Smackdown – 09.18.26

By Niz on 18 September 2026

Last week on Smackdown: FINN BALOR PUNCHED GUNTHER DEAD IN THE FACE! Oh, and Sami Zayn won the Men’s Undisputed Championship.

Smackdown is LIVE on the USA and Netflix airwaves from the Hilliard Center in Corpus Christi, TX. The announcing team for this evening’s card is Michael Cole and Corey Graves on match calls and analysis, Mark Nash on ring introductions, and Cathy Kelley on interviews and news segments. We are on the road to Money in the Bank, so let’s watch some wrestling!

Who’s at work this evening? Here’s Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss taking some selfies, and in wanders their good pal Tatum Paxley. Flair’s never-ending feud partner Jade Cargill enters with B-Fab and Michin flanking Cargill like it mentions in “How To Be A Good Hench-Person”. Here’s another trio of women entering with the appearance of Fatal Influence, who are lead by WWE Women’s US Champion Jacy Jayne and with her are WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Lainey Reid (Stone Cold t-shirt) and Fallon Henley (HBK t-shirt). Here’s WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams entering with good friend and kendo stick aficionado Lil Yachty. Next to enter is AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix. Finally, here’s Randall Keith Orton looking stone-faced but ready.

Here’s a look at highlights from last week’s massive show in CDMX that culminated in the WWE Men’s Undisputed Championship changing hands during an overbooked finish that included Johnny Gargano and Kevin Owens.

Here’s Smackdown GM Nick Aldis mid-ring to start the show. Aldis mentions having to deal with people who rub you the wrong way from time to time, but to be professional, it’s time to introduce new WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn. The crowd reaction is pretty rough as Zayn grabs a mic, and Aldis has a little chuckle. Zayn says he knows it had to hurt Aldis to say his name and title out loud, but it feels good coming out of Zayn’s mouth. Zayn mentions being surprised at the WWE UNIVERSE’s reaction tonight, because he wanted justice for ALL, not just him. Zayn says his title is a symbol for hope and persistence and him holding the title is what justice looks like. Zayn tells Aldis that justice isn’t the only thing he believes in, he also is big on equality. Zayn wants Aldis to treat everyone who comes at him to ask for title shots to be treated the same way Zayn was on the way back to the title. Here’s Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae (They just celebrated ten years of marriage, so congratulations to Johnny and Candice!) out and Zayn offers up a hug to his pal Johnny Wrestling. Gargano says they wouldn’t miss this celebration for the world but there is another reason why they’re out. Gargano mentions the deal they struck last week about Gargano being first in line for a title shot, and Zayn says they didn’t make a deal, Gargano just said that he was first without Zayn’s agreement. Gargano wants to fight Zayn tonight, and Aldis intervenes to say that Zayn doesn’t make title matches, Aldis does. Aldis says Gargano had his shot a few weeks ago, and Aldis thinks that CM Punk’s rematch should be Zayn’s first defense. Here’s Kevin Owens out with a mic to join the discussion. Owens addresses Aldis first and says if they’re talking at people who deserve title matches, Owens should be on the list. LeRae tries to intervene, so Owens hits a stunner on Gargano to send him and LeRae packing. Aldis says he can’t reward bad behavior, and Owens reminds Aldis that Zayn The Idiot ruined three main events in a row. Owens calls Zayn an arrogant jackass, and Aldis is now considering the whole picture after Owens explanation. Zayn fires up and grabs Aldis’s jacket collar while saying that Aldis is NOT going to throw him into an immediate un-announced title defense like Adam Pearce did the first time he won the title. Aldis orders Zayn to unhand him which Zayn does, before reminding Zayn that he makes the matches. Aldis says Zayn will be defending the title against Owens TONIGHT in Corpus Christi. A shocked Zayn and a smiling Owens pass by each other as Zayn tries to chase Aldis down. “Voices” hits and here’s Randy Orton out to peek at Zayn and the title before heading to the ring. Orton has a moment with Owens as he’s exiting, and then soaks in the cheers as Mark Nash introduces him formally. We go to commercials.

(Hopefully that was the promo parade for the evening. At least creative has a handle on the title scene and the main players, but we didn’t see GUNTHER or Finn Balor making claims yet, so we’ll see what happens as the show progresses. Aldis was great here, and personally I always enjoy Logic Time With Kevin Owens.)

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Randy Orton vs AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix vs WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams

Lil Yachty is out with Trick, and as a reminder, this is no DQ due to the triple threat rules. Charles Robinson is your referee. Orton drops Fenix with a right just after the bell and squares up with Trick. Trick trucks Orton and runs into a Fenix dropkick. Fenix pounds away on Orton and nails him with a thrust kick when Orton charges. Orton misses a charge and goes shoulder-first into the ring post before Fenix dumps a charging Trick to the floor. Fenix hits a springboard cross-body on Trick and then follows with a springboard moonsault on Trick that gets two. Trick fires up and lofts Fenix up for a facebreaker. Trick dumps Fenix into a corner and puts the boots to him before sending him to the floor with a lariat. Orton yanks up Fenix to drop him back-first onto the announce table, and then does the same thing to a charging Trick. Orton pokes Yachty in the eye, and then drops him across the announce table as well. We go to commercials.

Orton is stomping out Trick when the show returns. Orton yanks Trick up and mounts him in a corner for some rights. Orton pops a menacing Fenix with a right and then ascends to try for a superplex. Fenix hits a springboard powerbomb on Orton that launches Trick into the superplex. Fenix ascends and crushes Orton with a frog splash that gets a LONG two. Fenix kicks Orton and Trick, and Orton uses Fenix as a weapon to smash Trick with a kick. Fenix comes off the ropes and waffles Orton with a roundhouse kick before nailing Trick with a running kick. Orton puts an end to that flurry with some clotheslines and powerslams on both opponents. Orton stalks Trick and wants the draping DDT, but Fenix springs up with the Adios Amigo to cut Orton’s flurry off. Trick dumps Fenix and nails Orton with a cyclone kick that gets two. Trick drops his knee pad and gets caught by a Fenix rana that gets two. Fenix drops Trick with a thrust kick and comes off the top rope into an RKO. Trick flies in and drops Orton with the Trick Shot before covering Fenix and getting three.

When this was announced, I had pegged Trick to win this thing mostly because I cannot see Randy Orton wanting to do a chaos ladder match at this point in his career and with his history of back injuries, and Fenix is doing good work on a lot of shows defending the Cruiserweight title. Fenix eating this pin while in a match with heavyweights Orton and Trick is not a terrible thing and I’m sure will mostly be forgotten by tomorrow morning. There’s a real “recent NXT graduates” feel to the men’s match so far with Bron Breakker, Je’von Evans, and now Trick involved – AND I LIKE IT. 3*

Winner – Trick Williams (Trick Shot on Orton, pin on the RKO’d Fenix)

Here’s a grumpy Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano backstage, and Gargano has an enormous ice bag on his jaw. Here’s Sami Zayn in to yell about Aldis making an immediate title match. Zayn points out that Gargano does deserve a title match and promises to work on Aldis to make it happen. Zayn says he cannot go through losing the title again and enlists Gargano’s help with the promise that if Zayn doesn’t retain, Gargano will never get this close again. Zayn promises that he’s got Gargano, and Gargano and LeRae leave.

Here’s WWE Men’s Tag Team Champions The MFT’s (Tama and Talla Tonga) with Haku. Tama mentions that his FAMILY won the titles and they never needed Shinsuke Nakamura. Tama promises that whatever happens to Nakamura and especially KYOKI, is on Nakamura’s hands.

Here’s BAKUSAI (Shinsuke Nakamura and KYOKI) with a response. Nakamura says the MFT’s aren’t the hunters, they are the PREY. These two teams will meet after a look at the upcoming Brad Pitt release “Heart of the Beast” and some other commercials.

Here’s Tatum Paxley with a bunch of candles as Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair enter. Paxley says she’s got special candles, and Flair says Bliss needs to focus on the match. Bliss says she loves them both but she’s going to focus on the match. Paxley mentions what her candles stand for and one of them goes out, so Flair frantically tries to re-light the LUCK candle.

BAKUSAI (Shinsuke Nakamura and KYOKI) vs WWE Men’s Tag Team Champions The MFT’s (Tama and Talla Tonga)

Haku is out with the MFT’s, and this is non-title. KYOKI goes after Talla on the apron after the bell rings, but he’s yanked back to mid-ring by Tama. The fight spills out to the floor and Tama runs KYOKI back in as Graves makes a reference to DARRYL. KYOKI gains control and we go to a break.

KYOKI hits a couple of cross-bodies on Tama and tries for a rana, but Tama catches him. Tama waffles KYOKI with a couple of chest slaps as a chop battle ensues. Talla gets a tag and he catches KYOKI’s cross body attempt. KYOKI hits a shotgun dropkick and drops Talla with a DDT after Talla had goozled him. KYOKI ascends and crushes the MFT’s with a flying cannonball. Nakamura strides over finally and he helps dump Talla back in. Nakamura gets a tag and yanks KYOKI up for a 360 chest drop on Talla. Nakamura’s cover gets two. Talla misses a charge and Nakamura ascends for a leaping knee strike that gets two. Nakamura lines up Talla as Tama flies over to yank KYOKI off the apron before running him into the barricade. Tama flies back in and Nakamura slips his charge before dropping Tama hard on his back. Haku attacks Nakamura with his walking stick and we have an immediate DQ.

Hey, it’s content time! So this keeps this feud going and I would assume might lead to a title shot? Who can tell, really. KYOKI is a really fun and solid addition to this show, mostly because he’s got a lot of energy and a different move-set from other guys in his weight class. The finish is an obvious let-down but I guess they didn’t want to pin either side just yet, so here we are. 2.5*

Winners – BAKUSAI (MFT’s DQ’d when Haku attacked Nakamura)

Post-match sees Haku continue the assault on Nakamura before Talla chokeslams KYOKI on the apron. Talla goes back in and he and Tama combine on a high-low that wipes out KYOKI. The MFT’s celebrate with their belts.

Here’s Kevin Owens with Cathy Kelley and Owens mentions that they’re in the arena where Owens had his first official match in WWE against John Cena. Owens was victorious that night, and promises to win tonight as well. Here’s Finn Balor in to say it’s nice to see the stars align for someone and it’s pretty convenient that Owens is getting the first shot after actually assisting Zayn to win the title last week. Balor says he’s coming for the title no matter who wins tonight, and wishes Owens good luck. We go to commercials.

Here’s Nick Aldis with WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green and Tiffany Stratton. Aldis says Green deserves to be the champion after defeating Nia Jax during last week’s show. Here’s Danhausen in to scare the crap out of Aldis while mentioning that GOONER is on the phone and is upset about MONIES IN THE BANK. It turns out that it’s Aldis’s phone and he wants to know why Danhausen has said phone. They retreat into Aldis’s makeshift office, so Green and Stratton take off. Stratton mentions being in an upcoming MITB qualifier and Green is all for it. Here’s Nikki Bella in to insult Green and Stratton, and says she doesn’t need qualifier matches to get a shot because of her legendary status. Bella promises to see Green soon.

Here’s Michael Cole sitting down to chat with Cody Raheem Rhodes. Cole mentions the Sunday Night’s Main Event match and Rhodes being unable to pull the trigger on Randy Orton once again. Rhodes says he’s not a fan of the verbiage used but admits that it’s true. Cole recalls calling Rhodes QB1 but then mentions that everyone in the photo following Rhodes “finishing the story” moment have now stabbed him in the back. Rhodes says the title is seductive, and maybe he’s arrogant enough to think that if he’d been champion, things might have gone differently against Orton. Rhodes says that it’s possible he puts together a new team. Cole says that Rhodes will be in the ring with Orton again and wonders what Rhodes will do, and Rhodes says that the discussion around his morality is tiresome. Rhodes says his success is due to his drive and desire and knowing that he’s never been compromised. Rhodes says he beat John Cena and then beat Randy Orton at Wrestlemania, but in terms of Cole’s question, he’s going to make a different decision than he made at SNME.

Here’s Cathy Kelley with Jade Cargill and her crew. B-Fab seems put out by Tatum Paxley mentioning that her and Charlotte Flair were next in line for the tag titles, and Cargill seconds that. Cargill says she’s going for the title again and won’t care if it’s Alexa or “Lacey” that she has to step on to get there. We go to commercials.

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Jade Cargill vs Alexa Bliss vs WWE Women’s US Champion Jacy Jayne

Your referee is Daffanie LeShaunn. There’s a lot of verbals after the bell rings, and Jayne starts by yanking Bliss down by her hair. Cargill intimidates Jayne who bails to the floor. Jayne barks at the crowd, so Bliss goes out to yank her down onto the announce table. Bliss runs Jayne back in and then tries to roll up Cargill. Jayne yanks Bliss out to the floor and then slides in carefully to go for it with Cargill. Cargill trucks Jayne down and then eats a Jayne rana in response. Cargill gets dumped and she tries to yank Jayne out with her, but Bliss flies over and dropkicks Cargill to the floor. Cargill stomps on Jayne and Cargill come over to pull Bliss out. Cargill sends Jayne into Bliss and then drives Jayne to a corner. Jayne charges into a Cargill side-slam that gets two. We go to a break.

Jayne is trying for a superplex on Bliss when the show returns, and Cargill charges over for the powerbomb spot. Cargill tries two covers on her opponents and gets two on both. Cargill lines up Bliss and Jayne in opposite corners and starts dropping elbows, but Jayne moves out of the way and Cargill eats it on a ring post. Bliss fires up with some rapid fire offense on Jayne that culminates with her basement DDT. Bliss dropkicks Jayne out of the ring and Bliss goes to the apron for her rolling tackle. Cargill charges over to crush Bliss with a knee, and Jayne follows by ramming Cargill into the ring steps. Jayne hits a running knee on Bliss and gets two. Jayne gets dropped onto a turnbuckle, and Bliss ascends. Jayne bails and Bliss changes focus to hit a cross-body on the floor on Jayne and Cargill. Bliss tosses Jayne back in and hits Sister Abigail, but Cargill yanks LeShaunn out to stop the count. Bliss launches a Thesz Press on Cargill and wants Sister Abigail, but Cargill yanks Bliss into Jaded. Jayne flies in to superkick Cargill and covers Bliss for three.

NXT KIDS FOR LIFE, SON. Seriously, it does my heart a world of good to see all these NXT grads making good on the promise they showed while at the PC. Shawn must be grinning from ear to ear right about now, as Jayne joins Sol Ruca and Lola Vice in the women’s match competitors list. This was pretty awkward overall, as Cargill seemed kind of loosey-goosey tonight. Bliss and Jayne worked tightly and tried to hit their spots while Cargill just sort of lumbered around doing her normal stuff. Nothing actively terrible, but the crowd was kind of subdued and only popped for Bliss’s Sister Abigail. 2.5*

Winner – Jacy Jayne (Pins Bliss after superkicking Cargill off of her cover)

Post-match sees Jayne celebrate her win, while Graves mentions that next week’s Smackdown MITB men’s qualifier will be Finn Balor vs GUNTHER vs CM Punk (!), while the women’s match will be Giulia vs Charlotte Flair vs Lash Legend.

Here’s Cathy Kelley with Giulia who says she’s looking forward to next week, and here’s Nia Jax and Lash Legend in for some trash talk. Legend promises to win next week and bring home the title. Giulia promises to kick Legend’s teeth out!

Here’s Trick Williams and Lil Yachty talking over Baron Corbin’s issues before walking up on Trick’s old buddy “Gingerbread” Sami Zayn, who’s warming up. Zayn says it’s not Gingerbread anymore, it’s two time champ Sami Zayn. Trick and Yachty make a “that’s what she said” joke about Zayn’s short title reigns, and Trick says he hopes Zayn retains because he’d love to take the title from him to become TRICKY TWO BELTS. It’s time for a break.

Here’s Damian Priest in a pre-tape to talk about dropping R-Truth after their unsuccessful challenge for the AAA Tag Team Championship. Priest says Truth doesn’t get it why it happened that way, but promises to show Trick exactly why when EL MALO and Trick meet again.

WWE Men’s Undisputed Championship: Sami Zayn (C) vs Kevin Owens

Owens attacks prior to the bell, and referee Ryan Tran tries to break it up. Zayn bails and Owens goes out as well to clothesline Zayn down. Owens hits a running senton, and we go to commercials.

Zayn bails again when the show returns, and then drops Owens throat-first over the top rope. Zayn flies back in for some ground and pound and covers Owens for one. Zayn slaps Owens in the face a couple of times and rams him hard into a corner. Zayn stomps away on Owens and barks at Tran. Zayn rams Owens into a turnbuckle and then ascends for a double sledge that gets two. Zayn positions Owens and ascends again, but Owens springs up to slug it out with Zayn. Zayn goes to the eyes and misses his subsequent top rope move before running into an Owens superkick. Owens hits several sentons and mashes Zayn with a cannonball. Owens yanks Zayn up, does the “You can’t see me!” gesture, and blasts Zayn with an Attitude Adjustment that gets a LONG two. Owens wants a stunner but Zayn sneaks out of it and drops Owens with a Blue Thunder Bomb that gets two. We go to commercials.

Owens and Zayn are slugging it out on a top turnbuckle when the show returns. Zayn gets dropped, and Owens crushes him with a swanton that gets two. Here’s Johnny Gargano out to distract the referee as Candice LeRae sneaks in from the other side of the ring. Le Rae nails Owens with a tornado DDT and Zayn follows with a Helluva Kick that gets two. An apoplectic Zayn gets in Tran’s face before lining Owens up again. Owens catches the charging Zayn with a pop-up powerbomb before dropping Zayn with a stunner. Gargano saves Zayn by putting Zayn’s boot onto the bottom rope, and Owens goes out to ram Gargano into the barricade a few times before cleaning off the announce table. Zayn flies out to blast Owens, so Owens yanks Zayn up and drops him back-first on to the announce table which breaks apart. Owens runs Zayn back in and Gargano charges in with the title belt. Owens drops him with a stunner, and here’s CM Punk in with the title belt to blast Owens in the face with it. Zayn crawls over and covers Owens for two – the announcers bought this as the finish and I did as well, quite frankly. Owens rises and eats another Helluva Kick. Zayn’s cover gets three.

I’m not sure what happened there at the end, but it appeared there was some confusion as to what the finish was actually supposed to be. I was sure that Owens didn’t kick out after the belt shot, but Tran didn’t fully count three. It obviously didn’t matter that much since Zayn was booked to go over and did after the second Helluva Kick, but it was a little weird. Punk now stays fully in the conversation for the title and we’ll see what happens with his qualifier next week. With Zayn retaining, I would think Gargano would still have a claim as well. Regardless, there’s a LOT of names in the big title picture at the moment, and the US title just has Baron Corbin in it. We might need to refresh the Smackdown mid-card, is what I’m saying. This was good, as most Owens-Zayn matches are, but I wouldn’t say it was a classic. 3.5*

Winner AND STILL WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion – Sami Zayn (Helluva Kick)

Post-match sees Punk return to kick the crap out of Zayn before walloping him with a GTS. Punk stands over Owens and Zayn as “Cult of Personality” fires up. Punk yanks Owens up for a GTS, takes a look around, and exits. The credits roll as Punk celebrates with the crowd.

The men’s qualifier was solid, the women’s was decent, and the main event was the centerpiece of the show and mostly delivered what you would expect in this current era of overbooked finishes in these title events. There’s some juice with this show at the moment, and we’re about 3.5 months away from going back to two hours, so I would revel in this if I was a fan of the current product. We may not love Zayn as champ for various reasons, but at least the scene around him is vibrant with challengers. Next week looks to be fairly decent in terms of the MITB qualifiers and we’ll see how that all plays out. Fun show tonight, mostly.

Thanks for reading and potentially commenting. Have a good Saturday.