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WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT
OCTOBER 31, 2025
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH AT DELTA CENTER
AIRED LIVE ON USA NETWORK
REPORT BY ERIC CORBRIDGE, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves
Ring Announcer: Mark Nash
Attendance: Wrestletix reports that 4,534 were distributed headed into the show. The arena was set up for 6,657.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR POST-SHOW PODCAST
[HOUR ONE]
– It was Halloween night in Salt Lake City as Michael Cole welcomed everyone to the show at the Delta Center. Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes were shown arriving to the arena on the eve of Rhodes’s WWE Championship title defense against McIntyre tomorrow night at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Nia Jax was shown walking into the area carrying a Cincinnati Bearcats football jersey since she’s a heel and they are playing the University of Utah Utes team tomorrow in an anticipated college football game. Jax’s opponent tonight, Alexa Bliss, was shown arriving along with her tag team championship partner Charlotte Flair. The babyface team was appropriately wearing University of Utah jerseys. Finally, Jade Cargill arrived wearing Marvel’s Punisher-inspired gear that looked really cool. Replays were shown of Jade’s heel turn attack against Tiffany Stratton from last week’s Smackdown.
– As Corey Graves and Cole were introducing the show, WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton walked into the ring (sans music) and demanded that Jade come to the ring. Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis came out instead and told Stratton that she needed to be careful because she wasn’t cleared and he couldn’t jeopardize Stratton’s title defense against Jade tomorrow night. Jade came out and began walking down the ramp as officials were ready to stop her from getting in the ring. Jade said that tomorrow night “Taffy Time” is up. Not a typo. Stratton tried to get to Jade but the officials successfully prevented them from engaging in physicality.
(Corbridge’s Analysis: Basic stuff where Stratton is rightfully upset that Cargill attacked her for no justifiable reason last week. With the officials’ success in preventing Cargill and Stratton from engaging in fisticuffs I believe their overall success record in WWE history lies at around 3.8%. If someone wants to check my math please do.)
– A highlight package for United States Champion Ilja Dragunov aired. With rock music playing and Dragunov narrating, there was footage shown of him training to return from his injury. Highlights from his matches were also shown, including his U.S. title win. Dragunov made his way to the ring for the week’s open challenge. [c]
– R-Truth, dressed as Santa Claus, gave candy to The Motor City Machine Guns. They questioned why he was dressed up as Santa on Halloween, but Truth didn’t understand and walked off saying “ho ho ho.” Solo Sikoa walked up on the Guns and called Truth an idiot, then said the Guns were bums who took candy from a stranger. Solo called Chris Sabin Harry Potter (for some reason) and said that the MFT’s were ahead of the Guns in line for a tag team title match. Sabin said they should find out tonight in a match so Solo said he’d go talk to Aldis.
Dragunov’s opponent was announced to be Nathan Frazer of Fraxiom. But Tomasso Ciampa walked right past him carrying a microphone and demanded to know why Frazer would get a title shot instead of him. Frazer got in Ciampa’s face and they argued until Dragunov interrupted and said that Frazer was there first. He told Ciampa there was no reward for jackasses and dismissively gestured for him to leave. Ciampa called him as a coward as he left.
(1) ILJA DRAGUNOV [c] vs. NATHAN FRAZER (w/Axiom) – Open Challenge for the United States Championship
Frazer started hot with a running knee to the face. But Dragunov recovered quickly, exploding out of the corner with a European uppercut and a heavy chop. Frazer hit a step-up enziguri that knocked Dragunov to the floor and then followed up with a suicide dive through the ropes. Frazer rolled Dragunov back in but he wasn’t able to capitalize because he ran into another heavy chop that dropped him. Cole mentioned that this was what John Cena envisioned when he first launched the open challenge several years ago. Dragunov pummeled Frazer with more strikes and chops as Cole talked about his intensity. Frazer teased a springboard move that didn’t fool Dragunov, who gave Frazer a big boot that knocked him off the apron and into the announce table. Dragunov gave Frazer a German suplex on the floor while saying “it isn’t personal” to his opponent. [c]
Cole mentioned that the United States Championship had been defended 18 times in 2025 so far, which was the most since 2020. Dragunov hit multiple German Suplexes without releasing as the crowd chanted “one more time.” Frazer landed on his feet after the last attempt and then nailed an inverted DDT and a running shooting star press, then covered for a two-count. Both men traded forearms until Frazer knocked Dragunov down with a superkick. Dragunov recovered and slammed Frazer down with “malice” as Graves referred to it. They traded kicks again and Dragunov missed a splash into the ropes and went careening over to the floor. Frazer tried to springboard but instead he was leveled by a clothesline from the apron. Dragunov missed a senton from the top rope. Frazer went up and hit a frog splash and covered for a one…two…Dragunov kicked out. [c]
Frazer escaped a powerbomb attempt. He went to the top rope and went for a hurricanrana but Dragunov caught him and tried to counter. Frazer managed to pull off the hurricanrana and then hit a somersault over the to the floor. Frazer hurriedly rolled Dragunov back into the ring and hit the Phoenix and covered for a tremendous nearfall. The crowd chanted “this is awesome.” Frazer looked desperate and smacked Dragunov while he was laying on the mat. Dragunov met Frazer on the top rope but got elbowed back to the mat. Dragunov recovered again before Frazer was able to attempt any moves, so Dragunov met him at the top again. Dragunov was seemingly about to hit a German Suplex off the top but started falling too soon and took Frazer with him, causing Frazer to land right on top of his head. It looked ugly enough that the announcers and the fans were quiet for a second. Dragunov covered but somehow Frazer kicked out again. The announcers seemed legitimately surprised. Both men were laying on the mat while Cole questioned how both men were still functioning.
Dragunov was up first and hit a big powerbomb and then the H-bomb forearm. He covered and this time Frazer didn’t kick out.
WINNER: Ilja Dragunov by pinfall in 19:00. Dragunov retains the United States Championship.
After the match, Dragunov helped Frazer to his feet, gave him a hug, and raised his hand. Then Ciampa blindsided Frazer on the floor as they went to an abrupt commercial. [c]
(Corbridge’s Analysis: Another tremendous open challenge match. They had plenty of time to tell a story where Dragunov showed off his intensity, while Frazer showed his athleticism and hunger to win gold. The nearfall following the Phoenix Splash was perfect since we’ve seen Frazer win matches with the move. The slightly botched German Suplex of the top rope spot was legitimately scary looking, so hopefully Frazer is okay. Bring on the next open challenge, presumably against Ciampa…or possibly Axiom.)
– When they returned, they showed that during the break Fraxiom, DIY, and Dragunov brawled to the back. They were still brawling until Dragunov broke it up. After the fracas had been cleared, Dragunov turned around to see Tama Tonga holding and staring at his title belt. Tama gave it back while doing his “yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah” schtick.
– Kit Wilson entered to some new cheesy music. Carmelo Hayes entered next to a bigger reaction.
(2) CARMELO HAYES vs. KIT WILSON
As soon as the bell rang, Wilson threw his shirt at Hayes and attacked him with forearms. Wilson hit a flying elbow and taunted the crowd, then followed with a running elbow in the corner. Wilson called Hayes toxic and kicked him in the back of the head. Wilson continued his aggression with a unique looking DDT that even Graves acknowledged he’d never seen before. Hayes escaped a suplex attempt and hit a springboard clothesline and planted Wilson with a face-first suplex. Hayes covered for a two-count. Hayes was on the floor when the Miz suddenly appeared and rammed him face first into the ring post and rolled him into the ring as the crowd booed. Wilson hit a top rope elbow drop and covered for a one…two…kick out. Miz was baffled. Wilson charged at Hayes who connected with the First 48 codebreaker and covered for the pin and the win.
WINNER: Carmelo Hayes by pinfall in 4:00.
Immediately after the match ended Miz dropped Hayes with a Skull Crushing Finale. Miz told Hayes that this was over when he says it’s over.
(Corbridge’s Analysis: As expected, Miz wasn’t going to let Hayes just end their rivalry on his terms. As for the match, I hated it. WWE has done a fantastic job building up Hayes, but then tonight he was completely dominated by a tag-team wrestler who doesn’t have any singles wins on the main roster. Hayes basically hit one move to win the match. This should have been a squash and Miz still could have attacked him afterward.)
– The Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Blisa and Charlotte Flair were interviewed in the locker room by Cathy Kelley. She congratulated them on their successful title defense against Bayley and Lyra Valkyria from RAW and asked for their thoughts on the post-match attack from the Kabuki Warriors. Bliss said the Kabuki Warriors know where to find them. Flair and Bliss bantered and Flair said that Nia Jax had no friends because she’s a Gemini.
– Nia Jax sauntered to the ring for the next match. [c]
– When they came back from the break, the University of Utah football coach was shown in a pre-recorded video where again they hyped up the Utah-Cincinnati game.
– Sami Zayn asked Nick Aldis if he could be at ringside to support his friends The Motor City Machin Guns in their match against the MFTs, despite not being medically cleared. Aldis told him to just sit this one out and Zayn reluctantly agreed. WWE Champion Cody Rhodes walked up and hugged Zayn, telling him that he was proud of him for bringing back the U.S. title open challenge. Zayn left. Aldis asked Rhodes if he had anything to do with the attack on Jacob Fatu. Rhodes said he didn’t. Aldis said that was good enough for him. Then he showed Rhodes the contract for Rhodes’s title defense against McIntyre for tomorrow night and said they’d handle that tonight.
(Corbridge’s Analysis: Good job by Aldis to ask Rhodes if he had anything to do with the Fatu attack. Obviously if Cody is going to turn heel he’d just lie of course. But it’s the little things like Aldis asking that helps viewers suspend disbelief. That concept is not strictly applied to in-ring action.)
Alexa Bliss entered, accompanied by Charlotte Flair, to a good ovation from the Salt Lake City crowd.
[HOUR TWO]
(3) ALEXA BLISS (w/Charlotte Flair) vs. NIA JAX
Jax attacked Bliss from behind when Bliss was handing her title belt to Flair on the outside. It wasn’t illegal though because the bell had rung. Jax whipped and splashed the much-smaller Bliss. Cole said that the two grapplettes had wrestled 8 times before, with 4 being title matches. Jax continued to dominate with her power, throwing Bliss shoulder-first in the corner. Bliss dodged a running hip attack but was caught leaping off the apron. Jax threw her into the barricade as they went to a split-screen. [c]
Jax missed a running hip attack and Bliss tried to get back into the match. Jax threw her to the floor and Flair helped her back in. Bliss lifted her boot and caught a charging Jax. Bliss tried to chop Jax down with kicks and strikes and a standing dropkick. Bliss hit a cross-body and covered but Jax easily kicked out, launching Bliss back first into the bottom rope. Jax missed a shoulder in the corner and Bliss tried to respond by climbing to the top rope. Jax lifted her off and gave her a Samoan drop. Jax covered for a nearfall. Jax dragged Bliss to try and hit the Annihilator banzai drop. But Flair got up on the apron and distracted Jax long enough for Bliss to kick her off. Jax’s foot got caught in the ropes, causing her to land like a feather on the mat. Bliss hit a running dropkick and hooked both legs, earning a surprising three-count. Jax was furious after the match.
WINNER: Alexa Bliss via pinfall in 9:00.
(Corbridge’s Analysis: Kind of a sloppy, plodding match. Jax was in slow-motion and Bliss’s offense looked very weak. The ending was flat because Jax’s soft landing and Bliss’s dropkick shouldn’t have been enough to put Jax away. Also, a babyface shouldn’t distract a heel to allow her babyface partner to gain an advantage. Bad booking and execution.)
– Solo and the MFTs encountered Rey Fenix walking in the back. Solo told him to go trick-or-treat. Fenix said he wanted Talla Tonga and smacked him in the face. Solo told him to focus on tonight and said they’d deal with Fenix next week.
– They showed the “World Premiere” of a Wrestlemania hype video. A lot of stars were sitting at a poker table since Wrestlemania is in Las Vegas in 2026. The wrestlers at the table were Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, and C.M. Punk. Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Paul Heyman were watching in the corner.
– A hype video for Damian Priest was shown with him telling Aleister Black that their feud is personal now. He wished Black a Happy Halloween.
(Corbridge’s Analysis: Jeez it took all that for Priest to take it personal. That dude has the patience of a saint…err…priest.)
– Tiffany Stratton walked in the back with Nick Aldis. Kiana James and Giulia walked up and said Tiffy Time was about to be over. Chelsea Green came up and asked for a U.S. title match. Aldis said she could have it. After everyone else left, Green and Alba Fyre turned around and Nikki Cross was standing there looking creepy. Green and Fyre ran away.
– The MFT’s, led by Solo Sikoa, entered for the next match. [c]
A replay was shown from 53 weeks ago when the Machine Guns made their WWE debut and defeated the (then) Bloodline group for the tag team championships.
(4) J.C. MATEO & TAMA TONGA (w/Solo Sikoa, Tonga Loa, Talla Tonga) vs. THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
Mateo started off beating on Shelley. Shelley used his quickness to draw Mateo into a dropkick from Sabin after a blind tag. Mateo and Tama beat down Sabin. Cole said that the now-bulkier Tama was in “the best shape of his life.” The Guns hit stereo leaps onto their opponents on the floor. Solo and the other MFT’s looked on from ringside. Sabin tagged in Shelley and they hit a combo, then Shelley covered for a two-count. They went picture-in-picture. [c]
Shelley made a lukewarm tag and Sabin hit a missile dropkick on Tama and a rolling DDT on Mateo. Sabin hit a tornado DDT off the ropes on Tama and covered for a nearfall. Sabin monkey-flipped Tama while making the tag, then Shelley clotheslined Tama to the floor. Shelley with a baseball slide and dove through the ropes onto their opponents. The Guns hit more double-team kicks and wanted to go for the Skull and Bones. Solo got up on one side of the apron so that the referee would be distracted, allowing Talla Tonga to push Shelley off the tope rope to the floor. Sabin turned around and got nailed by a flying chop from Tama, who covered for the win. Cole said that Tama calls the move the Cutthroat. Get it?
WINNERS: Tama Tonga & J.C. Mateo by pinfall in 9:00.
After the match, Talla Tonga choke-slammed Sabin as Solo yelled at the Guns for disrespecting his family. Rey Fenix’s music played and he ran down but immediately got destroyed by a Talla big boot. Shinsuke Nakamura came out next to make the save but got choke-slammed by Talla. The MFT’s stood tall.
(Corbridge’s Analysis: Three of the four matches tonight had heels beat down their opponents immediately after the match. That’s ridiculous. Also, I highly question whether Tama Tonga is in the best shape of his life. He doesn’t look like it. Maybe he’s “healthier” now though? If so, then I fully support it.)
– Nick Aldis asked Drew McIntyre in the back if he’d reviewed the contract. McIntyre said he did and it was fine. Aldis was worried. McIntyre told him to relax. [c]
– Aldis was standing in the ring and told everyone to welcome the Undisputed WWE Champion. Cody Rhodes came out wearing an orange suit. He hugged a man at ringside who was wearing a jacket just like his ring jacket. There was a table set up in the ring that had two chairs behind it in preparation for the contract signing. Aldis told the audience to welcome the challenger. They booed. Drew McIntyre slowly made his way to the ring. When they both sat down, Aldis said that all that was left was for them to sign on the dotted line. The crowd disagreed because in their minds it was time sing for the champion.
McIntyre looked at the contract and said he couldn’t sign it. Cody grabbed it and signed it. Aldis wanted to know why McIntyre wouldn’t sign. McIntyre said it was lopsided, despite Aldis saying it was a standard contract. McIntyre said if Cody gets intentionally disqualified again that Cody keeps the title. Or if Cody gets himself counted out, then Cody keeps the title. Aldis said he’d had it with McIntyre, then he would give someone else the title shot. McIntyre said “ok, get one of them” and began to leave. Cody stood up and told McIntyre to sit down. McIntyre said “this better be good” and sat back down. Cody said he heard what McIntyre wanted. Cody agreed to McIntyre’s clauses that if Cody gets disqualified or counted out then he would lose the championship. Aldis tried to get Cody to reconsider but he wouldn’t. Aldis relented because Cody was adamant that “all this” needed to end. McIntyre signed the contract.
McIntyre told Cody that he was sad because they should be the best of friends. McIntyre said he even gave him the blueprint on how to finish his story. But McIntyre said that he isn’t a sellout like Cody and that he is the real American Dream. Cody talked about how McIntyre kept bringing up their parallel paths and ran down how McIntyre recreated himself and performed so well that WWE called him and wanted him back. Cody said that was where they differed because when Cody was fed up with WWE he grew some balls and walked away, but McIntyre just got fired. Cody wished McIntyre luck tomorrow and said “nice guys used to finish last, but then I showed up.” Cody started to leave.
McIntyre was angry at that and said Cody wouldn’t get the last word again. McIntyre said one day the fans would turn on Cody just like they turned on him. McIntyre said that Cody does all this for the fans, even wearing an orange suit for Halloween, but it would be better if he was home trick-or-treating with his daughters. McIntyre asked what his daughters’ names were again as if Cody wouldn’t know. Cody slammed McIntyre’s head into the table and tried to hit him with it, but McIntyre ducked.
Cody was frustrated with himself as Aldis reminded him if he did that tomorrow night he’d be disqualified and lose the belt. McIntyre came back in the ring and hit Cody with a Claymore kick. McIntyre powerbombed Cody through the table as Aldis looked on helplessly to end the show.
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