WWE SmackDowns January 2, 2026, episode went down at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. The night was full of big moments, and things didnt let up in the main event.
As of the Jan. 2, 2026 episode in Buffalo, WWE SmackDown had aired 1,376 episodes total. The company had only hosted six in the past. They went all that time without an ambulance match on the blue brand, but that streak ended tonight in the home of the Bills Mafia.
Damian Priest and Aleister Black battled in the ambulance match to conclude this weeks SmackDown. This promised to be a brutal, and historic, match. It was also the ending of this rivalry between the two heavy hitters.
This was a brutal match, as many expected. They fought all over the arena, using weapons in the process. Although they teased getting to the ambulance early on with a stretcher spot, the match carried on at ringside for a while.
Eventually, after taking a table break and brutal chair spot, Black got Priest on the stretcher as Zelina Vega cheered her husband on at ringside. Black pulled Priest up the ramp, pummeling him along the way, and then he positioned him to get into the ambulance by the time we got back from commercial break.
Priest fought out of it and the match continued. Zelina Vega opened the ambulance door, and Rhea Ripley was there waiting for her. Ripley chased Vega up the ramp to the ring, and she nailed a Riptide to take her out of the picture. Fans loved seeing Rhea Ripley one last time as she helped out her fellow Terror Twin in this big match.
Priest got Black up after that and tried to get him into the ambulance. Fans chanted this is awesome, as the two traded shots in front of the open ambulance door. Priest stopped Black from closing the door on him, and then he came back with a crutch to beat his opponent down a bit. Suddenly, Black threw Priest into the ambulance and nailed a knee, but Priest fought back. Black took a fire extinguisher blast to the face, and then he lit a fireball in front of Blacks face. It wasnt the biggest blaze, but it was effective. After that, Damian Priest retrieved a large table, but Black got out of a hold and returned fire. The two battled around the ambulance before Priest nailed a Razors Edge through the windshield of the ambulance. Fans chanted holy sh*t after that.
They both got on top of the ambulance after that, and Damian Priest nailed a chokeslam on Aleister Black through that large table. Fans chanted this is awesome after that as Priest got the door to the ambulance open, and he closed the doors on Black to win the match in definitive fashion.
Whats your take on how WWE SmackDown ended in Buffalo this week? Did you see that coming? Let us know what you think in the comments section!
