The Mad Dragon Prevais, Defeats Axiom in a Thriller to Retain is United States Championship on Friday Night SmackDown

Another Friday Night SmackDown brought another successful title defence for Ilja Dragunov. He defeated Axiom; however, it wasn’t as easy as it looked, given the caliber and in-ring abilities Axiom possesses. The hitting contest brought out the best in both men. Ilja Dragunov had to walk the tough mile to get through Axiom. He later hugged Axiom to showcase his respect for him.

Ilja Dragunov has been defending his title in back-to-back weeks, and tonight’s match against Axiom was part of the weekly open challenge. The clash between Mad Dragon’s intense power offense and Axiom’s characteristic gravity-defying maneuver glued the audience to their seats. Axiom’s agility and speed initially ensured he evaded Ilja Dragunov and wore down the champion.

.@UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR has successfully defended the #USTitle and is STILL your United States Champion! 🏆#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/T4R0bbDzcs
— WWE (@WWE) November 15, 2025

A DDT from the third rope and a Spanish Fly from Axiom made the crowd chant “This is Awesome”. The crowd believed they had a new champion, but the champion made sure it was a nearfall. Ilja delivered a Torpedo Moscow, followed by an H-Bomb to secure a pinfall victory over his opponent and keep his championship reign intact.

.@Axiom_WWE was pulling out all the stops 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/VspATbScgm
— WWE (@WWE) November 15, 2025

Tommaso Ciampa Attacks Axiom After the Match

While Ilja Dragunov’s victory is a testament to his stature and strengthens his spot as the United States Champion, it went from bad to worse real quick for Axiom. Tommaso Ciampa blind sided Axiom and brutally attacked him. He was ragdolling Axiom until Nathan Frazer rushed in to save his tag team partner.

Nathan Frazer was able to drive Tommaso Ciampa away, but not before he did enough damage to Axiom. Fraxiom ( Nathan Frazer and Axiom) are now scheduled to face DIY ( Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) in a tag team match on Friday Night SmackDown next week.

Image Credit: WWE.com

Axiom

DIY

Fraxiom

Friday Night SmackDown

Ilja Dragunov

Ilja Dragunov vs. Axiom

Johnny Gargano

Nathan Frazer

WWE

WWE SmackDown

WWE United States Championship

Ashish Negi

nfl

wrestling

I am Ashish Negi, and I work as a WWE and NFL writer at The Playoffs. I have 5 years of experience in content writing, and I have written in different domains like Real Estate, but I found my love while writing in sports. I love watching sports and have been a fan of WWE and cricket. I got an opportunity to write full-time on WWE and NFL here, so following the footstep of my hero John Cena, I turn heel on my last company