This recap is being updated live during the show. Refresh for the latest.
WWE SmackDown airs live tonight, Friday, October 9, from the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana, at 8 p.m. ET on USA Network and on Netflix internationally. It is the final SmackDown before Money in the Bank on Saturday, October 10, in New Orleans. All six men and all six women in tomorrow’s Money in the Bank ladder matches are at tonight’s show.
Results
- Team SmackDown (Lash Legend, Tiffany Stratton and Jacy Jayne) defeated Team Raw (Roxanne Perez, Sol Ruca and Lola Vice). Legend pinned Ruca.
- WWE Tag Team Champions MFT (Tama Tonga and Tala Tonga, with Haku) defeated The War Raiders (Erik and Ivar) in a non-title match.
- Gunther vs. Danhausen did not officially start. Gunther attacked Danhausen before the bell, then attacked Finn Bálor.
Tonight’s Lineup
- Main event: United States Champion Trick Williams vs. World Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker
- WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid) (c) vs. Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley. Everyone is banned from ringside, including Jacy Jayne.
News And Announcements
- Nick Aldis and Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made United States Champion Trick Williams vs. World Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker for tonight’s main event.
- Alexa Bliss replaces Charlotte Flair, who was attacked backstage by Jade Cargill, Michin and B-Fab, as Tatum Paxley’s partner in tonight’s WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match against Fatal Influence. Aldis banned everyone from ringside, including Jacy Jayne, and had Cargill, Michin and B-Fab thrown out of the building.
- Randy Orton is not at tonight’s show. After Aldis confronted him earlier in the day over last week’s attack on Cody Rhodes, Orton said he would fly home.
- Cody Rhodes asked Aldis to get Orton face to face with him.
- Gunther requested a match with Danhausen tonight. Gunther attacked Danhausen before the bell, and the match never officially started.
- Roman Reigns vs. LA Knight for the World Heavyweight Championship will open Money in the Bank on Saturday. The countdown show starts at 4 p.m. ET on the ESPN app, and the main show starts at 6 p.m. ET.
Live Recap
Backstage: Trick Williams vs. Bron Breakker made for the main event
SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis was backstage with Raw General Manager Adam Pearce, who said he was on his way to New Orleans and had seen SmackDown booking his talent. Trick Williams interrupted, saying he had unfinished business before Money in the Bank, and Bron Breakker joined them. The two went back and forth, and the general managers agreed to make Trick Williams vs. Bron Breakker one-on-one for tonight’s main event.
In the ring: CM Punk, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
CM Punk came to the ring and sat on a ladder. He noted he won the Money in the Bank ladder match in 2008 and 2009 and cashed in both times.
“So 2026, I’m 47, I’m middle-aged and crazy, and I think, man, why not? Why not me?” Punk said. “I tomorrow night have a shot to become the only three-time Money in the Bank ladder match winner, and they tell me I’m crazy and it can’t be done. And I say, Louisiana, watch me.”
Punk ran through the rest of the field, Je’Von Evans, Penta, Trick Williams and Bron Breakker, then turned to Kevin Owens: “That’s the one guy I don’t sweat at all.” He brought up beating Owens in Toronto.
Owens’ music hit and he walked to the ring. Owens said winning the contract is his priority, but that keeping it from Punk matters just as much.
“Nobody needs to see you as WWE Champion ever again,” Owens said. “As long as you don’t walk out with that contract, I’ll consider tomorrow night a win.”
Punk called it “the Kevin Owens failsafe,” an excuse for when Owens loses. Owens climbed a ladder to meet Punk eye to eye and said he would make sure Punk does not walk out on his own two feet tomorrow night before taking the contract himself.
Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn came out next and took the shortest ladder. “Even though I’m just the WWE Champion, I am the one on the short ladder here,” Zayn said.
Punk answered: “It’s not the size of the ladder. It’s what you do with it. Tomorrow night, I’m gonna wrap it around your fat head, and then I’m coming to get my title back.”
Zayn said he beat Punk for the title and retained against him because he finds a way. “I am a survivor,” he said. He told both men they are exactly alike and are not in the headspace to win.
“Neither one of you is going to grab that briefcase tomorrow night,” Zayn said. “Both of you are going to walk away empty-handed, and I will still be your undisputed WWE champion.”
Match: Team SmackDown vs. Team Raw (Women’s Money in the Bank participants)
All six women in tomorrow’s Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match met in a six-woman tag: Lash Legend, Tiffany Stratton and Women’s United States Champion Jacy Jayne for SmackDown against Roxanne Perez, Sol Ruca and Lola Vice for Raw.
The Raw team had trouble getting along. Ruca and Vice left Perez on her own early, and Vice made a reluctant tag with Perez. On Raw this past Monday, Perez pinned Vice after Vice accidentally hit Ruca with a backfist. Tonight it went the other way, as Ruca hit Vice with the Sol Snatcher.
Legend pinned Ruca for the win. Team SmackDown celebrated afterward, but Legend then turned on her own partners and hit Stratton with the Lash Extension.
Backstage: Chelsea Green and Nikki Bella
Cathy Kelley asked WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green how she feels knowing the Money in the Bank winner could cash in on her. Green said she was “manifesting a Tiffy win,” then planned to head to Bourbon Street for daiquiris.
Nikki Bella interrupted and said she will take Green’s title. “You’re nothing but a bootleg Nikki Bella, and I think that WWE Women’s Championship deserves an upgrade to the real thing,” Bella said.
Green fired back: “Nikki Bella is jealous of Chelsea Green because, well, I’m the champion, and you’re not.”
Backstage: Charlotte Flair attacked
As the Green and Bella segment ended, cameras cut to Charlotte Flair being attacked a few feet away by Jade Cargill, Michin and B-Fab.
Backstage: Alexa Bliss takes Charlotte Flair’s spot in the tag title match
Nick Aldis met with Flair, Tatum Paxley and Alexa Bliss. Flair had an ice pack on her left shoulder. Aldis said he had Cargill, Michin and B-Fab thrown out of the building and planned to postpone the tag title match because of Flair’s injury.
Flair refused to postpone and told Bliss to take her place: “Jade is not ruining anything else. You’re taking my spot.”
Aldis agreed. Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley will challenge Fatal Influence for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship tonight, and Aldis banned everyone from ringside, including Jacy Jayne.
Match: MFT vs. The War Raiders
WWE Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga and Tala Tonga, with Haku, faced Erik and Ivar in a non-title match, with the War Raiders looking to earn a future title shot.
Bakusai, Shinsuke Nakamura and Kyoki, walked out to ringside during the match. Haku struck one of the War Raiders in the throat with his Tongan walking stick, Tala Tonga flattened Ivar with a clothesline, and MFT hit Erik with Brother’s Keeper for the win.
After the match, Nakamura and Kyoki went after MFT before Haku held the champions back. Ivar then flattened Kyoki, with the War Raiders appearing to blame Bakusai for costing them the match.
Backstage: Gunther vs. Danhausen made for tonight
Finn Bálor told Nick Aldis he wanted a match with Gunther tonight. Aldis said Gunther had already requested a match, but not with Bálor. Gunther asked for Danhausen.
Danhausen pointed out Gunther’s track record: “He retired Goldberg. He retired AJ Styles. He retired John Cena.” Gunther vs. Danhausen is set for tonight.
Video recap: John Cena on Fallon
SmackDown aired a recap of John Cena’s appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where Cena gave Fallon a WWE title.
Video recap: Last week’s main event
SmackDown replayed the closing moments of last week’s triple threat between Kevin Owens, Johnny Gargano and Cody Rhodes for the final spot in the Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Randy Orton cost Rhodes the match, and commentary questioned whether Rhodes hesitated when he had the chance to punt Orton.
Backstage (earlier today): Randy Orton sent home
In a segment filmed earlier in the day just outside the arena, The Miz told Kit Wilson and Nick Aldis it was his birthday weekend and that the first person to text him was John Cena, followed by Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn.
Randy Orton then arrived, and Aldis told him what he did to Rhodes last week was unacceptable. Orton cut him off and said he would fly home on his own.
“There’s enough fuel in the jet to take my ass right back where I came from,” Orton said. “I’m not the problem. Cody’s the problem.”
Orton said he did what he promised, keeping Rhodes away from the WWE Championship before Orton gets his 15th world title. He told Aldis to pass a message to Rhodes: “We all know the next chance he’s got to kick my head off my shoulders, he’s going to hesitate.”
In the ring: Cody Rhodes interrupts The Miz and Kit Wilson
The Miz and Kit Wilson came to the ring for Miz’s birthday celebration. “Lesson number 31 of the Miz Method: When someone puts 20 years of blood, sweat and tears into a place, you throw them a birthday party,” Miz said.
Cody Rhodes interrupted. “You’re not the undisputed champion anymore,” Miz told him. “So unless you’re out here to Sonic Boom me a happy birthday wish, you better stay outside of my ring.”
Rhodes came to the ring and took out Miz and Wilson. Nick Aldis then came out and said he sent Orton home to keep the show from going off the rails, and that he did not want two of his top stars hurt 24 hours before Money in the Bank. He asked Rhodes to talk it over in his office.
Rhodes refused and said Orton made his young daughter cry after seeing him bloodied from an Orton kick following their WrestleMania match. “I need you to get Randy Orton face to face with me,” Rhodes said. “I am not above flying to St. Louis and getting him.”
Rhodes called Orton a “sociopathic one-speed Michael Myers walking forward, walking liability, human tramp stamp, waste of talent, fragile b*tch.”
Backstage: Damian Priest, Fraxiom and R-Truth
In a backstage interview, Damian Priest said he could be champion again if he had not been “wasting my time” with R-Truth.
“I already explained why I had to do what I did,” Priest said. “If you and the rest of the world are too stubborn to understand that, that’s your problem, not mine. I’m done explaining myself.”
Fraxiom confronted Priest and told him what he has done to Truth is wrong and that he should apologize. Priest attacked Fraxiom, then said, “Well, here it is. I apologize.” R-Truth then attacked Priest from behind, yelling, “Gotcha!” Officials separated them.
In the ring: Gunther attacks Danhausen and Finn Bálor
Gunther vs. Danhausen never officially got underway. Gunther attacked Danhausen before the bell, hit him with a powerbomb and kept up the assault as the referee tried to get him to stop.
Finn Bálor, who asked for Gunther earlier in the night, ran out and took Gunther down with right hands, and Gunther retreated. Gunther then came back and attacked Bálor, sending him shoulder first into the ring post, into the barricade and onto the announce table while officials were unable to stop him.
Backstage: Sami Zayn, Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae and Bron Breakker
Sami Zayn complained to Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae about the disrespect he is dealing with, noting that CM Punk and Kevin Owens now each have a shot at the Money in the Bank contract. Owens took the final spot in the ladder match by beating Gargano last week. Zayn was told he could not get involved in that match or there would be consequences.
“That’s what we do, okay? Ride or die,” Zayn said. “We get dealt these hands, and we overcome.”
Bron Breakker then walked in and told Zayn: “You know why I’m here. See you soon.”
The full Money in the Bank card, start time and how to watch are in our Money in the Bank preview.
