5 Mistakes WWE made on the first SmackDown of 2026

WWE needed to start 2026 with a bang, and the first SmackDown of the year tried to achieve that feat. Drew McIntyre announced his choices for the Three Stages of Hell match on next week's SmackDown.

Randy Orton returned from his latest hiatus to RKO the Miz. Carmelo Hayes beat Johnny Gargano in a classic, while Tama Tonga teased a face turn after a brief conversation backstage with Shinsuke Nakamura.

Jordynne Grace confronted Jade Cargill, while Trick Williams officially joined the blue brand by interrupting a passionate promo from Sami Zayn.

The heroes won the eight-woman tag match while the final two contests of the night had questionable booking decisions. WWE made the next five mistakes on the first SmackDown of 2026.

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#5. What are bookers doing with the Kabuki Warriors?

All the Kabuki Warriors have done as WWE Women's Tag Team Champions is lose. They've fallen in nearly every tag team contest since winning the titles.

Outside of a singles win by Asuka over Rhea Ripley, they've lost every match to potential challengers. Winning a blindside attack doesn't go in the record books, so that doesn't equate to success.

Ripley and Sky came out on top during their skirmish on RAW and managed to get the pin on Kairi Sane in their 8-woman match on SmackDown. Bookers have destroyed any credibility the Kabuki Warriors have to prop up all the challengers.

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#4. Sacrificing Rey Fenix for Trick Williams

Rey Fenix is one of the most exciting stars to join WWE. He's a multi-time champion who has competed in numerous promotions around the world.

Fenix hasn't been used much lately on SmackDown, but returned backstage to speak with Nick Aldis. Williams interrupted, leading to a showdown between the two on next week's show from Berlin, Germany.

The former AEW star is too special to be fed to Trick Williams. He should be in the United States title chase or in an angle where he can move up the card on SmackDown.

WWE has dropped the ball with most of the AEW stars who joined in 2025, and Fenix facing Trick will continue that trend.

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#3. Not really Three Stages of Hell

WWE has sold the severity and seriousness of Drew McIntyre's feud with Cody Rhodes by bringing back the Three Stages of Hell match. Huge stipulation matches are used to end feuds that have gone past the point of personal.

McIntyre's first selection was a standard wrestling match, as that's always the first choice. However, it doesn't remind fans of "hell." The second and third choices were appropriate.

The Scottish Warrior chose No Disqualifications for the second fall and a steel cage for the final fall if necessary. A submission contest or Bullrope match would have made more sense for the first stage.

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#2. Another quick title swap, really?

Dominik Mysterio won the Intercontinental title back from John Cena after about two weeks. Jacy Jayne did the same with the NXT Women's title, beating Tatum Paxley to regain her belt.

Chelsea Green beat Giulia on November 7th to become a two-time Women's United States Champ. She had minimal defenses but is one of the most entertaining performers in the industry.

She dropped the title back to Giulia on SmackDown, completing a confounding round robin with the title. If bookers didn't have any ideas for Green as champ, she probably shouldn't have won it back in the first place.

Many potential challengers are wasting time in the tag team division, so it's hurting their chances to take the title seriously.

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#1. Great match, wrong winner on SmackDown

Damian Priest has been feuding with Aleister Black for the last few months. It felt like the clash was to propel Black up the card to potentially be a threat to face Cody Rhodes.

Any of those thoughts were demolished after Priest defeated Black in an Ambulance match. The former World Heavyweight Champ teamed with Ripley to defeat Black and Zelina Vega in mixed tag team action a few weeks back.

This win felt like overkill since Ripley stood tall in her match and also emerged to take Vega out of the equation in the main event. Black now goes back to the drawing board after emerging as one of the more intriguing stars in WWE.

Priest hasn't been interesting since leaving the Judgment Day. Winning the match puts everything at the status quo instead of providing a new threat to WWE's Golden Boy, or even to the Camelo Hayes and the US title.

Edited by Matthew Serocki