WWE SmackDown 10/23/2026: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that gave us, among other things, new women's tag team champions! The WINC crew actually doesn't have much of an opinion on that, so we won't be covering it here in this column, but we will be talking Chelsea Green's defense against Roxanne Perez, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton getting their match at Crown Jewel, and more!

As always, if you missed the show, you can catch up on all the goings-on Friday night by checking out our "WWE SmackDown" 10/23/26 live blog, which contains all the objective information you could possibly ask for. Here in this space, on the other hand, we deal with the subjective — specifically the WINC crew's opinions about the matches and segments that stood out to us the most on the show. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/23/26 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"

WWE already has enough moving parts currently going on in their women's division, with the brand crossover of having "Raw" stars Judgment Day and IYO SKY and "SmackDown" stars Chelsea Green and Tiffany Stratton being used or mentioned on both brands because of how close WWE Crown Jewel is and Stratton holding the 2026 Women's Money In The Bank briefcase. With that in mind, they really don't need to introduce fake cash out cash in attempts from Stratton on Liv Morgan and her Women's World Championship.

Morgan certainly isn't losing her Women's World Championship before Crown Jewel because of how hard they're going with the advertising for the Women's Crown Jewel Championship match between her and Green. There was no way Stratton would be successful in her cash in attempt even if the referee had gone through with it, and it wasn't needed on top of the already long enough post-match brawl that had broken out between Judgment Day and SKY, Stratton, and Green. The referee also came off looking really bad for taking so long to cash in Stratton's briefcase, and it became really clear it was just a means of giving Perez and Rodriguez more time to be able to pull Morgan out of the ring. It made the cash in even less believable than it already was, and made what should've been viewed as an "exciting moment" into nothing more than WWe trying to hammer home the "unpredictability" that anything could happen on their programming.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

I was glad a few weeks ago when Blake Monroe and Giulia finally got to have their first match, instead of just brawling backstage and furthering their storyline in social media videos, and I really enjoyed their street fight tonight. As much as I would have liked to see Giulia get the victory to put these women at one win each, "SmackDown" hasn't been on the hottest streak for me lately, so I'll take my enjoyment where I can get it. I didn't really think the street fight stipulation was going to lend itself to setting up another match, either, so Monroe getting the win was fine.

This was a fun plunder match, and the women actually got some time for a few pretty cool spots for weekly TV. I thought Giulia looked strong throughout the match, and she was the one to kick things off with a bang. She went right after Monroe on the outside, and apparently set up an entire pyramid of chairs during the commercial break to prepare to get scrappy, and I love that thought process.

Monroe introduced a kendo stick, and Giulia did eventually send "The Glamour" into the chairs. Giulia followed that up by putting a trash can over Monroe and to beat it with the kendo stick. The fight even spilled backstage for awhile, and I really loved the spot where Monroe got distracted by a mirror, and then Giulia sent her flying into it, breaking the glass. Giulia hit an Arrivederci Knee getting Monroe back to the ring, then followed up with her crazy stomp to the back of Monroe's neck after putting her in a stretch.

A Giulia victory wasn't meant to be, however, as Monroe blinded her with a fire extinguisher, then superplexed her into the pile of chairs on the floor. This time, Monroe did end up hitting the Neutralizer to get the victory. After their last bout, where Giulia didn't even take Monroe's finisher, but lost after banging her face off the ring post, this was refreshing to see. It was a fun little stipulation match on another pretty lackluster episode of the blue brand, and I enjoyed it for what it was.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Kyoki has only appeared on WWE programming a handful of times since debuting two months ago. He aligned himself with Shinsuke Nakamura and is currently in a feud with two men he knows well from his NJPW days. This should be a positive thing, but it isn't. When Bakusai challenged MFT last month, it wasn't for the titles (and it ended in a DQ). Tonight was scheduled to be another non-title match. But don't worry about that since the match didn't even happen.

MFT came to the ring with Haku first. As Nakamura stood on the ramp, Kyoki stole Haku's walking stick and then ran away with it. He scampered back and forth behind Nakamura as he wielded it like a weapon. MFT brawled with Bakusai on the ramp and that was it. Commentary said the walking stick was a precious family heirloom, so naturally Bakusai would covet it, I guess.

Creative clearly learned nothing from wasting months of our time by having the MFT in possession of the Wyatt Sicks lantern. The storyline ultimately served no purpose and the entirety of the Wyatts ended up being released. Since then, Solo Sikoa graduated to The Bloodline storyline, yet Tama and Talla are stuck feuding over inanimate objects instead of defending their tag titles. The tag team division has been in shambles for the last couple of years and it's no wonder with booking like this. Not only is there no focus on wrestling, it's not even entertaining. It's a waste of time and talent.

Written by Samantha Schipman

I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of the ongoing storyline between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton given how long the two men have been feuding with one another at this point, as it's become a little stale and already accomplished basically everything it can. However, then one thing I will say that WWE has going for that storyline is how intensely personal it's felt like it's become and how the stakes between the two men feel like they're being increased each and every week.

I think it was a smart call for WWE to have backstage personnel present at ringside for the verbal confrontation between Rhodes and Orton because it automatically felt like a volatile situation between two men who deeply hated one another. This didn't really need any physicality, and the words both men exchanged with one another felt like they were enough to give this the intensity it needed to work. Choosing to have Aldis announce the Crown Jewel match between both men only for Rhodes to up the stakes by calling for it to be a Last Man Standing and Orton telling Rhodes he would regret his choice really just put this over the top for me to make it that much better. On a "SmackDown" that overall felt pretty lackluster, this brought a little bit of life back to the show.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

This week's show kicked off with WWE Champion Sami Zayn alongside Johnny Gargano and Candice Lerae, bemoaning all the disrespect while he prepares for his Crown Jewel Championship match with Roman Reigns. His pity party eventually drew Rey Fenix out, reprimanding Zayn for disrespecting his brother, Mr. Money in the Bank Penta. And then the ensuing back-and-forth drew United States Champion Trick Williams out to denigrate Zayn and demand a WWE Championship match.

That eventually turned into a fight which saw Nick Aldis make a tag match pitting Zayn and Gargano against Fenix and Williams in the main event, hardly the most inspired way of making a tag match but sure. But at least it should have been a good match, purely based on those involved. 

That never turned out to be the case, however, as Ricky Saints emerged to attack Fenix and cause a disqualification in the main event. Penta then ran down the ramp to make the save, further announcing that the new main event would be a six-man tag with he and Saints added to either side.

A match born from the rubble of another match rarely has the chance to be a good one, and unfortunately that was the case here. It's quite disappointing that whenever the Lucha Brothers reunite for a tag team match it's always in such a throw-away manner. It was just a match in the history of matches. 

Williams got the win in the end because he will be challenging Zayn for the title next week, pinning Saints. Even then it felt like the wrong decision to have Saints pinned by Williams. It does make sense for Williams to get the win as he heads into a championship match. But then it was also announced that Saints would be challenging Fenix for the AAA Cruiserweight title next week. He now has very little momentum going into that.

One might argue that Gargano was the better man to take the pin in the match, though it is also worth considering that the only reason he is hanging around the champion is he has been promised a title match. Then there's the fact that Williams, as mentioned, is already United States Champion and should really be defending his own title before challenging for another one. And anything of note is likely to be suspended until after Crown Jewel is out of the way. 

Both title pictures are in a state of disarray at the moment and it essentially means, at the very least, half of the show is nigh-on unimportant and can-miss. With the names that are on the roster and the talent at their disposal, that's not really acceptable.

Written by Max Everett

I love that WWE is continuing the CM Punk vs. Kevin Owens feud in ways that feel fresh. Neither man was live on the show tonight, but WWE put out an intense pre-recorded promo segment between them and general manager Nick Aldis, where Aldis revealed the rivals will face-off in two weeks' time in Brooklyn, New York.

I really liked that it felt as though Aldis made these two sit down to hash things out a bit before revealing they'd be facing off in another match, after first going face-to-face for the Undisputed WWE Champion, a match won by Punk, back in August. This comes after the Money in the Bank ladder match, where, outside of winning himself, Owens' only goal was keeping the briefcase out of Punk's hands.

Owens started out this chat by saying that after he accomplished that, he thought they were "good" after, which was funny. An exasperated Punk said he knew Owens would continue to be a thorn in his side until he put him down, so he was all for this upcoming bout.

The way these two naturally talk over each other, but in a way that neither really takes away from what the other is saying or makes it difficult to hear, is rather artful. The way Owens keeps the quips coming, on top of the lines he needs to hit in a promo or segment, is just fantastic.

They keep calling back to their previous real-life issues, but not harping on them too terribly much. Owens also referenced an earlier promo, where he said he didn't want to end up a "miserable prick" like Punk, and said that dealing with Punk is turning him into that miserable prick. This doesn't feel like it's going to bubble over into real backstage issues between these two by any means, but it's just heated and natural enough that it's a feud that feels entirely different than anything in WWE right now.

While neither man asked Aldis outright for this match, it just feels right, and I really like the way it was set up and revealed. I'm sure Punk and Owens will both be live on the show next week, and I'm all for giving them live microphones in the ring before they square off for what's likely going to be a banger in Brooklyn.

Written by Daisy Ruth