WWE SmackDown 8/15/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," now with 98% more Sami Zayn! That's right, everyone's favorite French-Canadian underdog is back on the blue brand and once again surrounded by people named Fatu — we have thoughts on that, as well as the Wyatt Sicks, the women's division, Carmelo Hayes, and R-Truth. And the best part is, whether we liked or disliked each of those particular things, they all serve as evidence for the charge that Friday night booker Road Dogg still doesn't really know what he's doing.

No, we're still not covering the entire show even though it's only two hours now, but yes, you can still check out our "SmackDown" results page if you feel like you missed anything. For those who care what the WINC staff thought of this week's blue brand festivities, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/15/25 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

The Wyatt Sicks' Uncle Howdy, Joe Gacy, Dexter Lumis, Erick Rowan, and Nikki Cross looked to be getting back to their spooky roots a bit tonight as the rest of "SmackDown's" tag team division feuded around them, and though it was super subtle at points, that's partially why I really liked it. I've often complained about how much I dislike the Wyatts having the WWE Tag Team Championships, but the way they were just kind of creeping around the tag team division tonight as the rest of the teams feuded with one another really worked.

Members of the faction were seen hanging around in the shadows backstage, and even at one point blatantly in the crowd, tonight. Having one instance where two members, one being Joe Gacy, were out in front of fans, highlighted with spotlights, briefly during the Carmelo Hayes and Miz match against FrAxiom was a good choice. The faction is still intimidating their opponents, but the rest of the night, everything was a bit more subtle. The first time, in the crowd, actually helped me notice the others throughout the night. Someone was lurking in the back when Solo Sikoa put the Street Profits on notice that the MFTs were now going to be gunning for the titles as well. Uncle Howdy, though he was a bit better lit, was in the background of the segment with General Manager Nick Aldis, this Motor City Machine Guns, and Melo Don't Miz. 

I thought this was a nice change-up from the usual short videos the Wyatts had been doing over the last few weeks and around SummerSlam. I though this was much more effective at keeping them in the front of not only their opponents' minds, but us as fans, as well.

While I don't necessarily love the fact Cross might be in the picture for the WWE Women's title or the Women's United States Championship, I'm really just hoping having her creep around Tiffany Stratton and Kiana James was just something to keep this story consistent tonight, since it makes more sense she'd be around the other women.

I may not have any idea what WWE is going to do with the tag championships or how they're going to get them off the Wyatt Sicks without making them look week, but I did enjoy this tonight. I'd love if WWE keep up the spooky shenanigans, with things getting darker and weirder backstage, until after Halloween this point, especially with the Wyatt Sicks-themed house at Halloween Horror Nights coming up. It would give the writers hopefully more time to figure things out, and it's entertaining for us as viewers to see what creepy thing might happen next.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I was worried about the women's division on "SmackDown" following WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton's win over Jade Cargill at SummerSlam, and now my fears are being proven correct. The division somehow isn't deep enough for new challengers for Stratton, and now, it looks like we could be back to square one with Stratton facing off against a returning Nia Jax, something I really don't want to see all over again for what feels like at least the third time.

Stratton and Cargill were shown in a backstage segment tonight where "The Storm" was asking General Manager Nick Aldis for a rematch despite losing at "The Biggest Party of the Summer." Jax then made her return to the blue brand, after defeating Lash Legend on "WWE NXT" on Tuesday, and basically told Stratton she's coming for her and that Cargill couldn't get the job done despite winning Queen of the Ring, like she did. I don't want to see either one of these women challenge Stratton again, but it looks likely we're going to soon see a number one contender's match pitting Jax and Cargill against each other to determine just that.

The one possible new challenger for Stratton's title already has one herself, however, and she's barely seen on the blue brand as it is. Kiana James, Women's United States Champion Giulia's legal representation or whatever the heck she is, put Stratton on notice that Giulia was gunning for the title in another backstage segment. While I really love Giulia and think she should be in the main women's title picture, she has done absolutely nothing with the Women's US gold. She publicly said how much she wanted to be on the SummerSlam card, and instead, had a match against Zelina Vega on the "SmackDown" before the two-night event. 

While I currently don't have a lot of faith, and no reason to have any, that Giulia is going to be used correctly on the main roster, at least she'd be a new challenger for Stratton. It could very well be that WWE wants to book her as the first person to hold a women's mid-card title alongside a main championship, like Stephanie Vaquer got to do in "NXT" with the Women's NXT Championship and the Women's North American title. I don't see any way for Giulia to gracefully lose the US title, then go on to challenge Stratton while still looking strong.

Nikki Cross was also floating around during the James and Stratton segment, but I just can't see WWE using Cross in the women's division right now outside of any mixed tag team matches that may pop up with the Wyatt Sicks. It also just seemed like more of a through line to the rest of the faction creeping around backstage tonight during other tag teams' segments.

I wish I could say I'm interested to see where this goes, but I would bet good money on Stratton's next challenger being either Cargill or Jax once again.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Last week, one of my colleagues wrote (very well, I thought) about the disappointment of seeing Ron Killings seemingly revert to his previous R-Truth character merely because John Cena had turned babyface again. It felt like there was potential in this new Killings character, and more than that, the word is that it was something Killings wanted to do — a departure from what we might (uncharitably but not necessarily inaccurately) have described as a minstrel character. Seeing him go back to regular old Truth — even clicking his heels while doing so — with precisely none of that potential having been realized was a pretty eye-rolling development.

This week, however, we got a significantly cooler development: the revelation that with Truth might be back, Killings isn't gone. We weren't the only ones pleased by this; Aleister Black was the man who came backstage looking for "Mr. Killings," and seemed more than satisfied to have drawn him out by questioning his friendship with recent Black rival Damian Priest. I hope their match next week goes longer than their first one, but more than that, I appreciate Truth taking the time to let us know that he can and will pull out Ron Killings again at any given moment. I popped for Truth's Judgment Day antics like everyone else back in 2023, but I'm significantly more interested in Killings as a character appearing on a wrestling show, and I have officially learned my lesson about telling him who he is.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

It's always nice to see Carmelo Hayes and The Miz get some television time since they've largely been absent from television, but there's no reason that they even need to be reunited as a team in the first place. It doesn't really make any sort of context since it came completely out of nowhere, and they're not really a pair that a good portion of the fanbase necessarily wants to see team up with one another. Hayes is an incredible talent, and quite frankly, he should be going after a title rather than teaming up with The Miz. It's clear that WWE don't know what to do with Hayes and haven't given him great creative, but he should be competing as a singles star and showing the world what he's capable of between the ropes. If WWE was even going to give Hayes a match tonight being in his hometown of Boston, then they should've just pitted Hayes against The Miz by having Miz try to get Hayes to team with him last week only for Hayes to actually reject him as it was more likely to keep the crowd interested unlike the tag team match that instead happened.

The actual action during the match itself between Melo Don't Miz and Fraxiom (which by the way, two atrocious tag team) was pretty solid and there were a few cool moments throughout it (looking at you springboard Spanish Fly that Frazer hit on Hayes), but having Miz tag in to deliver a Skull Crushing Finale on Nathan Frazer to pick up the win while Hayes was setting up for Nothing But Net really took away from that. It didn't align with the picture that commentary was trying to paint of Miz being Hayes' so-called mentor (which wasn't even needed in the first place and doesn't make much sense given that Hayes has been involved in the wrestling business for over ten years). While I can understand WWE looking to get across a lack of communication between the pair, there was already enough of that throughout the match making all of this completely unnecessary.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Sami Zayn officially switched brands this week after wrapping up his really enjoyable feud with Karrion Kross, one purely predicated on the idea that Zayn would have to embrace the hate in order to become WWE World Champion. The fact of the matter is, he was feuding with Kross because Zayn is a compelling enough name that demands to be on weekly programming but had truly exhausted all directions as a babyface on Monday nights. 

A feud with Seth Rollins as World Heavyweight Champion would only serve to put him in a placeholder position for CM Punk and Roman Reigns, a feud with the Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio would stunt either of them when they really need to be hitting their stride, and that left little room for a man who has outwardly made it his goal to climb the ladder. 

So "SmackDown" is very much the brand of that opportunity, and while he is currently in no position to be demanding opportunities against Cody Rhodes (see the previous issues), there was an optimal story to tell with the United States Champion: Solo Sikoa. Zayn appeared during last week's "SmackDown" as a Montreal surprise and picked up the win over Sikoa in non-title action last week, thus creating the bridge for him to make a claim for another title he has never held, despite his very best attempts (like the match with John Cena, an all-timer). 

I did note last week that Zayn and Sikoa have their own intrinsic story and accompanying dynamic, and that hasn't changed in the time since, in fact it fed perfectly into what would eventually transpire. Zayn fell victim to an attack from MFT (that name is stupid, I prefer New Bloodline, henceforth that shall be their name), and then Jimmy Uso came out to make the save for his "Dawg," only to once again fall victim to the SHEER SIZE OF TALLA TONGA, prompting Jacob Fatu to then make the save and put a quaint werewolf-furred bow on the segment. 

Naturally, that set up the main event, a trios match pitting the New Bloodline against the Original Bloodline – and their new member Fatu – which was in itself preceded by segments involving Bloodlines new and old ironing out their issues, the former in terms of staking their claim on the tag titles, and the latter in trying to figure out where they stand with one another; Fatu insisted he was standing by his brother, Jimmy, while he did not know Zayn like that; Zayn insisted much in the same way, and their common ground was to be found on the fly. Apparently, "Can they co-exist?" works when it actually makes sense. 

The match itself worked in being a fun TV main event, capped with Zayn picking up the win and an ever-elusive hug from Fatu when all was said and done. Also, honorable mention to Talla Tonga for putting forth his best impression of Billy from Predator, subtle and nuanced stuff like that with the Wyatt Sicks feels refreshing.

Written by Max Everett

If you've somehow missed it, we are in the Road Dogg Era: Part Duex. If you watched "SmackDown" the first time around with him in charge, you know how things went and haven't been excited about the remix. Tonight was a big example of that. It started with Nia Jax once again reinserting herself into an angle with Tiffany Stratton. We had a big, long story with that when Stratton was Jax's right hand until she eventually cashed in her MITB briefcase on her to become champion. Of course, that led to a feud between the two. The champion moved on to a feud with Charlotte Flair and then one with Jade Cargill. Instead of building a storyline with someone like Michin or Candice LeRae, they're reheating nachos.

Road D-O-Double-G wasn't done there. In a backstage segment, Byron Saxton was talking to R-Truth about John Cena's literal Attitude Adjustment when Aleister Black confronted Truth. Right before he was going to be let go from his contract and brought back as Ron Killings, Truth was in the early phases of a feud with Black. Just after he came back as Killings, he defeated Black in a two minute squash. There wasn't really any follow up and now that Truth is a babyface again, they've decided to return to the story.

Fans have been using the hashtag #WeWantMelo on social media and WWE took that as "reunite Melo Don't Miz," who faced off against Fraxiom. It was a pretty solid match, but not at all what people meant. Miz stole the pin from Melo as he was on the turnbuckle. While Miz celebrated, he looked at him wondering where he got the audacity. Oblivious to his partner, Miz embraced Melo and attempted to get him to celebrate the win. This story has already turned into the dreaded "can they coexist?" trope.

WWE even had Jimmy Uso reuniting with Sami Zayn to team up with a hesitant Jacob Fatu against Solo Sikoa and MFT. It's fine to revisit feuds when enough time has passed, but basically everything on "SmackDown" this week tasted like last month's leftovers.

Written by Samantha Schipman