WWE SmackDown on Aug. 14, 2026, took place at TD Garden in Boston and featured what was to be a singles match between Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn.
This week’s show was stacked with championship matches and all the big names you'd want to see on a Friday evening. CM Punk and Kevin Owens went at it in a promo segment, recapping their 20-year history in the business before they meet for the Undisputed title next week. It was easily the best episode of SmackDown in a long time.
Here’s the top takeaways from this week’s show:
Chelsea Green gets 30 days to defend title
Starting off the show were SmackDown GM Nick Aldis and Chelsea Green, who suffered a shoot broken orbital last week. As a result, Aldis called Green to the ring to ask her to relinquish the title. That request was met with a heartfelt
response from Green, who ended up flipping the script on Aldis, tugging on his heart strings by bringing up both of their moments at SummerSlam.
Even though Green said until someone takes the belt from her, she handed the title over to Aldis and left the ring – but was stopped during her walk toward the back. Aldis changed his mind, and said Green has 30 days to figure out a way to defend the title, with a facemask, if necessary.
WOW 👏
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2026
Nick Aldis is giving @ImChelseaGreen 30 days to get healthy and defend the Women's WWE Title! pic.twitter.com/CsH8FDQTa1
The opening segment ended up with multiple layers, as Green's celebration of keeping the title turned into an interruption from Gunther, which prompted Matt Cardona coming out to defend his wife, which led to Gunther dominating him in a match, which then led to Nia Jax and Lash Legend coming to the ring, which led to Tiffany Stratton running out to save Green, which led to Stratton getting squashed.
Matt Cardona had heard ENOUGH! 👊@TheMattCardona pic.twitter.com/JJQfmUBHLC
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2026
The main takeaway here is that Green gets to keep the title. All of this fit her character very well. Rhea Ripley wasn't given a time limit to defend her title when she got injured – they just made an interim title match. But for Green, whose back is always against the wall, it made sense for Green to be pressed harder to defend. Regardless of the unfairness, the underdog Green got a small win here, which was good to see.
Baron Corbin retains men's US title
In the first of three championship matches, Baron Corbin put his still-white-furred US title on the line against Carmelo Hayes.
Out of the four matches on the card, this one was the best for back-and-forth action. Hayes and Corbin meshed well as a tall powerhouse against a speedy high-flyer, and the crowd appreciated what they displayed. Hayes looked to have it in the bag after hitting back-to-back First 48s, but Corbin rallied to hit an End of Days for the pin.
END OF DAYS 😵
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2026
Baron Corbin defeats Carmelo Hayes and retains the United States Title! pic.twitter.com/ZgJSgtuhxJ
After the match, Trick Williams entered, complete with spinning lightbox and all. While this distracted Corbin, Lil Yachty attacked from behind, and got outta there before Corbin could get his hands on him. Williams landed a Trick Shot Knee, and that was that.
That is a TRICK SHOT! pic.twitter.com/h0ELK44F5m
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2026
One of these days, Hayes will get another title run, but it just didn't make sense for Corbin to drop the title just yet, especially when it still has Williams' white fur all over it. It's obvious Corbin and Williams aren't done yet, and when they meet again, we'll find out how big this Corbin push truly is.
MFT win tag titles
The second championship match of the night was a triple threat tag with R-Truth and Damian Priest putting their titles on the line against MFT and War Raiders.
The match was a chaotic mess of bodies all over the place. There were some fun double-team spots in and out of the ring, but the MFT, with Haku ringside, got the job done after hitting their double-team finisher, called The Brothers' Keeper. Haku joined them in the ring to hit the power pose with their new titles.
We have NEW WWE Tag Team Champions! 🏆
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2026
With Haku by their side, the MFTs have stormed to the Titles! pic.twitter.com/7VUy6VEs1t
Even though WWE recently hit a hard swerve in its incredible tag team scene, putting the titles on MFT with Haku could turn things around with a menacing heel duo on top. R-Truth and Priest were a fun babyface team, but their time was long overdue.
Jacy Jayne wins women's US title
The third and final match of the night was for the women's US title between Tiffany Stratton and Jacy Jayne. Stratton came into the match still compromised from the beatdown from Jax and Legend earlier in the show. Regardless, Stratton decided to defend.
With Fatal Influence ringside, Chelsea Green provided some support for Stratton. Jayne worked Stratton's injured ribs throughout the match, but that wouldn't have mattered had the champ kept her eye on finishing her opponent. The women's tag champs, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid, distracted Stratton enough for her to decide to dive onto them on the floor instead of hitting her finisher on Jayne. That decision backfired when Jayne met her with a Rolling Encore when she re-entered the ring.
NEW WOMEN'S UNITED STATES CHAMPION 🏆@jacyjaynewwe has DONE IT! pic.twitter.com/ucvPD9dpMt
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2026
Fatal Influence is now draped in gold, and good on 'em. The trio came to SmackDown vowing to take over, and so far, so good. The heel group has been a breath of fresh air for the women's scene on Friday nights, setting themselves up for what should be a nice run with titles on their shoulders.
Cody Rhodes vs. Sami Zayn scratched thanks to Randy Orton
The main event of this week's show was supposed to be a singles match between Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn, with No. 1 contender stakes on the line for Zayn. However, when he entered to join Rhodes in the ring, Randy Orton attacked from behind.
OH MY GOD 😱
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2026
Randy Orton is hearing VOICES IN HIS HEAD! pic.twitter.com/MrKhfn6DuK
Orton's attack was sustained, and the match never happened. Orton went on a rampage, sending Rhodes all over the place and even shoved a poor ringside worker face-first into the ground – like, really hard:
Really Randy? 😳 pic.twitter.com/t6O132IdJv
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2026
It all led to a familiar spot, with Rhodes' head placed on the steel steps, awaiting a chair shot. Rhodes managed to kick Orton in the junk to stop the chair shot and swapped positions. However, officials stopped Rhodes from getting the chair shot off.
An absolutely WILD ending to SmackDown! 🤯@CodyRhodes | @RandyOrton pic.twitter.com/RHdbmxpFWD
— WWE (@WWE) August 15, 2026
Zayn will have plenty more to complain about next week, and will probably end up ruining next week's title match between CM Punk and Kevin Owens. As for Rhodes and Orton, just let them keep beating the stuffing out of each other on-site for the next few weeks until we get them one-on-one at an upcoming PLE.
Full match results
- Gunter def. Matt Cardona via submission
- Baron Corbin def. Carmelo Hayes via pinfall to retain men’s United States Championship
- MFT def. R-Truth, Damian Priest and War Raiders for tag team titles
- Jacy Jayne def. Tiffany Stratton for women’s United States Championship
This article originally appeared on Wrestling Junkie: WWE SmackDown takeaways: Jacy Jayne, MFT win titles on stacked episode
