Results
- Alexa Bliss def. Bayley (10:06)
- Royce Keys def. Berto (2:49)
- Jacob Fatu def. Tama Tonga (8:08)
- Trick Williams def. Matt Cardona (13:26)
- Danhausen def. Kit Wilson (2:59)
- Jade Cargill def. IYO SKY (9:10)
Smackdown GM says McAfee is protected, can’t be touched tonight
This week’s episode of WWE Friday Night Smackdown, the second-last show before Wrestlemania goes down, took place from the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Tonight’s show got started with Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes showing up at the venue’s parking lot and asking Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis where Pat McAfee is.
McAfee, who shockingly attacked Rhodes and aligned with Wrestlemania opponent Randy Orton last week, wasn’t at the venue yet, per Aldis. While he’s expected to arrive later in the night, Aldis pleaded with Rhodes to “not engage” with McAfee.
“It’s coming from above me, Cody. You know what that means,” Aldis said about the demand to leave McAfee alone. Jelly Roll, an ally of Rhodes, showed up and similarly asked where McAfee was and was also told not to engage.
Jelly roll gave Rhodes a quick pep-talk before walking away: “You’re fighting for something bigger than you this time,” Roll said. “This ain’t just your story. Chew on that, champ.”
IYO SKY gets main event spot on Smackdown
We went to the ring, where Rhea Ripley came out for a quick chat. She was in a bad mood after Wrestlemania opponent Jade Cargill attacked Ripley’s close ally IYO SKY with a brutal beatdown on Monday Night Raw.
Pacing back and forth in the ring, Ripley said Cargill made their feud “real personal” by attacking SKY on Monday. She made her comments quick, calling out Cargill for a fight tonight. It wasn’t Cargill who answered the challenge, but instead the aforementioned SKY.
Dressed in her ring gear, SKY slowly made her way to the ring. She was still selling the damage she took earlier this week from Cargill, holding her ribcage at times.
“What are you doing out here?” Ripley said.
“I know you are angry, Rhea,” SKY said. “So am I. Jade attacked me. I know you will get Jade at Wrestlemania. But, I want to face her tonight.”
Ripley, worried about SKY still wearing the damage from earlier in the week, asked if this is truly what she wants. SKY enthusiastically repeated that she wants Cargill tonight.
Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis said that, while he had something else in mind for tonight, he liked SKY’s idea and will book her in the main event against Cargill for this evening’s show. Finally, we actually have a full match announced for tonight’s show.
It was confirmed moments later that we’ll also see Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley tonight.
With help from Charlotte, Alexa Bliss scores pin over Bayley
The first match of the night saw Bayley go one-on-one with Alexa Bliss. These two will be part of a massive four-way women’s tag team championship match as part of Wrestlemania next weekend.
Bayley was on a roll as the show went into a break after coming through the ropes with a dropkick to the outside. Bliss was gaining some steam as the show returned, unloading with a series of chops then a dropkick to Bayley.
In a nod to her tag partner Charlotte Flair, Bliss scored a Natural Selection of her own for a two-count. Bayley dodged a move from Bliss then scored a Sunset Flip into a set of turnbuckles in the corner to also get a near fall.
A top rope move from Bayley was prevented by Bliss, who draped her upside-down in a corner of the ring for a shotgun dropkick. Bliss came out of the corner with a DDT, but fully landed on her feet and stopped before starting the DDT motion, which kind of made the top-rope part of the move irrelevant.
Bayley countered a Sister Abigail attempt from Bliss into a Bayley-to-Belly. She wasn’t able to capitalize with an immediate pin attempt due to fatigue. Bayley connected with a top-rope elbow drop, but Bliss just barely stayed alive with a kickout.
To mock Flair, who was at ringside, Bayley chopped Bliss, wooed, then did the iconic Flair strut. Flair and Bayley started to get in eachother’s faces. Here we go, the inevitable distraction spot that we knew was going to make all of the wrestling that came before it irrelevant. Flair tossed her jacket at Bayley, a distraction which allowed Bliss to roll her up for the pinfall victory in 10 minutes. Not a good match paired with a lazy finish.
Backstage, Trick Williams and Lil Yatchy mocked Carmelo Hayes for losing against Sami Zayn last week. A frustrated Hayes said he hopes Williams takes the U.S. title off Zayn at Mania: “I’m coming for you and taking my title back,” he said.
Matt Cardona, who was in the room, voiced his distaste for Lil Yatchy being one of the many non-wrestlers on WWE programming as of late. “I’m sick of these guests running their mouths like they own the place,” he said.
Yachty said that Williams is willing to Whoop that Trick on Cardona tonight. While Williams didn’t seem like he actually wanted to wrestle, Cardona liked the idea and said he’s ready for that match.
Drew McIntyre says he will destroy ‘convict’ Jacob Fatu at Mania
In a pre-taped video package taped inside a prison cell, Drew McIntyre cut a promo about how Wrestlemania opponent Jacob Fatu is a criminal who has endangered his family. “You’re not an inspiration,” he said. “This cell represents who you are and who you’ve always been: A convict. You talk about me taking food off your family’s table. Look in the mirror, man.”
McIntyre vowed that he will beat Fatu within an inch of his life at Mania. “At Wrestlemania, Jacob, I’m going to be your judge. I’m going to be your jury. At Wrestlemania, Jacob, I’m going to be your damn executioner.”
Fatu was immediately interviewed backstage after this video aired. A promo from Fatu was quickly cut off by Solo Sikoa, who appeared backstage with the rest of the MFTs. Sikoa said that McIntyre bringing up Fatu’s past makes their entire family look bad. A frustrated Fatu said he’s willing to fight Sikoa tonight if there’s a problem.
Sikoa instead enlisted Tama Tonga to do his bidding in a match tonight with Fatu. “You know what it is,” Tonga said to Sikoa after stepping forward.
Royce Keys wins Smackdown debut
The next match saw former AEW star Royce Keys make his Smackdown debut. The former Powerhouse Hobbs made his WWE debut as part of the 2026 men’s Royal Rumble, but hadn’t been on weekly TV prior to this point. His first singles WWE match came up against one-half of Los Garza, Berto.
Keys floored Berto with a hard clothesline in the first minute. He picked him up for an impressive powerslam, then looked for a move in the corner. Berto rolled out of the ring for a breather. Los Garza teammate Angel distracted Keys at ringside, allowing Berto to shove him head-first into the ring post. Interesting, we’re going to get some struggle in this debut!
Keys ate a dropkick out of the corner from Berto, but that’s the end of the Los Garza wrestler’s success in the match. Keys caught Berto for a fallaway slam, hit a running powerslam, a splash in the corner, then a huge spinebuster for the pinfall win in just under three minutes.
It’s unclear what they plan to actually do with Keys (for the first two months, the answer was: Nothing), so it’s hard to tell how this WWE run will actually go. But this was a strong debut showcase for him.
Backstage after his win, Keys said in an interview that it meant a lot to have his debut in front of his Bay Area supporters. This interview was crashed by Solo Sikoa, who told Keys that “if there’s anything that you need … My door is always open.”
Pat McAfee sounds off on Cody Rhodes, CM Punk in second heel promo
We saw Pat McAfee pull up outside the SAP Center in his SUV. He got out and, in an accent to mock GM Nick Aldis, asked if word had gotten out that nobody can touch him. Aldis, trying to mask his dislike for McAfee, said that everyone had been informed.
McAfee was checked by Jelly Roll, who grabbed the heel character’s collar and asked why he got involved in Cody Rhodes’ feud. Aldis, aware that he was meant to protect McAfee from everyone else tonight, got between these two. McAfee called Roll an “outsider” in the wrestling business and asked for management to get the “ex-convict” away from him.
McAfee came to the ring for the next segment. He received a loud booing reaction from the SAP Center, which caused him to flip off the fans. The broadcast tried to censor McAfee’s middle fingers, but he did it repeatedly and it was hard to avoid.
“San Jose, what a s***hole,” McAfee said. “It’s crazy that you boo me, I’m the hero in this entire thing.”
McAfee addressed CM Punk calling him “MAGAFee” on Monday Night Raw:
“It was hard for me to get past the fact that he was wearing a WWE officially licensed CM Punk jacket. Underneath that was a WWE officially licensed t-shirt from WWEShop.com. He’s got 283 things for sale to all of you. And I wonder to myself, when that TKO merch check comes through, which account does it go to? Does it go to the ‘needy wrestling families that can’t afford Wrestlemania tickets,’ or … I have a sneaky suspicion that money from the TKO merch account goes right into the bank account titled ‘I’m sorry Saudi Arabia.’ He’s a fraud.”
McAfee said that Punk “rolls over like the little b**** that he is” when in meetings with TKO. He kept talking about Punk more and more. Remember: McAfee isn’t even involved in his Mania program.
McAfee said, in reference to Punk’s complaint about Mania tickets being too high, that he reached out to the event’s top sponsor, RAM Trucks, and struck an agreement to do 25 percent discount on tickets for the event from now until Monday Night Raw. This part of the promo was basically an ad read.
This promo was eventually interrupted by Cody Rhodes. “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and just say, I don’t think you belong here,” the champ said. Rhodes namedropped WWE merch supplier Fanatics (it’s beyond cheesy when all these partners get namedropped, it’s like when you see someone take a not-so-subtle swig of a drink on a soap opera), saying he can give McAfee a replica title to live out his superstar dream, then he can leave the show.
Rhodes called McAfee a “play wrestler.” He defended the fans that McAfee referred to as “marks” last week, saying they are the people who keep wrestling alive. “They are not customers to me, they are family.”
Rhodes says McAfee has a gift; he has made the entire fandom agree on one thing: “They want to see Randy Orton, and they do not want to see Pat McAfee. Go home, Pat.”
“I am home, you dipshit,” McAfee said. He claimed he was born to be in this business, while “fakest dude on earth” Rhodes was born into it.
McAfee made a promise: If Orton loses at Mania, he will never appear in the wrestling business “ever again.”
Rhodes mocked how McAfee took a break from the industry last year because he was “tired,” and said he’d like to see Gunther choke him out again. Rhodes was on his way out, but McAfee tried to lure him back in by saying he sucks “Triple H’s ass.”
Just as Rhodes was about to get back into the ring, Orton appeared on the titantron. Orton revealed that he laid out Jelly Roll backstage: “I think you need to come get your boy. Hold on, on second thought, Cody, I’m going to bring your boy to you.”
Rhodes dragged a hurt Jelly Roll onto the stage before running away. McAfee got in the face of Rhodes, allowing Orton to return and attack his Wrestlemania opponent. This beatdown ended with Rhodes taking a draping DDT from Orton.
After McAfee cut a critically panned promo last week, this one was just as bad. His promo was trying to be anti-corporate (This year’s Wrestlemania sucks, WWE has problematic ties to Donald Trump & Saudi Arabia, CM Punk’s real life personality goes completely against his on-screen character), but was painfully corporate at the same time (I’ve partnered with RAM Trucks, Punk’s merch is available on WWEShop.com, you can get Wrestlemania tickets at a discounted price from now until Monday, 10:30 p.m. EDT). It was contradictory, messy, and all just a means to get some cheap heat – a lot of what made last week’s segment so bad.
Rhodes’ retort was strong and, for a moment, made this storyline almost make sense. But, it wasn’t enough to save this trainwreck.
After the break, McAfee left the venue alongside Orton with Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship over his shoulder. “Hey IWC and wrestling fans, ‘Marks’ if you will, you’re welcome,” McAfee said before driving away.
Drew McIntyre mercilessly beats up Jacob Fatu
The Miz and Kit Wilson approached GM Nick Aldis about the sketchy refereeing in last week’s tag title match. Aldis said he can’t blame the ref for not being able to count to three, as he was cursed by Danhausen. In an attempt to try and solve things, Aldis said Wilson will meet Danhausen in the ring later tonight. Wilson didn’t like this, as he’s worried he might be the next one to get cursed.
In a matchup booked earlier in the night, Tama Tonga went one-on-one with Jacob Fatu next. Fatu connected with a vicious tope suicida as the show went to commercials.
After the show returned, Tonga escaped a pop-up Samoan Drop and countered it into a Blade Runner for a near fall. A Cutthroat attempt from Tonga was blocked by a superkick from Fatu.
Fatu finished off the match with a pop-up Samoan Drop then a moonsault off the top rope for the pinfall win eight minutes. A solid showcase match for Fatu ahead of his Mania match.
Fatu got on the mic for a post-match interview but was stopped by Drew McIntyre, who snuck into the ring and attacked him. Fatu started to fight back but was laid out by a huge Claymore Kick from McIntyre. They went to ringside, where McIntyre blasted Fatu over the back with a steel chair, then hit a Future Shock DDT onto the floor.
McIntyre, always one to take things too far, handcuffed Fatu to a ringpost then kicked him in the head. It looked like something legitimately opened up a cut on Fatu’s head prior to the handcuff spot.
McIntyre asked Fatu how it feels to be back in chains like he should be. Fatu tried to fight back with a headbutt, but was knocked out with a series of kicks and punches right after. Back into the ring, McIntyre landed a second Claymore Kick. He then took off his belt and whipped Fatu numerous times. I get that they wanted to show McIntyre go overboard, but this went comically long.
Sami Zayn, Trick Williams exchange words
R-Truth explained in a backstage segment how U.S. viewers can watch Wrestlemania via ESPN Unlimited. This was interrupted by an enraged Rhea Ripley, who laid out Jade Cargill ally B-Fab. “One down, one to go,” she said.
WWE United States Champion Sami Zayn came to the ring for a promo in the next segment. He acknowledged that fans were booing him: “Okay, interesting reaction.”
Zayn said that he has always tried to do something above and beyond for fans, and that despite the boos, he knows he’s still doing what he does for someone out there. “I will never betray myself, because that would be betraying you,” he said to his loyal supporters.
Zayn asked the booing attendees what he actually did wrong, then changed his mind. “I actually don’t care. The moment I realize that my fans … have my back no matter what? Man, the pressure’s off.”
The lights went out and the music of Trick Williams hit. Williams, joined by Lil Yatchy, arrived on-scene.
“I think the people are tired of hearing Sami Zayn talk,” Williams said. He threw a few insults on Zayn with Yatchy running adlibs.
Zayn warned Williams that he could say all the insults that he wants, but he has to “walk the walk” at Mania when he gets dragged into deep waters.
Trick Williams gets win despite commotion at ringside
Trick Williams stayed in the ring for the next segment, as he was scheduled to take on Matt Cardona. This match got started during commercials. Cardona was on a roll briefly early on, but lost his momentum after Williams tripped him up in the turnbuckles, causing him to have a rough landing on the canvas.
Cardona was seemingly closing in on a finish at the 11-minute mark, scoring a boot in the corner then an UnprettyHer for a two-count. He tried for a Rough Ryder, but Williams avoided the move. Williams dropped Cardona with a ZigZag for a near fall of his own.
The fight went to ringside, where Williams went face-to-face again with Mania opponent Sami Zayn. Williams caught Zayn off guard with a shove. Zayn hopped on the ring apron but was pulled off by Lil Yachty. Zayn responded by dropping Yachty with a Helluva Kick. This distraction allowed Cardona to try for a roll-up pin, but he only got a two. Williams came running off the ropes and connected with a Trickshot for the victory in 13 minutes.
Danhausen curses, beats Kit Wilson
Danhausen made his in-ring WWE debut in the next segment, going one-on-one with Kit Wilson, a matchup booked by Nick Aldis earlier in the night.
Wilson climbed to the top rope for an elbow drop at the two-minute mark of the match, but Danhausen prevented the move by cursing him. Right after Danhausen cursed Wilson, a pyrotechnic of some sort fired at Wilson.
Wilson fell from the top rope, then Danhausen put him away with a switch kick to the head, earning him the pin in just under three minutes.
Wilson ally The Miz snuck into the ring and attempted to attack Danhausen. But, just as Miz was about to put his hands on Danhausen, the lights went out and he fled the ring.
Backstage, Jade Cargill found Michin laid out after an attack from Rhea Ripley.
Here’s what was announced for next week’s Smackdown:
- Andre the Giant Battle Royal
- Wyatt Sicks vs. MFT (Eight-man Street Fight)
They also announced that Raw and Smackdown wrestlers will appear live, but that kinda seems redundant.
Jade Cargill overcomes IYO SKY clean, Rhea Ripley prevents post-match attack
Backstage, IYO SKY asked Rhea Ripley to stay backstage during tonight’s main event: “No distractions.” Ripley agreed, as long as SKY leaves some of Jade Cargill for her to handle at Wrestlemania next weekend.
The main event of the night, as booked in the opening segment of the night, saw IYO SKY go one-on-one with defending champ Jade Cargill in a non-title match.
SKY had a hot start to the match, running off the ropes to catch Cargill with a dropkick. She came off the ropes for another move, but was dropped by a shoulder tackle from Cargill.
SKY knocked Cargill out of the ring then tried to follow up with a tope suicida, but Cargill caught her coming through the ropes with a forearm just before the show went to its final break.
A comeback was afoot for SKY as the show returned. A series of moves was capped off by a top-rope dropkick, which sent Cargill flying across the ring. SKY landed a meteora in the corner. She tried for an Over The Moonsault, but Cargill was able to prevent the move by picking SKY up.
SKY was able to counter a Military Press from Cargill into a rear naked choke. Cargill got SKY off her back then tried for a pump kick, but SKY dodged the move. A kick from SKY was reversed into a Blue Thunder Bomb from Cargill for a near fall.
A chokeslam from Cargill was reversed by SKY, who got the champ onto the mat then connected with a double-stomp to the chest. The fight went to ringside, where SKY scored a springboard moonsault. Cargill countered a move at ringside from SKY, sending her face-first into steel steps. Back in the ring, Cargill scored a pump kick then connected with Jaded to beat SKY clean. Wow, I wasn’t expecting that. Given the rumors of a SKY match coming up with Asuka, I was expecting some sort of interference here, not a clean win for Cargill.
Cargill took a steel chair from ringside after her win, looking to inflict further damage to SKY. But in for the save was Rhea Ripley, who caused Cargill to back down as the show came to an end. Worth noting that this show went a couple of minutes over, which is incredibly rare for Smackdown.
Final thoughts
Man, I have to admit, it was hard to find positives about this week’s Smackdown. Even aside from the Pat McAfee program, which I’ve said my piece about, a lot of the action didn’t grip me. Heading into Wrestlemania, it feels like almost all of the interesting rivalries have come from Raw, while Smackdown has been the worst, and unfortunately, much longer and harder to consume program each week.
