Friday Night SmackDown Review - September 19, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Brock Lesnar Attacked Corey Graves

This was easily the best thing Lesnar has been involved in since returning to WWE TV at SummerSlam. It felt like something 2015 Lesnar would've done (and almost identical to what he did do to Michael Cole on the post-WrestleMania 31 Raw). I don't think Graves has gotten physical at all since becoming a commentator over a decade ago, so Lesnar laying him out was cool. This was a strong segment and established that Lesnar isn't playing around heading into his match with John Cena at Wrestlepalooza.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss def. Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre

Piper Niven has been off WWE TV for the last few weeks, so hopefully she's okay and will be back soon. Apparently WWE didn't want to wait anymore and went ahead with Green and Fyre challenging for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship instead of Fyre and Niven. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this, but it was decent enough. Fyre and Niven can still get a shot when Niven returns considering Green was the one pinned here.

The Vision (Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker) def. Fraxiom

Fraxiom were making their way to the ring when they were attacked by The Vision, leading to Nick Aldis booking an impromptu bout between the two teams. The question is, who were Fraxiom's original opponents? Regardless, this was a good match with enjoyable action. It reminded me of the matches Breakker had against Fraxiom when he was teaming with Baron Corbin in NXT. SmackDown's regular tag teams losing to makeshift teams and teams that aren't even on the brand isn't ideal, though.

Nia Jax, WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill Interrupted Each Other

The WWE Women's Championship picture has been hardly interesting as of late and this segment didn't do much to change my mind. Jax has mostly done well on the mic in the last year, but this wasn't one of her better promos, and it's not like Stratton was all that great, either. Thankfully, Cargill's role was kept short and sweet. Aldis announced a Triple Threat for the WWE Women's Championship for next week's SmackDown. It was originally rumored for Wrestlepalooza, so it looks like they're sticking with a five-match card for the event instead.

United States Champion Sami Zayn def. Carmelo Hayes

This was Zayn's fourth straight United States Championship match on SmackDown and it was another show-stealer. Of course, that was unsurprising considering who he faced here. Hayes made the most of this opportunity, got to showcase his skills on his own for a change and was made to look credible in defeat. I'm all for Zayn's title defenses continuing to be a weekly fixture on Friday nights.

Drew McIntyre Attacked Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes During the Undisputed WWE Championship Contract Signing

Rhodes was off the show until just last week, so Wrestlepalooza can't be it for this feud. Honestly, McIntyre taking the title in shocking fashion would be an awesome way of keeping it going (especially if this is going on last on Saturday with Lesnar vs. Cena confirmed to be opening), but I'm not holding my breath. At any rate, this was a top-notch contract signing for as long as it lasted. McIntyre standing tall to close the show was the right call.

Overall Show

Although this was a bit of a mixed bag of an episode, there was more positive than negative. The women's segment was the weakest point of the night, but The Vision vs. Fraxiom was a fun sprint, Zayn vs. Hayes was a banger as expected, and they opened and closed the night with two memorable segments. The last-minute push for Wrestlepalooza was well done, but the constant reminders that it'll be airing on ESPN did get old after a while.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews