Something about land south of the United States border just agrees with WWE in the TKO era. For most its time as WWE property, AAA’s been the best-booked brand in the company for a year. And when SmackDown came our way from Mexico City on Fri., Sept. 11, 2026, it gave us a fast-paced, enjoyable, eventful two hours of wrestling television. Here’s the internet’s best live blog for that, courtesy of the one and only Claire Elizabeth.
Now to answer Randy Orton’s question, which he asked to mock the absent
Cody Rhodes… let’s talk about Smackdown, and let’s start with the now-two-time WWE champion(!) Sami Zayn.
The arc of the moral universe is long…
Along with some gorgeous aerial shots of the Mexican capital, we opened with footage of then-champion CM Punk and then-challenger Zayn entering Arena CMDX. The next we saw Sami, he was nailing a backstage promo — as he pretty much always does, which is why he’s still in this spot.
The scene was also important because Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae showed up. Months of talking to Johnny Wrestling while he was in a dissociative state doing core exercises paid off for Sami, and he’s got something cooking with Gargano and Mrs. Wrestling for tonight. Johnny is smart enough to insist Zayn promise to give him the first shot if he beats Punk, but not smart enough to see the Last Real Good Guy not really make that promise.
Later, Cathy Kelley caught up with Punk, who also nailed the always-tricky babyface champ promo — which he can do in addition to playing a great rudo titleholder, and is why he’s gonna be in this spot for as long as he wants to be and his body holds up.
Punk’s seriously excellent example of how to do a good guy interview, within the context of his rivalry with Zayn, made me think of his famous line to John Cena about “becoming the thing you hate”. In his case it would have to be repurposed into… I don’t know, a Cubs/Cardinals analogy? Blackhawks/Red Wings? You have to go back to the 90s Bulls for a Chicago dynasty though. But I digress.
Point is, whatever you think of it, CM Punk really is the face of WWE now. Especially with more and more crowds turning on Cody Rhodes. But more on that in a bit, too.
Punk’s entrance was also great, with the crowd fully embracing him as he paid tribute to lucha history and tradition. Mexico City was a fantastic crowd all night, btw, and makes me even more excited for Penta/Roman Reigns on Raw Monday night.
The match itself was good. Sami targeting Punk’s wounded knee and trying for win via figure-four, while Punk went after Zayn’s damaged wrist. It built to a good Blue Thunder Bomb nearfall and a great GTS one, and then the circus came to town.
I kid, but I’m not really criticizing. Sami’s not winning clean, so I’ll take the shenanigans. It’s pro wrestling, after all. And these shenanigans were all logical. We’ve been watching Zayn prime Gargano for this for months (long-term storytelling!), and we’ve already got intrigue about how that relationship will progress now that Sami has the gold. There are recent and ancient reasons for Kevin Owens to arrive in an attempt to thwart Zayn (longer term storytelling!), and my favorite wrinkle to the whole glorious mess might have been KO’s “oh well” smirk when he nailed Punk with the belt instead of his fellow Quebecer.
Zayn winning the WWE title by low-blowing frenemy Owens after KO ko-ed someone they both don’t like in Punk, allowing Sami to take a belt from Punk, in a match Owens wasn’t even in? That might be one of the most perfect things I’ve ever seen in pro wrestling.
“There’s a lot of people gunning for your title…”
That’s what Michael Cole said after Zayn’s win. Let’s run through the ones who appeared on SmackDown Friday night, shall we?
- Owens
- Gargano
- Punk would seem to have grounds for a rematch.
- Randy Orton opened the show with a promo announcing that after his win at Sunday Night’s Main Event, he’s moving on from “good man” Cody Rhodes. Instead, Orton will be aiming for his 15th WWE World championship reign. The Viper beating Sami feels a lot more likely than him beating Punk or Rhodes, does it not? We also have to point out how the crowd’s only reaction to Cody was boos. I doubt it was the plan — and if he’s still moving merch and getting love from the kids I doubt it will happen. But having Orton beat Zayn for the belt, then having Rhodes take it from Randy would be a nifty way to cement a double turn.
- Finn Bálor
- Gunther
- Danhausen?
The Irishman and the Austrian plainly state their interest in a scene that that teases Money in the Bank, and I’m just guessing that’s why Danhausen was trying to give Gunther bunny ears at the end.
Never forget
It will always be a somber day for those of us who experienced 9/11/2001, and we should always remember those that died that day — especially those that were selflessly trying to save others. We should continually reflect on it, and the ways it changed the world. It was odd that WWE wasn’t in the United States to commemorate it, because as was covered in SmackDown’s excellent video package, 25 years ago the company did play a role in returning life to some semblance of normalcy for a lot of us.
Also on SmackDown…
Neither of SmackDown’s women’s matches was what I would call… good. But the one that I had any investment in got the right reaction out of me and the crowd, and the one I’m not terribly interested in seemed to mostly get the right reaction from a packed Arena CMDX.
First off, is Chelsea Green’s WWE Women’s title no longer interim? Pretty sure they didn’t use that word here, including when General Manager Nick Aldis was warning her to keep her protective mask on. And then there was this from The Feed:
Anyway, Nia Jax and her Irresistible Forces partner Lash Legend were heelish as always, and got heat accordingly. Green was as over there as she is around here. The match was sloppy, which was especially unfortunate at the finish. But even though she didn’t nail the Unpretty-Her set-up from the top rope, Green still used her brains to retain. And her storyline with Tiffany Stratton advanced when Tiffy took a punch intended for the champ.
The other women’s match was just sloppy. But Paige’s beatdown of Nikki Bella was getting a decent reaction, so hopefully the folks who are following this closely have reason to be optimistic for what’s next, maybe?
Rey Fenix and Ricky Saints opened the action with a fun match. It was mostly a showcase for Fenix en route to his retaining the AAA Cruiserweight title. I’d love for Saints to prove me wrong and really standout, but he didn’t so anything to make me change my opinion in Mexico City.
Maybe his later backstage pettiness will help him unlock another gear…
The AAA Tag title match was fine, but never rose above that as War Raiders retained over Damian Priest and R-Truth. This latest loss was too much for Priest, especially after Truth came to the ring in a sombrero for their chance to get some gold back around their waists. The turn was never gonna come out of nowhere, so doing it in front of the right crowd was smart.
I respect Baron Corbin for sticking to his straight-forward mean-ass heel character, but I really wanted Trick Williams to be moving on from the Lone Wolf after reclaiming the United States title at SNME. Trick still has to Lemon Pepper Step his way into Money in the Bank, right? This was competently executed, but having Williams idle like this isn’t competent booking. At least I don’t think so.
Overall?
Grade: A-
Look, this is a fan blog. Unless something logically or morally offensive happens on said show, this fan is not giving any show with a Sami Zayn World title win on it anything less than than an A. But it wasn’t perfect, thus the symbol. Sorry not sorry.
The fan in fan blog is plural, though. What was your take on SmackDown from Mexico City last night? Give it to us in the comments below, or in The Feed!
