WWE SmackDown results, highlights (Oct. 3): The Vision punks Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton

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There are plenty of WWE events that don't struggle to earn the "glorified house show" label. Tonight's "WWE SmackDown" in Cincinnati, Ohio, however, felt very much worthy of that title — which isn't great for a weekly show. To close things out, there was a typical interference finish that reverted back to recent booking trends WWE had seemingly started moving away from.

🫤 Confusion of the Night

The Vision's appearances on "SmackDown" aren't hitting. Especially after "Raw," when Seth Rollins seemingly wanted to take out Cody Rhodes by himself. Then, on this show, the Brons sought to beat down the Universal WWE Champion and Randy Orton — the latter of whom has just kind of reappeared alongside Rhodes, clearly with the intentions of regaining the title he literally keeps eyeing.

The main event between Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed vs. Rhodes and Orton was a solid match that featured some good moments. Specifically, Breakker jumping off the apron to smash Rhodes through the barricade, and a big back body drop from Breakker to Rhodes. The champion was tossed around like nothing, displaying how awesome of an athlete Breakker is. (If we needed anymore evidence.)

Orton's in-ring character is elite at this stage, but regardless, he took the pin here when a Paul Heyman distraction allowed for a Rollins stomp into a Reed Tsunami. Cool, I guess. Unless something more significant happens with Orton, which feels quite possible, this is all feeling quite scattered. The whole Rollins-Rhodes revisit is forced for Crown Jewel as is, so this shouldn't be a surprise.

To close things off, Rollins got greedy and pursued a stomp to Rhodes too, but was countered and hit with a Cross Rhodes. Sure.

🥱 Predictability of the Night

The U.S. title open challenge's run of successful matches has inevitably come to an end. As soon as Carmello Hayes made his entrance, an attack from The Miz was expected. Instead of in a rematch against Sami Zayn, it occurred before the match, stopping it from even happening. Then Aleister Black waltzed his way to the ring to take the challenge.

And right then, it was obvious that Damian Priest would make his presence felt because his Black feud refuses to end, for no good reason.

Unsurprisingly, Zayn vs. Black was great while it lasted, but the looming silly finish was far from the cleverness of, let's say, this past "Raw's" Intercontinental title match. Priest just walked by the ring when Black was in the corner, distracting him into a Helluva Kick-Blue Thunder Bomb combo to give Zayn the win.

Don't get it twisted, Zayn finishing matches like that is sweet, but this story intertwinement, including Hayes', devalued this whole match with its lazy predictability. Regardless, Zayn sold every strike from Black like death, and the Helluva Kick-Meteora counter was awesome.

Hopefully, the Black vs. Priest feud will finally end when they have their Last Man Standing match next week.

👍 FRIDAY NIGHT FIRE 👍

1. Sol Ruca and Zaria defeated The Secret Hervice when Ruca hit Chelsea Green with a Sol-Snatcher. It was a fairly brief match, and, like the duo's last "SmackDown" appearance, it primarily served to showcase Ruca, in particular. That was about all it needed to be.

🤷‍♂️ IT HAPPENED 🤷‍♂️

Solo Sikoa had another vignette, continuing to hype up MFT. The removal of Sikoa has made it feel like WWE wants to reset and get the group back to a fresh start after a quite frankly annoying stretch.

👎 DOWN & OUT 👎

1. I wasn't kidding about giving Booker T downvotes for every show he doesn't commentary for.

2. I'm really not too much of a kayfabe stickler, but certain terminology used on-screen can feel very odd. On this "SmackDown," The Miz casually dropped a "I took three finishers" when he confronted Carmello Hayes backstage. I chuckled, but that, on-screen, seems like an admission of loss — no matter what.

3. Tiffany Stratton and Stephanie Vaquer had the quickest contract signing of all time. There's nothing here, and the match is being treated like a real fight or something. All these two have said to each other is that they'll win their match.

However, it didn't end on a completely empty note, as Giulia and Kiana James attacked Stratton and tried to recruit Vaquer after. The latter of which doesn't really make sense, considering Vaquer and Giulia's history. Ultimately, Giulia should be in this title picture, but this couldn't further prove the pointlessness of her U.S. title.

In the meantime, James and Giulia will face Vaquer and Stratton on the next "SmackDown." Oh, I wonder who could possibly take the pin in that match.

👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑

More Je'Von Evans, the merrier. The "NXT" star made another appearance on "SmackDown," this time in a tag team with Rey Fenix against Los Garza.

I mean, what do you expect? This combination of wrestlers, while totally random, was magnificent. WWE is very clearly wanting to highlight Evans on the main roster, which leads one to believe his permanent arrival is coming sooner rather than later.

The match delivered all the epic high-flying maneuvers you'd hope for and expect. And as great as it was, I'm still left wondering why WWE is afraid to give us the Lucha Bros reunion. Fenix is currently going through a rotation of random partners. At least this time, he picked up a win with the Mexican Muscle Buster, while Evans hit an OG Cutter across the ring to help get the win.

👑 I give this show a Crown score of: 3.5/10. 👑