[7.0] "I'm in shock. Smackdown was actually a good show! It has it's issues still with the lack of women being depressing. The main event segment was rushed and made no sense. Other than that this show was great. Match quality wise I loved it and Cody had his best promo in MONTHS."

[6.0] "Ilya Dragunov vs. JD McDonagh was a good match. Carmelo Hayes vs. Bronson Reed didn't have much impact. #DIY vs. Fraxiom: Candice LeRae's mask removal was amazing! Candice did a great job. Penta vs. Finn Balor was also a good match, but it's still below RAW, so there's still room for improvement."

[6.0] "Match 1: Amazing match, I enjoyed every second of it, and while I don't like JD as a person, I think he's so incredibly talented in the ring. Ilja, obviously, is one of the best in the world. [*****] Match 2: Decent match, I wish Bronson would've won, but I understand he already has a storyline going on. Carmelo remains incredibly overrated. [***.5] Match 3: Way too short of a match, didn't like that. I loved the finish, Candice is so wicked and I wish she was used more. They should put her in the midcard division, have her interrupt Chelsea's title celebration, do something very like morally wrong to her to get heat. Like c'mon she can be such an asset. This match had the potential to be awesome, but unfortunately it had no time. [*.25] Match 4: Okay match. I wish Finn won, I think Penta is weird, annoying, cringey, and most importantly overrated as hell. His gimmick is so cringy, and I hate his tongue, his dance, and his pose. [**.5] Character Work: I loved the progression of both wargames matches, especially the women with their final promo. Happy to see AJ and Becky join the field, even if it was obvious that it was going to happen. [****] Enjoyability: It was a decent watch, some quips including lack of women's matches, lengths of matches, winners, and the unfortunate reality that women's time is cut. [.25]"

[8.0] "One of the best SmackDown episodes for last time. We got 4 good macthes, a few of them were very good. Storylines for Wa Games going very nice, especially for men's, where situation looks much better than last week. Women's storyline got us a great segment between Charlotte and Rhea and full 5 on 5 fight of future opponents. Very good show, where almost everething feels right."

[8.0] "Matches were fun, segments were cool. Brawl at the ending was a good way to end show too so it was a solid show beginning to the end. Interferences and chaos at Hayes vs Reed match was probably the best part of show and carmelo's win made it even better. I would like see more WWE show like this. 8/10."

"Venga Carmelo hdsptm ! Ese es mi gallo para enfrentarse a Cena, duelo de estado. Decent pacing in this show, right to the point, promo match match match promo match ending segment. It was refreshing to see a Smackdown that kept me intrigued about what was gonna come next. Excellent match between Ilja vs JD, great end sequence. First time I see Ilja struggling, it's this the beginning of the end? Carmelo you got this! Keep going. Bronson Reed was outsmarted, very nice. Loved to hear those Funk You Logan chants, exactly what the vision needed, a punchable face bag. DIY got a cheeky win over Fraxiom who finally showed again how good they can be. Pinta vs Pinn Balor was okay, looking forward to Gunther vs Penta to see how the ring general will destroy that dancing dummy. Female and male War Games lineup are ready, seems like fun. Good show with a ton of wrestling, however there was no women's matches which was weird, I guess they gave up already on Jade, hopefully not. But there is no female roster to feed to Jade for her to squash them until we get a proper feud. See you Monday. !"

[7.0] "I really enjoyed this episode. Some really solid matches, some really solid promos and backstage segments. The two hours actually flew by. The only miss was the lack of women's matches. But the show was fun. 7/10z"

[3.0] "I can't rate this Smackdown episode higher. A two hour show with not even a single women match on the card tells you everything you need to know about the lazy booker. Of course you can say the women got the final segment on the show but come on, this was a mess and went just 5 minutes. On top the Chelsea Green Celebration was rescheduled. That's unacceptable. Not to be entirely negative, kudos to Dragunov who had once again the best match of the night just like in the previous weeks."

[7.0] "A pretty good Smackdown. Ilja/JD had one of Ilja's stronger defenses of his title reign so far. Carmelo/Bronson ended up pretty enjoyable by the end with its chaos. The last two matches were solid. Disappointing that there wasn't a women's match but the main event segment for the women's War Games was nice to see. 6.5-7"

[4.0] "A 2 hour show without one women's match in 2025 is an automatic down for me. There were some decent matches on this show, especially the opener, but nothing that really felt that important. Just building up for Survivor Series. The final angle was so rushed that it really disappointed me, you have to give then more time than that. Your typical Smackdown experience this year"

[9.0] "One of the best SDs of the year. The only downside to this show is, once again, the war games. The opening segment is uninteresting once again, despite Cody being covered in blood on his bus. In fact, why not do that in the Drew/Cody feud? Ilja/JD (very happy to see JD in the open challenge) was an excellent match. Once again, it's very much in the ring with JD delighting us every time he appears. Ilja delivered once again. Melo/Reed is also an excellent match. I loved the confrontation, which was full of suspense. Melo proved once again that he is excellent in all areas. Melo, who wins by countout, protects Reed. Surprised we didn't see Miz in this match. By the way, when are we going to start the Hayes/Miz feud because it's been going on for a while now. Cody's promo after the match is the best segment of the entire men's War Games build-up. Despite the fact that I don't care about this men's WarGames match due to its build-up, I have to admit that Cody was great on the mic in this show. Zayn did a great job selling the five-on-five match, which I'm now looking forward to. Fraxiom/DIY is once again a very good match. The match was ultra-fast with some nice spots. Balor/Penta is the worst match of the night, but it's still good with two guys who always put on an entertaining wrestling show. The cinematic segment between Flair and Rhea is disappointing. You expect something incredible, but in the end you get something that could have been done in a backstage segment. The ending segment is like the opening segment: uninteresting. Once again, they're putting together inconsistent teams (why Lynch with Nia Jax? ). It's heel versus face with no story behind it. I still prefer the build-up to the women's WarGames match because they did highlight the history between Flair and Rhea. Basically, it's an 8/10, but the quality of the matches makes me want to add another point because I still had a great time."

[10.0] "This SmackDown was extremely good. A strong opening segment to build up War Games. A good and fully deserved win for Melo! A fun and fast tag match. I won't even talk about the Dragunov vs. JD match - anyone who hasn't seen it is missing out. An entertaining episode with important moments."

[8.0] "I'm really surprised at how good this SmackDown actually was. To be fair, anything a bit coherent seems like a dream if you've watched the recent dreadful, absolute bottom barrel garbage trash SD's they've vomited out for the last few months or so. I can't even remember, everything's the same anyway. Anyway, that was a very nice, definitely ABOVE AVERAGE SD. This might as well be among the best SD's triple coke's writing team has produced. Good matches, nice segments, and a somewhat memorable, semi-decent promo from Cody... wow! I liked the Drew segment the best."

[10.0] "I was actually at this show and it was FUCKING crazy... The entire card felt so stacked (except the vision opening segment) and it was actually super crazy. It's way stronger than the next taping they're doing next week (there was an advantage match between Charlotte & Asuka (imo Asuka should've won because her team SUCKS)) but the Hayes match was probably a tie with the DIY match because 1. the Hayes match quickly spiraled out of control and that was crazy and 2. I didn't think axiom would get the disrespect during the match. this night will definitely be a core memory for me later on (I may be really biased lmao)"

"It wasn't an amazing show, but it was worth watching in the middle of the night here in Poland. In my opinion, the opener should have been the main event, but okay - it was still a great match. Carmelo Hayes winning was really unexpected and I appreciate that. Thanks to the main event promo and the brawl, I'm actually hyped for the Women's War Games match. [7.0]"

[8.0] "Friday Night SmackDown was a super fun episode. I enjoyed every match, and each segment served its purpose in building up the Men's and Women's WarGames Matches. My highlight was Carmelo Hayes earning a major win, setting up his RAW Quarterfinal matchup against Gunther in the Last Time Is Now Tournament. Overall, it was a very entertaining show."