Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that saw WWE Women's Champion Chelsea Green hold on to her title at least for 30 more days! We have some thoughts about that here in the column this week, as well as some thoughts about the latest confrontation between CM Punk and Kevin Owens, the abruptly ended main event, and Jacy Jayne winning the women's United States Championship.Of course, we don't have thoughts on everything with apologies to both the men's United States title match and the WWE tag title match so if you want a comprehensive look at what happened on the show, check out our "WWE SmackDown" 8/14/26 results page. On the other hand, if you want the WINC staff's opinions about the matches and segments that stood out to us the most, this is the place to be! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/14/26 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"
"SmackDown" opened with a great segment with Chelsea Green and Nick Aldis over whether or not she would be vacating the WWE Women's title due to injury. After a feel good moment between Green and Aldis, a man had to come ruin it. GUNTHER came to the ring and completely dismissed Green. He told her that her title wasn't important. When Green protested, he told her to shut up. Green responded by calling him out for having a tiny, fragile male ego. Her husband then ran to the ring to confront "The Ring General" for disrespecting his wife. GUNTHER belittled him for taking up for his wife and goaded him into a match.The title was minimized and thus so was Green herself. The whole segment is reflective of how WWE has been treating its women's division for a while. Instead of having Rhea Ripley vacate the title as soon as she was injured, they let her hold it for two months without being on TV. Green is now the champion and will be holding the title while recovering from injury. Liv Morgan has defended her title once in over 100 days. Becky Lynch returned in a segment in which Morgan asked her why she wasn't at home with her kid. Lynch then sl*t shamed her (Netflix later edited the line out). Maxxine Dupri is now arm candy for Austin Theory.There are a few positives like the return of Stephanie Vaquer, Jacy Jayne winning the U.S. title, and the ongoing storyline with Jade Cargill and Charlotte Flair that now involves six women. Sadly, those are outliers in the overall scheme of things. There have been more discussions about how WWE is regressing to the behaviors that led to #GiveDivasAChance. Remember when Lash Legend defeated Giulia in two minutes just a few weeks ago?Cardona came in like a white knight instead of letting Green handle herself. It would've been nice if Green could've low-blowed GUNTHER. At the very least, she could've slapped him. In the WWE Universe, women can be talked down and then only briefly stand their ground until a man has to step in. Cardona ended up losing in just minutes anyway, so what point did he actually make? The segment and the match both felt like something from the early to mid aughts. Green may liken herself to the Divas of the past, but the segments don't have to revert to that time period. She can be a modern version of a Diva while moving the division forward. We don't need men trying to drag them back.Written bySamantha Schipman
I'm not even exaggerating when I say what I'm about to say. I think the opening segment from this edition of "SmackDown" that featured Chelsea Green making a great plea to "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis as to why she should keep her Women's Championship despite having a broken orbital bone was the best promo segment that WWE has produced in months if not this entire past year.I'm not going to pretend that this segment was perfect by any means at all. I don't think GUNTHER necessarily needed to interrupt things to confront Aldis about his grievances with Kevin Owens being inserted into the WWE SummerSlam Undisputed WWE Championship No. 1 Contenders match, but at least it could be argued that it was an easy way to get some heat onto the heel GUNTHER. I definitely don't think that Cardona needed to be the one to come to Green's aid, as Green seemed to have a pretty good handle on things herself and did not need her husband to act as her white knight. Regardless, I was still willing to look past the flaws of this with how much Green really shone during her plea with Aldis.Green has traditionally been known as primarily a comedic character, but she was really able to showcase her range in this segment and get real with the fanbase in a way that didn't feel forced. I really liked that Green showed a different side to her character here, which gave her even more depth and was something the fanbase hadn't really seen from her to this extent. There wasn't one thing she said that didn't apply to the person that was behind the character, and Green did a really good job of bringing emotion to the forefront of this entire thing to bring it over the top and make it something incredible to watch. I genuinely think it was a genius move from WWE to use Green's legitimate injury to their advantage in this kind of way, as it's something that they haven't really done in this manner before and something I would love to see more of going forward.Written by Olivia Quinlan
We got another face-to-face segment between CM Punk and Kevin Owens. It was also a get-in-your-face segment as it happened twice. Most of tonight's promo was similar to last week. Both laid out some of their history while still dancing around things about why they really hate each other (and they do seem to still legitimately hate one another). Of course they can't mention AEW, the Young Bucks, Jack Perry, or Colt Cabana, so they get as close as they can without saying it. Punk even went so far as to ask KO why he couldn't say those "three names". Honestly, I'm surprised Punk didn't tell KO he'd never be elite like him, to go cry him a river, and he would be better off as a cabana boy.To their credit, they did finally reveal to the fans who didn't know what kicked off their long running feud. They danced around that last week too. KO told the story of how Punk berated him in front of their peers in a locker room in "an indie company" (because they can't say ROH either). Last week, Punk bodyshamed Owens which is essentially what he did two decades ago. Tonight, Punk called him fat to his face. So, I guess they at least got to the point of why this feud simmered for so long. This segment also had some shades of Punk's promo segment with Eddie Kingston in AEW, even repeating certain lines.Like last week, Owens told Punk he hates him for being a hypocrite and a sell out. Punk once again said Owens is lucky to be in the same company as him, much less sharing a ring with him. Why did we get a repeat segment? Since there's such a short build for this match, why didn't they do a contract signing tonight? They could've gotten in a few verbal jabs like every other signing. If WWE wanted to save the physicality, they could've made it a no contact or the match was off. Instead they went with a segment that was essentially a recap of last week's.Written by Samantha Schipman
Wrestling is often at its best when real feelings are involved, and that was very much the case during Kevin Owens' promo against CM Punk during this week's show.Owens was real as he explained why he hated Punk, hearkening back to their infamous clash in ROH 20 years ago and cleverly alluding to the "Brawl Out" incident in AEW. But it went further than just the history and the moments between them. It wasn't just about the controversy, but the real feelings that they brought to the fore.Owens was defiant, proud in the fact that he has gotten this far, in the same ring as Punk having not changed a thing. He was confident that he was a better man than Punk, much less a pro wrestler. And he slayed him on the microphone with resonance. It was a segment very cut from the same cloth as Punk's exchange with Eddie Kingston in 2021, which can be expected where the grievances occupy a similar space.In any case, it was a segment that captured the exact sentiment that lends to a big fight feeling. Owens is compelling, hot, and has a lot riding on the match. It wouldn't just be his first WWE Championship, it would be his first WWE Championship with a win over someone intrinsically tied to the idea he would never make it in the business.Arguably the one thing the segment was missing was Punk being a heel. Because there can be no doubt that Owens is the babyface here. The segment did what it needed to in that regard, putting a fire to the feeling that he could actually win this match. It makes the match worth tuning in to, it's bound to be a great match anyway, but now there is a credible feeling that this could be his moment.KO on the mic just makes for good TV. This was the latest example of that.Written by Max Everett
If WWE wants me to dislike Sami Zayn because he's the whiney guy backstage always complaining about getting screwed over, they're doing a really bad job of that. Because Zayn does keep getting screwed over, and tonight, it was to a pretty ridiculous level. I already thought he had absolutely every right to complain after Kevin Owens and GUNTHER were added to his singles No. 1 contender's match against Finn Balor at SummerSlam, and tonight, "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis, and then Randy Orton, screwed him over once again.First, Aldis put him in a match against Cody Rhodes, set for the main event of the show, despite Zayn having a broken hand. If Zayn beat Rhodes, he earned the opportunity to challenge the winner of the Undisputed WWE Championship match next week. I thought that was pretty strange, because Aldis was just about to strip Chelsea Green of her interim WWE Women's Championship due to an injury just an hour earlier. Sure, Zayn isn't holding a title, but Aldis was pretty concerned about one of his stars being medically cleared to compete earlier in the night, but when it came to Zayn, apparently, it didn't matter. Aldis is also no dummy, he should have realized Zayn would hit Rhodes with his cast or something to win anyway.Zayn was prepared for the bout, but when he was making his entrance, with just a few minutes left to go in the show (if you're a clock-watcher like me) Orton attacked Rhodes from behind when the "American Nightmare" was standing in the ring. The main event, of course, didn't ever get underway, as Orton and Rhodes brawled to end the show, thus costing Zayn another opportunity.It doesn't feel like WWE is headed toward any real conclusion with Zayn getting consistently screwed over, so while it's fine now, it's going to get old really fast. While I still believe Zayn is involved in the title picture going into WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia, that's a long time from now. It feels like yet another example of WWE booking without an end game, which is going to get annoying and repetitive, though that's nothing new at this point.Written byDaisyRuth
Jacy Jayne finally captured her first main roster title by dethroning Women's United States Champion Tiffany Stratton, and her victory also furthered Stratton's storyline with interim WWE Women's Champion Chelsea Green. I love when things work out that way, as Jayne really needed some singles gold to compliment Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid's Women's Tag Team Championships, and WWE needed to further the story between Stratton and Green, especially with the latter unable to compete in the ring at the moment.I've been a big fan of Jayne since her time in "WWE NXT," and she spent more than enough time down at the WWE Performance Center to really establish herself as both a solid heel and an in-ring worker. While I wasn't the biggest fan of this match overall tonight, as I found it pretty messy in places, I'm just glad she's the new champion. I haven't been loving Stratton's work in the ring lately, and maybe she needs some time to heal up or get herself together, but first, she can wrap this story with the women's champion.Stratton started out as a reluctant friend of Green's, and now, when she's finally all in on that friendship, it cost her the title. She saved Green earlier in the night from an impending attack by Lash Legend and Nia Jax, and the Irresistible Forces injured her ribs, which Jayne attempted to target throughout the match. Even though Green knew she couldn't get involved, since she isn't medically cleared, she still ran out to attempt to help Stratton, and the now-former champion chose to save Green from Henley and Reid by flying off the top rope, rather than hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to Jayne in the ring to win the match.We found out earlier in the night that Green has 30 days to get medically cleared to defend her title, and it looks like WWE may have established her first challenger. Stratton works much better as a heel, anyway, and it will be easy to turn her on Green in an in-ring segment while the champion continues to heal from a broken orbital bone.Jayne holding the Women's US title freshens things up in that scene a bit, as well, allowing for more babyface challengers to come forward. I'd love to see Tatum Paxley step up to her, encouraged by Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. Tonight's episode of the blue brand wasn't my favorite watch, but Jayne winning the gold made the two hours more than worth it.Written byDaisyRuth
