Tonight's episode of WWE SmackDown (Friday, October 23, 2026) emanates live from Toyota Arena in Ontario, California and will air starting at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network.
Results, match winners, promo segment notes and other major developments from WWE's blue brand will be added below as Friday Night SmackDown airs.
Preview & Predictions for WWE SmackDown:
On tap for tonight's episode, Giulia and Blake Monroe take their increasingly personal rivalry into a Street Fight after SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis approved the stipulation following their latest confrontation. Considering how WWE has utilized Giulia since her move up to the main roster, where they seem to not care about her much and often sideline her (my guess is purely because of the language barrier, as they come across perpetually unwiling to write around that for people in her position like they did with Shinsuke Nakamura in the past), factored in with Monroe being the new addition to the blue brand (despite hovering around this roster for months), I'd very much more so bank on Monroe coming out on top of this encounter.
WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley defend their newly won titles against Michin and B-Fab. Call me crazy, but I think there is a strong chance the belts change hands and Paxley/Bliss are just transitional champions. Since Jade Cargill isn't doing anything, maybe the plan is to put these tag titles on Michin and B-Fab just to have them appear on other shows and move things around. The unfortunate situation is that out of all the rosters, SmackDown is the one that desperately needs shaking up, not the other way around. That in and of itself could very well mean WWE just plans on this eating up some time and accomplishing nothing but giving Bliss and Paxley a team to beat just because there isn't anything else for anyone to do. It's a mess, and I don't know how WWE could go effectively two or even three full years at this point of having zero creative direction for 75% of its SmackDown roster and think that that is okay.
Meanwhile, WWE Tag Team Champions MFT, represented by Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga, face Shinsuke Nakamura and Kyoki of Bakusai in a non-title Tag Team Match. What did I just say in the above paragraph? How long has this feud been going on and been stretched out in ways that aren't "great storytelling for a complex rivalry" and in actuality, just "we can't immediately put these two teams against each other because we have nothing else to do, so let's milk months out of a two-match concept"? Bakusai wins to set up a rematch to stretch this out even more.
It must be both very easy and very hard to be a writer for SmackDown, because WWE doesn't give you anything to work with, so you just have to say "virtually nothing = okay then" and in 5 seconds, you've booked the remainder of 2026.
Here are your results for WWE SmackDown - October 23, 2026:
- TBD - Street Fight: Giulia vs Blake Monroe
- TBD - Tag Team Match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship: Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley (c) vs Michin and B-Fab
- TBD - Non-Title Tag Team Match: MFT (Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga) vs Bakusai (Shinsuke Nakamura and Kyoki)
What are your thoughts on tonight's episode of Friday Night SmackDown? Drop your reactions in the comments below and spark a discussion!