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smackdown
- First Show:
- 1999-08-26
- Start Time:
- 8 PM EST, 1 AM UK
- Channel:
- FOX (USA), BT Sport (UK)
This week’s SmackDown was the first night of the 2024 WWE Draft. The show opened with a contract signing between AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes. Corey Graves ran the show since Nick Aldis was busy in his draft war room working on the draft.
The contract signing worked to set up the main event for Backlash. There was nothing wild here and nothing broke down. The men stayed professional and calm. Styles told Cody his title reign was going to end and left the ring.
From there, the draft selections began, with a handful of matches worked in between. It was announced early in the show by Paul Heyman that Roman Reigns had pulled himself from draft eligibility. That had to have been intentionally important as the evening unfolded.
Here are your winners and losers for SmackDown, on April 26, 2024:
Winner: First Picks Include Carmelo Hayes
Bianca Belair was the first overall pick for SmackDown, keeping her on the brand. Triple H announced the first pick for Raw and Jey Uso stayed on the red brand. Carmelo Hayes was the surprise pick early, marking the first time an NXT star was selected in the first round. Raw then selected Seth Rollins to finish off the first selections.
Everyone stayed where they were except Hayes, who previously appeared on SmackDown. He showed up and immediately called out Cody Rhodes for a match later in the night. Cody pandered to the crowd and then accepted. The outcome of this match is likely a given, but this was a big way to “officially introduce” Hayes to the blue brand. Some will complain Hayes doesn’t deserve a shot at the title, it wasn’t announced as officially on the line in this segment.
The fact Uso was chosen over Rollins should tell fans how WWE views The Main Event.
Winner/Loser: Carlito Discovered as Dragon Lee Attacker
Another match featuring the LWO and Legado Del Fantasma and it looked like there would be no further development on who attacked Dragon Lee as Humberto and Garza suffered a clean loss. But, Santos Escobar came out and showed security footage that Elektra Lopez found showing Carlito as the person who attacked Lee. In the ring, Carlito shoved Lee into Rey Mysterio and took off, escaping through over the barricade and through the crowd.
Finally, WWE has taken the next step with this storyline. The problem is that it feels a bit late and the way the events of the segment unfolded felt like a miss. Everyone stood in the ring for an inexplicable amount of time before ever looking at Carlito. The delay was awkward and unbelievable. Carlito running off like a coward doesn’t feel like something his heel character would do.
Winner: Bron Breakker Squashes Cedric Alexander
In a match that lasted less time than it took Bron Breakker to walk to the ring, he hit a spear on Alexander who tried to get too acrobatic and got caught. A quick three count and it was over. WWE appears to have decided to take the “Goldberg push” route with Breakker. It will work if he keeps pulling out wow moments like the spear on Alexander.
Winner: Second-Round Picks
Tori Wilson and Michelle McCool made a special appearance to make the next draft selections. Randy Orton was the first selection of the second round. He stays on the blue brand. Wilson announced that Raw was grabbing Breakker, who just had a match. Nia Jax was then chosen to join SmackDown. The final pick of the second round was Liv Morgan.
Breakker and Jax were the big changes in round two. It became quickly clear after the first two rounds that Triple H’s warning to fans that general managers had to work as hard to keep their stars as gain new ones meant WWE wasn’t going to make a ton of roster changes. If that trend continues, it’s a good thing because it makes the names that do switch mean more.
The announcers then rightfully pointed out that it was odd The Bloodline hadn’t been chosen yet. Solo Sikoa showed up and wanted to know why the group hadn’t been drafted. Heyman said it was because the group appeared to be in flux and no brand knew what they were getting if they drafted the faction. Kevin Owens then attacked from behind and Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Owens fought as the show cut to commercial.
Winner: Chaos Continues
As Kayla Braxton interviewed Bianca Belair about Backlash and the big Women’s Tag Team Championship match, The Kabuki Warriors came out to confront Belair. Jade Cargill came out to back up Belair. The teams stood in the aisle, yelling at each other until Kevin Owens and Tama Tonga fought from backstage to the ringside area. The one-on-one was interrupted by Sikoa and when Owens was getting beaten, Randy Orton’s music hit. He came to even the numbers and Sikoa and Tonga retreated.
Round 3 Draft Picks
Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von made the next picks. Bubba on behalf of SmackDown and D-Von on behalf of Raw. LA Knight was the first pick of the third round. The One and Only, Ricochet was selected by Raw. The Bloodline went as a trio as the third pick. It consisted of Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga and Paul Heyman. Wade Barrett suggested Heyman negotiated the deal after Sikoa questioned what was going on. Sheamus was picked fourth in the third round for Raw.
Essentially, everyone stayed where they were. The takeaway from the selections was the delay in taking The Bloodline and how that wouldn’t sit well with Sikoa. WWE seems to want to turn that into a storyline.
Winner: Tiffany Stratton vs. Naomi Ends When Jax Attacks Bayley
Aldis told Stratton she was taking on Naomi again. Bayley was at ringside as a guest commentator. The match was decent but ended early as Nia Jax attacked Bayley while she was on commentary. It looks like Bayley has a new top challenger for the WWE Women’s Championship. Jax made an immediate impact after being moved to SmackDown.
Fourth-Round Picks
Teddy Long and JBL were on hand to announce the fourth-round selections. AJ Styles was first selection of the fourth round, staying on SmackDown. Alpha Academy remained on Raw and were picked together. Andrade was selected next and the final pick of the draft on Friday night was Kiana James from NXT.
James was the surprise pick of the night. As deserving as she probably is, this was the pick that went farthest off the board. WWE showed a highlight reel of Kiana James to give Raw and SmackDown fans who might not have known who she was a glimpse. Jackie Redmond then interviewed her from the Performance Center. Shawn Michaels showed up to congratulate her. It was a cool moment because James may not have been aware she was going to be drafted.
Carmelo Hayes vs. Cody Rhodes
This was a strong showcase match for Hayes. Yes, he’d been on SmackDown before, but in a big-match spot versus the champion was meant to show he could hang. Not only did he hang, he sold Cody’s moves better than perhaps anyone in WWE to date. Hayes kicked out of several moves that would finish off a typical star and he earned Cody’s respect.
Cody landed awkwardly on a missed Cody Cutter and really sold a bad shoulder. The hope is that he was just doing a good job of selling. AJ Styles showed up in te ring as Cody was celebrating. They stood face to face and stared through each other until they both shook hands to end the show.
