Friday Night SmackDown Review - September 5, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

United States Champion Sami Zayn Confronted John Cena; Zayn vs. Cena Ended in a No Contest

Although it stinks that this was Cena's final SmackDown appearance with three months left in his retirement tour, it's perfect that his final SmackDown was in Chicago, the same city he made his WWE debut in back in June 2002. Running back him against Zayn, who made his official main roster debut against Cena in a U.S. Open match a decade ago, was also awesome, especially with the United States Championship on the line. They had a hell of an outing and I appreciated all the throwbacks to Cena's past opponents. Brock Lesnar crashing the contest was disappointing albeit expected. It was then immediately announced that Lesnar vs. Cena will take place at Wrestlepalooza. I had no issue with all of this eating up as much television time as it did.

Aleister Black def. Damian Priest

I wish this had actually been advertised in advance and not thrown onto the show at the last minute (maybe they advertised it on social media, but that would have been only hours earlier). Nonetheless, they had a nice match and Black attacking Priest beforehand gave Priest an out for losing, in addition to Black resorting to underhanded tactics by the end. This was a good win for Black and it keeps the feud alive.

Women's United States Champion Giulia def. Michin

This was another match that wasn't advertised in advance. I don't know why they didn't bother to announce it last week after Giulia beat James to earn the opportunity. I was happy to see Giulia back in action on SmackDown for the first time in over a month, but this was very much a nothing match. It wasn't bad necessarily, but it mostly consisted of the commercial break and what we got was whatever. The crowd was quiet throughout and I don't blame them.

AJ Lee Returned and Attacked Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch

It was the worst kept secret in wrestling after what went down at Clash in Paris, but the execution of AJ's return after 10 years away was still stellar. It was also one of those things that you couldn't believe was going to happen until it did, just because we've been burned by the possibility of it happening in the past. Lynch once again played her role wonderfully and the Chicago crowd exploded for AJ the second her (iconic) entrance music hit. It was an amazing moment to say the least, and the fact her husband CM Punk got to share it with her made it even better. The mixed tag team match at Wrestlepalooza feels like a genuine attraction and I'm excited to see what she'll do beyond that. 

Overall Show

I'm well aware that calling this one of the best editions of SmackDown of the year isn't saying much because the blue brand has had some serious struggles in 2025 (especially when it was three hours for that six-month period), but I enjoyed the hell out of this show. The first hour was terrific, Priest and Black effectively furthered their feud and the closing segment was fantastic. Giulia vs. Michin was the only down point, but even that wasn't egregiously awful or overly lengthy. I doubt SmackDown sustains this momentum, but at least for one week, it lived up to the hype.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews