Friday Night SmackDown Review - August 15, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu Saved Sami Zayn from The MFTs

The Brand Split means so little at this point that I really shouldn't care, but it would've been nice if it was explained how exactly Zayn was able to switch shows. Why not work out a trade between the Raw and SmackDown general managers with Zayn going to SmackDown in exchange for Raw getting LA Knight? Oh well. The rest of the segment was solid as it set up the six-man tag team match for the main event.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Alexa Bliss def. Piper Niven

Bliss and Charlotte Flair are excelling as a team, but the rest of the women's tag team division leaves a lot to be desired, so there isn't much competition waiting in the wings for them. That includes Chelsea Green and The Secret Hervice. They're an entertaining act, but they aren't threats whatsoever. Niven losing to Bliss won't help matters, but at least they stood tall afterward. The match itself was perfectly passable.

Melo Don't Miz def. Fraxiom

Yes, Melo Don't Miz is apparently the official team name for The Miz and Carmelo Hayes. Hopefully they're not teaming for much longer because, man, that name is terrible. At any rate, this was a fun match with the Boston crowd very much behind Hayes (for obvious reasons). The story was Miz stealing the win from Hayes. They'll face The Motor City Machine Guns next week, so we'll see if the same thing happens then, but the split is clearly coming.

Drew McIntyre Addressed Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes

It was wise to keep Rhodes off the show this week to really sell his attack from McIntyre last week. I don't know if he's filming that Street Fighter movie or not, but I'd be shocked if he wasn't in back in time for Clash in Paris at the end of the month. This was a strong promo from McIntyre addressing Rhodes and I liked how he felt he could relate to Rhodes from who he was as a character five years ago.

The Street Profits def. #DIY

These two haven't had a ton of matches with just each other over the last year, but they have great chemistry whenever they do mix it up. This was the expected enjoyable outing considering the talent involved. The Profits picked up the victory, but I assume there's still a chance we see the Profits and B-Fab vs. #DIY and Candice LeRae at some point.

Sami Zayn, Jacob Fatu and Jimmy Uso def. The MFTs (United States Champion Solo Sikoa, JC Mateo and Tonga Loa)

This was pretty much every multi-man tag team match we've gotten in the main event of SmackDown this year (specifically involving The Bloodline/The MFTs), but the crowd was into the action, so there was that. Zayn pins Sikoa for the second straight week, meaning if he wasn't already guaranteed a shot at the United States Champion, he certainly is now. That's fine and all, but Sikoa eating pinfalls like there's no tomorrow only devalues that title that much more.

Overall Show

SmackDown is undoubtedly the weaker show compared to Raw, but I wouldn't necessarily call this a bad episode. Sure, not much of note happened outside of Zayn becoming a member of the blue brand, but I thought it was a solid show on the whole that set stuff up for next week, built toward Clash in Paris and moved several storylines alone. Plus, if the Boston crowd could be lively all night, then it must not have been too boring.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews