Two more names advanced to the quarter-final round of The Last Time is Now tournament on Friday night’s episode of Smackdown.
Jey Uso and LA Knight scored wins at the MVP Arena in Albany, New York this weekend, putting them just three victories away from becoming John Cena’s retirement opponent later this year.
Knight faced off against a shocking opponent, as he met Zack Ryder in his first main roster WWE match since 2020.
Ryder has become a big name on the independent scene under the moniker Matt Cardona over the past half-decade. Through his association with TNA Wrestling, which currently has a working relationship with NXT, Cardona has started to reappear infrequently on WWE programming this year.
Cardona appeared in numerous NXT angles earlier this year and worked a match on the Tuesday night program against Josh Briggs last month. However, he can now say he has wrestled on proper main roster WWE TV for the first time in quite a while.
Nonetheless, Ryder won’t be Cena’s last opponent. Appearing in his home state of New York, Ryder had a Rough Ryder off the middle rope countered into a powerbomb by Knight. The move was followed up by a BFT from Knight, earning him the pinfall victory in eight minutes.
Earlier in the night, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso got past The Miz in a 10-minute match.
Surviving a Skull-Crushing Finale, Uso rallied back into the match with a spear and then an Uso Splash off the top, earning him the pinfall. The result was a bounce-back performance for Uso, who earned his first win since losing a title match against CM Punk at Saturday Night’s Main Event earlier this month.
We’re still quite some time away from finding out who will face Cena. The opening round of the tournament will wrap up next week with more matchups on Raw and Smackdown before we move on to the round of eight. Here’s what has happened and what’s left:
- Rusev def. Damian Priest (11/10/25, Raw)
- Sheamus def. Shinsuke Nakamura (11/10/25, Raw)
- Jey Uso def. The Miz (11/14/25, Smackdown)
- LA Knight def. Zack Ryder (11/14/25, Smackdown)
- Je’Von Evans vs. Gunther (11/17/25, Raw)
- Solo Sikoa vs. TBA (11/17/25, Raw)
- Carmelo Hayes vs. Bronson Reed (11/21/25, Smackdown)
- Penta vs. Finn Balor (11/21/25, Smackdown)
