The first SmackDown of 2026 – and back at the three-hour format – took place in Buffalo, New York and WWE certainly made sure it was a noteable one.
Let’s get into the results:
IYO SKY, Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss def. Kabuki Warriors, Nia Jax and Lash Legend
Matt Cardona def. Kit Wilson
United States Open Challenge: Carmelo Hayes (c) def. Johnny Gargano
Women’s United States title: Giulia def. Chelsea Green (c)
Ambulance match: Damien Priest def. Aleister Black
Notes:
The Miz kicks off the show getting his grievances of 2025 off his chest. Moans about not getting a proper moment on the John Cena retirement tour. Moans about how offering guidance to Carmelo Hayes wasn’t appreciated. Moans about being passed over for Marty Supreme. Moans about Joe Hendry. Moans about the “tiny balls” nickname. Claims he is the face of the company now Cena is gone.
Then Randy Orton showed up.
He faked to RKO Miz which drew a great pop from the crowd. Of course, Miz backtracked his previous claims and then Orton RKO’d him anyway. Twice.
Orton runs into Cody Rhodes backstage. He tells him, out of respect, that once Cody beats Drew McIntyre, Orton is coming for his title. A very cordial warning.
Nick Aldis is seen making an offer to Jordynne Grace to join SmackDown. The NXT star says she will think about it. Chelsea Green rudely interrupts and Grace says “some people are going to make this decision a lot easier.”
Matt Cardona emerges as Kit Wilson’s surprise opponent. Great pop from his hometown New York crowd; Zack Ryder popped up on the titantron with his original music before Matt Cardona was platered across the screens and his music changed. Very nice way to re-introduce him.
Damien Priest assures everyone his feud with Aleister Black will end tonight with their ambulance match. He looks like he really wants that to be true.
The Wyatt Syicks cut another cryptic promo. They say they are going to cut down Solo Sikoa’s family tree at the root.
Sami Zayn arrives for a promo. He talks about how watching Cena’s last match from ringside, his child asked why Cena was called the ‘never seen 17″. Zayn told him because he had won the title 17 times. His son asked him “how many times have you won it?” to which Zayn had to tell him – none. Very clear what his next goal is.
Trick Williams interrupts. He declares he has arrived on SmackDown and he too wants the world title. But he’s not going to wait 20 years like Zayn has. Zayn leaves after saying Williams’ problem is he has never been humbled and Zayn would be happy to do that for him.
Backstage, Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes have a very respectful encounter where it’s suggested they will run it back for the US title soon. Most notably, Hayes confirms he will keep the US title Open Challenge going.
Williams carries on his rude streak by interrupting Aldis talking to Rey Fenix. A match is made between the two for next week.
Shinsuke Nakamura approaches Tama Tonga for a chat backstage. They both speak Japanese before Nakamura departs. Solo Sikoa asks Tonga is everything is fine and the former NJPW star says “that’s another chapter”.
Sikoa says they will have a four-on-four with the Wyatt Sicks next week before getting a tag team title shot. As the segment ends, Tonga curiously looks back in the direction Nakamura left.
Jade Cargill takes credit for Michin’s legit injury. Grace turns up again to a look at the champ and have a hostile verbal exchange.
Drew McIntyre reveals the Three Stages of Hell. A regular wrestling match, then falls count anywhere, then a steel cage match. During his promo, he also reveals he went onto Cody’s bus and got a picture of his father. He proceeded to smash that photo and then burn it, all in an attempt to get Cody to punch him and lose his WWE title.
A chokeslam from the top of the ambulance through a series of tables was the best part of Priest versus Black. The former also mananged to shoot a fireball into the latter’s face, properly exacting revenge. Priest also nailed a Razor’s Edge through the ambulance windscreen – Black took a hell of a lot.
Analysis:
Ryder scored his first WWE win in six-and-a-half years. Didn’t realise he had been gone that long but yeah, actually that makes sense. He looked as good as he could during a cold singles match like that, he’ll be an interesting addition to the roster and I suspect many fans, like I, eagerly await his eventual partnership with Chelsea Green.
On the strength of that, there are plenty of things you can do with Trick Williams, too. Eventually, either teaming with or facing Carmelo Hayes is money. Also, his partner Lash Legend is on the show.
All of these NXT free agents – Williams, Grace, Oba Femi, Je’Von Evans – they are all serious, serious injections onto the roster. There are so many programmes that await them and just a fresh energy that both RAW and SmackDown could do with. Very exciting.
Nice to see Garghano in action again. You forget what a supreme in-ring talent WWE just have sitting there for the most part. He should be doing more and if he can’t do that under Triple H, hard to see what better chance he would have elsewhere.
The babyfaces got the win in the ladies tag match. That tag scene is interesting becuase of the star power involved, but it does feel like the last couple of weeks they’ve dragged this out a bit.
Drew McIntyre might be the king of making feuds interesting that we know he’s not going to win. Obviously I’ll shut up if he does end up winning this but I highly doubt it heading into WrestleMania season.
Giulia winning the United States title back just seemed a tiny bit flat to me. She’s a mega talent, but should she be lurking around the mid-card titles? That title did more for Green, in my opinion. After she had a reign with the title, I thought it might serve to move Giulia on to bigger and better things.
Priest and Black worked hard in the main event. Both men are currently in that bracket below the world title but no one can deny they are great workers that could serve as good foils for the tippy-top guys. Black needed an outing like this, especially. The closing stages of this match felt like a pretty conclusive end to that feud.
That was a good return to the three-hour format for SmackDown. Undeniable effort was made to make the shoew feel fresh and fluid. The in-ring action was worth the time, too. Now the task is to maintain this kind of energy every week.
