Friday Night SmackDown Review - October 3, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Vision Confronted Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton

Rhodes started the show on his own before Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed and Paul Heyman interrupted him and Orton made the save to ensure they didn't attack him. This was designed to not only build up the tag team main event for later on but also plant seeds of dissension between Rhodes and Orton. That's been going on now for well over a year and I look forward to Orton's eventual betrayal of Rhodes.

United States Champion Sami Zayn def. Aleister Black

Amazingly, this marked Black's first singles championship opportunity of any kind on the main roster. That includes his original stint with the company. Carmelo Hayes initially emerged to accept the challenge, but The Miz attacked him from behind, so Black stepped up instead. It wasn't as strong as some of other Zayn's other open challenges, but it was still a great match with Damian Priest predictably costing Black the win. Those two will meet in a Last Man Standing match on next week's episode.

NXT Women's North American Champion and WWE Women's Speed Champion Sol Ruca and Zaria def. Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre

With Piper Niven out indefinitely (here's wishing her a speedy recovery), Green and Fyre are looking to add a new member to The Secret Hervice. They've already lost their shot at the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, so having them put over Ruca and Zaria here was the right call. The match was decent and Ruca continues to shine whenever she competes in front of a main roster crowd.

WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton and Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer Attacked Women's United States Champion Giulia and Kiana James Following the Contract Signing for Crown Jewel

The mic work was fine, but the actual contract signing may have been the least eventful in wrestling history, and it's not as if what happened immediately afterward with Giulia and James interrupting them and Stratton and Vaquer laying them out was much better. It set up next week's tag team match involving all four, but it didn't leave me any more excited for Stratton vs. Vaquer at Crown Jewel than I was going into the segment.

Rey Fenix and Je'Von Evans def. Los Garza

As established in the backstage segment that they aired from earlier in the day, Evans' main roster call-up isn't official, but it's probably imminent. I wouldn't rush him up just yet, but I'm glad he's getting exposure on SmackDown in the meantime. This was another fun sprint from these guys (they first faced off earlier this year ahead of June's Worlds Collide event). Santos Escobar was conspicuous by his absence, for what it's worth.

The Vision (Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker) def. Randy Orton and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes

Although this wasn't much different than most tag team main events we've seen from The Vision in recent months, it was well wrestled and I appreciate that we didn't get a disqualification finish. Sure, Seth Rollins interfered, but it was a big pinfall win for Reed, nonetheless. It'd be a travesty if he doesn't wrestle at Crown Jewel in his native Australia in some form or fashion. I also liked Rollins running in at the end to attempt to attack Rhodes only for Rhodes to hit him with a Cross Rhodes, playing into the whole "mind games" story with the two of them.

Overall Show

This was a slight step above most editions of SmackDown we've gotten as of late. The contract signing was whatever, but everything else was at least good and effectively built toward Crown Jewel next Saturday. The NXT talent gave this episode a nice boost. Of course, that won't always be the case, so blue brand will need more interesting angles (outside of the weekly United States Championship open challenges, which have been a recurring highlight since they started) to get viewers invested.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews