Strange
Rumors surfaced today that “WWE SmackDown” will return to its three-hour format in 2026. Watch the beginning of this show to see just one reason why it will be a tremendously horrible idea.
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I’ll do whatever you want, Triple H. I’m begging you. Don’t do this to us.
OK. That specific note aside, I will say that the opening of the show was better than I expected, but it was still strangely awkward. Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky headed to the ring to address their WarGames rinse and repeat match that Ripley kicked off last Monday on “Raw.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but we had literally seen the same thing before, specifically with Ripley at the helm, calling out the match.
“Rhiyo” couldn’t have been happier to be there and form this team that really made no more sense than having common enemies. Specifically, it was a historic moment between Ripley and Charlotte Flair, with the latter and Alexa Bliss heading to the ring. Fortunately, WWE decided not to ignore the story.
Everyone hugged in the ring except Flair and Ripley, which was a nice, subtle touch until Flair proclaimed that he “can’t do this.” She played up the story with Ripley, saying that they can’t trust each other, noting the depth before she ran away. Meanwhile, Sky acted bewildered in the background, which was really funny because she obviously shouldn’t be surprised.
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However, I’m glad the sanctity of the story is respected here, even though it was an awkward ending to the segment, with Flair simply walking away with the others in the ring.
Later that night, Nia Jax’s team attacked faces backstage, just because. Whatever.
👑 Gem of the Uncrowned Night 👑
An amazing event has occurred, friends. Knight of Los Angeles is back in the win column and advancing in John Cena’s retirement tournament. It’s slowly but surely digging its way out of the ground, although I don’t expect it to last.
Although it shouldn’t have been too surprising since he had a mysterious opponent. But in that mystery opponent, we saw the return to WWE of Matt Cardona, aka Zack Ryder. Although it wasn’t just his real name recently deified in Indy, it’s great to see Ryder’s return, and you could tell he was loving the moment.
These two made a solid combination and fit together quite well. Rough Ryder’s counter to Knight’s botched elbow sold me a ticket, considering how “Megastar” has been booked in recent months. But he finally got the job done with a sweet powerbomb to the BFT.
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We will enjoy the Knight’s victories whenever they happen, and a little surprise is always welcome.
🙄 DQ of the night
I’m not even going to spend much time on this because we’ve seen it countless times. A DQ main event. How original.
Bron Breakker and Logan Paul attacked Cody Rhodes, giving him the victory against Bronson Reed in their WWE Universal Title match. This all occurred after Rhodes couldn’t resist randomly giving Reed a title shot backstage out of a sense of fighting spirit. His constant character trait in doing this. needs to finally cost him the title.
Every member of WarGames outside of CM Punk showed up afterwards to start a fight and align Drew McIntyre on The Vision’s side, which is also illogical. The Paul Heyman story McIntyre shares about his hatred for Bloodline would make you assume this was impossible, if WWE respected its long-term viewers. But all of that was erased from on-screen memory, of course, so who am I kidding?
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👍 FRIDAY NIGHT FIRE 👍
1. Jey Uso (as expected) defeated The Miz with the spear-Uso combo for the pin. The winner doesn’t make me like this, but again, it was expected and they put on a decent match with some solid moments. The Miz even broke John Cena’s five fatal moves as he failed to advance in this retirement tournament.
2. Ilja Dragunov defended her US title against Axiom in another open challenge. This match was another one that one would expect to be as good as it was, but admittedly it felt a little shorter than it could have been to reach the heights of Dragunov’s previous matches.
3. Jade Cargill crushed B-Fab, essentially ripping off Wardlow’s old powerbomb gimmick before hitting Jaded in less than five minutes. This is a case of better late than never, because WWE simply waited to book Cargill like AEW did: a dominant force. It feels funny because it came from a random heel turn, but it’s still effective as it is.
👎 DOWN AND OUT 👎
1. Sami Zayn returned to continue his feud with Solo Sikoa, honestly, for no good reason. It feels like a completely aimless, uninspired, and lazy way to get these wrestlers back on TV, including featuring Motor City Machine Guns, Rey Fenix, and Shinsuke Nakamura. Everyone involved (outside of MFT) is great, but I couldn’t care less about this combination.
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Fortunately, there will be no third A WarGames match has been added to the roster, but there will be a big tag team match before Survivor Series.
2. WWE ruined Cena’s latest retirement tour announcements for two reasons. Reed was never going to take the title from Rhodes in the first place, but announcing his tournament match against Carmello Hayes before the match completely ruined it. The other party? Penta against Finn Bálor.
Seriously, Triple H? After seeing Penta continually fight with The Judgment Day in recent months? Both were mistakes, especially since Hayes will surely continue to reel in the midcard with another loss.
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3. Aleister Black and Zelina cut a promotional vignette about Damian Priest. Cool. So this feud has become one with no end in sight, despite the perfect ending to their Last Man Standing match.
Shuffle. The. List.
👑 “SmackDown” deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for its incredible ability to maintain such boring and peacefully uninteresting levels of intrigue. I give this program a Crown score of: 2/10. 👑