Friday Night SmackDown Review - April 11, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

United States Champion LA Knight Saved Randy Orton from Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga

This segment started strong with Nick Aldis calling out Orton for hitting him with an RKO last week and Orton teasing the possibility of Aldis stepping back in the ring to face him at WrestleMania 41. Sadly, a match with Sikoa was also teased and that doesn't intrigue me in the slightest. Knight has beef with the ex-Bloodline, so him coming to Orton's aid and fending off Sikoa and Tonga to set up a tag team match in the main event made sense.

Women's Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria & Bayley def. The Secret Hervice, B-Fab & Michin, Kayden Carter & Katana Chance, Maxxine Dupri & Natalya, and Pure Fusion Collective in a WWE Women's Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Gauntlet Match

Even with Valkyria and Bayley starting out, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that they were going to run the gauntlet and win the whole thing, if only because they already faced off for the Women's Intercontinental Championship on Monday's Raw and they were obviously announced for this thing for a reason. Most of the mini matches were whatever, but the final stretch was enjoyable. I'll take Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs. Bayley and Valkyria at WrestleMania over the usual multi-team nonsense.

Drew McIntyre Attacked Damian Priest

As I've said before, this isn't my most anticipated match at 'Mania, but I appreciate the effort both guys have put into making it matter by acknowledging their history over the last year and upping the intensity with these attacks. This was another example of that with McIntyre blindsiding Priest, cutting a promo declaring he's cleared, and laying out Priest again once he resurfaced. It was simple stuff, but it was effective. Their WrestleMania match will now be a Sin City Street Fight.

Rey Fenix def. Berto

I can't imagine anyone thought for a single second that Berto was going to beat Fenix, but they had a hell of a match as I expected them to. Berto will never be a breakout singles star, but I'm glad he got a shot to shine here in what was a really fun sprint. I'm sure Fenix vs. Santos Escobar is inevitable, though there wasn't any setup for it afterward. Instead, Escobar forced Berto to shake Fenix's hand before walking off. Andrade attempting to give Berto advice later on was interesting, though.

Zelina Vega def. Women's United States Champion Chelsea Green by Count-Out (Non-Title)

Vega hasn't had the best luck against Green since joining SmackDown, but I figured she'd get a fluke win over Green here to earn herself an opportunity at the Women's United States Championship on the SmackDown before WrestleMania. Instead, we got a total throwaway match where Vega won by count-out and the crowd was completely confused by it (I was, too). This was awfully executed. Vega will challenge Green at another time as it was announced she'll team with Chance and Carter to face Green and Secret Hervice next Friday night.

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Addressed John Cena

I wasn't super pumped for this promo from Rhodes coming into the show considering we've already heard him address Cena without Cena being present (thankfully, he'll be back one last time before WrestleMania on next week's SmackDown), but this differed from his other mic work in that he specifically focused on the Undisputed WWE Championship and having all of the past belts in the ring with him was a cool visual. Rhodes is essentially carrying the build to his bout with Cena, so fingers crossed they can deliver one last home run next week.

WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton def. Roxanne Perez (Non-Title)

Perez was told by NXT general manager Ava on Tuesday night that she'd figure something out for her to do at Stand & Deliver. Despite that, Perez showed up to SmackDown looking to be a part of the WrestleMania card. Well, it's a little late for that. I'm convinced WWE doesn't know what to do with her at the moment, but hopefully this is a sign she'll be main roster bound right after 'Mania. These two have experience working with each other, so this was a quality contest with Perez looking credible in defeat. They really leaned into Charlotte Flair being "unprofessional" during her post-match attack on Stratton.

United States Champion LA Knight and Randy Orton def. Tama Tonga and Solo Sikoa

This started so close to the end of the episode that you had to know it'd be rushed and nothing special. Not only that, but it felt like half of it consisted of a commercial break, so the match itself was forgettable. Fatu attacking Knight afterward was expected yet logical. I was hoping we'd find out Orton's WrestleMania opponent, but no such luck. Please don't tell me it'll be Sikoa. That'd be incredibly underwhelming.

Overall Show

Last week's SmackDown in Chicago was much more newsworthy and entertaining, but all in all, this was a thumbs-up episode. Several storylines were progressed and they filled the three hours nicely. I'm disappointed we didn't find out exactly what Orton will be doing, but they still have next week's SmackDown to make it official. Speaking of official, they also confirmed which matches will be taking place on which nights of WrestleMania. The only thing I didn't like on this episode was what they did with Green and Vega, but otherwise, the show was solid.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews