SmackDown has reached the point on the road to WrestleMania 42 where it does not need to introduce its biggest stories anymore. It needs to sharpen them. That is what makes tonight feel important. Last week’s episode was less about delivering a wrestling-heavy spectacle and more about locking in the emotional temperature of the blue brand before WrestleMania. Cody Rhodes finally got his hands on Randy Orton. Sami Zayn shook up the United States Championship picture by taking the title from Carmelo Hayes. Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu crossed another line in a feud that now demands an Unsanctioned Match. Rhea Ripley, meanwhile, was reminded again that her road to Jade Cargill is not just about the champion herself, but about surviving the numbers game surrounding her. Tonight in St. Louis now has a clear mission: make these rivalries feel even more personal, more volatile, and more urgent before WrestleMania 42 arrives.
Here is everything advertised for tonight’s show
- Cody Rhodes looks to spoil Randy Orton’s homecoming on the Road to WrestleMania
- Rhea Ripley responds to back-to-back attacks by Jade Cargill, Michin, and B-Fab
- Fallout on the road to Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre in an Unsanctioned Match at WrestleMania 42
SmackDown’s biggest strength heading into WrestleMania 42 is that its top stories are finally starting to feel personal in the right way. Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton needed that. For weeks, the feud had the history, the legacy, and the built-in emotional stakes, but it still felt like it was waiting for the moment that made it truly dangerous. Last week’s brawl gave it that missing edge. Instead of another polished face-to-face or another careful reminder of their past, WWE let the story turn violent. That was the right call. This feud works best when it feels like a friendship collapsing under the weight of ambition, resentment, and betrayal, not just a title match dressed up with nostalgia.
That is why the reaction to Cody and Orton has been such a mix of praise and criticism. The praise is obvious. The story finally has teeth. The physicality gave the feud urgency, and the chaos at the end of last week’s show made the WrestleMania match feel more alive than it did just a couple of weeks ago. Fans who wanted this rivalry to feel less ceremonial and more hateful got exactly what they were asking for. The criticism, though, has not gone away. WWE is still trying to present Orton as the more dangerous and morally wrong side of the feud, but a lot of fans still do not want to reject him. They want to cheer him. They enjoy the menace, the swagger, and the unpredictability too much. That has created an odd tension in the story, because the booking wants Cody to feel like the emotional center, but parts of the crowd still react to Orton like the bigger attraction. That does not kill the feud, but it does make the alignment less clean than WWE probably wants.
The other major talking point coming out of last week’s SmackDown was Sami Zayn winning the United States Championship from Carmelo Hayes. From a booking standpoint, it is easy to see what WWE was trying to do. Sami needed a clear WrestleMania direction. Trick Williams needed a meaningful spot. The title instantly raised the stakes and made the match feel more important. On paper, it is efficient. It solves multiple problems at once. But it is also the clearest example of SmackDown creative making a move that works structurally while frustrating a noticeable section of the audience emotionally. Carmelo Hayes had been one of SmackDown’s most reliable acts, and dropping the title this close to WrestleMania made it feel like he was sacrificed to make the card fit together more neatly. That is why the reaction has been divided. Some fans like the added importance given to Sami and Trick. Others see it as a momentum-killing move for Carmelo at exactly the wrong time.
If there is one SmackDown feud that feels almost completely locked in, it is Drew McIntyre versus Jacob Fatu. This story has benefited from clarity. It has not needed complicated emotional framing or careful crowd manipulation. It is simply two men trying to destroy each other, and WWE has escalated it in a way that feels earned. Every week, the violence has intensified. Every confrontation has pushed things a little further. By the time the Unsanctioned stipulation became official, it did not feel forced or decorative. It felt necessary. That is the kind of feud WWE has handled best on the blue brand lately: direct, physical, and escalating in a way that makes the WrestleMania stipulation feel like a natural consequence instead of a gimmick.
The women’s title picture is a little more layered. Jade Cargill versus Rhea Ripley is still a marquee attraction on star power alone, and that part of the match sells itself. But the television build has made it clear that this is not just champion versus challenger anymore. Jade is not standing alone, and Ripley is not walking into WrestleMania with a clean path. The repeated attacks involving Michin and B-Fab have added a numbers-game element that gives Ripley a stronger uphill battle and makes her feel less like a straightforward powerhouse challenger and more like someone being cornered before the biggest match possible. That is a smart wrinkle in one sense because it adds adversity and gives Ripley something to push against. At the same time, it risks cluttering what should be one of the simplest and strongest stories on the brand. Jade and Rhea are big enough stars that the cleanest version of the feud may still be the best one.
The same balance between scale and clutter exists in the women’s tag division. WWE has clearly gone in the direction of making that title picture feel as packed and WrestleMania-sized as possible. The champions are not just dealing with one team, but several major names converging around the belts at once. That gives the division visibility and energy, and it puts more women in meaningful spots on the biggest show of the year. The tradeoff is that none of the teams gets to fully own the story, because the story belongs to the chaos itself. It is effective WrestleMania booking, but it is also fair to say it feels more crowded than focused.
That larger pattern really defines SmackDown’s road to WrestleMania 42. The brand has been strongest when it leans into escalation and emotional conflict. Cody and Orton became hotter once they stopped talking around the issue and finally started tearing into each other. Drew and Fatu became stronger every time the feud grew more violent. Jade and Ripley became more layered once Ripley had to fight through more than just the champion. On the other hand, SmackDown has looked shakier when the booking has tried to solve too many problems at once. The United States Title switch is the clearest example of that. The women’s tag division is another. The ideas make sense, but the execution comes with tradeoffs.
Fan reaction to all of this has reflected that same split. There has been real praise for the intensity of Cody and Orton, especially now that the feud finally feels personal instead of polished. There has also been frustration with the way WWE is trying to frame Orton as the clear villain when many fans still want to cheer him. There has been praise for the brutality and simplicity of Drew versus Fatu, which feels like one of the cleanest-built matches on the blue brand. There has also been criticism of the Carmelo Hayes title loss, with a lot of fans feeling like he should have carried that championship into WrestleMania instead of being used as a late pivot. That combination of praise and criticism tells the real story of SmackDown right now. The show is compelling. It is heated. It is generating discussion. But not every creative decision is landing cleanly.
Current WrestleMania 42 card
Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton for the Undisputed WWE Championship
Jade Cargill vs. Rhea Ripley for the WWE Women’s Championship
Sami Zayn (c) vs. Trick Williams for the United States Championship
Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre in an Unsanctioned Match
Nia Jax and Lash Legend (c) vs. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs. The Bella Twins for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
Final thoughts
Tonight does not need a massive card reveal or a flood of new developments. It needs to deepen what is already there. Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton need another layer of emotional bite, especially with Orton in his hometown and the crowd dynamic likely to add even more intrigue to the segment. Rhea Ripley needs to look like more than a challenger getting jumped week after week. Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu need to keep feeling like two men who have already gone past the point of no return. And after the United States Title switch stirred up real debate, SmackDown could use a follow-up that makes the move feel like part of a strong WrestleMania story instead of just a convenient late adjustment. That is where the blue brand stands heading into WrestleMania 42: intense, dramatic, occasionally messy, often effective, and still trying to find the sharpest possible version of its biggest stories.
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I’m the quiet one until the bell rings then I’ve got takes. I live for WWE NXT and TNA, I want every promotion to succeed, and I will absolutely roast the bad decisions on sight (because someone has to). Anime taught me to respect long-term storytelling; wrestling taught me that sometimes the plan is “we panicked” and called it “unpredictable.” The Miz got me into all of this, so yeah I appreciate confidence, commitment, and the art of talking like you’re already the main event. Now I bring that same energy to the page as the main writer for Late Night Crew Wrestling because if you’re not here to be must-see and tell the truth, why are you here?!