WWE SmackDown 3/20 Live Results: Priest & Truth win tag titles

March 20, 2026 John Kleinchester NEWS, RECOMMENDED, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: WWE

March 20, 2026
Lenovo Center – Raleigh, NC

By: John Kleinchester

WWE SmackDown Results

  • Tag Team Championship: Damian Priest & R-Truth over JC Mateo & Tama Tonga via AA in 8:42
  • Motor City Machine Guns over Fraxiom via Roll-Up in 8:01
  • Aleister Black over Sami Zayn via Black Mass in 9:31

 

Vehicular Incident

Friday Night SmackDown from Raleigh kicked off with Jelly Roll arriving at the arena and seeing WWE officials running by him. It was revealed that Drew McIntyre had T-boned Jacob Fatu’s car with his own. McIntyre pulled Fatu out of the car through the windshield and left him bloodied.

McIntyre then appeared in the arena, quickly followed by Nick Aldis. McIntyre said that Nick Aldis’ son, Donovan, should be ashamed of having such a corporate stooge as a father. Fatu then emerged, and the two brawled at ringside. Fatu put Drew on the announce table and hit a diving splash on him off the barricade before heading to the back. 

Tag Team Championship

The first match of the night saw Damian Priest teaming with (newly bald) R-Truth to take on Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga and JC Mateo. It was noted that “an element of the Freebird rule” was being used as Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga, who had actually won the titles. Early in the match, Talla Tonga got involved behind the referee’s back, giving the Champions the advantage as the match went to commercial. Upon return, things built to a hot tag to R-Truth, who promptly utilized most of John Cena’s moveset. Truth applied the STF to JC Mateo, but the MFTs got involved again, nearly pinning Truth. The Wyatts then appeared, and a brawl ensued. Truth hit the AA on Mateo and got the pinfall. Truth and Priest are the new WWE Tag Team Champions. 

The Bella Twins were interviewed backstage, saying they were going to beat Nia Jax and Lash Legend for the Tag titles later tonight. They were interrupted by Charlotte and Alexa Bliss, who were annoyed that the Bellas “jumped the line” and wanted the winners. 

Johnny Gargano was planking on a crate backstage when Candice asked Danhausen to help. Danhausen asked for $20 and then disappeared. The Motor City Machine Guns walked by on their way to their match with Fraxiom. 

Sami Zayn was asked about Randy Orton’s attack on Cody Rhodes last week, and said that the more he tries to do the right thing, the more things go wrong. Trick Williams interrupted and insulted Sami, who challenged Trick to a match. Trick said he would watch Sami’s match against Aleister Black and give him some pointers. 

Fraxiom vs. MCMG

The next match featured Nathan Frazer and Axiom taking on Motor City Machine Guns. The momentum swung back and forth between the two face teams, with each team hitting high-speed moves on the other. Candice LeRae appeared in the entranceway midway through the match. LeRae then nailed Frazer behind both the referee’s and Chris Sabin’s back, allowing them to get the roll-up pinfall victory. 

The Orton Explanation

Randy Orton was out next in a still-bloody shirt from last week to explain his actions against Cody Rhodes. Orton said that Cody changed everything by saying he needed Orton to “listen to the voices” and he needed the killer instinct to achieve his fifteenth World Championship. Orton said the voices in his head talk to him and tell him he’s going to beat Cody for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. 

Afterward, Orton was backstage and walked by Los Garza and Fenix before finding Apollo Crews and Matt Cardona. Crews walked off. Cardona asked what Orton was thinking, and Orton freaked out, calling Matt a “mark-ass stooge” and “indy nerd”. Orton cold-cocked Cardona and told him to stay out of his business. 

Aleister Black vs. Sami Zayn

Next on the night was Aleister Black taking on Sami Zayn. Trick Williams came down to watch the match before the bell rang. Zayn was continually distracted by Williams throughout the match, allowing Black to maintain control. Zayn finally got some momentum but was booed by the crowd. Sami then pushed Williams’ Lemon Peppa Steppas off the announce table and Williams responded by throwing a drink at Sami. Zayn attacked Williams and got caught with the Black Mass (which really caught Sami hard) upon returning to the ring, allowing Black to get the pinfall victory. 

Matt Cardona was begging Nick Aldis for a match with Randy Orton, but Aldis said no. Carmelo Hayes appeared and asked why the “Open Challenge” was closed. Aldis said that someone had a compelling reason to be next in line. Ilja Dragunov appeared and revealed himself as his opponent. Hayes said, “Tonight, for one of us, it’ll be Champagne. For the other, it’ll be just pain”. Groan. 

 

 

About John Kleinchester 308 Articles
John Kleinchester is a New Jersey–based wrestling reporter, primarily covering WWE and AEW. He can be reached at [email protected].
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