Smackdown Review – 07.03.26

By Niz on 4 July 2026

Smackdown returns to two hours with a show that was recorded after Raw ended on June 29th. The show took place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ and comes to the USA Network/Netflix with Michael Cole and Corey Graves on match calls and analysis, Alicia Taylor on ring introductions, and Cathy Kelley and Jackie Redmond with interviews and news. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Then, Now, Forever…..TOGETHER

Here’s some highlights of Night of Champions starting with the Men’s Undisputed Championship changing hands. Here’s the new WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn out to kick things off. Zayn, predictably, is all smiles and predicts there’s a lot of fans who want to ride or die with the last good guy. Zayn thanks the WWE UNIVERSE sincerely but reminds the fans about how they did boo him for the last six months but they used to root for him. Zayn says he could be petty and tell everyone who turned their backs on him to kiss his ass, but he won’t because he’s a good guy. Zayn said people told him to be selfish and cutthroat, but he won the title the right way. Zayn says it’s a celebration of him ending the debate about Zayn’s legacy because he’s now a Grand Slam champ.

Here’s “Kingdom” bringing out Cody Rhodes. Graves points out that it’s uncomfortable to see Rhodes without the title and he’s really not wrong about that, it is kind of weird. Zayn asks Rhodes what he wants to talk about to a pop, and Rhodes says that Zayn was the first to celebrate with him when Rhodes won the title so congratulations, champ. They shake hands, and Rhodes goes to leave, and Zayn asks if that’s it. Zayn tells Rhodes to drop the GOLDEN BOY act and admit that he wants the title back because he’s addicted to it.

Here’s Main Event Jey Uso out next. Uso hugs Zayn and they do their Bloodline handshake routine. Uso says he’s proud of Zayn but he’s out on Bloodline business and this is Zayn’s warning shot. Rhodes wants to know what year this is and when Uso turned back into an errand boy for the Tribal Chief. Zayn says he’s putting a stop to all of it because he was happy for Uso when he won the World Heavyweight Title and never actually betrayed Rhodes along the way to winning the title. Zayn points out that the title is in the family because he has it. Zayn tells both Rhodes and Uso to stay away from him before leaving, but here’s Raw GM Adam Pearce out to mention that he’s the acting GM of Smackdown. Pearce’s first order of business is to find Zayn a challenger, but Pearce says he’s not talking about Summerslam. Pearce says Zayn will defend the title this coming Monday on Raw against the winner of the Number One Contenders match he’s making with Jey Uso facing Cody Rhodes in the main event!

Here’s Cathy Kelley with Charlotte Flair who says she interfered in the Women’s US Title match because Cargill had ruined her chance to be Queen of the Ring. Here’s Alexa Bliss in to question Flair not telling her she was going to be at Night of Champions, and Flair questions Bliss teaming up with Tiffany Stratton. Here’s WWE Women’s US Champion Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green in to sort of bicker with Flair before everyone starts heading to the ring. Flair is out first and we go to commercials.

Michin, B-Fab, and Jade Cargill vs Charlotte Flair, Chelsea Green, and WWE Women’s US Champion Tiffany Stratton

Stratton starts with Cargill and Stratton nails her with a lofted dropkick. Michin tags in and Stratton dumps her along the ropes before nailing her with a Hip Attack. Michin grabs a roll up for two and then smashes Stratton down. B-Fab tags in and her and Michin hit a double-team back suplex for two. B-Fab runs into a Stratton boot and Flair tags in while ascending. Flair hits a cross-body and blasts Cargill off the apron with a high boot. Flair drops Michin with a right and slips a B-Fab charge. Flair hits a release back suplex and nips up to a pop. Flair ends up on the apron where she continues abusing B-Fab and Michin but Cargill is lying in wait and smashes Flair with a lariat as we go to commercials.

Michin and B-Fab are beating up Flair before tagging in Cargill. Cargill mashes Flair with an uppercut and then yanks her up for a fall-away slam. Cargill mocks the Flair strut and misses a charge. B-Fab tags in and Flair manages to hit a lariat at the same time as B-Fab to reset things. Michin and Green get tags and Green runs wild before nailing Michin with an enziguri and a face-first slam on the mat. Green hits the Ruff Ryder and covers Michin for two as B-Fab breaks things up. Everyone comes in and Michin grabs a roll up on Green for two. Green shakes that off and nails Michin with a rana. Cargill wants Jaded but Green rolls through and gets two. Green pops up and drives Michin off the apron but backs up and Cargill nails her with Jaded to end things.

So Cargill gets a bit of payback for Night of Champions but I’m guessing we’re nowhere near the end of things with her and Flair at this point. I’m not sure if they’re moving Cargill away from Stratton but perhaps there’s a three-way plan for Summerslam in the works. I guess we’ll see. In terms of being a television match, this definitely fits the bill. 2.5*

Winners – Cargill/Michin/B-Fab (Jaded on Green)

Highlights are shown of the GUNTHER-Smackdown GM Nick Aldis confrontation that happened after Night of Champions. Aldis has been sent home on temporary administrative leave and GUNTHER has been sent home for being an asshole.

Here’s Sami Zayn running into a grumpy Adam Pearce backstage and Pearce assures him that things are going to be great on Raw. Zayn goes to smack a water bottle but sees Sad John Wrestling with Candice LeRae. Zayn says he’s not sure he would have won the title without having Gargano as an ear to hear him out. Zayn tells LeRae to take a photo of him and Gargano, so she agrees to do just that.

AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

AAA Cruiserweight Championship: Rey Fenix (C) vs AAA Latin American Champion El Hijo del Vikingo

Here’s some backstory on this – Fenix won the Cruiserweight title at the Noche de los Grandes show and has been on a tour defending it against a lot of different folks since. Vikingo won the Latin American title at that same show, and so this is kind of a commercial for AAA, which you SHOULD BE WATCHING. Vikingo is a dastardly heel, and Fenix is a virtuous babyface. You should be caught up, I think.

Vikingo uses Fenix’s handshake to pull him into a roll up for two at the bell. Vikingo snaps off a twisting rana that sends Fenix into the ropes. Fenix runs into a back elbow and a Pele kick. Vikingo does the Ronaldo goal celebration and runs right into a Fenix high boot. Fenix hits a springboard cross-body and covers Vikingo for two. Fenix hits an Ace Crusher and covers Vikingo for two. Vikingo catches Fenix on a sliding charge and wraps him up in the ring apron while clubbering away. Vikingo hits a double stomp on the back on Fenix’s head before nailing him with a sit-down rope-assisted tope. We go to commercials.

They’re slugging it out and Vikingo misses a charge when the show returns. Fenix springs up for a rope-walk kick to Vikingo’s head before nailing him with a frog splash that gets two. Fenix misses a charge and Vikingo nails him with a kaman giri. Vikingo mashes Fenix with a Meteora and then ascends for a roll-through tackle that gets two. Vikingo nails Fenix with a torneo kick and ascends but Fenix springs up with a right hand. They battle it out and Vikingo goes to the top of the ring post to blast Fenix with a poison rana. Vikingo’s cover gets two. Vikingo ascends to the top of another ring post but misses a springboard 450. Fenix yanks Vikingo up and pulls him into the Mexican Muscle Buster that ends things.

I think the crowd was a little baffled as to why this match was happening on Smackdown at the outset, but they got into it in the second act. I think that you’d see a much better and longer match if this were to have taken place in Mexico and had some more story behind it, but this was fine for what it was (a commercial for AAA, as I mentioned before). 3*

Winner AND STILL AAA Cruiserweight Champion – Rey Fenix (Mexican Muscle Buster)

Highlights are shown of last week‘s confrontation between former partners Giulia and Kiana James. Blake Monroe then attacked the victorious Giulia and left her laying. Here’s Cathy Kelley with Giulia who tells Monroe that she doesn’t back down from any fight. Giulia says if Monroe stops being a coward she’ll fight her and here’s Kiana James in to tell her that she got lucky, and here’s Monroe in from behind to blast Giulia down. James puts the stink-mouth on Giulia and Monroe decides to attack her as well by driving James head-first into a production cart. Well that’s pretty rude, Blake. We go to commercials.

There was a meeting on Raw (see Kat’s incredible review for further coverage) between Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins over Reigns’s World Heavyweight Championship. A huge main event was set for Summerslam between the two, and it’s now official. Here’s Big Jim Uso chatting with Jacob Fatu as Royce Keys enters the scene. Keys puts down Fatu but Uso brushes that off and wants to know if Keys has any idea of Solo Sikoa’s whereabouts. Keys scoffs at the idea of Uso talking about “family business” and says he’s been Fatu’s number one for the last fourteen years and loyalty is what makes a family. Fatu and Uso leave as a concerned Keys looks on.

Here’s WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams out to a HUGE pop. Trick has Lil Yachty by his side and we get to hear Cole pretend to be cool by calling Yachty “my guy”. Graves points out that Yachty’s beret makes him look like Kim-Chee in a VERY deep cut for the olds. Before Yachty can say a word here’s Carmelo Hayes out to stride to the ring with a purpose. Hayes gets a chant from the crowd and puts over Trick beating Ricky Saints at Night of Champions before mentioning that Trick looks unstoppable because Hayes hasn’t decide to take it back just yet. Hayes says the title is now an accessory but he wants to turn it back into fighting championship and can get Trick a belt to use from wweshop.com. Hayes dares Trick to put the title on the line against someone who knows him better than anyone. Yachty has had enough of Hayes insults and says Trick has been nothing short of pure greatness since getting called up. Yachty polls the crowd and they seem interested in seeing it, so Yachty says it can be next week but it’s going to be non-title. Trick says he knows Hayes like the back of his hand, and then predictably back-hands Hayes to the mat. Trick and Yachty go to leave, and a seething Hayes charges to nail Trick with a tope con hilo. There’s some verbals and pointing, and Hayes music plays to end the scene.

Here’s Danhausen in his lab with the catatonic Kit Wilson and The Miz in the background. Matt Cardona comes in to mention he saw what happened with the Judgement Day destroying the lab on Raw and Danhausen mentions having a match with JD McDonagh scheduled for Saturday Night’s Main Event in Madison Square Garden. Cardona is invited to help Danhausen finish an experiment but all it does is send more electricity into poor Wilson and Miz.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Brie Bella and Paige make an entrance prior to Bella’s match with Lainey Reid. We go to commercials.

Lainey Reid vs WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Brie Bella

Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley are out with Reid, and Paige stays at ringside with Bella. Bella stars with a Thesz Press and some rights, but Reid fires up with a right to the gut and a huge left to Bella’s jaw. Bella fires out of a corner with a lariat and then mashes Reid with a springboard cross-armbreaker that gets two. (Reid might have potatoed Bella with that left, she looks kind of pissed and Cole actually mentions it here on commentary.) Reid trips up Bella and then yanks her up for a belly-to-back suplex. Reid talks some smack and then misses an elbow drop. Bella keeps pawing at her nose as she kicks Reid away before driving her into a top turnbuckle. Reid reverses and drives a shoulder in before mounting Bella on a top turnbuckle for more punching. Bella shoves Reid down and nails her with a missile dropkick. Reid eats a bunch of Yes Kicks so Henley leaps on the apron to distract. Reid uses this to grab Bella from behind. Bella reverses and drags Reid down by the hair. Bella puts on the Yes Lock and Henley tries to help Reid out by yelling at Bella from the floor. Paige is annoyed and charges over to pull Henley away. Jayne charges over and Paige rams her into a ring post. Henley drops Paige with a right, so Bella charges out to drop Henley. When Bella comes back in Reid blasts her with a running knee and that finishes things.

You never know when you’re going to get the call to pin a Hall of Famer in your first singles match on the main roster, but here we are. Lainey Reid is a very interesting success story that’s not getting a lot of press because she came up as part of a group, but there’s a lot to unpack with her and her relatively meteoric rise through the ranks of developmental. For a one segment match, this was about what you would expect. 2.5*

Winner – Lainey Reid (running knee)

WWE Tag Team Champions R-Truth and Damian Priest are in the middle of a hot dog eating contest with Axiom and Nathan Frazer. Specifically it appears to be Truth versus Frazer and Truth emerges victorious. Frazer says he might be sick as he and Axiom leave, and here are AAA World Tag Team Champions The War Raiders in to discuss their offer of going title for title. Ivar steals Truth’s last hot dog and Truth is apoplectic. Priest says it’s on but it’s happening on Smackdown. We go to commercials.

Here’s a look back at the confrontation between Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar on Raw, leading to a Hell in a Cell match being made for Summerslam.

Here’s Cody Rhodes running into Finn Balor backstage who greets him warmly while Balor mentions that one of the reasons he came to Smackdown was to potentially face Rhodes for the title. Rhodes accepts Balor’s wish of good luck and leaves. Here’s Tama Tonga in to have a quick word with Balor while Talla Tonga sneaks up from behind to wreck Balor. Tama says he’s closing the books on everything from his past and Balor is next.

Here’s Jey Uso making his entrance through the WWE UNIVERSE as we go to commercials.

WWE Men’s Undisputed Championship Number One Contenders Match: Jey Uso vs Cody Rhodes

Rhodes makes some kid at ringside’s entire night by giving him his weight belt as a grim-faced Uso watches from a corner. Rhodes gets snap-mared over after trying an immediate CrossRhodes. Rhodes smacks Uso around and tosses him into a corner. Uso dumps Rhodes to the floor and blasts him with a tope suicida as we go right to commercials.

Rhodes is throwing jabs when the show returns, but Uso fires up with some rights in response. Rhodes fires off his drop-down right and eats an immediate enziguri from Uso. Rhodes snaps off a Cody Cutter that gets two. Rhodes gets pulled into a Samoan Drop and Rhodes ends up on the floor. Uso goes out and runs into a Rhodes kick. Rhodes sends Uso over the announce table and they start fighting there. Rhodes meets another Uso tope attempt with a right hand and then fires Uso over the barricade into the timekeeper’s area. Rhodes hits Uso with a cross-body and then brings him back into the ring. There’s simultaneous lariats and we go to commercials.

They’re on a top turnbuckle when the show returns and Rhodes gets shoved down. Uso fires off an Uso Splash and Rhodes kicks out at two. Rhodes blasts Uso with a kick and hits a top rope Cody Cutter for two. Uso catches Rhodes with a kick and a spear before covering and getting two. Uso ascends again and misses a dive before eating a spear from Rhodes. Rhodes yanks Uso into the CrossRhodes and Uso kicks out at two. Rhodes positions Uso and ascends. Rhodes meets Uso’s knees on a splash attempt and Uso grahs a small package for two. They slug it out while rising and Uso slaps on a sleeper. Rhodes reverses and they grapple around before Rhodes manages to yank Uso into another CrossRhodes that ends things.

I think this match had every “last match on a very long night of wrestling” vibe to it. There was not much in the way of psychology here and it was very much “you do a move then I’ll do a move then you do a move” in terms of the agenting. That being said, I thought Uso did a decent job here as the decided underdog while Rhodes hit all his greatest hits. The crowd had a bit of energy left but felt pretty burnt at this point. Rhodes gets his return match very quickly in Chicago this Monday night and we’ll see if a certain Second City Saint makes an appearance for that particular event. 3*

Winner – Cody Rhodes (CrossRhodes)

The credits roll as Rhodes has a short mid-ring celebration and we’re out.

TWO HOURS THANK YOU SWEET BABY JEBUS. Things felt tighter tonight but it was always going to be that way with a taped show. It’s a real shame that the women’s match meant that the tag champs were reduced to backstage comedy BUT THIS IS WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW (this is a joke from a ridiculously dumb comment in the Friday daily thread). Tonight was a kind of a light effort overall as it was the back end of a long night in Atlantic City, but we’ll take it and move on to what looks like it could be a big Raw. Be sure to get back here Monday night for Kat’s report on the big Zayn-Rhodes title match.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Have a happy 4th of July and be safe out there. If you feel like doing a good thing, please buy a t-shirt to help ALS research and support Rebel Tanea’s fight.