WWE Friday Night SmackDown in Portland, Oregon, USA, Live on the USA Network | March 6th, 2026 — The Episode Recap:
- robbyplaha
- Mar 7
- 7 min read
The March 6th Episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown — The Official Match Results:
The Opening Match: Carmelo Hayes (c) defeated El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. in a WWE United States Title Match | via Pin-Fall — (10:11)
The 2nd Match: Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair defeated Giulia & Kiana James in a Tag Team Match | via Pin-Fall — (10:08)
The 3rd Match: Damian Priest & R-Truth defeated Fraxiom (Axiom & Nathan Frazer) and Los Garza (Angel & Berto) and The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) and The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy) in a WWE Tag Team Title No. 1 Contender’s Tag Team Turmoil Match | via Pin-Fall — (25:39)
The Eliminations Order of the WWE Tag Team Title No. 1 Contender’s Tag Team Turmoil Match:
Fraxiom (Axiom & Nathan Frazer) Eliminated The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) via Pin-Fall — (07:50)
Los Garza (Angel & Berto) Eliminated Fraxiom (Axiom & Nathan Frazer) | via Pin-Fall — (10:20)
Los Garza (Angel & Berto) Eliminated The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy) | via Pin-Fall — (15:50)
Damian Priest & R-Truth Eliminated Los Garza (Angel & Berto) | via Pin-Fall — (25:39)
The 4th Match: Oba Femi defeated Johnny Gargano (with Candice LeRae) in a Singles Match | via Pin-Fall — (01:03)
The Main Event Match: Cody Rhodes defeated Drew McIntyre (c) in a WWE Undisputed Title Match | via Pin-Fall — (20:40)
My Thoughts on the March 6th Episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown:
My Thoughts: Garbage Episode of SmackDown, as we enjoyed with excitement of the departure of Road Dogg, we were subjected to worse writing, and horrid segments mixed in with force booking, trying to make Cody Rhodes go through so much adversity to become champion once again. The only positive of the show was Carmelo Hayes and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. as they displayed a very fun match, but everything else was garbage as we saw a horrible women's tag team match, a non-tag team win a No. 1 Contender's Match, and Johnny Gargano gets squashed like a bug which makes me believe he'll be departing from WWE soon. The talk of the week with Jade Cargill and Rhea Ripley failed to deliver as they talked about whose muscles were bigger, and the Main Event delivered an uneventful title change. All-around garbage, which is wild because SmackDown has been fun to watch this year, but last night they didn't deliver once.
The March 6th Episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown — The Match Ratings:
The Opening Match: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. in a WWE United States Title Match | The Match Rating: ***.25 — This was the match of the night for me, as we had a very uneventful episode. But Carmelo Hayes, who has been a bright spot on this show, had an unexpected challenger from AAA: the AAA Latin American Champion, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., who answered the challenge as he aimed to be a double champion. This match could've been a lot better, as there were noticeable miscues and moments where they botched a few situations. But the match's closing moments were very solid, as Carmelo Hayes retained his WWE United States Title in a strong battle. It was also nice to see the sign of respect from both men after the match. We had people from AAA and TNA answering Carmelo Hayes. This is what the open challenge should be. I would like someone from NOAH to answer Carmelo Hayes, if possible.
The 2nd Match: Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs. Giulia & Kiana James in a Tag Team Match | The Match Rating: *.75 — This match wasn't good to me at all there was noticeable botches; for example, the video that has been floating around of Alexa Bliss botching Giulia's spot, and there were other moments. I thought this match was a No. 1 Contender's Match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles, but I was very wrong. I just wish this match could've benefited Giulia more, as they haven't done a good job making her a star. It's like they want Kiana James to be the main star of that team, and Giulia being a behind side-character, in which if you've seen Giulia in STARDOM, and even in NXT, she's the main attraction. A lot of issues in this match. I'm not satisfied with what I saw. They need to produce this style of match better.
The 3rd Match: Damian Priest & R-Truth vs. Fraxiom (Axiom & Nathan Frazer) vs. Los Garza (Angel & Berto) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy) in a WWE Tag Team Title No. 1 Contender’s Tag Team Turmoil Match | The Match Rating: *.50 — I have a lot of issues with this match. First things first, the fact that Fraxiom and Motor City Machine Guns haven't had enough TV time this year is hilarious, as the SmackDown Tag Team Division has been heavily neglected. But I thought we saw a botch as we saw Alex Shelley trying to put Chris Sabin's foot on the rope, but the referee didn't see it, which resulted in Fraxiom eliminating Motor City Machine Guns. Los Garzas came out as a very underrated team that hasn't made much noise since the summer of last year, as they were AAA World Tag Team Champions. But they actually got the elimination as they eliminated Fraxiom to stay alive, which made me happy as both men, Angel and Berto, are heavily talented. The Wyatt Sicks came in and I thought this is where the match turn for the worst as Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy were working the Garzas but the MFts made an appearance costing them the match as Los Garzas eliminated the Wyatt Sicks now I'm happy because I had a feeling maybe Los Garzas will be next in line, but... this is where things went from wrong to straight up laughable the custom tag team of Damian Priest and R-Truth came and we know the rest they earned a future oppertunity for the WWE Tag Team Titles. Now, here's my issue: this could've been the perfect place to have the Street Profits return to get that No. 1 Contender for the WWE Tag Team Titles, but a team that had no matches ever gets the opportunity. This is what I call creative malpractice.
The 4th Match: Oba Femi vs. Johnny Gargano (with Candice LeRae) in a Singles Match | The Match Rating: N/A — This was unfortunate disaster for Johnny gargano as ever since Tommaso Ciampa departed from WWE to AEW, it seems like Johnny Gargano has been depressed, but this time he announced an open challenge, trying to hype himself up but as we saw Oba Femi answered the call, and he made quick qwork of one of the greatest NXT Wrestlers ever as Johnny Gargano suffered defeat. What sucks is he could be doing a lot, but it seems like he’s on his way out of WWE, as it was hinted on AEW TV of him being there.
The Main Event Match: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Cody Rhodes in a WWE Undisputed Title Match | The Match Rating: ** — Now this feud has officially ended. Now we have entered the era of fatigue for Cody Rhodes. This match wasn't good, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't the kind of all-around that we've seen so many times since August last year. This was garbage. Now that the WWE Universe has turned on Cody Rhodes on Social Media and everywhere else, we have entered what everyone feared. If you remember 2021-2022 in AEW, he was doing this underdog shtick where he loses, then wins & recaptures the title. He did it here in WWE as he's now a 3x WWE World Champion, as he faces his mentor in the Main Event of Night One of WrestleMania 42. This match should've happened in 2024. This cycle is reaching the 2006-2007 John Cena cycle. He loses, goes through adversity, and regains the title. If Randy Orton doesn't win the title at WrestleMania, that;s wgere it'll get wrose but even if Randy Orton wins the title, we can see Cody Rhodes regain it to become a 4x WWE World Champion. Now, for Drew McIntyre, he needs to be written off for a long time. His credibility is ruined, and everything about him stinks. He needs to be gone for a very long time to come back refreshed and rejuvenated because this whole feud ruined his perception with fans, which is highly unfortunate. Garbage stuff, and sad to see Drew McIntyre, who deserved a proper reign, but they treated him like a joke.
The March 6th WWE Friday Night SmackDown — The Match of the Night: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. in a WWE United States Title Match | The Match Rating: ***.25 — The only fun match from this episode of SmackDown, the early portion of this match was clunky but they cleaned it up towards the end but Carmelo Hayes has been fanastic in the year of 2026 he has been one of my favorite things in wrestling this year.
The March 6th Episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown — The Episode Grade: 1.25/10 (F) — Disaster. I thought Road Dogg's departure from WWE would give us some better quality writing for SmackDown, but that was further from the truth. This episode lacked in almost every area, and we closed the show on a huge sour note, as there has been a lot of negative reception from this episode. Horrid stuff from the creative writing.
Next Week WWE Friday Night SmackDown, March 13th Episode in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, Live on the USA Network. — The Announced Matches & Segments:
WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton WWE WrestleMania Contract Signing.
Jade Cargill vs. Michin (with B-Fab) in a Singles Match.
Jelly Roll will be live in Phoenix, Arizona, next week.
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