Smackdown – 11.13.26

By Niz on 14 November 2026

Last week on Smackdown: Kevin Owens and CM Punk WENT TO WAR.

Smackdown comes to the USA airwaves tonight from The Amerant Bank Arena in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The announcers for tonight’s broadcast include Michael Cole and Corey Graves on play-by-play and analysis, Mark Nash on ring introductions, and Cathy Kelley on interviews and news segments. We have a brand new Women’s Champion after Crown Jewel and it’s time for some fallout from that show, so let’s watch some wrestling!

Arrivals: Cody Rhodes, WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn, and WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton.

“My Time Is Now” starts us off and here’s John Cena out to a tremendous pop, and a quick chat with Stu the Cameraman. Cena seems to have more energy than he did during Tuesday’s NXT appearance, so that’s good. His Classic has a title belt, and there’s a SPINNER ELEMENT to it, which I guess I had not taken notice of prior to this. December 14th that title belt will be awarded during the evening of opportunity, because there’s going to be a bunch of NXT folks making their main roster debuts. The biggest opportunity comes if you decide to pony up $100 to vote on who eventually wins that title. Cena says it’s time to see who’s next and it’s Charlotte Flair.

The Queen joins Kelani Jordan as the second woman announced for the show, and she’s wearing her gear out to accept this honor because she’s in action later tonight. Flair gets a young PA to make sure she doesn’t touch the ropes as she enters, and she gets a solid pop before shaking Cena’s hand and pulling him in for the real thing. Flair says she gets emotional just like her dad, and she’s always wanted to be across the ring from John Cena for the last ten years. Flair says her dad is bawling his eyes out in whatever bar he’s in drinking his soda, and she’s trying to hold it together because her makeup is perfect. Flair mentions being backstage at Wrestlemania 41 and she felt lost at that point. Cena came up to her during the show, and asked her about “Chicago” and Flair says she shit the bed. (Flair’s curse beat the censors!.) Cena told her to own who she is good or bad, and that changed her in a way that told her it wasn’t about her being Ric Flair’s kid anymore. Flair starts to tear up here and gets a “you deserve it” chant. Flair says she’s going to be excellent in the Classic and vows to win the title, because she’s the greatest champion of ALL TIME. (Suck it, Liv Morgan.) Cena says Flair had a rep for having it easy on the way to the main roster, but she proved to be way more than Ric Flair’s kid. Cena says Flair never had it easy, she just made it look easy. Cena says he knows that someone will win 18 titles and he will shake their hand, before saying he was always talking about Flair. He’s excited that she’s in the Classic, and they embrace warmly.

Here’s Smackdown GM Nick Aldis greeting AAA GM and WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio who is talking about a potential new addition to Team Mexico for the 5 x 5 Survivor Series match. They’re joined by Team USA captain Cody Rhodes, and Mysterio exits. Aldis says he wanted to check in with Rhodes after Crown Jewel, and Rhodes says he’s ready to go to Survivor Series. Aldis says they’re counting on him to recruit well for Team USA and says they might be adding members tonight and/or Monday. Rhodes also mentions wanting to revive the Number One Contender chatter after Survivor Series is over. Aldis agrees and Rhodes exits.

WWE Men’s Tag Team Champions MFT’s (Tama and Talla Tonga) make their entrance for tonight’s opener, and we go to commercials.

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

Graves references Darryl the Cat during the intros period and I could not be happier. Haku is out with his sons, and our referee in charge is Jason Ayers. KYOKI smashes Tama around to start and crushes him with a cross-body. Tama fires out from a corner with a dropkick and tags in Talla. Talla whips KYOKI Bret-style into a corner before smashing him down with a couple of huge chops. Tama tags in and continues the assault on KYOKI’s chest. KYOKI wants more chopping and gets it from Tama, but KYOKI responds in kind and then drops Tama with a rana. KYOKI drops Talla to the floor and bashes him with a kick. Tama ties up the referee and Haku uses that opportunity to whale on KYOKI’s leg with his walking stick. We go to commercials.

Tama is working KYOKI over when the show returns but runs into a high boot when he charges. KYOKI prevents a suplex and pulls Tama into a dragon screw. KYOKI tags in Nakamura who goes to work with kicks and strikes before dropping Tama to a corner. Nakamura slips a charge and puts Tama over a top turnbuckle for a running knee. Nakamura hits a rolling roundhouse kick and wants the Kinshasa, but Tama sneaks away and catches Nakamura with the Cutthroat. Nakamura hits a backdrop and a running kick to Tama’s neck. KYOKI charges in to help Nakamura dispose of Talla. Haku gets knocked down by a baseball slide dropkick. KYOKI blasts Talla with a missile dropkick, and Nakamura hits the Kinshasa on Tama. Here’s The War Raiders in to break up the cover and cause the DQ. The Raiders beat up everybody and use KYOKI as a battering ram to destroy Talla. Tama tries to fight back but gets caught in the Raiders lofted powerslam. The Raiders yank Nakamura up for Ragnarok, and stand tall over the fallen bodies.

What a wet fart finish, and the crowd crapped all over it. The match was pretty entertaining prior to the War Raiders joining the scene, as KYOKI had a long sequence before Nakamura came in to settle things down. The finish really took the starch out of the crowd, though. 2.5*

No winners, match thrown out due to War Raiders interference

Here’s Cathy Kelley with Finn Balor who will apparently be wrestling as himself tonight. Balor says all he sees when he looks at GUNTHER is a whiny bully. Balor promises no ghosts from his past, just Balor as he is now, and GUNTHER is in DEEP TROUBLE.

Damian Priest is making his way out for the next match as we take a break.

Axiom vs Damian Priest

Axiom gets the “already in the ring” treatment, if you’re keeping score at home. Ryan Tran is in charge of this one. Priest crushes Axiom with a high boot when he charges at the bell. Priest nails Axiom with a flying elbow and Axiom tries a couple of low dropkicks. Priest drives in a knee to cut off that flurry, but Priest then misses a charge. Axiom sends Priest to the floor with a dropkick and keeps him down there with a low kick when Priest tries to return. Axiom crushes Priest with a moonsault and then rolls him back in. Axiom mises a top rope move and walks right into Priest boxing his ears. Axiom snaps off a dragon screw and ascends for a missile dropkick. Axiom wants the Golden Ratio but Priest cuts it off and murders Axiom with a right. Priest pulls Axiom up for the Razor’s Edge but Axiom slips away. Priest fights off another brief flurry, pulls Axiom into the Razor’s Edge, and that ends things.

Hey, I like a one segment match. More of that, please. Priest has really dogwalked both members of FrAxiom at this point, so hopefully it’s time to move on to a singles feud worthy of his time. Looking at you, Trick Williams. 2.5*

Winner – Damian Priest (Razor’s Edge)

Post-match sees Nathan Frazer come down to check on Axiom, so Priest comes in and plants Frazer with a South of Heaven. WHAT A DICK.

Here’s John Cena running into Fatal Influence who mock his choice of Charlotte Flair for his Classic. WWE Women’s US Champion Jacy Jayne says not having Fatal Influence in his tournament would be a huge mistake. Cena says this is the type of RUTHLESS AGGRESSION that the Classic needs, and invites them into the tournament. (Insult me and get into my tournament isn’t the message you should be sending, John, but whatever. This thing is off the rails, let’s go full batshit.) It’s time for commercials.

Cole throws it to highlights of WarGames being called for by WWE Men’s World Champion Roman Reigns during Monday night’s Raw, and it is now official for the show.

“Worlds Apart” brings out WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn along with Candice LeRae and John Wrestling. We take a quick look at Zayn-Reigns from Crown Jewel, and the post-match show of respect. (Go read Kat’s excellent review if you missed the show, it’s linked above!). Zayn soaks in a lot of boos and tells Gargano says there’s some “bitch-ass haters” in the house tonight. Zayn gets a “you suck!” chant and wants to know how many are here tonight to RIDE OR DIE WITH THE LAST REAL GOOD GUY? Sounds like maybe….17 people or so, Sam. Zayn says a lot of things that were wrong were finally made right at Crown Jewel with the post-match activities. Zayn says he needed respect and he got it. Zayn says he did something no one else has ever done and that’s getting Reigns to acknowledge him. Zayn says if that can happen than that is the bare minimum he expects going forward from everyone.

Here’s Kevin Owens out, and man, what a fresh match up this is going to be. Owens tells Zayn he’s not talking to Roman Reigns, CM Punk, or Trick Williams, it’s Owens and Zayn knows it. Owens mentions righting a lot of wrongs including punching CM Punk with a chain and beating him 1-2-3. Owens says if the crowd knew Punk, they’d want to punch him in the face with a chain too. Owens says he’s been a ride or die for Zayn for the last 25 years no matter what’s happened between them. Owens says he believes that Zayn does deserve the respect for being champion, and says all the disrespect about being “mid-card” coming from guys who aren’t half as good as Zayn is on his worse day is bullshit. Owens says he’s proud of Zayn, but the wrong he has to make right is that he missed 17 months and without wrestling, he doesn’t know who he is. Owens mentions his family being with him during all of that, and all of his ride or die fans got to see him come back in Toronto. Owens mentions that Zayn was responsible for ruining that night and there’s only one way to right that wrong. Owens says it’s not a want, it’s a need to take the title from Zayn. Gargano steps to Owens and talks about how bad this year has been for him, and Zayn was the only one to stand by his side. Owens tells Gargano he has respect for Gargano and LeRae, but this has nothing to do with them. Owens goes nose-to-nose with Zayn and Gargano attacks from behind. LeRae gets in a slap, and Graves calls Gargano Zayn’s “attack chihuahua”. Gargano continues assaulting Owens as Zayn exits while watching it happen. Owens cuts off a kick and nails Gargano with a stunner. Owens picks up a mic to say that Zayn’s title run is on borrowed time and he’s going to be the one to end it. Owens fires Gargano out to the floor and celebrates with the crowd.

Here’s CM Punk watching all of this unfold on a monitor, and Cody Rhodes walks up to say it’s always going to be that way between Owens and Zayn. Rey Mysterio joins them and introduces the newest member of Team Mexico, and shockingly, it’s AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix. Fenix says he’s doing it for his country, his family, and the love of lucha. Punk wishes them good luck and asks Rhodes if he has a recruiting plan. Punk offers up suggestions on a notecard and Rhodes tells Punk to keep an open mind as he exits.

WWE Women’s US Champion Jacy Jayne makes her way out as we go to commercials.

Charlotte Flair vs WWE Women’s US Champion Jacy Jayne

Daffanie LaShaunn will be in charge of this one, and Flair has changed gear from the first segment. Jayne holds a victory over Flair on the May 1st episode of the show, and Graves says she mentions it often backstage. Jayne drives in a knee and rams Flair into some turnbuckles. Jayne fires off a rana and hits the Flair strut after a WOOO. Flair catches Jayne on a charge and drops her back-first onto the mat. Flair hits some O’Connor rolls on Jayne but runs into a back elbow when she charges. Jayne whips Flair to the apron, and Flair fires off a kick when Jayne charges. Flair ascends for a cross-body that gets two. Flair gets yanked to the mat by her hair and Jayne charges. Flair dumps Jayne to the apron and wallops her with a pump kick that sends Jayne to the floor. Flair hits a cannonball off the apron and here’s Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid out to bark at Flair. Jayne uses that to charge down the apron and kick Flair in the chest. Here’s Tatum Paxley and Alexa Bliss out in support of Flair as we go to commercials.

Flair catches Jayne off a charge and dumps her with a fall-away slam when the show returns. Flair nips up and runs into a Jayne superkick. Flair nails a charging Jayne with a high boot and covers her for two. Flair ducks a Jayne right and runs into a Jayne neckbreaker. Jayne covers Flair and gets two. Jayne charges and Flair catches her with a facebreaker on a top turnbuckle. Flair ascends and destroys Jayne with a moonsault that gets two. Jayne pulls Flair into a crucifix and gets two. Flair bridges out of another cover and pulls Jayne into the start of the Figure Four, but Jayne grabs an inside cradle and gets two in response. Flair wants a backslide but Jayne rolls out of it and blasts Flair with a knee that gets two. Jayne misses the Rolling Encore and eats a Flair spear. Flair ascends again and here’s Reid and Henley on the apron to distract. Jayne uses that to mash Flair with a kick, and Bliss and Paxley charge over to start fighting with Reid and Henley. Here’s WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions B-Fab and Michin out to max out the numbers against Bliss and Paxley. Jayne hits a superplex on Flair, and here’s Bayley out with a kendo stick. Bayley goes nuts on the heels, and here’s Jade Cargill out to blast Bayley with a right. Here’s Stephanie Vaquer out to duck a Michin kendo shot before crushing Michin with many headbutts. Vaquer mashes a charging Reid with a kendo strike and then destroys the kendo over Michin’s back. Vaquer distracts Jayne and Flair hits a cartwheel driver on Jayne to end things.

Well, before the entire women’s locker room poured out to the floor, this was easily the match of the night, and still was even with all the hoopla before the finish. Flair and Jayne have good chemistry and Flair had her working boots on tonight. I liked this a bunch up to the overbooked finish, but it’s War Games season and here we are. 3.5*

Winner – Charlotte Flair (Cartwheel driver)

Post-match sees the heels banished to the floor while the faces celebrate in the ring. Bliss crawls onto Flair’s back and Flair has a mic. After a quick chat, the faces yell “WAR GAMES” and it appears to be on. (Will it be 6 x 6 because that’s gonna be an hour, if so. Ugh.) It’s time for commercials, including John Cena singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time (Of The Year)”.

Here’s Cathy Kelley with the Flair team. Vaquer took a call from Flair and that’s why she’s here tonight, and Flair warns Jade Cargill that she’s going to be unhappy with how this goes.

Here’s WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton out in black gear, and sporting the Crown Jewel ring. Highlights of her treachery at Crown Jewel are shown as she became the first woman to ever successfully cash in the MITB briefcase twice. Stratton says some people need a boyfriend or a GM to make them feel important, but all she needed was a briefcase. Here’s Chelsea Green out to take note of now being the “ex-BFF” of Stratton. Green points out that they were never actually friends because Stratton knew how much Crown Jewel meant to her and wants the answer to “Why her?”. Green says she knows Stratton wanted to steal her moment, but when Green lays down at night she’ll sleep soundly knowing she was Crown Jewel champion. Green wants the ring back and Stratton tells Green that she stole her moment at Summerslam. Stratton says it’s her, then everybody else, and then Chelsea Green. Stratton tells Green if she wants the ring she can have it, before dropping it on the mat. Stratton: “Enjoy the rest of your career in catering, bitch!” and it’s on. Green pounds away and finds the ring, but Stratton nails her from behind, picks up the ring, and blasts Green right in the face with it. Stratton stands over Green and barks at her. We go to commercials.

Here’s Chelsea Green backstage running into Paige, but that’s immediately interrupted by Blake Monroe. Monroe says she’s championship material, and Paige queries her about how many titles she’s won. Monroe fires back that her best years are ahead of her, while Paige’s are clearly behind her. BURN.

GUNTHER vs Finn Balor

This main event comes to us courtesy of GOLDEN CORRAL and it’s delicious array of…whatever they serve. Charles Robinson will be the referee in charge of this main event. GUNTHER attacks at the bell and smashes Balor around in a corner. GUNTHER nails Balor with a back elbow and goes to the mat for some ground and pound. GUNTHER stomps on Balor before waffling him with a chop. GUNTHER drives in a knee and wants a piledriver, but Balor flips out of it and crushes GUNTHER with a shotgun dropkick. GUNTHER goes to the apron and eats a Balor forearm. Balor hits GUNTHER with a tope con giro and we go to a commercial break.

GUNTHER has Balor mounted on a top turnbuckle when the show returns. Balor stops a superplex and fires off some kidney shots. GUNTHER nails Balor with a headbutt and Balor responds with a Pele kick. Balor ascends and GUNTHER waffles him with a chop. GUNTHER stomps on Balor’s face and pulls him up. Balor slips off and fires off some low kicks, but GUNTHER responds with a body slam to buy some time. GUNTHER stalks Balor and yanks him up for a big elbow to the nose. GUNTHER eats a Balor kick and a helicopter side Russian. Balor is up first and they start slugging it out. Balor nails GUNTHER with a running forearm and crushes him with a huge chop. Balor drops GUNTHER with an elbow and covers him for two. GUNTHER shakes off some kicks and yanks Balor up, but Balor rolls that over and sends GUNTHER to the floor. GUNTHER pulls a charging Balor up and drops him over the barricade as we take our final commercial break.

GUNTHER and Balor exchange chops and Balor gets the worst of it as the show returns. Balor calls for another one and gets it as GUNTHER giggles with delight at Balor’s predicament. Balor rises with some strikes and then rolls GUNTHER up for two. GUNTHER tries for the sleeper and Balor rolls that over for two. GUNTHER tries a ripcord clothesline and Balor ducks it for a sling blade. Balor lines GUNTHER up and runs right into a sleeper. GUNTHER nails Balor with a dropkick and walks into a Balor inside cradle that gets two. GUNTHER destroys Balor with a lariat that gets a LONG two. GUNTHER trash-talks Balor and tells him he has to understand when it’s time to move on. GUNTHER pulls Balor over and goes to the apron to indicate it’s time. GUNTHER ascends and misses his move. Balor nails GUNTHER with a shotgun dropkick and ascends. Balor misses a Coup de Grace attempt and GUNTHER sends him into Charles Robinson. GUNTHER uses the short distraction to nail Balor in the nuts and yank him up for a powerbomb that ends things.

He had to cheat to win, but GUNTHER went through a war to get there. Balor was great here tonight and I was hopeful for him but I guess you have to keep GUNTHER strong. This is the second week in a row with an absolute war of a main event and I really thought the crowd got it’s money’s worth with this. Good stuff all around. 3.75*

Winner – GUNTHER (powerbomb)

Post-match sees a jubilant GUNTHER celebrate in a corner as the credits roll, and we are out of time.

The second hour was all gas, no brakes, yadddddaamean? Flair-Jayne and GUNTHER-Balor are must-watches from this show and everything else leading up to them was decent enough. We got our Women’s War Games teams lined up with perhaps another babyface to come, and some direction was given with both the Men’s and Women’s world titles. Going back to Owens is a really safe choice but I’m suspecting this will be a short feud and we’ll see some other faces in Zayn’s orbit soon enough. No major complaints with tonight, let’s keep this run going to the inevitable slog of three hour shows returns in six weeks or so.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your weekend!