Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley challenge for women's tag titles on SmackDown

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SmackDown airs tonight (Oct. 9) with a live show emanating from Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana. This is the final episode of SmackDown during the ten week build to Money in the Bank, which takes place tomorrow night in New Orleans. Charlotte Flair sucks at winning championships in WWE Charlotte Flair has been synonymous with winning championship gold throughout her WWE career, but that has suddenly changed in 2026. Flair was called up to the main roster in 2015 and held championship gold at some point each year all the way through 2023. She didn’t wrestle at all in 2024 due to injury, but soon got back to winning a title in 2025 after forming a tag team with Alexa Bliss. They lost the WWE women’s tag team championship in November 2025. And even though WWE now has more women’s titles than ever before, The Queen has come up empty in her quest to win gold in 2026. The end of the year is approaching, and it may go down as the first year in Flair’s WWE career where she wrestled in at least one match but never held a championship. The truth of the matter is that this lack of titles is related to why her babyface run has worked, as fans no longer feel like she is being shoved down their throats. Charlotte has another chance to end her championship drought tonight when she teams up with Tatum Paxley to challenge Lainey Reid and Fallon Henley for the women’s tag titles. Flair still doesn’t really know what to make of Paxley, but is teaming with her due to Alexa’s endorsement. Can the odd couple pairing repeat their win over Fatal Influence from August in tonight’s rematch and bring home championship gold? Will Jade Cargill and her Baddies ruin the end of The Queen’s latest title match? Is it better for Flair’s babyface run if she continues to lose in high stakes matches like this? Tune into SmackDown tonight to find out some or all of these answers. The rest of the card Six men and six women will compete in the annual Money in the Bank ladder matches this weekend, and all 12 of them will be under one roof tonight on SmackDown. That includes Penta, Je’Von Evans, World Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker, Kevin Owens, CM Punk, United States Champion Trick Williams, Lash Legend, Lola Vice, Sol Ruca, Roxanne Perez, Tiffany Stratton, and Women’s United States Champion Jacy Jayne. I assume WWE will separate the men and women’s combatants into different segments and matches tonight as they hype up the PLE, but wouldn’t it be more fun if all 12 were in the ring at the same time causing chaos on the mic and between the ropes? Other stuff to keep an eye on – Blake Monroe finally had her SmackDown in-ring debut last week, where she defeated Giulia after a bad fall on the turnbuckle knocked out the Beautiful Madness. How obnoxious will The Glamour be when she brags about her incredible success tonight? Will it be another six months before Monroe wrestles again? – Damian Priest is from New York City, and I guess that means he’s a violent dick and a very bad man. Will R-Truth dare confront El Malo looking for trouble? – Will the WWE tag team championship feud between MFT and Bakusai actually make the cut for TV tonight, or is it back to digital exclusives for the third consecutive week? – Is GUNTHER tempting fate after manhandling Danhausen last week? How will Finn Balor and WWE Champion Sami Zayn retaliate after Gooner laid them out? – Randy Orton screwed Cody Rhodes out of qualifying for the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match last week. Will the American Nightmare get 15 minutes on the mic tonight to let us all know how angry and upset he is by Randy’s actions? Is WWE about to book a rematch between Rhodes and Orton for Crown Jewel on November 7, possibly in Saudi Arabia? – Paige set up a rematch with Nikki Bella for next week and then slapped her in the face. Will WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green join in on the fun tonight by slapping Nikki too? – Will Ricky Saints demand a title rematch after pinning AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix in a six-man tag team match last week? – What’s next for Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae after they both failed to qualify for Money in the Bank? – WWE’s web site is advertising a 6-man tag team match tonight featuring Seth Rollins. Is there any chance in hell that Seth shows his face on TV, or is he just there to entertain the live audience in a dark match? – Where the f*** are Carmelo Hayes and Jordynne Grace? What will you be looking for on SmackDown?