WWE SmackDown 9/25/2026: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s weekly review of “WWE SmackDown,” the show that opened with a steel cage match for the men’s US title and saw both Lash Legend and CM Punk qualify for their respective Money in the Bank ladder matches! We have thoughts about all that here in the column this week, and with respect to Fatal Influence vs. Chelsea Green, Tiffany Stratton, and Paige, we are laser-focused this time around on the three matches that had actual stakes.

If you missed the show, or you want to read about more than just the three matches with actual stakes, you can check out our “WWE SmackDown” 9/25/26 results page, which contains absolutely everything you need to know about everything that went down on the blue brand Friday night. This column is exclusively for our opinions on the things that stood out to us the most, either in a positive or a negative sense — or both. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 9/25/26 episode of “WWE SmackDown!”

A couple of weeks back, I mentioned in one of these loved/hated columns I thought it was far past time for WWE to end the feud between Trick Williams and Baron Corbin when Corbin had attacked Williams and Lil Yachty on the entrance ramp in a brief segment. Well, my stance on that has not changed at all and their United States Championship Steel Cage Match did nothing to help.

I knew heading into this edition of “SmackDown” that there was going to be a strong chance I wouldn’t end up being a fan of this match given my lack of excitement and annoyance at it. It turns out that I was right, as there wasn’t really much about this match that I liked at all. I can understand why WWE would put this match into a Steel Cage given that Williams and Corbin have been feuding with one another for so long, but the Steel Cage also felt a little useless when Corbin used the door to take out Yachty and Yachty responded by hitting Corbin with the door of the cage. Steel cages are built on the premise that no one is supposed to be inside the cage except the participants of the match and one referee, but that totally went out of the window with Yachty’s involvement in the match.

I also felt like there was something underwhelming about the match. Having a wrestler take three of the same move is no small feat, but I think choosing to have the Book End be that move may not have been the best choice here. If Williams had landed three Trick Shots, it would’ve been more impactful in my opinion because the move is his actual finisher instead of a signature move like the Book End is. Nothing about this worked for me, and I can only hope Corey Graves meant it when he said that this was the close of the chapter in the book on Trick’s rivalry with Baron Corbin.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

While it’s certainly better than its three-hour era, I haven’t been the biggest fan of “SmackDown” overall lately. Outside of most of the Undisputed WWE Championship picture, and the Money in the Bank qualifiers, it’s felt rather repetitive, and it’s always a promo-heavy show. Tonight, however, we actually opened the episode with a match, and a stipulation match at that, and it felt like a fresh change of pace.

I wasn’t thrilled about seeing Trick Williams and Baron Corbin for the United States Championship another time, but I do give WWE some props for revealing this week that the men would be competing in a steel cage. It was something different to kick off the show, and at this point, I’ll love anything that feels a bit different on the blue brand. Williams even won the match in a different way, hitting three back-to-back Book Ends to Corbin.

I would absolutely have expected WWE to open the show with Michael Cole and Randy Orton doing an interview in the middle of the ring after last week’s sit-down interview with Cole and Cody Rhodes. While I guess Orton demanded his own interview before the show got underway, we thankfully got that elsewhere on the broadcast. Rhodes’ response also came later, and it felt brief, as far as a Rhodes promo goes. I was also a bit surprised he didn’t open the show to address the behind-the-scenes footage of him telling Cole “he’d kick Orton’s f****** head off” that we saw on social media.

While I love Sami Zayn as champion, I don’t love his whole paranoid schtick and his promos do get quite repetitive week after week, champion or not. We saw him in a segment backstage with Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae tonight, which was the perfect amount of talking for the champion, in my opinion, with many of his competitors wrapped up in the Money in the Bank qualifier main event.

WWE needs to change up the flow and format of its shows, as it’s been formulaic for years at this point. Despite not being overly excited about the match itself, I did love the change of pace.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Friday saw yet another loss for Giulia with something on the line as Lash Legend pinned her to qualify for the Women’s Money in the Bank. And that’s just aggravating.

The match also involved Charlotte Flair and became much a story of whether she could overcome the competition to get back in the world title hunt (as if she needs a device like Money in the Bank to do that). Legend felt like the obvious winner because the company is clearly high on her and she definitely has star power. Frankly, she does belong in the Money in the Bank ladder match.

It just sucks that again Giulia is in a match seemingly just to lose it, because anyone that hasn’t seen her work in STARDOM and Japan might be under the illusion she’s not very good. She’s actually one of the better wrestlers in the world and could legitimately be a star if given the time to do what she does.

It’s also annoying because at this stage in her career, Flair could easily have taken the pin after the onslaught of offense from Giulia. Instead Giulia was beaten clean as a whistle and then went into a backstage segment to literally be told by Blake Monroe to go back where she came from … obscurity.

What is the goal here? WWE signed her, strapped a rocket to her in developmental, gave her the US title when she first came up to the main roster. But since then it’s been downhill fast. Loss after loss. Wins that lead nowhere against the likes of Kiana James and a feud with Blake Monroe that has existed exclusively on the premise they do not wrestle one another.

It’d just be nice if the company put some wind in her sails for a bit rather than using her just to fill the loser’s spot. At the very least, let her wrestle in singles contests that feel less of a joke or a device to fill time for weeks on end.

Written by Max Everett

While I can’t say I was the biggest fan of the Women’s Money in the Bank qualifying match overall on Friday, though it did get much better toward the end, I really love the fact the ladder match is filling up with fresh talent, all call-ups from “WWE NXT” in the last year or so. Lash Legend qualified to advance to compete against Roxanne Perez, Jacy Jayne, Sol Ruca, and Lola Vice tonight, and there’s still one final spot to be determined.

While I thought Legend looked a little sloppy to start off this match tonight, she was a pretty solid force and proved herself in the multi-woman ladder match for the interim WWE Women’s Championship at SummerSlam, so I’m not too terribly concerned about her abilities. It also looked like Flair had a few off moments throughout the match as well, so I’ll chock it up to an off night. By the end of the bout, everyone seemed to get their moves off pretty smoothly.

While I hate the fact Giulia seemed to be in the match only to take the pin, she was the most solid worker in there tonight and did an excellent job, as if that was ever in question. She also deserves to be in MITB, but knowing that WWE wouldn’t put the briefcase on her, I suppose I prefer her actually kicking off her feud against Blake Monroe, which is seemingly finally happening next week.

Also happening next week, the final qualifier for the ladder match will pit Candice LeRae against Tiffany Stratton and Tatum Paxley. While I’d like to see LeRae get into the bout to provide a bit of veteran support in a big ladder match stipulation, I wouldn’t be surprised if WWE threw Paxley in there, as well, to continue this theme of up-and-coming women, which is really what the MITB briefcase was meant for. The women’s match is my most anticipated at the premium live event quickly coming up and I’m really looking forward to it, and I haven’t been able to say that about any match at any PLE in recent memory.

Written by Daisy Ruth

It’s Money in the Bank qualifying season, so we can count on two qualifiers per show. Every match is a three way, which makes things more interesting, but only two matches have had clean wins so far, with the rest ending in stolen victories. Bron Breakker and Penta both won their respective matches with no shenanigans. The remaining matches have had the winner steal the victory from someone else, including both matches tonight.

At least when Sol Ruca qualified because Bayley pulled Lyra Valkyria out of the ring, allowing Ruca to hit the Sol Snatcher, it made sense. Bayley was getting revenge for losing at SNME and it keeps their feud going. I can even see the argument to have Lola Vice steal a win in her debut match in a three way where no one involved should really be losing. But the rest are just lazy, especially when they have been happening on the same show.

I don’t mind someone stealing the win in one or two matches during this stretch, but this many is overkill. I shouldn’t be surprised since this is essentially a different take on matches ending in a disqualification or a non-finish. Unfortunately, that is WWE’s bread and butter because it’s a trope that they use incessantly on a nightly basis and usually multiple times a night. In WWE, clean wins aren’t the norm and this is just another way to drive that point home.

Written by Samantha Schipman

All of the following should be prefaced with the acknowledgment that this was another stolen win in a qualifier, and copy/paste booking is never appreciable.

But aside from that, the three-way match between GUNTHER, CM Punk, and Finn Balor in the main event was actually a pretty fun match. The dynamics of the match worked really well with GUNTHER as the anchor point, the villain that both faces could work together separately and in tandem to cut down. It obviously helps that GUNTHER is legitimately one of the best wrestlers active, a less-is-more throwback with immense power and deceptive agility. Balor is the far more nimble workhorse, and Punk is Punk. Balor’s exchanges were snappy, Punk’s felt a lot more hard-earned and a product of veteran psychology, and GUNTHER was there to dominate both of them.

Of course the winner wound up being Punk, and although as said the finish was one eerily similar to too many in recent memory, there was a degree of logic behind it. GUNTHER was the target drawing most of the offense and inserted himself into the closing stretch to that effect. First Balor made it his mission to bring the big man down after working Punk to near-defeat. Then Punk assumed control and sought to end things instead.

Ultimately, GUNTHER had the better of Punk and Balor took flight, landing Coup de Grace onto the immediate threat. GUNTHER took the brunt of the impact, two feet to the back pushing all of the wind out of him. He also protected Punk while laid upon him in the rear choke, sowing his own defeat as Punk merely rolled over and took the three-count.

It’s not great that GUNTHER took another pin, another chip off his formerly unbeatable aura. But he did continue to look like a monster in this match. Balor looked great for being the one to actually have GUNTHER beat, and Punk walked away with the win, qualifying for the Money in the Bank ladder match and coming off as the clever veteran.

He wasn’t the best of the three, the strongest or the fastest — he was just that little bit more opportunistic. That’s far more believable and compelling than having him power through and GTS someone to win. All in all, taking the good with the bad, this was good main event and by far the best thing on the card.

Written by Max Everett