Friday Night SmackDown Review - October 17, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Addressed World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu

Right before Rhodes emerged, Nick Aldis announced that McIntyre vs. Fatu later in the night would now be a number one contender's match for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Rhodes teases that his issues with Rollins could be revisited down the line before quickly polling the audience who they wanted to see him defend the title against between Fatu and McIntyre. It was a simple segment but an effective one as far as following up on what happened at Crown Jewel and looking ahead to what's next.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss def. NXT Women's North American Champion and WWE Women's Speed Champion Sol Ruca and Zaria

There hasn't been much progression with Flair and Bliss as characters since they captured the tag titles at SummerSlam, but they remain a popular act and continue to work well together. Ruca and Zaria had yet another impressive outing here and proved once again why they are main roster ready. This was a good match and Blake Monroe distracting Ruca from the crowd at ringside to further that feud was a nice touch.

Ilja Dragunov def. Sami Zayn to Win the United States Championship

The Miz originally walked out to answer the open challenge but was thankfully attacked by Carmelo Hayes from behind, leaving the returning Dragunov to face Zayn instead. What a pleasant surprise. He's reportedly been cleared to compete for a while and this was a great way to bring him back into the fold (the blue brand's midcard scene could use him more than Raw's the more I think about it). As you'd expect, they had a hell of a hard-hitting affair and I loved that Dragunov actually captured the championship. With The Vision's shakeup, could we be looking at The MFTs against Zayn, Dragunov, Rey Fenix, Shinsuke Nakamura and someone else in WarGames at Survivor Series? I know The MFTs vs. The Wyatt Sicks is another possibility, but from an in-ring standpoint, that doesn't interest me at all.

The Motor City Machine Guns def. Los Garza

I appreciated the attention to detail that tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of Motor City Machine Guns' WWE debut and that they took on Los Garza again here after beating them in their debut match. This was another enjoyable outing from them with the right outcome. Fraxiom and #DIY also resurfaced in a backstage segment right after this, so hopefully this is a sign the tag team division is about to heat up again.

Drew McIntyre def. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes by Disqualification (Non-Title)

It was reported this week that Fatu is legitimately injured, which is why I thought it was odd they were advertising this match, anyway. Well, we found out right beforehand that Fatu was "attacked" backstage, explaining his absence for the next several months. McIntyre claimed it wasn't him (though it's possible he was lying), so that will be worth keeping an eye on going forward. Doing an impromptu match between Rhodes and McIntyre was a smart call, and although it was brief, it was well done. The crowd wasn't thrilled with Rhodes getting himself intentionally disqualified, but he immediately won them back by brawling with McIntyre. Rhodes vs. McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Champion appears to be on tap on Saturday Night's Main Event.

Overall Show

It turns out the recent reports about WWE wanting to overhaul SmackDown's creative direction weren't wrong. There was definitely more of an effort this week compared to past weeks to switch things up and make the two hours more exciting. Dragunov's return and title win along with the chaotic close to the show made for a fun night, and the rest of the episode was perfectly solid. Fingers crossed this resurgence for SmackDown sticks.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews