Review: WWE Smackdown (7-4-2025)

• Taped from Pittsburgh on June 30, so’s that the WWE Superstars did not have to work the most American of holidays. Nathan Frazer was free to eat hot dogs and set off firecrackers if he so wished.

Matches

• Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs B-Fab & Michin vs Alba Fyre & Piper Niven: Winners get a tag title shot at Evolution. What a prize. Bliss volunteered herself and Charlotte for this, as captured in a lousy backstage skit with Nick Aldis before the match. Three in the ring at a time. Slow, clumsy early wrestling with Niven, Flair, and Michin. Niven looks terrible. Michin lands short on a dive to Flair and Bliss. Niven struggles to get over to the apron for a cannonball to the floor. Fyre hits a dive as imagined, so someone’s on the ball. Niven does start to look more alive as the match goes on.

  • B-Fab and Michin remain completely not over, and now they’ve got Barrett assigning them random traits. Michin has the highest pain threshold in the locker room! B-Fab has the longest legs in the locker room! Barrett also says Fab has “really nailed down her technique and abilities of late in the Dungeon alongside Natalya and Tyson Kidd.” I wish we’d all stop pretending that “the Dungeon” is the same place where Stu Hart trained people. It wasn’t for Chris Jericho and Lance Storm and it’s damn sure not for B-Fab. I do think B-Fab is showing some improvement, but I don’t think she’s got “it” at all. I mean, Michin is Actually Good at wrestling, but she doesn’t have “it,” either, at least not this stuff she’s been doing this year.

  • Flair hits a Lashley-esque spear on Niven and continues arguing with Bliss even though they’re partners. The idea that Flair is success-obsessed and doesn’t really realize she hasn’t been very successful of late is pretty decent. Bliss “steals” Flair’s pin after Chelsea gets Charlotte’s attention. So on they go to Evolution. Can they coexist?!?!?!??!???!? They hug, in a very weird way that I find interesting, like Charlotte’s realizing however much she wants to hate it, not only is this probably a good idea right now, but she might be having fun, too. The match wasn’t very good but at least the Bliss/Flair interaction is advancing some. **

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• Uncle Howdy, Erick Rowan, Joe Gacy & Dexter Lumis vs Montez Ford, Johnny Gargano, Berto & Chris Sabin: It’s an all-star team of coexisting??!?! to take on the Wyatt Sicks, whom we keep being told are an incredible threat to all of the Smackdown tag team division, some horrific nightmare in their midst, a terror that must be united against and taken down. If you mean that the two of them they selected had the worst Motor City Machine Guns match I’ve ever seen and everyone should want to protect themselves from having to wrestle these clods and dress-up merchants, then sure, I buy it. Otherwise, I’m struggling.

  • Gargano tries to call on his history with Lumis but fails because Lumis is an uh artist or whatever they tried to convince me of last week. I actually think if you just put Gacy and Rowan together as The Tag Team, then fine. Rowan out here sort of directing traffic for his side makes them way better. I do think Lumis is in better form here, and the hodgepodge side are all doing good work, Sabin getting a really nice night in. Ford is Ford, picks his spots, Berto and Gargano are gonna hold up their ends. Sabin gets the thankless role of pretending it’s scary or frightening that Bo Dallas in a mask can bend backwards a little if he holds onto the ropes for support. I can do that. Basically anyone can.

  • Gargano bails from the apron when Sabin reaches from a tag, not in a “turning” way, but in a fear of Erick Rowan way. Rowan pins Sabin after an iron claw slam. Honestly this was all fine. ***

• Rey Fenix & Andrade vs Fraxiom: Now first of all I’m excited about this match because I’m pretty sure it’s going to rip. Second of all I’m intrigued to see where Paul Creative’s momentary fascination lines up, is he still “into” Fraxiom or have they slipped his mind a bit? Will they be losing to this hot new tandem of Paul Creation? Will he find another incredible way to have no actual winner of a match?

  • God, Fraxiom cut such a great pace, and Fenix and Andrade are up to being the other side of that for sure. And yes, this is a very good match! Sometimes I wonder if Paul Creative has minor buyer’s remorse on MCMG when basically you had Fraxiom right there “for free” in-house, and they are basically what you hoped you were signing with post-prime MCMG, and have also been able to more organically show their stuff to the main roster WWE fan base, rather than MCMG who were given a level of hype that was going to be really hard for them to live up to at this point.

  • Yeah, Paul Creative is more into Fenix and Andrade now. Fraxiom may get their day in the sun but it won’t be for a bit, it seems. Gotta justify these contracts more than with Fraxiom, I get it. Also at least they’re legitimately good instead of it being, like, a Karrion Kross & Dexter Lumis pairing. ***½

• Solo Sikoa & JC Mateo vs Jimmy Uso & Jacob Fatu: Pretty solid match, the sort of thing you get as a main event on a major holiday night where frankly not many people are going to be watching. Really nothing wrong with the work, honestly. Jimmy does OK back in a tag role, Fatu takes a really nice hot tag, Solo and Cobb do fine. Has some “Coliseum Exclusive” energy to it which you know I enjoy. Good guys win because the other two can’t really fuck with Fatu no matter how hard they try, they need a Numbers Game for that guy, straight-up none of them can handle him. The actual finish detracts Coliseum Points but whatever. ***

  • Post-match, Fatu lays Sikoa out on a commentary desk and goes up top, but Taller Tonga is here to interfere. Jimmy punches him some but now we have Tanga Loa. Uso gets laid out, then Mateo hits Tour of the Islands on “Big” Jim, too. AND Jim takes a twisting neckbreaker onto the floor. THEN they four-on-one Jacob, everyone holding him for Solo to hit the spike. And then a triple team power bomb on the commentary desk. Sikoa and Co. have made their point to end the show.

Other Stuff

• The show open is Solo Sikoa in an SUV, pulled through the window and attacked by Jacob Fatu. Why was his window down? To whom was he speaking, exactly? Not sure! Doesn’t matter. Wrestling logic! Anyway, Fatu takes out Tanga Loa and JC Mateo pretty easily. He finds time to scream his catchphrase, or one of them anyway, during his attack. Oh the other one, too, three times! Security and Nick Aldis get him out of there.

• Right after that, we get Cody Rhodes, the 2025 King of the Ring. I hope he wears a little king hat and goes all in on it. Ah, he does not. Just his little Boyd Crowder costume. He does have a king hat with him. He left pieces of himself in matches with Jey Uso and Randy Orton so he could hold this king hat. “Past kings like Booker T, Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Triple H.” No mention of Mabel or Baron “King” Corbin, nor Bill Regal¹. Rhodes confirms that he’s going after John Cena at The SummerSlam, which is no surprise.

  • Randy Orton interrupts. The Apex Viperedator seemed to have some thoughts of violence after his loss to Rhodes in Riyadh, so will he follow those thoughts? Orton says even though he promised he wouldn’t hesitate to do what had to be done, he did — and Cody didn’t. Orton says he respects Cody for that, though he won’t forget it.

    • Randino’s got that Barry Bonds skull going, man. This fella’s body is 70 percent ICOPRO.

  • Orton wants Rhodes to promise him that he will go to The SummerSlam and kick John Cena’s ass. And now here’s … Drew McIntyre. CM Punk fucked this dude’s career up so bad that now all he’s got is being The Karrion Kross of Smackdown. So he’s out here, shit-stirring, trying to get into Orton’s head. He also wants Cody to win at The SummerSlam so he can go after his title, saying they’ve had parallel careers and that’s “as big as it gets.” I mean, for him, sure. Then Orton hits the RKO on Drew.

    • Later, McIntyre asks Aldis for a match with Orton. Not tonight, but at Saturday Night’s Main Event, sure. McIntyre turns around to go face-to-face with Jacob Fatu, his fellow loose cannon. They stare but do no more. Still a respect there. Aldis offers Fatu the chance to find a partner and get two of Solo’s group. And then Jimmy Uso arrives to volunteer his assistance.

• They’ve decided that maybe Giulia should care about the U.S. title now that she’s won it. Probably a good idea, honestly. She says she’ll “take this title where no one else has dared to go,” which is a super low bar to clear following Chelsea Green wasting months of her life on Michin and then Zelina Vega’s reign.

• Tiffany Stratton is here in the ring to ask what time it is. “Tiffy Time,” the crowd says with moderate enthusiasm. Nia Jax, blah blah blah, please Tiff E., let us move on. Before Stratton can name her Evolution opponent, Jade Cargill comes out. Cargill isn’t here to offer herself as an Evolution opponent, as she is saving herself for The SummerSlam. Stratton says she has a surprise and that surprise is — ugh, it’s Trish Stratus in a onesie and sparkly Wal-Mart hat. Stratton is picking Stratus for her Evolution opponent. Cargill doesn’t care which of them wins. Stratus keeps waiting for reactions to things she says. Eventually the crowd catches on that they’re supposed to react. Well, some of them. The scattered applause for “now we’re going to have an entire card of incredibly talented women” is honestly kind of funny, I know it’s a sincere statement — well, as sincere as anything with WWE can be — but the audience just does not seem to care.

  • It’s easy and logical to suggest the tepid reaction to all of this is just that it was so long into a taping, and I’ve been to dual tapings of TV shows and crowds do get tired, no question, but I also don’t think it’s deranged to suggest maybe crowds in 2025 just aren’t that excited by Trish Stratus from 20 years ago. The Goldberg thing is a recent, similar example. I think we might just have reached a point in time where too much of the audience does not care about these old people anymore, and you can’t rely on them to be meaningful if you’re going to put them in a big spot.

    • A bit later, Stratus and Cargill meet backstage and are friendly enough, but Jade makes clear she’s coming after Trish at The SummerSlam if Trish wins. Trish leaves, Naomi hits Cargill in the back of the head with her briefcase, then says, “Should have proceeded with caution,” and does the greatest maniacal comic book laugh I’ve ever heard a real person do. Naomi leaves, Aldis arrives, and Cargill wants Naomi “once and for all.” It’ll happen, but Aldis doesn’t directly address it yet. Later, it’s confirmed for Evolution, and it’s no holds barred.

  • I also will repeat Warren Hayes’ question and ask why Stratton is wearing a Sexy Diaper:

• Fuck yeah, Solo Sikoa still has his little room. He introduces the newest member, Taller Tonga.² Solo says he and JC Mateo will take care of the tag match later, which you’ve already read about up top. Or didn’t! I don’t know! Anyways, this is not a Bloodline. This is Solo’s “MFTs” — “My Family Tree.” Let’s see if that sticks!

• Damian Priest comes across Aleister Black, who believes he’s done with Ron Truth, but Priest tells Black that Ron Truth has secured a match with Black next week on Smackdown. Black is doing his mystic horseshit and Priest is unimpressed with him. Kind of a neat dynamic, actually.

Three Stars of the Show

1. Jacob Fatu: Even though he winds up laid out, it’s clearer and clearer that they see this guy as a major player, long-term. Or I hope it is, anyway. But the show ends with Beloved Jacob Fatu laid out and you wonder how he’ll get his lick back on these fellas.

2. Erick Rowan: I never would have guessed at Rowan the Ring General back in the original Wyatt Family days, but here we are. That’s a group that needs a steady hand, and he is that.

3. Chris Sabin: Actually thought that was about as good as he’s looked since MCMG hit WWE airwaves.

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1. There was one of those “Dinner for 3” deals on the old WWE Network with Regal, Wade Barrett, and Sheamus, and it was a good little sit-down chat deal as most of those were, and Regal humorously remarked that putting them together was indeed collecting the three worst Kings of the Ring of all time. I think he was wrong about that, but not terribly wrong about that. And they are/were all wrestlers I like. King of the Ring is just kind of a gamble in how it really turns out, if it really is meant to be anything at all. At this point it’s just something to convince the Saudis they hosted something important.

2. I know that’s not how it’s spelled, but also yes it is.