WWE SmackDown results, grades (April 17): Cody Rhodes, CM Punk make final WrestleMania push; Royce Keys wins Battle Royal

The final "WWE SmackDown" before WrestleMania 42 went down Friday night inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Unlike last week, multiple matches were advertised and delivered among the superstars left out of this weekend's festivities. That being said, the show also felt like an obvious final pitch to sit down and watch on Saturday and Sunday. RK-No Randy Orton did his best to put a bow on his WrestleMania 42 storyline with Cody Rhodes — and sadly, Pat McAfee. To his credit, parts of it worked. But this program is already past the point of no return, and it admittedly felt bizarre to keep the two ends separate as Orton cut a promo without Rhodes. Advertisement Nothing more. Nothing less. Orton leaned into resentment toward Rhodes, framing their relationship as one-sided and built on Rhodes “taking” more than he ever gave. That felt promising and like a compelling enough angle to pull from their history in the final hour . Orton called back to missed opportunities, including not being tapped for the tag match involving Roman Reigns and The Rock two years ago, which was a unique example. He even reminded us of the Kevin Owens saga before the latter's injury Although that history is far fresher than WWE could've delved into, it was at least better than what's transpired prior to tonight's program. And Orton was cheered for it — still as over as ever. But then things circled back to McAfee, and that’s where the whole night lost the plot again. Orton insisting that McAfee is the “straight shooter” who revitalized him doesn’t just feel forced; it actively undermines Orton’s own legacy. This is a future Hall of Famer. He doesn’t need a celebrity co-sign to justify a damn thing. The crowd's reaction said it all: They were with Orton until McAfee entered the conversation. Advertisement Overall, a decent promo was buried under a direction that never stood a chance of working. From Punk with love Rhodes’ closing promo tried to re-center things, but even that carried the feeling of coming too late at this juncture. The Undisputed WWE Champion touched on the idea of being “needled” in past WrestleMania runs, which was a good, meta touch to mention. But it never fully developed before pivoting back to Orton, and probably shouldn't have. That's just one of the several indicators of how off track this whole thing has gotten. There wasn't much else going for this closing promo, but then CM Punk made a surprise appearance. On paper, that should've felt massive. In practice, it felt more like a final marketing push, as nothing significant was going to happen Friday night. Both were literally dressed for the Hall of Fame ceremony. Advertisement Punk offering advice, avoiding a mention of McAfee like Rhodes, and reinforcing Rhodes’ journey all landed fine. But the segment leaned heavily into “see you Monday” energy rather than planting anything meaningful for the future. This is a feud that needs to eventually happen and would have been well-suited for this weekend. It was my personal hope, to be honest. Instead, we got a bizarre, substanceless lovefest, as Rhodes returned the respect, praising Punk’s comeback after the decade-long absence. He even closed it with a hug and some tears. It felt more like a counter to all the chatter about too much wrestler-downplay over the past month or so. An end-of-show segment doesn't get any less exciting than this. One final swing and miss If WWE's main-event scene is overcomplicated or nonsensical, the women’s segment somehow managed to be both overdone and underwhelming. Advertisement I adore Rhea Ripley. I really do. But even as legendary of an overall performer as she is, she's felt uninspired within this entire Jade Cargill feud. It should feel like a collision of heavy-hitting stars. Instead, it's been awkward and the opposite of everything it could've — and should've — been. Ripley stumbled over her lines badly to start the promo battle. It made things more uncomfortable, given she was talking about patience — then proceeded to stall and gather herself, and repeat what she said prior. And for no good reason, B-Fab and Michin remain in this picture alongside Cargill. To the point that B-Fab even received mic time to throw Ripley's lines back at her. Why? Why are her and Michin even involved? The segment never found its footing and, admittedly, never stood a chance to. Cargill’s delivery didn’t help, with the crowd turning quickly as the insults leaned heavily into repetition of her favorite word, "b****," rather than substance. Advertisement By the end, this entire feud boiled down to trading the same insult back and forth. That's about it. Hopefully, they can make magic when they finally go at it in the ring. If anyone can, it's Ripley. 👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑 Outside of the non-match we saw in the women's tag division, this "SmackDown" delivered some surprisingly good in-ring action. Surely, that was entirely thanks to the notion that every performer who will miss their spot on WrestleMania had to show up and show out. The real standout match, however, was the returning Andre the Giant Battle Royal, which was won by Royce Keys in only his second TV appearance. Advertisement I don't care much for having this match be on 'Mania anymore. For the old pre-shows, it was pretty perfect, and tonight highlighted why. They're just built to be fast-paced and fun in every way. You can always expect plenty of comedy spots, which were strong in the early half, but also made certain people, like Aleister Black, look strong by scoring tons of eliminations. In the end, WWE went the sirloin beef route, and left Otis, Talla Tonga and Keys as the final three. It was a brilliant booking choice that ultimately ended with Keys taking out Tonga, keeping him looking as immediately strong as he should. Keys is instantly in a unique spot with WWE, as It's really rammed home the story of his upbringing, which makes him something of a gentle-giant type of character. Regardless, anyone who's followed his career knows the guy is good and should continue this upward trajectory post-WrestleMania. Advertisement Lastly, Tonga also looked wildly strong on this "SmackDown," wrestling in the opening Street Fight match and the closing Battle Royal. WWE sure likes that dude because he's legitimately booked like the most unstoppable man on the roster. Go-home shows in this era of WWE may not be a necessity to the brass anymore, because neither of this week's felt like the shows of days past. I give Friday night a crown score of: 👑 4.5/10 👑 WWE SmackDown full card results and grades: Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal: Royce Keys wins — 👑 4/5 👑 Bayley & Lyra Valkyria def. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss — 👑 -1/5 👑 U.S. Championship No. 1 contenders match: Tiffany Stratton def. Jordynne Grace — 👑 3.5/5 👑 WWE Tag Team Championship: Damian Priest & R-Truth (c.) def. Kofi Kingston & Grayson Waller — 👑 3/5 👑 Street Fight: MFT (Solo Sikoa, Talla Tonga, Tama Tonga and JC Mateo) def. The Wyatt Sicks (Uncle Howdy, Erick Rowan, Dexter Loomis and Joe Gacy) — 👑 4/5 👑 Recap WWE SmackDown with Uncrowned's live blog: Live coverage is over 75 updates Fri, April 17, 2026 at 8:02 PM PDT Drake Riggs Fri, April 17, 2026 at 8:00 PM PDT Drake Riggs Punk tries to leave the ring, but Rhodes stops him, reciprocating exactly what Punk just said, but in the direction of Roman Reigns. Rhodes supports Punk by doing the usual reminder that the fans chanted for him while he was away for 10 years. "You could have done the greatest hits," but you came back better than ever, Rhodes said. This feels like a very blatant attempt to push the last sell of 'Mania weekend. That's fair, but somewhat pointless at this point, especially if this doesn't plant a seed for the future. A match and feud between these two would have been great this year. Rhodes punctuates his mic time by thanking Punk. He tells him he loves him and that Dusty Rhodes would have been proud of him, and they hug. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:57 PM PDT Drake Riggs Rhodes flat-out asks if Punk is about to turn on him. Punk says no, wanting to offer some advice without mentioning the "business tourist" McAfee. Punk calls back to Teddy Long's marriage, which was what he believes is the last time he wore a suit on WWE TV. He says he mentioned that, because of their history, they had moments of chasing each other. Punk says Rhodes doesn't need his advice and reinforces what Rhodes has learned throughout his career. He adds that no matter their WrestleMania results, they'll be in the building on Monday — which Punk then seemingly tries to sell. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:53 PM PDT Drake Riggs Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:52 PM PDT Drake Riggs Rhodes immediately says he won't talk about the conspiracy that he's been "needled" by nonsense in his last handful of 'Mania appearances, including this one. He attempts to divert it to a match with his mentor, Orton. Too late for this still, man. Rhodes calls back to Orton, saying that he's taken everything. Rhodes says that's typical since Orton has never taken responsibility for himself. He mentions how Orton lost at 'Mania in 2009, since that's what he keeps getting compared to. Then CM Punk surprisingly interrupts. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:48 PM PDT Drake Riggs Cody Rhodes fittingly (somewhat) ends the night after that fun Battle Royal. He'll rebut the start of the night from Randy Orton. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:41 PM PDT Drake Riggs Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:41 PM PDT Drake Riggs A Big Boot ends it for Otis, before Talla goes to Chokeslam Keys. Keys escapes and hits the Spinebuster and Clothesline for the win. That was just rapid fun. Harmless match with a very effective finish. Good look for Keys. 👑 Crown score: 4/5 👑 Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:39 PM PDT Drake Riggs Otis eats a Black Mass, but Black gets Clotheslined by Keys, leaving three big boys: Him, Otis and Talla. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:38 PM PDT Drake Riggs Otis hits the Caterpillar on Gargano and chucks him over the rope, followed by tossing Cardona. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:37 PM PDT Drake Riggs Black removes Nakamura, then Dragunov pursues. Up on the rope, Black kicks him to the outside. Tozawa hits a German Suplex on Black for a huge pop. A Black Mass lands, then he gets eliminated. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:36 PM PDT Drake Riggs Talla takes out two, then everyone goes after him. He fights them off, then focuses on Fenix. Talla grabs Fenix mid-air for a Chokeslam onto the apron and out of the match. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:34 PM PDT Drake Riggs Crews gets eliminated by Nakamura. Hendry hits a Fallaway Slam on Gargano, then is thrown out by Aleister Black. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:33 PM PDT Drake Riggs Keys takes out Psycho Clown with a Clothesline. Gargano crushes Axiom with a nasty apron DDT. Alex Shelley gets kicked off the apron by Fenix. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:32 PM PDT Drake Riggs Shiloh Hill gets eliminated by Ilja Dragunov. La Parka follows, thanks to Los Garza. Rey Fenix takes out Berto, who danced on the apron. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:31 PM PDT Drake Riggs Nathan Frazer and Chris Sabin get eliminated before the Americanos are flipped out by Talla. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:30 PM PDT Drake Riggs Kit Wilson goes out first after tripping over a planking Johnny Gargano. Nicely done. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:29 PM PDT Drake Riggs Scratch that first part. Here comes Joe Hendry. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:29 PM PDT Drake Riggs Royce Keys is the only one to get an entrance for this match, so presumably, there's your spoiler. Yet, I wouldn't hate a Danhausen win. That almost feels perfect. Fri, April 17, 2026 at 7:28 PM PDT Drake Riggs