Posted on 10/18/125 by Bob Magee
– 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.
**********
– 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.
**********
– 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.
**********
– 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.
**********
– 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)
**********
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.