WWE has added a Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton segment to next week’s Wwe SmackDown, giving the October 16, 2026 show a fuller shape before it airs. The lineup also now includes Damian Priest against R-Truth and Nikki Bella against Paige once again.
That matters because the new schedule turns next week’s SmackDown from a routine stop into a show with three clear hooks: a featured segment and two one-on-one matches. For R-Truth, the timing is especially pointed. Priest attacked him on this week’s SmackDown, yet the immediate follow-up is not another brawl on the spot. It is a booked match next week, which shifts the story from short-term confrontation to a formal payoff in the ring.
The Rhodes-Orton addition is the clearest sign that WWE is using the next episode to anchor more than one thread at once. A segment by itself is not a match, but in this case it sits beside two announced bouts, which makes the card feel designed rather than filled. The mention that Nikki Bella and Paige will face each other again also carries its own weight, since that wording points to a prior meeting already in the source material and makes the rematch part of the show’s appeal.
There is still one wrinkle in the booking. Priest’s attack on R-Truth on this week’s SmackDown could have been left to spill directly into next week’s match setup, but WWE has chosen to separate the act of violence from the in-ring answer. That delay keeps the issue alive for another week and gives R-Truth a reason to walk into the match with unfinished business instead of a clean slate.
So next week’s WWE SmackDown on October 16, 2026 will not just add names to a lineup sheet. It will carry a clear sequence: Priest and R-Truth settle what started this week, Paige gets Nikki Bella again, and Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton hold the segment that may end up setting the tone for the rest of the show.
