The John Report: WWE SmackDown 01/02/26 Review

This is WWE SmackDown featuring Cody Rhodes-Drew McIntyre exchanging words, Damian Priest facing Aleister Black in an Ambulance Match, an 8-woman tag, and more.

Happy New Year, my friends. The 3-hour SmackDown era is back. Just like in the first six months of 2025, we begin 2026 with SmackDown running for three hours for those of you in the US on USA Network and for people like me who are watching on Netflix in Canada, and other parts of the world. I don’t love that it’s 3 hours because it means more writing and a longer night for me, but honestly, sometimes the shows are better when it’s 3 hours because more talent is featured, and it can also lead to longer, better matches. The downside is that sometimes there is filler that isn’t very interesting. If I had a choice, I’d prefer two hours, but I don’t think SmackDown was necessarily better in 2025 when it was two hours than when it was three. It felt like the same to me.

Last week’s SmackDown saw Carmelo Hayes beat Ilja Dragunov to win the US Title in what was a fantastic match. Next week on SmackDown in Berlin, Germany, Cody Rhodes will face Drew McIntyre in a 3 Stages of Hell Match for the WWE Title. That should be great.

As a reminder, I posted the 17th Annual WWE Johnny Awards column about WWE in 2025 last Friday. I know it was the holiday season, so I’m just sharing the link again in case you didn’t read it. Bring on 2026.

From the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, this is SmackDown for episode #1376. Follow me on Twitter/X @johnreport. Let’s get to it.

A video package aired about the Cody Rhodes-Drew McIntyre feud to set up their WWE Title match next week on SmackDown.