WWE Smackdown 9/18/2026

WWE Smackdown 9/18/2026

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/wwe-smackdown-9112026.html

We are in Corpus Christi, TX. Michael Cole and Corey Graves are on commentary.

We see various wrestlers arrive. 

Nick Aldis is in the ring and says sometimes in his job, you have to deal with people who rub you the wrong way. Nick brings Sami Zayn out. Sami gets bored and asks Nick if it's funny to him. Sami says it must kill Nick to have to call him the Undisputed champ. Sami says it feels good coming out of his mouth.

He says "Justice for Sami" was about justice for all. He says he fights even for the people who boo him. He says justice has been served and this is what it looks like. Sami says he also believes in equality. He says he expects the stars asking for title shots to be treated like he was. He says he expects them to get obstacles put in their way like with him. 

Johnny Gargano comes out with Candice LeRae. Sami hugs JG. Sami says it means a lot that he's out there. JG says he wouldn't miss it for the world but he's out there for another reason. He says they had a deal and JG was in line for a title shot if he helped him vs Punk. JG says he's here to collect. Sami says they never made a deal. JG challenges him for tonight. 

Nick says he makes title matches and Sami doesn't. Sami says it's not totally up to him. Nick says JG had a title match at home a few weeks ago. He says CM Punk is next in line but he's not here.

Kevin Owens comes out. Owens says he deserves a title match. LeRae says JG is next. Owens then stunners JG. Nick says he makes title matches and he can't reward bad behavior. Owens says Sami screwed up 3-4 main events to get his title shot and says this mess started when Sami cost him the title in Toronto. Nick says it's true. Owens says Sami is also an arrogant jack@ss. 

Nick says it has got him to thinking. Sami says Nick threw Punk at him at the last minute last time. Sami grabs Nick and says he's not having it again. Nick tells Sami to get his hands off of him. Nick says he makes the matches and says Sami just made the decision for him when he was on the fence. Nick says Sami is defending the title tonight vs Kevin Owens. Nick says Sami's last reign was 9 days and says let's see if we can get past 7. Sami and Nick then argue in the aisle. Randy Orton's music hits and he comes out. He then stares at Sami and rubs the title.

Money in the Bank Qualifier - Randy Orton vs Trick Williams vs Rey Fenix

Orton drops Rey with a forearm to start. Trick side headlocks Orton and shoulders him over. Rey dropkicks Trick. Rey superkicks Orton out of the corner. Orton is sent shoulder first into the post. Rey double jump springboard plancha's Trick outside. Rey double jump moonsaults Trick inside.

Trick pop up drops Rey. Trick stomps Rey. Rey is lariated over the top then backdropped on the commentary table by Orton. Orton backdrops Trick on the commentary table. Lil Yachty yells at Orton then Orton eye pokes him. Orton then backdrops him on the commentary table.

We go to break and return. Orton does the garvin stomp to Trick. Orton 2nd rope superplexes Trick but Rey sunset bombs him in the process. Rey top rope splashes Orton for 2. Rey hits kicks on both opponents while they are kneeling. Rey swing kicks Orton. Rey enzugiri's Trick in the corner. Orton lariats Rey and Trick. Orton powerslams Rey. Orton powerslams Trick. 

Rey is pushed off the top to the outside. Trick hits a corkscrew facekick on Orton for 2. Rey rolls into a hurricanrana on Trick for 2. Rey superkicks Trick.  Rey jumps off the top and Orton RKO's him. Trick hits a trick shot knee on Rey and pins him.

Thoughts: I figured Orton would win here and was a bit surprised. This worked a lot better than it should have as we had some serious styles clashes here. I was fine with this one and it was interesting to see Orton fight a luchador, since he hasn't done that a lot except for Rey Mysterio.

Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae talk in the back. Sami says they are trying to take his title from him again. He asks if they saw Nick say Gargano isn't on the list of contenders and doesn't deserve it. Sami says he will work on Nick for him and get him the match. Sami says he can't lose the title after 7 days and go through it again. Sami says if he loses the title, he asks if Johnny will get another shot again? Sami asks if he understands what he's trying to say. Johnny says he does. Sami says they will talk. Sami says he's got him.

MFT do a promo. Tama says we did that and his family did that. He says he never needed Nakamura and Nakamura needed him. He says when he refused, he brought in Kyoki. He says whatever happens to Kyoki is on his hands.

Kyoki and Shinsuke Nakamura talk in Japanese. Nakamura says Tama isn't the hunter but the prey.

Tatum plays with a candle while Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss talk. Tatum tries to show them a special candle and Flair blows it out. Flair says she needs to focus on qualifying for MITB. Tatum says this is the perfect opportunity for them to bond together. Tatum then gives Flair 2 more candles. Flair then blows out a candle representing bad luck.

MFT (Tama and Talla Tonga) vs Bakusai (Shinsuke Nakamura and Kyoki)

Haku is with MFT.

Kyoki goes to hit Talla on the buckles then he knocks him off the buckles. Tama nails Kyoki from behind and throws him in. Kyoki dropkicks Tama off the apron. Kyoki double dropkicks MFT outside. 

We go to break and return. Kyoki hits crossbodies on Tama. Tama hit chops and Kyoki chops back. Tama boots him off the ropes. Kyoki flying headscissors him. Kyoki dropkicks Talla. Kyoki ddt's him. 

Kyoki top rope seated sentons his opponents outside. Kyoki basement dropkicks Talla. SN flips Kyoki onto Talla for 2. Talla bangs his head off the post. SN 2nd rope flying knees him for 2. SN sliding germans Tama then Haku hits SN with his stick for the DQ.

Thoughts: We didn't get too much of this and it had a DQ finish here. It's probably not a good sign that Bakusai didn't win this clean. I like Kyoki over Hiromu Takahashi, as he doesn't do all the dangerous moves I didn't like. It was a match.

Haku rams his stick into SN's throat. Kyoki jumps off the steps onto Talla and Talla chokeslams him on the apron. Kyoki then takes a chopblock + facekick in the ring.

Kevin Owens is interviewed. He says it's a big night and says he had his first WWE match here vs John Cena. He says he won too. He says he will beat Sami to become WWE champ tonight.

Finn Balor interrupts. He says KO and Sami have been friends forever and it's convenient he's getting the title shot especially after he helped him. Finn says he's coming for whoever wins the title, even if he has to win the MITB briefcase.

Aldis talks to Chelsea Green and Tiffany Stratton. Nick congratulates Green for winner. Danhausen interrupts. He says Aldis' phone and tells him who is calling. He then says he blocked someone on his phone. Aldis goes to get his phone.

Tiff says she will be in a MITB Qualifier and hopes Green won't mind. Grene says she doesn't. They see Nikki Bella. Tiff tells Bella to keep her name out of her mouth. Bella says she's coming after Green's title and doesn't need qualifying matches. She says she's a legend and she's coming after the title.

Michael Cole does a sitdown interview with Cody Rhodes. He says Cody couldn't pull the trigger. Cody says he doesn't like the phrasing. 

Cole says Cody is QB1 but it seems like the team is gone. We see a picture of Cody holding the title up at Mania and Cole says all those people in it stabbed him in the back. Cody says he should have seen it coming. He says things didn't go differently with him. Cody talks about people saying he might turn heel. Cody says he knew who he was when he won the title and being uncompromised got him a ton of success. He says when the situation comes up again like it did with Orton, he won't make the same decision as he did at SNME.

Thoughts: I'm not sure where things are going with Cody, but they need to figure it out soon. He's too big of a name to not have something better going on.

Jade Cargill's crew is interviewed. B-Fab laughs at Flair and Alexa being in line for the tag titles. Jade says her girls will be in line. Jade says she's coming back for the Women's Title. She says MITB is hers and she's coming for her.  

Women's Money in the Bank Qualifier - Jade Cargill vs Alexa Bliss vs Jacy Jayne

AB goes for JJ and is thrown down backwards. JJ begs off of Jade. JJ gets on the commentary table to talk trash and AB sweeps her on there. JJ trips AB then pulls her out. JJ side headlocks Jad then Jad shoulders her over.

Jade slams JJ then JJ flying headscissors her. Jade is pulled over the top then Jade trips JJ. AB dropkicks Jade through the ropes. AB pushes JJ's face into the mat with her foot. JJ superkicks Jade in the gut then Jade black hole slams JJ for 2.

We go to break and return. We get a tower of doom spot with Jade sending the other two down. Jade tries to pin AB. Jade hits flying back elbows on her opponents. Jade then spears the post when JJ moves.

AB shoulders JJ over then slaps her. AB knees her in the face and ddt's her. AB flying headscissors JJ then dropkicks her out of the ring from behind. AB cannonballs JJ off the apron. 

Jade throws AB into the ropes and knees her in the face. JJ knees AB in the face for 2. JJ is tripped into the buckles. AB top rope plancha's Jade and JJ together. AB hits sister abigail on JJ for 2. AB thesz presses Jade and pounds on her. Jade hits a jade end on AB for 2. JJ superkicks Jade and steals the pin.

Thoughts: It was average. It could have been a little cleaner at times here and wasn't super impressive. Jade not winning is not a good sign for her career at all.

Fatal Infuence then celebrate with Jacy after in the aisle.

Giulia is interviewed about MITB Qualifying. Nia Jax and Lash Legend interrupt before she can say much. Giulia says she doesn't like them and beats people she doesn't like. Lash says she will clean house in qualifying and bring home the tag titles and look good while doing it. Giulia says let's see how good she looks when she kicks her teeth out too.

Lil Yachty puts over Trick WIlliams in the back. He tels Trick not to forget about what Baron Corbin did. Trick says he's got plans for Baron but wants to handle MITB first.

Trick then goes up to Sami and says what's up gingerbread? Sami says it's 2x WWE champ and tells him to show respect to the champ. Trick says his last reign was a week and this one might be shorter. Sami says he will stay champ. Trick says he hopes he stays champ so he can take his title again. 

Damian Priest says we should ask what took so long for him attack R-Truth. He says he had to win matches for them for months and should have forced Truth to change. He says he tried to move on but Truth failed again. He said then he had to explain it to him the only way he knows how. He says he doesn't think Truth gets it yet but he will. He says if Truth wants to call him a villain or a backstabber, he should call him a bad man.

Undisputed Title - Sami Zayn (c) vs Kevin Owens

KO hits Sami during intros and boots him in the corner. Sami goes out to stall and KO running lariats him there. KO sentons him on the floor. We go to PiP break and return.

Sami goes to the apron and pulls KO's throat down over the top rope. Sami hits mounted punches. Sami elbows him in the head. Sami slaps KO. Sami throws KO into the corner and KO goes down.

Sami boots him in the corner. KO's head is banged off the buckles and Sami 2nd rope double axe handles him for 2. Sami sits up top and they punch each other. Sami eye rakes him. KO superkicks him.

KO sentons Sami twice. KO corner cannonballs him. KO AA's him for 2. Sami blue thunders him for 2. We go to PiP break and return. 

They trade shots on the buckles and KO headbutts him down. KO top rope swantons him for 2. Johnny Gargano comes down and gets on the apron. Candice LeRae comes in and tornado ddt's KO from the 2nd rope. Sami helluva kicks KO for 2. 

KO pop up powerbombs Sami. KO stunners Sami for 2 when Gargano puts Sami's foot on the ropes. KO sends Gargano into the rails. KO clears off the commentary table and Sami hits KO. KO throws Sami through the commentary table. Gargano comes in the ring and KO stunners him. LeRae gets on the ropes to distract the ref. CM Punk comes out and hits Owens with the title. Sami goes for the pin but the ref counts 2 only. There appears to be some kind of issue. Sami helluva kicks KO and pins him.

Thoughts: Odd ending with a count getting messed up near the end. We had a ton of interference here with Punk, LeRae and Gargano all getting involved and that mostly ate up the last half of this. 

Punk beats up on Sami after. Punk hits him with a GTS.

Overall thoughts: Orton's match worked better than I expected and I was fine with that one. MFT/Bakusai was just a normal match and the Women's MITB match was about the same. The main was fine and filled with shenanigans. I think they are doing a good job with Sami's title run so far and they have a lot of ways they can go with it. This one was mostly based around Sami's shenanigans with everyone else kind of playing second fiddle here. The show was fine overall and I'd give this a 6 out of 10.