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There's nothing like an RKO to ring in the new year. (Photo by Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)
WWE via Getty Images
The first "WWE SmackDown" of the new year felt like exactly that. A handful of notable returns and appearances took place in Buffalo, New York, including the likes of Randy Orton and Sami Zayn. In other moments throughout the first three-hour "SmackDown," there were title matches and the final build toward next week's big world title match.
Pyro of the Night
The Drew McIntyre character has been booked to look like a supreme moron. Time for our first fantasy — or adjustment — booking of the year, folks.
McIntyre's title match with Cody Rhodes will be a three stages of hell match in Berlin, Germany, next week. Throughout this overextended feud, the referee angle and McIntyre's belief that things are rigged against him have been a big narrative. So instantly, the first stage McIntyre should have chosen is a special guest referee. That way, he practically guarantees at least one win. Hell, why wouldn't he just do that for all three? Because he has no friends? That would be a fair explanation, but Logan Paul has still been friendly with him.
Instead, McIntyre went with a plain old singles match, then a falls count anywhere match, followed by a steel cage. I'm curious how they'll get creative with that order, but story-wise, it's dumb.
Before McIntyre decided, Rhodes cut a promo, boasting about his status, which held no real value after his stupid decision to continue pursuing a challenger he'd beaten multiple times. A McIntyre win remains the only way to salvage this to the fullest.
As for the pyro portion, McIntyre's antagonization of Rhodes was very well done. With Rhodes unable to contact McIntyre without getting stripped of the title, McIntyre broke into Rhodes' bus. The Scot stole a picture of Rhodes and his father, Dusty Rhodes, and literally gave Rhodes the old run around, sneaking into the ring and burning the picture. It was admittedly a little silly, but effective.
Not-So-Happy New Year
Think of the worst possible way to start the new year and a three-hour episode of "WWE SmackDown." Did that thought include the Miz? Well, that was what we got — for roughly 20 minutes.
Listen, this isn't to knock Miz. He's great at what he does, but at this point, he is essentially a seasoned veteran jobber. He aired his many grievances from 2025, cutting a promo on John Cena and Joe Hendry, trashing the Buffalo Bills, typical Miz stuff.
It dragged on much longer than it should have, especially since it was just to get to Randy Orton's return.
Orton being back on weekly TV is good. But this felt like a wasteful way to do it. Miz offered to team up, then took two RKOs. It was nothing more than a cheap crowd pop in a filler segment to start "SmackDown." It baffles the mind a bit.
However, some substance was thankfully added afterward, when Orton ran into Rhodes backstage, stating that he's coming for the Undisputed WWE Championship. That would certainly put a wrench into the hopeful booking of a McIntyre title win. Regardless, a proper feud between Rhodes and Orton sounds great and should happen with or without gold on the line.
Tricky business
Stunningly, there are three Uncrowned Gem-worthy candidates on the first "SmackDown" of 2026, and this was one of them. I'll say it right now: I'm sold. Trick Williams needs to be a world champion before the year ends.
The former NXT and TNA Champion oozes boatloads of charisma and is a complete natural on the mic. His promo delivery and confidence were off the charts in his first main roster promo. None of it felt scripted, and on top of that, the dude looks the part and then some.
Williams' arrival came at the expense of a returning Sami Zayn, which makes for a high-profile start.
Zayn talked about watching Cena vs. Gunther, and how his son asked why Cena was called the "Never Seen 17." Zayn explained the championship wins, then said he was asked how many he has: A big old goose egg. So, WWE is seemingly going to try to reignite that Zayn world title pursuit angle, which has completely cooled off to a full damper. Matching him with Williams makes that all the more interesting, because Zayn should absolutely lose the feud.
Until the program progresses, Williams will have his debut match opposite Rey Fenix next week. Fenix's impending loss is a bummer, but the match will be a banger.
Attempted Murder of the Night
The Damian Priest and Aleister Black ambulance match closed "SmackDown," ending with Priest coming out victorious. There were a lot of absurdities to this, and obviously, the biggest was that the feud went on for this long. WWE even broke the fourth wall and admitted it in Priest's backstage promo earlier in the night. The former world champion mentioned that the feud has lasted for six months and that it's been too long.
That's some hilarious self-awareness. So, with that literally said, the match better have been the end of it.
It was fine overall, but fell short of the last man standing match. Some fun spots saw Priest take Meteoras through a table and on a stretcher. Priest spawned a fireball into Black's face, calling back to the last man standing match, then he hit a Razor's Edge onto the ambulance windshield and chokeslammed Black onto a table from atop the ambulance. He closed the doors after the fireball, highlighting that he straight up wanted to kill the man.
The funniest part of this match was when Rhea Ripley appeared in the back of the ambulance to go after Zelina, hitting her with a Riptide in the ring. That happened with roughly 15 minutes left in the match, and then they were both just gone after that. Effectively, Zelina sold the finisher as the strongest move ever.
Overall, this happened. It's impossible to predict where each goes after this.
FRIDAY NIGHT FIRE
1. Ripley, Iyo Sky, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss defeated the Kabuki Warriors, Nia Jax and Lash Legend after Kairi Sane took a Riptide and Over the Moonsault. The match was essentially just a match to bring all these teams together, but it was damn good. The eight women were given some solid time to work, and while some received less time than others — like Legend — all the proper notes were hit.
Other than a Flair Figure-8-Leg-Lock that was broken up by an In-Sane Elbow that took forever to set up, this match was great. For one last note on Legend, her boot to a flying Sky upon her tag-in was excellent.
2. To continue the NXT wrestler call-ups, "SmackDown" general manager Nick Aldis spoke with Jordynne Grace backstage. Having already seen this with the likes of Trick Williams and Je'Von Evans, Grace might be the best of the bunch thus far, considering how desperately the women's roster needs to be refreshed.
Thankfully, that seems to be getting noticed since Grace approached Jade Cargill later in the night.
3. Carmelo Hayes made his first U.S. title defense, beating Johnny Gargano. The U.S. title is effectively the open challenge belt now, as he will thankfully continue the tradition. This match was unreal. The chemistry between the two brought the house down and delivered tons of near-falls. It's already the Match of the Year!
4. There was a nice NJPW nod and tease between Shinsuke Nakamura and Tama Tonga. Amongst all the surprises on this "SmackDown," that one was up there atop the list.
DOWN & OUT
1. The Wyatt Sicks received a vignette, talking about Sikoa. Bo Dallas just spoke about Sikoa and his lack of family reliability. That was kind of the weird part, though. It was Dallas being himself rather than Uncle Howdy. I don't get that, and none of this gives me a reason to care about the feud.
2. Despite how good the show was and how much it flowed, the three-hour length was felt at the halfway point. That could have been because of how much was packed into 90 minutes, but either way, three hours is simply a long time for a wrestling episode.
3. Giulia defeated Chelsea Green with the Northern Lights Bomb to reclaim the U.S. Championship. What was the point of Green beating her the first time if this was the plan? To make it worse, Giulia needed a Kiana James distraction to win. It was a fine match, but unless WWE does something with the U.S. title picture — and more importantly, Giulia — this all feels like a big waste of time.
Uncrowned Gem of the Night
Maybe it is a new year after all, because I couldn't have predicted a more surprising Uncrowned Gem of the Night on this "SmackDown." There were a lot of layers to this one, folks. It started with Kit Wilson's new singles entrance.
The Pretty Deadly never did it for me, and the direction WWE took with Wilson's toxic masculinity gimmick is certainly a choice. Given the gimmick and the year 2026, it was shocking to see Wilson get such a unique entrance. It's all intentionally comical, but the quality is great, and again, most importantly, super unique. That's always a plus.
Adding to the surprises, Wilson's mystery opponent was Matt Cardona, who is officially back on the WWE roster. Yes. Matt Cardona, not Zack Ryder, like when we last saw him against LA Knight in the Cena retirement match tournament.
The change to the character he's been since leaving WWE many years ago is smart — and his real name. Cardona has been the best version of himself on the indies and very different from Ryder. Then, in the ring, he put on a good, relatively short match with Wilson and won with the Rough Ryder — or as Michael Cole potentially renamed the "Car Rider."
That's not a good name, but everything else about this was an ultra pleasant surprise.
It was a strong start for the first three-hour "SmackDown" of 2026. I give this show a Crown score of: 8.5/10.
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