Friday Night time SmackDown was stuffed with motion and gave loads of surprises in its first episode of 2026.
Matt Cardona made his presence felt, killing off the Zack Ryder character; Carmelo Hayes efficiently defended his US title; and Damian Priest defeated Aleister Black in their Ambulance Match.
A seamless feud between Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre turned extra heated, with considered one of them certain to face a returning legend.
Talking of which, a 14-time world champion lastly got here again and has already revealed his plans.
Final time we noticed The Viper
Randy Orton had been out of motion for 3 months after his tag crew match with Rhodes ended with a loss towards The Imaginative and prescient on SmackDown.
In his final three televised matches, ‘The Apex Predator’ has not triumphed as he struggled to select up victories in 2025.
This contains the one-on-one loss to McIntyre on SmackDown, plus a tag-team match with singer Jelly Roll, which ended with a defeat towards McIntyre and Logan Paul.
Arguably, Orton’s greatest win in 2025 got here in his twentieth WrestleMania match, the place he defeated Joe Hendry in Paradise, Nevada.
Orton had two huge alternatives in 2025, the primary was towards the just lately retired 17-time world champion John Cena for the Undisputed WWE title at WWE Backlash.
The Tennessee-born wrestler placed on an amazing present in his hometown, however controversially misplaced by pinfall.
The second huge event got here at Night time of Champions because the 45-year-old confronted Rhodes within the ultimate of the King of the Ring match.
In one other nice match, ‘The American Nightmare’ pinned the fan-favourite to win the match after Orton’s technique of eradicating the buckle pad and exposing the metal turnbuckle backfired.
Returns and eyes WWE gold
The Miz opened the primary SmackDown episode of 2026, complaining about himself not being Cena’s ultimate opponent at Saturday Night time’s Most important Occasion.
The previous WWE champion continued to rant earlier than mentioning that he was to be proclaimed the locker room chief.
Moments later, Orton returned and made his look, which clearly intimidated The Miz, given their historical past.
As no shock, Miz proposed they might be referred to as ‘MizKO’ after saying they had been each locker room leaders, which at that time, Orton hit two RKOs.
After a satisfying second in his return, Orton crossed paths with a good friend backstage.
The 2-time Royal Rumble winner said that when Rhodes has confronted McIntyre, assuming he beats the Scotsman, he would come straight for the Undisputed WWE title.
Rhodes is ready to defend his championship towards McIntyre subsequent week in Berlin in a Three Levels of Hell Match.
Whereas it’s unclear when Orton will problem for the distinguished title, he has been serving to the WWE promote the Royal Rumble in Riyadh, presumably involving The Viper in a major a part of the occasion.
