Smackdown Review – 07.25.25

The week in WWE so far: LFG | Raw | NXT | Evolve | Hulk Hogan passes

Smackdown is live this week from the Rocket Arena in Cleveland, OH.

The show opens with the entire Smackdown roster and a lot of Hall of Famers onstage to pay tribute to Hulk Hogan. You can watch the opening here as I won’t be recapping the entire thing. Triple H says Hogan inspired millions of people and that the group onstage wouldn’t be standing there without his impact. There’s a ten bell salute that sees a very emotional Jimmy Hart, who seems genuinely touched when a Hogan chant breaks out. A tribute video plays that is a typically great piece on Hogan throughout his career. We go to commercials.

The announce team for tonight’s show is Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett on match call and analysis, Mark Nash on ring introductions, and Cathy Kelley on backstage interviews.

Tessitore and Barrett talk about the impact of Hulk Hogan, and Logan Paul‘s entrance music interrupts. (I think Paul must be visiting the same “nutritionist” as Kyle Fletcher is if you get my drift). Mark Nash introduces Paul as “the pride of Cleveland” to a chorus of boos. Paul makes a joke about the crowd chanting “Thank you Logan” (Instead of Hogan, get it? Paul is a riot.). Paul says the city raised him, but he “made” the city. Paul says he’s going to treat the crowd to an episode of Impaulsive TV.

Jelly Roll is out after Paul runs him down for a few minutes. JR says the only thing Paul has ever inspired is “little asshole kids going around filming themselves like little assholes”. Paul’s had enough and tells him that he’s getting in the ring with two of WWE’s finest talents and he’ll get to tag in Drew McIntyre while Randy Orton will only get to tag in JR. JR says he’s doing it for all the poor kids who got picked on by people like Paul. JR’s been a fan of WWE his entire life and that the WWE represented him and all the fans. JR calls Paul “soft as Charmin” and a “Prime peddlin’ punk-ass bitch”.

Drew McIntyre slithers in, and JR reminds them that he didn’t come alone. “Voices” brings out Randall Keith Orton to a big pop. As the crowd is singing along, Orton just slugs McIntyre and it’s on. McIntyre rakes Orton’s eyes on the floor and then scrambles in to waffle Jelly Roll with a right as he was working Paul over in the corner. McIntyre mounts JR, but then decides to let Paul do the dirty work. Paul starts dropping bombs as Orton recovers to yank McIntyre to the floor. Orton puts the boots to McIntyre as a revived JR starts throwing right jabs at Paul. JR hits Paul with a back elbow and a shoulder tackle (Tessitore is going NUTS here). Paul responds with a boot to JR’s mid-section and he loads up for the big punch. JR ducks it and Paul flies off the ropes into a Jelly Roll Black Hole Slam. Orton is hyped as the heels are licking their wounds in the aisle.

The crowd is eating this stuff up whenever Jelly Roll does basically anything, and he’s genuinely trying. I don’t know if this will be good or not but I’m sure Orton and McIntyre will keep the guy as safe as they possibly can. Tessitore is also really helping this thing get over with his typical enthusiasm.

Here’s a pre-taped promo from Andrade y Rey Fenix. Andrade says he knows who Fenix is, El Animal. Fenix says he knows who Andrade is, La Sombra. They talk about how every move in the tag division is intentional, but they are on a different level and it’s only a matter of time before the gold is around their waists.

Alexa Bliss makes her entrance with Charlotte Flair accompanying her, holding Bliss’s jet black cheerleader pom-poms from last week as we go to commercials.

Alexa Bliss vs Roxanne Perez

Perez, who now has official Judgement Day logos in her tron video, is accompanied by Raquel Rodriguez. Flair defeated Rodriguez in their singles match last week, so we’ll see how this goes as the bell rings and we’re off. (The first wrestling match starts 36 minutes into the show!)

Bliss gets three quick roll-ups for one before Perez puts a stop to it by yanking Bliss to the mat by her hair. Bliss tries another roll-up and gets one, so Perez slaps her in the face. Bliss did not enjoy that, so she trips Perez to the mat before charging her in the corner. Perez covers up so Bliss smacks her in the mid-section before slapping Perez in the face to retaliate. Perez bails to the floor to confer with Rodriguez and as she turns back around, Bliss flies off the apron with a rolling tackle. Rodriguez advances but Flair strides up and gets in her face as we go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Bliss fires Perez back in the ring. Bliss walks over Perez and hits her with a double stomp. Rodriguez interferes with Bliss giving Perez a chance to wallop Bliss from behind as she was griping with Rodriguez. Perez starts whaling away with both fists before whipping Bliss to the corner. Perez hits a flying Euro uppercut and a side Russian leg sweep. Perez covers for two. Flair tries to fire up the crowd as Perez yanks Bliss back to the mat. Perez messes with Bliss’s ponytails so Bliss slaps her dead on the ass. (This sequence killed me because you could actually see a bully do that to Bliss, and the ass slap response was hysterical). Perez drapes Bliss over the second rope and drives a knee into her back as Rodriguez taunts from the floor. Perez stands on Bliss’s back and uses the ropes for leverage. Perez covers for two. Perez grabs a chinlock but Bliss drops to her knees to break it. Perez runs Bliss over with a clothesline and covers for two. Perez grabs Bliss’s hands and ties her up, but when Bliss tries to power out Perez just yanks her again to the mat. Perez stands on Bliss with one foot on her back and the other on her head as she uses the ropes for leverage to drive Bliss’s head into the mat repeatedly.

Back live with Bliss firing up and hitting a Dragon Screw leg whip on Perez. A charging Perez eats a Bliss elbow, and then a high boot. Bliss runs Perez over twice and then hits a forearm and knee lift. Bliss hits a standing shotgun dropkick and then stands on Perez like she had done to Bliss earlier. Bliss hits a rolling neckbreaker on Perez, but her Sister Abigail attempt is thwarted when Perez rakes the eyes. As the ref admonishes Perez, Rodriguez pulls Bliss down throat-first on the second rope. Perez hits a second rope moonsault for two as a pissed off Flair runs Rodriguez over the barrier to the timekeeper’s area. Flair barks at Perez who then turns into a big right hand from Bliss. Bliss nails Perez with a DDT and ascends. Rodriguez recovers and nails Flair with a big boot. Rodriguez wants a powerbomb, but Flair slips it and Bliss nails Rodriguez with Twisted Bliss from the top rope to the floor. (This was a scary spot, trust me, and I think Bliss broke her nose because she came up bleeding immediately). As soon as Bliss gets back in the ring, Perez rolls her up while holding the bottom rope and gets three.

It started kind of weirdly but got better as it went along. Bliss will forever be just slightly awkward in the ring, and I didn’t love Perez’s offense in this one. I expected this result ahead of Summerslam given Flair beat Rodriguez last week and hey, guess what, booking isn’t all that hard. I hope Bliss’s nose will be okay. 2.5*

Winner – Roxanne Perez (roll up with rope leverage)

Cathy Kelley is backstage with Jade Cargill as the MFT’s and Solo Sikoa are in the background. Kelley asks Cargill how she’s feeling prior to her title match at Summerslam, and she says she’s going to show everyone why she’s a natural born champion. As Cargill exits, here’s Chelsea Green and The Secret Hervice. Green tells the Hervice to “secure the perimeter and get me coffee” before griping to Kelley that she got screwed in the Queen of the Ring tournament and it should be her facing Tiffany Stratton at Summerslam. Green calls Cargill “stupid” as Cargill comes back into the scene to listen to Green’s comments. Kelley is trying to indicate to Green that Cargill is behind her and Green finally gets the hint. Cargill slugs Green and then rams her into a mirrored wall just outside of Gorilla. Cargill hoists Green over her shoulders and marches into the arena with her. Green slips off so Cargill casually sends her flying up the aisle. There’s a referee in the ring as Cargill whips Green in. The bell rings?

Jade Cargill vs Chelsea Green

Cargill ducks a clothesline attempt and nails Green with a pump kick that sends her to the floor. As Cargill chirps at Green the Hervice finally arrive on the scene. We go to commercials.

Back live with Green posing mid-ring as Cargill is poised in the corner. Cargill runs Green over twice before grabbing Green as she tries a cross-body. Cargill hits a fall-away slam and nips up. Cargill nails a prone Green with flying elbows in the corner before chokeslamming Green decisively. Alba Fyre jumps up to the apron and as Cargill is distracted, Green recovers and hits an awkward Codebreaker-looking thing on Cargill. Green covers for two. Green tries for the Unpretty-her but Cargill slips it. Cargill hits Jaded and that gets three.

Not a whole lot to this one, just a showcase for Cargill and the post-match angle. Green is tremendous in her role and I hope she gets something meatier at some point because I enjoyed her US title run. Can’t give this much as there wasn’t much to it. 1.5*

Winner – Jade Cargill (Jaded)

Post-match sees Fyre superkick Cargill into Niven who head-butts her. They start clubbering on Cargill and here’s WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton sprinting to the ring. Stratton leaps on Fyre and starts pounding away. Niven tries to break that up only to get caught between Stratton and Cargill who send Niven to the floor with a double dropkick. Cargill picks up Stratton’s belt, kisses it, and then puts it over her shoulder. Stratton asks for it back so Cargill hands it to her but won’t immediately release it. Cargill relents and then tells Stratton she’ll see her at Summerslam.

Backstage with a bloody Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair who tells Bliss that she’s sorry about her nose but things like tonight cannot happen at Summerslam. Bliss thanks her for being cool about it, and Flair says they’re partners. Flair says after they become champions she’ll think about being Bliss’s friend and they grin at each other. Flair pats Bliss gently on the head and leaves.

I officially really like THIS version of Charlotte so much more than almost any other version of her. She’s clearly very much enjoying working with Bliss in this capacity and it’s good for both of them to do things like this type of partnership. The women’s tag belts still seem to have an injury curse around them though as I imagine Bliss is going to have to mask up for Summerslam.

Cody Rhodes is making his way to the ring as we go to commercials.

After commercials, highlights are shown of Hulk Hogan defeating the Iron Sheik for the WWF title in January of 1984 at Madison Square Garden. That green belt was cool as hell.

Here’s Cody Rhodes for a chat. (At this point, my DVR recording shits the bed and I’m forced to find an alternate source to WATCH the WRESTLING. What I’m saying is I’m not sure how this Netflix feed will compare with the USA feed, we’ll see.) Highlights are shown from the contract signing that happened last week where Rhodes attacked WWE Men’s Champion John Cena before signing the contract with a downed Cena’s fist.

Rhodes talks about the complicated feelings around the passing of Hulk Hogan, but what isn’t complicated are Hogan’s accomplishments and contributions. Rhodes says they’re staggering and indisputable. Rhodes thanks Hogan and moves on to talking about the Street Fight. Rhodes says there are Street Fights and then there’s what’s going to happen at Summerslam. Rhodes promises violence but he doesn’t want to wrestle “this John Cena” who didn’t even want to have the match in the first place. Rhodes wants the “real John Cena” because if Rhodes is going to stand and claim the title, he wants to earn it. Rhodes says he wants all the hustle and loyalty and they can beat the respect into each other. The crowd starts the sing-song “Cody, Cody Rhodes” chant. Rhodes says he needs to know that his story meant something and the only person that has the answer to that question is Cena.

Tessitore throws to a highlight package of last week’s events involving Solo Sikoa, the MFT’s, Jacob Fatu and Jimmy Uso. Back live and here’s Jacob Fatu backstage. Fatu says he loved Sikoa but he’s the reason it is the way it is between them right now. Fatu is livid that Sikoa tried to frame him after he told his family he was never going back to jail. Fatu says he can’t wait to be in the cage for the title and here’s The Miz to interrupt. Miz is pissed because Fatu put him on the shelf six weeks ago. Miz says he isn’t in the background, he’s a main character and he went to Nick Aldis and got a match with him and Fatu right now. Miz shouts out Cleveland and says he’s back, before making the AWFUL MISTAKE OF SLAPPING JACOB FATU IN THE FACE. Miz makes his entrance (and I presume they go to commercials here).

Here’s a pre-taped promo from Aleister Black. Black talks about Damien Priest sticking his nose into Black’s business and how now Priest owes the debt he was trying to collect from Ron Killings. Here’s Damien Priest to respond by saying that Black reminds him of a debt collector he used to know. After Priest got done with the guy they never tried to collect ever again. Black says he’ll leave Priest with nothing and Priest will finally see himself and not like what he sees. Priest says he’s The Bad Guy and he’s bringing his fists. This was a solid piece and they’ll meet on next week’s Smackdown.

Jacob Fatu vs The Miz

They lock up to start and Miz gains the advantage with some lefts. Fatu tosses Miz to the corner and charges, but Miz gets the boot up. Fatu ducks a clothesline attempt and wipes Miz out with a shoulder tackle. Fatu splashes Miz in the corner, but Miz slips Fatu’s Hip Attack and bails to the apron. Fatu flattens Miz with a clothesline and then pops him with a couple of rights. Here’s WWE Men’s US Champion Solo Sikoa and The MFT’s and as they walk down the aisle, Miz clips a distracted Fatu in the knee. Miz tosses Fatu into the ring-post shoulder first and Fatu tumbles to the floor. Presumably commercials happen here.

Back live with Miz nailing Fatu with a dropkick through the second and third ropes. Miz and Sikoa mock Fatu’s shimmy before Miz runs Fatu into the barrier. Miz dumps Fatu back in the ring and nails him with a couple running kicks. Miz drops some elbows and then grabs at Fatu’s nose and eyes. Miz tries another running kick but Fatu ducks it and yanks Miz up for a Samoan Drop, but Miz slips off. Miz hits Fatu with an elbow and tries for a cross-body, but Fatu catches him and hits Miz with a swinging body slam. As Fatu ascends Sikoa goes on to the apron to distract. Fatu tries a swanton but Miz gets the knees up and then springs up to nail Fatu with a DDT. Miz covers for two.

Miz goes to ground and pound before hitting Fatu with the Yes Kicks. Miz charges and eats a superkick from Fatu as both guys are down. They finally get to their feet as Fatu wins a slugfest before clotheslining Miz to the mat. Fatu hits a running senton and a big splash on Miz in the corner. Fatu mounts and hits Miz with ten headbutts before nailing Miz with the Hip Attack. The MFT’s drag a dazed Miz to the floor so Fatu hits a tope suicida on the group. Fatu fights off Talla Tonga and Sikoa before scampering in the ring to drop a charging Miz with a fall-away Samoan Drop. Fatu covers and gets three.

Miz got the hometown shine here with a bunch of offense but it felt like Fatu shrugged a lot of it off. It was obvious where this was going with Solo and the goons showing up, so the post-match angle was the much bigger story than this match was. 2.5*

Winner – Jacob Fatu (Fall-away Samoan Drop)

Post-match sees the MFT’s and Sikoa swarm Fatu immediately. Predictably this brings out Jimmy Uso as I wonder where he was when the MFT’s showed up originally. Uso whips a chair into JC Mateo’s face before wiping out Tonga Loa with a superkick. Uso wipes out Talla Tonga with a roundhouse kick before dumping a charging Sikoa to the floor. Uso hits Talla Tonga with a couple of chairshots and the big man fires up. Tonga wipes out Uso with a big boot and the MFT’s re-enter. Uso gets dumped to the floor and as Tonga holds Fatu from behind, Fatu kicks Sikoa away and fires up. Fatu disposes of the MFT’s and destroys Sikoa with a Hip Attack. Fatu picks up the chair Uso brought in and puts it over Sikoa’s head. As Fatu charges for another Hip Attack Talla Tonga waffles him with a clothesline. Sikoa orders Tonga to chokeslam Fatu, so he does. Sikoa yanks up Fatu for a Samoan Spike and the MFT’s and Sikoa stand tall to a chorus of boos.

Backstage, Cathy Kelley is with B-Fab and the Street Profits. Kelley asks the group what Andrade and Fenix have to do to take the titles from the Wyatts. Ford says the Wyatts have to be dealt with in a different kind of way but the bigger question is why the Profits weren’t in the qualifying match last week. Dawkins says they don’t care who wins the title match because they have next. Here’s Candace LeRae with DIY to say that they should be the ones to fix the mess the Profits made when they lost the titles. Dawkins, while cackling, asks Gargano why he kicked Ciampa in the face. Ciampa says it’s “family business” and they’ve handled it, and the Profits should just stay out of the way.

After commercials, another Hogan retrospective takes place, and this one is about Wrestlemania 3.

Here’s Zelina Vega to confront WWE Women’s US Champion Giulia. Here’s Kiana James to interrupt and introduce herself as Giulia’s “official representation”. Vega calls James a “clipboard Karen” and tells Giulia the muzzles are off and she wants her rematch for the title. James says she’s way ahead of Vega and the rematch is next week.

Tessitore and Barrett run down the cards for both Summerslam nights:

Saturday – CM Punk vs GUNTHER, Perez/Rodriguez vs Bliss/Flair, Reigns/Uso vs Breakker/Reed, Stratton vs Cargill, Orton/Jelly Roll vs McIntyre/Paul and Kross vs Zayn

Sunday – Cena vs Rhodes, Mysterio vs Styles, Sikoa vs Fatu, Lynch vs Valkyria, and Naomi vs IYO Sky vs Rhea Ripley

Andrade and Rey Fenix make their entrance prior to commercials.

WWE Men’s Tag Team Championship: The Wyatt Sicks (C) vs Andrade and Rey Fenix

The Wyatts (Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy) are seconded by Uncle Howdy, Nikki Cross and Erick Rowan. It’s Gacy and Fenix to start as the bell rings.

Fenix gains the advantage and pushes Gacy into the team corner as Andrade tags in. They hit some double-team work on Gacy who ends up draped over the second rope. Lumis charges in and Fenix stops him with a back kick before Andrade drops him over the second rope with a trip. Andrade and Fenix wipe them both out with kicks as Lumis is knocked to the floor. Andrade snatches up Gacy and hits Three Amigos before tagging in Fenix. Fenix ascends and wants the frog splash, but he gets dumped to the floor by a recovered Lumis. Gacy slips an Andrade charge and hits him with a giant clothesline.

Lumis dumps Fenix back in and Gacy goes right to work with ground and pound. Lumis tags in and drops a big elbow on Fenix’s back. Fenix tries to fire up but Lumis drops him with a right. Lumis goes to ground and pound before dragging Fenix into the team corner so Gacy can tag in. Gacy wallops Fenix with a couple of forearms before dropping him with a suplex and a twisting elbow drop. Gacy covers for two. Lumis tags in and drops Fenix with a body slam. Lumis nails Fenix with an elbow drop (Think Randy Savage’s short quick elbow drop and you’ll know what this looked like) before slapping on a twisting head lock. Fenix tries to fight out of it and gets inches away from a tag, but Lumis stops that with a big right hand (The exact same spot that Colton Gunn wrecked his knee on). Fenix hits a desperation superkick and both guys are down.

Both guys make tags and Gacy and Andrade charge in. Andrade hits Gacy with a clothesline and a Dragon Screw leg whip, before ducking a Lumis clothesline and nailing him with a flying elbow (Think Tito Santana here!). Andrade nips up to a pop. Andrade crushes Gacy with a running Meteora and covers for two. Gacy blocks a Message attempt and tags in Lumis. Lumis hits Andrade with an Atomic Drop and holds him so Gacy can clothesline Andrade to the mat. Lumis hits Andrade with a running senton and covers for two as Fenix breaks it up. Gacy tries to dump Fenix, but he holds on so Gacy charges and dropkicks him to the floor anyway. Gacy tags in and after Lumis drops Andrade they try their signature move where Gacy powerbombs Lumis onto a downed opponent. Andrade gets the knees up. Andrade rolls up a stunned Gacy for two.

Andrade holds Gacy prone as Fenix leaps over them both to wipe out Lumis on the floor. Andrade hits the Message on Gacy and covers. As the referee is counting Nikki Cross yanks her out of the ring and the ref…calls for the DQ.

Another match with a terrible finish just to get to the hot post-match angle. I need to know when the referees are allowed to use “discretion” and when they can’t for story-line purposes because it was the ONLY time that the Wyatts interfered and they could have just been sent to the back. Either way, the match was humming along nicely until that unfortunate decision. 3*

No winner – The Wyatts retain after Cross interfered to cause the DQ

Post-match sees Erick Rowan charge in to wipe out both Fenix and Andrade. Here’s FrAxiom on the scene so Rowan snatches up Axiom and casually tosses him onto Frazer sending both of them to the floor. MCMG charge in and Rowan crushes them both with a cross-body. Rowan tries to chokeslam both Shelley and Sabin but a recovered Fenix and Andrade charge back in to attack Rowan. Rowan wipes most of them out with help from Uncle Howdy and Gacy, and here are the Street Profits charging in to attack Rowan. Ford hits Rowan with a huge enziguri before Dawkins wipes him out with a big tackle. Here’s DIY charging down the aisle with Smackdown GM Nick Aldis in tow. Ford hits his giant tope over the ring post on a big crowd on the floor. A phalanx of Security goofs and referees show up.

Aldis has a mic and says he’s sick of this. He announces that there will be a TLC match at Summerslam for the titles presumably amongst all these teams (JUSTICE FOR PRETTY DEADLY, NICK. JUSTICE!) The entire scene devolves into chaos as Tessitore and Barrett are losing their minds and the crowd is admittedly hot for all of this.

The credits roll and we’re out.

This show had a weird vibe from start to finish. I know the Hogan stuff had to change their plans and they did a nice job talking only about his wrestling contributions and focusing on that. The crowd was good throughout and were hot for the various angles. I hope Alexa Bliss will be okay, her nose looked rough. This felt like a show to set up the go-home and I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling any of it other than Bliss-Perez and the tag title match up to the finish. Thumbs firmly in the middle here, but leaning down if you must have that kind of response.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Please make sure to give the other recappers a look when you can, everyone is grinding hard for the site. Have a good weekend and stay cool if you’re in the heat dome. Cheers, y’all.