Sami Zayn and Stephanie Vaquer claim WWE titles in Mexico

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - SEPTEMBER 11: Sami Zayn celebrates winning the WWE Championship during SmackDown at Arena Ciudad de Mexico on September 11, 2026 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Craig Ambrosio/WWE via Getty Images) | WWE via Getty Images WWE SmackDown is live tonight (Sept. 18, 2026) from the Hilliard Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, and we are carrying forward on the road to Money in the Bank. Advertised for tonight: Sami Zayn got his justice and his Undisputed WWE Men’s Championship back last week, so you’re gonna hear alllll about it tonight. Plus, a pair of Money in the Bank qualifiers (Orton vs. Trick vs. Fenix and Bliss vs. Jayne vs. Cargill) and Cody Rhodes is gonna sit down for an interview about losing to the Viper! Get ready with our preview here! Come right back here back at the normal start time of 8 pm ET. That’s when the SmackDown live blog will kick off in the space below once the show starts on USA. WWE SmackDown RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR SEPT. 18

"WWE SmackDown" is back in the U.S. after last week's stunning CM Punk vs. Sami Zayn world title change. Follow live results and play-by-play of the action here.

SmackDown airs tonight (Sept. 18) with a live show emanating from Hilliard Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. This is the seventh episode of SmackDown during the ten week build to Money in the Bank, which takes place on October 10. Sami Zayn’s second WWE title reign might end even faster than his first Sami Zayn shocked the world (again) last week when he won the WWE championship for a second time. It turns out CM Punk was wrong when he said there’s no way he’s losing the belt to a guy who broke his hand jerkin’ it to his nine day fluke title win. Zayn is now scheduled to appear on SmackDown tonight, and I’m sure the Last Real Good Guy has a big speech planned for his ride-or-die fans about finally getting the justice he deserves. We are only seven days into Sami’s second WWE title reign, which means there is still a chance it could all go up in smoke even quicker than the first time. There is a long list of top stars gunning for the title such as Punk, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, GUNTHER, Finn Balor, and Cody Rhodes. All it takes is one very unfair decision by GM Nick Aldis for a title match to get booked and Sami to get screwed out of the championship again. WWE really should go ahead and book a title match tonight to tease the possibility that Zayn will be an even bigger failure this go around with the gold. And hey, if WWE needs to move Crown Jewel out of Saudi Arabia, then maybe the boss really doesn’t see any point in keeping the title on Zayn. Before any of those top guys get a title match, mid-carder Johnny Gargano might be first in line. He and Candice LeRae did play a role in Zayn’s upset win, after all, and Johnny Wrestling did it with the understanding that Zayn will give him the very first shot at the title. Sami might not recall their conversation playing out exactly like that, but it’s clear what Gargano expects his reward to be. Is new WWE Champion Sami Zayn walking into another screwjob tonight, or will he somehow find a way to surpass his nine day run with the title from earlier this summer? Tune into SmackDown to find out. The rest of the card Cody Rhodes is scheduled for an “exclusive sit-down interview” tonight, where he will respond after Randy Orton gloated about the fact that Rhodes is too much of a nice guy to pull the trigger and kill him. The Viper is ready to move on from Cody after beating him at Sunday Night’s Main Event, so what will Cody say to draw him back in for a more violent rematch? WWE commentators mentioned there will be Money in the Bank qualifying matches tonight on SmackDown. I’m seeing some places say that Jade Cargill vs. Tatum Paxley vs. Women’s United States Champion Jacy Jayne is one such match, but WWE’s SmackDown preview does not list it as of this writing. On the men’s side, United States Champion Trick Williams says he wants in on MITB this year, but he still has his hands full with the very tall Baron Corbin. Will a third wrestler join them for tonight’s men’s qualifier? How about the not-very-tall Carmelo Hayes? Other stuff to keep an eye on – Even with a broken orbital bone, WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green managed to retain the title by beating Nia Jax last week. Is it now Lash Legend’s turn to step up to the champ? What about Tiffany Stratton? Is Tiffy Time secretly plotting a way to turn her friendship with Green into her next title reign? – Damian Priest turned on R-Truth last week after yet another loss in a tag team championship match. Will Priest bother to show up tonight and explain why he dumped the dead weight off his shoulders? Does R-Truth understand that there’s no going back? – Blake Monroe still hasn’t had her debut match on the main roster against Giulia, mostly because they keep attacking each other before they get to the ring. At this point, isn’t it GM Nick Aldis’ fault if the match continues to never happen? – Finn Balor and GUNTHER came to blows last week after Balor called him a whiny bitch. Will they branch off and do their own singles feud that keeps them away from the WWE title for a bit? – Is some combination of Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and Tatum Paxley next in line to challenge WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Fatal Influence? – AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix retained his belt against Ricky Saints last week, only to fall for an insincere handshake and backstage attack later in the night. Now that WWE is out of Mexico, does Ricky actually have a chance to beat Fenix for the gold? – Nikki Bella thinks WWE gave her grudge match with Paige only three minutes last week because the idea was to leave the fans wanting more. I guess sometimes wrestlers really are easier to work than the fans. Anyway, how will Paige respond now that Nikki has a win over her, and will her response be cut for time and/or only get posted on social media? – Will the undefeated Danhausen get a chance to qualify for Human Monies in the Bank? Will he remain undefeated if he keeps sticking his nose in GUNTHER’s business? – Does WWE have any other teams for Kyoki and Shinsuke Nakamura to fight besides jobbers like The Miz and Kit Wilson? If not, is it already time for Bakusai to challenge MFT for the WWE tag team championship? – Where the f*** is Jordynne Grace? What will you be looking for on SmackDown?

Most of us were pretty surprised (some happily, others less so) that Sami Zayn won the WWE championship back from CM Punk in Mexico City on SmackDown last Friday. Elated or enraged, the wrestle web spent time over the weekend speculating about why Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque and his creative team put the belt back on Zayn. Sami’s second reign is part of a year with the most WWE title changes in a decade, in case you missed Unicorse’s great Feed post from Sunday: Back to the reason for the latest hot potato-ing of the title to Zayn, writing from behind PWInsider’s Elite paywall, Mike Johnson reports that “the company is looking to run WWE Champion Sami Zayn vs WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns as the main event of their November Crown Jewel event.” Crown Jewel in is in Riyadh on Nov. 7. That premium live event, you’ll recall, is built around the World champions from Raw and SmackDown fighting for the Crown Jewel title that WWE only really talks about around this PLE. Zayn is of Syrian descent and a proud Muslim, and he’s become one of WWE’s biggest babyfaces in Saudi Arabia. There’s also a ton of Bloodline history to mine with a Reigns/Zayn clash, potentially making it a much more compelling clash than Crown Jewel title feuds have been its brief history. Another reason that Sami is champ, however, is so WWE doesn’t want to run CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns back so soon after they closed things out at WrestleMania 42. Crowning Zayn now again allows them to keep that rematch in their pocket for a future marquee event. The Last Real Good Guy has a number of viable challengers on the blue roster, including Finn Bálor, Gunther, Johnny Gargano, and his old pal Kevin Owens. But getting to Crown Jewel as champ definitely should mean Sami’s current reign will last longer than nine days, right? Unless Haitch books another couple title changes between now and Nov. 7…

The shocking title change of Sami Zayn defeating CM Punk for the Undisputed WWE Championship has led to many questions about this decision. Punk ended Zayn’s previous title reign within a week and lost it back to him on the most recent Smackdown episode. WWE has booked a few shock title changes to shake things […] The post Shocking Reason Revealed For Sami Zayn’s WWE Title Win appeared first on HEAVY.

A new report offered insight as to why Sami Zayn won the Undisputed WWE Championship from CM Punk on "WWE SmackDown."

A new backstage report by Dave Meltzer provides some insight into Sami Zayn and Stephanie Vaquer winning the Undisputed WWE and WWE Women's World Championships