Smackdown Review – 12.05.25

If you need to catch up on WWE, you should read all of this: Survivor Series | Raw | NXT | Evolve | Impact

Smackdown comes to the airwaves from The Moody Center in Austin, TX. The announcing team for this broadcast includes Michael Cole and Corey Graves on match calls and analysis, Mark Nash on ring introductions, and Cathy Kelley on backstage interviews and breaking news. Let’s watch some wrestling.

Then, Now, Forever….TOGETHER

A Survivor Series highlights package opens the show. It’s time to go to work, so let’s see some arrivals. Here’s Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Kabuki Warriors, Los Angeles Knight, and GUNTHER.

Drew McIntyre shows up in a truck, and is immediately confronted by Smackdown GM Nick Aldis who confirms he’s still suspended and tells him to leave. Cody Rhodes sneaks into McIntyre’s vehicle and and whales away for a minute before Security pulls him off as McIntyre speeds away. Rhodes marches immediately through Gorilla and heads to the ring. Rhodes gets a mic and calls for Nick Aldis to re-instate McIntyre because of his recent invasion of the Rhodes tour bus. Rhodes calls McIntyre “WWE’s resident cockroach” and threatens to continue beating on McIntyre no matter where he finds him, then says he’ll do what most people do to cockroaches and stomp him out.

Here’s DIY with Candice LeRae talking about trying to get a US title match for tonight, but Carmelo Hayes wanders by to tell them that he’s got tonight’s shot. WWE Men’s US Champion Ilja Dragunov makes his entrance as we go to commercials.

Here’s Damien Priest in a pre-taped promo to talk about how delusional Aleister Black and Zelina have been. Priest says since Black brought in his family, he gets to bring in his. As it turns out, Rhea Ripley is the family he’s speaking about and as a result there will be a mixed tag on next week’s Smackdown.

WWE Men’s US Championship Open Challenge: Ilja Dragunov (C) vs Carmelo Hayes

In a nice bit of continuity, Cole recalls the three excellent matches these two had over the NXT Men’s title in 2023. Dragunov trucks Hayes but Hayes responds by laying in some chops. Dragunov boots Hayes down and then trucks him in a corner, but Hayes responds with a big back elbow. Dragunov hits a chop and a big boot before ascending. Hayes springs up and dumps Dragunov down. Dragunov responds with an open hand and another big boot that sends Hayes to the floor. We go to commercials.

Hayes lifts a knee but walks into a series of Germans from Dragunov. Dragunov drops elbows to Hayes head. They start slugging it out before Hayes hits a springboard clothesline and a tilt-a-whirl facebuster. Hayes cover gets two. Hayes First 48 attempt is stopped by Dragunov who then powerbombs Hayes. Hayes gets a roll-up after blocking an H-Bomb attempt and that gets two. Dragunov ascends and Hayes springs up to hit an enziguri that sends Dragunov to the floor. Hayes hits a springboard DDT on the apron before running Dragunov back in. Hayes ascends and here’s Tommaso Ciampa to interfere while the ref is checking on Dragunov. Dragunov immediately hits the Torpedo Moscow followed by the H-Bomb before covering Hayes for three.

Another solid defense for Dragunov, and all of a sudden, judging by the Austin crowd, Carmelo Hayes is a pretty popular babyface. I wonder if that’s his expected internal alignment on the booking sheets. I would assume it is. They’re going somewhere with the Ciampa thing but it’s taking forever to get there, as usual with Smackdown. 3*

Winner AND STILL WWE Men’s US Champion – Ilja Dragunov (Torpedo Moscow/H-Bomb)

Post-match sees Dragunov observing the replay of Ciampa’s interference. Dragunov is livid over the whole thing.

Here’s Cathy Kelley with Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. Kelley puts over them being part of the winning team at War Games and talks up their chemistry with their teammates. Bliss says that War Games was good for Charlotte’s social skills, but they still can’t get their hand gesture right. They want the Women’s tag titles back, and Bliss plans to start down that path by beating Kairi Sane tonight. Kelley and Bliss show Flair how the heart hands gesture is done properly before they exit, and we go to commercials.

There’s a highlights package of John Cena and the Last Time Is Now Tournament. Graves is predicting LA Knight to win, but Cole disagrees and picks GUNTHER. Cathy Kelley is backstage with LA Knight and asks what a win tonight would mean to him. Knight says he doesn’t care about “dream opponents” and puts over GUNTHER’s accomplishments, but says GUNTHER hasn’t seen anything like him before.

Kairi Sane makes her entrance as we go to commercials.

Tony Hinchcliffe is in the crowd. As Alexa Bliss makes her way to the ring, she hands Lilly to Charlotte who seems touched by the gesture.

Kairi Sane vs Alexa Bliss

Sane is seconded by Asuka, while Flair stands at ringside to back up Bliss. This is their first ever singles match. Sane bullies Bliss to a corner and starts kicking away. Sane charges and gets dumped to the apron, but she ascends and jumps over Bliss before patting her rear end to mock Bliss. There’s an exchange of roll-ups that get two, and then Sane pats Bliss on the head mockingly. Bliss fires up and slaps Sane before dumping her down. Bliss hits her rolling senton and Sane bails to the floor. As Sane walks away, Asuka pulls Bliss down face-first on the apron as Flair beefs with Sane. We go to commercials.

Bliss pops Sane in the mouth as she’s on the top turnbuckle. Sane headbutts Bliss down and then hits her double stomp. Sane drags Bliss out and covers for two. Sane misses a charge and Bliss fires off some right hands and a short shotgun dropkick. Bliss hits a rolling neckbreaker and wants Sister Abigail, but Asuka jumps on the apron to distract. Flair yanks Asuka off and boots her down. Sane hits a massive backfist on Bliss while all that was happening, and then she ascends. Sane takes forever, and Bliss catches her with Sister Abigail. Bliss covers and gets three.

This was a fun sprint, and Bliss was really up for it. Bliss is unique with her offense because she still has to count her steps even at this point, but the crowd LOVES her act with Charlotte, and I don’t blame them. When the competitors actually seem to genuinely like each other, people get behind it. Sane can eat pins and get yelled at by Asuka without really getting hurt at all, and they are clearly positioning for a four-way with Flair/Bliss vs Kabukis vs Legend/Jax vs The Judgement Day based on the post-match angle and the highlights packages. 3*

Post-match sees Lash Legend and Nia Jax attack Bliss and Flair from behind. Jax hits a Samoan Drop on Flair and then invites the crowd to suck it. Asuka comes back in to defend Sane but Jax puts a stop to it with a huge headbutt. Jax and Legend destroy Sane before Asuka can pull her to safety. Legend and Jax hoist the title belts and tell the Kabukis that their titles will be coming to them and soon.

Nick Aldis and Cody Rhodes approach NXT Men’s Champion Ricky Saints and Oba Femi who question why they have been invited to Smackdown. Rhodes shakes their hands and says that whomever wins their title match at Deadline tomorrow will be facing Rhodes on Saturday Night’s Main Event.

WWE Women’s Undisputed Champion Jade Cargill makes her entrance as we go to commercials.

Cathy Kelley confronts Nia Jax and Lash Legend about their attack on everyone after the Bliss-Sane match. They promise to win the tag titles and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

Highlights are shown of Jade Cargill attacking Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre on last week’s Smackdown.

Alba Fyre vs Jade Cargill

This is non-title, and WWE Women’s US Champion Chelsea Green is seconding Fyre. Fyre hits an immediate dropkick and a rana. Fyre works Cargill over in a corner before walloping her with a big boot. Green slaps Cargill as the ref’s back is turned but here’s Kiana James and Giulia to attack Green from behind. Fyre turns her back on Cargill to watch the action in the aisle and when she turns back Cargill plants her with a spinebuster. Cargill hits a pump kick and follows it with Jaded. Cargill covers and gets three.

Okay, sure. I really dislike stuff like this because it doesn’t really help anyone, and I guess Green is a face now despite doing constant heel shit? Who can tell anymore. 1.5*

Here’s FrAxiom chatting up Nick Aldis about wanting to fight DIY again. Ilja Dragunov wanders in to also yell about Ciampa. Aldis makes Ciampa-Dragunov for next week and Dragunov says FrAxiom can have whatever is left. Tama Tonga confronts Dragunov, but he’s eased away by Solo Sikoa and the MFT’s. We go to commercials.

Jade Cargill walks past B-Fab and talks some smack, and here’s Michin to remind Cargill that she doesn’t actually have any friends. Cargill and Michin have words before Cargill walks away.

Here’s Solo Sikoa and the MFT’s sans facepaint to make their way to the ring for a chat. Sikoa says he told everyone that they were going to handle the “Sami Zayn problem” and that’s exactly what they did. Sikoa says they can finally move forward and deal with the Wyatt Sicks. Sikoa says he knows Uncle Howdy has been watching the MFT’s and Sikoa wants to introduce himself formally to Howdy. Sikoa says the tag titles belong to the MFT’s because they are his family. Sikoa says everything that was “his” (He’s pointing upwards.) that’s now theirs will become Sikoa’s. Sikoa says Howdy doesn’t deserve the name “Wyatt” and all he has to do is Bo-Lieve. The Wyatt symbol appears as the lights go off, and the Wyatts are all on the apron. The MFT’s return as Uncle Howdy confronts Sikoa in the ring. A brawl breaks out and Nikki Cross ends up on JC Mateo‘s back. It ends with Talla Tonga and Erick Rowan alone in the ring. Rowan’s big boot sends Tonga to the floor and the Wyatts take the high ground in the ring with “Shatter” playing throughout the arena.

Here’s The Miz complaining to Nick Aldis about the Last Time Is Now tournament, and Aldis informs Miz he isn’t even on SNME next week. Here’s Bayley and her opponent for SNME who turns out to be Sol Ruca. Ruca promises that she’s ready for next week and Bayley says she’ll be keeping an eye on Ruca at Deadline tomorrow night.

Cathy Kelley is with GUNTHER who says that his name translates into “victory” in any language. He promises to beat LA Knight tonight and John Cena at SNME. GUNTHER addresses Cena and says even if we can’t see him, Cena can and will see GUNTHER and wants him to pay attention to how he accomplishes beating Knight tonight. We go to commercials.

Here’s Aleister Black and Zelina to rebut the earlier pre-tape promo from Damien Priest. Black says he’s the one person who will talk straight to Priest. Zelina says they’ll leave the Terror Twins in the same state they were after the Judgement Day split.

Graves and Cole run down the card for next week in beautiful Wilkes-Barre, PA (It’s not beautiful in the slightest).

The Last Time Is Now Tournament Finals: LA Knight vs GUNTHER

Cole reminds everyone that GUNTHER ended Bill Goldberg’s career as Mark Nash does the in-ring intros. Knight goes to work with rights and some boots to start. GUNTHER responds with a big chop and wants the powerbomb, but Knight blocks it and tries for the BFT. GUNTHER bails to the floor and Knight smashes him with a between-the-ropes dropkick. We go to commercials.

GUNTHER is in control when the show returns after dropping Knight back-first on the apron. GUNTHER tripped down on his back but Knight’s elbow attempt is slipped. Knight fires up again but GUNTHER cuts it off by whipping Knight very hard into a corner. GUNTHER pulls Knight up to smash him with some chops. Knight fires up again with a forearm before snapping off a neckbreaker. Knight hits some back elbows and then rolls up GUNTHER for two. GUNTHER gets hoisted and Knight hits an Attitude Adjustment. GUNTHER springs up and smashes Knight with a BURNING HAMMER before covering for two. We go to commercials.

They’re slugging it out when the show returns. Knight gets the best of it and works GUNTHER over in a corner. Knight hits a running knee but his second attempt is cut off by GUNTHER. Knight hoists GUNTHER for a belly-to-back suplex before ascending. GUNTHER slips Knight’s dive and smashes him with a dropkick. GUNTHER wanders into a Knight DDT before Knight ascends again. Knight drops an elbow and covers for two. GUNTHER wallops Knight with a German suplex in response and then GUNTHER does the standing neck-twist deal to pop the crowd. GUNTHER ascends and Knight meets him up there to slug it out. Knight gets pushed off and GUNTHER hits a top rope splash. GUNTHER ascends and hits another splash. GUNTHER’s cover gets two. GUNTHER hits a clothesline followed by a powerbomb before covering for two. Knight hits a BFT from out of nowhere but GUNTHER gets his foot on the rope as the ref counts two. GUNTHER puts on the sleeper, and then goes to elbow strikes before putting the sleeper back on. Knight tries to fight out of it but GUNTHER starts raining down elbows before slapping on the cravate submission. Knight is forced to eventually tap out. GUNTHER will face John Cena on Saturday Night’s Main Event in his final match ever. He promises to make Cena tap out as the credits roll and we’re out.

They were going for “epic” here and it didn’t quite get to that level, but the crowd was super into it and was behind Knight the whole way. Knight sold his neck a bunch after the big German suplex as Cole kept hammering away on Knight favoring that body part on commentary. Cole tried to connect the cravate submission to the STF and I didn’t quite buy it, but GUNTHER promising to make Cena tap out next Saturday was pretty cool. Match of the night for me. 3.5*

Winner – GUNTHER (cravate submission)

A breezy effort tonight, and everything was solid except for whatever they were going for with the Cargill-Fyre match. It’s very cool that Cena was able to influence getting some NXT folks a look on SNME next week, and it adds some stakes to the Oba Femi-Ricky Starks confrontation on Deadline tonight, which I like. Both of them will be on the main roster soon anyway, apparently. I’m guessing we’ll see Drew McIntyre get involved in that somehow, as well. A lot of things got put into place tonight, although this endless Black-Priest feud is still just wearing me down. I couldn’t care less who wins this mixed tag next week because there’s no way that’s a feud-ender, either. Anyway, thumbs up from me for tonight’s show.

Thanks for reading and commenting. It’s been a really rough week for me, and today is going to be a Very Bad Day, so please be kind to each other in the comments and have a good Saturday in general.