Friday Night SmackDown aired this week from inside the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Fresh off Crown Jewel in Perth, Australia last Saturday, the blue brand’s Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton came up short in her Crown Jewel Championship match against Raw’s Women’s World Champion, Stephanie Vaquer. How did the Buff Barbie rebound following her loss? Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss also had their hands full tonight as they defended their Women’s Tag Team Championship against Sol Ruca and Zaria of NXT. Who won? And lastly, why did Zelina Vega join up with Aleister Black last week? Let’s get started and find out.
The Women’s Tag Team Championship match kicked off the in-ring action tonight. Blake Monroe was spotted in the crowd watching, which commentator Corey Graves speculated could have been a way to play mind games with Ruca as she has demonstrated interest in her Women’s North American Championship on NXT in recent weeks.
Things started off between Flair and Ruca, with the two sharing lock-ups and arm drags, before tagging in their partners. Bliss was quick to slap and hit a dropkick to Zaria, as she fought hard to avoid being overpowered by the Australian-born star. After a commercial break, the show returned with Bliss trying to tag in Flair as Zaria continued to dominate, tagging in Ruca who took over for her team, faceplanting Bliss to the mat. Bliss was lucky enough to miss a double team maneuver and tagged in Flair, who hit a crossbody and her signature chops on both Ruca and Zaria. After some back and forth between Zaria and Flair, Ruca was tagged in, knocking Bliss off the ring apron, but got caught into a Boston crab by The Queen, which she tried to counter into a pin. Kicking Flair out of a figure four, the dual champion hit a Sol Snatcher on Flair, but Bliss broke up the pin in time and got swung into the barricade by Zaria.
Flair checked on Bliss outside the ring as Monroe clapped on from the crowd, with Ruca getting in her face. Flair took advantage to throw Ruca back into the ring and put her into the Figure Eight, forcing her to tap out and ensuring the Allies of Convenience retained their titles. The two teams then shook hands afterwards.
Zelina Vega appeared with Aleister Black in a vignette. As a snake crawled on Black’s arm, the Dutch Destroyer lent his voice to a narration, stating that he was most proud of the fact that he has been setting his alliance with Vega for months. The reality is that everything he has done has been a calculated move in his head, and he has not felt this accomplished since aligning with his wife.
Vega says that this partnership isn’t new, was always part of the plan, and by their design. Black states that this was the inevitable truth, none more methodical and none more violent than his wife. Per Vega, they are not the infection, just the mirror that shows it. Black is not a fan of putting all his cards on the table, but he’ll let us know this: they are what perhaps we would call a necessary evil, referring to himself and Vega as “the balance”. Vega ends the segment by saying that the venom isn’t poison, it’s salvation.
Following a recap of Crown Jewel‘s title match, Cathy Kelley interviewed Tiffany Stratton. Asking Stratton how her performance against Stephanie Vaquer affects her as champion, the Center of the Universe says that she’s not going to pretend that she’s happy about losing; Vaquer is a great champion and took her to her limits, but she’s been undefeated for the past year and one loss does not define her, especially as she is still the WWE Women’s Champion, so she is focused on what is next.
Kiana James happens to walk in, and tells Stratton like it is. Her outlook may be inspiring, but at the end of the day, she still lost, so she’ll put it into words that Stratton will understand: that loss was precisely why she offered her professional expertise to Stephanie and not to her. James knew she didn’t have what it took, since she only represents premium talent like the Women’s United States Champion Giulia (who is currently on WWE’s tour of Japan), citing her as the type of high value investment that pays off every time. Stratton says that maybe James knows that she doesn’t have “it”, mentioning the old saying of “Those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach”. Stratton replaced “teach” with “represent”, a jab that undercuts the in-ring ability of James, but the legal representative maintains that she is perfectly capable of getting the job done in the ring. Stratton tells her to prove it by facing her in a match next week. James says, “gladly”, and walks off.
A “did you know?” factoid was shown afterwards, mentioning that Stratton has the highest percentage of wins out of any Superstar on the WWE roster in 2025, with a 17-1 win-loss record.
Candice LeRae was backstage with #DIY, laughing alongside them as they mocked Nathan Frazer and Axiom in the midst of discussing the tag team division. When Tomasso Ciampa mentioned that LeRae and Johnny Gargano’s son Quill wanted a “stupid mask” for Halloween, The Poison Pixie pointed to Axiom, referring to his signature mask as a stupid mask, which Gargano tried to touch. After Axiom challenged Gargano to a match and left, LeRae told her husband, “that guy is probably ugly, right?”, which didn’t help Gargano decipher what Axiom had told him in Spanish.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona, with the following set to take place:
- Tiffany Stratton vs. Kiana James
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s edition of SmackDown in the comments below.