Friday Night SmackDown aired this week from inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada less than 24 hours away from WrestleMania weekend.
We got a surprising appearance from none other than Maryse, in a wedding skit with her husband The Miz with Kit Wilson overseeing the “wedding”. Miz says he’s had a lot of great things happen to him in WWE, but she is by far the best thing that’s ever happened to him. As he is about to continue with his vows, Danhausen appears right behind Maryse, introducing himself but causing a fight between him and The Miz, leading to Maryse being pushed face-first into the wedding cake, shocking the guests.
Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair were backstage in the locker room, with Bliss telling Flair that it’s actually been a great year; she’s tried new flavors of ice cream, she has way more Charlotte merchandise than she ever thought she would need, but she did become Women’s Tag Team Champion with someone who became her best friend.
Flair agrees, believing 2025 was pretty epic and 2026 has been even better, but you know what would be the cherry on top? Winning gold at WrestleMania tomorrow, but Bliss adds that before WrestleMania tomorrow, they need to beat Bayley and Lyra tonight, so they can walk into WrestleMania with momentum and walk out as champions; no matter what, they will still be best friends. Flair mentions that the gold is the friendship they made along the way. Friendship is super important to her above all else, but how great would real gold be tomorrow?
Bliss then walks away, but Flair talks to herself, clearly seeing the vision for both of them that potentially lies ahead at the Show of Shows: becoming two-time Women’s Tag Team Champions.
The WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill made her way out to the ring flanked by Michin and B-Fab to cut a promo. Cargill took the mic, but before she could even say anything, she was interrupted by Rhea Ripley, who said that there was nothing she would like to do more than to lay her out right now, especially after everything that she has done, but she doesn’t want to give Cargill an excuse not to walk into WrestleMania. She’s not normally the most patient of people, but Cargill is lucky that she’s not going inside the ring right now and whooping her ass. She doesn’t want to give her an excuse not to walk into WrestleMania, and Cargill hasn’t given her the chance to walk in there and face her face-to-face because Ripley believes she’s scared, and when it comes to WrestleMania, she can’t wait to embarrass Cargill.
B-Fab defends Cargill, arguing to Rhea that the only one that should be embarrassed is her, because she’s the one that keeps coming for Jade and failing, but the Eradicator says she hasn’t had a chance to come for her. Ever since Ripley won the Elimination Chamber, Cargill has done nothing but hide, hiding behind B-Fab and Michin, hiding behind social media, and doing anything that she can not to stand face-to-face with her, claims that Cargill is simply laughing off as a joke, so if there is anything that Cargill wants to say to her, this is her last chance to say it to her face-to-face alone.
Cargill says in a mocking tone that she’s scared as B-Fab and Michin leave the ring, scared of “some cosplay goth kid with insecurities”. Cargill claims to be everything Ripley wishes she could be, a “real bitch”, and Ripley got her way around here, but that’s because of the “weak ass” locker room that’s back there. What Ripley sees as hiding, Cargill sees as simply sparing her, and since she didn’t learn her lesson, on Sunday, she’s putting belt to ass, and if Ripley keeps talking, Cargill’s going to make it quick.
Ripley questions why she would ever want to be like Jade, mentioning that she’s fought people like Jade her entire life actually, and calling attention to bringing up her insecurities like they are bad things, or things that hold her back, when they made her the person she is today. They are the reason she is a multi-time women’s champion within the WWE. If Jade wants to make it quick at WrestleMania, they can make it quick, but Ripley can promise that it won’t be in her favor, finally calling her a “narcissistic, selfish, fake-ass bitch”. The words didn’t seem to bother Jade, as her and Rhea stared each other down before leaving the ring.
Initially announced as a Women’s United States Championship match between champion Giulia and Tiffany Stratton, it was changed several hours later to a number 1 contender’s match pitting Stratton against Jordynne Grace. Both women have something to prove: Stratton returned to in-ring action in February recharged and refocused after losing the WWE Women’s Championship last November, while Grace was beginning to make waves among the Team Blue women’s ranks at the start of the year before being sidelined for a few weeks last month, returning to action on this week’s episode of Main Event in a winning effort against Zelina.
Now as for the actual match, the two immediately fought back-and-forth, scrambling to get a quick pinfall. Grace finally began to get the upper hand of the match, not taking things lightly at all with the Buff Barbie before commercials. Giulia and Kiana James were seen sitting at ringside throughout the match as well, the two for sure scouting the competition. When the show returned, Stratton countered an underhook suplex from the Juggernaut into a DDT. Both women were dazed but still determined to win, with Stratton kicking out of a driving package that easily could have put her away. It wasn’t long before Stratton gave Giulia and James a look and hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Grace to win, firmly solidifying Stratton as the number one contender to the Women’s United States Championship.
A vignette promoting the Women’s Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania that did not air on last week’s show was aired tonight, which you can watch in the video above.
Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss took on Bayley and Lyra Valkyria once more, but the match itself never actually got started. Flair had run to the ring ropes so that Valkyria would fall off the turnbuckle, starting a brawl between both teams that quickly intensified when The Irresistible Forces arrived to lay them out, as is usual for them.
This week’s victim of the bearhug/leg drop combo was Lyra, sending a final message of dominance to the rest of the tag team division.
Following tonight’s show, the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame will air at 12 a.m. on the ESPN app in the United States and YouTube elsewhere, from the Dolby Live at Park MGM with Stephanie McMahon as one of this year’s inductees.
Before that, the red carpet will be airing on WWE’s YouTube channel at 11:15 p.m. Eastern Time / 8:15 p.m. Pacific on WWE’s YouTube channel and across WWE’s social media platforms.
WrestleMania 42 will stream live from the Allegiant Stadium tomorrow, on Saturday, April 18th and Sunday, April 19th at 6 p.m. Eastern Time (3 p.m. Pacific) on the ESPN app for viewers in the United States and on Netflix in other countries; the first hour of the events will also air on ESPN2 and the ESPN cable network. The women’s matches for the show are as follows:
Night One – Saturday, April 18
Women’s World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Liv Morgan
Women’s Intercontinental Championship: AJ Lee (c) vs. Becky Lynch
Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal 4-Way Match: The Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax & Lash Legend) (c) vs. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria vs. The Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie)
Night Two – Sunday, April 19
Women’s Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley
Before each show, WWE will be airing their Countdown pre-show beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Time / 12 p.m. Pacific on ESPN and WWE’s social media platforms, plus the post-show after both events conclude.
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s edition of SmackDown, plus your WrestleMania predictions, in the comments below.
