Winners, News And Notes On August 26, 2022

WWE SmackDown advertised a Fatal 4-Way women’s tag team match, Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn, Ricochet vs. Happy Corbin and the return of the New Day. SmackDown featured vignettes for Drew McIntyre throughout the show as McIntyre prepares to challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship at Clash at the Castle.

SmackDown’s viewership garnered 1.927 million last week.

WWE SmackDown Results

• Ricochet def. Happy Corbin
• Natalya and Sonya Deville def. Dana Brooke and Tamina; Shotzi and Xia Li; and Nikki A.S.H. and Doudrop | Last Chance Fatal 4-Way
• Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah def. Natalya and Sonya Deville
• Drew McIntyre def. Sami Zayn

WWE SmackDown Ratings

• August 19, 2022 | 1.927 million
• August 12, 2022 | 2.084 million
• August 5, 2022 | 2.093 million
• July 29, 2022 | 2.193 million
• July 22, 2022 | 2.256 million

• WWE SmackDown Venue: Little Caesars Arena (Detroit, Mich.)
• WWE SmackDown Tickets Distributed: 9,381
• Available Tickets: 459

WWE SmackDown Highlights | Friday, August 26, 2022

Ricochet def. Happy Corbin

Ricochet’s series of wins over Happy Corbin are impressive, but another rematch between these two and this will start to feel like the Vince McMahon era all over again.

With so many residual tensions between Happy Corbin and Pat McAfee, I’m surprised they’re not having a match at Clash at the Castle.

WWE aired video packages for Drew McIntyre and, of course, it was fire if not redundant since everybody already knows McIntyre’s origin story several times over now. WWE aired these vignettes throughout the night.

Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns continued to shine in backstage segments. It’s a pairing reminiscent of The Rock and The Hurricane from 2003.

Natalya, Sonya Deville Win Second-Chance Fatal 4-Way

After taking a chance on Toxic Attraction and coming up snake eyes, WWE made as safe a choice as they could by having Natalya and Sonya Deville win this Fatal 4-Way.

I thought this was an elimination match, but thankfully—in the interest of time—it was one fall to a finish and much quicker than I thought it would be.

Sheamus Faces off With Gunther

Sheamus and Gunther took turns screaming at each other in their respective European dialects, and it was both convincing and awesome.

The best part of this exchange was Sheamus and Gunther standing face to face, unfazed, as a brawl broke out in the ring between Ludwig Kaiser and the Brawling Brutes.

On paper, a match between Sheamus and Gunther sounds entertaining, but this promo exchange might end up being just as good.

Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah def. Natalya and Sonya Deville

It’s been too long since Bayley last trolled Michael Cole to this level and it was even better to hear Pat McAfee get in on the action.

As a way to protect Raquel Rodriguez—and possibly make this match better—Aliyah spent much of the match out with a storyline injury. As fate would have it, Raquel Rodriguez was able to overcome the two-on-one advantage and win the match for her team. She’ll likely go into the finals against Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai with the same disadvantage.

The New Day Brawls with the Viking Raiders

The New began this promo with less energy than last week’s funeral, but this is a WWE promo so a swerve was inevitable.

Xavier Woods mourned the New Day’s Booty-Os, their t-shirts and their unicorn horns, calling them the New Day’s legacy. No, those are just the New Day’s merch. Their legacy reaches well past WWEShop.com.

Despite “Pete Dunne” once again trending on Twitter, Butch is still Butch.

The inevitable swerve came when the New Day attacked with kendo sticks and fought off the Viking Raiders. Kendo stick Kofi is a vibe.

Drew McIntyre def. Sami Zayn

Sami Zayn got heat for wishing Jimmy Uso a happy birthday and not Jey.

After Pat McAfee brought up the response to Sami Zayn in Canada, Michael Cole snipped at McAfee that they were no longer in Canada. It was fun while it lasted.

Roman Reigns will celebrate his two-year anniversary next week on SmackDown.

The highlight came after the match when Sami Zayn hit a beaten-down Drew McIntyre with a Helluva Kick and celebrated like he just won the Stanley Cup.

The main talking point coming out of this segment was that nobody can beat The Bloodline. I expect Drew McIntyre to have reinforcements next week headed into Clash at the Castle.