BREAKING: First WWE Title change of 2026 takes place on the New Year's Edition of SmackDown

The first edition of SmackDown in 2026 happened on January 2nd in Buffalo, New York, and there was one huge title match, with one huge title change that marked the first one of 2026.

There was one major Championship match advertised for the first SmackDown of 2026 - Chelsea Green vs Giulia. While Giulia was having a somewhat dominant but underwhelming run as the US Champion, Chelsea Green shockingly dethroned her in a decisive match that lasted under two minutes. Since then, The Beautiful Madness has been in pursuit of the title, which she believes is rightfully hers, and with Kiana James by her side, she looked to recapture the title and become the second 2-time Women's United States Champion.

That's exactly what happened on SmackDown, as Giulia became the first newly-crowned Champion in WWE in 2026. Fixing what she believed to be a huge wrong, Giulia is officially your new United States Champion.

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There was a lot of chaos at ringside, with Kiana James looking to make the difference, but Alba Fyre managed to neutralize her. Still, the match was not as one-sided as many expected, and Chelsea Green undeniably held her own in what was a great effort.

With The Beautiful Madness now on top again, it's going to be interesting to see how WWE handles her run. Expect even more title defenses on SmackDown rather than premium live events. Even with Friday Nights being two hours, Giulia only defended her title there and never on a PLE, which is a bit different from how the Intercontinental Championship has been handled.

With that said, the blue brand is now three hours, and that means that she can hopefully have many more showcase matches so that the crowd can finally start to get behind her. The reactions in recent times have been lukewarm at best.

Edited by Rohit Nath