3 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (17 Oct - Results & Review)

2. They Made The Best Of A Bad Situation

WWE were placed in a rough spot here.

Originally, we were supposed to have a number one contendership match between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu, but Fatu’s injury issues took that off the table. So, management thought swiftly on their feet to have Cody Rhodes blame Drew for attacking Jacob and leaving him bloody mouthed backstage, then they had a short WWE Title match that ended via DQ.

Can’t lie, folks: Yours truly is intrigued to see where all of this is going, because there’s a slight chance Cody is the one who attacked Fatu and that’ll come out in the wash later. He also hit McIntyre with his belt to cause the disqualification finish, which isn’t exactly dignified top babyface behaviour. Splice in some heelish vibe in promos lately and something special could be brewing with Rhodes. It's worth keeping an eye on to see if he triggers that elusive heel turn before 2026 dawns.

This closing bit was chaotic, at least. WWE came up with the whole thing at short notice and it showed, clearly, but it also worked out just fine. Lord only knows where they go from here with Saturday Night’s Main Event on 1 November, but it’ll be fun finding out and that’s often what makes for good TV. Not everything needs to go to plan or be picture perfect in order to have fun as a viewer.

Cody and Drew packed in enough action to make their short title sprint worth it, and there was really nothing anybody could do about Jacob's sucky injury situation anyway. This was a prime example of WWE making the best of a poor hand.