We are less than a week away from WWE Night of Champions on Saturday, June 27th, 2026, and last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown finally gave the premium live event the championship weight it needed. This was not a perfect show, and at times WWE got in its own way by adding extra layers to … Read more
Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown feels less like a normal weekly stop on the road to Night of Champions and more like a loaded checkpoint where several major directions can either lock into place or completely fall apart. Cody Rhodes defending the Undisputed WWE Championship against Gunther would already be big enough on its own, … Read more
WWE Friday Night SmackDown returned to the United States after its European tour with a three-hour episode from Providence, Rhode Island that was effective when it slowed down and allowed its strongest stories to breathe, but noticeably less impressive whenever it tried to force too many ideas into the same match or segment. Charlotte Flair … Read more
WWE Friday Night SmackDown remained in Italy today as the blue brand took over the Unipol Arena in Bologna for the first episode following Clash In Italy. The three-hour show streamed live internationally on Netflix at 2 p.m. EST before its scheduled tape-delayed airing in the United States on the USA Network at 8 p.m. … Read more
Last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown from Columbia, South Carolina felt different because I was not just watching it through a screen. I was inside Colonial Life Arena, surrounded by a loud crowd that stayed active for almost the entire three-hour experience, from the pre-show action to the Main Event taping to SmackDown itself. The … Read more
Last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown was a busy, important and uneven stop on the road to Backlash — the kind of episode where WWE moved a lot of pieces forward, but also exposed some of the same creative habits that keep holding the product back. Cody Rhodes returned to the ring, Ricky Saints made … Read more
The SmackDown After Mania should have felt like a reset. Instead, it felt like a company trying to convince itself it had momentum while terrible WWE release news hung over the entire night. As mentioned in my LNC Wrestling article on the WWE releases, that news broke right before SmackDown went on the air last … Read more
WWE had three hours, the WrestleMania stage, a loaded roster, and one final chance to make the blue brand feel essential heading into the biggest weekend of the year. Instead, last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown felt like a show that kept teasing urgency without ever fully committing to it. Randy Orton finally delivered the … Read more
Two weeks before WrestleMania 42, last night’s SmackDown should have been about tightening the blue brand’s biggest stories, raising the stakes, and making the road to WrestleMania feel urgent. Instead, it often felt like a show working against itself. The headline angle gave Randy Orton’s mystery caller reveal to Pat McAfee, who low-blowed Cody Rhodes … Read more
Last night’s SmackDown was a show that spent most of its two hours flirting with frustration before finally finding its bite. For long stretches, this was a serviceable WrestleMania build built on shaky character logic, rushed contender decisions, and storylines that too often feel like they are moving in circles instead of building with purpose. … Read more
