WWE SmackDown Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights Before Money in the Bank 2026

Before we get to the Money in the Bank PLE on Saturday, WWE had one last stop to make in Lafayette, Louisiana for this week's SmackDown.

All of the competitors for both MITB matches were in attendance to hype the show and make their arguments for why they will win the briefcase.

While the main focus was on the PLE, we did get a women's tag title match this week with Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley challenging Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley.

Let's take a look at everything that went down on this week's show.

The show began with Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis talking about Money in the Bank. Trick Williams and Bron Breakker both showed up, and it led to them being booked in a singles match for later in the show.

Back in the arena, CM Punk made his way to the ring to kick things off. He talked about why he would compete in a dangerous match like MITB at this stage in his career. He climbed up the ladder and said he has a chance to make history as the only three-time MITB winner, so he is willing to take the risk.

He talked about each competitor, which led to Kevin Owens joining him in the ring. They traded some personal insults as KO climbed up the second ladder in the ring. Sami Zayn was the next one to come out, and he had a big smile on his face.

This was a pretty cut-and-dry segment. It didn't really add anything to the MITB match, but it gave the three guys in the ring a chance to win the crowd over. It probably went on longer than it needed to, but it wasn't bad. It just wasn't great either.

When they all of the MITB competitors walking around, Lola Vice looked at her fist, as if she wanted to make sure it was still there.

Lil Yachty isn't necessary for Williams to get over, but sometimes he can be kind of funny. His exchange with Breakker backstage was good.

Punk and Owens are funny together. Their exchange when Sami Zayn came out was hilarious.

Roxanne Perez, Lola Vice and Sol Ruca vs. Lash Legend, Tiffany Stratton and Jacy Jayne

All six women who will compete in the MITB match took part in a six-woman tag match. The teams were mixed in an unusual way, so both sides had heels and babyfaces, which seemed like an odd choice since there were three of each.

Roxanne Perez was looking to outshine her partners and tagged herself in early in the match, but as soon as Lash Legend came in, she tried to get out of the ring. Lola Vice and Sol Ruca dropped off the apron to avoid a tag and made her deal with Legend herself.

All of these competitors have talent and bring something different to the ring, but some matches just don't end up having the necessary chemistry, and this was one of them.

There were multiple awkward moments that seemed like someone missed a timing cue, or it simply didn't make sense, like when Stratton completely ignored Ruca so she could climb up and hit a moonsault, which was then followed by the same move from Ruca.

The match had its moments, so it wasn't all bad, but this definitely felt more like a series of sequences thrown together than a cohesive match with a story that flowed from start to finish.

Legend scored the win for her team by pinning Ruca with her finisher. As soon as it was over, Legend took out Jayne and Tiffy to show that she was serious about winning MITB.

There were some issues playing Ruca's entrance music.

Vice and Legend had a weird start to their sequence, but Vice being so aggressive with her strikes made it fun.

Ruca completely missed her moonsault to Legend, but she sold it anyway.

Jayne was the standout in this match. She didn't hit the most exciting moves, but she showed the most charisma.

Ruca rarely wears the same style of gear twice in a row. It must make it hard for the figure and game designers to decide on a look for her.

Charlotte Flair was attacked by Jade Cargill, Michin and B-Fab backstage before the break. When the show returned, she was trying to tell Aldis she would be fine to compete, but medical wouldn't clear her. Flair told Alexa Bliss to take her spot.

Back in the arena, Tama and Talla Tonga came out with Haku to take on The War Raiders, Erik and Ivar. Erik and Talla started for their teams, and the Tongan immediately knocked the Viking down with a clothesline.

This was a pretty physical match with a steady pace, but it didn't feel like things picked up until after the break. Shinsuke Nakamura and Kyoki showed up to distract the tag champs, and it helped give the War Raiders the upper hand.

When it looked like Erik and Ivar might win, Haku interfered and used his walking stick to hit Erik in the throat. Tama and Talla hit their tag team finisher to get the win. Bakusai immediately attacked the champions when it was over.

The War Raiders losing a non-title match won't do them any favors, but at least the tag titles are still being kept in the spotlight.

Nikki Bella had a segment with Chelsea Green backstage. She needs a new angle on her character because the same old mean girl act she has been doing is worn out.

It felt like the mid-match break came earlier than usual.

It was nice to hear the announcers put over the careers all four men had in Japan before WWE.

Cody Rhodes Will Never Be Rid of Randy Orton

During a backstage segment, Aldis informed Danhausen that he would be facing Gunther tonight, which did not sit well with the painted man. We also saw Aldis tell Randy Orton he could have the night off and sent him home.

Out in the arena, The Miz and Kit Wilson showed up to demand respect, but they were interrupted by Cody Rhodes. The American Nightmare took out both men, and then Aldis came out and said this is exactly what he was trying to avoid when he sent Orton home.

The GM said Cody and Randy fighting anywhere other than in the ring doesn't help anyone, so he proposed Rhodes come to his office to talk about their options. Rhodes said no and that he needs this match booked. Then the segment ended without it being booked.

This might not have been an original segment, but Rhodes did a decent job carrying it. The Miz and Wilson are great stooges who are willing to do whatever it takes to make someone else look good.

Danhausen had an evil detector backstage and it seemed to think Finn Balor was evil.

In one of the oddest matchups we have seen in quite some time, Gunther took on Danhausen this week.

Before Danhausen could curse The Ring General, he kicked the painted man in the face and started decimating him. The match never officially got started, so the ref tried and failed to get him to relent.

Balor showed up to give Danhausen some assistance. He took down Gunther a few times and forced him to escape through the crowd, but he came back while Balor was checking on Danhausen and attacked him from behind.

There was no actual match, but Gunther destroying Danhausen and Balor was definitely entertaining. He needed to look dangerous again, and this segment did that while also setting up Balor vs. Gunther for the future.

Damian Priest attacked Fraxiom backstage after they told him to apologize to R-Truth. After he was done, Truth showed up and started brawling with him.

Zayn had a backstage segment with Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae.

Fatal Influence vs. Tatum Paxley and Alexa Bliss (Women's Tag Titles)

After Charlotte was taken out earlier in the night, Bliss replaced her to team with Paxley in a tag title match against Reid and Henley.

Bliss started in the ring and had a brief moment of being in control before the champions double-teamed her. Tatum tagged in and gained the upper hand momentarily, but the champions sent her crashing to the floor as the show went to a break.

This match had people at every experience level. Reid was the newest with just three years since she began training; Paxley has only five years; Henley has been wrestling for almost nine years; and Bliss is going on 13 since joining WWE.

That difference in experience was extremely evident in the ring, but all four women did a decent job. The thing that caught a lot of people off guard was Bliss and Paxley scoring the win to become the new tag team champions.

Result: Bliss and Paxley won the tag titles

The purple gear was a nice change of pace for Paxley.

The finisher Paxley uses is hit or miss, but the one she hit at the end looked great.

This week's main event was booked at the top of the show. Breakker took on Williams before both men compete in the MITB match this weekend.

The match got started with less than 10 minutes left in the show, so we knew this was not going to be a battle of attrition. Breakker took control right out of the gate and hit a clothesline from the apron to send Williams over the announce table.

There was no stakes to this match, but WWE wanted you to believe that whoever won would gain momentum heading into the PLE.

They kept a good pace and made the action feel physical and hard-hitting, but they simply didn't have enough time to put together the kind of match that would stand out much.

Williams and Breakker are both probably going to be world champions someday, so this could be a preview of a PLE main event a few years from now. They seemed to work well together, and they will almost certainly gain more chemistry in the coming years.

Sadly, the match ended in a disqualification when The Vision showed up and attacked Williams. Evans came out to help Williams, which didn't make much sense since they weren't allies in any way.

The show ended with Bronson Reed hitting Williams with a Tsunami.

Breakker told Zayn he would see him soon during a backstage segment, so it looks like we know which belt he will chase if he wins.

Breakker's entrance might need to come with a possible seizure warning.

When the main event is only getting the last nine minutes of the show, putting a break in the middle of it feels cheap.

Friday's SmackDown may have done its job of hyping the Money in the Bank event on Saturday, but most of what we got this week is skippable.

The only match you should probably see is the women's tag title bout since the belts changed hands, but even that didn't stand out much.

With the level of talent WWE has on the roster, it's disappointing to see a show only register as mediocre at best.

Tomorrow's PLE has the potential to be great, especially if certain people win their matches, but the go-home SmackDown was nothing to write home about.