WWE SmackDown Winners, Grades and Reaction After Night of Champions 2026

SmackDown returned to a two-hour format this week, but more importantly, Sami Zayn returned to the blue brand as the new WWE champion following his win at Night of Champions.

The new champ defeated Cody Rhodes and Gunther to claim his first world title in WWE, but now, he has to worry about who wants to take it from him at SummerSlam.

Friday's show featured his first promo as champion, Brie Bella took on Lainey Reid, the team of Jade Cargill, Michin and B-Fab battled Charlotte Flair, Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green, and Rey Fenix put his AAA cruiserweight title on the line against Vikingo.

Let's take a look at what went down on this week's show.

He Finally Did it!

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Sami Zayn kicked things off by celebrating his WWE title victory at Night of Champions, but as we all expected, he did not get through the segment alone.

Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso both showed up to stake their claim at a title shot, but Zayn seemed uninterested in facing either of them. Unfortunately for him, Adam Pearce had other plans.

He booked Uso vs. Rhodes with the winner earning a title shot on Raw. The way this segment played out made sense, but it's hard to call it exciting television.

Zayn got a pretty positive reaction when he arrived, but having him continue to play the bad guy who thinks he is the good guy is much more interesting than reverting to a babyface, so that was nice to see.

There was a lot of previous stuff addressed between all three men, so it's going to be interesting to see if either of them ends up in a championship match at SummerSlam after what happens tonight and on Raw.

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• It was harder than usual to tell how edited the crowd reactions were.
• Uso being genuinely happy for Zayn was nice to see.

Flair, Green and Stratton vs. Cargill, B-Fab and Michin

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A six-woman tag match started the action on Friday's show. Green, Flair and Stratton formed an uneasy alliance to take on Cargill, B-Fab and Michin, who have been teaming together for months.

This bout followed a predictable pattern, which is usually the case with multi-person matches in WWE, but that doesn't mean it leads to a bad match every time.

Flair, Green and Michin are the most natural in the ring, Stratton and Cargill have come a long way, and B-Fab has made noticeable improvements. That being said, this match felt a little lackluster.

There was rarely a sense of urgency to anything they did. They went through the motions, and everything looked fine, but nothing surprising or unpredictable happened. You could almost plot the changes in momentum if you are familiar with the WWE style of booking.

As critical as all that sounds, we're not saying this was bad. It had some good spots, everyone played their part, and it had the right outcome.

The heels ended up being victorious thanks to Cargill pinning Green with Jaded.

Result: Cargill, B-Fab and Michin defeated Green, Stratton and Flair

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• If you look at B-Fab now compared to when she first started wrestling on TV, it's a big difference, but it still feels like they took her out of NXT and the PC way too soon sometimes.
• Cargill always pulls back right when she hits a clothesline. It's like she is afraid of actually hurting someone, but she needs to follow through if she wants to look like the powerhouse that she is.

Rey Fenix vs. Vikingo

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Last time in action: Fenix defeated Nathan Frazer (SD, June 26), Vikingo lost a tag match (AAA, June 20)

The AAA Cruiserweight Championship was on the line when Fenix defended the belt against Vikingo, who is already the Latin American champion in AAA.

Both of these men are celebrated high-flyers, so there was no shortage of exciting moments in this one. Fenix had a bit of a size advantage, but it didn't seem to come into play too much.

If you're a wrestling fan and don't enjoy the lucha style, this match is not for you. If you like fast-paced action with aerial offense, this is going to be right up your alley.

Both men looked great and did a tremendous job selling for each other and hitting all of their big moves together. You can't get this kind of performance unless both guys know each other well and work together to make it happen.

You can't be selfish when you are both putting your bodies on the line with something like a reverse hurricanrana from the middle rope. Fenix retained his title with the Mexican Muscle Buster to end an enjoyable fight.

Result: Fenix defeated Vikingo

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Vikingo trapping Fenix in the apron so he could hit a blind dropkick was a fun spot.
• When Vikingo hit a springboard moonsault, it looked like the bump he took would hurt way worse than how he hit Fenix.
• The reverse rana from the middle rope looked about as perfect as it can be.

The Forever Feud

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Trick Williams came out for a promo with Lil Yachty, but before they could even say a single word, Carmelo Hayes came out to join them in the ring.

Hayes made his case for a U.S. title shot again. Williams allowed Yachty to speak for him, and he said Hayes can have a match next week, but not for the belt.

Williams didn't speak much in this segment, but he did backhand Hayes, which led to Melo taking him out with a dive over the top rope as he tried to leave.

Hayes and Yachty did the heavy lifting on the mic, but the segment was pretty cut and dry. Hayes will almost certainly win next week somehow, which will give him ammunition in his argument to get a title shot.

We know both of these guys are capable of much better than this, so this felt like they were being held back by a script. If you're looking for something you can skip to save time, this might be it.

Grade: C

Notable Moments and Observations

• Blake Monroe attacked Giulia and Kiana James backstage.
• Yachty made a short joke about Hayes.
• Danhausen performed another experiment on The Miz and Kit Wilson backstage, but it went awry due to Judgment Day messing with his equipment.