Friday Night SmackDown Review - October 24, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Drew McIntyre Interrupted Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Before Being Attacked by Jimmy Uso

There was nothing out of the ordinary between Rhodes and McIntyre during their short-lived verbal exchange. I'm still waiting for that one super strong segment I know they're capable of, but this was more of the same. Interestingly, Rhodes cut off McIntyre while he was addressing the attack of Jacob Fatu, so keep that in mind in case Rhodes is ultimately revealed to be the assailant (not a high chance of that, though). Uso going after McIntyre set up their No Disqualification main event.

The MFTs (Tama Tonga and JC Mateo) def. Rey Fenix and Shinsuke Nakamura

Don't tell me Nakamura is going to be Andrade's replacement partner for Fenix. Sure, they work well together, but at that point, you might as well reunite Fenix and Penta. Fenix is above being an enhancement guy, but at least this was a competitive contest and not a straightforward squash. The MFTs winning made sense if the idea is to establish them as threats again.

WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton def. Kiana James (Non-Title)

It was difficult to take James seriously after she lost to Michin in a matter of seconds back in August. Sure, she won a tag team match at some point with Giulia, but I believe she has yet to win on her own. That didn't change here, but to her credit, she looked much more impressive in defeat this time around. They had a decent match, despite the crowd being quiet for most of it. Thankfully, they reacted to the post-match angle that saw Cargill finally turn heel. That definitely should have happened sooner, but better late than never. It gives the women's division a much-needed boost.

United States Champion Ilja Dragunov def. Aleister Black

I love that Dragunov is keeping the open challenge gimmick alive for now. That said, this could've easily been advertised in advance as you can argue that Black earned the opportunity by beating Damian Priest recently. Nonetheless, they had a nice match and I appreciated that it got some time. Priest distracting Black and costing him the win was logical yet predictable because the exact same thing happened when Black last challenged for the United States Championship a month ago.

Drew McIntyre def. Jimmy Uso in a No Disqualification Match

I understand this match happened because Uso blames McIntyre for attacking Fatu last week even though it hasn't been confirmed McIntyre was behind it, but Uso being involved in the main event of Raw and SmackDown in the same week is both excessive and unnecessary to me. Uso hasn't appeared on SmackDown since August, so why have him return now? This was your average WWE "street fight" with McIntyre winning decisively and laying out Rhodes afterward. This was serviceable stuff but basic booking at best.

Overall Show

SmackDown has seen a significant uptick in quality in the last few weeks, but I thought this was one of the blue brand's weaker efforts as of late. It wasn't a bad show by any means, but only Cargill's heel turn stood out as being notable. Pretty much everything else was business as usual and the tame crowd didn't help. The two hours were adequate but hardly worth writing home about and didn't leave me any more excited for Saturday Night's Main Event next week than I already was.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews