SmackDown has reached the point on the road to WrestleMania 42 where one great story is carrying a lot of unfinished business behind it. That is what makes tonight’s show so important. Randy Orton has become the most dangerous man on the blue brand, Cody Rhodes is officially returning after Orton’s brutal betrayal, Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu may have finally crossed the line from heated rivalry into total destruction, and the women’s divisions still feel like they are being assembled in real time rather than marching into WrestleMania with clean, fully formed direction. That tension is what defines SmackDown right now. The brand has momentum, chaos, star power and talking points, but it also has loose ends everywhere. Tonight needs to feel like a real WrestleMania course correction, not just another entertaining two hours of angles and near-answers.
Here is everything advertised for tonight’s show
- The Bella Twins vs. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss
- WWE Women’s United States Champion Giulia vs. Tiffany Stratton
- Jelly Roll vs. Kit Wilson
- SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis addresses the condition of Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu
- Randy Orton appears
- Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes returns to SmackDown
SmackDown’s biggest strength heading into tonight is obvious: Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton suddenly feels like a WrestleMania main event story with real blood in it. Cody regained the Undisputed WWE Championship on March 6 after a short Drew McIntyre reign, but the title scene truly came alive once Orton won Elimination Chamber, signed the contract, and then snapped on Cody. Since then, Orton has not just turned heel, he has gone back to being the sadistic Randy Orton that always works when WWE fully commits to it. That is why tonight matters. Cody is back, Orton is hunting again, and SmackDown finally has a central story that feels personal, violent and worthy of WrestleMania. The big question is whether WWE follows through with a great face-to-face segment or keeps stretching the bait.
Everything else on the blue brand is where the praise and criticism start colliding. Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu have become one of the wildest feuds in WWE, but it is also fair to ask why so much of the SmackDown WrestleMania build still feels unsettled this late in March. Last week’s closing destruction, with both men going off a high structure, absolutely created spectacle. It was violent, memorable and the exact kind of visual that gets fans buzzing. At the same time, it is another example of WWE using television to push major Mania-level drama without always giving the audience a clean sense of where the actual match path stands. The same criticism applies to the women’s side, where Jade Cargill vs. Rhea Ripley is official for WrestleMania, but the Jade, B-Fab and Michin alliance still lacks the full explanation it needs, and Giulia vs. Tiffany Stratton has been thrown into tonight’s mix without the kind of layered story fans usually want this close to the biggest show of the year.
That is a huge reason why so many fans, sites and journalists have spent the last two weeks split on this WrestleMania build. The praise is that SmackDown has energy again. Orton’s heel turn has landed. Drew and Fatu feel unhinged in the best way. Carmelo Hayes has quietly restored credibility to the United States Championship by actually defending it consistently on television. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss have developed into a far more enjoyable pairing than many expected, and their uncertainty about even having a WrestleMania match has ironically made the women’s tag title picture feel more urgent. But the criticism is just as loud. Too many major names still do not have clearly locked Mania roles. Too many title stories still feel fluid. Cody losing the title to Drew in January only to win it back on March 6 still reads like transitional booking when Cody vs. Orton was the obvious WrestleMania destination anyway. The Men’s United States Championship has received more care in-ring, yet still lacks the kind of deep personal WrestleMania feud that would make the belt feel essential instead of active. And on the women’s side, there is still frustration over match time, direction, and connective tissue, especially after it came out that the Bella Twins’ tag title match last week had significant time cut.
The Tiffany Stratton and Giulia situation is probably the best example of why some of the creative has felt shaky. There is a basic route to it on paper, but there has not been enough on-screen meat to make it feel like a true WrestleMania-level issue yet. Likewise, Jade and Rhea had social media tension that got plenty of people wondering whether the heat was real, manufactured, or somewhere in between, and WWE could have leaned into that uncertainty far more aggressively than it has. Instead, the company appears to have used the online buzz as background noise rather than the main fuel for the feud. That has left Jade vs. Rhea with star power and intrigue, but not quite the layered emotional story it should have by now. The same pattern shows up in the tag division, where the Bella Twins, Charlotte and Alexa, and The Irresistible Forces all feel like pieces in motion without the final WrestleMania shape fully clicking into place. Tonight needs to change that.
There is also the broader SmackDown identity problem going into WrestleMania 42. The show has become very good at creating moments and very inconsistent at finishing the thought. Last week proved that. Damian Priest and R-Truth winning the tag titles gave the division a jolt. Carmelo Hayes continued stacking defenses and made the U.S. title feel alive. Orton’s promo and continued violence kept the world-title picture hot. But MFT vs. Wyatt Sicks remains a feud in desperate need of a reset, because the lantern has become more important than the wrestlers, and WWE still has not found the story engine that makes that rivalry feel urgent instead of dragged out. Tonight does not have to solve every SmackDown problem in one night, but it absolutely does need to stop the brand from feeling like WrestleMania is coming before the card is fully ready for it.
Current WrestleMania 42 card
- CM Punk (c) vs. Roman Reigns (World Heavyweight Championship)
- Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Randy Orton (Undisputed WWE Championship)
- Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Liv Morgan (Women’s World Championship)
- Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley (WWE Women’s Championship)
- AJ Lee (c) vs. Becky Lynch (Women’s Intercontinental Championship)
- Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar
Final Thoughts
Tonight’s SmackDown does not need to reinvent the road to WrestleMania. It just needs to finally make the road feel clear. Cody and Orton should be the emotional anchor. Drew and Fatu should be the violent wild card. The women’s tag division needs definition, not more teasing. Giulia and Tiffany need substance, not just interaction. And if WWE wants fans to stop questioning the blue brand’s WrestleMania planning, then tonight has to feel less like another chapter of improvisation and more like the moment SmackDown finally locks in what this side of WrestleMania 42 is supposed to be. Right now, the pieces are there. Tonight is about proving WWE actually knows how it wants to put them together.
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?!