Friday Night SmackDown Review - January 30, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, World Tag Team Champion Jey Uso, Sami Zayn and The Vision Interrupted Each Other

This was your standing WWE opening segment where it was basically a revolving door of promos. It's the laziest kind of segment, but I understand it existed to set up the massive eight-man tag team main event. Everyone's mic work was solid albeit nothing terribly special, though Orton declaring himself for the men's Royal Rumble was notable (yet expected).

United States Champion Carmelo Hayes def. Rey Fenix

It's a bummer Fenix didn't get much of a reaction when he made his entrance, but WWE just needs to give him more consistent television time and let him get over by showing what he can do in the ring, like we saw here. Despite the outcome not being in much doubt, this was the great match you'd expect from these two. The United States Championship open challenges remain the biggest highlight on SmackDown from week to week. I'm shocked we still haven't gotten Hayes vs. The Miz, but that feels like something they'd advertise in advance given their history.

The Judgment Day Interrupted Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair; Bliss and Flair def. Judgment Day (Roxanne Perez and Liv Morgan)

The promos that preceded the impromptu match were almost identical to what we heard in the opening segment. Just more teasing of tension and everyone vowing they're going to win. The subsequent tag bout was average and Stephanie Vaquer costing Judgment Day the win was logical. Judgment Day suffering three losses in less than a week reinforces my theory that Morgan is winning the women's Rumble on Saturday.

Axiom def. Johnny Gargano

I appreciate that these guys have been kept busy in what's been a fine midcard feud and the matches have been enjoyable. Gargano previously lost to Nathan Frazer and again to Axiom here. That makes sense if the storyline is over (and this felt like the end), but Gargano needs to win eventually, especially now that Tommaso Ciampa is gone and he'll be a singles competitor going forward.

Gunther Interrupted AJ Styles

Although the build to this bout has been rather rushed, they've done an excellent job of creating drama surrounding the outcome of their upcoming clash in a short span of time. Styles cut a quality promo here and Gunther did well with his rebuttal. This very well could end up being Styles' final SmackDown as an active wrestler if he does indeed lose to Gunther at the Rumble.

Ilja Dragunov def. The Miz

I thought this might be saved until next week, but I did like the story they told coming into this contest with Miz attempting to convince Dragunov that Hayes wanted him to help Hayes retain the United States Championship last week. This was a little too competitive for my liking considering it's Miz we're talking about here, but it was one of Miz's best bouts in recent memory and the win gets Dragunov back on track following a string of losses.

Sami Zayn, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and World Tag Team Champion Jey Uso def. The Vision (Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Logan Paul and Austin Theory) by Disqualification

This was every eight-man tag team match we've ever gotten in WWE, but it was cool to see so much star power in there. Plus, it helped hype everyone's involvement in the men's Rumble. The disqualification finish was lame, but I get that they didn't want anyone to eat a loss. We got some chaos afterward, including with Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu, but I can't say any of it made me any more excited for the Rumble event than I already was.

Overall Show

After a strong start to the year, SmackDown is starting to settle back into what it was at the end of 2025 and that's an encouraging sign for the future of the brand. This wasn't necessarily a bad show, but it didn't really move the needle as far as leaving me looking forward to the Rumble more than I was before. A lot of time was killed, and largely nothing of note happened, but it was a serviceable show on the whole.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews