Friday Night's episode of WWE SmackDown took place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

Last week's episode featured the return of Kevin Owens to the Blue Brand for the first time in over a year as the newly crowned number one contender for CM Punk's WWE Championship. In the main event of the evening, Tatum Paxley made her SmackDown debut, assisting Charlotte Flair in her victory over Jade Cargill.

This week Kevin Owens and CM Punk once again went face-to-face, and things got very personal. Chelsea Green almost had her WWE Women's Championship stripped from her, while two other titles changed hands in Beantown.

Here's everything you may have missed from an action-packed episode of Friday Night SmackDown.

WWE SmackDown results for August 14, 2026:

Tonight's episode kicked off with General Manager Nick Aldis in the ring. He confirmed that Chelsea Green suffered a broken orbital bone in her match last week and brought her out to the ring. Green begged Aldis not to do what he was about to do. Despite her pleas, Aldis said he needs Green to relinquish the WWE Women's Championship.

The crowd wasn't happy, and neither was Chelsea, who cut an extremely passionate babyface promo to truly endear herself to the WWE Universe. Green tells Aldis she thought he, more than anyone else, would understand after what he went through at SummerSlam. Green hands Aldis the title and leaves.

Aldis calls her back before she goes backstage and said as a GM he feels he's doing the right decision, but as a man he's not. Nick gives the title back to Green and tells her she has 30 days to defend it. Green and Aldis embrace in a truly lovely moment.

Gunther interrupts and wants to know why Aldis put Kevin Owens in the match at SummerSlam. Aldis said they can discuss this in his office later, as he's speaking with the WWE Women's Champion. Gunther runs down Green before Aldis informs him that he did Gunther a favor because Kevin Owens' return in that match had been the plan for months.

Green and Gunther got into a back-and-forth on the microphone, which brought Matt Cardona out to defend his wife. Gunther made fun of Cardona one too many times, which set Cardona off; he attacked him and sent him out of the ring.

This led to an impromptu match that saw Gunther rather easily defeat Cardona via submission. After the match, Nia Jax and Lash Legend come out and threaten to get physical with Green. Tiffany Stratton came out to make the save, but gets taken out. Stratton is now in bad shape for her title defense against Jacy Jayne later this evening.

Booking Grade: 8/10

• Would have been a perfect segment without Gunther and Cardona getting involved
• Aldis and Green's back-and-forth was genuinely one of the most heartfelt segments in WWE in quite some time
• The match was whatever; everyone knew what was going to happen. The aftermath was even worse, bringing the overall grade down a bit.

Can Charlotte Flair be nice to the new girl?

Backstage we see Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair talking. Bliss begs Flair to be nice to Tatum Paxley, who made them a weird looking locker room in what appears to be a janitor's closet.

Elsewhere backstage, Cody Rhodes found Nick Aldis and said he wants his match against Randy Orton. Aldis said he hasn't seen him tonight and proposed they have the match at Sunday Night's Main Event next month in Atlanta.

Sami Zayn interrupts and complains again, but this time Rhodes barks back at him and challenges him to a match tonight. Zayn said he's hurt and can't compete. Aldis told Zayn that if he competes and beats Rhodes tonight, he gets the winner of Punk and KO for the WWE Championship.

Back in the ring, the first of three championship matches took place as Baron Corbin defended the United States Championship against Carmelo Hayes. The finish of the match saw Corbin hit Hayes with the End of Days to score the pinfall victory. After the match, Trick Williams came out and distracted Corbin so Lil Yachty could hit him with a kendo stick. Williams made the save for Yachty before Corbin could attack him.

Booking Grade: 7/10

• The match was fine
• It's clear that as long as Corbin holds the white fur version of the title, his rivalry with Trick isn't done
• WWE rarely lets wrestlers win in their hometown, so nothing about this was surprising

Chelsea Green is worried about Tiffany Stratton

Back in the locker room, Chelsea Green checks on Tiffany Stratton, thanking her for her help, but she didn't want her to get hurt before her title match tonight. Stratton told Green she wasn't going to leave her out there alone, and she would be okay to defend her title later in the show.

Kevin Owens made his way out to the ring to speak to the WWE Universe. However, before Owens could speak, he was interrupted by CM Punk, who told him to say whatever he had to say to his face. Owens talks about their history going back 20 years, when Punk berated him in a locker room in front of his peers. KO references three of his friends (The Elite) hating Punk, and Punk responded by calling them losers.

Owens brought up the only reason Punk is back in WWE: he blew his chance everywhere he's been. Punk called KO a bum and claimed he's afraid to put in the work. KO said he's spent his entire career making sure he's nothing like Punk.

Owens is convinced that when Punk goes home and looks in the mirror, he hates what he sees. KO regrets not punching Punk in the face 20 years ago, but he'll wait seven more days to do it and then take the WWE Championship. Punk said he'll put KO's "fat a--" to sleep next week.

Booking Grade: 9/10

• It really does feel like these two still hate each other
• This build would have been better suited for a PLE
• You can't convince me that they are even considering changing the title next week

Is Finn Balor a shadow of his former self?

Backstage, Finn Balor speaks with Nick Aldis about SummerSlam, admitting he would have liked a heads-up before his match with Sami Zayn that two people were being added. Aldis admitted that was fair. Gunther interrupts and keeps complaining about SummerSlam.

Aldis told Gunther he was interrupting his talk with Balor. Gunther said he doesn't see Balor, just a shadow of his former self. Balor tells Gunther he'll do whatever it takes to get another title shot, and if it means going through him, so be it. Gunther leaves in a huff.

Things go back to the ring as Damian Priest and R-Truth defended the WWE Tag Team Titles against the War Raiders and the MFTs in a triple threat match. The finish of the match saw the MFTs hit R-Truth with the Brothers Keeper to win the titles.

Booking Grade: 8/10

• Always cool to see a title change on weekly TV
• Haku has paid dividends for his sons in a hurry
• Is this the end of the R-Truth and Damian Priest tag team?

Two title changes in one night

After the commercial, they went right back to the ring for the third championship match of the evening as Tiffany Stratton defended the Women's United States Championship against Jacy Jayne. The finish of the match saw Chelsea Green try to get involved to help Stratton, but it resulted in Jayne hitting Stratton with a Rolling Encore to win the title.

Booking Grade: 6.5/10

• Everything was too telegraphed based on what happened earlier in the show
• Is WWE trying too hard to make Fatal Influence a thing on the main roster?
• This is likely the beginning of a path that will see Stratton turn heel on Green

The main event of the evening was supposed to be Cody Rhodes taking on Sami Zayn. However, before Zayn could get to the ring, Randy Orton came in from the crowd and attacked Rhodes. Rhodes and Orton brawled all over the arena as WWE SmackDown went off the air.

WWE SmackDown quick results:

• Gunther defeated Matt Cardona

• Baron Corbin defeated Carmelo Hayes to retain the United States Championship

• The MFTs defeated the War Raiders, Damian Priest and R-Truth to win the WWE Tag Team Titles

• Jacy Jayne defeated Tiffany Stratton to win the Women's United States Championship

• Cody Rhodes vs. Sami Zayn didn't happen due to Randy Orton