Smackdown – 10.23.26

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Last week on Smackdown: Cody Rhodes PUNTED Baron Corbin as a horrified Randall Keith Orton watched from the aisle!

Smackdown comes to the USA/Netflix airwaves from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA. Tonight’s announcing team consists of Michael Cole and Corey Graves on play-by-play and analysis, Mark Nash on ring intros, and the always-delightful Cathy Kelley on interviews and news segments. We may or may not be on the road to Riyadh for Crown Jewel, or it may be happening in Shreveport, who can tell? There are two huge title matches AND a street fight on tonight’s broadcast, so let’s watch some wrestling!

Here’s a video package regarding the fun reunion that WWE Men’s World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn from Raw this past Monday night.

Here’s WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn out with Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano by his side. Here’s a Crown Jewel: Riyadh graphic for the Crown Jewel Championship match as I guess we’re just plowing forward with this. Zayn seems unimpressed with his greeting but hits his “ride or die with the last real good guy” line anyway. Zayn name-drops Roman Reigns and talks about just who the man is on Smackdown. Zayn mentions again that out of 8 billion people on the planet, he’s the only one with the WWE title before listing off the guys in the back who all have their eyes on him.

Here’s AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix out to mention that he has no idea what Penta is going to do regarding his briefcase. Fenix says he and Zayn are still friends but if Zayn disrespects his family, they will have a problem. Gargano fires up at this and Zayn backs him off before pointing out that Penta should focus on Reigns. Zayn’s biggest problem is with people who show disrespect and….

Here’s WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams out to say that Zayn told a lot of lies about him last week. Zayn puts no fear in his heart, says Trick, before mentioning all the magazines and television shows he’s been on. Trick also mentions being married to the “baddest in the game” before pointing out how long it took Zayn to get to where he is right now. Trick talks about beating Zayn at Wrestlemania. Trick calls Zayn a “bum and a joke” before saying when it comes to championships, he’s the veteran and Zayn is the rookie. Trick says they should stop the talking and fight for Trick’s title.

Zayn says Trick should be deathly afraid of him and says he could slice and dice Trick while making him look like a damn fool. Zayn says he won’t destroy Trick the way he knows he could, because he’s a good guy. Zayn says everyone will realize soon enough that Trick doesn’t have “it”. Zayn says he might not be the biggest shark in the ocean but no one has sharper teeth than him, and the answer is no to Trick’s request for a title shot. Trick says he wasn’t asking, he was demanding, and he will beat Zayn’s ass to get what he wants. There’s a quick fight and Trick gets dropped. Here’s Smackdown GM Nick Aldis out to make a tag match with Gargano and Zayn fighting Trick and Fenix.

Here’s Cole and Graves at the desk with a highlights package on how the next match came together. Roxanne Perez makes her entrance as we go to commercials.

WWE Women’s Championship: Chelsea Green (C) vs Roxanne Perez

Cole does the obligatory mention of “whomever wins this match gets Nikki Bella next week, and the winner of that goes to Crown Jewel” before they slap up the match graphic with Chelsea Green on it anyway. Daffanie LaShaunn is your referee. Green bullies Perez to a corner and they roll out of it while still locked up. Green and Perez exchange wristlocks as Cole points out that Perez is out by herself. Perez rolls Green over and they’re too close to the ropes for LaShaunn to make a count. Green takes control and grabs a couple covers for two. Perez rises and there’s a slap exchange before Green wallops Perez a second time before covering and getting two. Perez runs into a Green dropkick and goes to the floor, and Green follows with a tope suicida. Green tosses Perez back in and Perez bails again. Green follows and sends Perez back in, so Perez fires up with a dropkick. Perez yanks Green’s arm over a turnbuckle iron and rams it down as we go to commercials.

Green hits a superplex on Perez when the show returns, and we reset with both down. Green nails Perez with a couple lariats and a step-up enziguri. Green fires off a meteora and yanks Perez up for the Unpretty-her but Perez rolls through and grabs a cover for two. Green misses a charge but pulls her knees up when Perez charges. Here’s WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez out to dump Green off the top turnbuckle as LaShaunn is checking on Perez. Perez fires up and nails a dazed Green with a Shining Wizard that gets two. Here’s IYO Sky out to start pounding on Rodriguez. Perez nails Sky with a tope and wants Pop Rox on Green, but she runs right into the Unpretty-her and that ends things.

An overbooked and abrupt finish aside, this felt like most of the good stuff happened during the break. Since Judgement Day cannot ever have a clean finish, we got this mess and the subsequent post-match angle that I’ll get to in a minute. Perez looked good here and definitely belongs at this level, so we’ll see where things go for her – stay with Kat’s great Raw reports to follow that story. Fun match but within the angle, it kind of got lost.  2.5*

Winner AND STILL WWE Women’s Champion – Chelsea Green (Unpretty-her)

Here’s WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan out to immediately pounce on Green and start whaling away with right hands. Rodriguez joins in, as does Sky. Perez flies in to give the heels the numbers advantage, and here’s Miss Money In The Bank Tiffany Stratton out with her briefcase. Stratton drops Rodriguez and Morgan flies in holding Stratton’s briefcase. Morgan runs into superkicks from Sky and then Green, as Stratton retrieves her case. Stratton considers cashing in on the dazed Morgan before nailing her with a briefcase shot. Rodriguez and Perez drag Morgan out of the ring before anything becomes official, so Stratton shows off the case to them.

Here’s highlights of Cody Rhodes punting Baron Corbin to end last week’s Smackdown as a horrified Randy Orton looked on. Cole gives a kayfabe update on Corbin while mentioning that he’s out indefinitely with injuries from the punt. Rhodes is here tonight but is waiting on Orton to arrive. Cole puts over Rhodes and Roman Reigns appearances in Street Fighter and gives some stats on that movie.

Here’s Giulia making her entrance for the Street Fight that’s coming up after a commercial break.

Here’s Chelsea Green thanking IYO Sky for showing up, and hyping up Tiffany Stratton going for Liv Morgan’s title and definitely not hers before saying it’s MARTINI TIME.

Street Fight: Giulia vs Blake Monroe

Dan Engler is your referee for this. The fight starts in the aisle and Giulia takes the advantage. There’s a pile of chairs at ringside in a pyramid formation and Monroe escapes getting tossed into them. Monroe takes over and finds a kendo stick. Monroe mashes Giulia with the kendo stick before nailing her with a shotgun dropkick. Monroe leaps up on the barricade and Giulia flies up to nail her with a couple of kicks. Giulia runs Monroe into the ring and and finds a kendo stick of her own but Monroe recovers and starts smashing Giulia’s face on the apron. Giulia reverses an irish whip and sends Monroe into the chair pyramid as we go to commercials.

Monroe rolls out to the floor with Giulia giving chase as the show returns. Giulia drags Monroe up the aisle towards the big open area on the stage. Monroe sends Giulia into the video board and they go backstage to fight through Gorilla and all the way to the back. Engler is begging them to go back to the ring, but Monroe finds some hair spray and fires it off in Giulia’s eyes. Monroe stops to admire herself in a mirror and a fired up Giulia sends Monroe face-first into the mirror which conveniently shatters. Giulia drags Monroe all the way back into the arena. Monroe fires up with a headbutt as they re-enter before crawling up the aisle. Giulia hits the Arrivederci knee and fires Monroe into the ring. Giulia ascends and hits a missile dropkick. Giulia drags Monroe to the center of the ring and pulls her into a kick to the back of Monroe’s neck that gets two. Monroe finds a fire extinguisher and blinds Giulia before yanking Giulia into a superplex onto the pile of chairs at ringside. Monroe rolls Giulia back in and Giulia grabs a roll up for two. Monroe shakes that off and pulls Giulia into the Neutralizer, and that ends things.

Well, they finally had a wrestling match, of sorts, and Monroe won it clean as a sheet. I would assume we would all move on from this now but who knows, it’s October and we have an ocean of time before Rumble season. For a plunder brawl that went all over the place, it was reasonably entertaining and actually would have been better with a little bit of blood, but that’s reserved for when Cody needs to TELL OR FINISH THE STORY I think. Anyway, this was fine, everyone went all out and hit the big plunder spots, and hopefully we’ll all just move on.  3*

Winner – Blake Monroe (Neutralizer)

Here’s Randy Orton heading out as we go to commercials.

Apparently the Los Angeles Lakers are using the Bloodline entrance music during players introductions? I had not heard of this, but that’s pretty cool.

Here’s “Voices” bringing out Randy Orton as the Ontario crowd serenades him with a fairly sad sing-along. Orton hits the pose for the requisite nostalgia pop and it’s time for some yap. Orton’s mention of Cody Rhodes gets some boos and runs down all of Cody’s current nicknames before saying that he’s proud of Rhodes for having his balls drop low enough to punt someone. Orton says he’s the one that made Rhodes crack. Orton says he sees right through Rhodes now because he knows now that none of it matters unless Rhodes punts Orton. Orton says Rhodes will hesitate again because he can’t go all the way…

Here’s “Kingdom” bringing out Cody Rhodes in a three-piece. Rhodes does his full entrance but doesn’t really slap any hands on the way as it’s clearly BUSINESS TIME. Here’s Nick Aldis out with some suits as Rhodes steps onto the apron. Rhodes grabs a mic and says he’s confused about when Orton became such a coward. Rhodes says Orton used to be called the Apex Predator and Rhodes is fully unafraid of Orton now. Rhodes puts over the Legend Killer gimmick and talks about Orton punting his own mentor Triple H and legends like Shawn Michaels. Rhodes mentions that Orton is the last man standing from the legendary OVW class and Rhodes must be the anomaly because when Orton punted Rhodes he was back the next night while Orton was in St. Louis nursing his wounds like a little bitch. Rhodes calls himself the Legend Killer-Killer and says that “RKO” are no longer the three most dangerous letters in WWE anymore, it’s “IOU” from Rhodes to Orton. Rhodes knows Orton is tired of all the yap and wants to square up, but Aldis stops it. Orton says not to worry, nothing is happening tonight, so Aldis says they’ll settle it at Crown Jewel. Rhodes says he’ll wrestle Randy Orton but it’s not just any match, it’s LAST MAN STANDING. (They decided it’s not worth it to drag the Cell half-way across the world, I don’t blame them.) Orton says that’s fine but reminds Rhodes to remember that he asked for this. We go to commercials.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: PLAYxPAIN (Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley) (C) vs Michin and B-Fab

Charles Robinson is your referee. Bliss and B-Fab start and they start slugging it out immediately. B-Fab takes control as we see that Jade Cargill is at ringside. B-Fab drops Bliss with a sliding clothesline that gets two. Bliss climbs onto B-Fab’s back and Paxley tags in. Bliss hits a dropkick and fires Paxley into B-Fab’s midsection. Paxley hits a double knee-lift onto B-Fab’s face and gets two. Paxley gets dumped to the apron and then the floor, but she fires off a leaping roundhouse kick to shut B-Fab’s badmouth up. Paxley dumps a charging Michin and nails her with a moonsault from the apron as we go to commercials.

Paxley nails Michin with a step-up enziguri and Bliss and B-Fab gets tags. Bliss drops B-Fab with a trip and fires off a barrage of strikes. Bliss hits her rolling Blockbuster and grabs a cover for two. Bliss wants Sister Abigail but B-Fab gets out of it and Michin gets a tag. Bliss drops B-Fab and yanks Michin into a rolling DDT. Bliss ascends as Paxley grabs a tag. Bliss hits a cross-body on a charging B-Fab and Paxley nails Michin in the neck before ascending. Paxley misses a dive and pulls Michin into a headbutt. Michin slips out of a Cemetery Drive and drops Paxley through the ropes. Robinson conveniently checks on Michin as Cargill flies in with a gigantic right hand to Paxley’s jaw. Paxley staggers into a Michin Styles Clash and we have new tag team champions.

Man, these women’s tag titles have slipped right back down to gooberville and very quickly, I might add. I remember most of the early part of this year when it seemed like every woman on Smackdown was in a tag team fighting over the titles and positioning themselves as contenders and now we’re switching them like every other month. I guess this gives Cargill something to do while she treads water without a belt of her own. 2.5*

Winners AND NEW WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions – B-Fab and Michin (Michin Styles Clash to Paxley)

Here’s Cathy Kelley catching up with Trick Williams coming out of Nick Aldis’s office where he’s apparently secured a title shot against Sami Zayn for next week. Rey Fenix sidles up to congratulate Trick on this news and they leave to discuss strategy for the main event. Here’s Damian Priest staring down Trick as he leaves. We go to commercials.

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

Prior to the match, KYOKI steals Haku‘s walking stick and charges up the aisle to deliver it to Nakamura, who does some sweet kung fu moves with it. The MFT’s don’t like this and charge up the aisle for a brawl. Security rushes out to try to help and we go back to Cole and Graves at the desk.

Danhausen will be hosting Smackdown next Friday night for Halloween season.

EARLIER TODAY Nick Aldis sat down with Kevin Owens and CM Punk for a chat. They will have a match in two weeks at Smackdown in Brooklyn. Punk and Owens sit down and Punk says that this match is a waste of his time because he should be preparing for Roman Reigns but Owens cost him that title. Owens says he had Punk beat and had Sami Zayn beat but Punk cost him both times. Owens and Punk bicker and Owens says he would have been happy to never see Punk again, but he came back and Owens tried to ignore him for three years. Owens says he was done after Money in the Bank, but clearly Punk wanted to keep going. Owens says he turns into a miserable prick when he’s around Punk and says he’s been around enough people who know Punk who thinks he suck. Punk says he can’t wait to put Owens on his back in Brooklyn and leaves. Owens drops a couple more words and leaves, and Aldis finishes up with a reminder that the match is in two weeks. (Well, they clearly don’t like each other very much, so we’ll see how this goes in Brooklyn.)

Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, and WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn make their entrance for the main event as we go to commercials.

WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn and Johnny Gargano vs AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix and WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams

Ryan Tran is your referee. LeRae remains at ringside as Zayn starts with Trick. Zayn begs off and tags in Gargano. Trick trucks Gargano down and Zayn decides to tag in. Here’s Ricky Saints attacking Rey Fenix and the ref calls for the bell. Trick gets overwhelmed by Gargano and Zayn, and here’s Mr. Money in the Bank Penta out to break it up, and calls for a trios match. Penta and Fenix nail Gargano and Zayn with topes, and we go to commercials.

WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn, Johnny Gargano, and Ricky Saints vs AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix, Mr. Money in the Bank Penta and WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams

Zayn smashes Fenix’s arm with the help of Saints as the show returns. Fenix catches Zayn with an elbow and runs into a Zayn sit-out powerbomb that gets two. Zayn kicks Trick off the apron and tags in Gargano. Gargano slugs it out with Fenix and Fenix blasts Gargano with a spider kick. Penta tags in and he runs wild on Gargano before Saints flies in to grab a numbers advantage. Penta clobbers all three heels and nails Gargano with the corner basement dropkick. Saints breaks up the subsequent cover at two. Penta yanks Gargano into the Penta Driver and only gets two. Penta runs into a Gargano superkick and Zayn and Trick tag in. Zayn and Trick slug it out and Trick crushes Zayn with a flying lariat. Trick misses a Trick Shot and runs into a Saints Revolution DDT. Everyone hits big moves and Trick intercepts Zayn’s Helluva Kick attempt on Penta with a lariat. Trick hits Zayn with the Trick Shot and Saints flies in to roll up Trick for two. Trick yanks Saints into the BookEnd and that finishes things.

A chaos trios tag to end the show? WHAT IS THIS, COLLISION? Anyway, for an impromptu thing, this was fun and the crowd ate it up with a spoon. It’s always fun to see the Lucha Brothers reunite and Trick picks up a pin to send him off to the big title match next Friday night. This was fun, and while commentary mentioned Penta possibly cashing in, we never got anywhere near to that happening. Fun main event, not a classic, but the crowd was into it so we’ll enjoy it and get outta here.  3.5*

Winners – Fenix/Penta/Trick (Trick BookEnd on Saints)

Everyone poses and points at each other as Cole breathlessly runs down all the upcoming important stuff. The credits roll and we’re out.

I wouldn’t call this a great episode, but I was okay with it overall. There was certainly more buzz around everything than last week’s wretched outing. Crown Jewel is starting to shape up a bit and at least there’s some intrigue around who will actually be in the matches with all the title contests happening (both Sami Zayn and Chelsea Green have title defenses on next week’s Smackdown). I’m fine with tonight’s output.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Please make sure to go give all our recappers some love this weekend while you’re browsing, okay? COOL.