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WWE SmackDown Results & Booking Grades (9/4/26): CM Punk Defends Against an Unlikely Challenger

Tonight's episode of WWE SmackDown saw CM Punk defend the WWE Championship in the main event against a surprising challenger.
Matt Black|
CM Punk
CM Punk | WWE

Tonight's episode of WWE SmackDown took place at the Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Last week's episode featured a triple threat match between Gunther, Finn Balor, and Kevin Owens to determine the number one contender for CM Punk's WWE Championship. Unfortunately, the match ended in a no contest when Sami Zayn got involved, laying out everyone, including Punk, with his own championship title. Despite that, Punk still defended his title on tonight's show.

Tonight's episode featured CM Punk convincing Cleveland hometown hero Johnny Gargano to come out his planked-state to challenge him for the WWE Championship. But did we actually get a winner in the main event this week?

You can check out the complete results from tonight's episode below.

WWE SmackDown results:

This week's episode kicked off with Gunther coming down to the ring and immediately calling out Sami Zayn, who appears in the crowd. Zayn told Gunther he's not the victim, he is. Zayn called CM Punk the biggest fraud on the planet.

Sami Zayn stated that if Gunther isn't happy about how last week went, he'd better buckle up because it's going to continue to happen until he gets his fair rematch for the WWE Championship. Gunther said he had heard enough and he's going into the crowd to get to Zayn.

Finn Balor appears in the crowd and says he's here for justice as well and chased Zayn to ringside. Zayn tried to escape up the aisle, but Kevin Owens came out and chased Zayn through the crowd. Backstage, CM Punk and Nick Aldis try to figure out who they will determine a number one contender with Zayn continuing to sabotage everything.

Punk finds the planked-out Johnny Gargano and gives him a motivational speech about giving him a WWE Title shot in his hometown of Cleveland. Gargano doesn't respond at first, but eventually gets up, and the crowd pops huge. Gargano accepts Punk's challenge; the match is on for tonight.

Booking Grade: 9/10

  • Everybody hates Sami Zayn
  • Johnny Gargano getting a huge match in Cleveland is a cool moment for him
  • Zayn's storyline is kind of dumb since he already had a chance to become the number one contender again and lost.

Not the partner Charlotte Flair was expecting

Backstage, Charlotte Flair questions why Alexa Bliss is in her street gear, as she thought they were teaming tonight to face Fatal Influence. Bliss revealed that Tatum Paxley would be teaming with her instead. Paxley is over-the-moon excited, and Flair is less than thrilled. Regardless, Bliss is there to keep everyone on the same page.

In the opening contest of the evening, Charlotte Flair teamed with Tatum Paxley to take on Fatal Influence in a non-title match. The finish of the match saw Paxley hit a Cemetery Drive on Reid to score the pinfall victory for her team.

After the match, Jade Cargill, Michin, and B-Fab come out and attack Flair, Bliss, and Paxley. Fatal Influence left, allowing Cargill and her cronies to beat down their opponents ahead of Sunday Night's Main Event.

Booking Grade: 8/10

  • Nice win for Flair and Paxley over the champions, which should give them a future title shot
  • The aftermath helped build Sunday Night's Main Event this weekend
  • The pairing of Flair and Paxley is pretty entertaining right now

Backstage, Cathy Kelley spoke with Nikki Bella, who ran down Paige until she came in and interrupted. Paige said Nikki has never liked her and made some references to Bella's past relationship with Cena before hyping up their match next week.

Things are getting personal between Paige and Nikki Bella

Elsewhere in Nick Aldis' office, Gunther comes in to complain about Johnny Gargano getting a WWE Title shot tonight. Aldis told Gunther to take it up with CM Punk before dismissing himself to head to the ring to discuss Chelsea Green's medical status. Danhausen attempts to console Gunther but is yelled at by the Ring General for his troubles.

Back at ringside, Nick Aldis is in the ring with a doctor to discuss Chelsea Green's medical status. Green comes out and cuts a passionate promo about not giving up the title and being willing to defend the title against anyone. The doctor tells Green that she is healing and as long as she wears the facemask, she's cleared to compete.

This brought out Nia Jax and Lash Legend, who immediately started bullying Green as Jax tried to get her title shot. Before either could get their hands on Green, Tiffany Stratton hits the ring and takes out both women. Aldis said Jax can have her title shot next week, but she can face Stratton in an impromptu match right now.

The match was essentially a numbers game as Legend helped Jax pick up the victory with an Annihilator. Jax steals Green's facemask as she and Legend taunt her until she gets in the ring to take it back.

Booking Grade: 6.5/10

  • The Tiffany Stratton heel turn is painfully obvious, but are all these losses necessary?
  • Shouldn't the match between Jax and Stratton at least have been a number-one contender's match?
  • Chelsea Green can't afford to lose her first title defense next week

Kevin Owens sees what CM Punk is doing

Backstage, Byron Saxton speaks with Kevin Owens about Johnny Gargano getting a WWE Championship match tonight. KO said he's happy for Gargano but knows Punk didn't do this out of the kindness of his heart. Owens believes Punk did this to get Zayn to come out to the ring tonight, and if he does, he won't be alone.

A sit-down interview aired between Corey Graves and Cody Rhodes. Randy Orton immediately interrupts and tries to get Rhodes to hit him so he loses his ability to challenge for the WWE Championship. Rhodes takes everything Orton said on the chin and tells him he's screwed on Sunday.

Back in the locker room, Trick Williams spoke to Lil Yachty about his match with Baron Corbin on Sunday Night's Main Event. Yachty played a really dumb music video of him "working out." Williams wasn't impressed and hoped Yachty is taking this seriously. Baron Corbin comes in and said he's going to slaughter Yachty in his hometown and take away any chance Trick has of ever getting another shot at the title.

The next match saw Shinsuke Nakamura teaming with Kyoki to take on The Miz and Kit Wilson. This was pretty much a showcase for the newcomer from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Kyoki, who got a rare pass straight to the main roster, bypassing NXT entirely. The finish of the match saw Kyoki hit Wilson with a reverse stunner to score the pinfall victory for his team.

After the match, the MFTs came out onto the stage and stared down the new team.

Booking Grade: 8/10

  • Kyoki looked great in his WWE debut
  • I still have an issue with Miz and Wilson suddenly being okay, like the Danhausen story never happened
  • Probably a bit too much offense from Miz and Wilson in this match as well

Another match is teased between Giulia and Blake Monroe. However, Giulia attacked Monroe backstage once again and fought out onto the stage as referees had to separate the two women and the match is once again, canceled.

Johnny Wrestling is back!

Backstage, Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae are talking. Sami Zayn sneaks in and congratulates him on tonight's title match. Zayn told Gargano that if an opportunity falls into his lap tonight, to take it, but made it clear that if Gargano wins, he gets the first title shot.

In the main event of the evening, Johnny Gargano challenged CM Punk for the WWE Championship. The closing moments of the match saw Sami Zayn get involved, trying to toss the WWE Title to Gargano, but Kevin Owens came out of the crowd and attacked him. Gunther and Finn Balor also came out to attack Zayn, but they can't coexist, so Zayn laid them all out with the title. LeRae distracted the referee as Zayn hit Punk with the title; Gargano went for the cover but only got a two.

Aldis and security come out to eject Zayn and LeRae from ringside, allowing Punk to hit a distracted Gargano with a GTS to score the pinfall victory. After the match, Punk gets on the microphone and tells Zayn he can have his title shot in Mexico next week.

Booking Grade: 9/10

  • We finally got a finish to a main event!
  • Cleveland REALLY wanted to see Gargano win
  • We're finally getting Punk and Zayn, so we can move on from this

Zayn screamed that Punk has no idea what he just did as WWE SmackDown went off the air.

WWE SmackDown quick results:

  • Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley defeated Fatal Influence in a non-title match
  • Nia Jax defeated Tiffany Stratton
  • Shinsuke Nakamura and Kyoki defeated The Miz and Kit Wilson
  • CM Punk defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the WWE Championship
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Published | Modified
Matt Black
MATT BLACK

Matt Black got involved in the wrestling media industry over two decades ago, covering WWE video games released by Acclaim, THQ, and 2K. He has been covering professional wrestling for multiple digital outlets since 2019. He is the former Senior Editor of WrestleZone and has extensive knowledge of the entire wrestling industry. In his spare time, Matt enjoys cheering for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Los Angeles Lakers. He's also a diehard comic book movie fan and doesn't pick sides when it comes to the endless debates of Marvel versus DC.

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