Critic’s Corner: WWE SmackDown review for September 5, 2025
Welcome to another edition of Critic’s Corner where I give my unbiased report for the September 5, 2025 edition of WWE SmackDown.
We saw the arrival of CM Punk to keep fans tuned in to what he is going to say about what happened on Monday Night RAW regarding his angle with Becky Lynch.
Sami Zayn challenges John Cena for the United States Championship
John Cena came out to a strong response from the Chicago crowd. He said he didn’t have anything planned and was simply there to enjoy the energy and have fun. Sami Zayn’s music hit and, surprisingly, was met with boos for interrupting Cena.
Zayn mentioned that his debut in Chicago was against Cena, who was then the United States Champion and had issued an open challenge. To thank Cena, Zayn wanted to return the favor. Cena agreed, and they shook hands.
I appreciated the callback to their history from 10 years ago because it gave newer fans context while rewarding longtime viewers.
I’ve been enjoying Cena’s matches since his return to the babyface role. I wonder if he just wasn’t comfortable as a heel in the ring or if he was still shaking off ring rust. Either way, he’s been great since the switch. I also like that he’s incorporating other wrestlers’ finisher as it adds unpredictability and keeps the matches fresh. Solid match overall.
Lesnar interfered and attacked Cena. After the commercial break, he said, “Cena, I’ll see you at Wrestlepalooza, bitch.” Hopefully, he’s not planning to steal Okada’s catchphrase going forward.
Backstage
We saw the arrival of Becky Lynch. This will help the audience stay tuned as we now know both her and Punk are in the building.
Aleister Black vs Damian Priest
Decent match but the crowd wasn’t really into this. I think they were coming down from the Cena- Brock angle and waiting for the Punk segment.
Backstage:
They set up a possible Nia Jax vs Jade Cargill match if Cargill beats Tiffany Stratton next week. Always good to have future plans lined up.
Women’s United States Championship Match: Giulia (w/Kiana James) vs Michin
The fans were not into this match. I was pretty much expecting nothing of importance would happen until we had the interference from James. Very predictable with Giulia getting the win.
Charlotte – Alexa backstage
Both Charlotte and Alexa are great competitors but their acting was just not that good here. It seemed forced. It has to be the script as we’ve seen Charlotte and Alexa deliver much better material in the past. I can just hear the director say, “Cut”, after this scene is done.
The return of AJ Lee
This whole segment was great. It started with Seth Rollins giving his interview near a sky box in the crowd. Right off the bat you knew this was going to have heat because he can run his mouth without Punk up there to shut it. Rollins introduced Becky Lynch who got booed out of the building. This was great because once again Rollins was the chicken-shit heel sending his wife to do his dirty work.
As Becky ran down every sports team Chicago has to offer, CM Punk’s music played and the fans went crazy for him. Punk told Becky this isn’t about her. Becky continued to taunt Punk again, almost picking up where she left off on Monday. She said, “Aren’t you embarrassed? How’s your face?”
Punk again said, ‘This isn’t about you, it’s about your cowardly husband.” The crowd started chanting for AJ Lee. Becky again paint-brushed Punk repeatedly like she did on Raw. Becky was absolutely phenomenal in her role of confidently yelling at him, slapping him, and basically trying to get Punk to hit her knowing he couldn’t or he would probably get fired and/or go to jail. Punk had great facial reactions to this as you can see him getting more and more pissed off but having to restrain himself from hitting her back. Unlike on Monday when he had to walk away, tonight he got revenge when AJ Lee came out to a thunderous reaction. Lee came in and attacked Becky. The place was completely into this and happy to see Lee return.
This entire angle so far on Raw and now tonight has been incredible. You can feel the emotions of everybody involved and it was booked to get heat. Great job to everybody involved in this angle so far. Can’t wait to see this angle continue and culminate in a match.
