Tonight’s post-Crown Jewel edition of SmackDown featured the returns of Ilja Dragunov and Corey Graves, Zelina Vega’s heel turn confirmation, and a new champion was crowned. Below are the results:
– Tonight’s SmackDown kicked off with Nick Aldis announcing that Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu tonight will now be a #1 Contender’s match for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Cody Rhodes came out and addressed his loss to Seth Rollins at Crown Jewel. Cody said him and Seth never have to face each other again. Cody said Seth has to handle his issues with the Brons and Paul Heyman, while he’ll handle SmackDown and is looking forward to the #1 contender’s match tonight.
– Corey Graves returned to commentary after taking 2 F5s from Brock Lesnar.
– Solo Sikoa and My Family Tree interrupted Rey Fenix’s photoshoot and Solo wants his photos taken instead. Fenix asked Solo what’s his problem. MFTs attacked Fenix.
– Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss (c) def. ZaRuca (Zaria and NXT Women’s North American Champion & WWE Women’s Speed Champion Sol Ruca) to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
Blake Monroe was ringside for the match. Sol began arguing with her during the match. Charlotte took advantage and attacked Sol’s knee from behind. Charlotte locked in the Figure 8 and made Sol tap out.
– Jacob Fatu met Cody Rhodes backstage and said after he dog walks Drew McIntyre tonight, he’s going to show Cody that he’s all gas and no brakes.
– In a vignette, Aleister Black said joining forces with his wife was always the plan. Zelina Vega is a heel now.
Everything is going according to plan for @ZelinaVegaWWE and @Aleister_Blxck… 👀 pic.twitter.com/GQelWe0nPC
— WWE (@WWE) October 18, 2025
– The Miz was talking to Nick Aldis and Sami Zayn showed up. Sami questioned why his U.S. Title open challenge isn’t scheduled for tonight. Aldis said he was hoping to give Shinsuke Nakamura a rematch after what happened last week, but Nakamura isn’t here tonight. Zayn said the United States Title means a lot to the fans and hungry wrestlers, so he’s going out to issue a challenge.
– Sami Zayn came out for his open challenge and The Miz came out. Miz said he’s so sick of these open challenges. Carmelo Hayes attacked Miz from behind. Ilja Dragunov then made his return to answer the challenge.
– Ilja Dragunov def. Sami Zayn (c) to win the United States Championship
Solo Sikoa came out during the match and that distracted Sami for a few seconds. Corey Graves mentioned on commentary that this is the reason Sami lost.
After the match, the MFTs attacked Sami and Ilja. Rey Fenix came out to make the save, but got taken out. Solo said he runs SmackDown and he will make My Family Tree champions again. Bo Dallas then put the MFTs on notice and The Wyatt Sicks showed up.
.@UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR just dethroned @SamiZayn!! 😱 pic.twitter.com/c8DsI8VsIy
— WWE (@WWE) October 18, 2025
– WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton addressed her loss to Stephanie Vaquer. Tiffany said one loss doesn’t define her. Kiana James confronted her and they set up a match for next week.
– Motor City Machine Guns def. Los Garza
– Someone attacked Jacob Fatu backstage. Drew McIntyre came out for the main event and told the referee to crown him as the #1 contender. Nick Aldis came out and said if he finds out that Drew attacked Jacob… Drew said he had nothing to do with that attack and told him to award him a title match against Cody Rhodes. Cody came out screaming and said let’s do the WWE Title match right now. They began brawling. After brawling through the crowd, they finally entered the ring and the match officially began.
What happened to Jacob Fatu?! 😱 pic.twitter.com/WX6aY82QIh
— WWE (@WWE) October 18, 2025
– Drew McIntyre def. Cody Rhodes via DQ after Cody hit Drew in the head with the WWE Championship
After the match, Cody was looking to hit Drew with the Cross Rhodes on top of the announce table, but security stopped him. Cody then dived on top of Drew and the security from the top rope to end the show.
