SmackDown airs tonight (Oct. 16) with a live show emanating from Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. This is the first episode of SmackDown during the four week build to Crown Jewel, which takes place on November 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Nikki Bella’s WWE world title push is finally here
It’s been over two months since the Bella Twins turned on Paige at SummerSlam. Whatever plans WWE originally had for the aftermath of the turn had to be scrapped due to Brie Bella’s broken shoulder blade.
Nikki Bella is instead out here on the cusp of another singles world title match. All she has to do tonight is defeat Paige on SmackDown, and it sounds like that will be good enough to put Bella in line for a shot against WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green.
Bella already beat Paige a month ago in a very quick match on SmackDown. In fact, Paige has wrestled three total matches since the SummerSlam turn, and she’s lost all three of them. There isn’t much reason to expect her to win tonight, unless WWE is already having second thoughts about pushing Bella to a world title match. If that’s the case, the push can be killed dead tonight with some 50/50 booking where Paige goes over in the rematch.
Bella feels like a bit of an afterthought given that Tiffany Stratton now holds the Money in the Bank contract, and some of the Bella/Paige segments have seemingly been cut for time on Friday nights. Green isn’t exactly the strongest champion after losing to Roxanne Perez on Raw, so a filler title program where she goes over Bella can perhaps help her out in that regard.
Tune in to SmackDown tonight to see if WWE is really pushing Nikki Bella to a future world title match in 2026, or to see if those apparent plans have already been changed.
The rest of the card
Damian Priest has been repackaged as an asshole heel, and he makes his in-ring debut with this new presentation tonight in a singles match against R-Truth. Will it be a squash match? Does El Malo have a new and improved finishing move? Will he slip on a banana peel and actually lose against Truth?
WWE loves to book talking segments featuring Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, and it looks like another one is headed our way tonight. The American Nightmare has demanded a face-to-face confrontation with The Viper. Are they going to set up a high stakes gimmick match for Crown Jewel that involves bone sawing punting each other’s heads off in Saudi Arabia?
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley are the new WWE women’s tag team champions after beating Fatal Influence last week. Charlotte Flair gave her spot in the match to Alexa after Jade Cargill’s attack took her out. Even so, will a rift finally begin to grow between Alexa and Charlotte now that The Queen has to deal with her best friend having a championship while she does not? Or will Flair try to rectify the situation by targeting Women’s United States Champion Jacy Jayne?
– GUNTHER beat the shit out of Danhausen last week and also laid out Finn Balor. Is it time for Danhausen to curse the Ring General and add even more confusion to his booking this year?
– Are Kevin Owens and CM Punk going to have a rematch after their heated rivalry probably cost each other the Money in the Bank contract?
– WWE Champion Sami Zayn is currently lined up for a match against World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel. But will Sami receive a visit tonight from Money in the Bank contract holder Penta, or perhaps an invitation to foolishly come to Raw in San Diego next week?
– After the War Raiders were fed to WWE Tag Team Champions MFT last week, is it time to feed Erik and Ivar to Bakusai tonight?
– Does WWE have a new challenger in mind for United States Champion Trick Williams, or is he the next babyface who gets to kill time by humiliating The Miz and Kit Wilson this week?
– Now that Blake Monroe has her first SmackDown match and win in the record books, will it be another six months before The Glamour wrestles on TV again?
– What can Baron Corbin do to make sure he doesn’t turn into SmackDown’s Big Cass?
– When is Ricky Saints getting his title rematch against AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix?
– Where the f*** is Jordynne Grace?
What will you be looking for on SmackDown?
