The full WWE SmackDown results for March 20, 2026, include “The Viper” Randy Orton’s heel turn fallout, major matches, surprises, and WrestleMania storyline developments.
The show opened with “The Scottish Psychopath” Drew McIntyre and “The Samoan Werewolf” Jacob Fatu fighting on the hood of a car in the parking lot. Fatu was left in a bloody mess while McIntyre stormed the ring.
McIntyre was interrupted by general manager Nick Aldis, just long enough for Fatu to recover and rush his assailant. The segment ended with The Scottish Psychopath, the victim of a frog splash through the announce desk.
Damian Priest and R-Truth challenged the MFTs (Tama Tonga and JC Mateo) for the WWE World Tag Team Championship, an honor they won via a gauntlet match a couple of weeks ago. How somebody the build of Mateo could pull off a standing moonsault is astounding. Other than that, this was an uninteresting title drop. The match had no flow or believable false finishes.
Two teams much more deserving of those tag titles, Fraxium (Nathan Frazier and Axiom) and the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Saban), were the next match of the evening. Even so, it wasn’t booked any more exciting. Candice Lerae aided the Guns to victory.
Orton was set to explain his actions from last week. In short, he needs to be this way to cement the 15th world title of his legacy. This wasn’t his most intriguing promo, but it should still be a great match at WrestleMania.
The next match on SmackDown saw Sami Zayn take on Aleister Black. After a backstage interaction earlier in the show, Zayn fell victim to a distraction from Trick Williams upon the ring of the bell. Later in the match, Black took advantage of another distraction, hitting his Black Mask finisher to win.
WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill and her WrestleMania opponent, Rhea Ripley, met in the ring to promote said match. Their verbal joust was more awkward than their outfits, which is saying something. There was nothing deeper than a papercut in their conversation. The segment ended with the surprise teaming of B-Fab and Michin with the champion, resulting in a three-on-one beatdown.
Ilja Dragunov challenged Caremllo Hayes for the WWE United States Championship. As great as this rivalry has been, it’s been done to death. Hayes took a scary shot to the ribs, overjumping his opponent on the floor, but to his credit, he no-sold a shoot painful spot. It was certainly an odd booking to have Dragunov get a rematch, only to lose yet again.
Kit Wilson and Jelly Roll continue this celebrity storyline heading into WrestleMania. The segment sounded tacky at the start, but their rap battle actually had clever digs at each other. Things got physical, and Wilson got the better of the exchange.
The Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie Bella) challenged The Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax and Lash Legend) for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. Introducing the twins as WWE Hall of Famers taints the prestige. With Legend as the only athletic talent, the match was doomed from the start. The match broke down with the emergence of Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. It was thrown out, but the champs came out on top in the three-team exchange.
After an altercation in the back, Orton called out Matt Cardona to apologize. This, however, was a ploy to hit him with a low-blow and an RKO.
It didn’t end there – Orton went on to give Cardona the same brutal treatment given to “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes last week. Luckily, officials broke it up much quicker.
Things are only getting hotter after Randy Orton’s heel turn fallout, and on the road to WrestleMania. Stay tuned to Stadium Rant for the latest.
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