Hall’s Smackdown Review – 10.30.26

Smackdown
Date: October 30, 2026
Location: Charleston Coliseum, Charleston, West Virginia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the Halloween special and, say it with me, the show is being hosted by Danhausen. That’s about the only person you could have hosting thing kind of a show, but at the same time, Gunther probably won’t be thrilled with the idea. Other than that, Crown Jewel is in just over a week and that’s going to need another push. Let’s get to it.

We start with Our Creature Presentation and go to Danhausen, in his castle, who welcomes us to the Very Nice, Very Evil Smackdown. There are three title matches tonight and we’ll get to see his greatest experiment, whatever that is.

We do have a nice Halloween set, which is always appreciated.

Here is Cody Rhodes for a chat. Rhodes gets right to the point by talking about the Last Man Standing match that he’s ready to have against Randy Orton at Crown Jewel. He’s going to do something a bit different this time by apologizing in advance for what happens. Rhodes knows that Orton has five children and things could get bad. We see a photo of how he looked after Wrestlemania and is ready to take Orton out again, as the winner will likely be the #1 contender. And that’s that.

We look at Tiffany Stratton almost cashing in Money In The Bank on Liv Morgan on Raw.

Stratton, with Chelsea Green (dressed as Nikki Bella), is ready to win the title so she and Green can be an iconic team. Green goes to get ready and here is Danhausen to interrupt. He offers her a jaw of teeth in exchange for the briefcase and that’s not happening. Danhausen blames interviewer Cathy Kelley.

Women’s Title: Nikki Bella vs. Chelsea Green

Green is defending and Bella doesn’t seem impressed by the costume. An early Unpretty-Her attempt doesn’t work so Green tries it again and gets rolled up for her efforts. Green goes up and gets caught, with Bella slamming her down. A Bella Buster gives Bella two and we take an early break.

We come back with Bella’s spinning kick out of the corner getting two. The Broski Boot misses for Bella and Green’s Rough Ryder gets two more. The Fearless lock sends Green over to the rope and the Rack Attack connects, with the aggressive cover sending Green into the ropes by mistake. Bella is ticked off and gets small packaged to retain the title at 8:02.

Rating: C. This was the usual Bella match as she is only so good in the ring these days and Green, while great in her own right, isn’t the kind of person to bring anyone up to a very high level. At the same time, Green already has a bigger story going on with Liv Morgan anyway so it was hard to believe that the title was changing here. I’m not sure what is next for Bella, but hopefully it is pretty firmly different because this isn’t exactly working.

Post match here is Liv Morgan to say that she’s a champion but Green is a joke. If Green would get fired for a third time, no one would notice. Morgan promises to eat her alive but here is Tiffany Stratton with the briefcase. Judgment Day runs in to go after her but she fights them off, only for the team to get back up to stop the cash in. Iyo Sky runs in and a six woman tag seems likely.

Sami Zayn is tired of being disrespected as champion. No he isn’t about to lose to Trick Williams, who only has things that can be bought in a store. What makes Zayn great are things that Williams will never have. Tonight, Zayn will beat Williams and then move on to Roman Reigns.

We look at Blake Monroe beating Giulia last week.

Monroe wants the Women’s Title because Chelsea Green is choking under the pressure. Paige comes in and they bicker a bit.

AAA Cruiserweight Title: Rey Fenix vs. Ricky Saints

Saints is challenging and slugs away to start before rolling away into his pose. Fenix sends him to the apron for the running flip dive and a high crossbody gets two back inside. Some hard knees have Fenix in trouble on the floor and we take a break. We come back with Saints going after Fenix’s mask before something close to a super Jackhammer gets two.

Fenix kicks him in the head for two of his own and a heck of a springboard moonsault gets the same. A big springboard tornado DDT gives Saints two more and his Death Valley Driver drops Fenix again. Saints puts him up top but gets powerbombed down, with Fenix missing a moonsault but rolling into a nice cutter. Another rolling cutter gets two but Fenix catches him on top with the Mexican MuscleBuster to retain at 11:58.

Rating: B-. Super Jackhammer aside, this was about what you would have expected. Fenix gets to go out for another televised defense of his title, with the non-AAA fans getting to see a AAA title in action. It wasn’t some blow away, game changing match but it worked perfectly fine, at least partially due to having the two of them work together so often.

Jade Cargill and the Baddies aren’t impressed by Charlotte or Tatum Paxley but Fatal Influence come in to say they aren’t impressed by the three of them. As usual, cattiness ensues.

Trick Williams doesn’t think any more of Sami Zayn because he has a title now. Tonight Williams is winning another title and then going on to Crown Jewel to face Roman Reigns. Williams and Lil Yachty go to leave but Yachty goes into Danhausen’s laboratory. And Danhausen has resurrected the Gingerbread Man. Well of course he has.

Jade Cargill vs. Tatum Paxley

The Baddies and Alexa Bliss are here too. Cargill is in Poison Ivy inspired gear, which Graves says has him wanting to watch Batman Forever. Given that Poison Ivy was in Batman & Robin rather than Batman Forever, that probably isn’t as big of a compliment as he meant. Paxley jumps her from behind to start but gets shouldered in the corner.

A sliding lariat gives Cargill two but Paxley’s jumping facebuster gets the same. They head outside where Paxley misses a moonsault and gets superkicked down as we take a break. We come back with Paxley getting two off a sunset flip and kicking Cargill in the head. A flipping kick to the back of the head puts Cargill down for two more. B-Fab and Bliss get into it on the floor, with the distraction leaving Cargill to hit Jaded for the pin at 9:07.

Rating: C+. The whole point here was to have Cargill looking dominant before the upcoming showdown with Charlotte. That has been set up for a long time now and it seems like a short matter of time before we actually see it happen. I’m not wild on Paxley losing, but this was about getting us ready for a much bigger match.

Post match Graves does correct himself on the Batman film situation.

Damian Priest is not happy that Trick Williams is getting a World Title shot and blames R-Truth for dragging him down. If he doesn’t get his World Title shot, he’s going to start stacking bodies. Fraxiom comes in to say they’re going to get a match with Priest to fix this stuff. Priest isn’t worried.

Here is Danhausen for his big announcement. First though, he has to make some adjustments, which brings out Gunther (Danhausen: “Aw s***.”) to beat him up. A powerbomb puts Danhausen through a table and they go inside, with Danhausen loading up another powerbomb. Cue the Minihausens, who get in a few shots but get taken out rather quickly. The minis are sent through a table as well and Danhausen gets sleepered, though he manages to send out a curse at the same time.

Cue the Demon, who rises off a table at the entrance to…we’ll say crawl towards the ring and Gunther knows this isn’t good. The Demon strikes away and, after no selling a belt shot, sends Gunther through a table. The Coup de Grace puts Gunther through the announcers’ table and Danhausen is rather thankful. This had a kind of weird but sound logic, as Danhausen being the one to bring back the Demon makes good sense.

Video on CM Punk vs. Kevin Owens, which will now be No Holds Barred.

Smackdown World Title: Trick Williams vs. Sami Zayn

Only Zayn is defending and Lil Yachty, Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae are here too. Zayn takes him into the corner to start but gets punched in the face for his efforts. Williams rains down the right hands in the corner but is dumped out to the floor as we take an early break.

We come back with Williams shaking off the right hands to knock Zayn into the corner. Williams stomps him down and hits a spinning leg lariat for two more. The Bookend is countered into an exploder but the Helluva Kick is blocked to put them both down. Back up and the Bookend connects but Gargano pulls the referee out at two, which is enough for the match to be thrown out at 7:39.

Actually hang on as here is Nick Aldis to say the match is restarting, with the seconds heading to the back, and now No DQ. Williams uses the new rules to hit Zayn in the head with the Trick Stick for two as we take another break. We come back again with Williams getting in a neckbreaker to cut Zayn off. The Trick Kick gets two but the Bookend onto the chair is broken up. Zayn’s Blue Thunder Bomb gets two and the Trick Shot gives Williams the same. Williams grabs a belt but gets hit low, allowing Zayn to get in the belt shot to retain at 14:36.

Rating: B. Much like the opener, there was pretty much no reason to believe that the title change was in the card. At the same time though, this was about Williams getting to show how well he could do in a bigger match. Williams did well here and he’s all but destined to be a main eventer in due time.

 

Results
Chelsea Green b. Nikki Bella – Small package
Rey Fenix b. Ricky Saints – Mexican MuscleBuster
Jade Cargill b. Tatum Paxley – Jaded
Sami Zayn b. Trick Williams – Belt shot

 

 

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7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Oh yeah it’s Crown Jewel season for sure as this is all about setting up the champion vs. champion matches. What do those matches get us? Well not very much for the most part but that’s how these things tend to go every year. The rest of the show was its usual self, as the build to Crown Jewel continues to be mostly mediocre at best.