WWE SmackDown 7/25/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that continued adding matches to WWE SummerSlam 2025 (despite WWE unveiling the official Night 1 & Night 2 cards earlier in the day) while processing the death of a controversial industry legend. That's pro wrestling for you, though; it'll be like that sometimes. Cards on the table — the WINC staff largely did not care for this episode of blue brand television, but as we always do in this column, we found things to praise as well as things to criticize. And we actually managed to cover basically the entire show in the process, in one form or another!

If so desired, you can still go check out our "SmackDown" results page if you're just wanting an objective rundown of match results and segments. If you'd like to know what we thought about what we watched Friday night, however, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 7/25/25 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

SummerSlam needed a celebrity after Travis Scott's reported falling out with WWE, and lifelong fan Jelly Roll is apparently training at the Performance Center in Orlando to get ready to team beside Randy Orton to take on Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre. While the music sensation is committing to it completely, it seems, complete with making appearances on the road to SummerSlam, I'm just not sure who exactly it's for, and I say that as a fan of his music.

I think I'm stuck on the fact and can't get over Drew McIntyre being the one to team with Logan Paul. Even if WWE doesn't want to push McIntyre as a babyface right now and continue on with whatever tweenerish gimmick he's had going for awhile, I honestly can't believe he'd ever be on Paul's side. While he's also really committing to it, being a guest on "Impaulsive" and everything, recently, I'm not sure how many WWE fans actually know that and I don't think it did him any favors. I feel like the McIntyre character would be one to call Paul a dumba** and say a lot of what Jelly Roll said to him tonight. 

Randy Orton is also out here just kind of hanging out. There's not much for him to do in the title scene right now, especially since he's already faced Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena, and WWE is perhaps waiting to get the gold on Cody Rhodes before Orton goes after it again, but this still doesn't seem like the right fit for him. He's venturing in to historic territory, with this being his 17th SummerSlam bout in his career, breaking the all-time record for most SummerSlam matches by any one star. I feel like his match breaking that record should have been something a bit more of substance, but maybe that's the lifelong Orton fan in me talking, and he's just happy to be here at this point, like we saw in his team-ups with Matt Riddle and Kevin Owens in recent memory.

I can't put my finger on any one thing, but this match just isn't doing it for me, and the promo segments leading up to it certainly aren't either. While I respect Jelly Roll for wanting to do this and getting to the PC to train, and his elbows he threw in the corner looked pretty darn good tonight, I just can't get into this match, which is surprising for me, a big lover of celebrity involvement. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong next weekend, and hopefully I make it through another segment next Friday involving these four to make it to SummerSlam.

Written by Daisy Ruth

To be clear, I thought the aftermath of the Cargill vs. Green match, which saw the Secret Hervice gang up on Cargill before Tiffany Stratton made the save, was aggressively stupid, as that particular wrestling trope always is. In contrast, however, I loved the way WWE got to the match, with Green running her mouth for too long backstage and Cargill literally dragging her to the ring so she could beat her up. It's just simple playing to your wrestlers' strengths — Green is an amazing heel stooge, Cargill works best in rapid-fire Golbergian doses where she can get in, give a heel stooge their much-deserved comeuppance, and get out, and as a result the two of them together are a match made in heaven.

I would have enjoyed this even more if it had just been that — the backstage segment, Cargill dragging Green to the ring, and then just squashing her. I could have done without all the extra stuff, but this will do in a pinch. Cargill has lost tons of aura over the past year or so, and her championship win at SummerSlam doesn't feel like the foregone conclusion I thought it might. The least WWE can do is put her in the ring with Green and let her look like a bad-ass.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Cody Rhodes challenging John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship in a Street Fight is undoubtedly one of the more marquee matches on the inaugural two night SummerSlam card. For that reason, it should be treated like it's a big deal on WWE television and have that feeling in every single segment that goes into building up the storyline whether it features just Rhodes, just Cena, or both men. Rhodes' promo segment tonight didn't accomplish any of that or feel like it was a big deal in any way, shape, or form.

Aside from telling Cena that he wants the real version of him to appear in their match at SummerSlam, this segment accomplished absolutely nothing at all whatsoever. Cena has shown time and time again that he's willing to change his attitude, so for Rhodes to outright just ask him to bring his old self when Cena literally tried to excuse himself from his SummerSlam match felt insanely counterproductive in building on what already has been told within the context of the story. It was such an ineffective way to build up the SummerSlam match between Cena and Rhodes, especially with only a couple of weeks left until the Premium Live Event. It felt like such little care and thought was put into the segment as a whole, and made it feel like more of a last minute addition to the card rather than something that was planned out a week in advance (aka as long as the segment had been advertised before).

Written by Olivia Quinlan

One of the brightest spots on tonight's "SmackDown" was once again the partnership, now borderline friendship of Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair. I really enjoyed Bliss' match tonight against Roxanne Perez ahead of their Women's Tag Team Championship match at SummerSlam, and Bliss got an excellent pop, as they were in her home state of Ohio. For just a simple singles match, it really did a lot to further the story of their pairing going in to "The Biggest Party of the Summer." Last week, Bliss was a cheerleader, complete with black pom poms, for Flair, and this week, it was Flair cheerleading for Bliss. And, she actually looked happy about it and it was honestly pretty cute.

The match itself wasn't anything crazy and of course involved a lot of interference from Flair and Raquel Rodriguez, but that was to be expected. The Twisted Bliss off the top rope to Rodriguez on the floor wasn't as clean as it could have been, and while noteworthy, I didn't mind that too much. Perez got the rollup win by holding on to the rope, which was the right call going into the premium live event. The tag champ got the victory, but also, Flair can't be mad at her partner because of how messy everything was at the end, with Flair attempting to take on Rodriguez on the outside herself.

Poor Bliss also was busted open to end the match. It didn't look too bad, like maybe her nose was just bumped the wrong way, but the image of Flair looking concerned for her in the ring actually worked out really well. As did their short backstage heart-to-heart after the match. Flair checked on Bliss and said, "We're partners, aren't we?" To which Bliss noticed Flair almost said they were friends. It was a cute interaction on a night that really needed something a bit more lighthearted.

I've been saying for awhile now that their tag team is doing wonders for Flair's character, which really needed the rehabilitation post-WrestleMania. Ashley Fliehr is doing some work on that herself, but thankfully, WWE is also focusing on her character within this story and Bliss was the right call as a partner for "The Queen." I'm hopeful that they realize this should absolutely continue with Bliss and Flair winning the titles. I think it's best for all stories involved, with them continuing on as babyfaces, and maybe even Bliss can turn heel on Flair to make things interesting, and of course, there's the Liv Morgan storyline with Perez and Rodriguez. I'm really liking all of this and finding it intriguing, so thankfully, SummerSlam is right around the corner. This is one match that WWE has absolutely gotten right.

Written by Daisy Ruth

It's always nice to see a talent get a warm reception from their hometown crowd and be able to wrestle in front of them, and The Miz was no exception tonight in Cleveland. That being said, his match against Jacob Fatu went far longer than it should've been. Fatu has been booked as one of the most dominant stars in WWE throughout the course of his run, so when combined with his upcoming SummerSlam United States Championship match against Solo Sikoa, it almost seems like a no brained to book him defeating The Miz in a 30 second squash match to keep him looking strong heading into the Premium Live Event.

At the end of the day, there was nothing wrong with Sikoa and the rest of MFT appearing during the match, but it would've been more effective and simplified matters if they had just appeared after the match to beat down Fatu only for Fatu to take them down like a one man wrecking machine. Jimmy Uso's presence didn't really contribute anything to everything at all, and just made everything feel more overbooked than it already was. On a show where there were very few things to like about it, this just felt like another disappointing let down.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Tag Team wrestling is, in a word, dope. In two, really dope. In three, really, really dope. You get my drift. It's basic wrestling mechanics, two proverbial extra gears added to the match – in the form of, for the most part, exceptional wrestlers – that allow the match to kick into a new, well, gear. There is a fluidity that two guys in the ring cannot achieve, rolling in and out of the ring and able to build stories around the format. 

Much like a singles match, you can dial up the ante by turning the bout into a three or four-way tag bout, adding more gears to the mix, the different individuals clashing like atomic fission. That explosive element can and has been further fueled by another stipulation, one initially made bespoke to the tag team division, the Tables, Ladders & Chairs match. 

So naturally, Nick Aldis announcing that not only will the tag titles be on a PLE – criminally sporadic these days – but said bout will be between all of the tag teams in the division in a TLC match, that is something I can get behind. Sure, it is a bit lazy and tired to have the match announced after a DQ finish, but the good has to be taken with the bad and when the good is a TLC match between the Wyatt Sicks, the Motor City Machine Guns, #DIY, Rey Fenix and Andrade, and FrAxiom, well that's not so bad of a trade.

Written by Max Everett