Friday Night SmackDown Review - July 3, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso Confronted Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn

Zayn has been playing his role remarkably well all year and this promo was another excellent piece of work from him. I love how he's fully embraced the tweener role and it's made for a fascinating dynamic with everyone he interacts with, particularly Rhodes. I have zero desire to see Uso in the world title picture on either show, but I understand this had to happen to set up the night's number one contender's main event. This was a really good segment.

Jade Cargill, Michin and B-Fab def. Chelsea Green, Charlotte Flair and Women's United States Champion Tiffany Stratton

We've been getting a lot of tag team matches with these women in recent weeks, but they've managed to keep it interesting, so I'm not sick of them... yet. This didn't get a ton of time, but I don't think it needed to. What we got was perfectly fine and the heels went over as they should have coming off Cargill's loss to Stratton at Night of Champions. I'm sure Flair vs. Cargill will be made official for SummerSlam in the next week or two.

AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix def. AAA Latin American Champion El Hijo del Vikingo (AAA Latin American Championship Was Not Defended)

For as little as I've cared about the AAA Cruiserweight Championship being defended on SmackDown, I have cared about Fenix getting more exposure and it's paid off nicely for him. This was his best bout yet and an incredibly fun sprint while it lasted. I just wish it lasted longer. On a side note, Vikingo got hurt either during this match or soon after (it was taped on Monday), so that's why he wasn't in action on Tuesday's NXT.

Carmelo Hayes Attacked United States Champion Trick Williams

I thought we might get more from Williams and Ricky Saints, but I'm actually glad that feud is over because Williams beat him decisively at Night of Champions and there was no reason to resume it. I'd rather they move on to Williams vs. Hayes, who have proven in the past that they work well together. This was a solid segment to set up their match for next week, though I wish they would have saved their next singles match for SummerSlam instead of doing it on SmackDown (assuming Hayes wins, which he's never done against Williams before).

Lainey Reid def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Brie Bella

This only got three minutes and it was still abysmal. And no, it wasn't one of those situations where it wouldn't have been any better with more time. Bella hasn't been terrible during this return run of hers, but I don't care to see her compete on her own, and Reid is rather green. I guess this was enough to earn Fatal Influence a shot at the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship at Saturday Night's Main Event. Uh, okay?

Cody Rhodes def. Jey Uso in an Undisputed WWE Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

Despite all of the history between these two, this was a pretty pedestrian main event. It didn't help that it started so close to the end of the show, but at the same time, I wasn't expecting anything super special, anyway. It's not like Uso has been having a bunch of barn burners lately. I'm convinced that Rhodes vs. Zayn is happening this Monday on Raw in Chicago because CM Punk is returning after Rhodes gets the belt back to set up their SummerSlam match, but I hope I'm wrong.

Overall Show

I'm not going to say this was an amazing edition of SmackDown by any means, especially since it was a taped show, but I won't lie: I enjoyed this show infinitely more than almost any three-hour episode we've gotten this year. Going back to two hours was overdue and it makes SmackDown so much more bearable. Not everything was a home run, but we got some progression in the Undisputed WWE Championship picture, build for a few upcoming shows and a cool treat with Vikingo making his in-ring debut on the blue brand.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews