Tonight’s February 21 episode of WWE SmackDown on USA Network takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Last night, The Rock, pretty much out of nowhere, confirmed that he’ll be appearing on the show.
After Rock’s seemingly impromptu announcement, here are six changes to SmackDown that we could see tonight.
6. Liv Morgan vs. Naomi Canceled
Yesterday, WWE announced two new matches for SmackDown in the form of Liv Morgan vs Naomi, and Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga vs Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest & Braun Strowman in a six-man tag.
Seemingly in conjunction with The Rock announcing his own appearance, WWE deleted the video announcing the aforementioned two matches.
Now, looking at WWE’s website, the six-man tag match is still listed, but Morgan vs Naomi isn’t.
Therefore, it appears the Morgan vs Naomi match may have been pulled from the show to make space for whatever The Rock is planned to be doing.
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5. New WWE Tag Team Champions
There could in theory be a title change on SmackDown tonight, as DIY defend their WWE Tag Team Championship.
The challengers are Pretty Deadly, who beat DIY last week to earn the title shot.
The caveat to that first match was that it was impromptu and DIY weren’t prepared, and even and to wrestle in their street clothes.
DIY are probably favorites to retain tonight, but there’s always a chance that an upset could be on the cards.
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4. The Rock’s WrestleMania 42 Announcement
As for what The Rock will actually be doing on SmackDown tonight, there’s one overriding theory.
It emerged a few days ago that New Orleans, Louisiana – the host city for tonight’s SmackDown – was the frontrunner to be the host of WWE WrestleMania 42 in 2026.
Ahead of his appearance in NOLA tonight, Rock posted that he’s planning to “deliver a big beautiful gift” to the city.
Given the aforementioned reports from a few days ago, it appears the “gift” will be the announcement of Mania 42 in New Orleans.
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3. Ava WWE Main Roster Call-Up
Another possibility for The Rock’s appearance tonight is that it ties into something with WWE NXT General Manager Ava, who happens to be his daughter.
Reports emerged from sources online recently that Ava was potentially due for a bigger push than her role as the NXT GM.
What exactly that push would look like is unclear, but one thing we do know is that she’ll have the backing of her rather influential father.
If there is a full main roster introduction on its way for her, who better to introduce and endorse her than The Rock himself?
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2. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu Split Up
Solo Sikoa made his return to WWE SmackDown last week and got a frosty reception from Jacob Fatu.
Sikoa seems intent on resuming the Bloodline’s takeover, but in recent weeks, Fatu has broken out on his own.
If Fatu has figured out that Sikoa is actually holding him back, things could come to a head as soon as tonight when they team together with Tama Tonga against Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest and Braun Strowman.
We may have an implosion on our hands, and considering his involvement with The Bloodline, perhaps The Rock will even have a say in it.
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1. Drew McIntyre WrestleMania 41 Plans Changed
One of the big stories coming out of the Royal Rumble a couple of weeks ago was the fallout of Damian Priest eliminating Drew McIntyre.
While the timing issues in the Rumble match caused by LA Knight ended up making the headlines, another thing that stood out was the planned direction of Priest vs McIntyre in a match at WrestleMania. Reports indicated McIntyre was frustrated he wasn’t in a higher position on the card, and that sentiment is shared by plenty of fans as well.
It’s possible that WWE changes course for McIntyre to potentially head towards a match with LA Knight instead – which does seem more compelling than Priest right now – or just something entirely different.
McIntyre has a match against Jimmy Uso tonight, so we could be a step closer to finding out.
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