Friday Night SmackDown Review - December 5, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Addressed Drew McIntyre

You had to know McIntyre's storyline suspension wasn't going to last, and you also had to know his feud with Rhodes wasn't over yet. Sure enough, Rhodes attacked McIntyre in his car before cutting a passionate promo in the ring. It was well delivered, but I'm so beyond ready to move beyond this rivalry. At Saturday Night's Main Event, Rhodes is facing the winner of Ricky Saints vs. Oba Femi from Saturday's NXT Deadline event, so I'd save it for the final SmackDown of the year.

United States Champion Ilja Dragunov def. Carmelo Hayes

Dragunov and Hayes had a hell of a series of matches against each other over the NXT Championship in the second half of 2023, so it was cool seeing them run it back here. This was similar to most of Dragunov's title defenses where the crowd started out quiet and got into the action by the end. Tommaso Ciampa costing Hayes the win set him up to finally face Dragunov on next week's show.

Alexa Bliss def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Kairi Sane

While there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this outing, it was a solid television match for the time it was allotted. Bliss and Charlotte Flair obviously aren't done with the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and neither are Nia Jax and Lash Legend, who attacked both teams afterward. I'd say we're headed for a Triple Threat tag team title matchup, but that'd be forgetting about Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, and The Judgment Day.

WWE Women's Champion Jade Cargill def. Alba Fyre (Non-Title)

This was a logical match to do after Cargill attacked both Chelsea Green and Fyre on last week's episode, but this match was such an afterthought that it hardly mattered. It was over before it even get going (which wasn't surprising based on how she's been booked on the main roster), not to mention Giulia and Kiana James were a distraction at ringside when they brawled with Chelsea Green. Are Fyre and Green officially babyfaces now? Are fans supposed to care when that hasn't been made clear?

The Wyatt Sicks Attacked The MFTs

Solo Sikoa's promo addressing Uncle Howdy and the rest of Wyatt Sicks was basic at best. There was a time when Wyatt Sicks' storylines had purpose, but those days appear to be long gone. Despite that, they remain a popular act and the crowd responded favorably to their brawl with The MFTs here. This doesn't need to be a lengthy program, and the eventual multi-man match may work if they go about it the right way.

Gunther def. LA Knight in the Finals of The Last Time Is Now Tournament

The only other match these two have had against each other on television was at NXT Stand & Deliver 2022, and both guys moved to the main roster almost immediately afterward. The high stakes made this an entertaining encounter, even though it was technically the weakest of Gunther's four tourney matches (that's because the other ones set such a high bar). Gunther winning with a modified version of the STF (and outright saying into the camera afterward that he wants to tap out John Cena at Saturday Night's Main Event) was a nice touch.

Overall Show

Rhodes vs. McIntyre continuing isn't inspiring or interesting in the slightest, and the booking of the women's division (at least the WWE Women's Championship and Women's United States Championship scenes) is a mess, but there's other stuff on the show that I don't mind as much. Dragunov's United States Championship open challenges in particular are a recurring highlight, but the blue brand will need a lot more than that to justify expanding to three hours again next month. This was a mixed bag of a show, but I'm willing to lean more toward it being in thumbs-up territory.

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