On the first Friday of 2026, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 1/2/26 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"
Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that's now three hours long once again! Yes, it's a new year and a new blue brand, which means more wrestling, more promos, and most importantly, way too many segments for us to cover in this column! That's why, for example, we won't be covering the show-opening segment featuring the return of Randy Orton, or the match that happened later featuring the return of Matt Cardona. The WINC staff just didn't have strong enough feelings about that stuff, sorry. If you want to read about it, check out our "SmackDown" results page! It covers everything!
We do still have a lot to talk about in this space though, because the first Friday of 2026 contained plenty of matches and segments that the WINC crew felt passionately about, one way or the other. From the two United States Championship matches (Hayes vs. Gargano and Giulia vs. Green) to Drew McIntyre's choices for Three Stages of Hell to the Ambulance Match main event, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 1/2/26 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"
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Loved: Sami Zayn and Trick Williams verbally entertain the WWE Universe
It's a New Year, Royal Rumble season, and then we'll be on the Road to WrestleMania. With that, there are more people who want to shoot their shots at an opportunity to become the WWE Champion. It's nice to see some fresh faces in the mix.
Tonight, Sami Zayn used the first "SmackDown" of the year to passionately declare that he was coming for the WWE Championship. He was promptly interrupted by the newly called up Trick Williams. He was decked out in a white fur coat, white pants, white Lemon Pepper Steppers, chains, and shades. Trick Willy officially introduced himself to Zayn by rattling off his monikers and adjectives that describe him. He said Nick Aldis called 1-800-WHOOP-THAT because "SmackDown" needs some "flavor and pizazz." Zayn let him talk his talk, then silenced him by saying that Tricky Two-Time needed to be humbled.
Both men did their job well. Williams reintroduced himself to the blue brand and immediately made himself someone to watch and pay attention to. Zayn is beloved and well respected. He has never won the WWE Championship and is (sadly) on the backend of his career. Coming off a successful run as U.S. Champion and bringing back the open challenge to have great matches with a variety of talent, it's hard to root against him. While Williams will have his debut match against Rey Fénix next week, seeds have been planted for a feud between Williams and Zayn, and I'm here for it.
Written by Samantha Schipman
Loved: An unexpected banger of a US Championship match
I'm going to keep it real: Carmelo Hayes and Johnny Gargano are both fantastic competitors in the ring, but I didn't really expect anything much to come out of their United States Championship tonight. Not only has Gargano challenged for the title in the past and has been a regularly featured player in the United States Championship picture for quite some time now, but the match wasn't even advertised prior to the start of my show which lowered my expectations even more.
Needless to say I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the match a ton and I would even venture to say it was my favorite on a card that was absolutely stacked with great matches.
Some wrestlers just have insane in-ring chemistry with one another, with Carmelo Hayes and Johnny Gargano being an absolutely prime example of that. Whether it was their similar styles, experience, or something else entirely, they were a pairing I didn't expect to be as good as they were together especially considering this was their first singles bout among five other prior matches. The action was fast paced, entertaining, and engaging, and the scattered interference from Candice LeRae contributed to the vibe of the match rather than taking away from it as can happen sometimes with interference. From top to bottom, everything about this contest was stellar and will be a match that stays in my mind for quite some time.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Loved: Tama and Shinsuke with their eyes on the title
Since he returned bigger and badder, costing Shinsuke Nakamura his shot at Sami Zayn's United States Championship in October, Tama Tonga has been shown watching the title picture both when Ilja Dragunov held the title and now with Carmelo Hayes as champion. It's a precarious position to be in as a member of the MFT, especially since the last man to capture the United States title while stood next to Solo Sikoa wound up drawing his ire. But thus far he's just been watching and waiting, and while it is annoying that things are getting drawn out, that is just the way of WWE at this stage in time.
In any case, I would like to see Tama given a chance to explore his singles potential, and having him as part of the title picture promises something in that regard. This week, Tama was shown watching Hayes' title defense over Johnny Gargano, with Hayes also confirming earlier in the show that he would be continuing the weekly open challenge. His interest in the title drew interest from Nakamura, appearing for a brief chat in Japanese; Nakamura said that if he was after the title, then their paths would cross once more, with Tama cursing back at him and drawing a laugh from Nakamura before Sikoa entered the frame.
Sikoa asked if things were good, Tama said yes and told him that it was an old issue. And that allowed Sikoa to get into his plans for regaining the WWE Tag titles from the Wyatt Sicks. No mention of Tama's plan for the US title, no mention of his own plan for the US title – but let's be honest, it hardly feels like he is going to let Tama jump him in line without some form of caveat. That's the crux of the interest in this, personally. Tama is being positioned in a way that creates the path for a break-out role, especially with the faction growing in his absence and his mind very clearly on getting something for himself. It's about time as well, and tapping into the history between the NJPW veterans in Tama and Nakamura – days before Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement no less – feels like a solid foundation for that to grow.
The United States Championship, like a few of the belts in WWE, could use a pool of challengers being established for the coming future. While the open challenge has been great at anchoring the title into a consistent fixture each week, it has also exposed the lack of depth in the roster when it comes to credible challengers. Especially heading into WrestleMania season, it's good to get some names actively interested in the title.
Written by Max Everett
Hated: McIntyre, Rhodes feud dragging us all to hell
I have already complained about the never-ending feud that is Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, and I just made it worse on myself by remembering this has been going on since before Wrestlepalooza, but tonight's segment was ridiculous enough to warrant being hated yet again. Tonight, McIntyre named the stipulations for the Three Stages of Hell match he put forth to Rhodes, set for the show in Berlin next week, and even this unique match type can't get me excited to see McIntyre lose a shot at the gold yet another time.
I don't think I've even seen a Three Stages of Hell match live, so I was initially excited, and I'm all for stipulation matches, especially to break up some of the monotony that is WWE, but this just feels awfully tame. They'll start with a regular match, which McIntyre said he'd show Rhodes he could beat him in, which already doesn't make much sense, since he hasn't, or he'd already be champion. Then, they'll go to a Falls Count Anywhere match, where it seems likely that McIntyre will tie things up, and they'll move on to the inevitable third fall, where they'll be in a steel cage.
While that's tame, I could have gotten over that much, until McIntyre moved on to doing yet another prop spot, and after all the mess with CM Punk's friendship bracelet, it still feels too soon. He took a photo of Rhodes and his father and burned it in the middle of the ring, which felt like it took forever to even get it to light. Rhodes, who wasn't allowed to touch McIntyre, was about to lose his championship over a photo. I get the meaning behind it all, of course, as McIntyre just waltzed in to Rhodes' bus and took it, and of course it means a lot because it's Dusty, but I can't imagine Dusty would be pleased with his son getting striped of his title because of a photo that's hopefully backed up on the cloud and could be printed again.
I also kept wondering where Oba Femi was. I know he's currently only rumored to be called up, though they ran a vignette for him right before all of this. I thought this was just going to be a simple announcement by McIntyre, then Rhodes would interrupt. Femi didn't need to get involved or anything, just his music hitting and him standing menacingly on the stage, staring down McIntyre after their interaction at Saturday Night's Main Event would have been amazing. Overall, I just found this to be a pretty lame segment tonight, and I barely have a glimmer of hope for McIntyre next week.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Hated: Giulia won the Women's US title, and I yawned
If you're a babyface, you want to be cheered. If you're a heel, you want to be booed. If you're a professional wrestler, the last thing you want from people is dead silence. Apathy is a serial killer in professional wrestling: it has killed careers, it has killed entire title lineages, and it has killed whole companies. So, for me, a person who consciously wants to like the Women's United States Championship picture, to be so completely apathetic to it? It's worrying.
Chelsea Green put her Women's United States Championship on the line against Giulia on "WWE SmackDown," and I couldn't bring myself to care. Even with my love for Green and my respect for Giulia, I literally couldn't care less about Giulia's second Women's United States Championship win, or Green's performance (Rough Ryder included), or the title in general. It was all so...boring. The Women's United States Championship scene is boring to me, even when I have every reason and motivation to love it. I'm certainly not alone in this sentiment, so why is the Women's United States Championship scene so unwatchable?
Please, please get someone other than Giulia and Green in the ring. Apart from a singular Zelina Vega reign, the only two titleholders — thus, the only two serious contenders — have been Giulia and Green. Hopefully the emergence of Jordynne Grace will help with this debacle, but a single women's title scene cannot survive on two women alone — especially not two women who are barely given promos, video packages, or any other opportunities to showcase themselves and escalate their feud. If this title is going to matter, regardless of whoever is holding it, the pool of contenders need to be varied. Give me an Open Challenge series. The pool of contenders need to have stakes in the championship. Give me a feud that is personal first, and for the title second.
The fact that this was in the final hour of 2026's first three-hour "SmackDown" did not help at all. My brain was already exhausted and thoroughly tired of wrestling by the 7:30PM mark, and so, this contest became just another thing I have to watch before the main event, instead of a title match I was looking forward to. Sure, we got a full-fledged Carmelo Hayes versus Johnny Gargano match because of the three-hour format, but otherwise? The three-hour "SmackDown" format is a beast to watch in one sitting, and any matches in that final hour, when everyone's over it, are practically dead on arrival.
The Women's United States title is a poorly booked accessory with a shallow pool of contenders and an unfortunate place on the card. Even if I wanted to care, how could I?
Written by Angeline Phu
Hated: Ambulance matches, just in general
Friday night saw the first-ever Ambulance Match to take place on "WWE SmackDown," and I really hope it's the last one. I hope it's the last Ambulance Match in WWE. I kinda hope it's the last Ambulance Match, period.
Here's the thing, okay, here's the awful truth: Ambulance Matches suck. They just do. They always have. Honestly, most matches that involve wrestlers being put into any sort of container tend to suck — Buried Alive, Dumpster, Casket, most of these are Not Good — but Ambulance Matches tend to suck more than most. They're an outdated relic from the final days of WCW, of all things, and there's a reason there haven't been more of them. The concept actually works best as part of a larger context, like Three Stages of Hell for example (ironically Drew McIntyre's entirely tame choices for his upcoming Three Stages of Hell match could have probably used an Ambulance). The best match to ever use a container of any kind is probably the Hell of War match between Dante Fox (aka AR Fox) and Killshot (aka Swerve Strickland) in "Lucha Underground," but the best basic Ambulance Match? Can you even name one? It's probably Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman, and that's just because at the time the wrestling world really just wanted to see how many trucks Braun could tip over. The actual stipulation, again, is Not Good, and it's particularly Not Good in the context of modern WWE, where someone would have to accidentally get shot by a fan or something for us to believe either competitor is in so much danger they need to be wheeled out of the arena by ambulance.
This is not a knock on Damian Priest or Aleister Black, who did their best with what they had. But the main event was slow, mostly boring, and free of any real sense of danger, which is not really what you want out of the Ambulance concept. The highlight of the match was when Zelina Vega opened the ambulance to reveal Rhea Ripley, who was so much more over than anyone in the actual contest that it made you wonder why this was the main event and not the excellent women's eight-man tag from earlier in the show. The lowlight was Priest giving Black a gentle shove off the top of the ambulance into a waiting table (of some kind) below, followed by what appeared to be a brief malfunction with the ambulance doors that resulted in Priest, hilariously, having to close three of them rather than two. It just wasn't good! There's never been a good one of these! Can we please be done with them?
Written by Miles Schneiderman
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Category: General Sports
