Smackdown Articles - Page 5

After punching his ticket to Money in the Bank with a win over Montez Ford, LA Knight kept his winning ways going with another W over Santos Escobar, the “Emperor of Lucha Libre” and fellow participant in the Ladder match scheduled for the O2 Arena in London, England on July 1st. Asked about his win […]

Grayson Waller has been a member of the SmackDown roster for roughly a month, and yet, it’s hard to really judge his tenure one way or another. He’s wrestled exactly zero matches, taken part in some backstage segment work, and held two editions of The Grayson Waller Effect, one with AJ Styles and another with […]

LA Knight took the hard road to WWE stardom. Initially signing with the promotion in 2013 after a decade on the indies working for promotions like NWA and Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, Knight was let go in 2014 and had to rebuild his value in TNA, Impact, NWA, and beyond under the Eli Drake moniker. […]

After being woefully underutilized for months by a WWE creative department that was seemingly afraid to embrace his masculine kavorka, LA Knight finally secured a statement win on SmackDown, punching his ticket to Money in the Bank via a totally fair and square win in a qualifier match against Montez Ford. Sitting down for an […]

After watching her record-breaking reign with the RAW Women’s Championship come to an unceremonious end at Night of Champions at the chili pepper mist-soaked hands of Asuka, fans had to expect that Bianca Belair was eventually going to take a shot at “The Empress of Tomorrow” in order to get back what she felt should […]

After sitting on the shelf for the better part of 2023 following AJ Styles’ injury broken ankle, The OC are back, and on the first edition of SmackDown after Night of Champions, the faction announced their return to action in a big way – demolishing Hit Row in a major way after the two teams […]

To paraphrase Corey Graves on the Night of Champions commentary team, Rhea Ripley doesn’t get paid by the minute. After entering into a feud with Natalya after a perceived slight from “The Eradicator of The Judgement Day” in the respect department, Ripley never quite took Neidhart seriously as a challenger for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, […]

After taking an absolute beating at the hands of Butch on the SmackDown LowDown, the dynamic duo of Pretty Deadly, Elton Prince and Kit Wilson, decided to get back the Brawling Brutes in a major way, interfering with Sheamus’ match with Austin Theory on the pre-tapped go-home edition of SmackDown and effectively costing “The Celtic […]

Though he wasn’t booked for a match at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia, Sheamus still has a title match on the books in the not-too-distant future, as he will be facing off against none other than Austin Theory for the United States Championship on SmackDown, marking his first-ever singles match against the current United […]

To some, one of the biggest question marks of the last decade of WWE history regards what a main roster Adam Cole run would have looked like. The former standout and leader of The Undisputed Era, Cole held the NXT World Champion and North American Championship for a combined 529 days and is responsible for […]

After officially making his in-ring debut on the previous edition of SmackDown, securing the 1-2-3 victory on Baron Corbin in near-record time, Cameron Grimes was feeling pretty darn good. After spending the entire first third of 2023 off of television following a successful run in developmental, Grimes was back, and the entire WWE Universe got […]

After promising The Street Profits, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, and the rest of the WWE Universe that he could beat them with any member of the SmackDown roster, LA Knight lost his first match tagging with Rock Boogs on The Blue Brand. … or did he? Discussing what happened in the ring for a […]

Sitting down for a special piece of WWE promotional material in conjunction with Seize The Awkward, Big E let fans in on his mental health journey. “I very much believe that health is wealth, so I stay in the gym on pretty much a daily basis,” Big E said. “And I think the same for […]

Though he never won “the big one” on NXT, and actually left his multi-year run in developmental without a single new title reign added to his name, it’s hard to argue that Grayson Waller wasn’t one of the biggest stars on Tuesday nights. On paper, Waller had it all; he could talk, he could wrestle, […]

After taking a massive verbal beatdown at the hands of Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman, The Usos were looking for a fight when they went backstage on SmackDown and found one in the form of members of WWE’s new super-faction the lWo, Zelina Vega, Cruz del Toro, and Joaquin Wilde, who were joking around in […]

After being added to the SmackDown roster as an undrafted free agent following the 2023 WWE Draft, Grayson Waller officially made his debut on the Blue Brand, being welcomed to the main roster by none other than Adam Pearce backstage. Congratulated for landing on SmackDown by WWE’s Director of Live Events, Waller made his new […]

After being drafted onto SmackDown with the final pick in the 2023 WWE Draft, Cameron Grimes has been itching to show off his newly rebuilt physique, his great on-mic abilities, and tout his success as a cryptocurrency investor, with Baron Corbin stepping up to serve as his first challenger on the man roster. Taking the […]

Though Liv Morgan is currently riding high as one-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, there was a time when the former SmackDown Women’s Champion was far less comfortable in her skin, as she detailed in a revealing PSA about being open about one’s mental health story. “There’s no right or wrong way to […]

With the Draft officially passed, members of the WWE Universe have officially begun to settle into their new homes, with SmackDown set to debut a half-dozen or so performers who have never wrestled on the Blue Brand before. Two of those performers are Kayden Carter and Katana Chance, the former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions […]

After suffering a broken ankle in Hershey, Pennsylvania, during WWE’s Live Holiday Tour back in December, the “Phenomenal” former leader of The Bullet Club, A.J. Styles, is back in WWE, and, after an impressive showing in his return to the ring on the first day of the 2023 WWE Draft, he’s ready to return to […]

After infamously breaking his ankle on a house show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, AJ Styles is officially back, and his faction, The OC, are better than ever. Reunited under the banner of The Bullet Club’s second leader, The OC were not only drafted onto SmackDown as a four-person unit but secured their first win as a […]

Michael Cole loves working with Pat McAfee. Though their partnership was a marriage of convenience more than anything else, with the veteran Cole serving as the logical partner for an uber-charismatic yet wrestling naive announcer, from there, the bromance blossomed into something truly special, with the duo seemingly enjoying all 120 minutes they shared the […]

With the WWE Draft officially over, fans, pundits, and performers themselves have begun to comment on which Superstars went where, with some questioning why Paul “Triple H” Levesque broke up the feud between The Judgement Day and lWo, while others complimented the decision to bring Imperium over to RAW, as Gunther will now be afforded […]

After struggling to find much success in the ring so far in 2023, things turned around seemingly overnight for Bayley and the members of Damage CTRL, Dakota Kai and IYO SKY, as they secured a huge win over the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions on RAW, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, in their final RAW […]

And in the 2023 WWE Draft, Mr. Irrelevant is… Grayson Waller. That’s right, despite being the most polished prospect in all of NXT, Waller had to watch as a half dozen of his former fellow developmental recruits heard their names called on television, the SmackDown LowDown, or ultimately on RAW Talk before Matt Camp said […]

As improbably as it may sound, Rick Boogs was drafted onto SmackDown despite being largely absent from WWE over the 2023 calendar year… as a solo act. That’s right, despite being connected to Elias since returning from injury, SmackDown decided to bring him in as a solo act, with Elias left to fend for himself […]

After watching Bianca Belair get drafted onto SmackDown despite being the current holder of the RAW Women’s Championship, fans, announcers, and wrestlers alike wondered what that meant for Rhea Ripley, who is the current SmackDown Woman’s Champion following a huge WrestleMania 39 win over Charlotte Flair. Would Ripley and Belair switch belts Becky Lynch-Charlotte Flair […]

After watching Paul “Triple H” Levesque announce Bianca Belair as the third pick in the WWE Draft, with “The Est of WWE” heading to SmackDown in the first true twist of the proceedings, the current RAW Women’s Champion called into SmackDown to deliver a message to the WWE Universe and may have let it slip […]

After officially being drafted to SmackDown in the WWE Draft, and providing fans of the Blue Brand with the first whiff of their unique brand of smoke in a win over lWo and Ricochet/Braun Strowman, the Street Profits, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins, were feeling good. Though it’s been a minute since they were regularly […]

While the mainstream sports world is currently enthralled by the NFL Draft, with Round 1 featuring tons of intriguing angles and Night 2 set to take place at the same time as SmackDown and Rampage, the WWE Universe is preparing for a draft of their own, with Night 1 set for the final Friday of […]

Ever since Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez won the SmackDown Women’s Championship belts off of Becky Lynch and Lita Trish Stratus, they’ve had a target on their backs from the “The Complaint Department,” aka Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green… at least until Friday Night SmackDown, when, one week after taking not-so-friendly fire from a well-placed […]

With the 2023 WWE draft rapidly approaching, fans are wondering which performers will be staying put on the brand fans have come to know and love and which Superstars will be on the move from Mondays or Fridays or the other way around. But who, you may ask, should go first overall? Roman Reigns? Cody […]

After spending the better part of a week hyping himself and the rest of the WWE Universe up for his Intercontinental Championship match against Gunther, Xavier Woods found himself on the losing side of the bout when the referee hit the 1-2-3 and raised “The Ring General’s” hand after his 10th-straight successful title defense. Asked […]

After securing a win over the Viking Raiders on SmackDown, Ricochet was feeling pretty good as he attempted to chase down his tag team partner, Braun Strowman, backstage. Still, that didn’t stop the high-flying “One And Only” from taking a moment to address the match with Megan Morant for a digital exclusive segment. “You know […]

After watching her faction, the lWo, suffer a loss at the hand of The Judgement Day via a well-placed South of Heaven by Damian Priest on Santos Escobar, Zelina Vega made her way to the back for a conversation with Adam Pearce in pursuit of one thing and one thing only: bringing championship gold back […]

With the WWE Draft rapidly approaching, fans have been wondering which Superstars will be working on RAW, which will be working on SmackDown, and if any members of the NXT Universe, from Apollo Crews to Bron Breakker, could see their fortunes altered and their careers fast-tracked with a main roster call up. But what if […]

After securing his most important singles win of the year so far in a SmackDown dub over “The Megastar” LA Knight, Xavier Woods was riding high, so much so that he decided to poke the bear, in this case, Imperium, with his trombone to effectively lay down the challenge for Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship. While didn’t […]

After effectively taking the first three and a half months of the 2023 calendar year off away from WWE, Shinsuke Nakamura officially made his return to the WWE Universe on SmackDown, where he made quick work of Madcap Moss despite some outside-the-ring quarterbacking from Emma. Afforded a chance to discuss his time away, Kayla Braxton […]

While Xavier Woods was riding high after securing a surprise win over LA Knight on SmackDown, “The Megastar” was walking to the back feeling dejected… at least until Megan Morant of the SmackDown LowDown decided to ask the former Million Dollar Champion why he wasn’t able to “get the job done” in his match. Needless […]