WWE SmackDown – 10/17/2025: 3 Things We Loved And three We Hated

A chaotic episode of “WWE SmackDown” has come and gone. There have been title changes, Wyatt Sicks videos, and impromptu title matches littered throughout the printed, but enough about “what happened” on the show, since that is been handily covered over on the outcomes page.

As a substitute, it is time to break down what worked and what didn’t from the October 17 broadcast. WWE is on the road to Saturday Night’s Most important Event, which itself will set the stage for Survivor Series, and so there have been loads of moving parts on Friday’s show. There was an open challenge that went poorly for Sami Zayn, but thoroughly for fans of Ilja Dragunov. There was lots -and I mean a lot- of backstage segments. There was even some great wrestling amidst all of it.

The Wrestling Inc. Staff will break down the nice, the bad, and the downright ugly of WWE’s trip to San Jose. Here’s what we loved and what we hated.

I’m never going to complain about more of the talent from the most effective women’s roster in wrestling straight away, “WWE NXT,” getting time to shine on the principal roster, but I adore it much more when those women get to further their “NXT” storylines in front of a much larger audience. With Blake Monroe in attendance tonight at “SmackDown,” that is exactly what happened.

Monroe is currently feuding on “NXT” with Women’s North American Champion Sol Ruca and her tag team partner, Zaria, who faced Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss for the Women’s Tag Team Championships tonight. She was seen sitting ringside before the match, so while it was obvious she was going to become involved, I still really liked it. WWE doesn’t often bring up other “NXT” talent simply to further their storylines and feuds with other developmental talent who’re working matches on the principal brands. Nevertheless it is sensible to get Monroe even the slightest bit more exposure in front of a principal roster crowd.

Tonight, she simply distracted Ruca, which thankfully distracted me and hopefully plenty of others from the not-so-great looking Sol Snatcher Ruca attempted to hit Flair from the ropes to the surface. The distraction let Flair take out Ruca on the knees to weaken her for the figure eight, which Ruca tapped to. I like that there is now a bit of story that WWE could all the time return to there, with Flair owing Monroe something after “The Glamour” helped her a bit there. That gets me fascinated with how much I’d like to see a Monroe versus Flair feud, though I’m unsure who could be the face and who could be the heel there.

Either way, I loved that Monroe got some screen time alongside “ZaRuca” tonight. Commentary was in a position to mention their Women’s North American Championship match coming up at Halloween Havoc, getting “NXT” a bit of more exposure. If that is how things are going to be with the principal and developmental rosters working together just the tiniest bit more in places where it is sensible, I’m absolutely all for it.

Written by Daisy Ruth

While former WWE NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov won america Title, and fellow former champions like Bron Breakker ascend to the highest of the “Raw” roster, Carmelo Hayes stays in a go-nowhere feud with The Miz. Some Fridays could be a glaring reminder that WWE has a nasty habit of fumbling NXT stars on the principal roster.

There was a time when Hayes was getting comparisons to Seth Rollins or John Cena, someone who might be a franchise face for years to come back, and yet it looks like he’s being held down, held back, or simply plain restrained in some fashion. It doesn’t feel like WWE fans are getting the most effective of what Hayes can do, and it also doesn’t feel like his feud with Miz is doing anything so as to add what wasn’t already there for the previous NXT Title holder. It looks like the massive match is all the time across the corner, but just like the tag division usually, Hayes can never find his way onto PLEs to indicate off what he can really do.

At this rate, I’m going to should wait until the f***ing Royal Rumble to see Hayes eliminate Miz and get any semblance of catharsis from this feud. I get it, TV time is restricted, and top stars that may take a loss are limited much more so. It doesn’t change the proven fact that Hayes has swiftly gone from “Him!” to “him?”

Written by Ross Berman

Where will we even begin?

No, really — how will we even begin to discuss the whole lot that happened during Sami Zayn’s United States Championship open challenge? When Zayn took to the ring to mark the halfway point of Friday’s episode of “WWE SmackDown,” I doubt he could have anticipated being present for the amalgamation of storylines that were presented to him. At the very least, I wasn’t anticipating absolutely the avalanche of knowledge (and chaos) we were presented with on Friday’s episode of the blue brand.

I’ll tip my hat to WWE for continuing the Carmelo Hayes and Miz implosion storyline. While this appreciation is generally self-indulgent (I really like Hayes and despise the Miz), I do appreciate how WWE shouldn’t be just letting the storyline drop off the face of the Earth, only to be built up over the course of two weeks for some C-tier “premium” live event. They’re following up on Hayes, especially, which is completely needed, considering that it is a pivotal time of growth for him on this company. I’d also like to present a shout to the MFTs, Rey Fenix, and the Wyatt Sicks for his or her contributions. This segment never relented in its shock value, and I discovered myself having essentially the most fun I’ve had watching “SmackDown” in months.

Now, to the Mad Dragon. Ilja Dragunov made his stunning return to WWE programming after thirteen months on the shelf to reply Zayn’s United States open challenge, and the match they’d was magnificent: a few of “SmackDown’s” best contests. The person who put down “WWE NXT: UK’s” Walter (now often known as GUNTHER) got here out in full force and set San Jose ablaze with nothing but his rage and cruel strikes. Dragunov is a completely insane performer. He’s flat-out. He’s explosive. The sparks that fly off of him when he lands a Senton, Torpedo Moscow, or H-Bomb could light up even the darkest of spaces. If that is his first match back after over a 12 months on the shelf, we’re in for a shocking reign from Dragunov.

Zayn was right there with him, and we got to see a downright belligerent Zayn because the technician was forced to slug his opponent just as hard. The refreshing change of pace from Zayn and the shared aggression made this one of the vital charming, dare I say “realistic” matches WWE has placed on. Dragunov is just built in another way, and Zayn is each experienced and versatile enough to match his freak. I used to be shocked to see Dragunov walk out of his first match back in WWE with the title, and as much as I’ll miss Zayn’s open challenge series, I’m glad to see WWE pull the trigger on Dragunov. They should push that guy to the moon.

Written by Angeline Phu

For once, I haven’t got many complaints about an episode of “WWE SmackDown.” I believed the matches we had were utterly insane, and the blue brand’s highlighted storylines, while not essentially the most sophisticated or thought-provoking, were almost all the time high-stakes, explosive, and downright chaotic. I do not think there was a match on Friday’s card that did not hold severe repercussions for its final result, either in its stipulation, solid, or end result.

Cannot say that I feel the identical way concerning the backstage segment and video packages, though.

I’ll give WWE some grace: I do know that certain backstage segments, like Jacob Fatu’s backstage assault, did have tangible ramifications on the show. Other segments, nonetheless, like Fraxiom’s interaction with #DIY and Candice Lerae, didn’t really strike me as anything that special. It didn’t help that a few of the dialogue in these promos was removed from the most effective. Like, Los Garzas and Motor City Machine Guns’ backstage promo exchange was removed from any man’s best work, and it read like a bunch of somewhat-buzzed dudes on the bar attempting to get in a fight fueled by the masculine urge to fight for glory (regardless of how low the stakes were). Don’t even get me began on how useless Aleister Black and Zelina Vega’s video package was — or do, since it was so inconsequential that I completely forgot to put in writing about it until I used to be reading back this paragraph. I understand that backstage segments are needed to progress storylines (we won’t be within the ring, in front of fans, on a regular basis), but in comparison with the remainder of “SmackDown’s” high-octane, engaging on-camera segments, these backstage and prerecorded broadcasting beats simply fell flat for me. I’d have much preferred to have an additional couple of minutes of Sami Zayn and Ilja Dragunov’s insane United States Championship title match, or perhaps even a post-match angle for Sol Ruca and Blake Monroe following ZaRuca’s unsuccessful WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship bout, over whatever Black and Vega’s general brand Karrion and Scarlet pitch. I’d have taken an official broadcast of Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes’ ad break crowd-side brawl over whatever Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa needed to say to Nathan Frazer and Axiom.

I do know that cool-down segments are needed, especially in an episode of “SmackDown” as jammed-packed as this one was — generally, I do not mind a cute little backstage segment or two. I just felt like there have been a bit too many on this episode, placed in spaces that might have been given to the show’s more exciting in-ring moments. It is a hard balance to strike, but when anyone can do it, it must be the corporate that has monopolized the skilled wrestling game for the past three many years. Right?

Written by Angeline Phu

Drew McIntyre’s pursuit of the WWE Championship, currently weighing down Cody Rhodes’ shoulders, continued this week with a primary contender’s match booked between him and his rival, Jacob Fatu. There had been rumblings heading into the show that Fatu was injured, so naturally, a matter loomed over the status of their match that had, up until the very last moment, continued to be advertised as going ahead. But then it was on the very last moment that not less than half of that query was answered, with Fatu having been discovered backstage, attacked by some unknown assailant – one would presume McIntyre had done so, but all of us love a “Who done it?” when the chance arises – and thus the match was unable to happen.

McIntyre made his entrance, Nick Aldis tried to get a handle on the situation, with one man apparently attacked by one other, and him having to administer the fallout. But before he could, McIntyre got to defending himself and begging for Aldis to not be one other to cost him in his quest through, what he perceives as, unjust means. After which Rhodes emerged because he, like most of his colleagues and rivals, had grown uninterested in McIntyre’s drilled whinging, taking the situation further out of the control of Aldis as he stomped to the ring suit and all to get right into a fight. The bell rang like there was a match between them, commentary struggled to determine whether the title was on the road, and still, they continued to fight through the world and ringside area.

McIntyre tried to make it a match throughout the ring, because after all he would, while Rhodes had, as you’ll expect from a person in dress shoes, zero interest in wrestling a cookie-cutter wrestling match. As such, he ended things via disqualification with a shot to the pinnacle along with his championship belt, after which they fought until the officials got involved; well, Rhodes did hit a final splash from the highest rope to place an exclamation point to things, but apart from that, that was it. For what it was, the segment did well to bridge the gap between injury-forced match cancellation and the subsequent stage of McIntyre and Rhodes’ feud for the title. They couldn’t find the ultimate resolution during this week’s show and on such short notice, so this was an ideal way for them to increase the story while circumventing the necessity to put a winner to things as of yet.

Written by Max Everett

I believed this was top-of-the-line episodes of “SmackDown” in quite a while, and I used to be trying to take a look at this principal event angle through the eyes of somebody who hadn’t seen the news that poor Jacob Fatu is injured and who didn’t see the spoiler about tonight ahead of time. Nonetheless, it’s pretty difficult for me to even try to assume that. Even when I weren’t writing wrestling news, I’m certain I’d have seen it on social media, so it’s inconceivable to take a look at things any in another way.

That being said, I believed General Manager Nick Aldis was going to announce Fatu wasn’t cleared to compete firstly of the show. I assume WWE was attempting to play at some form of swerve, because Aldis just announced it was a primary contender’s match. And with that, it was pretty obvious that Fatu was someway getting taken out before that match, presumably by McIntyre, though I assume we aren’t exactly sure about that.

The best way Fatu was taken out backstage was form of silly, too. It looked like some form of light fixture fell on him, quite than simply a straight-up beat down by one other star with a chair or kendo stick, and so they went so far as putting fake teeth within the fake blood by his mouth. Gore doesn’t hassle me, especially stuff that appears pretty cheesy, but that just felt really goofy.

The spoiler earlier within the day revealed that the principal event would then be modified to Cody Rhodes versus McIntyre, however it wasn’t initially clear if it will be for the championship. And it still wasn’t clear even after the bell rang for the match, which didn’t occur until well after their initial brawl throughout the gang during a industrial break. Commentary did not have any clue either because Rhodes mentioned McIntyre could have his title match right then, but Aldis didn’t say anything, which didn’t help and only added to the chaos.

While it’s unclear what the plan was before Fatu’s injury, I’m not looking forward to seeing Rhodes and McIntyre for the title at one more premium live event. It’s getting sad to see McIntyre keep losing every title match he gets. And Rhodes’ motivations for snapping at the top of tonight’s segment are very unclear. Is he that furious at McIntyre for taking out Fatu? I highly doubt it, so we’re certain to get some half-baked story about Rhodes losing his mind after losing the Crown Jewel Championship.

Written by Daisy Ruth