characters to WWE. L’il Yachty stepped up and told Miz and Kit Wilson were being disrespectful to the hometown hero, as he pointed out that this was the reason why Miz was cursed by Danhausen. Kit Wilson joined in with some “slam poetry”, as he called himself “Kit Willy”. Wilson read his supposedly-disparaging slam poetry about Williams and Yachty.

Yacht didn’t like what Wilson had to say and offered his own diss verses against him, stating that Miz and Wilson came out cocky because they had “little tiny balls”. Miz angrily shouted that they wouldn’t bring the Tiny Balls talk back as he demanded for a referee to come ou. Miz said he was going to whoop Williams’ ass in front of his mama. Wilson spoke a bit too much trash an paid for it by getting thrown out of the ring. Miz soon found himself flat on his back, and we learned that we would indeed see this match coming up after the break.

I think it’s no secret that I much prefered this over the Gingerbread Man antics of last week. Williams looked like a natural and had the hometown crowd in the palm of his hands for this opening segment. My only complaint is the “Miz has Tiny Balls” running gag is not really as funny as WWE wants us to believe.

*******************

Trick Williams vs. The Miz

We kicked things off right after the break as Miz backed Williams into the corner. A disrespectful shove from Miz was met by a harder push to the ground from the U.S. Champion. Williams fired up and blasted Miz with a flying shoulder block that sent his foe into the apron. Miz dropped William’s head over the top rope to gain the momentum as he headed up to the top rope. Miz’s dive was intercepted by a gut shot from Williams. Miz responded with a Kitchen Sink strike, followed by the running boot to a seated Williams. Miz choked at Williams across the middle rope as he then struck him with the running kick to the back of the head.

Miz held control of the match with stomps to Williams, but missed with the running boot. Williams turned that into a jumping neckbreaker on Miz, followed by the slaps in the corner and the “Whoop That” stomps. Miz got out of the way of a running boot from Williams by leaving the ring. Miz missed the sliding dropkick to the outside as Williams threw him around the barricades. Behind the referee’s back, Wilson struck Williams with a running elbow, as Miz finally connected with the rope-assisted sliding dropkick. We took a break on Miz getting in Li’l Yachty’s face at ringside.

This opening match returned from break with Miz and Williams exchanging strikes, but it was the U.S. Champion who got the best of his foe with his signature strikes. A scoop slam from Williams was followed by the stylish Book-End for a near-fall. Miz went for Williams’ eyes and almost had the Skull-Crushing Finale, but couldn’t connect. He did, meanwhile, nail the torquing DDT on Williams for the close two-count. Miz went for his kicks to a kneeling Williams, but missed on the last one as that got turned into a pin attempt. Williams dropped Miz with a flapjack as he hyped himself up. Kit Wilson pulled at the foot of Williams, as Miz eventually hit a Skull-Crushing Finale on his opponent.Williams kicked out at two as Wilson tried to distract the referee. The Miz went to grab a kendo stick, but Li’l Yachty intercepted him and stole the weapon. Yachty blasted Wilson with the kendo stick, and meanwhile in the ring, Williams finished Miz off with the Trick Shot knee.

Trick Williams def. The Miz via pinfall

Not gonna lie, I kinda enjoyed this opener. It was far from a great in-ring match, but the crowd was hot for it and giving the hometown hero Williams his moment unspoiled really added to it.

*******************

– Backstage, Carmelo Hayes was interviewed about his match against Ricky Saints later tonight, his first in a while. Hayes said that he was shooting for the U.S. Championship as he was interrupted by Ricky Saints. Hayes talked about how “this place” had a funny way of humbling people like Saints eventually. Saints continued to talk trash to Hayes as he left. “Like looking into a dirty mirror,” Hayes spoke of Saints.

– Elsewhere, after Nick Aldis chatted with Rey Fenix, Sami Zayn approached him and said that he needed to do things the right way, and that he wanted to earn a U.S. Title shot. Problem for Zayn, according to Aldis, he already had his U.S. Title rematch. Zayn angrily pointed out that he had supposedly earned his shot after all that he’s done, and it’s something that his “ride or dies” see. Aldis didn’t see it that way, stating that all he saw from Zayn as of late was nothing but “entitlement” as he left. Zayn looked like he was going to blow a gasket, but Rey Fenix returned and tried to calm him down. Zayn was delusional and didn’t think he had changed.

– Paige and Brie Bella were interviewed before their upcoming match as it was clear that the target was on their backs now more than ever. The Irresistable Forces interrupted and stated that they were going to take the WWE Women’s Tag Titles back from Paige and Brie. The Women’s Tag Champs left Nia Jax and Lash Legend hanging as they had a match to get ready for.

Brie Bella & Paige vs. Giulia & Kiana James

James and Brie opened the match for their teams, as the former showed her power off with a forceful shove. Brie avoided a boot from James and followed that with a side Russian legsweep. Paige tagged in as she and Brie showed some nice double team offense with a boot from the Brit and a bulldog from Brie. Giulia entered the match and took it to Paige with hard strikes to the chest in the corner. Giulia then hit the snap suplex and went for the cover, to no success. Paige recovered and hit a version of the Shining Wizard after a snapmare on Giulia. Paige struck Giulia with kicks across the chest, but James tripped her up on the apron. Giulia recovered and threw Paige into the ring post as we took a break in the action.

We returned as Giulia continued to take it to Paige on the top rope. Giulia had her opponent set up for a risky move, but Paige fought back and turned it into a sunset flip powerbomb. Paige struggled to get to her corner, but Brie got the hot tag. Brie went into “Brie Mode” as she blasted both James and Giulia with knee strikes on opposite ends of the ring. Brie then hit them with the Bryan Danielson kicks, followed by the Bella Buster on James. Giulia broke up the count but got thrown out for her troubles. Tag by Giulia as James hit Brie with the lungblower, followed by a Northern Lights Bomb from Giulia. Paige broke up the count. James accidentally sent a running Paige into Giulia, which took her out of the ring.

With James’ partner out of the equation, Paige finished this match off with Rampaige for the three.

Brie Bella & Paige def. Giulia & Kiana James

That was a bit rough, to say the least. The spear that Giulia took from Paige at the end did not look good at all. Not terrible by any means, but really quite evident that there wasn’t any chemistry between Brie/Paige and Giulia/Kiana.

*******************

– Women’s U.S. Champion Tiffany Stratton was interviewed about how the women’s division had strong alliances all around and where she fit in. Just then, Giulia and Kiana James bickering about their loss just now interrupted. Stratton noted that she was doing well enough alone, but Chelsea Green interrupted her. Green tried to get Stratton to be on her team, but got ignored.

Cody Rhodes wants an answer from Gunther

The Undisputed WWE Champion made his way down with the SmackDown contract of Gunther in hand, looking for an answer from his would-be Clash in Italy foe. Rhodes threw some office chairs into the ring followed by a table, looking like he was set to do an impromptu contract signing. With the tables and chairs set up in the ring, Rhodes got down to business.

“Columbia, South Carolina… what do you wanna talk about?” asked Rhodes as he talked about how he had all the formal ingredients for the contract signing, including a SmackDown contract and the Clash in Italy match contract for Gunther, and that’s what they were goind to do right now.

Out came “The Ring General”, and he angrily asked Rhodes about how much time it took to get this roster transfer, and how Rhodes made it all about himself, like a typical American. Gunther pointed out how Rhodes was supposedly complaining and crying every week and made it about himself. All Gunther wanted out of Rhodes was to be professional about it, stating that he had to ask nicely.

Rhodes responded by stating that Gunther was the one who got the drop on him and that he was the one who made the favor with Paul Heyman to get this title match. Rhodes then said “please come sign this contract, so that you’re guaranteed to get your ass kicked at Clash in Italy!”

Gunther said that Rhodes didn’t mean it when he said it, as he was unexpectedly interrupted by Royce Keys. The powerhouse made it simple… “If you won’t sign it, I will,” as Keys made his way down to the ring. Just as Keys was about to sign the contract, Gunther stopped him and got into Keys’ face. Before anything could unravel, Nick Aldis interrupted.

Aldis talked about how that contract was supposed to have Gunther’s name on it, but he overplayed his hand with is antics, so that means the Clash in Italy title shot was up in the air. This led to Aldis making the match: Royce Keys vs. Gunther with the Clash in Italy title shot up for grabs. As Gunther left to argue with Aldis, Rhodes simply told Keys the same thing he told Gunther last week: “I’m easy to find, hard to beat.”

This was a good segment, and setting up a potentially good match in Keys vs. Gunther as our main event is a nice bonus.

*******************

– Solo Sikoa gave marching orders to Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga backstage. Sikoa told Tama to take care of Damian Priest while he and Talla were going to pay Royce Keys a little visit. As Sikoa and Talla left, Shinsuke Nakamura had words for Tama, but Talla charged in and attacked him. Talla chokeslammed Nakamura onto a cargo crate as the ineffective team of backstage staff came too late to stop the carnage.

– Nick Aldis went at it with Gunther backstage, again reiterating that the big man overplayed his hands with his antics and refusal to sign the SmackDown contract. Aldis remarked that maybe Paul Heyman rubbed off on him a bit.

Carmelo Hayes vs. Ricky Saints

Saints got the upper hand with a cheap shot on Hayes as the bell rang. Hayes recovered, but missed on the first dropkick. A second attempt did hit its target as Hayes threw Saints into the corner and chopped him. Saints wrenched the arm of Hayes and went up for a little Old School action that connected. Saints was sent to the apron by Hayes and left in posititon for the springboard leg drop. The former U.S. Champion then soared over the top rope for the Fosbury Flop that left Saints down and out as we took a break.

This match returned from commercial as Hayes pushed Saints off the top rope as he got maximum hangtime on the frog splash for the two-count. Hayes attempted the First 48, but Saints blocked it and hit him with a forearm strike, followed by the high-angle driver for the two-count. Our match was inexplicably interrupted by a “preview” of a movie called Pressure while Saints applied a chinlock on Hayes.

Hayes broke free from the hold and leveled Saints with superkicks a-plenty. He then followed it up with the springboard forearm strike as he had Saints in his sights. The Dirty Diana from Hayes, but Saints kicked out at two. Saints hit Hayes with the boot to the face, followed by a rebound back suplex for the two-count. A frustrated Saints tried to lift Hayes up, but he couldn’t. A couple of stomps from Saints finally had him open for the Revolution DDT. Hayes reversed and turned it into the First 48. One, two….. 2.9999999!!!!!!!!!! Hayes struggled to get himself back up top to the top rope, but he missed the Nothin’ But Net. Saints then followed it with the Revolution DDT, but Hayes somehow kicked out at the very last second.

Saints failed to hit Roshambo, so he pushed Hayes into the turnbuckle and tried to get a dirty rope-assisted pin. Referee Charles Robinson noticed the feet of Saints on the ropes and stopped the count. Saints argued with Robinson as Hayes snuck up and rolled up Saints to get the three… with a little help from the bottom rope.

Carmelo Hayes def. Ricky Saints via pinfall

This was a solid match and a great return for Carmelo Hayes, who was sorely missed after time off from TV. I thought this was Saints’ best match to date in his short time on SmackDown, and Hayes was the perfect opponent for this one.

*******************

– Danhausen was hanging out in his “lab” as he was planning something “even bigger, better, and larger” on the horizon. Danhausen dragged a body on a stretcher with a towel draped over it and was messing about with curious intent on his computer.

Damian Priest vs. Tama Tonga

Tama went right after Priest as the bell rang, but soon found himself being pummeled in the corner with the rights. Tama got cracked with a backwards elbow from Priest. The goozle from Priest was broken by Tama, but the New York native hit him with a big boot. Tama got sent out and Priest was locking and loading for a running attack. Tama intercepted with a dive off the steps, and the sport-style replay of that last spot took us to the break.

The match returned from commercial as Priest had Tama stunned in the corner. He then attempted a Razor’s Edge. Tama turned that into a rear naked choke as Priest broke the hold by backing into the corner. Tama then got Priest with the jumping DDT for the near-fall. Priest withstood Tama’s shots, which agitated him and he launched his own strikes. Step-over shoulder block by Priest, followed by the spinning kick. Tama found himself flattened by the Flatliner of Priest. Body splash in the corner into the Broken Arrow from Priest, but that wasn’t enough for the win. Priest tried for his rebound lariat, but Tama smartly rolled out of the ring to avoid it. Priest sent Tama over the announce table with a pounce as he sent him back into the ring afterwards. Priest headed up top and kind of lost balance off the top rope, which allowed Tama to get him with the swinging neckbreaker. One, two… not quite.

Tama went for a double underhook maneuver, but Priest got ahead of that as he had him held by the throat. Tama escaped the hold, but the rebound lariat made its mark. Straps went down and so did Tama as he took a ride South of Heaven and Priest got the win.

After the match, Talla Tonga absolutely pasted Priest with a kick. Solo Sikoa got Priest with the Samoan Spike with no R-Truth or Royce Keys making the save.

Damian Priest def. Tama Tonga via pinfall

Decent match, but again, my general apathy for the M.F.T.s as a unit is quite clear, especially in this broken down form after recent releases.

*******************

– Sami Zayn was speaking about his troubles of being called to the sad-sack Johnny Gargano, who was still lying down, unmoving.

Jade Cargill speaks her mind

The former WWE Women’s Champion, flanked by her friends B-Fab and Michin, made their way down to the ring, as Wade Barrett referred to them as “Baddies”.

Once Cargill got into the ring, she started by saying that everyone acted so tough when she wasn’t in the building. So, when her music hit, everyone seemed to become more quiet. Rhea Ripley found that the hard way, and at Clash in Italy, the WWE Women’s Championship was coming home with her. Before Cargill could wrap up in her usual manner, Charlotte Flair interrupted, with mic in hand. Alexa Bliss soon followed, also with a mic in hand.

Flair said that nobody wanted to hear Cargill talk, because this was Flair Country, according to Bliss. Flair talked about how she and Cargill had been doing this dance for the last few years, but last week finally pissed her off. Bliss stated that B-Fab and Michin were there to make Cargill look good. Cargill demanded a referee to get out so that the tag match could start.

This was dire, if we’re being honest. I’m just not a fan of Cargill’s faction as a trio, when a better version of them exists in the form of Fatal Influence.

*******************

– Yet another vignette for Blake Monroe aired as the debut is still coming.

Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. B-Fab & Michin

Flair got it going by lifting Michin with a toss, but couldn’t follow it up as Michin grabbed hold of the rope and got out of the ring. Once Michin got in the ring, Flair again dropped her with a takedown, but a shot to the back of the leg turned it around. Flair recovered and threw Michin in the corner as she hit her with a chop and a step-up boot to the face. Michin countered and slammed her after she grabbed her by the hair. Michin kept momentum going with a hurricanrana and a spinning kick afterwards. Flair avoided a drop kick from Michin and wrapped her leg around her foe’s head and slammed her thrice. Bliss and B-Fab entered, as the latte was shelled by a dropkick and the double knees to the back of the head. Michin’s distraction from the apron allowed B-Fab to get the advantage as she punched her repeatedly. Bliss countered with a boot and went up top for a diving attack. B-Fab caught her and slammed her face-first as we took a commercial break.

We returned from the break as Michin and B-Fab kept Bliss isolated for a moment. Michin intercepted Bliss and hoisted her on her shoulder. Too much showboating from Michin led to Bliss capitalizing with a DDT to create some separation. Flair with the hot tag as she launched herself for the crossbody on B-Fab. Flair then leveled both B-Fab and Michin with the chops to the chest. Fallaway slam by Flair to B-Fab and Michin, with the message to Jade Cargill made all the more clear. As Flair headed to the top rope, Cargill stepped to the apron, which allowed B-Fab to trip up Flair. Michin hit a missile dropkick on Flair as she and B-Fab hit a double pump-kick. Bliss broke up the count in the nick of time. B-Fab rolled up Flair for the pin, but that got turned into the Figure-Four leg lock. Michin broke the submission, but found herself clotheslined out of the ring. Bliss blindtagged as Flair delivered kicks to Michin and B-Fab. Sister Abigail DDT from Bliss, but Cargill pulled her from the pin to cause the DQ finish.

Post-match, The Baddies tried to get the jump on Flair, but found themselves waylaid by a determined Flair.

Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss def. B-Fab & Michin via Disqualification

This was a fine enough match, but I was not fond of the DQ finish. Seems like a creative crutch that gets used often in WWE as of late.

*******************

– Fatal Influence were interviewed backstage. Jacy Jayne and crew put themselves over a group that believed loyalty was a currency and that it would soon pay dividends with Fatal Influence holding all the gold in SmackDown’s women’s division.

– Backstage, Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss were licking their wounds, as the two conceded that they were going to need help to deal with Jade Cargill and her Baddies.

– A recap of Jacob Fatu destroying Roman Reigns on Raw this past Monday was shown.

– Royce Keys was preparing for his match against Gunther when Solo Sikoa approached him and again offered to help out. Sikoa said that Keys should seek his help, because what happened to Shinsuke Nakamura would happen to him if Keys wasn’t careful. Keys calmly said “I got this” and left, as Sikoa noted that Jacob Fatu said the same thing to him a while back.

Next Week on SmackDown (Lexington, KY):

  • Talla Tonga vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Saturday Night’s Main Event:

  • Intercontinental Championship: Penta (c) vs. Ethan Page
  • World Tag Team Championships: The Vision (Logan Paul & Austin Theory) (c) vs. Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins)
  • Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, & Rhea Ripley vs. The Baddies (Jade Cargill, B-Fab, & Michin)

Gunther vs. Royce Keys (Winner Faces Cody Rhodes at Clash in Italy)

The SmackDown main event began with a test of strength between these two big meaty men. Gunther pushed Keys in the corner and piefaced him, as Keys responded with a punch to the face of his opponent. Gunther backed out of the ring as Keys beckoned him to fight in the ring. Gunther stepped into the ring and again got out. Once Gunther returned to the ring, he hit Keys with a boot to the gut, followed by a chop to the chest. Side headlock by Gunther was broken by Keys, as the two traded running shoulder blocks. Keys finally took Gunther down with a shoulder block, as he took the knife-edge chops and barely reacted. Gunther took a run at the powerhouse and got dropped with the Bulldog-strength powerslam that sent his foe out of the ring. With Gunther looking for a breather at ringside,. Keys didn’t give him any time to breath with the throw into the LED barricades. Keys then threw Gunther over the announce table as we took our final commercial break.

Our main event returned from the break as Keys attempted a suplex on Gunther, who escaped two attempts and hit his foe with a chop. However, Keys turned that around for the suplex on the third try. Gunther got back on it with the knee to the gut followed by a hard chop to the chest and the near-fall. Keys was thrown out of the ring by Gunther, who took time to mock the crowd before he stepped to the apron. Gunther attempted a big boot from the apron, but Keys caught him and dropped him for three World Strongest Slams onto the announce table. Back in the ring, Gunther caught Keys with the big boot, but failed to connect on the second strike. This gave Keys a brief opening, but he got dropped with the Gunther clothesline.

Gunther tried to ascend to the top, but was sent back down to earth with a Keys superplex for a close near-fall. As the two big men shambled back to their feet, Gunther caught Keys by surprise with the sleeper as he brought him down to the ground. Solo Sikoa appeared at ringside to “motivate” Keys. Sikoa’s appearance seemed to distract Gunther, which allowed Keys to escape the hold and then level his opponent with the flying clothesline. Keys made Big E proud as he struck down Gunther with the hard lariat for the near-fall. Keys put Gunther on his shoulders, but once again found himself in the sleeper hold. Keys again fought back and freed himself from the hold. The pounce from Keys pushed Gunther into the referee, which allowed Sikoa to grab a steel chair and try to give it to Keys. An emphatic rejection by Keys unfortunately opened him up for Gunther’s clothesline and powerbomb, and that’s it, over. Gunther will face Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Clash in Italy.

After the match, as Gunther was taunting the camera, Cody Rhodes got the last word in with a Cross Rhodes on his Clash in Italy opponent.

Gunther def. Royce Keys via pinfall (will face Cody Rhodes at Clash in Italy)

*******************

I enjoyed that main event. It was a good “big meaty men slapping meat” contest between Keys and Gunther, and even the expected Solo Sikoa interference worked out well, too to further Keys’ story with him. Keys was fantastic here and hung well with someone as established as Gunther. I think the Rhodes vs. Gunther match at Clash in Italy will be good, so I can’t wait for that.

After a sloppy SmackDown last week weighed down by the Gingerbread Man tomfoolery, this week felt a lot better in comparison. The matches were enjoyable and there weren’t really any overly terrible segments that drew my ire compared to last week.

It was really great to see Carmelo Hayes back in the ring, and his match with Ricky Saints was the standout of the evening. Hopefully, Hayes is back in the U.S. Title picture and gets featured more regularly moving forward.

If there was anything I could call a “negative” about tonight, was, of course, the amount of ads. The promos for “Pressure: The True Story of D-Day” seemed a bit ridiculous, especially when we had one match even interrupted by a promo for the movie. It goes hand in hand with how sometimes, WWE just feels like one big commercial that’s occasionally interrupted by wrestling matches. Thankfully, that wasn’t enough to put a damper for me on this week’s shows, but it’s still an annoyance that can be understandably be too much for some viewers.

WWE SmackDown live results: The fallout from WrestleMania 42

Posted on by Marc Quill

WWE WrestleMania 42 has come and gone, and tonight WWE SmackDown moves forward as it emanates live from Fort Worth, TX’s Dickies Arena.

After challenging Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight title on Raw, Jacob Fatu will make an appearance as he awaits Reigns’ answer this Monday.

New WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley will be in the house to celebrate after wresting the title from Jade Cargill last Sunday.

There will be another celebration as new WWE United States Champion Trick Williams will be on hand as will his running mate, rapper Lil Yachty.

Paige returns to SmackDown for the first time in nearly 10 years as she and Brie Bella celebrate their WWE Women’s Tag Team title win last Saturday.

After earning the title shot last Friday, former WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton will challenge reigning Women’s U.S. Champion Giulia for the gold tonight.

Our live coverage kicks off at 8 pm Eastern.

*******************

– Our night began with a recap of what went down last weekend at WrestleMania 42. Following that lengthy opener, we went to a live shot of Cody Rhodes arriving to the arena in a Ram truck in a similar manner to Pat McAfee and Randy Orton. Also seen making their arrivals was the new WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley, as well as new U.S. Champion Trick Williams. Li’l Yachty and the Gingerbread Man were seen with Williams. As they got off the arena, Danhausen drove up in his coffinmobile as Trick’s entourage left.

Jacob Fatu kicks off SmackDown

Fatu made his way down to the ring just days after having challenged new World Heavyweight Championship Roman Reigns for a match at Backlash.

He started off by stating that he told Reigns that he wanted him, and that he needed the World Title. Then Reigns looked at Fatu in the eye and said “you’re not ready”. The truth is, however, Reigns was right in that assessment. Because what Reigns told Fatu has been something he’s heard all his life from his friends and family. But, to break it all down and to keep it 100, Reigns might say Fatu’s not ready, so he should step in the ring to prove it. The Usos interrupted as Jimmy and Jey Uso walked down to address Fatu.

Jimmy took the mic and said that he heard what Fatu had to say on Monday about how Fatu wanted to level up for his family. Jimmy told Fatu that he should not go after Roman Reigns’ title and instead go for Cody Rhodes. He said that Fatu should join the “Family” and run things with them. Jey

Jey said that if Fatu wanted respect from Roman, he better get ready to look him in the eye and get ready for war, because Reigns was going to bring it. That’s when The M.F.T.s interrupted things.

Solo Sikoa said that the Usos were lying to him. Sikoa took credit for bringing Fatu into WWE two years ago. The M.F.T.s entered the ring as Sikoa continued to insist Fatu to not listen to Jimmy and Jey. Sikoa said that Fatu wasn’t going to beat Reigns along, and that he was going to need an army in the form of the M.F.T.s. Tama Tonga aggressively took the microphone from Sikoa and asked him why they were wasting their time with this. Tama called Fatu a “lost cause”, stating that he couldn’t even beat Sikoa.

For his troubles, Tama got superkicked by Fatu, who told Sikoa that the only one who should be talking to is Roman Reigns. Fatu then issued the challenge to Sikoa to face him later tonight.

If you’re not a fan of more Bloodline drama unfolding, then this opening segment is certainly not for you. I found it just kind of there and a means to an end to set up our likely main event

*******************

Women’s United States Championship: Giulia (c) (w/ Kiana James) vs. Tiffany Stratton

Stratton avoided Giulia’s attacks on opposite corners before she hit her with a clothesline. Giulia responded with a jumping rollup pin for a near-fall. We got a series of dueling pinfalls between champion and challenger for a bit before Giulia caught Stratton’s cartwheel and connected with a neckbreaker.

Stratton got the rolling senton, but couldn’t get the Prettiest Moonsault Ever as Giulia trapped her in a tree-of-woe position before hitting the dropkick to the head. Giulia then got Stratton with an elevated neckbreaker from the apron to the outside as we took a commercial timeout.

We returned from commercial as Stratton was starting to mount her comeback. She connected with the springboard cartwheel Stunner for a close near-fall. Stratton tried to go up to the top rope, but Giulia intercepted her and turned it into an avalanche butterfly suplex. One, two…. Stratton just managed to kick out. Giulia headbutted Stratton and tried for a slam, but got reversed. Stratton looked for a running attack, but Kiana James grabbed her leg. Giulia ran at Stratton, but she moved out of the way Giulia ended up hitting James instead.

Stratton looked for another Prettiest Moonsault Ever, but Giulia caught her in a modified Rings of Saturn submission hold. Stratton countered it into a pinfall attempt that Giulia kicked out of. Giulia recovered and blasted Stratton with the Arrivederci knee. She set her up for the Northern Lights Bomb, but Stratton reversed it into a rough-looking Alabama Slam. She then finished Giulia off with a Prettiest Moonsault Ever to pick up the win and the Women’s U.S. Title.

Tiffany Stratton def. Giulia to win the Women’s United States Championship

That was an alright match between Stratton and Giulia. It was odd that these two were left out of the WrestleMania card and they put together a good match here. I will say that Giulia’s second Women’s U.S. Title reign was much like her first, a whole lot of nothing that led nowhere.

*******************

– A pretaped vignette of Danhausen visiting The Miz’s mansion was shown. Danhausen got into the pool, much to the Miz’s annoyance, and it looks we’re going to get more of these skits tonight.

– We returned as Tiffany Stratton was interviewed after her Women’s U.S. Title win. Stratton said that this felt amazing to be on the top again. She was no longer the runner up after winning gold, and that she was ready to show that WWE was running on “Tiffy Time”. New WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Brie Bella and Paige made their way to the ring after this.

Paige and Brie Bella celebrate their Women’s Tag Title win

Once the new champs entered the ring, Brie said that it felt incredible to stand in the ring to be a champion. She noted that while it was a shame she couldn’t win it alongside her sister Nikki, she was more than happy to take the gold alongside a good friend like Paige. Brie then welcomed her back to WWE.

Paige spoke next and talked about how hectic a week she just had. When Brie gave her the call to tag with her at WrestleMania, Paige said that she was more than happy to answer. Paige noted that it was a rough road to get back here, but she was so happy to be back home. She and Brie stood against the best competitors in the world, but SmackDown was still Paige’s house. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss showed up to interrupt proceedings.

Flair started by saying that she could speak for her and Bliss in welcoming Paige back, but the returnee had something that belonged to them. Flair and Bliss had been working for so long to get back, so Flair suggested that if Paige wanted to prove she was the best, she and Brie would defend the Women’s Tag Titles against her and Bliss. The Women’s Tag Champions accepted the challenge and this match would take place after the commercial break.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Paige & Brie Bella (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair

This match began during the commercial and we joined the action in progress after the break.

Bliss hit Brie with a dropkick as she tagged in Flair, who chopped away at Brie’s chest. She then hit a fallaway slam before kipping up to her feet. In the corner, Flair blasted Brie with a kick to the jaw, but missed with an attack to the knee. This gave Brie an opening for a tag, however, before we could get a tag, Jacy Jayne from NXT pulled down Paige from the apron as the rest of Fatal Influence — Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid ran in and laid waste to everyone.

Paige & Brie Bella vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair ended in a No Contest

Not so much of a match here as it was to introduce Fatal Influence into the Smackdown roster, and it’s giving a much needed infusion of talent to the women’s roster of SmackDown, which is something that I’ve made a point to discuss on more than one occasion. This is a good piece of business.

*******************

– We got a vignette for Royce Keys that focused on how much he was an inspiration to his hometown of East Pala Alto, CA.

Cody Rhodes talks WrestleMania 42 fallout

The Undisputed WWE Champion, sporting one heck of a shiner after taking Randy Orton’s punt kick, walked down to the ring battered, bruised, but certainly not broken.

As Rhodes got into the ring, he took in the reaction from the Fort Worth crowd before asking them what they wanted to talk about. Rhodes wanted to talk about he walked out of WrestleMania, even though he was beaten down. It was a decision he made to walk up the ramp to show that he always got back up. Rhodes wanted to send the message that even though he wouldn’t be medically cleared, and that he’d get stitches on the back of his head… he wanted to send it to Randy Orton. Rhodes wanted to send the message that even though Orton gave him his best shot — the punt to the head — he was still standing.

He wanted to send the message to a “sarcastic and condescending” Sami Zayn as well, who said that nothing ever went wrong for Rhodes. That’s why he showed up in all-gold attire at WrestleMania, because he wanted to show that he was gold, his family was gold, and every fan of his was gold. Most especially, he wanted to send a message to those outside forces that kept trying to get involved in his business: they’re 0-3, so send your best or count your money and mind your damn business.

Rhodes concluded by throwing the gauntlet as he pointed that if anyone wanted a shot at him, whether they were from NXT or Raw or SmackDown. He was easy to find, but even harder to beat.

Just a standard Cody Rhodes promo to get things going post-WrestleMania. This almost felt like a bit of a soft reset of sorts, in a way. The Pat McAfee-centered storyline that plagued Rhodes vs. Orton seems to be a thing of the past now, especially since it’s been reported that McAfee himself (and Jelly Roll) was not a fan of how things going down, and with good reason.

*******************

WWE Tag Team Championship Match: R-Truth & Damian Priest (c) vs. The M.F.T.s (Tama Tonga & J.C. Mateo) (w/ Tanga Loa)

Truth and Tama got things going in this tag match. The two traded strikes, but Tama got the upper hand here. He hit Truth with a dropkick and mocked him with his “version” of the Five-Knuckle Shuffle. Truth dodged and tagged Priest into the match. Priest unleashed his flurry of offense on both Tama and Mateo in the M.F.T. corner. Mateo responded by providing a distraction on Priest, which gave Tama the opening to clothesline him out of the ring. At ringside, Tanga Loa flattened Priest with a clothesline as we took a break in the action.

We returned from break as Mateo and Tama were shelling Priest with a double team assault. Mateo threw Priest into his corner, but the big man began to fight back. Tama went down with a clubbing blow, as Priest then swung for the fences like Aaron Judge with the massive lariat on Mateo. The hot tag from Truth as he hit the John Cena Moves of Doom on Mateo, ending with the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Tanga Loa distracted the referee as Tama ran in and hit Truth with his spinning neckbreaker behind the back. Priest broke up the count as he blind tagged into the match. He and Truth hit the “Rise Up” tag finisher on Mateo for the three and the tag title retention.

Damian Priest & R-Truth def. The M.F.T.s to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships

Kind of an okay match. The Truth and Priest team continues to entertain, but this just felt like a match that was kinda there.

*******************

– The second part of Danhausen’s visit to The Miz’s house was shown.

Trick Williams & Li’l Yachty’s U.S. Title Celebration

The new U.S. Champion was flanked by Li’l Yachty and the Gingerbread Man as the trio made their way to the ring to celebrate a successful WrestleMania. The ring was festooned with balloons, banners, and some champagne for celebration.

Williams stated to Yachty that the people were excited to celebrate the new United States Champion. He talked about how Yachty was there, and even the Gingerbread Man was there. The people weren’t there to gamble, but for three words: “Whoop That Trick”.

Yachty talked about how the WrestleMania promo tour was over, but he was still here, because he was here to stay. Yachty called himself “The Prophecy” as he stated that there would be no more U.S. Title Open Challenges for the foreseeable future. Williams concluded by talking about how if you wanted the U.S. Champion, you find Trick Willaims.

Just as Williams was celebrating, the Gingerbread Man hit him from behind with the cane. He removed his mask to reveal Sami Zayn. “A man-sized batch of walking cinnamon,” as Joe Tessitore called him, Zayn assaulted both Yachty and Williams before he finished the U.S. Champion with a Helluva Kick.

This was a nice segment, and the silly Gingerbread Man stuff had a point to it with Zayn using it to trick Trick. Nice work all around.

*******************

– Solo Sikoa once again tried to recruit Royce Keys to his side after a backstage interview.

Danhausen vs. The Miz (w/ Kit Wilson)

Danhausen entered to the ring aboard his “coffinmobile”.

Outside the ring, Kit Wilson took the Slammy Award off the hood of Danhausen’s rided. He then caused a distraction to allow Miz to hit Danhausen from behind. The American Gladiators reboot hostg stomped on Danhausen as he and Wilson shared a moment. Danhausen did an Undertaker sit-up and then cursed Miz and Wilson, which caused pyro to shoot out to blind the two. This gave Danhausen the opportunity to roll-up Miz for the win.

After the match, Miz tried to chase after Danhausen, but he ran into a blinded Wilson, which allowed Danhausen to escape in his coffinmobile.

Danhausen def. The Miz via pinfall

Just some silly fun here. It’s not much in the way of actual wrestling, but it’s harmless comedic fun as Danhausen continues to be one of the more entertaining parts of WWE as of late, even through the rough stretches en route to WrestleMania 42.

*******************

– A vignette for Blake Monroe was shown, stating that she’d be joining the SmackDown roster soon.

Rhea Ripley celebrates her WrestleMania moment

The new WWE Women’s Champion entered to a huge ovation from the Fort Worth crowd after her WrestleMania 42 victory this past weekend.

As the crowd chanted for her, Ripley stated, “your Mami is finally champion again.” Ripley talked about how at WrestleMania, the grandest stage of them all, Jade Cargill proved to her that she could actually go. But now, it was Ripley’s time to prove that the WWE Women’s Champion is a fighting champion. Ripley noted that she knew there were women in the back that wanted a shot at her, and now she was ready to take on all comers.

The music of SmackDown’s new additions, Fatal Influence, signalled the arrival of the trio led by Jacy Jayne. They walked down to the ring to massive boos from the crowd as Jayne said she’d be the first one to give Ripley credit for her win at WrestleMania, but she couldn’t talk over the crowd booing. Jayne said that the people should be giving credit to herself, Fallon Henley, and Lainey Reid for taking out everyone’s favorite legends like they did earlier tonight.

Ripley responded by stating that Fatal Influence should stop while they’re ahead. Reid and Henley tried to get their words in, but Ripley said that she was used to the number games being against her, but that didn’t matter as she gestured at her WWE Women’s Title. She challenged Fatal Inlfuence to fight her right now.

SmackDown GM Nick Aldis said that Jacy Jayne will face the new WWE Women’s Champion right here and right now… or at least after this commercial break.

*******************

Rhea Ripley vs. Jacy Jayne (w/ Lainey Reid & Fallon Henley)

Jayne and Ripley sized each other up before engaging in a chain wrestling battle. Ripley attempted a scoop slam, but Jayne turned that into a standing headlock. She kept the hold on for a bit before Ripley literally threw Jayne out of it. A shoulder block from Ripley kept the newcomer to SmackDown on her toes as Jayne talked over strategy with Reid and Henley. That pep-talk seemed to work as Jayne got Ripley with a running hurricanrana. Ripley responded with a headbutt that sent Jayne out of the ring. Ripley caught Jayne’s leg after a kick fromthe apron as she slammed her face-first.

Reid and Henley got in Ripley’s face, which allowed Jayne to recover with the running kick across the apron to Ripley as we took a timeout.

We returned to live action as Jayne maintained command of the match with a running neckbreaker on Ripley for the near-fall. Ripley got back on top of things with a rising kick as she hit Jayne with consecutive clotheslines, a kick, then a running dropkick. Ripley raised Jayne up for the Razor’s Edge, but she managed to escape from it. Ripley went for the forearm, but was hit with the pump knee to the face by Jayne for another near-fall.

Jayne missed with the discus elbow, as Ripley got her with the big boot on the button. Ripley headed to the top rope, but Jayne used the ropes to trip her foe up. This allowed Jayne to get in position for an attempted superplex, but Ripley escaped and hit the Cheeky Nando’s kick, as she tried for an electric chair move. Jayne reversed into a roll-up for the near-fall. Ripley hit back with the Razor’s Edge followed by the Shining Wizard for a close two.

Ripley attempted a Prism Trap, but Jayne countered it. Ripley headbutted Jayne and looked like she was going to hit the Riptide. Fatal Influence got involved to cause the DQ finish. After the match, Jayne, Reid, and Henley laid out the WWE Women’s Champion with a three-on-one-attack.

Rhea Ripley def. Jacy Jayne via Disqualification

I know the DQ finish was going to wrinkle a few feathers, but I thought it was deployed perfectly here, especially as the aim was to put over the new arrivals to SmackDown as a serious threat. I think Fatal Influence was used to great effect here and got put over easily as a new heel force on the roster.

*******************

– After a recap of Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu’s Raw confrontation, we got a backstage segment with Fatu stating to the Usos that he didn’t need their help against the likely involvement of The M.F.T.s in our main event.

– Backstage, Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss were stewing over being laid out by Fatal Influence earlier. Rhea Ripley appeared and asked if there was a problem. Flair was defensive and said she was going to go take care of Jacy Jayne next week, unlike “some” people, directing that towards Ripley.

– A Retrospective on Brock Lesnar was shown.

– Ricky Saints was teased to be making his debut on SmackDown next week as an official part of the blue brand’s roster.

Solo Sikoa (w/ The M.F.T.s) vs. Jacob Fatu

Fatu and Sikoa locked horns in the middle of the ring to start as the former backed the latter into the corner. A cheap kick to the gut by Sikoa led to a headlock, but Fatu got out of it and withstood two running shoulder blocks before he hit Sikoa in the throat with a strike. Fatu hit repeated headbutts on Sikoa, but got sent face-first into the turnbuckle, which allowed Sikoa to hit back with some punches of his own.

Sikoa taunted Fatu, but paid for it with a running forearm, followed by the spinning takedown. As Fatu tried to run, J.C. Mateo snagged his leg, as the M.F.T.s struck on the outside with the referee distracted. Meanwhile, The Usos appeared on the ramp, much to Fatu’s protestations. This gave Sikoa an opportunity to strike with a clothesline on Fatu as we took our last commercial break.

Our main event returned as Fatu began to try and mount a comeback. Sikoa caught Fatu’s running attack and turned that into a release German suplex for a near-fall. Sikoa tried to strike at Fatu, but got met wtih bigger attacks from his foe, which culminated in a series of rights and a clothesline to the face. Fatu then hit a clothesline in the corner on Sikoa, as he then got ten consecutive headbutts on his stunned foe. This left Sikoa at the mercy of Fatu’s running hip attack. Tama Tonga tried to distract Fatu, but Sikoa failed to hit the Samoan Spike, as a superkick took him out.

Fatu headed to the top rope, but J.C. Mateo pushed him off the perch with the referee distracted. Sikoa rolled up Fatu, but couldn’t get the win. Fatu took out the M.F.T interference outside with one suicide dive, as Sikoa used this opening to hit the Spinning Solo. Diving splash from the top, but Fatu kicked out of Sikoa’s best shot. Sikoa looke dfor the Samoan Spike, but Fatu responded with a superkick, followed by the pop-up Samoan Drop. One Mighty Moonsault later, and it was a victory for Fatu.

Post-match, Mateo, Tanga, and Tama attacked Fatu, which prompted the Usos to run it. However, it seemed like Fatu didn’t need the help as he took it to the remnants of the M.F.T.s Fatu wrapped the steel chairs around the necks of Tama and Mateo, as he hit the running hip attack on the both of them. Outside the ring, Tanga Loa ate a suicide dive. Fatu rearranged the furniture and got on the barrier to hit a diving splash through the announce table on Tanga.

The show ended with Fatu staring down the Usos, who only stood on the apron. Fatu said that he’d see Roman Reigns on Raw this coming Monday.

Jacob Fatu def. Solo Sikoa via pinfall

*******************

That was a perfectly fine main event, and it did its job of establishing Jacob Fatu as a credible threat for Roman Reigns as the World Heavyweight Champion.

Meanwhile, this post-WrestleMania SmackDown fell kind of flat for me, even with moments I liked such as Fatal Influence’s debut and Danhausen’s antics. It just felt like a show that really didn’t seem like an important aftermath to WrestleMania, and not helped by the absences of certain players such as Randy Orton or Jade Cargill.

Moreover, I think a lot of why I couldn’t really get into tonight’s show was the news of WWE doing its annual spring releases just before SmackDown went on the air. Among those released were the entire Wyatt Sicks faction, as well as Aleister Black and Kairi Sane — all of whom were just on WWE programming in various storylines. It’s hard to really get excited about a show on a night when the company running the show you’ve covered decided it’d be a good idea for these cost-cutting cuts that do nobody any favours.

I don’t think I have to explain how losing a job sucks and that making jokes about it, no matter how you feel about the company that fired them is kind of terrible. At the end of the day, it comes down to corporate greed by the decisionmakers within WWE and TKO, and every year, it’s just a painful reminder.

I hope everyone that was released today find the feet elsewhere in the wide world of wrestling, because it’s a great big world out there now, and the sky is certainly the limit for everyone.

WWE SmackDown live results: Pat McAfee speaks

Posted on by Marc Quill

On last week’s SmackDown, Pat McAfee revealed himself as Randy Orton’s mystery caller as he aligned with Orton to attack Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. McAfee claimed that he wanted to restore the Attitude Era to its former glory as the reason why he chose to help Orton.

Tonight, McAfee has promised he has a “huge surprise,’ though Rhodes will certainly be looking for a bit of revenge against him as WrestleMania 42 looms closer with only a week to goo.

Also tonight, ahead of his unsanctioned match against Jacob Fatu, Drew McIntyre has promised to reveal to the world “the real” Fatu.

Royce Keys is set to officially make his debut on SmackDown tonight after last appearing in the 2026 Royal Rumble and a few Main Event matches.

On Friday afternoon, WWE also announced that Rhea Ripley will be on tonight’s show. She is set to address Jade Cargill’s attack on IYO SKY.

Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.

**********

– Joe Tessitore welcomed us to tonight’s show as he set the stage for WrestleMania 42 next week. We then got a recap of last week’s series of events featuring Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Pat McAfee. Following that, we saw Rhodes walking backstage and asking Nick Aldis where Pat McAfee is. Rhodes was told by Aldis to not go after Pat McAfee, under strict orders from above (i.e. TKO management). Jelly Roll showed up and was looking for Orton and McAfee, and was told the same thing by Aldis. Jelly then told Rhodes that this wasn’t about McAfee or himself, but twenty years of friendship between Orton and Rhodes being flushed down the toilet. Jelly encouraged Rhodes to keep his focus.

Rhea Ripley opens SmackDown

Ripley got right down to business and said that Cargill made things personal by attacking IYO SKY on Raw this past Monday. Ripley challenged Cargill to come down and fight her. Instead, IYO SKY made her way down to the ring to talk to her friend. SKY wanted to face Cargill, and said that she’d talk to Nick Aldis if she had to for this match to get made.

Mr. Aldis showed up afterwards and decided to make it official as our main event tonight.

Just a standard main event set-up segment, not really much else to say. As for the opening bits with Cody Rhodes and Jelly Roll… I get the feeling we’ll be in for a long night and road to WrestleMania soon. Stay tuned…

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Bayley (w/ Lyra Valkyria) vs. Alexa Bliss (w/ Charlotte Flair)

Hometown heroine Bayley got loud cheers from the San Jose crowd as the match got underway. Bayley got ahead on Bliss with a sliding elbow, as she reversed an early Sister Abigail DDT attempt from Bliss. Nobody had the upper hand early on. In the corner, Bayley missed with a running knee attack as Bliss dodged at the last second. Bliss tepped on Bayley and pounded on her head with her boot, much to the disdain of the crowd. Bliss got a little cocky and ate a clothesline from Bayley, followed by the sliding dropkick to the outside. This took us into the commercial break.

We returned from break as Bliss leveled Bayley with a dropkick, followed by the modified Natural Selection for a near-fall. Bayley recovered and connected with the sunset flip right into the middle turnbuckle on Bliss. One, two… not yet. Bliss had Bayley trapped in the corner in a tree-of-woe position, and made no mistake with the dropkick. As Bliss headed to the top rope, Bayley tried to intercept her, but to no avail. Bliss connected with the tornado DDT for another near-fall.

Bayley countered another Sister Abigail DDT attempt from Bliss with the Bayley-to-Belly. Both women recovered and hit each other with furious strikes before it turned into an exchange of pin attempts. Bliss tried to get a rope-assisted pinfall, but the referee saw it. Another sunset flip into the turnbuckle from Bayley to Bliss, as the hometown favorite headed to the top rope and connected with the diving elbow. One, two…. 2.99999999!!!!!!!!!

Bliss rolled out of the ring and tried to catch her breath with Charlotte Flair, but Bayley went right after Bliss. Lyra Valkyria got into Flair’s face and argued, this allowed Bliss to get the sneaky roll-up pin and win.

Alexa Bliss def. Bayley via pinfall

Well, it just wouldn’t be WWE if they didn’t have the hometown hero eat the pin, I suppose. Otherwise a good enough match to start us off.

**********

– Carmelo Hayes was in the medical room as Trick Williams and Li’l Yachty showed up to taunt him. Hayes promised to go after Williams if he got past Sami Zayn at WrestleMania. After Hayes left, Matt Cardona had some words for Williams, and that led to a match between the two made.

– We got a video package from Drew McIntyre where he was speaking behind bars, to talk trash about Jacob Fatu’s checkered past. McIntyre insulted Fatu for “choosing” a life of crime over providing for his family. He promised to be Fatu’s judge, jury, and executioner at WrestleMania.

– Backstage, we saw Fatu watching McIntyre’s promo as he was asked about it. Fatu said that McIntyre was going to find out something, but he was interrupted by Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s. Sikoa mocked Fatu for being in the same place that he got his teeth knocked out all those months ago. Sikoa said that Tama Tonga was going to step up to Fatu, though Tama seemed to not be happy about it.

– We got a video package introducing us to Royce Keys, as he talked about his own past before heading to WWE. Keys stated that he wanted to be defined by where he was going rather than where he started from. Keys’ debut was said to be coming up next.

Royce Keys vs. Berto (w/ Angel)

Berto hit Keys in the back, but it wasn’t very effective. Keys responded with a fierce clothesline that crushed Berto before he lifted him from the ground with a powerslam. With Berto stunned in the corner, Keys tried to run, but Berto made a quick escape. Outside the ring, Angel provided a distraction for Berto to push Keys into the ringpost. Back in the ring, Berto landed a nice dropkick to Keys. Berto attempted a diving crossbody, but he was caught by Keys for the fallaway slam. Keys hoisted Berto on his shoulders for the running powerslam. Angel tried to run at Keys, but got hit with a clothesline. Straps were down and Keys hit his spinebuster for the win on his SmackDown debut.

Royce Keys def. Berto via pinfall

How they’ve not really used Royce Keys (fka Powerhouse Hobbs) since his Royal Rumble debut has been baffling, to say the least. Hopefully with this official debut, they use him more moving forward because Keys is too good of a talent to be just left on the sidelines the way he’s been so far.

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– Pat McAfee arrived at the arena and was told by Nick Aldis about the directives of not being touched. Jelly Roll confronted McAfee and demanded to know if he told Randy Orton to RKO him. Jelly got into McAfee’s face but was told to back off by Aldis as McAfee was off to address the crowd.

– Backstage, Royce Keys was interviewed about his successful debut. Keys said he was glad to do it in front of his people. Before he could continue, Solo Sikoa confronted Keys, and said that his door was always open.

Pat McAfee addresses his actions

McAfee headed to the ring as the crowd booed him. Once McAfee entered the ring, he called San Jose a “shithole”, as he stated that he was the “hero” in this entire thing. McAfee called CM Punk a “spineless bum” that the crowd cheer for. Did we like it when Punk called McAfee “Pat MAGAFee” on Raw, he asked?

McAfee said that it was hard for him to get past that Punk was wearing WWE-licensed merchandise under his shirt, and it made him wonder that when the TKO cheque comes through, to the needy wrestling families, or the bank account titled “I’m sorry, Saudi Arabia”. McAfee called Punk a fraud, someone who was all talk, no action. McAfee put himself over as an agent of change, a man of action, someone who decided to be everyone’s hero.

McAfee said that he decided to call Ram Trucks to help fans get to WrestleMania, with 25% tickets off the Saturday show tickets from now until Monday’s Raw. This was supposedly because for us to see a once-in-a-lifetime event of Randy Orton saving this business by winning his 15th World Title. Before McAfee’s tirade could continue, the music of Cody Rhodes interrupted him, and out came the Undisputed WWE Champion.

Rhodes entered the ring and stood face-to-face with McAfee as he took a microphone to address the situation. Rhodes started by stating that he was going to go out on a limb and say that McAfee doesn’t belong here. He knows that he couldnt’ touch him, but they can get a Fanatics WWE Title and live out his WWE experience before McAfee got sent back to whoever put him here to say “thank yo, daddy.”

Rhodes pointed out that McAfee was a play wrestler because of how he didn’t know Orton wasn’t part of the Attitude Era, before talking about an old promoter by the name of Paul Boesch, who said that wrestling fans were “customers”, not marks. Rhodes talked about how the fans weren’t customers to him, but they were family. Rhodes said that McAfee had a gift, and that it was getting the entire wrestling fandom to agree on one thing: they wanted to see Randy Orton, and not Pat McAfee. “Go home, Pat,” said Rhodes.

McAfee said that he was home, as he was born to be in this business, and that Rhodes was the fakest dude on Earth. McAfee called Rhodes a cosplay champion, one that he was going to get rid of at WrestleMania, alongside with Randy Orton. He had a message for Rhodes: if Randy Orton didn’t walk out of WrestleMania as champion, we’d never see Pat McAfee ever again.

Rhodes called out McAfee for being too tired as he said that maybe we should get Gunther to put McAfee’s ass to sleep once again. As Rhodes tried to leave, McAfee talked trash to him, but before Rhodes could come to him, Randy Orton appeared on the TitanTron and said that Rhodes should come get his “boy” (i.e. Jelly Roll).

Orton dragged out Jelly Roll to the stage, as McAfee attempted a sneak attack. Rhodes turned to face McAfee, but got hit by Orton attacked him from behind. McAfee and Rhodes laid a two-on-one attack on Rhodes, but Jelly recovered and had McAfee by the throat. Orton punched Jelly Roll, as McAfee gave Orton the WWE Title. Orton struck Rhodes with the title. McAfee stole Rhodes WWE Title and had it on his shoulder.

I cannot list the many ways how much I hate this entire thing. From McAfee yelling about ticket prices and the fact that he doesn’t belong anywhere near this major main event angle being incorporated into the story, and all the worked shoot nonsense that I honestly despise. It’s getting ridiculous, and dragging Jelly Roll into this mess has turned what should’ve been a sure-fire angle with Orton and Rhodes’ sharewd history into celebrity-filled nonsense led by some schmuck on ESPN just because TKO executives are dead set on making WrestleMania 42 a must-miss event.

Then there’s the rumored direction where this is all going with a tag match with the featured players from this segment we just saw presumably happening at Backlash. It’s just leading into a ridiculous mess and I can’t think that this is going to draw new viewers to WWE as TKO might hope. Just nothing short of terrible and increasingly more embarrassing with each passing week.

**********

– Nick Aldis was chatting with a referee before The Miz and Kit Wilson showed up to complain about what happened with Dan Engler last week. There needed to be consequences for what happened with Engler. Aldis said that Kit Wilson will face Dan…. hausen in action tonight.

Jacob Fatu vs. Tama Tonga

Tama and Fatu locked up in the middle of the ring before the former was backed into a corner. Fatu withstood a shoulder block from Tama before he hit him with a throat strike. Tama tried to get ahead, but he was hit with more strikes from Fatu, as a headbutt punctuated that barrage. Fatu connected with a handstand moonsault on a downed Tama, before he launched himself through the middle ropes for a suicide dive, which took us to the commercial break.

Our match returned from commercial as Fatu and Tama traded strikes. Tama struck Fatu with two pump-up punches, but that only fired up Fatu. Tama was hit with the running splash in the corner by Fatu, followed by 10 headbutts. With Tama stunned, Fatu hit him with a running hip attack. A second hip attack was intercepted by a forearm from Tama. Underhook powerbomb by Tama got a near-fall. Pop-up Samoan Drop attempt by Fatu was countered into a sort-of rolling cutter by Tama for another near-fall.

Tama looked for the Cutthroat, but a kick from Fatu met him instead. Pop-up Samoan Drop, followed by the moonsault from the top, and Fatu got the win here.

After the match, Fatu got on the microphone until Drew McIntyre attacked him from behind. Fatu recovered with a superkick, but a Claymore Kick left him down and out. McIntyre threw Fatu out of the ring, as he then sent him head first into the steel steps. McIntyre grabbed a chair from the timekeeper as he hit Fatu across the back with it. McIntyre hoisted Fatu and planted him with the Future Shock DDT. McIntyre had handcuffs as he put them on Fatu’s left arm. He threw him into the ring post twice. McIntyre then locked had Fatu cuffed against the ring post, as he hit him with a boot against the post.

McIntyre again cuffed Fatu against the ringpost, as he pummeled him some more. Back in the ring, one final Claymore Kick from McIntyre was it.

Jacob Fatu def. Tama Tonga via pinfall

Pretty much a standard match, but the McIntyre beatdown segment afterwards was a decent way to get heat on him before next week, so there’s that.

**********

– We got another segment of R-Truth explaining how to work with the ESPN App to watch WrestleMania next week. Truth was telling this to Kit Wilson. Rhea Ripley threw B-Fab against a cargo case while this was happening, stating that she only had one more to take care of.

Sami Zayn addresses the crowd

The U.S. Champion made his way to the ring amidst a sea boos, which he stated was an “interesting reaction”. He said that maybe it was time to nip this in the bud. Zayn said that he had talked to close friends like Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, who wanted to see some change from Zayn.

Zayn said that throughout his career, he had tried to give himself something more than just a catchphrase or a viral mment. Zayn said that the fans who cried for him, who bought his stuff, or had his back since day one, that’s who he cared about. Zayn declared that he’d never betray those people. As far as the people booing him, Zayn didn’t know why they were booing him, but he didn’t care. Zayn praised the ride or die fans who have been with him since day one, and that he’d walk out of WrestleMania as champion for them.

Trick Williams interrupted him to huge cheers from the San Jose crowd, as he was accompanied by hypeman Li’l Yachty. Once they got in the ring, Williams said that the people were tired of hearing Sami Zayn talk. Someone who was “whining like a donkey” and couldn’t get it done. Williams said that the truth was, Zayn just hated him. Williams said that whether Zayn liked it or hate it, he was going to whoop Zayn’s ass at WrestleMania, because everyone loves Trick Williams.

Zayn responded by saying that the crowd didn’t love Williams, but they did like him and had a crush on him. Here’s the thing, however, Williams could make all the jokes he could want, but he was going to be in the ring with a WrestleMania main eventer who would drag him in to deep waters. Zayn said that we’d find out at WrestleMania if Williams could walk the walk or just be nothing but talk.

Li’l Yachty hyped up Williams a bit more before Matt Cardona interrupted, as he was set to face Williams in singles action coming up next.

I think Zayn’s slow-burn heel turn is actually one of the better things of an otherwise dire SmackDown scene as of late, so his promo was good in that regard. On the other hand, I think Trick Williams can stand on his own, and that Li’l Yachty’s addition doesn’t really add to him.

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Trick Williams (w/ Li’l Yachty) vs. Matt Cardona

This match resumed from commercial as Williams avoided Cardona’s strikes in the corner and taunted him. Cardona got slammed on his back by Williams. With the ref’s back turned, Li’l Yachty grabbed at Cardona’s head.

Cardona avoided Williams’s jumping kick, as he then hit him with a clothesline. Cardona followed that with a missile dropkick to the jaw of Williams. With his foe out of the ring, Cardona hit the rope-assisted dropkick on Williams. Back in the ring, Cardona got tripped up by Williams while he was on the top rope, which took us to the break.

Our match continued from the break as Williams knocked Cardona down with a kick. Cardona recovered with a jawbreaker, followed by the back suplex. This gave Cardona the opportunity to mount a comeback, at least until he was floored by a punch from Williams. Cardona got back into it with a running facebuster as he lined Williams up for the Broski Boot. Cardona pulled from Chelsea Green’s playbook with an Unprettier for the two-count. Williams responded by sending Cardona’s face into the top turnbuckle, followed by a neckbreaker for the two.

Williams missed with a running splash, but Cardona failed to capitalize as he was sent over the top rope when he went for a running attack. At ringside, after he clotheslined Cardona, Zayn stared down Williams and got a shove for his troubles. As Williams got back in the ring, he challenged Zayn to fight him. When Zayn got on the apron, Li’l Yachty tripped him up. This led to Yachty eating a Helluva Kick from Zayn. In the ring, Williams avoided a roll-up pin from Cardona, as he then finished him off with the Trick Shot.

Trick Williams def. Matt Cardona via pinfall

Another match that just felt like it just happened without much purpose. I honestly couldn’t get into it much at all. Also, it’s hard to take Matt Cardona as much of a serious threat if he’s mostly just lost his matches since returning.

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Danhausen vs. Kit Wilson

Danhausen sized himself up to Wilson’s face, and got shoved. In response, Danhausen hit a dropkick, followed by a bridging suplex for a two-count. Wilson recovered with a kick to the gut, followed by a kick. Miz was playing to the crowd, as Danhausen slid out of the ring and posed beside him. This left Danhausen open to the flying elbow attack from Wilson. Back in the ring, Wilson battered Danhausen with repeated running elbows to the corner.

As Wilson got bounced with a jawbreaker, he rebounded and hit Danhausen with a lariat. Wilson headed up top for the elbow drop. Danhausen perked up and did the “You Are Cursed” poiint. This caused pyro to shoot out from the ringpost, which sent Wilson crashing to the ground. Miz got punched from the apron by Danhausen, who then finished Wilson off with a running kick.

After the match, Miz tried to sneak attack Danhausen, but the lights turned off. Once the lights turned back on, Danhausen ran away to the stage to escape Miz.

Danhausen def. Kit Wilson via pinfall

Well, Danhausen is probably a gimmick that isn’t to everyone’s tastes, but I kinda find him inoffensive and even entertaining at times. In this match, we did get to see some moves from Danhausen that showed that he’s more than just a meme character, so that was nice to see(hausen).

**********

– Backstage, Jade Cargill was looking for Michin to back her up against IYO SKY in her match coming up next. However, Michin was found laid out with a broken kendo stick over her. Rhea Ripley had gotten to Michin.

Next Week on SmackDown

  • Andre The Giant Battle Royal
  • Wyatt Sicks vs. M.F.T.s in a Street Fight

– IYO SKY requested that Rhea Ripley stay behind for her match with Jade Cargill now that the odds have been made even after B-Fab and Michin got taken out.

Jade Cargill vs. IYO SKY

SKY was hot to start with a dropkick to Cargill. She avoided a running splash from Cargill and hit her with a forearm. However, the WWE Women’s Champion quickly recovered with a shoulder block, as she then slammed SKY down to the ground. SKY answered with a pop-up dropkick on Cargill, but got hit with a right hand from her foe as she headed for a dive, as we took a commercial break with about seven minutes of show left.

We returned to our main event as both women were down following an armbreaker counter from SKY during the break. The former Womens’ World Heavyweight Champion connected with the dropkick from the top rope as Cargill suddenly found herself on the backfoot. SKY struck with the Bullet Train attack into the corner on Cargill. SKY tried to go up the top rope, but was caught by Cargill in an overhead press position. SKY reversed that into a sleeper that got broken out of. SKY avoided the pump kick from Cargill and turned it into a roll-up pin for the two. Blue Thunder Bomb by Cargill, but taht wasn’t enough for the win. Cargill had SKY in a chokeslam position, but that turned into a double stomp.

As Cargill rolled out of the ring, she was hit with a moonsault from the apron by SKY. With both women out of the ring, Cargill dropped SKY onto the steel steps with a wheelbarrow face slam. That was followed with the pump kick. One Jaded later, and that’s it, over.

After the match, Cargill got a chair, but Rhea Ripley ran in immediately before her WrestleMania opponent could do any damage.

Jade Cargill def. IYO SKY via pinfall

**********

An okay main event that ended a really baffling SmackDown overshadowed by the sad saga of Pat McAfee hijacking the WrestleMania main event. If Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan, and/or Paul Levesque’s idea of selling people to their biggest show of the year is having Pat McAfee trash one of the nights for being mediocre, other wrestler call McAfee’s involvement terrible, and things of that nature, then God help this company. It’s a lousy and pointless exercise and you don’t even have to be a “hater” of WWE to admit that they kinda screwed up here.

As far as the rest of the show is concerned outside of the McAfee/Rhodes/Orton/Jelly Roll stuff, everything just felt like they kinda happened. Nothing important, no big hook to get us to tune into next week. And when next week is literally the final go-home before WrestleMania 42, it’s really kind of sad. By the time April 18th and 19th roll around, it’ll be like that time The Simpsons took the “shortcut” to get to Itchy and Scratchy Land. That’s an apt descriptor for this Road to WrestleMania, at least from my view of it over these last few months.

WWE SmackDown live results: Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes undisputed title match

Posted on by Marc Quill

On tonight’s WWE SmackDown, Cody Rhodes finally gets his shot at Drew McIntyre and the undisputed WWE Championship, two months after he lost the title in the Three Stages of Hell match.

SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis put this into motion after McIntyre once again got involved in Rhodes’ business inside last weekend’s men’s Elimination Chamber match. McIntyre’s interference allowed Randy Orton to pin Rhodes to earn a shot at the undisputed WWE Title at WrestleMania 42. The winner of tonight’s title match will face Orton in Las Vegas.

After Rhea Ripley won the women’s Elimination Chamber, she will challenge Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s title at WrestleMania 42. After a notable war of words on social media, Ripley will appear on tonight’s show.

WWE United States Champion Carmelo Hayes will host another open challenge in hopes of yet another successful title defense.

Our live coverage begins at 8 pm Eastern.

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– Our night kicked off with a recap of everything that went down in Chicago last Saturday at Elimination Chamber, from Rhea Ripley’s victory, to Danhausen’s debut, Randy Orton’s victory, and finally Nick Aldis’s decision to put Drew McIntyre in a big title match tonight.

– After the recap, the voice of Joe Tessitore set the stage for tonight’s show, which will be main evented by Rhodes vs. McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship.

Randy Orton opens SmackDown

The winner of the men’s Elimination Chamber match, and the man who will face either McIntyre or Rhodes at WrestleMania 42 made his way to the ring to a huge ovation from the Portland crowd. Once Orton was done taking in the cheers of the crowd, he took a mic.

Orton welcomed the Portland crowd to the show before he talked about how he got to the venue early in the morning and he saw that the WrestleMania sign was already up in the arena. Orton said that he started thinking about each individual WrestleMania he had performed in — about twenty of them. He said that he realized that he only main evented two of those Mania shows. It doesn’t matter how many records set or titles won, as there was no guarantee anyone was going to WrestleMania, let alone main event one. But now, here we are and Orton can officially say that he’s going back to the main event of WrestleMania.

Orton said that he’s not the kind of guy who stands in the ring and tells everyone he’s the best. He does let his peers do the talking and they say that he’s the best. Orton called out The Undertaker, Ric Flair, JBL as individuals who put him over, as he then turned his attention to the locker room filled of the amazing talent that he shared it with. He said he’s proud that he’s still in the spot that he’s in to this day. Orton tallked about how he earned his spot, nobody handed it to him.

As for who Orton will face at WrestleMania, he said that we’ll know in a couple of hours. If it’s either Cody Rhodes or Drew McIntyre, Orton said that he wouldn’t be leaving Vegas without the Undisputed WWE Championship around his waist. Orton said that he planned on accomplishing that in one way, with the most dangerous letters in sports entertainment.

However, before Orton could finish that statement, he was interrupted by the music of Trick Williams. The man himself emerged from the back amidst the loud “WHOOP THAT TRICK!” chants before he spoke. Williams introduced himself as the “sexiest and most entertaining superstar alive”, as he talked about the voices in his head, which told him that he had a bone to pick with Orton. Williams said that we all know he should be in the main event of WrestleMania getting that title shot. However, there was a bigger problem than that. Williams said that on Saturday, Orton came to his Chamber pod and said he wasn’t 6’5″. As Williams entered the ring to talk smack to Orton, he got hit with an RKO out of nowhere.

Standard opening segment with Orton outlining his Mania plans, and Williams managing to be entertaining as ever, even if he was just there to eat an RKO. I imagine things will shift towards something for the WrestleMania title match once we get our winner in the McIntyre/Rhodes main event.

********************

– Earlier today, Carmelo Hayes met with Nick Aldis in his office. Aldis said that the U.S. Title Open Challenge has been catching the eyes of everyone across the world, including one person in particular. Hayes said that he’d see this person out in the ring, setting the stage for our opener.

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Hijo Del Dr. Wagner Jr.

The AAA Latin American Champion was revealed to be Hayes’ opponent for this Open Challenge. A short primer on Dr. Wagner Jr. was shown prior to this match.

Wagner immediately hit Hayes with a shotgun dropkick, followed by a cannonball into the corner. As Hayes went on the apron, Wagner hit him with a kick, as he then leapt at him to take the U.S. Champion down at ringside. Back in the ring, Hayes was still on the backfoot as Wagner hit a missile dropkick from the top rope for an early pin attempt.

Hayes recovered with a rolling dodge over Wagner, followed by a dropkick of his own. As Hayes tried to go for a suplex, Wagner used his size to block it, but got rolled up for a pin attempt for a count of two. Hayes targeted Wagner’s leg as he then hit his backward springboard leg drop on the challenger, which took us to commercial.

When we returned from commercial, Wagner had just hit a superplex on Hayes for a near-fall. As both men recovered to their feet, they exchanged strikes and chops. Hayes hit an enzuigiri on Wagner, who immediately responded with a hard clothesline. One, two… NO! Wagner Jr. remained on the offensive, but Hayes stopped that with his trademark springboard clothesline. Hayes kipped up and chopped at Wagner’s chest, followed by La Mistica (referred to by Tessitore as a “Dirty Diana”).

Wagner countered Hayes’ First 48 attempt with a deadlift powerbomb for a close near-fall. Wagner exposed his right arm, as he hit a discus elbow strike. Hayes escaped a Wagner Driver attempt, as he then intercepted a middle turnbuckle dive with a First 48, One, two… 2.99999999!!!!!! Hayes headed to the top and missed with Nothin’ But Net. Wagner got ahead of this and put Hayes on his shoulders before he hit yet another powerbomb. Again, Hayes refused to lose.

Hayes dodged a Wagner piledriver and made no mistake with Nothin’ But Net this time for the pin and win in this Open Challenge match.

After the match, Hayes and Wagner showed respect to one another for a heck of a match.

Carmelo Hayes def. El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. via pinfall to retain the U.S. Championship

Probably not one of the stronger Open Challenge matches, but still a solid little match to kick off SmackDown’s in-ring action. Wagner Jr. had a good showing in this one and kept up well with Hayes in this contest. I enjoyed it.

********************

– Ilja Dragunov was interviewed about his refusal to answer Carmelo Hayes’ offer to face him for the U.S. Title. He said that he learned this warrior mindset from his mother, stating that he was fighting like how she would. The Miz interrupted to talk some trash to Dragunov, before Kit Wilson showed up to call him “toxic”. Dragunov said that maybe fighting was the answer to get it all out of his system as he left.

– Balloons were being set up around the ring for The Irresistable Forces’ WWE Women’s Tag Title celebration which was coming up next.

– Damian Priest was talking with Nick Aldis about a match he had tonight, as R-Truth joined in on the conversation. Aldis decided to put Truth and Priest as a team for Tag Team Turmoil later tonight as the two left. Drew McIntyre confronted Aldis, and stated that he had time to calm down after Elimination Chamber. McIntyre said that Cody Rhodes didn’t earn tonight’s title shot, but Aldis saw it differently. Aldis said that McIntyre went back on his word and told him it was put up or shut up time. Put the title on the line or forfeit it. McIntyre concluded that the only way taht Rhodes would get the Undisputed WWE Title was from his cold, dead hands.

The Irresistable Forces’ Championship Celebration

Nia Jax and Lash Legend, our new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, made their way down to the ring, which was suitably decorated for their big celebration. As Jax and Legend entered the ring, the two told the Portland crowd to soak it all in, as they were getting a good look at two six-foot-two thoroughbred stallions. Jax said that with the Women’s Tag Titles, they had the entire women’s tag division on lock as the two most dominant women in WWE.

Jax said that any and all challengers were welcome, but it wouldn’t make any difference. Legend added that if anyone was brave enough to challenge them, that if they ran up, they’d get done up. Legend declared that the Irresistable Forces were here and they were not going anywhere. Legend talked about how it was fitting to have a toast to the most grand and dominant WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. Jax and Legend toasted as pyro went off on the stage. They were interrupted by the music of Charlotte Flair, who was accompanied by partner Alexa Bliss.

With mics of their own in hand, Bliss said that she was really happy for Nia Jax that she finally found a coattail to ride off her back. She pointed out how they only lost the Women’s Tag Titles to the Kabuki Warriors due to Jax and Legend’s cheating ways. Flair said the two were looking at the next challengers for the Women’s Tag Titles. That was when Giulia and Kiana James made their way.

James pointed out how she won the in a match against Lash Legend and Charlotte Flair, and how she pinned Bliss in the Elimination Chamber. James talked about how she and Giulia would get themselves to WrestleMania one way or another. With the two teams in the ring talking trash to one another, NIck Aldis interjected and said that Portland deserved a little action, as we’d get Giulia and James vs. Bliss and Charlotte, and we’d have that match right now… or at least after this commercial break.

Pretty much a standard segment to set up challengers for the Womens’ Tag Titles. Not really much else to point out here. I will say that Jax and Legend are pretty entertaining now at the moment.

Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Giulia & Kiana James

This match was joined in progress after the break as Bliss and Giulia were fighting it out in the ring. Bliss tagged in Flair as the two did an unconventional double team move with Bliss being lifted by Flair to kick Giulia to her corner. James tagged in and seemed to hold her own against James and Giulia. On the apron, Flair barreled into both of them with a senton to the two of them. James recovered and threw Flair into the ringpost to regain momentum for her team.

James punched at Flair before she dropped an elbow right across the chest. Giulia re-entered the match and hit a jumping dropkick to the back of a seated Flair for a two-count. James once again joined the match and drove her shoulders to Flair’s midsection in the corner. As James went for a standing moonsault, Flair used her knees to block it as both women were down in out in the middle of the ring. Bliss and Giulia entered the match for their teams after tag as the latter showed a furious offense against the former. Giulia tried to recover, but Bliss countered it with a basement dropkick after an attempted roll-up.

Bliss kicked Giulia to the outside and leapt from the apron. James caught Bliss and dropped her across the apron as Giulia then hit her with a big boot, which took us to a break.

Once we returned from commercial, Bliss fought hard as she tagged in Flair for the hot tag. Flair took Giulia and James out with a double cross body before lighting the two up with chops. She had things in full control with a fallaway slam on Giulia after catching her. Flair went to the top rope and hit the moonsault on both Giulia and James, the latter of whom managed to kick out at two. James hit Flair with a boot as Giulia blind tagged herself in. Back suplex by Giulia on Flair kept the advantage for her team, but she couldn’t get the three. Giulia willed herself back up and grabbed at Flair’s hair to try for a slam. Flair countered that into a German suplex as Bliss hit James with a DDT. Flair connected with Natural Selection on Giulia for the victory.

Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss def. Giulia and Kiana James via pinfall

A fun sprint in this tag match. I enjoy all four competitors in this match and it was a treat seeing these teams.

********************

– We got remarks from Jelly Roll, who congratulated Randy Orton on his Elimination Chamber win as he teased showing up next week.

– Cody Rhodes was interviewed as he got a mixed reaction from the crowd. Rhodes said that one obstacle after another, the one that remained constant was Drew McIntyre. Sami Zayn interrupted things as Rhodes seemed annoyed. Zayn said that he let Rhodes beating him go to qualify for the Elimination Chamber, as he talked about how Rhodes lost at Elimination Chamber, but he still got a chance.

Rhodes saw it differently and thought Zayn was trying to politic his way to a WWE Title match, even though he hadn’t won a damn thing just yet. Zayn backed off again and said that he was actually out here to wish Rhodes luck for his title match later. “Go become WWE Champion, again” Zayn said sarcastically as Rhodes walked off. Zayn once again flipped out afterwards.

– Trick Williams appeared on The Breakfast Club to talk about his recent successes.

Tag Team Turmoil (Winners Become No. 1 Contenders for WWE Tag Team Championships): Motor City Machine Guns vs. Fraxiom vs. The Wyatt Sicks vs. Damian Priest & R-Truth vs. Los Garza

Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley entered first for this match, as they got set to face Fraxiom.

Shelley and Nathan Frazer squared off to start with a bit of chain wrestling. Shelley chopped at Frazer’s chest, but got hit with a jumping kick. Frazer went flying with a forearm strike on Shelley as Axiom entered with a tag. Some fast back and forth action between Sabin and Axiom saw the masked man gain the upper hand with a snap dragon suplex. Frazer and Shelley entered the match as things quickened with Fraxiom showing some nice chemistry against the MCMGs. Frazer and Axiom shelled Shelley and Sabin with repeated suicide dives as we took a break here.

We returned from commercial as Axiom avoided the Machine Guns’ offense to tag in Frazer, who leapt at Sabin and Shelley with springboard double dropkick, followed by a dive through the ropes. Showing great agility, Frazer had the match in hand until a blind tag allowed the Machine Guns’ to respond with their tandem offense. Skull and Bones attempt was stopped by Axiom, as he then tagged in and hit a dropkick on Sabin before he got a pinfall. Shelley put Sabin’s foot on the rope, but that eliminated the Machine Guns from Tag Team Turmoil.

Motor City Machine Guns have been eliminated

Los Garza stormed into the ring and went right on the offensive against Frazier with a double team assaut. Angel hit a a knee to the face of Frazer, who kicked out at two. Frazer recovered and hit a superplex on Angel, as Axiom then hit a kick on him as well. Berto broke up the pinfall as he attacked Axiom. Angel found himself stunned in the corner, while Berto pushed Frazer from the other corner. This left Fraxiom alone to fall victim to the MTY and the pin.

Fraxiom has been eliminated

The Wyatt Sicks were the next to enter the Tag Team Turmoil fray, with Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis representing the team as usual. The Wyatts’ stinger took us into commercial on the USA Network, while the action kept going on the Netflix feed.

Once the match returned from commercial, Lumis was sent barrelling out of the ring after Angel pulled down the middle rope. Berto tagged in and hit Lumis with a dropkick, but couldn’t get the pin. Berto then had Lumis in a single-leg crab submission, but he couldn’t keep the hold. Gacy was knocked out of the apron as Los Garza kept Lumis isolated with a Doomsday Device. As Angel made the pin, Gacy stepped in to break the count. Lumis kicked Angel away, which gave him an opening to tag Gacy in.

Gacy hit Angel with a pump kick as he then powered into a back suplex on Berto. Lumis tagged in and as Tonga Loa pulled out Gacy, followed by Tama Tonga causing a distraction. This led to Berto rolling up Lumis for the shock pin thanks to the M.F.T.s’ involvement.

The Wyatt Sicks have been eliminated

Damian Priest and R-Truth entered the ring as the final competitors of Tag Team Turmoil while Gacy and Lumis brawled with the M.F.T.s up the ramp. We got another break in the action following this.

As we returned from commercial, Priest was on fire and taking it to both Angel and Berto quite easily. Berto rolled out of the ring just as Priest was going to hit his rolling elbow. Outside the ring, Priest sent Angel flying over the announce table, as Berto took advantage with a suicide dive. Back in the ring, Berto countered South of Heaven and hit a springboard enzuigiri. Berto headed up top and hit an amazing moonsault for the near-fall. Truth entered the match and then went into John Cena’s Five Moves of Doom against Berto. Five-Knuckle Shuffle hit its mark, as he then locked in the STF after an unsuccessful AA attempt. Angel broke up the submission, as Priest blind tagged into the match. All four men were in the ring as Priest hit South of Heaven while Truth hit the AA for the victory.

R-Truth & Damian Priest def. Los Garza, Motor City Machine Guns, Fraxiom, & The Wyatt Sicks to win Tag Team Turmoil

This was a decent match for the most part, but the fact that a lot of it was interrupted by commercials and a thrown-together tag team got the win in this match really does put a damper on things, I’m sorry to say. The SmackDown tag division is already facing an uphill battle in terms of getting TV time, so them essentially playing second fiddle to this Priest and Truth odd couple just won’t cut it.

********************

– Randy Orton was confronted by Sami Zayn, who again was apoplectic about how Orton took advantage of Cody Rhodes getting distracted at Elimination Chamber, wondering how he did it. Orton said that sometimes, you had to be selfish, as it made me a 14-time world champion. Orton told Zayn that he believed in his ability of becoming a world champion, stating that he maybe needed to listen the voices in his head.

As Orton left, Aleister Black told Zayn to not worry about it, as it was just the “nature of the beast.”

Rhea Ripley & Jade Cargill face off

The winner of the women’s Elimination Chamber match walked to the ring as the crowd cheered loudly for Rhea Ripley.

Ripley said she was going to come to SmackDown, and here she was. She then told Jade Cargill to come face her at this moment, since she clearly had a lot to say. This prompted the WWE Women’s Champion to make her way down to the ring, as confident as ever.

Once Cargill got into the ring, she sized up Ripley before offering a handshake. Ripley reluctantly accepted as Cargill said that she gave the handshake because she respected Ripley. Cargill respected all of Ripley’s accomplishments and how the people loved her. She respected how Ripley how hard she worked to earn the opportunities… but Cargill was not impressed. Cargill then boasted about her physical beauty as being more powerful than Ripley’s own physique. Cargill declared that she was going to beat the hell out of Ripley at WrestleMania and that there was nothing she could do about it, because she was “that bitch”.

Ripley responded with another handshake as she then had her turn on the mic. Ripley said that she respected the honesty Cargill was showing and what she really thinks about her. Ripley told Cargill that she respected her physically. Ripley said that even if Cargill gave her best shot at her, she would not stay down. But, if Ripley delivered a shot of her own, there was no way Cargill would get back up. Ripley declared that Cargill’s body was built for show, while her own body was built for fighting. When that bell rings, Cargill could flex all she wants, but Ripley was going to fight and take the WWE Women’s Title from her with force, and there was nothing Cargill could do about it. Ripley then threw Cargill’s own catchphrase back at her before doing a mic drop.

Well, if you were wondering if they were going to lean in on Cargill’s apparent shoot comments about Ripley that got the SmackDown women’s locker room all upset, they didn’t seem to go that route. Meanwhile the route they chose instead was a bit baffling, and it led to kind of a disappointing promo segment between Cargill and Ripley as a result. Not really a promising start to the build for their WrestleMania 42 showdown. Hopefully they can get it together as the feud progresses.

********************

– Backstage, Johnny Gargano was still lying down on a crate, as Alex Shelley was showing sympathy to his plight. Chris Sabin seemed upset at Shelley showing more care for Gargano’s situation as the two argued. When the Motor City Machine Guns left, Candice LeRae wanted for Gargano to show that old “Johnny Wrestling” fire, which seemed to get through to Gargano.

– We got a video from the Wyatt Sicks that once again addressed the M.F.T.s. Uncle Howdy said that Solo Sikoa would have no choice but to run when all was said and done.

– Inside the ring, Gargano said that he was one of the best professional wrestlers in the world, and that he needed to be Johnny Wrestling once again, and it starts tonight. He issued an open challenge for anyone to face him right here, right now. On cue, Oba Femi made his way down to the ring.

Oba Femi vs. Johnny Gargano

Gargano went after Femi right away as he tried to go for a strike. A chop from Femi sent Gargano for a loop as he then unleashed his barrage of running forearms to the corner. Femi then tossed Gargano across the ring before he put an end to him with a Fall From Grace and the three. That’s all she wrote.

Oba Femi def. Johnny Gargano via pinfall

I dunno how to feel about Gargano, who used to feel like a big deal in his NXT days, being used as essentially enhancement talent, but I will say I do enjoy Oba Femi hitting his high-octane offense like he did here. Letting Oba be Oba is doing him a world of wonders, and it’s getting him over quite well with the fans.

********************

– Jade Cargill was once again confronted by Michin and B-Fab. We found out that Cargill would defend her WWE Women’s Title against Michin next week.

– Nick Aldis was walking backstage and met by Danhausen, who had a list of demands, which included giving him a mentor. As Aldis walked forward, Danhausen was seen stalking behind him while The Miz was talking on his phone. Aldis said that Miz was in need of someone to mentor, and he found that someone in the form of Danhausen. Miz didn’t want to listen, as Danhausen warned that if he didn’t listen to his demands, he would be cursed. “Remember what happened to Dom on Monday,” threatened Danhausen before he left Miz alone.

Next Week on SmackDown

  • WWE Women’s Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Michin
  • We’ll Hear from Jelly Roll
  • WrestleMania Contract Signing: Randy Orton and Winner of Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes

Undisputed WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Cody Rhodes

This match got underway with McIntyre trying to make a quick exit, but Rhodes ran after him and threw him into the video board. McIntyre was pummeled by Rhodes outside the ring, as he then was thrown over the crowd barricade at ringside. Rhodes took a cup of water from a fan and hit McIntyre across the face with it. As the action got back into the ring, McIntyre got the momentary advantage before he got hit with the drop-down uppercut from Rhodes, followed by a Disaster Kick.

In the corner, Rhodes teed off on McIntyre with bunches of punches. McIntyre found a way to gain momentum by kicking at Rhodes’ chest, as he then connected with an overhead suplex, followed by one more. As Rhodes headed out of the ring, he planted McIntyre into the steel steps and looked like he was going to hit a suicide dive. McIntyre rocked him with an elbow as he then pushed him into the ringpost. McIntyre had Rhodes in position for a drop onto the hardest part of the ring.

McIntyre re-entered the ring as he hit Rhodes with a back elbow for a near-fall. The Undisputed WWE Champion hit a suplex on Rhodes to keep his control of this match. McIntyre’s arm hold was broken up by Rhodes, who began to fight back with strikes to the face. The pace quickened as Rhodes connected with a Randy Orton-style snap powerslam. This was the opening for Rhodes to connect with a Cody Cutter on McIntyre. Rhodes stalked his foe and looked like he was going to hit Cross Rhodes, but McIntyre rolled out of the ring. McIntyre drove Rhodes’ shoulder into the ring post outside the ring as he then targeted that damaged left arm with ruthless intent.

Rhodes tried to fight back, but McIntyre again went for the hurt arm with knees across it, followed by a stomp. McIntyre pointed at the WrestleMania time as he headed for the top rope. Unfortunately for the champ, this gave Rhodes time to recover to intercept him at the pass. McIntyre and Rhodes duked it out on the top rope, as the latter won out and connected with a massive superplex. Both men struggled to their feet and traded strikes until Rhodes locked in the figure-four leg lock on McIntyre. The champion escaped the hold by going after Rhodes’ hurt arm as he rolled out of the ring. Rhodes recovered and hit a suicide dive to knock McIntyre down.

Rhodes took a look at the commentary table and cleared it aside, as he looked for a big risk maneuver. Rhodes took McIntyre on top of the table and was about to hit Cross Rhodes. McIntyre broke out of it as the table collapsed under the sheer weight of both men. Rhodes got up and pulled a table from underneath the ring. McIntyre attacked from behind and set up the table. He put Rhodes trhrough the table with a powerbomb, somehow not being disqualified for it.

In the ring, McIntyre put Rhodes in position to be hit with a Cross Rhodes of his own. One, two…. NOT YET! McIntyre set Rhodes up for a Claymore, but was blocked at the last second. Rhodes decided to pull a page from McIntyre’s playbook and hit the Claymore kick for a very close near-fall. The referee twice avoided calamity, but couldn’t avoid it a third time as McIntyre pulled him in the way of Rhodes’ Disaster Kick. With the ref down and out, the fight still continued as McIntyre avoided a running splash and chopped at Rhodes’ chest. The challenger pulled an amazing counter of McIntyre’s attempted slam for Cross Rhodes. But, the referee was out cold. As a second referee was coming down, McIntyre hit the Claymore on Rhodes in the process. One, two…. 2.999999999!!!!!

McIntyre threw Rhodes shoulder-first into the ring post twice as he then turned his attention to the referee and hit him with a headbutt out of frustration. McIntyre went out of the ring to grab a chair and looked like he had evil intentions for Rhodes. However, before he could do anything, Jacob Fatu appeared out of nowhere and ripped the chair away from him. Rhodes rolled up McIntyre, but there was a kickout at two. McIntyre hit the Future Shock DDT and had Rhodes in position for the Claymore. Rhodes moved out of the away and hit a super Cody Cutter before one final Cross Rhodes and that’s it, over. Cody Rhodes is your Undisputed WWE Champion once again and will face Randy Orton at WrestleMania 42.

Cody Rhodes def. Drew McIntyre to win the Undisputed WWE Championship

********************

I’d assume that this sudden title change was likely to set up a more tantalizing (in WWE’s eyes) Orton vs. Rhodes title match, as well as McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu for WrestleMania 42. I’m just going to get out and front and say that I’m kind of not of a fan of this title change. The whole story of McIntyre “fooling around and finding out” by antagonizing everyone leading to a potential multi-man title match seemed like the better play for WrestleMania.

As for this match itself, it was a decent TV main event and both men looked pretty good in the process, so I can’t complain about the actual match, even if the finish was a bit off for me.

This week’s SmackDown was again a decent show, with the main event, Giulia/James vs. Bliss/Flair, and Hayes vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. being my favorites of the night. I wasn’t a fan of Tag Team Turmoil at all and the main event finish did leave me a bit cold as it seemed to throw away the possibilities teased in prior weeks.

All in all, we’re set up for what seems to be a “safe” Road to WrestleMania, and I don’t know if the safe, predictable route will be one that gets fans flocking to Vegas next month.

WWE SmackDown live results: Elimination Chamber qualifiers begin

Posted on by Marc Quill

The stars of WWE SmackDown begin their road to WrestleMania 42 tonight from Charlotte, NC, with the Undisputed WWE Championship title picture now even more volatile following last Saturday’s Royal Rumble.

That picture, and the WWE Women’s title picture, will become a bit more clear with the kickoff of Elimination Chamber three-way qualifying matches. One will feature Randy Orton vs. Aleister Black vs. Solo Sikoa while the other will see former Women’s World Champion Tiffany Stratton vs. Lash Legend vs. Chelsea Green.

Women’s Rumble winner Liv Morgan will also make an appearance as she has yet to decide who she will face at WrestleMania 42.

The WWE Women’s Tag Team titles will be on the line as Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY defend against Women’s United States Champion Giulia & Kiana James.

WWE men’s United States Champion Carmelo Hayes will continue with his title defense open challenge seres.

Shinsuke Nakamura will take on Tama Tonga to round out the show that kicks off at 8 pm Eastern.

**********

– Over a shot of Charlotte’s skyline, Joe Tessitore introduced us to tonight’s show as he tossed to a recap of last Saturday’s Royal Rumble event.

Drew McIntyre opens SmackDown

The Undisputed WWE Champion arrrived to the arena with a smile on his face, but before he can even be properly introduced, Drew McIntyre was attacked from behind by a vengeful Cody Rhodes. McIntyre’s hated foe wanted to get revenge for the champion’s involvement in the Royal Rumble that got him eliminated. As a gaggle of officials came out to separate the bitter rivals, McIntyre was forced to retreat as Rhodes stood tall inside the ring.

Rhodes took the mic and said that things would never be the same, despite McIntyre’s best efforts. He said that for the first time, he can’t in good conscience point at the WrestleMania thanks to McIntyre’s interference. Rhodes discussed CM Punk and Roman Reigns making their WrestleMania main event official this past Monday, stating that the two of them were both glad that he wasn’t in their “you-know-what measuring contest”, because he didn’t get the nickname of “Raheem” for no reason. He talked about how much WrestleMania meant to him, and how he was born in Charlotte. “Imagine my discomfort returning here without the championship,” said the hometown boy. Rhodes said that McIntyre wasn’t mad that he wasn’t champion, but rather because Rhodes was the champ. He concluded by promising that his shame and discomfort would be McIntyre’s downfall, and that the Undisputed WWE Champ wouldn’t make it to WrestleMania.

I quite liked that Rhodes was understandably fired up after getting screwed out of the Royal Rumble by McIntyre and responded in kind with the attack. I am curious if this means we’ll see some kind of ultimate blowoff to this at Elimination Chamber instead of WrestleMania. What I didn’t like, however, was the “Raheem” meme being acknowledged, and the context it was mentioned in. To put it simply, it doesn’t take much to put two and two together to know that having the top babyface imply what he said, even in a joking manner, is a huge no-no. And that’s especially given the implications (the “you-know-what measuring contest”) coming from what was said by Rhodes and the timing of when it was said — this being Black History Month. Really, just a bad call all around.

**********

– Backstage, Giulia and Kiana James were interviewed ahead of their Women’s Tag Title Match against RHIYO coming up next. James again made it clear that winning the tag titles was part of the plan of making Giulia a triple champion.

– Elsewhere, Nick Aldis was admonishing Cody Rhodes for his attack on McIntyre, as he told him to control his emotions because he was set for an Elimination Chamber qualifier match for next week. Rhodes promised to control his emotions before leaving for the night, led by a group of referees.

WWE Womens’ Tag Team Championships: RHIYO (IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley) (c) vs. Giulia & Kiana James

Ripley and James started off this match with a test of strength, as the challenger flinched when Ripley was about to punch her. Giulia stepped up to Ripley as the legal woman, but wanted to face IYO SKY. Ripley obliged that request and tagged SKY in as we got some joshi action here early.

Giulia stomped at SKY’s head and mocked her taunt as she grabbed at her hair. SKY dodged an attempt at a throw by Giulia and hit her with an impressive shotgun dropkick. SKY got slammed down by Giulia, but couldn’t capitalize, so Kiana James involved herself by dropping SKY’s throat across the top rope. James tagged in and took over against SKY on the outside. James held SKY in position outside as Giulia hit her with a dropkick from the apron, which sent us to a break in the action.

This Papa Johns-sponsored match returned from commercial as SKY got blasted with a missile dropkick from Giulia for a near-fall. James tagged in as she and Giulia failed to hit a double team move on SKY. James tried to get the sneaky entry back into the ring to stop SKY from tagging Ripley, but couldn’t get it done. SKY tagged Ripley in, who was a house of fire as she cleared house on Giulia and James. SKY dove to the outside to take Giulia out right in front of the annunce tables.

Back in the ring, Ripley slammed James face-first like a pancake, but that wasn’t enough. James escaped a Riptide attempt and powerbombed SKY right on Ripley. Giulia and James hit a combination of their signature moves — the Arrivederci Knee and 401K — on SKY, but couldn’t capitalize. Giulia attempted a Northern Lights Bomb, but SKY reversed it. Ripley with the blind tag as she headbutted Giulia, followed by the Riptide. SKY finished this match off with the Over The Moonsault to pick up the win and retain the Women’s Tag Titles.

RHIYO def. Giulia & Kiana James via pinfall

This was a fun opening contest from start to finish. The brief glimpses we got of IYO SKY and Giulia facing off was a good appetizer for when we do get these two in one-on-one action down the line. There’s just something about the SKY/Ripley pairing that works so well, and it translates to their tag matches being really entertaining.

**********

– Ilja Dragunov was interrupted by the Miz, who claimed that he went to Nick Aldis and got a U.S. Title Open Challenge match. Carmelo Hayes then appeared, and stated that Miz didn’t deserve a shot at the U.S. Title, as he then offered to face him in a non-title match coming up next.

Carmelo Hayes vs. The Miz

Hayes started off hot as he hit his springboard clothesline on Miz. However, the former WWE Champion got the advantage as he flattened Hayes with an elbow afterwards. Miz worked over Hayes in the corners, but got hit with a kick to the back of the head, followed by a springboard leg drop. Hayes battered Miz with a chop in the corner, as he then stomped away on him for a bit before the referee backed Hayes off. Miz clipped at Hayes’ legs as another springboard clothesline attempt, before he hit him with a running clothesline, which took us to an awkwardly-placed ad break.

We returned from commercial as Hayes attempted to fight back against Miz with a series of furious strikes that forced his foe into the corner. Hayes connected with La Mistica on Miz, which sent him out of the ring. Hayes hit a dive from the ring to the outside on Miz, as he then attempted a frog splash. Miz got his knees up to block Hayes’ splash and nearly got the win on the pin, but only got two instead.

Miz teed off with his kicks, but failed to hit the last one as Hayes dodged it. The U.S. Champion countered a Skull-Crushing Finale attempt and cracked him right in the jaw with a superkick for the near-fall. Hayes pulled himself back up and headed to the top, as Miz turned that around and hit a slingshot sitdown powerbomb. One, two…. NO! Miz sized Hayes up, but couldn’t connect with the Skull-Crushing Finale. Hayes tried for First 48, but got countered into another Skull-Crushing Finale attempt. Somehow, Hayes avoided the impact at the last second and finally hit FIrst 48 to pick up the victory.

Carmelo Hayes def. The Miz via pinfall

That was a great match, yes, but that ending sequence where Hayes reversed the Skull-Crushing Finale into a First 48 was silky smooth and highlights why I enjoy watching Hayes in action every week. He just doesn’t miss.

**********

– Tiffany Stratton was interviewed about nearly winning the Royal Rumble, as she promised to get herself back on the winning track by way of qualifying for the Elimination Chamber. Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre showed up and taunted Stratton, but were told off as the former WWE Women’s Champion got ready for her Chamber qualifier coming up next.

– The Wyatt Sicks interruption played as Bo Dallas talked about Solo Sikoa’s theft of the lantern. Dallas said Sikoa was scared of being left in the dark all by himself, which is why he stole the lantern. Dallas mentioned that fear doesn’t show up when everyone’s together, it shows up when you’re all alone. He chuckled as the video ended.

Elimination Chamber Qualifier: Chelsea Green (w/ Alba Fyre) vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Lash Legend (w/ Nia Jax)

Green slapped Stratton and Legend to start this match off, which led to her getting bashed around by both the women she slapped. Stratton and Legend stood face-to-face and got ready for their own battle. Stratton leaped at Legend but was grabbed and used as a battering ram of sorts to take Alba Fyre out of the apron. Stratton recovered and forced Legend to the outside, as she then dove onto both Legend and Nia Jax.

Back in the ring, Green tried to steal Stratton’s pin and yelled at her. Legend tried to get involved, which forced a temporary alliance between Green and Stratton to clothesline her out of the ring. That alliance ended as it began as she headed to the top and took out Stratton and Jax with a dive to the outside. Green did her salute, but got rocked by a big boot from Legend, which took us into the break.

We returned from commercial as Legend lifted Stratton over her head and slammed her onto a prone Green before she splashed onto both women, but couldn’t get the win off of this. Stratton recovered and used Green as an impromptu stepping stone to kick Legend in the corner. Stratton caught Legend with a rough dropkick as she reversed an Un-Pretty-Her attempt from Green. On the top rope, Stratton hit Green with a superplex, as she rolled through with the uranage. Legend broke up the pin and tried for the Lash Extension, but couldn’t capitalize.

Legend caught Stratton and hit a buckle bomb, followed by the chokeslam for the near-fall. Meanwhile, Green leapt from the top rope and hit a Coast-to-Coast dropkick on both Stratton and Legend. Nia Jax pulled Green out as she made the pin, which led to a scuffle between her and Fyre at ringside. Things broke down as Green and Stratton heaved Legend over the timekeeper’s area with a toss. In the ring, Green attempted an Un-Pretty-Her, but was reversed by Stratton, who finished this match off with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever.

Tiffany Stratton def. Chelsea Green & Lash Legend via pinfall to qualify for Elimination Chamber

That was a bit of a rough match to watch. Moves looked rough and it seemed like nobody really clicked with anyone in this contest.

**********

– As Randy Orton was being interviewed about his Elimination Chamber qualifier, Aleister Black interrupted and talked about how we’ve said goodbye to two great wrestlers in John Cena and AJ Styles, and it was fortunate that Orton was still around.

– A video package highlighting the stars of NXT and their performance in the men’s and women’s Royal Rumbles was shown.

Kit Wilson’s Lesson in Toxic Masculinity

Kit Wilson made his way to the ring and got ready to teach us all a lesson in toxic masculinity. He talked about being in the Royal Rumble last week, and it disgusted him. He called everyone in the Rumble “toxic”, and stated that “they” didn’t want him in the Royal Rumble because of what he represents. Wilson called himself a man who moisturizes and a man who listens, as well as a man who moves his hips in a particular way. Wilson called the Charlotte crowd toxic as he then challenge anyone who was in the Rumble to face him right now to prove themselves.

Oba Femi made his way to answer Wilson’s challenge, garnering a great reaction from this crowd.

Oba Femi vs. Kit Wilson

Wilson yelled at Femi, and got met with a hard strike from the former NXT Champion. Femi repeatedly hit Wilson in the corner with running elbows a-plenty before he put an end to this match with a Fall From Grace.

Oba Femi def. Kit Wilson via pinfall

Not much to say here other than if Femi is booked as strong as he’s been booked, then he’ll be a cornerstone of WWE’s main event scene for years to come.

**********

– Damian Priest and R-Truth were seen watching Femi’s match as Drew McIntyre rudely bumped into Truth. Priest said that McIntyre have had their problems, but it seems like the champ has his own problems to deal with, so he wasn’t going to add to that.

Drew McIntyre, Interrupted

The Undisputed WWE Champion made his way down to the ring and got ready to speak his mind, at least until Jacob Fatu attacked him in the ring. Fatu flattened McIntyre with a running hip attack as he then clotheslined him out of the ring. Fatu hit a suicide dive on McIntyre and battered him at ringside. Officials tried to stop Fatu, but found themselves in the path of his destructive force. Fatu struck at McIntyre, and forced him to run away through the crowd. Fatu stood on the announce table and taunted his foe in victory.

After the break, Nick Aldis told Fatu that he’d be in an Elimination Chamber qualifier match next week if he desperately wanted to get a shot at Drew McIntyre.

McIntyre getting attacked by both Fatu and Rhodes tonight seems to make it clear that their business with the champion is far from done, so I do wonder how that will play into Elimination Chamber, assuming both men qualify.

**********

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tama Tonga (w/ J.C. Mateo & Tanga Loa)

Tama hit Nakamura in the ribs and got the early advantage with strikes to the head of his opponent. Tama missed with a running strike into the corner, which allowed Nakamura to hit him with a knee to the ribs while Tama was prone on the top turnbuckle. On the opposite corner, Nakamura did his signature “stomp” on Tama, but he got hit with a modifed Flatliner afterwards. Outside the ring, Tama slammed Nakamura across the announce table and draped him on top of it. Tama got on the timekeeper’s area barricade and hit Nakamura with an elbow drop, which took us to a break in the action.

This match returned from break as Nakamura hit Tama with a sliding dropkick, followed by a set of strong-style kicks that rocked his foe. Nakamura then hit a nice enzuigiri to Tama, before he connected with the sliding German suplex in the corner. Nakamura continued momentum with the diving knee strike, but couldn’t get the win just yet. Tama found momentum with a reverse DDT, as he then hit the running splash into the corner. Tama hit a double underhook facebuster on Nakamura for the near-fall as he then had him in position for a move of some sort.

Nakamura reversed that attempt into a suplex, that sent Tama scurrying out of the ring. Nakamura took J.C. Mateo out with a baseball slide, but fell victim to a jumping DDT from Tama back in the ring. Tama lifted Nakamura on his shoulders, but got countered into a side suplex from the King of Strong Style. Both men struggled to their feet and went back and forth with clubbing blows. Nakamura got the best of Tama with his trademark spinning wheel kick, and delivered a Michinoku Driver for the near-fall. As Nakamura had Tama in sight for Kinshasa, J.C. Mateo distracted the referee long enough for Tanga Loa to grab at his legs. Tama recovered and hit an unelevated Cutthroat, followed by one last one for the victory.

Tama Tonga def. Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall

That was an alright match, but the inevitable M.F.T. interference put a damper on things.

**********

– Fraxiom and the Motor City Machine Guns were walking backstage, as Candice LeRae approached the four and told them to look at what happened to Johnny Gargano lying on a box marked “NXT”. LeRae talked about what Axiom did to Gargano after he beat him last week, but didn’t get any sort of sympathy from Fraxiom and the MCMGs.

– As RHIYO talked about their victory earlier tonight, they were interrupted by Nia Jax and Lash Legend, who appeared to call their shot for the Women’s Tag Titles.

– A defeated Kit Wilson sauntered about backstage and noticed Matt Cardona, as he blamed him for his shortcomings. Cardona, who was chatting with Apollo Crews, told Wilson that he was always ready for a challenge.

Liv Morgan makes her presence known

The 2026 Women’s Royal Rumble winner was introduced by Nick Aldis in the ring, as she made her way alongside fellow Judgment Day cohort Raquel Rodriguez.

Morgan said that we were now in the presence of the “greatest Royal Rumble winner of all time”. She said she wasn’t just the greatest, as she called herself the hottest, funniest, smartest, and most iconic woman in the history of WWE. Morgan said that all of that came with a lot of power, but she didn’t have a lot of time to make a certain decision. Morgan said she could choose Stephanie Vaquer or face Jade Cargill. Morgan said that WrestleMania wasn’t the only thing on her mind, but that there was a huge elephant in the room. Before she could say what that was, Rodriguez took her mic and said that she had something to say instead. However, they were both interrupted by the arrival of WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill.

Cargill said that she didn’t care if Morgan won the Royal Rumble, and that she didn’t care if she was on SmackDown. Cargill said that if Morgan chose her, she’d beat her ass at WrestleMania before she turned her attention to Rodriguez. Morgan interrupted and talked about how she could pick Stephanie Vaquer and ensure Raquel Rodriguez would beat Cargill instead. This led to Jordynne Grace interrupting proceedings.

Grace said that Morgan did what she had to do to win the Rumble, but if she could get Cargill to defend her title, maybe it’ll be Grace who Morgan might end up facing at WrestleMania. Morgan interrupted and got told to shut up by both Cargill and Grace. Mr. Aldis talked about how if Morgan was available to talk, she was available to fight, which led to a tag match between Cargill and Grace versus Morgan and Rodriguez to be booked.

Not really my cup of tea, with this style of segment, mainly because of how Morgan’s style of promos isn’t really for me.

**********

Jade Cargill & Jordynne Grace vs. Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez

This match started in progress after the commercial break, as Rodriguez was battering Grasce with elbows to the chest. Grace got lifted by a back suplex from Rodriguez, but she avoided a diving bomb. However, Morgan tagged in and tried for the Three Amigos. Grace countered on the third of the Amigos and delivered a suplex of her own. Grace flattened Morgan with a series of lariats, followed by repeated scoop slams. The cover by Grace, but Rodriguez interrupted the count. As Grace sent Rodriguez out of the ring, Morgan attempted ObLIVion, but was blocked by the strength fo Grace.

Cargill “accidentally” hit Grace with a superkick after Rodriguez got out of the way. Meanwhile, Rodriguez had an accident of her own as she hit Morgan with a kick as Cargill got out of the way. As Cargill and Rodriguez were staring down, Grace pushed the latter onto the former and pulled off the roll-up for the win.

Jordynne Grace & Jade Cargill def. Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan via pinfall

This match was a bit on the short side, but the friendly fire finish playing into Grace and Cargill’s feud, as well as a potential Judgment Day rift worked well.

**********

– Sami Zayn was met by Rey Fenix, who consoled him after his Royal Rumble loss, but both were interrupted by Trick Williams, who called himself the Michael Jordan to Zayn’s Charles Barkley. Williams talked about how he was the guy who gets things done around here. Fenix told Williams that he had a big mouth and he’d shut him up if he kept it up. Williams responded to Fenix, saying he’d do it “any time, any place.”

– Elsewhere, Jade Cargill and Jordynne Grace were at each other’s throats following their tag match, as Nick Aldis told the two there’d be a WWE Women’s Title match next week on SmackDown, with Cargill set to defend against Grace.

– A recap of Roman Reigns & CM Punk’s fiery confrontation on Raw was shown, as we got official confirmation of Punk defending the World Title against Reigns at WrestleMania in ten weeks time.

Drew McIntyre has something to say

Now with seemingly no interruptions to hamper him, Drew McIntyre talked about how both Jacob Fatu & Cody Rhodes should be banned from the Elimination Chamber qualifiers for what they did to him earlier. He also took credit for dashing Sami Zayn’s dreams at the Royal Rumble before he finally turned his attention to Reigns and Punk’s promo from Monday night.

McIntyre talked about how he was been through hell to get the Undisputed World Title and that he’d never go part time. He put over the heritage of his Undisputed WWE Title, and that he didn’t blame Reigns for choosing Punk. McIntyre said that while Reigns and Punk were busy aura farming, he has the entire roster climbing the Elimination Chamber for the right to be the Undisputed WWE Champion.

As McIntyre was making his exit, Trick Williams interrupted to a huge ovation of “Whoop That Trick” chants. Williams said maybe he was just here to watch the main events and kicking up his lemon pepper steppers. Willams said that maybe McIntyre was worried about the wrong people, when he should be worried about him, the man who will take the WWE Title at WrestleMania.

McIntyre warned Willaims to walk before running, because if he interrupted him again, McIntyre promised he’d stick Williams’ “lemon pepper steppers” where the sun didn’t shine.

So, how was McIntyre’s response to essentially being treated as a third wheel on Monday by Reigns and Punk? He tried his best, yes, but it’s still an uphill battle to get ahead of it given how big the Punk vs. Reigns match is being sold as. Meanwhile, it’s nice seeing Trick Williams get into these big main event situations, as it’s clear as day that he’s being viewed as a big star.

**********

Next Week on SmackDown

  • WWE Women’s Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Jordynne Grace
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: RHIYO (IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley) vs. Lash Legend & Nia Jax
  • Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifier: Alexa Bliss vs. Giulia vs. Zelina
  • Men’s Elimination Chamber Qualifier: Cody Rhodes vs. Sami Zayn vs. Jacob Fatu
  • Trick Williams vs. Rey Fenix

Elimination Chamber Qualifier: Solo Sikoa vs. Randy Orton vs. Aleister Black

Prior to the match, Sikoa was seen wondering where his M.F.T.s allies were, but they were nowhere to be found, as he made his way down to the ring alone.

Sikoa tried to get Black to team up on Orton, but it was a double-cross. Orton went for the RKO early, but couldn’t connect. Sikoa pulled Orton out of the ring and threw him into the ring post. Black hit his moonsault from the apron on Sikoa, as he then countered an attempted back suplex to the announce table and instead took Orton out with a clubbing blow. This took us into the break.

We returned from break as Orton stomped on Black while he had Sikoa trapped in an ankle submission. This opened both men up to Orton’s Garvin-style stomps, as Sikoa found himself in the corner being battered by punches. Black stopped Orton from attacking further, but got himself in the crosshairs of Orton’s punches in the corners instead. Black escaped his predicament and hit Orton with kicks across the chests, followed by punches to the ribs.

Black pulled Orton to the middle of the ring and worked him over until he was pulled out of the ring and thrown into the barrricade by Sikoa, who briefly stared Trick Williams down before he entered the ring. Sikoa kept Orton grounded with chops and punches as he pointed at the WrestleMania sign. Orton recovered and hit Sikoa with a series of clotheslines, but couldn’t hit the scoop powerslam, as Sikoa dodged it. Black entered the fray and got dropped with a pop-up Samoan Drop by Sikoa for the near-fall, as we took one more break in the action.

We returned to our main event as Orton hit a superplex on Black, but it put him in prime position for Sikoa to drop down on him with a splash for the near-fall. Black and Sikoa got themselves on their feet and traded strikes, but it was the Samoan who got the upper hand. Sikoa missed with the running hip attack, as Black hit him with the top rope Meteora. Orton got back in the ring and hit Black with clotheslines. Sikoa avoided the draping DDT from Orton, but he couldn’t avoid being dropped across the commentary table by Orton. Black also got dropped with the back suplex for his troubles.

Back in the ring, Sikoa was left stunned long enough to fall victim to Orton’s draping DDT. Orton had Sikoa in sights for the RKO, but Black kicked him hard. Sikoa recovered and caught Black with the Spinning Solo. One, two… NO! Sikoa attempted a Samoan Spike, but Black avoided it and got Sikoa with a big knee, followed by a bridging suplex for the two. Black hit Sikoa with a running knee, and almost got caught with the RKO. Black reversed it and attempted Black Mass. Orton dodged and got Black with the RKO, but the momentum sent him rolling out of the ring.

Sikoa snuck up on Orton and looked like he was going to get him with the Samoan Spike, but he got hit with an RKO instead. One, two, three. This one’s done.

Tonight’s show ended with Orton celebrating his win.

Randy Orton def. Solo Sikoa & Aleister Black via pinfall to qualify for Elimination Chamber

**********

Weird opening promo from Cody Rhodes aside (and I’ve said my piece on it above), this was an entertaining SmackDown, and a hot Charlotte crowd really added to it. The matches tonight were all at least decent and the Elimination Chamber build is taking shape well, even though it’s early on.

The Women’s Tag Title Match was my pick for top match of the evening. There’s just something really enjoyable about the Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY tag team and it brings out the best in both women, as well as the people they face in the ring. Lots of exciting action to be had there. The other matches were good and nothing really dragged.

WWE SmackDown live results: Contender’s tournament begins

Posted on by Marc Quill

WWE SmackDown will take place at London’s OVO Arena.

Last week, Drew McIntyre survived the Three Stages of Hell to become the new Undisputed WWE Champion after a war against Cody Rhodes as he took advantage of a returning Jacob Fatu on the warpath and escaped the steel cage. Tonight, we’ll hear from the new champion.

Also on tonight’s show, four #1 contender’s qualifying matches for McInytre’s newly-won title, with the winners to face each other in a fatal four-way match on Saturday Night’s Main Event next week, and the winner of that match going on to the Royal Rumble to face McIntyre for the WWE Title.

These four matches tonight include: Randy Orton vs. The Miz, Damian Priest vs. Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn vs. Ilja Dragunov, and Matt Cardona vs. Trick Williams.

U.S. Champion Carmelo Hayes’ Open Challenge also continues tonight, with a new challenger stepping up to see if they can defeat the champ.

Our coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.

**********

– Over a shot of London, England, the voice of Joe Tessitore greeted us to tonight’s SmackDown. We then got the pre-requisite arrivals of wrestlers including Randy Orton, The Miz, Damian Priest, Solo Sikoa, Matt Cardona, Trick Williams, Ilja Dragunov, and Sami Zayn. Those aforementioned stars will compete in four separate #1 Contender’s Qualifying Matches later tonight.

– In the arena, we went to a shot of commentary as Tessitore was joined by Corey Graves. They discussed the events of last week’s SmackDown, where we got a new Undisputed WWE Champion after Drew McIntyre survived Three Stages of Hell.

The new Undisputed WWE Champion arrives

A procession of bagpipe players appeared at the top of the stage and played a jaunty tune before our new Undisputed WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre, made his way to loud cheers from the London crowd. McIntyre himself seemed quite moved by the fans’ reaction to his victory as he took his time to make his way to the ring to bask in the cheers. In the ring, he posed with his title as pyro went off on the stage.

After a while, McIntyre took the mic and said that he prayed for this and it happened as the fans chanted “you deserve it” to him. He said that it’s been a rough couple of years in the U.K., but there’s only one man that can bring everyone together, that being the first and only British-born WWE Champion. McIntyre talked about the love and support he’s received in the past week or so in Europe has been overwhelming, but… he only had one thing to say about all that: “screw you”.

McIntyre complained about how nobody was there when he was fired or when Roman Reigns and the Bloodline were screwing him over and when CM Punk screwed him over. Drew said that there was only one person to thank in all of this, and that person was himself. He then turned his attention to the former Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes, pointing out that there is no rematch for the title after he had a provision signed before the Three Stages of Hell match last week. As McIntyre declared the era of the “Dangerous and Unpredictable Drew McIntyre” to be here, he was interrupted by Randy Orton, who got a massive reaction from the Wembley Arena crowd.

Orton entered the ring as McIntyre said that he assumed Randy was out to congratulate him. Orton cut right through it and said that he wasn’t here for that, instead to remind McIntyre of the time that he declined kick his head through the announce table a while ago. While McIntyre hesitated, Orton won’t and he’d take the Undisputed WWE Title courtesy of the three most dangerous letters in sports entertainment: R.K.O.

Jacob Fatu’s theme hit, as the man himself made a beeline for the ring and went after McIntyre right away. The brawl was on as Fatu went after McIntyre through the crowd. Meanwhile in the ring, The Miz snuck up on Orton and hit a Skull-Crushing Finale on him as we’re told that their #1 Contender’s Qualifying match will be up next after the break.

Interesting opening segment, and McIntyre immediately going to heeling on the British fans was kind of funny.

**********

#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Randy Orton vs. The Miz

We returned from commercial with the match already in progress as Miz hit his signature DDT for a two-count. Orton rolled out of the ring and poked Miz in the eye to gain a brief advantage. Orton attempted the back drop onto the announce table, but Miz escaped and hit his own version of Orton’s announce table slam.

As the action spilled back into the ring, Miz and Orton exchanged punches to the face to one another before the latter struck with a hard lariat, followed by the scoop powerslam. As Miz rolled onto the apron, Orton looked like he was going to hit his draping DDT, but his opponent escaped out of it. However, Miz could not avoid the announce table back drop from Orton this time around. This was then followed up by another back drop across the table as the crowd wanted to see it one more time. Orton obliged and slammed Miz onto the table.

Back into the ring, Orton hit the draping DDT on Miz and looked like he was about to put an end to things as he stalked his foe. Orton’s RKO was countered into the Skull-Crushing Finale by Miz, but that wasn’t enough as Orton kicked out at two. Miz attempted another SCF, but Orton escaped it and eventually got the RKO for the three.

Randy Orton def. The Miz via pinfall

Just a standard match with Orton playing his greatest hits in a match that Miz realistically did not stand a chance in. The purpose was to get Orton into the Fatal Four-Way match and I guess job accomplished.

**********

– Backstage, Drew McIntyre skulked about with his Undisputed WWE Title clutched firmly in his arms. He was confronted by Ilja Dragunov and called his shot for the title once he beats Sami Zayn later tonight to advance to the SNME Fatal Four-Way. McIntyre didn’t have time for it as he was looking to escape that “mentalist”, Jacob Fatu. He promised to knock out Dragunov’s teeth at the Rumble if he made it that far.

– We got a Progressive Insurance-sponsored recap of the Wyatt Sicks/M.F.T.s eight-man tag match from last week. After that, remarks from The Wyatt Sicks aired as Bo Dallas stated that the lantern was never meant to be a weapon. He said that he carried the lantern in the dark so that the dark didn’t carry them. Dallas said that he and the Wyatts would not rest until the lantern was home with them as the video ended.

– Charlotte Flair tried to say hello to her partner Alexa Bliss, who said that last week suck, on top of her losing against Giulia and being laid out by Lash Legend & Nia Jax. Bliss wanted to know if Flair was truly too sick to be at her side last week. Flair said that she was actually sick, but that Bliss had a title opportunity that she didn’t. Flair talked about all the chances at the title she could’ve had, but she put her and Bliss’s team first. However, Flair apologized for not being there and said she had Bliss’s back tonight.

As Nia Jax & Lash Legend tried to stir up trouble, Flair wasn’t going to have any of it, telling Jax that Bliss was right in ditching her and that Legend “changed” before walking off.

Giulia & Kiana James vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair

James and Bliss got the match started for their respective teams. James gave her opponent a shove before Bliss answered with a pair of slaps followed by a dropkick. James responded with a knee to the gut of Bliss before dropping her with a suplex. Flair was tagged in as she blasted James with a dropkick. Bliss tagged in again as Flair carried her with an assisted dropkick on James. Giulia entered the match and nailed Bliss with a dropkick as she and James celebrated to take us to the break.

We returned from the break as James & Giulia kept Bliss isolated in their corner. Bliss avoided an attack in the corner, which allowed her to make it to her corner to get the hot tag from Flair. Both Giulia and James fell victim to chops a-plenty from Flair, as the former WWE Women’s Champion then hit her somersault clothesline on James. On the top rope, Flair connected with the crossbody on James for the near-fall. James attempted a boot to Flair’s face, but got felled by a boot to her face instead. As Flair headed up top, Giulia created a distraction to stop her advance. James hit a nice spinebuster on Flair as Giulia tagged in and blasted Flair with the Arrivederci knee. The cover attempt was broken up by Bliss, who then took James out of the ring.

Inside the ring, Flair and Giulia hit each other with their best shots as James blind tagged Giulia to enter the match. Bliss entered the match in a similar manner after a knee strike from James sent Flair onto the ropes. James ran right into a Sister Abigail DDT from Bliss for the win.

After the match, Lash Legend and Nia Jax hit the ring and launched an attack on the victorious team, but not before Giulia got pushed aside by Jax. This naturally riled up the Women’s U.S. Champion, who had to be held back by James before anything could heat up further.

Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair def. Kiana James & Giulia via pinfall

A fun, if basic tag match. The finish with James running into the Sister Abigail was nice and the tease of Giulia maybe wanting to face Nia Jax after the match does add some needed variety to the SmackDown women’s division, so there’s that.

**********

– We got a promo from Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s, who talked about how if that the Wyatt Sicks wanted their lantern back, they should put their tag titles on the line. Sikoa said that it was only the beginning and that they were going to go for all the gold. He then concluded that it would start tonight when he beats Damian Priest and get one step closer to the WWE Title before mimicking Bray Wyatt’s lantern blowing out to end the segment.

Cody Rhodes addresses his Undisputed WWE Title loss

The former Undisputed WWE Champion headed to the ring as the crowd serenaded him with a singalong of his theme, as well as a smattering of boos.

Rhodes said that things sounded a bit different but it seemed like things became a lot more “episodic” in his mind as he’d go through the motions of tapping his fist three times, the crowd saying “whoa-oh” and then asking them what they wanted to talk about. The crowd then started chanting “Oh, Drew McIntyre” as Rhodes continued and said that he wanted to be not only the company’s champion, but the people’s champion.

Rhodes talked about how he let things become more episodic and blind him to all the ways he could’ve lost… or was it just that Drew McIntyre was just that good? He could ask that himself, or he could ask Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, or Steve Austin, all of whom were the only ones who won the Royal Rumble two times in a row. Rhodes then declared himself as the first entrant of the 2026 Royal Rumble. Rhodes then turned his attention to Jacob Fatu. He discussed how Fatu was on the come up when he saw him in APW. However, Rhodes said that Fatu should know about the word “receipt”. He then challenged Fatu to come face him or he could go find him to beat the brakes off his ass.

Before Rhodes turned around the crowd by putting over his history in London, I found the crowd booing him to be interesting. While there’s no realistic way that WWE would turn the wrestler who’s undoubtedly their “top guy” a heel, there’s a few ways they could shake things up when it comes to this post-title run for Rhodes. We’ll just have to see where this showdown with Fatu will take him.

**********

– Matt Cardona was interviewed about his upcoming match against Trick Williams in the #1 Contender’s qualifiers. Cardona talked about how he, like both Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, left WWE to reinvent themselves. Unlike them, however, Cardona wasn’t a champion just yet, but he was looking to change that as he was back on a mission to become Undisputed WWE Champion.

#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Matt Cardona vs. Trick Williams

Williams and Cardona locked up in the middle of the ring before they separated. Williams talked a bit of trash to Cardona and got hit with a series of strikes from the veteran that forced him into the corner. Williams responded with a scoop slam, followed by a running shoulder block that grounded Cardona.

Williams continued to talk trash, but he was met with a dropkick and a flatliner from Cardona. A clothesline from Cardona sent Williams out of the ring, as he then made no mistake with the dropkick from the apron on Williams. The match went into a break at this point.

SmackDown returned from the break as we got a replay of what happened during the break with Williams slamming Cardona onto the apron, face-first. Back to live action, Williams pummeled Cardona with elbows to the face followed by a British Bulldog-style chinlock. Cardona broke the hold, and caught Williams’ axe kick attempt and hit a back suplex instead.

Cardona delivered hard strikes in the corner to Williams, which caused his foe to slump against the bottom turnbuckle. He then hit the Broski Boot, followed by a Zig-Zag for the near-fall. Williams missed with a splash in the corner and ended up in a prone position again, but he avoided the Broski Boot by rolling out of the ring. Cardona did manage to get him with a diving kick to the outside. As Cardona got onto the apron, Williams used the ropes to throw him into the ring and right into a spinning kick. One, two… NO! Williams’ attempted suplex was countered, but he avoided the Rough Ryder. He then followed that with a massive pounce before he picked up the win on a Trickshot Knee.

Trick Williams def. Matt Cardona via pinfall

This was a decent match, and I’ll admit that I’m enjoying Trick Williams’ presentation on the main roster so far. Even though he’s probably not going to be the #1 Contender for the Undisputed WWE Title, this four-way he’s got himself into should be a good showcase of Williams’ skills.

**********

– After the match, the infectious theme of Kit Wilson interrupted, which brought the “international sensation” out to the ring. Wilson noticed Cardona around ringside and attacked him. He threw Cardona into the steel steps and yelled “Toxic!” at him. The crowd chanted along with his theme song as this segment ended.

– Damian Priest talked about his qualifying match against Solo Sikoa coming up later tonight and said that like before, it was one versus all, but he was ready to do whatever he can to get a shot at the Undisputed WWE Title.

– Back in the ring, Kit Wilson had a mic and talked about how there was a problem and that he was the solution. He said that we needed leadership and a tonic for the toxic masculinity problem. As he was talking, Jacob Fatu snuck up and attacked Wilson, as the crowd booed. He hit his moonsault on Wilson as he then demanded a microphone.

Fatu said if Cody Rhodes wanted to say something to his face that he bring out his punk-ass to the ring right now. Rhodes obliged Fatu’s challenge and ran straight into the ring. The two began to brawl as a gaggle of security, as well as SmackDown GM Nick Aldis entered to separate the two. Rhodes broke free and jumped right into Fatu as we abruptly went into another commercial break, as if it were the TNA on AMC premiere. We learned after the break that we’d see Rhodes vs. Fatu at Saturday Night’s Main Event next week.

#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Solo Sikoa (w/ The M.F.T.s) vs. Damian Priest

Sikoa locked Priest in a headlock but was forced out with a shove. Sikoa headbutted his opponent and punched him in the face. Priest responded with a jumping kick, followed by a superkick that sent Sikoa out of the ring. Priest attempted to hit a running attack, but was stopped by the human wall created by the M.F.T.s. This allowed Sikoa to get a bit of a breather. With the ref distracted, Tama Tonga shelled Priest with a diving clothesline from the steel steps, which took us into the mid-match break spot.

This match resumed from commercial as Sikoa crushed Priest with the running hip attack into the corner. Sikoa tried again with the hip attack, but Priest rose from the corner and knocked him loopy with a spinning kick. Both men got up to their feet and traded blows. It turned into an exchange of kicks as Priest got the better of Sikoa with a running lariat. Sikoa attempted another Samoan Drop, but got countered as Priest hit a flatliner for the near-fall.

Priest headed up top as Sikoa was being checked up on the referee. Talla Tonga tripped Priest up, but he was ejected by the referee despite his best efforts. Priest recovered and hit Sikoa with the Razor’s Edge for yet another near-fall. As Priest had Sikoa in sight for South of Heaven, the M.F.T.s provided a distraction. This allowed Sikoa to connect with the Spinning Solo. Dive from the top by Sikoa, but Priest managed to kick out. The Wyatt Sicks’ video glitches hit, which heralded the arrival of the group in the darkness, with Erick Rowan notably absent. The Wyatts brawled with the M.F.T.s at ringside as Uncle Howdy eyed the lantern. Sikoa threw Howdy into the steel steps and had the lantern in his hands. In the ring, Priest caught Sikoa with the South of Heaven chokeslam for the win to advance to the SNME Fatal Four-Way.

After the match, Howdy took the lantern in the ring, but got ambushed from behind by Talla Tonga, who struck Howdy with a big boot. Talla took the lantern and extracted Sikoa from the ring.

Damian Priest def. Solo Sikoa via pinfall

The Priest vs. Sikoa match was fine, but the greater M.F.T.s/Wyatt Sicks feud remains a heatless one for me, personally. It just hasn’t clicked for me at all since it started and I’m not sure what can be done to make it interesting.

**********

– Backstage, Sami Zayn was confronted by Drew McIntyre, who taunted him for betting on Cody Rhodes next week. Zayn told McIntyre that he was going to beat Ilja Dragunov tonight, and then win it in his hometown before heading into the Royal Rumble. McIntyre reminded Zayn of his losing record against him, stating that he’s beaten Zayn 11 times and it wouldn’t change if they got a chance to face each other again.

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Leon Slater

The TNA X-Division Champion was revealed to be Hayes’ Open Challenge opponent, and was addressed as such in his entrance.

We started this match hot with fast and furious chain wrestling between Slater and Hayes. In the corner, Slater avoided Hayes acrobatically, but got hit with the springboard clothesline afterwards. Hayes was on the offensive with chops in the corner, as Slater answered with a hard chop of his own. The fast start to this match remained as Hayes got hit with a nice enzuigiri by Slater. The X-Division Champion kept the momentum with a handspring back elbow to Hayes, followed by an athletic dive to the outside. High crossbody by Slater nearly got the win as Hayes had to kick out at two there, and we went to a commercial break at that point.

This U.S. Title match resumed from commercial as we saw both Hayes and Slater down after a springboard Spanish Fly by the latter during the break. Eventually, both men got back to their feet and exchanged strikes and chops. Hayes avoided a sweeping kick from Slater as he connected with La Mistica, followed by a lifting suplex cutter. One… two, not quite! Hayes attempted a First 48, but Slater countered that into a serious single-leg crab. However, Hayes escaped that maneuver, so Slater got him with a side kick for the near-fall.

Slater and Hayes fought on the apron, as the challenger hit an amazing leaping legdrop across the neck., With both men back in the ring, they got into a duel of pins before Slater hit a hurricanrana for another close near-fall. Hayes got sent over the apron as he favored his hurt knee. This allowed Slater to hit an incredible diving leg drop over the ringpost and onto Hayes outside the ring.

Back in the ring, Slater headed up top and looked to finish Hayes off with the 450 Swanton, but the U.S. Champion avoided disaster and instead got Slater with the First 48. One, two…. 2.99999999!!!!!!!!! Hayes tried to go up top, but Slater met him at the pass and looked like he was going to hit a superplex from the top. Hayes recovered and turned that into an avalanche cutter for the victory and the successful U.S. Title defense.

Carmelo Hayes def. Leon Slater via pinfall to retain the U.S. Championship

This was a fantastic match, as all these U.S. Title challenge matches have been every week. I’ve made no secret of how much I love these matches and this one with TNA’s X-Divsion champion was no exception. However, I do want to address the fact that Leon Slater, was stated to have been pulled from the TNA Impact on AMC premiere last night due to travel issues, which doesn’t seem to be a promising sign when it comes to TNA’s seeming autonomy in this partnership with WWE moving forward.

**********

– Shinsuke Nakamura was seen watching the match we just saw before Tama Tonga confronted him. Tama said that Nakamura had his chance, and it was his time to take the U.S. Title for the M.F.T.s. He warned Nakamura to stay out of his way as he brought up their past in New Japan. Nakamura responded, seemingly not afraid of Tama’s threat.

– Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae discussed amongst themselves about their brilliant ploy against Fraxiom. He was confronted by Axiom, before another person in an Axiom mask appeared. Gargano got waylaid by the second person in Axiom’s mask, who revealed himself to be Nathan Frazer. We found out that Frazer went to Nick Aldis earlier and got himself a match booked against Gargano for next week.

Chelsea Green (w/ Alba Fyre) vs. Jordynne Grace

Jade Cargill was at ringside to watch this match.

Grace showed off her power by pushing Green down fiercely. Grace connected with a powerful spinebuster on one half of the AAA Mixed Tag Champions before she hit a nice stalling suplex. Green got momentum on her side by pulling at Grace’s hair and shoving her into the corner. While the referee was distracted, Alba Fyre hit Grace with a superkick, as Green then slammed her face down.

Green’s momentum was all too fleeting as she was slammed across the turnbuckle multiple times by Grace. A barrage of clotheslines from Grace kept her advantage, as did the suplex. Grace finally got the win with the Direct Effect — a cartwheel/Death Valley Driver hybrid maneuver — and the three.

After the match, Grace addressed Cargill as she said that she was glad the champ was glad at ringside to watch her. Grace challenged Cargill to step into the ring right here and right now. Cargill got on the apron and faced off with Grace. Meanwhile, Green attempted to run at Grace, but whiffed badly as she barreled into Cargill instead. The WWE Women’s Title clattered onto the mat, as Grace picked it up in her hands and taunted Cargill with it before throwing it out of the ring.

Jordynne Grace def. Chelsea Green via pinfall

A short contest meant to showcase Grace’s strengths, and I think they did an admirable job with that. This feud with Jade Cargill should help add much needed variety to SmackDown’s women’s division, which has been lagging at the top as of late. I’m looking forward to it.

**********

– Trick Williams was interviewed about advancing to the SNME Fatal Four-Way as Damian Priest then appeared and seemingly issued a challenge to face him one-on-one next week.

Next Week on SmackDown

  • Women’s Tag Title #1 Contenders’ Triple Threat Match: Giulia & Kiana James vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax & Lash Legend
  • WWE Tag Team Championship: The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy) vs. The M.F.T.s
  • Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest

#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Sami Zayn vs. Ilja Dragunov

Zayn and Dragunov didn’t waste time and started right away with dueling strikes. After he withstood a strike to his knee from Dragunov, Zayn cracked his foe with a clothesline. In the corner, Dragunov beckoned Zayn to hit him harder, to which the Canadian obliged. Dragunov answered with a hard boot to the face before he took voer with a chop in the corner to Zayn, followed by the running boot to the side of Zayn.

Dragunov dropped the knee from the top rope to the sternum of Zayn. Another attempt at the diving knee was avoided by Zayn, who countered with a suplex for a near-fall. Zayn slowed the pace of the match down as he punched at Dragunov for a bit. Both men traded German suplexes through a struggle of standing switches. Dragunov got the better of Zayn with one last German suplex in this exchange as he headed up top. Zayn got up and intercepted Dragunov at the top. Through a long struggle, Zayn hit the superplex as both men were left down and we were left with one final break in the action.

SmackDown’s main event continued as Zayn again tried to go to the top rope. Dragunov, who was busted open by a particularly hard shot from Zayn during the break, met him at the pass. Zayn got the better of Dragunov and hit a sunset flip powerbomb, but that wasn’t enough to get the win. Not yet. Dragunov countered a Blue Thunder Powerbomb from Zayn and turned it around into a Constantine Special. Dragunov headed to the top and hit the missile dropkick on Zayn for the near-fall.

With Zayn down and out, Dragunov had him in sight for the H-Bomb. A last-second boot saved Zayn as he looked for the corner exploder suplex. Dragunov shelled him with a kick, as he followed it with a pair of running clotheslines into the corner. Zayn recovered and tried to follow Dragunov with the Helluva Kick, but he missed badly on that. Both men fought on the apron, as Dragunov landed Torpedo Moscow and they both came crashing down onto the mat outside the ring.

As Zayn and Dragunov entered the ring, the latter hit the powerbomb on his opponent and headed to the top once more. Dragunov’s senton attempt was met by a knee from Zayn that hit the back of his neck. Zayn capitalized with the exploder suplex into the corner, followed by the Helluva Kick and the three. This rounded out our Fatal Four Way for Saturday Night’s Main Event.

After the match, Trick Williams attacked Zayn from behind with a cheap shot. He took Zayn out with the Trick Shot knee as the Levesque & Fitting producer credits saw us out on this week’s SmackDown.

Sami Zayn def. Ilja Dragunov via pinfall

Saturday Night’s Main Event in Montreal card so far

  • Undisputed WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Fatal Four-Way: Randy Orton vs. Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest vs. Sami Zayn
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu

**********

The outcome of that main event was a bit of a formality given Saturday Night’s Main Event being in Zayn’s hometown, but it didn’t make it any less enjoyable. It’s always a treat seeing Dragunov and Zayn get into a hard-hitting battle, and we got plenty of hard hits in that main event.

As for the rest of the show, it’s actually astonishing how watchable these three-hour SmackDowns have been. They’ve been far from the terribly middling shows I’ve recapped for the latter half of 2025, and it’s honestly made things a bit more enjoyable. I mentioned Ryan Ward last week now reportedly overseeing creative on SmackDown and I have to say he’s done a good job.

The U.S. Title scene is far and away the shining star of SmackDown, but things like Drew McIntyre as undisputed WWE Champion throwing a wrench into rumored WrestleMania 42 plans, Trick Williams getting a big spotlight, and steadily improving women’s division have been nice to see. The otherwise dull M.F.T.s/Wyatt Sicks feud — and the side-effect of it holding the tag titles hostage — is about the only thing I generally hate about SmackDown since the move to three hours.

So, yes, it’s 3-for-3 in terms of the three-hour SmackDown shows being watchable, and let’s hope that they can keep it up.

WWE SmackDown live results: Three Stages of Hell stipulation reveal

Posted on by Marc Quill

The first WWE SmackDown of 2026 from Buffalo, New York is also the first of the year to be in a three-hour format.

The show will be headlined by the reveal of the stipulations for the upcoming Three Stages of Hell match between WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre.

There will also be a rare ambulance match between bitter rivals Damian Priest and Aleister Black where the winner must send their opponent packing in an ambulance.

A star-studded eight woman bout is on tap when Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss take on The Kabuki Warriors, Nia Jax & Lash Legend. The match will be a preview for the WWE Women’s Tag Team title match between Asuka & Kairi Sane against Ripley & SKY on Raw this Monday.

The WWE Women’s United States Championship will be on the line as Chelsea Green defends against former titleholder Giulia.

Our live coverage kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern.

**********

– Over a live shot of the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY, Michael Cole welcomed us to the first SmackDown of 2025. Cole then tossed to a recap of last week’s events involving Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, which included the Three Stages of Hell match coming next week being set up.

– Shots of the aforementioned Rhodes, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, plus the Kabuki Warriors and the team of Lash Legend & Nia Jax arriving to the arena were shown. Inside the SmackDown arena, we saw an Ambulance situated next to the stage for the Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black match later tonight.

– As Cole and Corey Graves were talking, they were interrupted by The Miz, who angrily said that we weren’t moving on to 2026 until he aired his grievances for 2025.

The Miz’s 2025 Grievances

Miz started off by stating that he should’ve been the one to make John Cena tap out because of their shared history. He said that while Cena was out riding off into the sunset, he was stuck in Buffalo instead. Grievance #2: Young superstars who didn’t heed his advice and that everybody didn’t respect him enough. Grievance #3: He was passed over for Timothee Chalamet for Marty Supreme. Grievance #5: Miz said that He (in reference to Joe Hendry) ruined his final SmackDown of 2025 and that Hendry bringing back a very “untrue” nickname (“Tiny Balls”) hurt him. Miz said that we would not bring that nickname back, as he called himself the new face of WWE after John Cena left. Miz made a cheap local sports team heat reference by stating that unlike Buffalo’s sports teams, he won championships as he boasted his accolades, which in Miz’s eyes, made him the locker room leader.

Before Miz could continue on, the long-awaited sounds of “Voices” hit, which signaled the return of one Randall Keith Orton to SmackDown. Orton got a great ovation from the Buffalo crowd, as they serenaded him with a singalong of his entrance theme. As Orton got into the ring, he made Miz flinch by pretending to go after him before he posed on the turnbuckle. After a good while of posing for the crowd and the crowd chanting for him. Miz tried to hype himself and Orton as the gatekeepers of the locker room and the faces of the WWE, as he suggested “Miz-KO” as a name for them.

Orton’s response to this idea? An RKO out of nowhere to the hapless Miz. The crowd chanted for Orton to do it one more time. And with a “Happy New Year, Miz!” Orton obliged the crowd’s request with one more RKO.

I think this was an effective way to bring Randy Orton back into WWE, though I am curious about what’s in store for him, especially with previous teases of him eyeing the Undisputed WWE Title. Will the long-awaited feud with Cody Rhodes finally happen at some point? Only time will tell.

**********

– Lash Legend & Nia Jax talked with the Kabuki Warriors and said that they were owed a Women’s Tag Title shot after their team-up tonight. Asuka and Kairi Sane brushed off the idea as they got ready for the big eight-woman tag match coming up next.

– After the break, Randy Orton met up with Cody Rhodes and explicitly stated to the Undisputed WWE Champion that he is gunning for the title once Rhodes dealt with Drew McIntyre next week. Nick Aldis warned Rhodes about the “no-touch” stipulation when McIntyre shows up later tonight to lay out the Three Stages of Hell stipulations. Rhodes said that he’d get a handle of it.

Eight-Woman Tag Match: Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss vs. Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane), Nia Jax, Lash Legend

The bell rang with the heel women attacking their foes as Ripley was left to face Asuka off to start this match. Asuka stomped away on Ripley, but had her last kick blocked. Asuka got sent to the outside by Ripley, as did Sane. Tag to Alexa Bliss, who barreled into the Kabuki Warriors with a dive from the apron as we took the first of (surely many) commercial breaks for tonight.

We returned from the break as Jax and Legend were double teaming Bliss, to no avail. Legend got thrown out of the ring as Bliss then flattened Jax with a tornado DDT. Bliss got the tag to Flair, who hit both Legend and Jax with the crossbody. Flair teed off on both her opponents with chops as Legend got dropped by the somersault clothesline. Flair connected with Natural Selection on Jax as she then headed to the top rope and made no mistake with the moonsault. However, Jax managed to kick out at two.

On the apron, Flair hit Legend with a boot, but failed to connect with a slingshot spear as Jax blocked that maneuver. Asuka got the tag but immediately got stacked up for the pin by Flair, who then applied the Figure Eight submission. However, Sane got on the top rope and hit an Insane Elbow on Flair. Sane got thrown out of the ring by Bliss, while SKY was tagged into the match and unleashed her wrath on both Kabuki Warriors. Double missile dropkick on both Asuka and Sane by SKY, as Ripley was pulled down from the apron just as she was set for the tag.

In the ring, SKY was taken out by a powerful boot from Legend, but that wasn’t enough to put this one away as we got a sports-style replay of said boot before we took another break in the action.

The match continued from commercial as SKY created some needed separation between her and Sane, but Asuka knocked Bliss off the apron. SKY dumped Asuka as Ripley entered the match for the hot tag. Ripley was on fire as she used an unorthodox offensive move by using Sane as a weapon to knock Asuka down. Things began to break down when Jax attacked Ripley and we got all the women in the ring taking one another out. Sane was caught by Ripley after a failed high-risk maneuver and got hgit with Riptide. SKY got the tag and hit the Over The Moonsault to pick up the win for her team.

IYO SKY, Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss def. The Kabuki Warriors & Nia Jax and Lash Legend via pinfall

A fun eight-man tag match to kick us off officially in 2026 as all eight women in this match can really go. Was certainly a good call to have SKY and Ripley pick up the win for their team as a mean to set up match against the Kabuki Warriors on Raw next week.

**********

– Backstage, Nick Aldis was talking with NXT’s Jordynne Grace, who was informed by Aldis that SmackDown’s 2026 could involve her. Chelsea Green appeared and tried to beg off of facing Giulia for the Women’s U.S. Championship. Mr. Aldis wasn’t buying it and threatened to “impeach” Green by stripping her of the Women’s U.S. Title.

– Several Buffalo Bills players (sans Josh Allen) were shown in the crowd enjoying the show.

Kit Wilson vs. Matt Cardona

Before the match, Wilson introduced himself as redefining masculinity as he took shots at the Bills Mafia and called them the “most toxic sports fans” in America. He was interrupted by the music of Matt Cardona (nee Zack Ryder), who was Wilson’s opponent.

The match kicked off with Wilson attacking Cardona as we were informed that the latter was officially part of SmackDown’s roster. Cardona fought back and stomped away on Wilson in the corner, as he then dropped him with a face-first flapjack. Cardona clotheslined Wilson out of the ring and hit him with a sliding dropkick. Wilson regained momentum with a kick to the back of Cardona’s head in the corner. Wilson targeted Cardona’s head with punches to the face as he then placed him in the top turnbuckle and looked like he had something big planned. Cardona countered with a dropkick from the top rope as he followed that up with a facebuster.

Cardona stunned Wilson and blasted him with the Broski Boot, followed by a double-underhook powerbomb for the near-fall. Wilson sent Cardona face-first to the turnbuckle and connected with the Tourniquet, but Cardona kicked out at two. Cardona got the victory with the move called the Rough Ryder.

Matt Cardona def. Kit Wilson via pinfall

That was decent, and I will say Cardona coming into WWE under his real name and the commentary acknowledging that was a bit interesting. Not sure where Cardona will fit in, as far as his placement on the card, though.

**********

– Damian Priest was interviewed about his Ambulance Match against Aleister Black later tonight, as he said that he was put through hell for six months by Black. Priest promised that his foe would be the one who would fade to black when all is said and done.

– The Wyatt Sicks had a video promo about Solo Sikoa and what the “meaning” of family was. Bo Dallas said that SIkoa didn’t comprehend the force that he is up against as he said that the Wyatts’ family was filled with millions of fireflies of around the world that will always remember. Dallas said that it was time to chop down Sikoa’s family tree, as he said that when the dust settles, they’d be the ones.

Sami Zayn returns to SmackDown

The former United States Champion made his return to SmackDown for the first time in quite some time, as he said that the last time we saw him, he got a chance to see John Cena’s last match with his son. Zayn said that Cena’s last match really hit him in some way as his son asked him why they called Cena “The Never Seen 17”. Zayn talked about how his son then asked how many times his dad has won it, as he recounted how it doesn’t make sense to that son has been wrestling all these champions and why that World Championship was missing.

Zayn said that it made him sick that he had to talk about being a World Champion last year, so he wants to do something about it as 2026 would be the year he’d be coming for the WWE Championship. The theme of Trick Williams interrupted Zayn, which brought the former two-time NXT Champion and former TNA World Champion to the scene.

Williams said that the “sexiest and most entertaining superstar” had finally arrived as he introduced himself to Zayn. He said that he was here for one reason: Nick Aldis called “1800-WHOOP-THAT” as SmackDown needed someone of his caliber. Williams said that Aldis needed someone on SmackDown who looks like a champion and that he was here to be World Champion. Williams said he wasn’t like Zayn, that he wasn’t someone who can almost get the job done like Zayn.

Zayn said that he had been watching Williams and that Aldis might’ve been right on the assessments made about him, but he told Williams that he hadn’t been humbled yet. Zayn declared that if Williams had no problem about interrupting him, Zayn said he’d have no problem with teaching him about what it means to be humbled.

Trick Williams joining the SmackDown roster and right away entering a feud with Sami Zayn is actually an interesting one for sure, and I think it’ll lead to a good match out of these two down the line. The story of “veteran wants to humble cocky rookie” is a simple, but effective one.

**********

– Carmelo Hayes was walking backstage when Ilja Dragunov approached him. The former U.S. Champion said taht he wanted to fight the best, and that Hayes gave him that for sure. Dragunov said that he believed it wouldn’t be the last time they’d face. Dragunov asked Hayes if he’d keep the U.S. Open Challenge going, to which Hayes said that he’d continue it once he dealt with Johnny Gargano.

– Rey Fenix was sharing a chat with Nick Aldis as Trick Williams complained about what Sami Zayn did moments ago. Aldis said that maybe Williams needed to be taught a lesson as he booked his debut for next week against Rey Fenix.

United States Championship: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Johnny Gargano

Hayes went on the attack right away as he avoided a cheapshot from Gargano and threw him out before the match could get underway. Once the bell finally rang, Hayes met Gargano with a dropkick as he continued the attack in the corner. Hayes hit a nice leg drop on a downed Gargano and didn’t seem like he was going to lose momentum until a rolling kicked stopped the roll the U.S. Champion was on. Gargano’s advantage was fleeting as Hayes knocked him out with a knee to the face. On the outside, Gargano used Candice LeRae as a shield to avoid a dive as he nailed the U.S. Champ with a slingshot spear. A dive to the outside by Gargano on Hayes sent us to a break in the action.

Our match continued from the break with Gargano maintained his aggressive attack on Hayes, but a blocked boot allowed Hayes to hit his springboard lariat with authority. Hayes followed that up with his version of La Mistica for the near-fall as he hyped himself up. In the corner, Hayes hit Gargano with a kick to the back of the head as he hit the Fadeaway legdrop on his prone foe. On the top rope, Hayes connected with a frog splash, but Gargano kicked out again at two.

Hayes knocked Gargano down with a clothesline as he headed up top. Gargano intercepted him and struck hard, which left Hayes stunned. At the top, Hayes avoided an avalanche Air Raid Crash and attempted a superplex. However, Gargano reversed that into a final cut suplex as the sports-style replay tossed us to another break in this match.

We returned from the break as Hayes blocked Gargano’s springboard attempt from the apron with a cutter using the top rope, followed by a DDT onto the apron itself. In the ring, Gargano countered a facebuster attempt into a tornado DDT as Hayes just managed to kick out at two. Hayes stopped Gargano’s slingshot spear with a boot as he headed to the top rope. Candice LeRae created a distraction long enough for Gargano to finally hit the avalanche Air Rade Crash on Hayes. One, two… NO!

Gargano and Hayes got into a pinning exchange, but the former connected with First 48, followed by Nothin’ But Net and the three for the successful first U.S. Title defense.

Carmelo Hayes def. Johnny Gargano via pinfall to retain the U.S. Championship

A solid first defense for Hayes as the U.S. Title scene on SmackDown maintains its hot streak that kept it the most entertaining part of the show nearly every week. I’m glad that Hayes is also continuing the Open Challenge as mentioned before this match, because covering these U.S. Title matches always manages to be a highlight for me.

**********

– Tama Tonga was seen watching the match we just saw as Shinsuke Nakamura confronted him. With some history between these two former NJPW stars, Nakamura taunted Tama before he left. Solo Sikoa talked to Tama about how next week, it’d be the M.F.T.s & Wyatt Sicks in a four-on-four match, and that once their issues were settled with the Wyatts, they’d be gunning for those WWE Tag Titles.

– Jade Cargill was interviewed about what happened to Michin during a live show as she suffered a real injury during it. Cargill said that she deserved what happened as Jordynne Grace appeared and had some words for the WWE Women’s Champion. Grace turned Cargill’s words of being called “a bitch” back towards her, stating, “I’m Jordynne Grace, but you’re definitely one of those (i.e. “a bitch”).

– Elsewhere, Cody Rhodes asked Sami Zayn about Drew McIntyre’s whereabouts, and seemed a bit taken aback about Zayn’s championship ambitions. Before the conversation could linger on further, Nick Aldis appeared and was asked by Rhodes about McIntyre. With no clear answer, Rhodes said he’d be heading to the ring soon to see what’s what.

– We got another Oba Femi teaser, presumably again hinting his arrival to the SmackDown roster.

Cody Rhodes has some words for Drew McIntyre

The Undisputed WWE Champion made his way down to the ring, as promised. He entered the ring and immediately took of his suit and grabbed a microphone.

Rhodes rhetorically asked how one obtains the richest prize in sports entertainment, and that it was his mentality when approaching anyone in a WWE ring that led him to championship glory. That mentality being that he gets to the arena early with the belt in tow, because he wants the people to see him. Rhodes said that Drew McIntyre reeked of envy, but he was grateful for it, as he was just a mountain that he couldn’t wait to climb.

Rhodes said that while he was backstage, he was “playing dumb” and that he saw Drew McIntyre as nothing more but “lunch”. That’s because he’s the one who calls himself The Champ, and it won’t change in Berlin.

McIntyre interrupted from the Titantron and said Rhodes was as vanilla as it gets, as he said he thought hard to determine what the three stages of hell would be. McIntyre said the first Stage would be a traditional wrestling match, the second being Falls Count Anywhere. McIntyre declared that the third fall, if the match got that far, it would come down to a steel cage. He promised to break Rhodes physically next week, but he wanted to get ahead of things as he talked about how he ransacked Rhodes’ bus. McIntyre said that he got one item that meant so much to Cody, that being a photo of him and father Dusty Rhodes.

McIntyre mocked Rhodes and said that it would get real chilly down in hell, as McIntyre stomped on the photo. Rhodes angrily ran to the back and was stopped by security as McIntyre soon appeared in the ring and tried to goad Rhodes to come get him. “Happy New Year, Cody” McIntyre said as he took a lighter to the picture of Rhodes and his father and set it on fire.

An… interesting and good way to garner heat, I’ll admit. It just hurts that McIntyre will be taking yet another three-second tan next week in Berlin, and all this fantastic heel work as of late will be certainly going to waste. I know a lot of people will probably disagree with me on this front, but this feud with Rhodes has honestly soured me on McIntyre’s current character with the way he’s lost repeatedly and remained stuck in place. Feels like reliving Groundhog Day, if you ask me. A refresh of sorts for McIntyre is needed after this match, but I’ll happilly eat crow if somehow, he wins the title next week, even for a short while.

**********

Next Week on SmackDown – Berlin, Germany

  • Three Stages of Hell for the Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
  • Rey Fenix vs. Trick Williams
  • The Wyatt Sicks vs. The M.F.T.s

Women’s U.S. Championship: Chelsea Green (c) vs. Giulia

The challenger was aggressive from the get-go as she struck against Green in the corner with fierce stomps. Giulia grabbed Green by her hair and threw her across the ring. Another big boot by Giulia sent Green to the outside as Alba Fyre checked up on her ally. At ringside, Giulia maintained her ruthless attack on Green, but Fyre created a distraction at ringside, which allowed Green to get ahead with a dive from inside the ring. With Giulia down and out for the moment, we took a break.

We returned from commercial as Giulia had Green in a sleeper hold, but the Women’s U.S. Champ managed to escape that hold. The two then began trading strikes in the middle of the ring, as Green got the best of her foe with a set of clotheslines, followed by a kick. With Giulia stunned across the middle rope, Green connected with double knees to the back of her head.

In the middle of the ring, Green attempted the Un-Pretty-Her, but couldn’t capitalized. Green hit the Rough Ryder, but Kiana James got on the apron to distract the referee. Alba Fyre pulled James off the apron. Back with the match, Giulia intercepted Green on the top rope and hit an avalanche underhook DDT and rolled through for the Northern Lights Bomb on Green for the three to win the Women’s U.S. Championship.

Giulia def. Chelsea Green to win the Women’s United States Championship

It’s nice to see Giulia win gold once more, but disappointing that her victory barely got a reaction whatsoever, though that’s largely on the booking with regards to the SmackDown’s women’s division being kind of a mess, and it’s hurt the standing of stars like Giulia as a result. Hopefully, Giulia getting back the Women’s U.S. Title — and hopefully getting away from fighting Chelsea Green and company — means things are starting to change.

**********

– Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY spoke about becoming how they’d be the Women’s Tag Team Champions again on Raw this Monday. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss stated that they were next in line if Ripley & SKY win on Monday. However, Bliss stated that she wanted to wish SKY and Ripley the best of luck for Monday.

– Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae were licking their wounds after the former’s loss to Carmelo Hayes as Fraxiom confronted the two. Axiom said that he was going to talk to Nick Aldis to make a match between him and Gargano, and that he’d take back his mask once he beat Gargano.

The Ambulance backed onto the stage as the rules of this main event was explained just before the entrances.

Ambulance Match: Aleister Black vs. Damian Priest

Black attacked Priest from behind before he could even take off his entrance robe, which got this match underway. Priest eventually battled back and threw Black out of the ring as the action spilled to the outside. Black responded with a boot to the face as the battle made its way to the stage area and the ambulance. The doors were opened while Black tried to put Priest inside the vehicle. Priest pulled out a stretcher from the ambulance and pushed it onto the ribs of Black, as it was followed by a throw onto the base of the stretcher. We took a picture-in-picture break at this point of the match.

We returned to full-screen action with the action back inside the ring as Black and Priest traded kicks to one another. During the break, we saw footage of Black sending Priest through the table with a Meteora. Back to live action as Priest nailed Black with a lariat. As Black was stunned in the corner, Priest barreled into him with a splash. Outside the ring, Priest sent Black over the commentary table with a running pounce while Zelina looked on in concern.

Black shoved Priest into the ringpost as he grabbed a chair and hit his opponent in the spine with it. Black put Priest’s face across the seated portion of the chair and kicked it to cause more pain. As Black teed up another chair shot to Priest, he was grabbed by the neck and chokeslammed across the hardest part of the ring.

Inside the ring, Priest kicked Black as he was sat on the top rope, and hit a massive hurricanrana from the top rope. Black responded with a spinning kick as both men were down for the count and we headed to another picture-in-picture break.

The SmackDown main event returned with Priest and Black brawling it out on the stage. Black got the best of Priest with a throw to the LED screen as Black told Zelina to open the ambulance doors. As the doors opened, Rhea Ripley was awaiting Zelina and chased her to the ring. Inside the ring, Ripley took Zelina out of the equation with a Riptide. Back on the stage, Black battered Priest with stomps and tried to drag him into the ambulance, to no certain avail. After a struggle, Black managed to put Priest in the ambulance, but couldn’t get both doors closed.

With a crutch in hand, Priest struck it across the back of Black, as he then drove the handle portion right onto the chest. Priest was pushed into the ambulance door with Black following that up with a knee to the face. Priest managed to prevent further calamity with a fire extinguisher shot to the face of Black. This was followed up by Priest throwing a fireball in Black’s face, which left the Dutchman writhing in pain. Priest closed the ambulance doors and pulled out an equipment table from the stage as he grabbed Black and looked like he was going to hit the Razor’s Edge. Black escaped that fate and hit Priest with another knee to the face.

Black attempted to throw Priest onto the side of the ambulance, but found himself thrown there instead. Priest was stunned by a knee from Black. An equipment case was pulled by Black, but Priest countered and hoisted him up for a Razor’s Edge onto the windshield of the ambulance. Priest took Black’s lifeless body and put himself on top of the ambulance. With both men on the top, Priest held Black and threw him through the equipment table that was setup beside the rear ambulance doors.

With Black unable to fight back, Priest dragged him to the ambulance doors and threw him inside. Priest then shut the doors to put an end to this match and pick up the win.

Damian Priest def. Aleister Black via pinfall

**********

As a feud-ender (hopefully), that match seemed rather lifeless and didn’t feel like it was worthy of being the main event for this three-hour SmackDown. Things really didn’t pick up until Rhea Ripley’s cameo and the table spots by the ambulance near the end. I’ve been on record with saying that this Priest vs. Black feud has been a drag to follow since June of last year, and I just feel relief that things are seemingly over now and the two can finally move on to other things.

As far as the rest of the first three-hour SmackDown was concerned, it was a mostly entertaining show and not as terrible as I had feared it to be. The U.S. Title scene once again stole the show and picked up right where they left off, and the Rhodes/McIntyre title match is at least getting some good head ahead of next week — even if I feel that McIntyre can stand to do better. Plus, debuts like Trick Williams and Jordynne Grace helped tease exciting developments ahead.

Whether or not SmackDown being okay in a three-hour format is sustainable remains anyone guess, but I will admit that tonight was not a bad start at all on that front.

WWE SmackDown live results: Drew McIntyre returns

Posted on by Marc Quill

On the final SmackDown of 2025 — and the final two-hour edition before a return to three hours starting next week — Drew McIntyre makes his return to SmackDown to address being granted another WWE Championship shot against Cody Rhodes. We’ll find out more information about that upcoming title bout tonight.

Joe Hendry makes his official SmackDown debut tonight when he faces The Miz in one-on-one action. Miz took exception to Hendry and R-Truth attacking him at Saturday Night’s Main Event and is looking to spoil the debut of Hendry.

The United States Championship open challenge continues on as Ilja Dragunov is set to take on a mystery foe after he and Carmelo Hayes dispatched #DIY in short order last week.

Tonight’s show was taped last Friday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Full spoilers can be found here.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

– Previously on SmackDown: Cody Rhodes addressed the Drew McIntyre situation and declared himself “the law”, much to the chagrin of Nick Aldis.

– Following that, we saw Rhodes being confronted by Nick Aldis, who reminded him if McIntyre issued the apology to referee Dan Engler and paid the fine, Rhodes cannot touch him or he’d be stripped of his Undisputed WWE Title. After Rhodes left, The Miz angrily demanded that Joe Hendry’s music not be played. However, just as Aldis said his name, the ever-infectious music of Mr. Hendry hit and we cut to the ring.

Joe Hendry arrives on SmackDown

In the ring, Hendry was with people dressed as Santa (which included Alpha Academy’s Akira Tozawa and Otis) and the Easter Bunny. Hendry then proceeded to sing a song about how Miz supposedly has “tiny balls” in the style of Jingle Bells. The Miz himself interrupted in anger as he marched down to the ring. Hendry said that he knows the reason why Miz was upset, it was because he wasn’t here to sing the song with everyone. Hendry then continued his song as Miz raised his hand to shut everyone up.

Miz said that he was chasing a legacy earned with pain, while Hendry was chasing choruses. And now with John Cena retired, Miz claimed he earned the right to be the locker room leader to lead WWE in the future. Miz then challenged Hendry to a match right now. GM Aldis interjected and said that this Miz vs. Hendry match would be a Miracle on 34th Street Fight.

This segment was a decent primer on who Joe Hendry is, but not sure if I approve of the whole “tiny balls Miz” bit continuing to be a thing. Honestly, just not my kind of humor.

**********

Miracle on 34th Street Fight: Joe Hendry vs. The Miz

The ringside area was surrouned by Christmas-themed decorations, as well as Santa Otis, Tozawa, and the Easter Bunny.

As the bell rang, Hendry went for a side headlock takeover and escaped a hold by Miz. In response, Miz kicked Hendry in the gut, but got dropped by a shoulder block. Hendry lifted Miz for a long stalling suplex, which sent his opponent rolling out of the ring. As Hendry headed out of the ring, he opened a gift and found a guitar inside it. Meanwhile, Miz pulled out a ukelele, and then a pair of small ornaments — because he supposedly has tiny balls, you see.

Hendry hip tosssed Miz into a Christmas tree as he pulled out the Slim Jim-branded table from underneath the ring, which then set up inside the ring. Miz snuck up on Hendry and tried for a roll-up pin, to no avail. Skull-Crushing Finale was countered by Hendry, who then attempted a Standing Ovation on his opponent. Miz managed to escape that move. An incensed Miz began to elbow drop a gift thrown in the ring by the Easter Bunny as we took a break in the action.

The match returned from commercial as Hendry and Miz willed themselves to get back on their feet. Hendry was first as he nailed a clothesline on the Miz before he requested Santa Otis and Tozawa to hand him the Christmas tree from ringside. With tree in hand, Hendry struck Miz as he then delivered a fallaway slam on him. Hendry then took the tree and did a fallaway slam on it that sent the tree towards Miz.

Hendry got himself hyped as he went for another Standing Ovation, Miz countered and escaped the ring as he kicked Tozawa. He took a candy cane kendo stick and struck the Easter Bunny with it before Santa Otis blocked the shot from the weapon. This opened Miz up for a kendo stick strike from Hendry. Santa Otis, Tozawa and the Easter Bunny entered the ring with Hendry as they surrounded Miz. Hendry delivered another fallaway slam as Santa Otis then hit a very festive Caterpillar on Miz. Tozawa hit the senton from the top rope on Miz following that. The Easter Bunny then unmasked to reveal it was R-Truth underneath all along. “Happy Easter!” shouted Truth as he did the Five-Knuckle Shuffle. Hendry hit Miz from behind with the guitar as he then hit Standing Ovation through the table for the victory in this match.

Joe Hendry def. The Miz via pinfall

Just a fun little match, and a perfect way to integrate Hendry into the SmackDown roster. These holiday-themed street fights are always entertaining.

**********

– Backstage, Carmelo Hayes was talking with Fraxiom before Ilja Dragunov interrupted and asked to speak with Hayes. Dragunov said that he enjoyed teaming up against #DIY with Hayes last week, but it eats him alive that his U.S. Title match against Hayes went the way it did a few weeks back. Dragunov said that the Open Challenge was closed because it’d be him against Hayes for the U.S. Championship. Hayes shook Dragunov’s hand as the match was set for tonight.

– Drew McIntyre was shown arriving and immediately asked about what stipulation he’d choose for his match against Cody Rhodes. McIntyre said he was tired from the flight for Scotland, but he promised that tonight, we’d have all the answers as it related for this match.

– We got another promo from Aleister Black as he talked about a talented man named Damian Priest, as he and Zelina discussed that they were there to remind him about what he buried, and that they made him supposedly honest. Black said that this would end when he says it ends, and that he would end what he created. We learned that these two would face off on next week’s SmackDown.

– Byron Saxton interviewed WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill about her fight with Michin, as she challenged her to a fight. Elsewhere, Michin & B-Fab discussed how things would get bad real quick because of the current situation. Michin said that nobody respected Cargill in the locker room and that she needed to be humbled. And that lesson in humbling would come next week, according to Michin.

Lash Legend (w/ Nia Jax) vs. Charlotte Flair (w/ Alexa Bliss)

Flair sized up her massive foe as the bell rang before the two got into a test of strength. Legend showed her strength as she had the advantage on Flair early on. Legend dropped Flair with a scoop slam as she got chopped in the chest in response. Legend fought back with a hard clothesline that left Flair reeling as she then slammed her opponent’s face on three separate turnbuckles. Flair avoided calamity in the corner, but could not avoid the big roaring uppercut by Legend for the near-fall.

Legend missed with a running boot in the corner and got kicked on the side of her head by Flair. However, she slowed down her foe with a pop-up powerbomb as we took a break in the action.

SmackDown continued from the break with Legend hoisting Flair and repeateadly dropping her up and down across the middle and bottom ropes before she hit a scoop slam. Legend then applied a resthold on Flair that was promptly broken out of. Flair showed some fire with a rally of strikes, followed by her signature turnbuckle dodge and a big boot to Legend. Flair headed up top and connected with the crossbody, which fired her up.

Flair chopped away at Legend as only she could as she tried for her somersault clothesline. Legend countered that with a hard big boot for a cover that Flair kicked out of. Legend lifted Flair up for a powerbomb, but got turned into a sunset flip pin for a two-count of her own. Legend attempted the Lash Extension, but Flair reversed it into a DDT instead. Flair climbed to the top rope and connected with a moonsault for another near-fall.

Flair targeted Legend’s leg as Nia Jax got on the apron to cause a successful distraction. Outside the ring, Alexa Bliss attacked Jax for a bit. Back in the ring, Flair got the victory with a quick roll-up pin from the corner.

Charlotte Flair def. Nia Jax via pinfall

A good little match and Legend did manage to keep pace with a veteran like Flair. 2025 has been a fantastic revitalization for Charlotte Flair, which is nice to see. This run with Bliss has been one of the few highlights in WWE in an otherwise dull year.

**********

– In Nick Aldis’s office, Trick Williams from NXT was here to meet with Aldis, stating that he was expecting a huge offer from Raw to sign with them, so he wanted Aldis to hurry up on a deal of his own. Cody Rhodes appeared and had a brief staredown with Williams, who left. Rhodes asked if Drew McIntyre has apologized to Dan Engler and paid the fine yet. Aldis said that Rhodes needed to control his emotions. Williams returned and said he wasn’t done and told Rhodes to hold onto that Undisputed WWE Title real tight.

– Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s addressed the Wyatt Sicks, stating that his group doesn’t run from fear, they crave fear. Sikoa said that the fireflies were fading away and concluded by again mockingly singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”.’

United States Championship: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes

The match started fast with both Dragunov and Hayes striking one another as things turned into hard-hitting violence right away. Dragunov hit Hayes with repeated knee strikes as he then stunned him with an enzuigiri. The U.S. Champion then connected with his German Suplexes on Hayes, that the challenger valiantly tried to escape. On the third attempt, Hayes tried to escape, but got battered by hard elbows to the back of the head from Dragunov.

Dragunov threw Hayes overhead with a modified back suplex, as he then hit him hard with a chop. In the corner, a big boot from Dragunov sent Hayes crashing into the floor as we took a break in the action.

As this U.S. Title match resumed from commercial, Dragunov still had the momentum with strikes in the corner on Hayes, who was barely surviving the onslaught. Hayes blocked a big boot from Dragunov and hit him with a slap across the face. Hayes was on the offensive as he hit a hard clothesline on the U.S. Champion. Hayes ducked a strike from Dragunov and leapt from the second rope for a springboard clothesline. Dragunov blocked an attempted hurricanrana from Hayes and then hit him with a running knee to the face. Dragunov headed up to the top rope and missed with the senton as Hayes dodged at the last second. This allowed Hayes to hit his own version of La Mistica for the near-fall.

Hayes kicked at Dragunov’s head repeatedly as he then chopped away at his chest. Dragunov beckoned him to hit harder as he then responded with a strike. Dragunov teed up Hayes for the H-Bomb, but was met by a kick instead. Hayes leapt again from the second rope and hit an incredible look-from behind DDT on the U.S. Champion. That, however, was still not enough to clinch the victory. Hayes headed up top and looked like he was going to go for Nothin’ But Net, but Dragunov caught him. Constantine Special from Dragunov managed to hit its target successfully as he had equal success on the senton. One, two… Hayes just kicked out at two! We took another break in the action in this fantastic match.

As we returned to the action, both Hayes and Dragunov were struggling to get themselves back up, but the champion was up first as he exposed his left knee. He demanded Hayes to get back up and fight, to which the challenger obliged with a superkick. Dragunov caught Hayes’ attempt at First 48 and placed him on the top turnbuckle. Dragunov was met with a punch and headbutt from Hayes that sent him down on the mat. Hayes again went for Nothin’ But Net, but he was intercepted by a kick from Dragunov. The champion fought with his challenger on the apron and lifted him up for a superplex.

Hayes blocked the H-Bomb with a knee, but got rocked by a big boot stomp. Standing uranage from Dragunov, but that was somehow not enough as Hayes kicked out at two. In the corner again, Hayes and Dragunov dueled on the top turnbuckle. Dragunov looked like he had a superplex all set, but Hayes countered it into a cutter! One, two… Dragunov kicked out at 2.9999999!!!!!!! On the apron, Dragunov lifted Hayes on his shoulders, but couldn’t capitalize on whatever move he was going to hit. The two men battered one another until Dragunov got the best of him and hit a Death Valley Driver on the hardest part of the ring.

Dragunov headed for the top rope and appeared to have Hayes right where he wanted him lying on against the bottom corner. Coast-to-Coast…. NO! Hayes intercepted with a First 48 on the U.S. Champion as he headed up top right away and connected with Nothin’ But Net. One… two… THREE! Ladies and gentlemen,. we have a new U.S. Champion.

After the match, Dragunov took the U.S. Championship belt and respectfully crowned Hayes as our new U.S. Champion.

Carmelo Hayes def. Ilja Dragunov to win the United States Championship

An incredible match from start to finish, and could be in conversation for best WWE weekly TV match of the year. As far as a finale for Dragunov’s fantastic run as United States Championship, this was as good as ending as you could hope for. The way that Dragunov and Hayes had the crowd invested in this battle was just excellent. I critique a lot of what goes on every Friday on SmackDown, but the U.S. Title scene has remained one of the consistent highlights of the blue show ever since Sami Zayn won the title back in September. I’m optimistic that the trend will continue with Carmelo Hayes as champion.

**********

– Backstage, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss talked strategy about regaining their WWE Women’s Tag Titles back while we saw Nick Aldis talking with Dan Engler in the background. Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY appeared and talked about how they’d become the next WWE Women’s Tag Champions. Just then, Lash Legend and Nia Jax, as well as the Kabuki Warriors confronted both teams as we got a yelling contest between everyone. Aldis then announced that we’d see an eight-woman tag match between everyone present in this altercation on the first SmackDown of 2026.

– Carmelo Hayes was interviewed about his U.S. Title victory. He talked about how the jerseys were going up the rafters and he was ready to elevate his game before Johnny Gargano ambushed him from behind and declared that Hayes ruined everything. Gargano declared that he’d take the U.S. Champioship.

Chelsea Green & Alba Fyre vs. Giulia & Kiana James

Green and James got things going in this tag match with a lock-up in the middle. Green complained that James was pulling her hair as she then attempted a flash roll-up to no avail. James targeted Green’s arm as Giulia made the tag. Green retreated to her corner and tagged Fyre into the match. An angered Giulia yelled at Green to stop hiding as James found herself back in the match.

Fyre attempted a tornado DDT, but James blocked it successfully and attacked Fyre in the corner. On the second go-around, Fyre connected with the springboard-off-the-ropes DDT for a near-fall. Green tagged in and hit James with a sliding clothesline as she applied a resthold on her opponent. Green threw James out and saluted the crowd, which allowed James to enter the ring and tag Giulia into the match. Giulia threw Green across the ring Biel-style before she hit a snap suplex. On the top rope, Giulia dropped Green with a missile dropkick. Fyre got involved and found herself thrown out of the ring by Giulia. This left the Women’s U.S. Champion at the mercy of Giulia’s Northern Lights Bomb for the three.

Giulia & Kiana James def. Chelsea Green & Alba Fyre via pinfall

Giulia’s main roster booking confounds me, if we’re being honest. She had a strong run on NXT, but hasn’t been really used to the best of her abilities, and it’s resulted in crowds not really caring about her and her feuds. I hope it’s something that can be rectified in the new year, and it starts by just elevating her into the barebones-as-it-is WWE Women’s Title scene.

**********

– In Nick Aldis’s office, Kit Wilson was discussing his “crusade” against toxic masculinity and wanted an opportunity to continue that. Aldis said that there’d be a new opportunity for Wilson next week on SmackDown. Cody Rhodes entered Aldis’s office and asked Dan Engler if he had been apologized to yet. Engler said no, as Rhodes said it was the end of the night and ready to do something as Drew McIntyre’s theme music hit. Aldis asked for Rhodes to control his emotions as he went to go deal with McIntyre.

– We got a vignette for Oba Femi, presumably heralding his arrival on either Raw or SmackDown.

Next Week on SmackDown (1/2/26)

  • Eight-Woman Tag Match: Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, and IYO SKY vs. Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Asuka, and Kairi Sane
  • Jade Cargill vs. Michin
  • Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black

Drew McIntyre’s apology?

Nick Aldis was in the ring with Dan Engler as the two stood in front of Drew McIntyre. Aldis said things were getting way out of hand between McIntyre and Cody Rhodes, but that things really got off the rail when McIntyre attacked Engler. Aldis said that it was McIntyre’s chance to be a man of his word, so that he can finally focus on his title match.

McIntyre said he was indeed a man of his word as he gave Aldis the fine. He then turned his attention to Engler and said he was “genuinely” sorry for hitting a Claymore kick on him. He claims that he should’ve never attacked a WWE official and asked Engler to accept his humble apology. McIntyre continued as he said that he apologized that it was Engler’s dream to become a wrestler and that he wasn’t good enough so he had to be a referee. McIntyre said that he apologized to Engler’s wife Melissa for having to watch him kick her husband in the face and that she supposedly wished that she had a husband like Drew who stood on his convictions. McIntyre railed on as he called Engler a corporate stooge and dared him to hit back.

Cody Rhodes emerged from the ramp and looked like he was going to fight McIntyre, despite Aldis’s protestations. McIntyre tried to goad Rhodes into hitting him so that he could be stripped of the Undisputed WWE Title. McIntyre said that he wished Rhodes’ children and wife could see a real man looks like. McIntyre said that we would see this title match in Germany in a Three Stages of Hell match. Rhodes accepted the challenge as McIntyre said that there was one more thing. When it was time for McIntyre to send Rhodes to hell, to say hi to his dad for him. This allowed McIntyre to hit a sneaky Claymore kick on the champion. McIntyre took the Undisputed WWE Title

**********

I know this Three Stages of Hell match will be good and McIntyre had some good lines in his promo, but I cannot begin to tell you how tired I am of seeing this guy bottling it at every turn and seemingly being stuck in a perpetual cycle of his “Twitter hater” bit and beating up Cody Rhodes, only to get beaten soundly and we do it all over again. I think he deserves better than this and hopefully 2026 is the beginning of getting him away from that road (or Rhodes, if you prefer…)

That said, this episode of SmackDown was mostly enjoyable and hard-carried by that excellent U.S. Title match. I loved Hayes vs. Dragunov quite a bit and it was a fantastic match, as I stated a few paragraphs above. With the third hour of SmackDown coming next week, hopefully everything else is elevated and doesn’t feel like a chore to watch through, despite the length. Will Executive Producer Paul Levesque and company manage that feat? We shall see.

Lastly, on a more positive note, I just want to wrap up by wishing you a Merry Christmas on behalf of myself, Steve Khan, Jeff Moss, Corey Michaels, Ryan Howard, and everyone here at WON/F4W. Thank you for your continued support this year. Stay frosty, everyone.

WWE SmackDown live results: Tag Team titles on the line

Posted on by Marc Quill

As we head deeper into the holiday season, WWE presents a pre-taped edition of SmackDown tonight.

Cody Rhodes’ dream match at Saturday Night’s Main Event against Oba Femi was ruined when Drew McIntyre attacked him for the disqualification. In retaliation, Rhodes invaded McIntyre’s home that weekend to brawl with him.

On tonight’s show, the WWE Champion returns with a lot to talk about.

The WWE Tag Team titles will be on the line tonight as Joe Gacy & Dexter Lumis of The Wyatt Sicks defend against two members of The MFTs.

In non-title action, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) will battle Lash Legend & Nia Jax, who are looking to earn a shot at the belts.

WWE United States Champion Ilja Dragunov teams up with Carmelo Hayes against #DIY.

The announced card is rounded out by Giulia vs. Alba Fyre.

Our live coverage kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

– Previously in WWE: It was John Cena’s last match at Saturday Night’s Main Event. He tapped and he retired. After that recap, we went to Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett at commentary (as this episode of SmackDown was taped earlier this week), who talked about Cody Rhodes’ home invasion attack against Drew McIntyre. We then saw shots of Rhodes himself, and then the M.F.T.s arriving to the arena.

Damian Priest kicks off SmackDown

Fresh off a mixed-tag match victory on last week’s episode against Aleister Black & Zelina, Damian Priest arrived to SmackDown and had some words to say following that huge win.

Priest thanked the Hershey, PA fans for their energy because it has been a tough few days thanks to John Cena’s retirement. Priest praised Cena for being the Greatest of All Time, as he said “Thank you, Cena”. He then said it was time to talk about some good times, namely when Aleister and Zelina got their “asses dropped” by the Terror Twins. Before Priest could continue with talking about his 2026 plans, Zelina interrupted him.

Zelina said that Priest was a hypocrite and that he shouldn’t be celebrating because he didn’t get the pin. She noted that Black broke Priest, and that he had to live with the decision that Black had made. As Black’s theme played, he snuck up in the ring to attack Priest from behind. The brawl broke out between the two in the ring as the action spilled into ringside. Priest dropped Black on the apron with a modified South of Heaven chokeslam before he pulled out the Slim Jim-branded table from underneath the ring. Meanwhile, Black recovered and hit Priest with a chair in the chest. The two continued to fight until Black hit a diving Meteora from the apron through the table.

I’m just going to get out front here and say that the idea of Priest vs. Black continuing on longer does not move me in the slightest. That this feud, like the Energizer Bunny, just keeps going and going (and has been since July) is not something I want to see every week. Without a doubt, one of the reasons why SmackDown is languishing in terms of engaging stories.

**********

– Backstage, Byron Saxton was with Lash Legend & Nia Jax for remarks about Legend’s win over Alexa Bliss. The two noted that it was not an upset as Legend dominated her foe last week.

– Elsewhere, as Damian Priest was being helped by a litany of referees, Aleister Black attacked and continued his assault, ending with a Black Mass kick.

The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) vs. Lash Legend & Nia Jax

Sane and Legend started off for their respective teams. Sane tried to get a sleeper hold on Legend, but got shoved into the corner instead. She avoided a pump kick from Legend as she then climbed to the top rope. Sane leapt, but got caught by Legend instead. Sane got out of her predicament with a hurricanrana, but Legend responded with a fierce running elbow as she tagged Jax in.

The two crushed Sane in their corner as Jax got the pin, but no three. Sane managed to tag in Asuka as the Women’s Tag Champs used teamwork to keep Jax grounded momentarily. Jax created some space with a pop-up spinebuster. However, she found herself on the backfoot with a double dropkick from the Kabuki Warriors. Legend also got sent to the outside, which gave Sane time to launch herself from the top rope and onto both Legend and Jax at ringside, which took us to the commercial break point.

We returned from break with Jax working over Sane in the corner as we saw a replay of Legend hitting a pump kick on Sane during the break. Back to the match, Legend applied a resthold on Sane for a bit until she slammed her foe down by the head. Jax was tagged in as she knocked Asuka off the apron. Jax and Legend tried to go for a double suplex, but Sane turned that into a double DDT, which gave her enough time to finally tag Asuka in.

Asuka got on the top rope and hit a double missile dropkick on Jax and Legend. A little bit of friendly fire as Asuka avoided Legend’s running attack, which sent her into Jax instead. Asuka then locked in the armbar on Jax, who used her power to escape out of it. Asuka connected with a Shining Wizard, but Legend broke it up. Things began to break down as all four women were in the ring as Asuka headed up top. Legend pulled at Asuka’s leg, which allowed Jax to head up top for an attempted avalanche Samoan drop. Legend pulled Asuka out of the ring and threw her into the steel steps. Sane took Legend out of the equation with a divking knee. However, Jax recovered and knocked Sane out, which let her get the victory with the Annihilator.

Jax and Legend didn’t get time to celebrate their win as Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss ran down to start a fight with them. The former Women’s Tag Champs got the best of Jax and Legend in the melee.

Lash Legend & Nia Jax def. The Kabuki Warriors via pinfall

A decent tag match, and I do think the women’s tag scene is heating up, so not much in the way of complaints as far as this match is concerned.

**********

– Jackie Redmond was set to interview Giulia, but was told by her representative Kiana James to address her properly before she could do so. Once she did, Giuia said that she was going to make sure that Alba Fyre would be left saying arrivederci.

Cody Rhodes attacks Drew McIntyre at home

We got footage of Nick Aldis & Drew McIntyre’s meeting over the weekend. This meeting had Aldis & McIntyre agree on terms for an Undisputed WWE Championship match, where McIntyre gets to pick a stipulation, and an agreement that Cody Rhodes cannot attack McIntyre before that match or he will be stripped of the Undisputed WWE Title.

Afterwards, Rhodes appeared at the driveway of McIntyre’s house and proceeded to fight him as police tried to separate the two. Rhodes shouted “Merry Christmas, asshole!” at McIntyre while the two were being separated.

– Mr. Aldis addressed the situation, where he was placed in a tough situation due to everything surrounding Rhodes & McIntyre, which has created a lot of legal headaches due to the personal situation. The Miz appeared and demanded a match against Joe Hendry (referrring to him as “He Who Shall Not Be Named”) next week, to which Aldis agreed to. R-Truth then imitated Hendry, misnaming him as “Joe Pesci”.

Giulia (w/ Kiana James) vs. Alba Fyre (w/ Chelsea Green)

Giulia didn’t waste time as she came right at Fyre with a tackle, followed by strikes to the face. Giulia had Fyre in the corner and punched away at her, as she taunted Chelsea Green on the outside. Giulia maintained advantage with an attempted surfboard, but Green’s distraction allowed Fyre to avoid that fate.

Fyre took over with a tornado DDT for the near-fall. Giulia recovered and pulled at Fyre by her hair to slam her down on the canvas a couple of times. Fyre found herself trapped in an octopus stretch, but escaped as she and Giulia rolled around the ring to get a pinfall attempt in. Fyre kicked Giulia in the face, but could not put her away.

In the end, Giulia caught Fyre with the Arrivederci Knee and ended it in short order with the Northern Lights Driver.

Giulia def. Alba Fyre via pinfall

Not sure if a heel vs. heel match was the right call here, but seems like the crowd was a bit muted for this match, and honestly, with the way Giulia has been booked post-NXT, I can’t say I blame them.

**********

– The Wyatt Sicks addressed Solo Sikoa via their videos. They said that Sikoa’s greed has let him down to a dark path, and this image he portrays will drive him into a new world filled with adversity and abandonment.

Cody Rhodes addresses the Drew McIntyre situation

The Undisputed WWE World Champion made his way down to the ring and got ready to talk about what was on his mind, but not before asking what the Hershey crowd wanted to talk about.

Rhodes started that yes, he did go to Drew McIntyre’s house and throw a few cops in the water, but McIntyre did state that in his eyes “WWE was an unsafe working environment”. Rhodes said that McIntyre was surrounded by MMA fighters, second-generation wrestlers NIL standouts, and asked if Staples would be a safe work environment for McIntyre. Before Rhodes could continue, the SmackDown General Manager, Nick Aldis, interrupted.

Aldis said that because of Rhodes going to McIntyre’s house, he was forced into a bad situation, and that Rhodes was not “above the law”. Aldis said that Rhodes should’ve trusted him and now as a result of the situation, once McIntyre returns to issue his public apology, Rhodes cannot physically touch McIntyre. Otherwise, he’d be stripped of the Undisputed WWE Championship.

Rhodes responded that Aldis should know who he’s talking to, as Wade Barrett and Marty the cameraman could. Rhodes then listed off his accomplishments, as he declared himself “QB1”, and “the law” around these parts. Rhodes said that he didn’t work for Mr. Aldis, but he worked for the fans, and that Mr. Aldis “worked” for him.

What interested me about this Cody segment was the rather boastful tone he took there near the end of it. Whether that gets paid off as a road to a potential heel turn down the line is anyone’s guess, but still something interesting to think about.

**********

– Carmelo Hayes & Ilja Dragunov discussed their upcoming tag match against #DIY. Fraxiom approached the two and declared that if Hayes and Dragunov missed, they’d be there to go after Gargano & Ciampa. In the background, Tama Tonga was seen scheming.

Ilja Dragunov & Carmelo Hayes vs. #DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) (w/ Candice LeRae)

Gargano & Ciampa went after Hayes and Dragunov immediately, but found themselvse being shelled by the double team. Dragunov and Hayes blasted Ciampa with consecutive running boots in the corner before things settled down in the ring.

Dragunov chopped down Ciampa and then dragged him to his corner as Hayes tagged in. With Ciampa down on his back, he got hit with a running leg drop from Hayes before Dragunov re-entered the match. The U.S. Champion stunned Ciampa with a suplex as he headed up top. Candice LeRae got on the apron to distract the referee, as Gargano pulled Dragunov down. This allowed Ciampa to crack his foe with a running knee, which sent Dragunov flying into the commentary table. #DIY surveyed the damage from the apron as we took a break in the action.

Back from commercial, as Ciampa and Dragunov exchanged strikes in the ring. After Ciampa got dropped, Dragunov connected with the Constantine Special on Gargano. This allowed Hayes to enter the match as the hot tag. Like a house of fire, Hayes dropped Gargano with a springboard clothesline. He then followed that up with a nice rendition of Mistico’s La Mistica finishing move for the near-fall. After Hayes tagged in Dragunov, he leapt over the top rope with a pitch-perfect Fosbury Flop on Ciampa. Back in the ring, Dragunov landed the senton on Gargano, but that wasn’t enough to end the match.

As Hayes tagged himself in, #DIY regained momentum with a superkick from Gargano, followed by Project Ciampa by its namesake. Dragunov broke up the pin, but was thrown into the ringpost at ringside by Gargano. In the ring, Hayes tried to springboard again, but Ciampa caused a distraction, which allowed LeRae to interfere. However, Hayes kicked out of Ciampa’s knee to the face. #DIY teamed up with the Fairytale Ending and superkick on Hayes, but again, Hayes kicked out at two.

Gargano & Ciampa were in opposite corners and had Hayes in position for a Meet in the Middle, but Gargano was blasted by Dragunov’s Torpedo Moscow as Hayes connected with First 48 on Ciampa. With Ciampa left alone, Dragunov got him with the H-Bomb, and Hayes finally finished it off with Nothin’ But Net for the win.

Carmelo Hayes & Ilja Dragunov def. #DIY via pinfall

This was entertaining, and as I said before, I find the U.S.Title scene to be quite enjoyable and often the highlight of SmackDown. Even without an Open Challenge match this week, I loved this here and seeing Melo start to win over the crowd is a nice bonus, too.

**********

– Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss were asked about why they attacked Lash Legend & Nia Jax. The two said that Jax and Legend were in their way as they called their shot for the Women’s Tag Titles. WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill then appeared and had a brief staredown with Flair & Bliss. Interviewer Jackie Redmon then tried to get a word with Cargill about why she attacked Michin. Cargill said that since it was the season of giving, she was going to give Michin a bit of credit for getting back up, and that she’ll give her a spotlight soon enough. But, Cargill promised to knock Michin’s lights out once that was done. Michin appeared from behind and struck Cargill with a kendo stick.

Next Week on SmackDown (12/26/25)

  • Ilja Dragunov’s U.S. Title Open Challenge
  • The Miz vs. Joe Hendry
  • Drew McIntyre returns

WWE Tag Team Championship: The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy) (w/ Uncle Howdy, Nikki Cross, Erick Rowan) vs. The M.F.T.s (J.C. Mateo & Tonga Loa) (w/ Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Talla Tonga)

As Solo Sikoa walked to the Gorilla Position, he said that the fireflies were going to bear witness to the M.F.T.s winning the WWE Tag Titles as he had the whole world in his hands, again invoking Bray Wyatt.

Lumis got ahead on Loa by sliding underneath him, then hitting two uppercuts on him. Lumis connected with a back suplex, followed by a leg drop on Loa for an early pin attempt. Gacy was tagged in, but Loa recovered and managed to catch him by surprise with stomps in the corner. Mateo entered the match and continued the punishment on Gacy. However, that M.F.T. advantage was temporary as Gacy delivered a dropkick on Mateo. Lumis tagged in and hit a nice double team move on Mateo, who rolled out of the ring for a breather.

Gacy tagged in again and looked like he was about to launch himself over the top rope, but Loa got out of the way. Mateo then barreled into Gacy with a hard clothesline, as he then caught Lumis and slammed him against the ringpost, followed by a slam on the floor. This took us into the break.

The SmackDown main event continued from commercial with the M.F.T.s in firm control as they isolated Lumis in their corner. Mateo flattened Lumis with a powerslam for the near-fall as Loa got tagged in and landed a powerslam of his own. Lumis woke up and hit a superkick on Loa as Mateo tried to stop the hot tag. He, too, got superkicked by Lumis as Gacy got the hot tag.

Gacy hit a suplex on Mateo as he knocked Loa off the apron. He then slammed Mateo with a stalling Saito suplex, but he missed with a springboard dive, which opened him up for a spinning side suplex. One, two, not quite. Gacy rebounded off the rope with his handstand clothesline on Mateo, as Loa also found himself a victim of this unique move afterwards. With both M.F.T. members outside the ring, Gacy launched into them with a top rope dive.

The Wyatt Sicks hit a double team suplex/powerbomb combo as Lumis headed up top for a high-risk maneuver. The spalsh from Lumis as Loa broke up the pin. Outside the ring, Talla Tonga kicked Gacy with the referee’s back turned. Erick Rowan then attacked Talla and things broke down into a massive brawl between the Wyatt Sicks and the M.F.T.s at ringside, which forced the referee to throw out the match.

In the ring, Gacy and Lumis were held up by Mateo, Loa, and Tama as Talla launched himsellf off the top rope onto everyone. Rowan then took Talla out with a dropkick and a clothesline. Nikki Cross wanted herself some too, and Rowan obliged as he threw her onto Talla at ringside. Solo Sikoa snuck up on Rowan and dropped him with a Samoan Spike. As Sikoa bragged, he was in position for Uncle Howdy’s Sister Abigail, but Tama jumped him. The brawl continued unabated as the Levesque & Fitting producer credits were up to end this show.

The Wyatt Sicks vs. The M.F.T.s. ended in a No Contest

**********

You’re probably all aware about my feelings on this feud, and this main event was just average. The brawl was a least bit interesting, but still, not really a good way to end another just decent episode of SmackDown.

This week, the show wasn’t really terrible, just kind of there, which has been a nagging problem for the blue show as of late. There are peaks — the U.S. Title situation being the most notable — but the valleys are many and the show does suffer in quality as a result.

WWE SmackDown live results: Last stop before Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Marc Quill

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.

WWE SmackDown live results: Last Time is Now tournament finals

Posted on by Marc Quill

The Last Time is Now tournament reaches its conclusion on tonight’s WWE SmackDown when LA Knight and Gunther square off with the winner to be John Cena’s final opponent next Saturday in Washington, DC.

Knight defeated Jey Uso on Raw this past Monday while Gunther got the win over Solo Sikoa that same night to earn a spot in the finals.

WWE Champion Cody Rhodes will make an appearance and outline what’s next for him after the WarGames match at Survivor Series.

WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill will be in action against Alba Fyre of The Secret Hervice while Alexa Bliss faces Kairi Sane.

Ilja Dragunov will continue his WWE United States Championship open challenge series.

A Solo Sikoa appearance to address last Friday’s SmackDown will round out the broadcast which kicks off at 8 PM Eastern.

**********

– The show opened up with a recap of Survivor Series: WarGames from last Saturday and everything that unfolded on that night. Following that, we got the requisite shots of Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair, the Kabuki Warriors, LA Knight, Gunther arriving at the arena.

– Drew McIntyre was shown arriving at the arena as Nick Aldis confronted him for still being suspended despite Survivor Series. After a tense argument, McIntyre was about to leave before he got jumped in his car by an irate Cody Rhodes. Security pulled him away as McIntyre got away in his car. Rhodes then stormed towards the Gorilla position.

Cody Rhodes kicks off SmackDown

The Undisputed WWE Champion didn’t waste any time getting himself in the ring as he asked Mr. Aldis to reinstate Drew McIntyre as the Scotsman broke an unwritten rule by invading his tour bus a couple of weeks back. Rhodes called McIntyre WWE’s “resident cockroach” as he talked about how he was going to go after McIntyre as he might’ve not been able to beat him, but he might’ve broken him. Rhodes said that at the end of it all, he was going to do what everyone wants to do to a cockroach: stomp him out.

A very fiery start to SmackDown. Cody Rhodes’ anger-filled promos are always a highlight, but hopefully, if we do get another title match between he and McIntyre, things take a twist and we have Drew actually winning the title.

**********

– #DIY were discussing amongst themselves about their plans as Carmelo Hayes walked past them and told Tommaso Ciampa that he had next.

– A video promo from Damian Priest aired as he addressed what was Aleister Black’s fate to come, stating that if Black got to bring in his family in the form of his wife Zelina, it’s only fair that Priest brought in his family. Priest revealed Rhea Ripley was backing him up, and that the Terror Twins would face off against Black and Zelina next week.

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes

The match got off to a quick start as Hayes and Dragunov got into a tense collar and elbow tieup battle. Dragunov eventually went on the attack with a chop, but was countered with a set of chops from Hayes in response. Dragunov got back momentum with a hard boot to the face to Hayes. The challenger tried to knock Dragunov off the apron, but he was again flattened with a boot square on the face.

On the top rope, Hayes was stunned, which opened him up for yet another big boot from Dragunov, which sent him crashing down to the outside, apparently tweaking his knee upon landing. This took us into the mid-match break.

The match returned from commercial with Hayes escaping a submission by Dragunov, but he eventually found himself trapped in the U.S. Champion’s German suplex barrage. On the third German suplex attempt, Dragunov battered Hayes with hard elbows, but couldn’t connect with the subsequent move afterwards. The two competitors engaged in a duel of strikes, as Hayes avoided the Constantine Special and hit Dragunov with a springboard clothesline. Hayes followed that up with a tilt-a-whirl facebuster that got a near-fall.

As the crowd got loud, Hayes attempted the First 48, but was caught and dropped on his back by Dragunov. Hayes blocked the H-Bomb by getting his knees up, as a quick roll-up on Dragunov wasn’t enough. Dragunov kicked Hayes in the side of his head and then hit a standing uranage on his challenger.

Dragunov headed up to the top rope, but was sent to the outside by a running kick from Hayes. As the U.S. Champion got on the apron, Hayes dropped him with a DDT on the hardest part of the ring. Hayes headed up to the top rope, but Tommaso Ciampa attacked him while the referee was tending to Dragunov. This led to the U.S. Champion hitting the Torpedo Moscow, followed by the H-Bomb for the victory.

After the replay, Dragunov was shown reacting in anger at Ciampa’s unwanted assist in the win.

Ilja Dragunov def. Carmelo Hayes via pinfall

Another fantastic match and it did its job in getting people to root for Melo Hayes in finally winning the big one. Ciampa ruining things like the heel that he is should make things interesting, and I believe the time will come soon for Hayes if the story being told tonight is any indicator.

**********

– Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss were interviewed about WarGames this past Saturday. They talked about how it made their bond stronger, but that it was time to get back to the business of regaining their Women’s Tag Titles, and it would begin tonight when Bliss is up against Kairi Sane.

– A hype package for the Last Time is Now tournament was shown.

– Cathy Kelley interviewed LA Knight about his match against Gunther for later tonight. Knight said that he doesn’t care about the opponents he faced in the past, and that the one thing that matters is beating John Cena to cement his legacy. Knight talked about how Gunther was standing in his way, and he was going to give him a fight tonight, because Gunther was going to get dropped on his head later tonight like all the rest.

Kairi Sane (w/ Asuka) vs. Alexa Bliss (w/ Charlotte Flair)

The two locked horns to start off before Sane went on the attack in the corner with stomps to Bliss. As Sane tried to run at her foe, she was deposited onto the apron by Bliss. The two eventually exchanged pinfall attempts as Sane mocked Bliss. She paid for that with a hard punch from Bliss, followed by a flipping senton onto a downed Sane.

Outside the ring, Sane tried to walk off, Charlotte Flair stopped her, which allowed for Asuka to trip up Bliss on the apron. Sane then slammed Bliss against the barricade as we took a break in the action.

We returned from the break with Bliss and Sane fighting it out on the top rope. A headbutt from Sane put Bliss in a tough position, and one-half of the Women’s Tag Champions took advantage with a double stomp onto a prone Bliss for the near-fall. Sane attempted a Sliding D, but ended up whiffing after Bliss dodged at the very last second.

Bliss mounted her comeback with a flurry of strikes, followed by a modified Natural Selection. As Asuka got on the apron, Charlotte Flair tripped her up and took her down with a big boot. Back in the ring, Sane had Bliss in position for the Insane Elbow, but she was caught into the Sister Abigail DDT for the one, two, three.

After the match, Lash Legend and Nia Jax attacked Bliss and Flair, making short work of them. As they turned their attention on a fallen Sane, Asuka tried to fight back, but got dropped by Jax. Sane got involved, but ended up being taken down by this duo.

Alexa Bliss def. Kairi Sane

I did enjoy this match a bit, and the intensifying women’s tag title picture is kind of making things a bit interesting. Not much to complain about here.

**********

– Cody Rhodes met with Nick Aldis as the two walked into the latter’s office, the two were met by NXT Champion Ricky Saints and Oba Femi. It was revealed that the winner of tomorrow’s NXT Title match between Femi and Saints at NXT Deadline would face Rhodes next week at Saturday Night’s Main Event

Jade Cargill vs. Alba Fyre (w/ Chelsea Green)

Green got on the apron at the start of the match, which gave Fyre the opening to hit Cargill with a dropkick. Fyre managed to hit Cargill with a boot to the face, as Green gave her a slap to the face while Fyre had the referee distracted.

Outside the ring, Kiana James got Green’s attention, with Giulia standing behind her. The former Women’s U.S. Champion attacked Green, while back in the ring, Cargill hit her signature pump kick on an unaware Fyre. This match came to an end courtesy to a Jaded from Cargill and the three.

Jade Cargill def. Alba Fyre

That was a bit rough, and the fact remains that outside of maybe Tiffany Stratton, there really isn’t any compelling challengers for Cargill to face in the WWE Women’s Championship sphere. Hoping that changes at some point.

**********

– Both members of Fraxiom were talking to Nick Aldis about wanting another shot at #DIY. At that moment, an angry Ilja Dragunov was upset at the integrity of his Open Challenge being ruined by Tommaso Ciampa’s actions earlier. This led to Dragunov wanting to face Ciampa for the U.S. Title next week, which Aldis obliged. Dragunov was confronted by Tama Tonga and the rest of the M.F.T.s at the end of this exchange.

– As Jade Cargill walked backstage, she tried to trash talk a passing-by B-Fab before Michin had some words for her. Cargill said that she’d speak with Nick Aldis if Michin really wanted a shot at her, stating that if she stepped up, she’d get stepped on.

The M.F.T.s call out The Wyatt Sicks

Solo Sikoa and company marched down to the ring, ready to talk about their win against Sami Zayn’s team last week on SmackDown, as well as the Wyatt Sicks’ attack afterwards.

Sikoa said that he told everyone in that he and the M.F.T.s were going to handle the Sami Zayn problem as they “took his ass out”. He talked about how they can finally move forward now that Zayn was done and dusted, which brought Sikoa to the Wyatt Sicks.

Sikoa talked about how Uncle Howdy was watching him and his family, but he was doing the same to Howdy and the Wyatts. He introduced himself and his group, since he didn’t get a chance to do so to Howdy. Sikoa said that the Wyatts held something that belonged to them: the WWE Tag Team Championships, and that his family was going to hurt the Wyatts in the process.

Sikoa said that everything that was “his’ (Bray Wyatt’s), that was given to Howdy, it was going to soon be his and he was going to show the world that Howdy didn’t deserve the Wyatt name. That was all because all he needed to do was… “Bo-lieve”.

Immediately after Sikoa’s promo, we got a Wyatt Sicks video interruption, which brought the group into the ring. As the Wyatts stood on the apron, Uncle Howdy faced off with Sikoa. The M.F.T.s joined in and things eventually broke down into a full-blown brawl between the Wyatts and the M.F.T.s.

In the ring, after everyone was cleared out, Talla Tonga and Erick Rowan were the ones left standing as the two giants faced off. Rowan got the best of Talla as the Wyatts and the M.F.T.s stared one another down.

I haven’t been too hot on this M.F.T.s/Wyatt Sicks feud, but this skirmish was decent, at the very least. Sikoa invoking Bray Wyatt’s memory for heat and calling back to Bo Dallas to get at Howdy was a fine way to add some needed fuel to the fire, but in all honesty, this is no Wyatt Family vs. The Shield, that’s for sure.

**********

– Bayley walked into Nick Aldis’ office and found out that she was going to face Sol Ruca next week at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

– Cathy Kelley interviewed Gunther about his match with LA Knight in our main event. He said that he was going to beat LA Knight and then John Cena at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Gunther talked about how this tournament was a foregone conclusion as he told Cena to watch and pay attention to not only him beating LA Knight, but how he’d do so.

– Aleister Black shared remarks via video about Damian Priest. He declared he might be everyone’s enemy, but he’d give everyone straight. Zelina talked about how the Terror Twins was just a ploy by Rhea Ripley to leave Priest in a lonely and stat state that he found it.

Next Week on SmackDown

  • Mixed Tag Match: The Terror Twins (Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley) vs. Aleister Black & Zelina
  • U.S. Title Match: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa
  • Alexa Bliss vs. Lash Legend

Last Time is Now Tournament Final: LA Knight vs. Gunther

Gunther facewashed Knight disrespectfully at the start of the match, which fired Knight up as he went on the attack early. Gunther went for his powerbomb, but Knight escaped that attempt. Knight tried for the BFT early, but Gunther countered it. The Austrian was sent out of the ring by Knight, who then struck with a baseball slide as we took a picture-in-picture break early.

Our main event resumed as Gunther flattened Knight with a hard clothesline. In the corner, Gunther pummelled his foe with repeated kicks, but Knight fought out of it and managed to ground his foe. Knight went for his jumping elbow and just missed after Gunther rolled out of harm’s way. Gunther threw Knight hard into the corner, which left his back reeling. Gunther held Knight by the wrist and chopped him hard on the chest repeatedly. Knight avoided the last chop and caught Gunther by surprise with a jumping clothesline, followed by the jumping neckbreaker.

Knight went for another BFT, but Gunther avoided it. After an O’Connor Roll pin by Knight, Gunther turned that into a sleeper hold that was quickly escaped out of. Knight hoisted Gunther on his shoulder and delivered an Attitude Adjustment, followed by a Burning Hammer for a close near-fall. We took one last picture-in-picture commercial break at this point.

This match returned to full-screen action as Knight and Gunther got into a duel of chops. Knight got the better of Gunther as he backed him into the corner with stomps, followed by a running knee to his prone foe. Gunther caught Knight in a sleeper hold, but got thrown for the back suplex instead. On the top rope, Knight couldn’t connect iwth his elbow and got dropped by a shotgun dropkick from Gunther instead.

Knight countered Gunther’s powerbomb into a DDT as he then headed up top and connected with his signature Megastar Elbow. One, two… NO! As Gunther stumbled to his feet, Knight tried again to hit the BFT, but that was countered. Gunther turned that attempt into a German suplex and continued his relentless attack on Knight’s neck with a vicious lariat. Gunther ascended to the top rope, but was intercepted by Knight who was going for a superplex. Gunther pushed him down and connected with the big splash. He then went to the other corner and hit another diving splash for the near-fall.

Gunther lifted Knight up for the powerbomb, but could not put his foe away. Knight struggled to his feet and Gunther attempted to apply his sleeper hold. Knight turned that into a BFT, but Gunther used his leg to get on the bottom rope in the nick of time. Gunther battered the back of Knight’s neck with elbows as he then applied his trademark sleeper hold tight. Knight fought out of it briefly, but the elbows to the back of his head put him out of it. Gunther then applied a cravate submission that Knight eventually tapped out to.

Gunther def. LA Knight via submission to win the Last Time is Now Tournament

**********

That was a good main event match, but the predictability of Gunther winning and tapping out does put a damper on things. If we’re being honest, this tournament hasn’t really felt all that special, despite how much WWE tried to do so, which sums up a lot about John Cena’s final year as a whole.

Aside from that, this was another above-average SmackDown, though it does speak volumes that having various Raw talents all over the show to give us this kind of show is an indictment how the SmackDown talent by itself isn’t really done any favors by dull booking.


WWE SmackDown live results: Survivor Series go-home show

Posted on by Marc Quill

On the eve of Saturday’s Survivor Series from San Diego, CA, tonight’s WWE SmackDown will feature a traditional five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match.

The bout will see Solo Sikoa’s MFTs against a team led by Sami Zayn that features the Motor City Machine Guns, Rey Fenix, and Shinsuke Nakamura as a weeks-long feud comes to a head.

The Last Time is Now tournament begins its final approach to completion with Jey Uso vs. Rusev, and LA Knight against a mystery opponent filling in for Sheamus, who had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. The winners advance to the semifinals.

Also expected tonight is an advantage match for Saturday’s women’s WarGames match with representatives from both teams set to face off.

**********

– Our show opened this week with a recap of the developments for the Womens’ WarGames match on last week’s SmackDown, which included AJ Lee joining Rhea Ripley’s team and Becky Lynch joining Nia Jax’s team.

– After the recap, we saw Asuka and Charlotte Flair walking backstage ahead of their WarGames advantage match later tonight. LA Knight was approached by Cathy Kelley about how Sheamus has been taken out of the Last Time is Now Tournament due to injury, with a mystery opponent to replace him. Knight was a bit miffed that he didn’t get a bye, stating that this tournament was starting to piss him off. Knight said he was planning to take out his frustrations on his mystery opponent.

Last Time is Now Tournament Quarterfinals: Rusev vs. Jey Uso

Rusev went on the attack on Uso immediately as the bell rang as he stomped away on his foe in the corner. He then connected with a suplex for an early pin attempt that Uso kicked out of. Uso tried to fight back, but Rusev caught him and slammed him down on the mat as we went to a break in the action.

Our match returned from commercial as Rusev had Uso trapped in a bearhug. The 2025 Royal Rumble winner struggled to break free from the hold, but did so eventually. Uso then began punching away at Rusev, finishing off with his signature Yeet punch. Uso attempted a Samoan Drop, but could not get Rusev up on his shoulders. The Bulgarian tried to apply the Accolade, but Uso fought out of it and forced his opponent to the outside. He then floored Rusev with a suicide dive through the ropes.

Back in the ring, Uso was finally able to hit the Samoan Drop on Rusev for a near-fall. Uso then targeted Rusev for a Spear. However, Rusev somehow kicked out at the count of one after Uso’s Spear. As Jey tried to head up top, he was intercepted by a Machka Kick from Rusev upon landing. One, two… not quite!

Rusev signalled that it was “game over” as he then put Uso in the Accolade submission hold. After a brief struggle, Uso was able to make it to the bottom rope to break the Accolade up. Rusev put Uso up on his shoulders and mocked John Cena as he looked like he was about to deliver an Attitude Adjustment. This gave Uso enough time to escape and then take out Rusev with a Spear, followed by the Uso Splash for the pin and win.

Jey Uso def. Rusev via pinfall to advance to the Last Time is Now Tournament Semifinals

It was your typical Jey Uso match. And given how divisive Jey can be as a wrestler, it’s interesting to see what the reaction will be if Jey were to be Cena’s final opponent.

**********

– Backstage, The Miz was complaining to Nick Aldis about the Last TIme is Now Tournament when R-Truth walked in. Truth was once again talking about his balls being in the running for Cena’s mystery opponent. In the midst of this, Miz sneakily stole one of the balls from Aldis, which led to him being the mystery opponent for LA Knight later on tonight.

– Damian Priest was interviewed about Aleister Black’s remarks about how his “code” was broken. Priest said that Black didn’t accomplish that, and the only thing that was accomplished by Black and Zelina was pissing him off. Zelina interrupted and told Priest that Black was thinking of bigger goals, but if Priest wanted more punishment, Black will be happy to oblige. After Zelina left, Rhea Ripley caught up with her old friend as she and Priest had a friendly chat.

Chelsea Green’s Women’s U.S. Championship Celebration

The new Women’s United States Champion was accompanied by Alba Fyre to the ring as they headed out to celebrate Green’s big win a few weeks back against Giulia. The ring was festooned with the Canadian, American, and Mexican flags, signifying Green’s Canadian heritage, her Women’s U.S. Championship, and the AAA Mixed Tag Titles, respectively.

“Welcome, patriots,” Green started her remarks, as she said that she was proud to be our first and fourth two-time “most dangerous Women’s U.S. Champion”. Green said that it was an honor to serve as the greatest Women’s Champion not only in WWE history or American history, but in the history of the continent of the North Americas. She said that it was now time to kick off this celebration with a “very, very expensive” display of pyrotechnics in her name.

However, no pyro was to be found as the WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill stormed down to the ring. Once Cargill entered the ring, she hit Alba Fyre with a pump kick before she turned her attention to Green and planted her with Jaded. Once Cargill left, the very expensive pyro went off while Green sulked in the ring.

An entertaining segment for sure, but not sure what this means with regards to Giulia’s standing on the SmackDown women’s roster if she’s not even going to get a rematch and we’re just moving right to Jade Cargill targeting Chelsea.

**********

– Backstage, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair, along with teammates Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY were discussing plans ahead of Flair’s WarGames advantage match versus Asuka later tonight. AJ Lee appeared and stated that she’d make sure that her team would win WarGames tomorrow night.

– Jade Cargill was interviewed about her attack on Chelsea Green moments ago, declaring that it was a statement made to the entire SmackDown women’s locker room, and that if anyone had a problem with it, they could step up and get stepped on too. As Cargill walked off, B-Fab stared her down and said nothing. Michin then walked up to B-Fab and declared that she might have to step up to keep Cargill’s out of control attitude in check.

Last Time is Now Tournament Quarterfinals: LA Knight vs. The Miz

Knight went on the offensive early as he punched away at Miz before he took him down with a hard clothesline. With his foe stunned in the corner, Knight stomped on him and looked like he was about to drill him with an attack in the corner. Miz retreated and got sneaky in taking the advantage of the match. Knight got hit with a knee to the face by Miz, as he was then hit with a big leg to the back of the head across the middle rope.

Miz’s advantage was stalled by a swinging neckbreaker, but he got it back by throwing him across the barricade outside the ring, followed by a big boot, which was the cue for a break in the action.

This matchup continued from the break with Miz applying a resthold on Knight, which was quickly broken up. The two exchanged sleeper hold attempts until Knight planted Miz with a back suplex, which left both men struggling to get back up. Knight got up first and blasted Miz with punches, before he dropped him with a neckbreaker for the near-fall. Miz got a boot up on Knight and tried to go up top, but he was intercepted for the superplex and another near-fall.

Knight tried to go for the BFT, but Miz rolled him up for a pin attempt. He was then planted head first by a DDT for a near-fall. Knight countered a Skull-Crushing Finale attempt into an inverted DDT. Knight headed up top and tried to hit his signature leg drop, but he was caught by Miz into the Skull-Crushing Finale. One, two… Knight just able to kick out at two!

Miz decided to “pay homage” to John Cena by locking in the STF on Knight, who broke the hold by reaching the bottom rope. Knight looked like he was going to go for an STF of his own, but Miz retreated to the apron. With the referee distracted briefly, Miz poked Knight in the eye and had the rope-assisted roll-up pin on him. However, veteran ref Charles Robinson saw Miz cheating and stopped the count. Miz yelled at Robinson, which opened him up for Knight’s BFT and a swift defeat.

LA Knight def. The Miz to advance to the Last Time is Now Tournament Semifinals

A rather mediocre match, and in all honesty, this Last Time is Now Tournament has been largely a disappointment, which seems to be the unfortunate par for the course with regards to John Cena’s retirement year.

**********

– Becky Lynch chatted with her WarGames team and boasted about her 100% success rate when it came to WarGames. She said that when the door close, it’d be up to her. Nia Jax interrupted and said that it wasn’t about Becky, and that it was up to Asuka to gain the advantage for her WarGames team. Asuka said that the last time Charlotte Flair faced her, she was out for a year, which made her confident about her chances in the WarGames advantage match.

– Cathy Kelley was with U.S. Champion Ilja Dragunov, who was asked about Tama Tonga’s challenges. Dragunov said that if Tama wanted a shot at the U.S. Title, he was right here. Before Dragunov could go further, Tommasso Ciampa rudely interrupted him. He talked about how he took Axiom’s mask, and he was going to take the U.S. Title from Dragunov next. The U.S. Champion said Ciampa made a good point and he was going to think about it as he called his rival a “jackass” before walking off.

WarGames Advantage Match: Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair

Flair and Asuka engaged in a chain wrestling duel to start off with neither woman able to gain a clear advantage so far. Flair took over as she kicked Asuka on the apron with a hard boot to the face. Asuka answered in kind with a boot to Flair’s face as we took a break in the action.

The match continued from commercial as Flair did her dodge over the top rope and then took off with the crossbody on Asuka for the two. Asuka responded with a flurry of strikes, but was hit hard in the face by a boot from Flair as she took a run at her. That, however, wasn’t enough to end the match.

Asuka and Flair exchanged strikes and chops, as the latter gained the upper hand in the battle of chops. Flair then did her somersault into a clothesline to keep Asuka grounded. She then headed up to the top rope and connected with a moonsault to Asuka for a near-fall. Flair connected with a German suplex on Asuka, but found herself taken out by a German suplex from her foe. A sliding knee by Asuka to Flair managed to turn the momentum briefly.

Jumping knee strike by Asuka to Flair was transitioned into an armbar submission. However, Flair used her strength to lift Asuka up into a sitdown powerbomb for yet another near-fall. Following this, Asuka rolled to the outside as a skirmish broke out in front of the announce table. Asuka disappeared from behind announce table and tried to catch Flair with the blue mist. Flair dodged it just in time, as Asuka ended up misting Berkeley the timekeeper instead.

Back in the ring, Asuka countered Flair’s Figure-Eight into an Asuka Lock submission. Flair rolled through and escaped the hold as she then finished Asuka off with her Natural Selection finishing maneuver to secure the advantage for her WarGames team.

Charlotte Flair def. Asuka

This was a great match and probably the best of the night on this week’s SmackDown. It’s also hard to believe that this is the first women’s match on Raw or SmackDown since the 11/17 edition of Raw. In any case, this was solid stuff.

**********

Survivor Series: WarGames final card

  • Intercontinental Championship: John Cena (c) vs. Dominik Mysterio
  • Women’s WarGames: Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and AJ Lee vs. Asuka, Kairi Sane, Nia Jax, Lash Legend, and Becky Lynch
  • Women’s World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Nikki Bella
  • Men’s WarGames: Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso), and CM Punk vs. The Vision (Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed), Drew McIntyre, Logan Paul, and Brock Lesnar

Traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Match: The M.F.T.s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, J.C. Mateo, and Talla Tonga) vs. Sami Zayn, Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley), Rey Fenix, and Shinsuke Nakamura

It was stated that this main event match would be presented commercial-free by Michael Cole before the match started.

This massive main event kicked off with Sabin and Sikoa as the legal men for their teams. Sikoa hit Sabin with a hard lariat before he punched him repeatedly. This gave the M.F.Ts the early edge as Sabin was dragged over to their corner by Sikoa. Loa was tagged in as he continued the attack on Sabin, up until Shelley was tagged in and he was floored by a tag maneuver from the MCMGs. Loa escaped his fate and tagged in Mateo, who found himself chopped down to size before Zayn entered the match for his team.

Mateo used his power to slam Zayn down for the early pin attempt, as he then hit a nice standing moonsault on his opponent. Tama entered the match and provided a distraction to the ref, which allowed Sikoa and Talla to get in a cheap shot on Zayn. The M.F.T.s continued to play the game of isolation on Zayn, which kept him away from his teammates.

Zayn leapfrogged over Sikoa and hit him with a clothesline. This gave Zayn the opening to tag Nakamura into the match. Nakamura hit Loa with a hard knee to the ribs, but he was dropped from behind by Mateo. Nakamura turned that around as he hit his signature sliding German suplex on Mateo. Sikoa broke up the pin as Zayn intercepted him. Things then began to break down between the two teams, as Sabin and Shelley teamed up to throw Talla over the top rope. The Motor City Machine Guns worked in tandem to take Talla down with a dive to the outside. Zayn and Fenix then teamed up to take out Tama and Loa with dives of their own.

Back in the ring, the Motor City Machine Guns scored the first elimination with a nice tandem pin combination to take Mateo out of the match. (JC Mateo eliminated via Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin pinfall) Tanga stepped in for his team and found himself on the receiving end of stereo superkicks from Shelley and Sabin. Nakamura was tagged in as he blasted Tama with an enzuigiri. Nakamura had Tama in sight for the Kinsasha, but Sikoa’s distraction was enough to give Tama the opportunity to hit the not-so-hidden blade of the Cutthroat to eliminate Nakamura. (Shinsuke Nakamura eliminated via Tama Tonga pinfall)

With both teams now down to four men, Tama and Loa joined forces to go on the offensive against legal man Rey Fenix, but couldn’t eliminate him even after a spinebuster. Fenix found himself on Loa’s shoulders, but he turned that into a rollup pin, which got the three and the elimination. (Tonga Loa eliminated via Rey Fenix pinfall) Talla Tonga made an impact right away as he crushed Fenix with a running charge.

Talla threw Fenix down with a pair of scoop slams as Sikoa then tagged himself into the match. Sikoa went for the Samoan Spike, but Fenix avoided it and Sabin entered the match with a tag. Sikoa hit a fierce uppercut on Sabin, and tried for a Samoan Drop. Shelley blind tagged himself in as he and Sabin hit Sikoa with stereo superkicks. As Shelley headed up top to set up Skull and Bones, Tama shoved him down to the outside, as Talla then made the tag and chokeslammed Shelley across the apron for the elimination. (Alex Shelley eliminated via Talla Tonga pinfall)

Sabin tried to go for a crossbody on Talla, but he was caught, and his sunset flip was countered into a hard clothesline by Talla, which earned him an elimination and a 3-2 advantage for the M.F.T.s. (Chris Sabin eliminated via Talla Tonga pinfall)

Fenix entered the match and mounted a bit of offense on Talla. He hit his feint kick on Talla and Sikoa as Tama tagged into the match. Fenix’s attempt of Goodbye Amigo was initially countered by Tama, but the Tongan was turned inside out by a hurricanrana. Fenix then leapt from the top rope to take out Sikoa and Talla outside. Back in the ring, Tama caught Fenix with the Cutthroat to get the eliminating pin, which left Zayn all alone for his team. (Rey Fenix eliminated via Tama Tonga pinfall)

Zayn was left by himself as he went after Talla right away. A huge uppercut from Talla snuffed out the attack as the gargantuan continued his attack on Zayn. Sikoa tagged in and was thrown into the corner for a running hip strike on the stunned Zayn. Tama Tonga was next to enter as he blasted Zayn with two running splashes. At that moment, Zayn woke up and hit Tama with a surprise Helluva Kick to earn the quick elimination. (Tama Tonga eliminated via Sami Zayn pinfall)

Talla didn’t let Zayn get a moment to breathe as he stomped away on him and then threw him into the ringpost. Talla left Zayn stunned right in front of the timekeepers’ area, and looked like he was about take Zayn’s head off. The Canadian avoided the boot from Talla, which sent him flying over into the timekeepers’ area. Zayn rolled himself back into the ring, which led to Talla being eliminated via countout. (Talla Tonga eliminated via countout)

Sikoa entered right away and hit consecutive Spinning Solos on a weakened Zayn for the close near-fall. The M.F.T.s’ leader headed up top and hit a big splash on Zayn, who once again kicked out. Sikoa propped Zayn up to the top rope and looked like he was going to hit an avalanche Samoan Drop, but that was turned into a sunset flip powerbomb by Zayn. One, two… NO! Zayn hyped himself up as he and Sikoa exchanged blows in the middle of the ring. Sikoa gained the upper hand with a headbutt to Zayn.

Zayn intercepted Sikoa’s running hip attack with an exploder suplex as he then had him in sight for the Helluva Kick. Sikoa reversed that into a superkick, but couldn’t land the Samoan Spike as Zayn rolled him up for the pin. Following that exchanged, Sikoa hit the Spike on Zayn to gain the victory.

The M.F.T.s def. Team Sami Zayn via pinfall (Solo Sikoa is Sole Survivor)

Sikoa celebrated his win, but found himself interrupted by the Wyatt Sicks’ blackout. Once the lights came back on, Sikoa found himself surrounded by the Sicks on the apron. Just as the producer credits popped up, Uncle Howdy snuck up on Sikoa and delivered Sister Abigail to him to end the show.

**********

Kind of a weak go-home to Survivor Series for SmackDown, which is a bit of a letdown after last week’s actually-great show. The Flair vs. Asuka match was the standout of the evening, and the M.F.T.s/Team Sami match was at least decent, though really nothing much to write home about. There wasn’t a U.S. Title Open Challenge either to keep things engaging (though, in fairness, this episode was taped last week after the live episode from last week).

Everything else seemed really dull, which is becoming a problem with regards to the Road Dogg-helmed SmackDown. It’s a problem that doesn’t really seem to be getting any better, unfortunately.

WWE SmackDown live results: Last Time is Now first round concludes

Posted on by Marc Quill

The Last Time is Now tournament to find John Cena’s final opponent rolls on as part of tonight’s WWE SmackDown from Denver, Colorado.

In the final two first-round bouts, Carmelo Hayes battles The Vision’s Bronson Reed while Penta takes on Finn Balor. The winner of Hayes vs. Reed will move on to face Gunther on this Monday’s Raw while Solo Sikoa awaits the winner of Penta vs. Balor at a date to be announced.

We’ll also find out how WWE plans to move forward with Sheamus having to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.

On their website, WWE is hyping fallout from this past Monday’s show-ending brawl on Raw that included Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, CM Punk and the other combatants for the men’s WarGames match at Survivor Series.

The final members for the women’s WarGames match at next weekend’s Survivor Series will also be confirmed tonight.

After weeks of back and forth conflict, DIY and Fraxiom finally get to settle their score in tag team action.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.

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– Over a live shot of the University of Colorado stadium and the school’s football mascot posing, we’re welcomed to the show by the voice of Michael Cole. We then see the requisite shots of Penta, Finn Balor, as well as Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair arriving. This then segued into a recap of the goings-on in the men’s WarGames and the new additions to the match happening next week.

The Vision open SmackDown

After the recap, we saw the three members of The Vision’s WarGames team: Logan Paul, Bronson Reed, and Bron Breakker. They were accompanied by Paul Heyman, who started with his usual opening spiel. He then said that at WarGames, five of the crowd’s heroes would be locked inside a double cage where Breakker would “take a bite out of every one of their asses”. They’d be also locked in a double cage where they’d be Tsunami’d over and over again by the “Original Tribal Thief”, Bronson Reed. These five superstars would learn that you’d need an evil and violent strategy to win WarGames, which led to Heyman giving the mic to Logan Paul.

Before Paul could get far, he was interrupted by The Usos, Jimmy and Jey. With a mic in hand, Jey said that nobody wanted to hear what Paul wanted to say. Heyman interjected by saying that Jey pissed off Logan, as well as stating that he created The Bloodline was to make sure that nobody would have to live on the streets. Heyman also pointed out that the one thing he taught them in The Bloodline was the numbers game as he counted the Vision members in the ring.

Jimmy noted that they weren’t showing up to this fight alone, as the sounds of Cody Rhodes’ theme heralded the seeming arrival of the Undisputed WWE Champion. However, he never showed up as the Titantron cut to Drew McIntyre emerging from Rhodes’ bus, leaving behind the champion beaten down. The Usos ran down to check on him.

An okay start to the show, with the McIntyre bus attack on Rhodes, but I’m thinking that this feud is getting a bit stale seeing as while McIntyre gets the upper hand in the attacks, he just ends up losing when it matters, which doesn’t help his standing at all. It kinda feels like they’re going through the motions.

**********

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. J.D. McDonagh

Dragunov and McDonagh locked up to kick off the match as their standoff reached the corner. After McDonagh chopped at Dragunov, he was met with a hard boot to the face by the U.S. Champion. Dragunov knocked McDonagh loopy with an enzuigiri to the head but couldn’t connect with a suplex as he was chopped in the chest against the ropes. McDonagh gained the upper hand by throwing the champion hard into the middle rope, which sent him outside as we took a break at this early juncture of the match.

Live action resumed as McDonagh pummeled away at Dragunov with hard strikes to the face, as well as the Kawada-styled kicks. Dragunov answered with chops to McDanagh, followed by the Constantine Special, as both men struggled to get themselves back up. Once McDonagh and Dragunov got back up, they traded strikes until the U.S. Champion connected with a set of German suplexes that kept McDonagh down and out. Dragunov smashed the back of McDonagh’s head with repeated elbow strikes as he then nailed a nice suplex.

As Dragunov tried for another Constantine Special, McDonagh turned that into a standing Spanish Fly for the near-fall. McDonagh escaped a suplex as he then sent himself and Dragunov out of the ring with a nasty-looking suplex as the match headed into its second commercial break.

The match continued from the break as Dragunov nailed a superplex on McDonagh. Upon impact, McDonagh grabbed at Dragunov’s hair and countered into a brainbuster for an incredibly close near-fall. McDonagh headed to the top rope and missed on a moonsault, which opened him up to a big boot from Dragunov, followed by the standing uranage. Dragunov’s attempt at Torpedo Moscow was intercepted by a running knee from the Irishman, and the challenger took advantage with an incredible moonsault. One, two…. NO!

As both men got themselves up, Dragunov connected with the Torpedo Moscow after absorbing a headbutt from McDonagh. One powerbomb and H-Bomb later, and Dragunov picked up the victory in this hard-fought battle.

Ilja Dragunov def. J.D. McDonagh via pinfall to retain the United States Championship

These U.S. Title Open Challenge matches have remained the highlight of SmackDown for consecutive weeks now and this one was no exception. McDonagh and Dragunov battered the heck out of each other and we got a fantastic match out of it. Incredible way to kick things off in terms of in-ring action.

**********

– After a recap of Charlotte Flair deciding to join the WarGames skirmish on Raw, we saw Flair and Alexa Bliss walking to an unmarked door. The door opened to reveal Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY inside as Bliss left Flair to have a chat with Ripley to work out whatever issues they may have. SKY left soon after as Ripley and Flair stared down one another, presumably getting ready to have that chat.

– Nick Aldis wasn’t able to give an update on Cody Rhodes after what happened as he confronted The Vision about it. Mr. Aldis told Paul Heyman that Drew McIntyre was still persona non grata even after being named to The Vision’s WarGames team. Heyman said that he’d respect Aldis’s request as McIntyre was apparently not at the building after what happened earlier.

– We got more clips of the University of Colorado’s football team as it was mentioned that Bill Goldberg’s son, Gage Goldberg, was a player for the Buffaloes.

– Backstage, Ilja Dragunov was walking, licking his wounds after his U.S. Title match as Tama Tonga silently stared him down before walking off. Tommasso Ciampa then confronted Dragunov and told the champion that he was lucky that he and Johnny Gargano were busy with Fraxiom, because he’d be holding the title instead. Dragunov rebutted by calling Ciampa a “jackass”.

Last Time Is Now Tournament First Round Qualifier: Carmelo Hayes (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Bronson Reed

Michael Cole gave his condolences to legendary commentator Bob Caudle at the start of the match.

In the ring, Reed easily took down Hayes with a fierce running chop, as he continued the attack in the corner. Reed taunted Hayes, followed by another hard running chop and a headbutt on his downed foe. Reed attempted a powerbomb, but Hayes turned that into a powerbomb for a two-count. Hayes maintained the attack with a springboard DDT, followed by a dropkick to the outside. The Vision’s Logan Paul and Bron Breakker ran out from the back as we took a break in the action.

We returned from the break as Reed applied a resthold on Hayes, having gained the upper hand during the commercial break. Hayes fought out of the hold, but got dropped with a back suplex by Reed for the two-count. Reed tried for another back suplex, but Hayes landed on his feet. As Breakker created a distraction, Paul pulled at Hayes’ feet to give his fellow Vision member an assist. Hayes avoided a senton from Reed and rolled him up for the near-fall.

Hayes stunned Reed with a running knee, followed by the flying clothesline. With Reed trapped in between the middle rope, he was blasted by a leg drop by Hayes. A DDT on to the hardest part of the ring by Hayes was followed by a frog splash on the gargantuan Reed for a near-fall. Hayes’ First 48 was countered into a World’s Strongest Slam, followed by the senton. Reed headed up top for the Tsunami, but Hayes rolled out at the last minute to avoid calamity.

Hayes hit Reed with the First 48 as he then leapt at the three members of The Vision at ringside. Back in the ring, Hayes leapt from the top rope and hit a nice DDT, but that wasn’t enough to pick up the victory. Hayes went up top once again, but missed Nothin’ But Net, as he instead was cracked with a hard lariat by Reed.

Outside the ring, Breakker was setting up Hayes for the super spear, but the Usos interrupted and fought with Breakker and Paul. With the referee still distracted, Cody Rhodes emerged from the crowd and hit Reed with a Cross Rhodes that left him out cold. The referee began his count as Reed struggled to get himself back up. Reed was ultimately unable to reach the ring by the count of ten, which gave Hayes the victory.

After the match, Rhodes took the microphone and said that he no longer wants to be done with Drew McIntyre because of what he did. Rhodes called out each member of The Vision, as he then turned his attention to Paul Heyman, stating that he’ll beat his guys (“you build them and I’ll beat them!”) Rhodes then said that WarGames was his birthright and that he’d see Heyman at San Diego.

Carmelo Hayes def. Bronson Reed via countout

This was an good match and a good showing for Hayes. The inevitable WarGames-adjacent events helped keep things exciting, and did their job of setting up Hayes vs. Gunther on Raw this coming Monday.

**********

– Chelsea Green was fretting about her championship celebration, as she confided with Alba Fyre that maybe she shouldn’t be holding this celebration. As Green called herself the “Greatest Women’s Champion Ever”, Jade Cargill confronted her and took exception to that bold claim.

– Sami Zayn was with Rey Fenix, The Motor City Machine Guns, and Shinsuke Nakamura and had remarks ahead of the big five-man elimination tag match against The M.F.T.s next week on SmackDown. Zayn said that his team was an international assembly of the best wrestlers as he put Fenix, the MCMGs, and Nakamura over.

#DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommasso Ciampa) vs. Fraxiom (Nathan Frazer & Axiom)

Fraxiom started off fast as they stunned both Gargano and Ciampa with their fast-paced tandem offense. At ringside, both #DIY members were left shelled by consecutive dives to the outside by Fraxiom. Back in the ring, Frazer hit a splash on Ciampa, but Gargano broke up the pin as he then took out Axiom of the equation. Gargano was now the legal man and continued the attack on Frazer, who countered a back suplex by landing on his feet. Ciampa pulled Frazer out and threw him against the steps, as he and Gargano did their self-pats on the back. We took a break at this point in time.

The match returned from break as Frazer sped things up as only he could with a running moonsault on Gargano for the near-fall. Frazer made the climb to the top rope with Gargano stunned, but he missed on the splash. This opened him up to a Shatter Machine from #DIY for an incredibly close near-fall. Frazer had his knees clipped by Ciampa, but he was able to make the tag to Axiom. A dive from the top from the masked star was met by a hard knee to the face from Ciampa, as #DIY connected with a nice double team move. Frazer managed to break the pin up with a splash.

On the top rope, Axiom connected with an avalanche Spanish Fly, while Frazer flew from the top to take out Ciampa. In the ensuing fracas, Candice LeRae got on the apron and took off Axiom’s mask, which allowed Gargano to get in a sneaky victory for #DIY.

#DIY def. Fraxiom via pinfall

Some solid tag team action to keep up the excellent in-ring action we’ve had so far tonight. If there’s one good thing about the rumored return to three hours for SmackDown, it should be the added focus on the tag division to fill the time, and they deserve that bigger spotlight.

**********

– We got a video of Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley’s conversation, where it simply boiled down to the two acknowledging that they could trust one another for WarGames.

Last Time Is Now Tournament First Round Qualifier: Finn Balor vs. Penta

Balor tried to attack Penta as he was still posturing in the ring, but was cut off at the pass instead as the match got underway here. Balor attacked Penta in the corner, but was met with a hurricanrana, followed by the elevated dropkick in the corner by the fearless masked man.

Penta slammed Balor with a slingblade, as he hit a nice dive over the top rope on his foe to take us into the commercial break.

After the break, we returned on Penta landing a crossbody on Balor as both men tried to get themselves back up on their feet. Balor got to his feet first and teed away on Penta in the corner with a series of punches. However, Penta started to gained some steam with repeated clotheslines, then the superkick on a prone Balor against the middle turnbuckle. Penta tried to hit the Penta Driver, but Balor turned that into a Final Cut for the two-count.

Balor kicked away at Penta, but got a pair of hard chops for his troubles. Penta then hit a modified Muscle Buster on Balor for the close two. Penta pulled at Balor’s arm with his signature armbreaker, but he got rolled up for the near fall. Balor hit the Slingblade, then the shotgun dropkick, which was the final setup for the Coup de Grace. Penta escaped and connected with a variation on his Penta Driver. One, two…. NO!

Balor pushed Penta into the corner, but he found himself in the crosshairs for the Mexican Destroyer as Penta picked up the victory to advance in the Last Time is Now Tournament.

Penta def. Finn Balor via pinfall

A great match to cap off the in-ring action on tonight’s SmackDown, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the matches on tonight’s show. Penta and Balor work together so well, which made this match a fun one.

**********

– Cole and Graves ran down the remaining spots for the Last Time is Now tournament as they mentioned Sheamus’s shoulder injury, which forced him out of the tournament, revealing that a mystery opponent will face LA Knight in the LTiN quarterfinals in place of the injured Sheamus.

Women’s WarGames Match face off

The team of Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, IYO SKY, and Rhea Ripley were out as a united front ahead of next week’s Survivor Series: WarGames.

Ripley had the microphone first and said that she could hear what the Denver crowd was chanting for. She said at MSG, the Kabuki Warriors, Nia Jax, and Lash Legend didn’t realize how united they were at that moment in time, and when going into war, she wanted to make sure she’d be going to war with the right people. Ripley pointed out her best friend IYO SKY, someone who would keep fighting even if they went down swinging. Ripley then turned her attention to Bliss and Flair, people who weren’t the best of friends with her, but they could trust people. However, that was only four people, as she introduced the fifth member of their WarGames teams: AJ Lee.

As AJ made her entrance, the heel women attacked Rhea’s team in the ring. Becky Lynch ambushed AJ as she was making her way to the ring. The battle was heating up in the ring, as the heel WarGames team had the upper hand in the ensuing skirmish. The Levesque & Fitting producer credits were up as the heel WarGames team stood tall.

**********

Kind of a standard WarGames setup ending for a surprisingly great SmackDown, but I suppose they had to get that out of the way, even if the setup of adding Lynch and AJ into the mix seemed a bit forced. Even with that, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the in-ring action was this week, which carried a lot of the show this week.

The U.S. Open Challenge, as usual, stood out the most, but the other matches on the night were enjoyable in their own right, which helped make this episode a lot better than previous weeks. However, the big downside that does put a damper on things was how the SmackDown women’s division seemed to be sidelined, especially in favor of the WarGames build.

Jade Cargill, the current Women’s Champion, only got a fifteen-second cameo, and the planned Chelsea Green segment (which likely would’ve involved Giulia crashing the party) got bumped off the show altogether. On top of all that, there was no women’s match on the show. That is a huge disappointment and does not shake off the notion of how poorly booked the SmackDown women’s division is as a whole. This is an issue that’s been a nagging one and something that the women’s WarGames build cannot hide.