Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s live coverage for "WWE SmackDown" on August 21, 2026, coming to you live from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada!CM Punk will be putting his Undisputed WWE Championship on the line for the first time since retaining against Cody Rhodes at WWE SummerSlam Saturday on August 1 as he defends against Kevin Owens in Owens' home country of Canada. Owens emerged victorious against Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, and GUNTHER in a Fatal Four-Way Number One Contenders Match at SummerSlam Sunday on August 2 to secure a shot at Punk's title. The two men have also met one another over the last couple of weeks in a pair of in-ring verbal confrontations.MFT's Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga will be putting their freshly won WWE Tag Team Championship on the line as they defend against Damian Priest and R-Truth. This will mark Priest and Truth's rematch for the Tag Team Champions, with Tama and Talla having dethroned them during last Friday's episode of "SmackDown" in a Triple Threat Match that also involved AAA Mega Tag Team Champions Ivar and Erik of The War Raiders.Former NXT Women's North American Champion Blake Monroe will be in action as she goes head-to-head with former Women's United States Champion Giulia. Although Monroe has been seen several times on "SmackDown" in a series of video packages and wandering around backstage, this will be her first time competing in the ring on the brand. Meanwhile, this will also mark Giulia's first match on "SmackDown" since she came up short to Legend in a SummerSlam Interim Women's Championship Qualifier on the July 31 episode of the show.Additionally, the aforementioned Rhodes and Randy Orton have been advertised for tonight's show ahead of their match against one another at WWE Sunday's Night's Main Event on September 6.We are live! Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore greet audiences at home before throwing it over to a video of the recent ongoings between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton.We head backstage and see Sami Zayn yelling at Nick Aldis backstage as he insists that he should be the one defending the Undisputed WWE Championship tonight. He demands to know when he gets his rematch for the title and asks to know what business Orton has being involved in matters, but Orton spawns behind Zayn. We then see Rhodes call out Orton inside the ring and demand he join him inside.
Rhodes continues to call out Orton, but Aldis appears to tell Rhodes they aren't doing this right now. He says last week was a disaster, but Orton's music hits and he makes his way out. Orton says he'll beat Rhodes in two weeks at Sunday Night's Main Event, but Rhodes says he knows Orton doesn't want to wait for two weeks.Aldis prevents Orton from getting in the ring and tells both himself and Rhodes he's sick of the disrespect from both of them. He says they will face each other on September 6, but they can't lay a finger before then because if they do, then neither of them gets another shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship ever again.Orton says Rhodes wouldn't have been able to swing a chair at him like he did to Rhodes, then says he has zero remorse because he knows how to go there and be the worst version of himself. He says Rhodes is a good guy, always will be, and always has been, then says Rhodes asked the question of who will kill the legend of Orton. He says Rhodes never answered that because it won't be him, then says he's learned from Orton and his heroes. He says Orton can do all of the things of his career, but he'll always end up coming back to Rhodes because he'll go down as the man who killed the legend. He adds that it isn't a prediction, but a spoiler.Damian Priest and R-Truth then make their way to the ring. MFT and Haku follow.
The bell rings and MFT jump Priest and Truth in the corner. Tama Tonga lands a right hand Priest, but Truth tags in and delivers a splash to Tama in the corner. Priest low bridges Talla Tonga out of the ring, and Truth delivers a Tornado DDT to Tama on the outside of the ring over the top rope.Truth dumps Tama inside the ring and fires off strikes on him, but Tama sends Truth crashing into the top rope and rains down right hands on Truth in the middle of the ring. Talla drapes Truth on one of his shoulders during the commercial break and sends him crashing into the barricade, then tags out to Tama back inside the ring and levels him with a clothesline. Tama then jams his knee into the back of Truth's neck and tags out to Talla. Truth fires off elbows on Tama's midsection, then levels Tama with a kick and tags out to Priest.Talla tags in on his side, but Priest lands a Mongolian Chop on him and ascends to the middle rope. He lands a clothesline on Talla off the middle rope and goes for a pin, but Talla kicks out as we see The War Raiders watching the action from backstage.Talla levels Priest with a clothesline and fires off stomps on him in the corner, then jams his boot into Priest in the corner as Tama takes a cheap shot from Priest on the outside. Truth and Tama tag in, and Truth levels Tama with a pair of shoulder blocks. He lands a spinning slam on Tama, then follows it up with a Five Knuckle Shuffle and an Attitude Adjustment. He goes for a pin, but Talla breaks the fall.Priest clotheslines Talla out of the ring and delivers a double ax handle to Talla off the ring steps on the outside. Tama knocks Priest off the ring apron and Talla lands a chokeslam on him on the ring apron, but Priest rolls up Tama in the ring. Tama kicks out, then delivers a spinning neckbreaker to Truth. Talla then tags back in, and delivers the Red Cross with Tama for the win.Winners (and still): MFTAfter the match, Priest slides into the ring and helps up Truth, then hugs him.Giulia then makes her way to the ring for her scheduled match against Blake Monroe. Monroe blindsides Giulia from behind at the bottom of the entrance ramp, firing off right hands on Giulia's spine after noting earlier in a backstage segment with Cathy Kelley that she wanted her in-ring "SmackDown" debut to be for the Women's Championship. Monroe sends Giulia crashing into the ring apron and the ring steps, then dumps her in the ring and rocks her with a headbutt. She lands a knee strike on her and follows it up with the Neutralizer.We then head backstage, where Alexa Bliss reveals to Charlotte Flairthat she's invited Tatum Paxley to brunch with the two of them. Jade Cargill, Michin, and B-Fab crash the conversation, with Michin challenging Paxley to a match next week. Paxley happily accepts.Back at ringside, Trick Williams and Lil Yachty make their way out.
Williams welcomes Yachty back, but says he doesn't have his United States Championship back. He demands that Corbin come to the ring to give him back his title, and Corbin makes his way out notably without his United States Championship belt.Yachty slides out of the ring as Williams tells Corbin he's the one he's looking for by cheating him out of his United States Championship. He tells Corbin to stop dodging him and give the people what they want in a United States Championship rematch tonight. Corbin says his United States Championship is getting a "pretty little haircut" and tells Williams he won't be getting another title shot, adding that Williams already got his rematch.Corbin says Williams has nothing to offer him and says he's beaten him every time he's beaten him in the ring. He says Williams will not be receiving another United States Championship match, but Yachty cracks Corbin twice with his signature kendo stick and sends him crashing off the ring apron with another kendo stick shot.Corbin makes a proposal to Williams: he says he wants Yachty inside the ring in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. He says if Yachty survives for five minutes in the ring, then Williams gets another United States Championship shot. If Yachty can't, then Williams and himself are done. Yachty accepts.Hard refresh this page for updates ctrl + F5 on Windows; Cmnd + shift + R on Mac
