Smackdown – 10.30.26

By Niz on 30 October 2026

Last week on Smackdown: B-Fab and Michin captured the Women’s Tag Team titles.

Smackdown comes to the USA/Netflix airwaves from the Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, WV. The announcing team for tonight’s show includes Michael Cole and Corey Graves on match calls and analysis, Mark Nash on ring introductions, and Cathy Kelley on interviews and news segments. We’re a week away from Crown Jewel, supposedly, and there are three title matches on tonight’s show. There’s always a lot going on in the world of WWE, so let’s watch some wrestling!

WWW Studio-hausens Present: Danhausen’s Very Nice, Very Evil Smackdown! Here’s Danhausen in his lab welcoming us to the show. Danhausen runs down the list of matches, very nice, very helpful (While a PA walks into the shot for some coffee, before exiting – I legit thought this was leading to a bit, but no, he just got coffee and left!) and then says his newest creation will be revealed while gesturing to a sheet covering something on a gurney.

Arrivals: WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn, who runs into John Wrestling and Candice LeRae. Here’s WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams happily greeting his pal Lil Yachty. Here’s WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green signing some autographs, while her challenger for tonight WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella cannot stop staring at her phone.

“Kingdom” erupts over the PA, and here’s Cody Rhodes out in a purple-and-blue three piece. Rhodes makes some small child’s entire night with an autograph and a hug. Rhodes has a mic and wants to speak on Crown Jewel’s Last Man Standing match. Rhodes says the concept of LMS is simple but barbaric. Rhodes says that he wants to do something unexpected and that is apologize because Randy Orton has five kids and a wonderful wife who will see Rhodes keep his promise to crush Orton. Rhodes puts up a photo of the aftermath of Wrestlemania’s punting to his face, and says that’s the type of barbarism he’s speaking about. Rhodes says he’s got everyone who’s ever been punted by Orton lined up in his wrestling boot to deliver the shot for all of them. Rhodes then says whomever wins LMS will probably be the number one contender to the title, and then vows that it will be him.

Here’s Cole and Graves at ringside talking up Chelsea Green’s recent struggles with the Judgement Dames (TM: Phred). Here’s Cathy Kelley with Miss Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton who swears that when she catches Liv Morgan alone she will cash in and become the Women’s World Champion. WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green is also here and she says once Stratton wins the title they will be the most iconic duo in WWE history. Green is wearing a Nikki Bella-inspired costume and tells Kelley she’s actually dressed as a monster before exiting the scene. Danhausen enters and offers to exchange his JAR OF TEETH for Stratton’s Briefcase of Human Monies. Stratton turns that exciting offer down and exits.

Here’s Nikki Bella making her entrance as we go to commercials.

WWE Women’s Championship: Chelsea Green (C) vs Nikki Bella

Here’s NXT Women’s North American Champion Zaria at ringside so Graves can plug tomorrow evening’s Halloween Havoc event. Daffanie LaShaunn is your referee. There’s some grappling to a standoff and Green grabs a roll up for one. Green fires off some armdrags but misses a charge. Green ascends and Bella joins her before being pushed off. Bella springs up and dumps Green down and out to the floor. Bella runs Green into the barricade before firing her back in. Bella hits a running lariat and a Bella-buster that gets two. We go to commercials.

Green drops Bella with a facebreaker when the show returns. Green misses a top rope move and eats an elbow and a kick to the face. Bella’s cover gets two. Bella mocks Matt Cardona and misses a charge. Green hits a meteora and a Ruff Ryder for two. Green yanks Bella up but Bella escapes and slaps on the Fearless Lock. Green rolls Bella over and gets two. Bella staggers Green with a forearm and the Rack Attack but Green gets her feet on the bottom rope. Green grabs a roll up as Bella complains to LaShaunn, and that gets three.

Not a lot of crowd involvement here but they did pop for the win. No one looked to be doing anything too dangerous out there presumably to keep Green fully ready for the Crown Jewel match. Just a functional affair, nothing too spectacular, and a quick roll up finish to hopefully move Bella on to other things. 2.5*

Winner AND STILL WWE Women’s Champion – Chelsea Green (roll up)

Here’s WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan out with a microphone to sarcastically congratulate Green on her win. Morgan says that their journeys are fairly similar but through hard work and determination they rose to the top. Morgan says there is a very clear distinction though, and that is that Morgan is a real champion while Green is a joke. Morgan says if Green got fired for a third time, no one would even notice. (HEY THAT IS REALLY RUDE GIONNA.) Here’s Tiffany Stratton out with the briefcase but charging out to attack her are Roxanne Perez and WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez. While that’s happening, Green yanks Morgan into the Unpretty-her and Stratton uses that distraction to mash Perez and Rodriguez with the briefcase. Stratton and Green have a quick confab and Stratton calls for a ref before nailing Morgan with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever. As Stratton was going to cash in, Perez and Rodriguez charge in to end that before it can even get off the ground. Here’s IYO Sky out to even up the numbers and send the Judgement Dames packing.

Here’s Cathy Kelley with Sami Zayn and a livid Zayn says all he’s dealt with since winning the title is disrespect. Zayn wonders why anyone thinks that after everything he’s been through that he’d lose to Trick Williams? Zayn says his skills have been earned and reminds everyone that he’s an all-time great who’s getting the recognition he deserves. Zayn vows to beat Trick tonight and see Roman Reigns on the other side. We go to commercials.

Cole congratulates the Milwaukee Brewers on winning the World Series, before throwing to highlights of last week’s Giulia-Blake Monroe Street Fight. Here’s Cathy Kelley with Blake Monroe and Monroe is happy to be done with Giulia because she wants to move on to the World Championship. Here’s Paige in to warn Monroe, but Monroe warns her off sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong, and Paige tells Monroe to watch her mouth.

AAA Cruiserweight Championship: Rey Fenix (C) vs Ricky Saints

Adrian Butler is your referee. They slug it out to start and Saints decides to hit a pose. Fenix whales on Saints with some chops before hitting a top rope armdrag. Saints bails and Fenix fakes a couple of charges before nailing Saints with a tope suicida. Fenix ascends and hits a cross-body lateral press for two. Fenix gets dumped and Saints kicks him through the ropes before driving knees in along the barricade. Saints sends Fenix over the announce table and we go to commercials.

Saints is tearing at Fenix’s mask when the show returns. Saints rams Fenix into a corner and walks into a superkick. Saints cuts off Fenix while ascending and crushes him with a superplex that gets two. Fenix slips a charge and kicks Saints a few times. Fenix covers and gets two. Fenix drags Saints up for a double underhook shoulderbreaker that gets two. Fenix ascends for a leaping moonsault that gets two. Fenix runs into a Saints Revolution DDT that gets two. Saints drags Fenix to a corner and misses a springboard moonsault attempt. Fenix gets hoisted up into a rolling Death Valley Driver that stacked Fenix right on his head. Saints cover gets two. Saints mounts Fenix in a corner but Fenix fires off a powerbomb. Fenix ascends and hits a rolling cutter. Saints hits another twisting cutter and covers Saints for two. Fenix mounts Saints in a corner and wants the MMB, but Saints holds on for some kicks to Fenix’s head. Saints eats a right hand and Fenix ascends to catch Saints with the Mexican Muscle Buster. That is enough to get the win.

It seemed like they weren’t always on the same page in this one but we got there in the end. Cole and Graves were selling this as a classic and for me it didn’t quite get there. Saints loses yet again and hopefully that’s it for this pairing. I’m not the biggest fan of all these title defenses for Fenix across the brands but I guess you have to use him while you have him available. 3*

Winner AND STILL AAA Cruiserweight Champion – Rey Fenix (MMB)

Here’s Cathy Kelley with Jade Cargill and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions B-Fab and Michin. Kelley mentions that people made comments about how B-Fab and Michin won the titles and they aren’t big fans of that chatter. Cargill puts the bad mouth on Bliss and “Tater Tot” and here’s Fatal Influence in with WWE Women’s US Champion Jacy Jayne saying she was impressed by the title win. Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley brag on themselves and Reid offers to give lessons to the champs about how it all works. We go to commercials.

Here’s a reminder that Raw will start on Monday night at 6 PM on Netflix. Here’s Cathy Kelley with Trick Williams and Lil Yachty. Trick says he’s tired of Zayn’s over-confidence and says “you can put a wig on a pig but he’s still a pig in a wig” and truer words have never been spoken. Trick vows to walk out as a double champ before going to Raw and go nose-to-nose with Roman Reigns. Yachty decides it would be a good idea to enter Danhausen’s lab and here’s the resurrected Gingerbread Man under the sheet. Cole: “Not again!”

Tatum Paxley vs Jade Cargill

Alexa Bliss is out with Tater, while B-Fab and Michin are out with Cargill. Cargill has Poison Ivy-inspired gear while Paxley has Pennywise-type makeup on tonight. Paxley jumps on Cargill’s back at the bell and Dan Engler lets it go. Cargill shakes Paxley but eats an enziguri from Paxley. Cargill mashes Paxley with a right and puts the boots to her in a corner. Cargill shoulders Paxley and dumps her out of a corner. Cargill flies in with a low lariat that gets two. Cargill misses a charge and Paxley goes to work with forearms. Paxley dropkicks Cargill and crushes her in a corner. Paxley hits a leaping knee and covers Cargill for two. Paxley gets dumped to the apron before eating a big right. Paxley rams Cargill into the apron and misses a moonsault. Cargill mashes Paxley with a huge knee and we go to commercials.

Paxley escapes from a half-crab as the show returns before yanking Cargill into a couple of covers that get two. Paxley fires up and mashes Cargill with some forearms and a roundhouse kick. Paxley gets dumped and she flies up with a kick to Cargill’s exposed head. Paxley hits a rolling kick on Cargill’s neck and covers her for two. Paxley eats some elbows and they start slugging it out. Paxley catches Cargill with a kick and ascends. Cargill springs up with a high boot and ascends. Paxley drags Cargill over the top rope and here’s B-Fab over to drop Paxley. Bliss comes flying in to mash B-Fab before getting dropkicked by Michin. Paxley fights off Michin and runs right into a Cargill pump kick. Jaded ends things shortly thereafter.

This was pretty good even with the overbooked ending. There’s not a lot of crowd noise tonight, but it did pick up when they sensed the finish was coming during the interference segment. Functionally this was fine and I thought Cargill had her working boots on tonight. Paxley is really very good at playing the underdog babyface with a widely varying move-set, and she did well here. 3.25*

Winner – Jade Cargill (Jaded)

The results of Danhausen’s Evil Experiment will be revealed after commercials.

Here’s Cathy Kelley with Damian Priest who appears to be upset about Trick Williams getting a title shot. Priest says he will now be focusing on the champions and if Nick Aldis doesn’t make things right he’ll start stacking bodies. Here’s FrAxiom out to yell about Priest’s actions with Truth and putting his hands on FrAxiom. Priest promises that he’s in a headspace now where he turned on a guy he likes in Truth, so you can’t imagine what he’ll do to people he doesn’t care for at all.

Here’s Danhausen out to proclaim the show has been a terrifying success. Danhausen doesn’t notice GUNTHER looming up behind him until it’s too late. GUNTHER clears a table and powerbombs Danhausen through it. GUNTHER bullies Danhausen down the aisle and into the ring. The lights go out and out of the Cloning Machine emerges a bunch of Mini-Hausens. GUNTHER gets caught by Torito-hausen but he fights him off before firing a couple of jack-o-lanterns at the terrified Mini-hausens. GUNTHER powerbombs one Mini-hausen onto another one and through a table. GUNTHER sets up a table in a corner and yanks up a devastated Danhausen for a sleeper. Danhausen CURSES GUNTHER and here’s THE GODDAMN DEMON under the sheet! GUNTHER looks relatively terrified at this development as the Demon makes his way to the ring. There’s a stare-down and GUNTHER wants to go. Demon drops GUNTHER and tries some kicks. GUNTHER uses his belt to no effect and eats a sling blade. Demon drives GUNTHER through the mounted table and to the floor. Demon finds a ladder and crushes GUNTHER onto the announce table. Demon sets up the ladder and ascends for a Coup de Grace on GUNTHER through the announce table. Demon and Danhausen gather in the ring and stare out at the broken GUNTHER before celebrating with the crowd. It’s time for commercials.

(There have been rumors of GUNTHER-Balor being a match for Crown Jewel, so we’ll see what happens with this. It was a fun treat for the crowd who finally popped for someone not named Cody.)

Cole and Graves stand in front of the devastated announce table before throwing to some highlights of the building feud between CM Punk and Kevin Owens who will meet next week in Brooklyn. That match is now NO HOLDS BARRED! I sense a piledriver coming for someone for the holidays.

WWE Men’s Undisputed Championship: Sami Zayn (C) vs WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams

Yachty is out with Trick and he has his ever-present white whooping stick with him. Charles Robinson is your referee. Here’s NXT Men’s Champion Grayson Waller in the crowd for a Halloween Havoc plug. Candice LeRae and John Wrestling are out with Zayn. Mark Nash does in-ring intros and off we go.

Trick and Zayn go to a corner for some banter before the fisticuffs start in full. Trick hits a leaping lariat and a body slam before pushing Zayn to a corner for some dropping rights. Zayn dumps Trick to the floor and goes out after to send Trick into the ring steps. We go to commercials.

Zayn is in control when the show returns. Zayn talks some smack and blasts Trick with some rights. Trick shakes it off and fires up with some rights of his own. Trick hits a couple of leg lariats and drops Zayn to a corner. Trick smashes Zayn with kicks and Zayn goes to the apron. Zayn yanks Trick over the top rope and Zayn ascends. Trick slips the jump and fires off a roundhouse kick that gets two. Trick yanks Zayn up and Zayn blocks a Book End attempt. Zayn fires off an Exploder and Zayn lines him up. Trick springs out of his corner with a lariat and we reset. Gargano and LeRae get involved and Zayn has his belt. Trick ducks the shot and hits the Book End, so Gargano drags Robinson to the floor. Robinson calls for the bell.

Here’s Smackdown GM Nick Aldis out to say NOW HOLD THE PHONE PLAYA. Aldis kicks out Yachty, LeRae, and Gargano, and orders Robinson to restart the match but now it’s NO DQ.

Trick has the kendo stick and nails Zayn in the head with it. Trick covers and gets two. We go to commercials.

Zayn has the kendo stick when the show returns and he starts firing shots on Trick’s back. Trick nails Zayn with a neckbreaker and grabs the kendo for some back shots on Zayn. Trick hits the Trick Kick and covers Zayn for two. Trick starts tossing in STEEL CHAIRS and yanks Zayn up. Zayn blocks a Book End and yanks Trick up for a Blue Thunder Bomb on the chairs. Zayn’s cover gets two. Zayn finds his title belt and misses a big head shot with it. Trick hits the Trick Shot and covers Zayn for two. Trick has the belt and Zayn pulls Robinson in front of him before nailing Trick with a low blow. Zayn finds the belt and crushes Trick in the head with it to retain.

I didn’t think Zayn was going to lose here but they really went around the block to get to next door. I thought this was fine from a “let’s do something weird with this” type of deal. Aldis making it No DQ allowed for a wild finish with a bunch of kick outs and whatnot. Trick was good here, he held his own, and I thought this was one of those types of matches that he’ll mention again in a promo some day. Good stuff overall. 3.75*

Winner AND STILL WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion – Sami Zayn (title belt shot)

Post-match sees Zayn barking at the crowd and the fallen Trick as Cole breathlessly puts over the Crown Jewel main event. The credits roll and we’re out.

Not a bad night overall, and I’d suggest you might enjoy seeking out Trick and Zayn’s match on the internets if and when it shows up on Youtube. It was cool to see the Demon again, and that segment was fun because GUNTHER took a beating. The next Smackdown will be taped after Raw ends on Monday night and I would expect another burnt-out crowd, but I guess we’ll see. Anyway, I’m all good with this show for the most part, and we’ll move on.

Thanks for reading. Please make sure to give some love to all of our recappers while you’re surfing.