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The year 2026 has seen some shocking sights with regard to the World Championship picture on SmackDown. From shocking sights to unpredictable scenarios, here are the Undisputed title changes that happened this year: Drew McIntyre had been in pursuit of winning the Undisputed WWE Championship on some occasions in 2025. As he entered 2026, he and Rhodes squared off for the title in a Three Stages of Hell match. After losing the title to Drew McIntyre in Three Stages of Hell, Cody Rhodes tried multiple routes to get back into the title picture en route the road to WrestleMania 42. He challenged CM Punk in a title match on the September 11 episode of SmackDown in Mexico City.
Nine days after Sami Zayn won the Undisputed WWE title at Night of Champions, he was scheduled to defend the title against Cody Rhodes on RAW in Chicago. In the course of nine months as of this writing, the top prize on SmackDown, the Undisputed WWE Title, has already changed hands five times between some of the biggest names in the Stamford-based promotion, most recently on SmackDown this week. In the final fall, which was a Steel Cage match, Jacob Fatu returned after a brief absence and inadvertently helped McIntyre beat Rhodes and become the new champion. However, he failed at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber PLEs, courtesy of McIntyre’s constant interference. This led Nick Aldis to schedule a title match between Rhodes and McIntyre on SmackDown. Jacob Fatu interfered again, but this time to cost McIntyre the title, leading to Rhodes beating the Scottish Warrior to regain the belt. Amid an exciting triple-threat match that happened, Zayn found an opening to roll up Rhodes and pin him in a shocking sight to win his first-ever WWE World Championship. However, Gunther took Rhodes out, and he was replaced by a returning CM Punk. The hometown hero engaged in an epic collision with Zayn and defeated him to win the title after more than a decade. Sami Zayn finally got his singles opportunity at the Undisputed WWE title three months after losing it. In the final moments, the match saw multiple interferences, and Zayn used the belt to defeat Punk and win his second WWE title.