WWE Friday Night SmackDown makes the final stop before Money in the Bank tonight, with CM Punk returning and Fatal Influence defending the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship against Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley. All twelve ladder-match entrants are advertised for Lafayette after Kevin Owens and Tiffany Stratton completed the fields last week. Punk now shares his championship route with Owens, while Charlotte and Tatum chase titles held by a team they have already beaten. Meanwhile, Randy Orton has cost Cody Rhodes another opportunity, and Sami Zayn has heard several contenders identify his championship as their next target. Money in the Bank is tomorrow. Tonight could change the tag title picture before the briefcases are decided in New Orleans.
SmackDown airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET on USA Network from the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Here is everything advertised for tonight’s show
● CM Punk returns
● WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Fatal Influence vs Charlotte Flair & Tatum Paxley (WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship)
● All six men’s and all six women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match participants appear
The title defense is the match currently confirmed for tonight. The ladder-match entrants are advertised to appear.
CM Punk Returns to SmackDown With Kevin Owens in the Same Ladder Match
Punk returns to SmackDown sharing a ladder match with Owens, who defeated Cody Rhodes and Johnny Gargano for the final spot last week. Punk qualified on September 25 by taking the pin after Finn Bálor’s Coup de Grace on Gunther. Both capitalized when another wrestler created an opening. Tomorrow gives them the same opportunity—unless their own dispute distracts them.
Nick Aldis warned them to stop sabotaging one another on the September 25 SmackDown. Punk agreed to stay out of Owens’ way if Owens reciprocated. Owens offered no matching reassurance. Tonight brings them together with both places secured, and tomorrow gives either man a chance to settle that argument at the other’s expense.
Bron Breakker, Je’Von Evans, Penta and United States Champion Trick Williams can benefit from that distraction. Evans and Penta beat The Vision on RAW when Evans turned the attempted brass-knuckles interference against Austin Theory and pinned him. Breakker avoided the fall, and Evans’ cooperation with Penta ends when either can reach the contract.
Last week, Trick reminded Sami Zayn that he had beaten him before. Evans challenged the idea that he must endure Sami’s twenty-year struggle before becoming champion. Penta identified either Sami or Roman Reigns as a cash-in target.
The Denver crowd responded to Evans and Penta, and their trash talk with Trick continued in the post-show social clips. Tonight’s SmackDown puts those ambitions in front of Punk, Owens and Breakker.
Sami demanded respect for surviving his setbacks, then dismissed the men explaining how they would beat him. Bálor subsequently struck him, and Gunther attacked both men before throwing them into the ladders. Gunther also roughed up Danhausen backstage, but his championship ambitions remain the significant issue.
Sami has no defense on tomorrow’s card, but the contract holder can choose an opportunity without his approval. SmackDown has already shown why a champion with so many enemies would fear that possibility.
Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley Challenge Fatal Influence With Trust Still Missing
Charlotte and Tatum’s challenge follows their September 4 win over Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid. Alexa Bliss stopped Jacy Jayne at ringside, Charlotte helped create the opening, and Tatum pinned Reid with the Cemetery Drive.
Last week’s SmackDown made their partnership harder to trust. Charlotte announced the title match after Tatum lost her qualifier, gave her a hat and hugged Alexa. Tatum wanted the same affection and did not receive it. Tiffany had pinned Candice LeRae, so Tatum had not even taken the deciding fall before being treated as the outsider again.
That is a strange way to treat the woman who pinned one of tonight’s champions. Charlotte’s experience can help Tatum through this match. Her condescension can give Fatal Influence an opening.
Henley and Reid can exploit that hesitation. Fatal Influence has also promised to take all the gold, with Women’s United States Champion Jacy Jayne pursuing the briefcase tomorrow. Losing tonight would cost Henley and Reid their titles before Jayne gets that chance.
SmackDown has a title defense with proven challengers and a weakness the champions can attack. The briefcases should not overshadow it.
Tiffany Stratton’s Briefcase Chase Complicates Her Friendship With Chelsea Green
Tiffany enters tonight’s SmackDown after finishing last week’s competitive qualifier with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever and pinning Candice. Tatum’s offense and Candice’s attempts to steal the victory kept her working. Tomorrow adds Lash Legend’s power and three RAW entrants to that challenge.
Chelsea Green celebrated Tiffany’s qualification until Lash interrupted and identified Chelsea’s WWE Women’s Championship as her target. Chelsea understood the threat from Lash. Tiffany winning would give her the same choice.
Their friendship makes tonight’s interaction worth watching. Chelsea’s support does not answer which championship Tiffany would pursue with the contract. Lash has stated her intentions; Tiffany has an awkward conversation waiting if she identifies the same target.
Roxanne Perez arrives after pinning Lola Vice on RAW when Vice’s spinning backfist accidentally struck Sol Ruca. Perez capitalized immediately. Ruca and Vice enter SmackDown having paid for cooperation that offers neither protection tomorrow.
Jayne brings championship status, Lash brings power, Ruca has the aerial advantage, and Vice can stop a climb with a strike. Perez has just demonstrated how quickly she can exploit a mistake. Tiffany’s previous briefcase win makes her credible, but repeating it would require a stronger justification than familiarity. Tonight lets the other five challenge her claim.
Randy Orton Keeps Taking Opportunities Away From Cody Rhodes
Cody and Orton have no match announced for tonight’s SmackDown. Their feud still left the biggest unresolved issue in last week’s main event.
Orton pulled the referee out after Cody hit Owens with Cross Rhodes. Cody fought him outside and lined up the punt before Gargano stopped him with a dive. Owens eventually pinned Gargano after the Pop-up Powerbomb while Orton held Cody’s legs to prevent the save.
Orton cost Cody the match while getting him to spend another championship opportunity trying to prove he has a killer instinct. Another promise to punt Orton would accomplish little. Randy has heard it and keeps making Cody’s anger useful to him.
The crowd supported Cody, gave Randy some cheers and appreciated the closing action. Cody still left without the opportunity he wanted. If they confront each other tonight, Cody has reason to demand another match with Orton. Pursuing qualifiers while Randy remains free to interfere has already cost him.
Gargano also lost after Sami said Aldis had threatened consequences for interfering and offered encouragement instead. Johnny nearly pinned Owens with One Final Beat. His wrestling supplied a better argument for a championship opportunity than Sami’s promises have.
Ricky Saints Has Beaten a Champion, and Giulia Wants Revenge
Ricky Saints pinned AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix when he and The War Raiders defeated Fenix and Fraxiom. Saints made a blind tag, waited for Fenix to finish dealing with Ivar and caught him with Rochambeau.
That gives Saints an argument for a championship match, even with Fenix also pursuing the Intercontinental Championship on RAW. The War Raiders’ warning to The MFTs and The MFTs’ warning to Bakusai kept the tag division’s next opponents in view.
Blake Monroe finally wrestled on SmackDown and beat Giulia by clipping her legs and sending her face-first into the post. The abrupt finish established less of Monroe’s offense than the long-delayed debut warranted. Giulia attacked her afterward in the digital follow-up, so Monroe’s debut victory has settled little between them.
Damian Priest’s New York vignette described hurting R-Truth as personal, while Paige confronted and slapped Nikki Bella ahead of their October 16 match in Sacramento. Those issues remain available for SmackDown to advance alongside tonight’s advertised lineup.
Money in the Bank Is Tomorrow, and the Championship Matches Are Set
Roman Reigns faces LA Knight tomorrow after their confrontation on RAW. Knight previously laid him out with the BFT following Roman’s September defense against Penta. Tomorrow tests whether he can beat the champion when Roman is ready for him.
Stephanie Vaquer demanded both Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan after their contender’s match ended without a winner. Vaquer can now lose her title without taking the fall. Morgan’s opportunity also gives Perez’s briefcase pursuit a potential complication within The Judgment Day.
Oba Femi and Bronson Reed complete the card. Paul Heyman’s anxious warning on RAW made Oba’s threat personal for Reed. Both ladder fields are also complete, leaving tonight’s SmackDown to address the opponents who have already qualified.
Current and Updated WWE Money in the Bank 2026 Match Card
Money in the Bank takes place tomorrow, Saturday, October 10, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. The PLE begins at 6 p.m. ET on the ESPN App with an ESPN Unlimited plan in the United States.
● World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns vs LA Knight (World Heavyweight Championship)
● Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer vs Becky Lynch vs Liv Morgan (Women’s World Championship Triple Threat Match)
● World Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker vs Je’Von Evans vs United States Champion Trick Williams vs Penta vs CM Punk vs Kevin Owens (Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match)
● Sol Ruca vs Lola Vice vs Women’s United States Champion Jacy Jayne vs Roxanne Perez vs Lash Legend vs Tiffany Stratton (Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match)
● Oba Femi vs Bronson Reed
Final Thoughts
Charlotte and Tatum have already beaten Fatal Influence. Tonight puts championships behind that result and tests a partnership Charlotte has made unnecessarily awkward.
Punk and Owens have unfinished business in a field that can punish their distraction. Tiffany’s friendship with Chelsea becomes more complicated if she wins another contract.
The tag title defense can also change the division before tomorrow. SmackDown should give it the attention a championship match deserves, even with two briefcases waiting in New Orleans.
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