Tonight’s WWE SmackDown in San Jose, California will be the first since Crown Jewel: Perth.
At the PLE, Cody Rhodes lost to Seth Rollins and was unsuccessful in his mission to repeat as men’s Crown Jewel Champion. Rhodes will kick off the show tonight and address that loss, along with what’s next for him in his WWE Championship reign.
Women’s Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss have a title defense tonight against NXT’s Zaria & Sol Ruca — who have made it clear they want the gold. The team known as ZaRuca earned their opportunity after proving themselves several weeks ago with a win over Chelsea Green & Alba Fyre.
Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu are scheduled to finally settle their score in the ring. The two have been involved in a heated rivalry for the past few weeks after Fatu took exception to McIntyre’s ranting. Reports this week have Fatu out for a considerable amount of time with a non-wrestling related injury, so it’s unclear what will develop tonight.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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– We opened with a recap of the major events that took place at Crown Jewel concerning Seth Rollins’ big win over Cody Rhodes, followed by the shocking betrayal Rollins suffered at the hands of Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed two nights later on Raw. We have Vic Joseph filling in for Michael Cole on commentary, and a returning Corey Graves joining him.
– Inside the ring, SmackDown’s GM Nick Aldis was here to inform us that tonight’s Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre match will now be a No. 1 Contender’s match, with the winner set to face Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. At this time, Rhodes was introduced by Mr. Aldis.
Cody Rhodes opens SmackDown
Rhodes started by stating that he might not feel that he and Seth Rollins need to be in the ring together again, but that’s not how it worked around here. He said that Rollins had some business of his own with a rogue Vision and Paul Heyman to deal with, and he had business of his own to handle as the top guy of SmackDown.
Rhodes sized up both Jacob Fatu and Drew McIntyre, one of which would be facing him for the Undisputed WWE Title at the next Saturday Night’s Main Event in two weeks time. He concluded that he didn’t know how things would shake out, but Rhodes knew that the road to SNME ran through San Jose.
Standard Cody Rhodes promo to open SmackDown, as the Fatu vs. McIntyre match still appears to be on despite the reported injury that Fatu sustained. We’ll see how that plays out later tonight.
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– Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s accosted a cameraman who was taking pictures of Rey Fenix, who took exception to Sikoa’s belligerence. Fenix paid for it as the M.F.T.s. laid a beating on him before a vanguard of officials warded them off.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Zaria & Sol Ruca
Blake Monroe was shown in the crowd, stated to be watching Sol Ruca ahead of their Women’s North American Championship match at Halloween Havoc.
Ruca and Flair got things going with a test of strength in the ring before the former escaped the grasp of the latter with a somersault. Flair answered by flipping over the turnbuckle so that she could kick Zaria on the apron. Flair then continued to go to work on Ruca as Bliss got the tag. Bliss connected with a hurricanrana on Ruca that sent her back to her home corner as Zaria entered with a tag.
Bliss tried for a charge, but got caught by Zaria, who lifted her. However, Bliss escaped and attempted a Sister Abigail early on. Zaria answered with a huge spinebuster that sent us to the commercial break.
We returned from the break with Zaria having Bliss trapped in the corner with an elevated sleeper hold from the middle rope. Bliss managed to escape the Aussie’s grip as she tried to reach out for a tag to Flair. Zaria, however, managed to cut Bliss off as Ruca entered the match and sent her championship foe spinning with a tilt-a-whirl drop. Zaria and Ruca tried to connect with an assisted diving attack, but Bliss dodged and managed to get to her corner as Flair got the hot tag.
In the ring, Flair blasted both Zaria and Ruca with chops before she connected with her signature somersault clothesline on the former. Flair then dropped Zaria with a northern lights suplex followed by a taunt towards Ruca. Shortly after, Ruca got a tag as she went to work on Flair with a German suplex in the corner followed by an attempted diving dropkick. Flair intercepted and caught her legs to turn that into a Boston Crab. Flair was in position for the Sol Snatcher by Ruca, which hit its target perfectly. One, two… Bliss managed to break it up in the nick of time.
Outside the ring, Bliss tried to dive at Zaria, but she got thrown against the barricade instead. Flair interjected with a boot to the face as Ruca leapt from the apron to take down the Women’s Tag Champions. Ruca then traded some words with Blake Monroe in the front row, which opened her up to Flair clipping her in the back of her legs. Flair threw Ruca into the ring and proceeded to lock the Figure Eight submission hold, with Ruca being forced to tap shortly after.
Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss def. Zaria & Sol Ruca via submission to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
That was a fun opening tag match, and the Blake Monroe involvement in the finish does continue that story she has with Ruca ahead of their Halloween Havoc match.
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– Cody Rhodes was walking backstage as Jacob Fatu had a chat with him. Fatu said that once he was finished dogwalking Drew McIntyre from San Jose to San Francisco, Rhodes would find out that Jacob Fatu is all gas and no brakes. Fatu and Rhodes shared a respectful handshake as the latter walked off.
– We got remarks from Aleister Black regarding what happened last week with Zelina Vega’s arrival to his side. Black said that he had been setting this in motion for months now, and that Vega’s assistance was part of the plan alll along. “We are not the infection, just the mirror that shows it,” said Vega of her alliance with Black. They said that the venom wasn’t poison, but it was salvation.
– Backstage, The Miz was shaking hands with Nick Aldis as Sami Zayn appeared and wondered why the U.S. Title Open Challenge wasn’t happening tonight. Aldis explained that Shinsuke Nakamura was still owed a rematch but he wasn’t here tonight, and the M.F.T.s were still lurking about. Zayn would have none of it as he said he waas ready to hold the Open Challenge and if anyone wanted a shot at the U.S. Title, they knew where they could find him.
U.S. Title Open Challenge: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Ilja Dragunov
As it appeared that The Miz was going to answer Zayn’s Open Challenge, Carmelo Hayes attacked from behind and took him out of the equation as the two brawled out of the stage area.
After a moment, we found out that the returning Ilja Dragunov was Zayn’s opponent for the Open Challenge.
Dragunov and Zayn shared a handshake of respect as the bell rang before the two stood toe-to-toe and slugged one another with strikes. Zayn recovered and lit up Dragunov with a chop as he went for a suplex. Dragunov countered out of the suplex with Zayn fighting back afterwards. Dragunov left Zayn stunned a enzuigiri, as he then threw the U.S. Champion in the corner and absolutely blasted him with a running boot to the face. This took us to a break in the action.
We returned from commercial break with Zayn dropping Dragunov with a clothesline as we got a replay of the action that took place during the break. With both men back up, Zayn and Dragunov once again got into an exchange of strikes that neither man could get an upper hand of. Zayn recovered and delivered a tornado DDT in the corner.
As Dragunov seemed to be stunned in the corner, Zayn ran at him, but ended up eating a jumping kick to the face instead. That only got a near-fall for the returning Dragunov. Zayn valiantly tried to fight out of Dragunov’s grip, but got dropped with a German suplex. Zayn eventually escaped and nearly got the win on a roll-up, as he then responded with some German suplexes of his own on Dragunov.
Dragunov lifted Zayn up and then dropped him with a standing uranage that once again got the two-count. Dragunov tried to go up top, but Zayn avoided it and connected with the Michinoku Driver for a near-fall. The two competitors’ battle reached the apron as Dragunov tried to get Zayn up on his shoulders. Zayn countered and instead got Dragunov with a nasty DDT onto the apron. With both men down, we took another break in the action.
The match returned from break with Zayn and Dragunov duking it out on the top rope, but it was the U.S. Champion who found himself flat on the canvas as Dragunov soared with a senton on Zayn. One, two…. NO! Zayn once again headed up to the top rope, but Dragunov again tried to go after his foe. Even after Zayn took Dragunov down, he just couldn’t keep his foe out cold as he fell victim to a Superplex.
Dragunov had Zayn dead to rights for the H-Bomb, but Zayn got a boot up to stop it. Meanwhile, Zayn’s Helluva Kick attempt was avoided by Dragunov, who then connected with a standing back suplex for the near-fall. Dragunov hit the Constantin Special and nearly had the match won with a Torpedo Moscow. Zayn intercepted at the last second with a Helluva Kick, followed by a Blue Thunder Bomb. One, two… 2.99999999!!!!!
As Zayn had Dragunov targeted for a Helluva Kick, Solo Sikoa appeared on the ramp and provided a distraction. Zayn threw Dragunov in the corner with an Exploder Suplex. However, Sikoa’s distraction seemed to be enough as it inadvertently bought Dragunov time to recover. Dragunov intercepted the Helluva Kick with a Torpedo Moscow. He then finished it off with an H-Bomb to become the new United States Champion.
After the match, the M.F.T.s. rolled up and unleashed an assaualt on Zayn and Dragunov while Sikoa watched on. Rey Fenix ran in but fell victim to the M.F.T.’s numbers game.
Solo Sikoa got on the microphone and promised that the M.F.T.s would run SmackDown as they’d get their championships back again. Before he could continue, he was interrupted by a video from The Wyatt Sicks, as Bo Dallas asked Sikoa if he and his M.F.T.s were ready for what was to come on the other side. As the video ended, the members of The Wyatt Sicks appeared in the darkness and once again stared down Sikoa and the M.F.T.s. Sikoa’s group backed off as the segment ended with the usual Wyatt Sicks static.
Ilja Dragunov def. Sami Zayn via pinfall to become the new United States Champion
Fantastic match. It was great to see Dragunov back in action, as he and Zayn put on a hell of a contest. A shame that it got partially marred by the M.F.T.s stuff at the end. I’m not sure if a feud between Sikoa’s faction and the Wyatt Sicks will be any interesting, I have to admit. Still, it’s nonetheless great to see Dragunov finally become a champion.
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– There was an Arby’s-sponsored recap of Stephanie Vaquer’s big victory over Tiffany Stratton at Crown Jewel to become the 2025 Women’s Crown Jewel Champion.
– Stratton was interviewed backstage about her loss and how that’d affect her. Stratton said that one loss would not affect her as she’d be still the WWE Women’s Champion. Kiana James interrupted and badmouthed Stratton for not being a “premium talent” unlike her client, the Women’s U.S. Champion Giulia. Stratton taunted James for not having it in the ring and promptly challenged her to a match for next week’s show.
– We got Earlier Today footage of the Motor City Machine Guns celebrating their one-year anniversary in WWE before Los Garza rudely interrupted the two. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley pointed out that it was Angel and Berto who lost to them in their debut match and they sought to make it an annual thing, which led to this next match.
The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. Los Garza (Angel & Berto)
Angel and Shelley started off, as Berto provided a brief distraction, which allowed Angel to go on the attack. That advantage for Los Garza was all too fleeting as the MCMGs got the momentum back with a dive outside the ring. As Sabin was trying to get into the ring, Berto grabbed at his leg, which again gave Angel an opening to pounce on his foe with a stomp.
Sabin avoided a corner splash from Angel as Shelley got the tag. Los Garza once again turned it around as they dropped Shelley with an assisted double team boot to the face. Sabin got sent to the floor as we took a break in the action.
We returned from the break with Angel working over Shelley as we got a look at a replay of a double knee/kick combo from Los Garza that left Shelley stunned during the break. Shelley hit a neckbreaker on Angel as Sabin got the hot tag. The tag team veteran unleashed a flurry of offense on both Angel and Berto while Shelley contributed as well. Los Garza turned it around with a Gory Special/jumping neckbreaker combo on Sabin. One, two… Shelley broke it up just in time.
As the action broke down ont he outside, Berto took flight and vaulted over the top rope to take both Shelley and Sabin out. Back in the ring, an attempted double team move by Los Garza was thwarted by Shelley and it came down to a patented Skull and Bones from the Machine Guns on Berto to pick up the victory.
Motor City Machine Guns def. Los Garza via pinfall
A fun tag match yes, but honestly kind of a sad indictment that this is the first time in over a month or so that we’ve seen either team. I understand it’s hard to find time to fit the many tag teams of the tag division of SmackDown into a two-hour show, but it’s kind of unfortunate that the Machine Guns were brought in with much fanfare and seem to just be mostly an afterthought.
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– As Fraxiom plotted their next moves for the WWE Tag Titles, the #DIY duo of Tommasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano rolled up and had some harsh words for the rest of the SmackDown tag division. Axiom took exception to Gargano making fun of his mask as he challenged him to a match
– As Jacob Fatu was scheduled to make his entrance for our main event, we suddenly cut backstage as Fatu was seen crushed underneath a girder with various officials running up to check up on him. After the break, Nick Aldis was checking up on Fatu alongside the officials while McIntyre made his entrance.
The Main Event: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
McIntyre entered with a smug smile on his face as he then got into the ring with a microphone in hand. He taunted Fatu as he demanded the referee to award him the match to become the number one contender. Mr. Aldis interrupted and warned McIntyre that if he found out that McIntyre had something to do with this, he’d do something about it. As McIntyre continued to complain about a conspiracy, Cody Rhodes interrupted and angrily said that if McIntyre wanted a shot at the WWE Title, that we should do it right now. We went to a commercial break just as the match was apparently kicking off.
Our main event continued with Rhodes and McIntyre continuing to brawl at ringside before the battle spilled into the ring as it finally kicked off in earnest. McIntyre got the upper hand with a suplex across the ring. Rhodes threw his vest at McIntyre as he punched away at him. The surly Scotsman got the advantage again with another throw across the ring. Rhodes recovered and punched away at McIntyre in the corner, followed by a bite to the forehead.
McIntyre caught Rhodes by surprise with a Future Shock DDT, and nearly had the WWE Title won, but Rhodes kicked out at two. McIntyre continued his attack in the corner as he punched away at Rhodes before the referee got him to back off. McIntyre caught Rhodes by surprise with a headbutt as he then continued away with the chops to the exposed chest.
Rhodes recovered and hit his uppercut followed by a Cody Cutter. As Rhodes tried to go for a suicide dive, McIntyre met him at the ropes with a headbutt. Rhodes was then thrown over the timekeeper area. McIntyre tried to retrieve Rhodes, but he got hit in the face with the WWE Championship title belt to cause the DQ.
The brawl continued after the bell as Rhodes cleared away the announce table and had him set up for a Cross Rhodes over the announce table. At that moment, Nick Aldis and several officials stepped in to stop the chaos. However, Rhodes eluded them and headed to the top rope as he then crushed McIntyre with a dive to the outside.
SmackDown ended with both men separated by the gaggle of officials as Rhodes looked on from the ring at McIntyre with anger.
Drew McIntyre def. Cody Rhodes via DQ (Rhodes retains Undisputed WWE Championship)
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Obviously, this whole main event angle with Jacob Fatu being crushed underneath a girder was WWE’s way of writing him off TV and add more heat to McIntyre to build him up as (most likely) the opponent for Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night’s Main Event in two weeks.
That said, this was a strong edition of SmackDown, bolstered by a big main event angle and a shock return that doubled as a shock title win. I’ll admit that I quite enjoyed tonight’s show a fair bit and hopefully we’re in for more episodes like this in the coming weeks.
