Welcome toWrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that ended, as most if not all episodes of "WWE SmackDown" should, with RandyOrton RKOing everyone! Of course, Randy just came out to do that at the end the majority of this week's drama involved his SNME opponents, Trick Williams, Damian Priest, and Sami Zayn.We'll talk about that here in the column, as well as the latest US title open challenge, another US champion becoming a tag title contender, and Drew McIntyre just walking around being Drew McIntyre!
As always, those who missed the show can catch up via our "SmackDown" results page, and you'll have to if you want to read about stuff like MFT winning the tag titles, because we're not covering it here! This space is only for the opinions of the WINC staff that we feel most passionately about, for good or for ill. Or in other words, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 1/23/26 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"
Trick Williams continues to look like a superstar on "SmackDown," and Sami Zayn is doing everything he can to help him look good, without bringing his own character down in any way. Tonight's opening segment saw Zayn, the hometown boy, get in front of the crowd and start to cut a promo in French, but before he could really get going, Williams interrupted him, which was diabolical. I still love, however, that fans will boo his music initially, then immediately launch into "Whoop that Trick!" chants along to it.
While Williams cut pretty much the same promo he's been cutting since his debut, it makes some more sense now that he's proved himself. He's made it into the four-way match tomorrow to determine the next challenger for the Undisputed WWE Championship, and that's a pretty big deal. Last week, he even took out Zayn following his qualifying match against Ilja Dragunov in the main event. The recent "WWE NXT" call-up standing tall at the end of "SmackDown" after taking out a beloved fan-favorite babyface was a really good look for him as a heel.
Tonight, however, Williamswas talking all his trash to Zayn, which included Williams telling him that he was "Mr. Never Gets It Done" when it came to the world title, even losing an opportunity there in his home town once before. Zayn let him have a few moments, before he ran him down and said that in five, ten years, Williams may be good, but he'll be lucky if he's ever half as good as Zayn. It was perfect balance of letting Williams get his trash talk in, then standing up for himself to bring the crowd back around.
Damian Priest then showed up, as Williams was facing him in the main event, and he, along with Randy Orton, are the two other men involved in tomorrow's match. Williams basically asked Priest if he really thought he wouldn't pop off, then absolutely decked Zayn with the microphone to start the brawl. This all worked, because "Trick Willy" did enough to get under Zayn's skin that he cost Williams the main event against Priest at the end of the night.That of course led to the show-ending brawl between all four competitors, and it was almost Williams standing tall once again, before he ate an RKO out of nowhere.
I'm surprised that WWE is pushing Williams so strong so quickly, though I'm not mad about it at all, because this is all really working for me. While I do think Zayn win tomorrow night, his feud with Williams is doing wonders for the younger star, and it's really fun to watch.
Written by DaisyRuth
An open challenge where-in the challenge is made by the champion ahead of the match... isn't an open challenge. But aside from that tiny detail, it's not as though it didn't make sense for respectful rivals to agree to run it back, especially as Dragunov looked to get back on the proverbial loss after last week's loss to Sami Zayn.
But for all intents and purposes, it was a United States Championship open challenge where-in the story didn't really matter because the match itself was great stuff. In fact, the very little storytelling within the match was categorically the worst thing about it. It really doesn't need to be said but just for good measure, Dragunov is insanely good and that stems from the fact that, not only is he not afraid to get stuck in, but actually getting stuck in appears to drive him into the next gear and so on.
On the flip side, though he is reallyjustgetting the chance to do it on the main roster, Hayes is one of the blue-chip prospects with an untold amount of potential both as a wrestler and as a character. While a lot of the traditionally great matches in today's wrestling boil down to escalation through an accumulation of high spots and signature moves, this one excelled in escalating through a naturally hard-hitting progression; in short, they were looking to beat the other man into defeat, not impress the crowd with flamboyance and minimal impact. Any match that sees the challenger already rocking a shiner getting beaten, inviting a harder beating, and getting a "What is wrong with you?" from the champion is heading in the right direction.
Of course, Dragunov eventually lost because...*obnoxiously extended sigh*... The Miz. And it would be remiss not to say that nothing that has been working for Hayes as United States Champion in recent weeks can be enhanced by "The A-Lister." Hayes' open challenge, as well as the open challenge in general since Sami Zayn brought it back last year, has been a weekly fixture of solid-to-excellent wrestling on a show that has been crying for some form of midcard significance for months.
There is the counter-argument that Miz is a name that could elevate Hayes' standing on the road to or even at WrestleMania. But it's not one I am going to put weight behind. The focus here is on the best part of the open challenge, the wrestling and the subsequent spotlight that keeps getting placed on the challengers. Hayes and Dragunov go together in the ring like strawberries and cream, and any chance they have to run it back is a welcome one.
Written by Max Everett
I am just as confused now about Jacob Fatu's feud and issues with Cody Rhodes as I was when they started brawling when Fatu interfered in Rhodes' and Drew McIntyre's Three Stages of Hell match a few weeks ago. Possibly even more confused now than I was then, because at least Fatu brawling with Rhodes when he was angry and amped up and Rhodes tried to stop him made some kind of sense. All of this now is kind of confusing and overall pretty lame, which is a shame, especially for the recently-returned Fatu.
I was not a fan of tonight's backstage interview segment, that initially started off with Rhodes and Michael Cole. First, it was pretty awkward when Rhodes said he wanted to move on from losing the championship and started talking about how he was going to enter the Royal Rumble, and Cole just interjected about the title anyway, and it just really didn't flow whatsoever. Fatu interrupted, which made sense, I guess, since the pair are facing off at Saturday Night's Main Event tomorrow, but that's about where the sense of it all stopped.
I especially didn't love Rhodes bringing up Fatu's attitude being what landed him in jail, even if Fatu started talking vaguely about having to fight to get where he is now. The babyface Rhodes bringing up Fatu's real-life struggles felt kind of out of character. My biggest issue here was Fatu basically brushing off wanting a title opportunity against McIntyre. Sure, he has to get through Rhodes and Saturday first, but it really felt like he didn't care much at all. He mentioned McIntyre knocking his teeth down his throat, but that was really about it, with his focus on "The AmericanNightmare."
What I did like about this came after the segment, however, whenCole mentioned that "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis had banned both men from the building after that. While usually, that means the men are going to brawl later on in the night, usually around the main event segment, but WWE left tonight be about the guys in the four-way number one contender's match tomorrow. With Fatu and Rhodes being such a secondary, almost nonsensical feud at this point, that much was absolutely the right choice. I don't know if they're trying to elevate Fatu by having him with Rhodes, but doing it this way just isn't working. Hopefully they just have their one match tomorrow, and things start to pan out for both men in a way that makes sense at the Royal Rumble.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Last week in this very column, I lamented that Candice LeRae and Zelina Vega are too busy worrying about their husbands and their respective problems to wrestle. My point was reinforced tonight. LeRae accompanied Johnny Gargano to the ring for his match with Nathan Frazer. A few weeks ago, they captured the mask of Axiom and LeRae was tasked with keeping it safe. Naturally, she taunted Frazer with the mask while Gargano beat him up. Axiom blinded LeRae by *checks notes* putting the mask on her. As she was blindly swinging, Gargano reached over the ropes and attempted to pull the mask off. LeRae decked her husband, allowing Frazer to roll him up for the win. But hey, she stole the mask back and this feud continues.
This is what we're wasting LeRae's talents with. She hasn't wrestled on "SmackDown" since June 2025. One could argue (and I would) that WWE has mostly wasted LeRae ever since she first signed with the company. Believe it or not, there was a time when LeRae was one of the best independent wrestlers on the scene. She could've and should've been so much more. She was Women's SPEED Champion, so there's that.
A majority of the "SmackDown" women's division is focused on the tag titles. In fact, the women's U.S. champion, Giulia, is now one half of the Number 1 contenders for the tag titles. What are we doing here? Jade Cargill has been Women's Champion for 80+ days and has yet to defend her title. Michin was supposed to face her for the title when she got injured. Why not have LeRae challenge for the title? It's not like anyone besides Michin and B-Fab are really clamoring for the biggest women's title on the Blue brand. The women's division consistently feels like a checklist every week. LeRae's checkmark is "she's with her husband." She deserves better and so do we.
Written by Samantha Schipman
I will never complain about WWE dedicating time to their female superstars on any given show and putting care into their women's division across all three brands, as it's what they deserve to have. Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, Lash Legend, Nia Jax, Giulia, and Kiana James were all bound to have a decent match at the very least if not a good one regardless of when it happened, but that doesn't also mean I thought that their Women's Tag Team Championship had to be included on this edition of "SmackDown".
Considering that IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley haven't even had their Women's Team Championship match against Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez, this Triple Threat Number One Contenders Match could've very easily waited just one more week until there was a more concrete answer as to who the winners would be facing. While I think it's a great thing that WWE are emphasizing the importance of the Women's Tag Team Championship by setting up new challengers already and having so many teams looking to get their hands on the title across both "Raw" and "SmackDown", I also think that timing when it comes to these matters is also vital.
Moreover, Giulia already holds the Women's United States Championship. I can see the notion of planting the idea of her potentially being a double champion in the minds of fans, but at the same time, I also think that she should be focusing on the title she holds since her title isn't defended on a super regular basis nor is there really much of a Women's United States Championship picture outside of Chelsea Green and Michin (prior to her injury of course). Bliss and Flair and Legend and Jax all don't hold any titles at all, so to me, it felt like far more sense to have one of those teams go over instead to either set up a rematch or a new match as they can give all their attention to that. All in all, what should've been a good contest didn't turn out that way with the poor timing and the wrong team arguably coming out on top.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
I know last week I got all excited about the possibility of SamiZayn winning the world title soon, but I have to say, if that doesn't happen and Drew McIntyre keeps the belt untilWrestleMania, I'm absolutely fine with it if he keeps doing what he did on "SmackDown" this week, which was basically feud with everybody at the same time.Drew's heel character has always been 95% social media troll, so it makes way too much sense for him to be essentially doing the promo version of leaving an obnoxious comment under a bunch of different posts. The SNME build specifically allows him to lean into that, since he's got four people to potentially prepare for at RoyalRumble while also being central to the CodyRhodes vs. Jacob Fatu storyline. As a result, Drew can deny having attacked Fatu, question Randy Orton's killer instinct, say he wasted a year of his career feuding with Damian Priest, talk about Sami Zayn's son (and get slapped in the face for his trouble) and leave a snarky note for Codyon the same episode.It's almost a shame he's facing one person at the Rumble and not seven.
This is why we needed a title change. McIntyre's smug schtick as champion is so much more entertaining than Cody coming out every week and yelling about "QB1" or his seemingly infinite heel turn tease that never actually comes. Even if he breaks my heart at the Rumble (and he definitely will) give me Drew snarkily tearing down multiple opponents every single week.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
