WWE SmackDown Live Updates, Results and Highlights From October 23

One week after watching as Cody Rhodes punted Baron Corbin, The Viper took to the squared circle to address The American Nightmare.

"I'm proud of you, kid," Orton told his former protege before expressing his joy over being able to make Rhodes crack.

"I know, and you know, none of that matters unless you do it to me," the third-generation Superstar said before reminding the WWE Universe of how he used to punt opponents with zero remorse.

Rhodes interrupted with a big pop, a serious expression showing cracks in his typically unshakable demeanor.

"When did Randy Orton become such a coward?" he asked, reminding his rival that commentators used to call him the "Apex Predator," then asked why he felt so unafraid.

"I've seen you punt and put down your old mentor, Triple H, then I saw you kill your chance at being the face of this company." He rattled off a laundry list of the legends Orton has punted and the off-screen mistakes that nearly cost him everything.

He called Orton a "little b***h" for nursing injuries in St. Louis while Rhodes was stepping out in front of the paying customers despite nearly losing his eye.

As the confrontation intensified, SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis offered up a match for Crown Jewel, and Rhodes responded with "Last Man Standing."

"Fine. Fine. You and me, Last Man Standing at Crown Jewel. But remember, you asked for this," Orton warned before exiting.

Giulia dominated throughout the break, even trapping Monroe in a trash can and teeing off with a kendo stick.

The fight made its way up the ramp, through the Gorilla Position, and into the backstage area, where the heel seized control with hairspray to the eyes. Giulia responded by sending Monroe into a mirror, shattering it.

The fight returned to the arena, where Giulia drove Monroe face-first into the mat with a vicious stomp to the back of the head.

Chants of "we want tables" poured from the stands in time for the heel to blind her opponent with a fire extinguisher to the eyes. She capitalized on it by delivering a superplex off the ring steps and onto a pile of a dozen or so chairs.

Back in the ring, Monroe looked for the Neutralizer, but Giulia countered into a rollup. The Glamour countered, delivered the finisher, and earned the victory.

WINNER: BLAKE MONROE

A good, physical match that could have benefited from a crowd that had any reason to care about a showdown that felt two weeks too late. Still, this was quality work from both women and a big win for Monroe.

Backstage, Green, Stratton, and Sky celebrated the former's successful title defense. Stratton said she could not wait to see Liv Morgan's face when she cashes in her Money in the Bank briefcase on her.

Back in the arena, Giulia and Blake Monroe wrote the latest chapter of their rivalry in a Street Fight.

The Beautiful Madness attacked The Glamour during her entrance and nearly sent her into a pyramid of chairs that Giulia had set up during the commercial break. Monroe weathered the offense, blasted her rival with a kendo stick, and sent her into the guardrail with a big dropkick.

Giulia recovered and sent Monroe into the chairs to regain the upper hand entering the timeout.

Commercial break.

Back from the break, a recovered Green delivered a big superplex, then fired off more offense at her challenger, including a meteora and a facebuster.

She set up for the Unprettier, but Perez countered out and into a small package rollup for two.

Moments later, Raquel Rodriguez made her presence felt, shoving Green from the top rope. This brought out Iyo Sky, who laid out the Women's Intercontinental Champion. The distraction allowed Green to snatch Perez, deliver the Unprettier, and score the successful title defense.

WINNER: CHELSEA GREEN

After the match, Liv Morgan attacked out of nowhere. She laid out Green and joined Rodriguez for a two-on-one beatdown before Tiffany Stratton made the save.

The babyfaces cleared the ring and Stratton threatened to cash in her briefcase on Morgan. She leveled the heel with the Money in the Bank case, then looked to hand it over to the referee, but Rodriguez and Perez pulled their Judgment Day teammate to safety.

The product of Perez's upset victory over Green, thanks to interference from Judgment Day teammates Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez two weeks ago, The Prodigy sought to dethrone the Hot Mess in the night's first match.

The confident challenger bridged out of a pinfall attempt and slapped Green in the face, showing great disrespect for the champion. The babyface answered with a slap of her own and scored a quick pin. Following some brief showboating from the heel, Green dropped her with a dropkick, then flattened her on the arena floor.

The champ was rolling until she stopped and asked Corey Graves on commentary for approval. Perez capitalized on the distraction, sent her opponent into the ring post, then stomped her exposed arm as the show headed to the break.

Commercial break.

AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix hit the ring and came face-to-face with the Last Real Good Guy. He said he wasn't sure who Penta would cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on, but if Penta disrespected his brother, they'd have a problem.

This brought out United States Champion Trick Williams, who admitted that Zayn does not strike fear in his heart. He recalled the heel claiming he did not have "it" last week, to which the babyface said, "It whooped your ass at WrestleMania!"

He claimed he is a veteran in terms of being a champion, while Zayn is a rookie.

The WWE champion claimed he could carve Williams up on the mic if he wanted and warned his prospective challenger that he is dangerously close to "sink or swim."

Williams reiterated his demand for a WWE title match, leading to a cheap shot from Zayn, who quickly fled alongside LeRae and Gargano. SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis appeared and announced Williams and Fenix vs. Zayn and Gargano for the main event.

A video package recapped the face-to-face confrontation from Monday's Raw between World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn.

The latter made his way to the ring, flanked by Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae, both of whom are becoming sidekicks and lackeys of the Last Real Good Guy. Meanwhile, Corey Graves and Michael Cole put over Zayn vs. Reigns at Crown Jewel.

"Interesting week," he started his promo before recapping the same interview segment that the video package recapped moments earlier.

Zayn said the interaction with the OTC got him thinking: Who is the man around WWE, before putting himself over as such, thanks to his intellect and resilience.

The promo continued for a moment until a fellow champion interrupted the proceedings.