Friday Night SmackDown Review - July 25, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jelly Roll and Randy Orton Attacked Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre

This storyline has been playing out pretty much as well as WWE could've hoped. They've gotten some mainstream exposure out of it, Jelly Roll is holding his own both on the mic and in the ring, and the crowds are responding accordingly. No, I still don't care much at all, but these segments are offensively bad. That said, the sooner we can be done with this, the better.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Roxanne Perez def. Alexa Bliss

Charlotte Flair defeated Raquel Rodriguez on last week's SmackDown and I fully assumed the same would happen with Bliss beating Perez here. However, I'm not upset about getting the opposite outcome, if only because Perez rarely wins on her own these days. There wasn't much to the match due to the commercial break, but what we got to see was solid enough.

Jade Cargill def. Chelsea Green

This started with Cargill attacking Green backstage and turned into an impromptu match in the ring. I figured it'd be a straightforward squash for Cargill, but it was actually competitive and lasted a little longer than I expected it to. Tiffany Stratton saving Cargill from The Secret Hervice afterward should set up a tag team match for next week's SmackDown before they battle for the WWE Women's Championship at SummerSlam.

Cody Rhodes Addressed Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena

I truly don't think there's anything Rhodes can say at this point to increase my excitement level for his rematch with Cena at SummerSlam. Adding the Street Fight stipulation last week was a nice touch, but Cena wasn't there this week and Rhodes wasn't able to do much to move the needle on his own. I appreciated that he paid tribute to Hulk Hogan at the beginning of his promo, but the rest of this was paint-by-numbers stuff.

Jacob Fatu def. The Miz

Miz hasn't wrestled on SmackDown in months to my knowledge, and no explanation was provided as to what the hell happened to his alliance with Carmelo Hayes. Honestly, I'm not complaining as that's better off forgotten. At any rate, the match itself was an average outing, and Fatu and Jimmy Uso were left laying by Solo Sikoa and company afterward. If nothing else, I'm glad Miz made the show in his home state.

Andrade and Rey Fenix def. WWE Tag Team Champions The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy) by Disqualification

I was pleasantly surprised that this was positioned as the main event. Unfortunately, it was brief (like most matches on this show), but it was fun for what it was. I hated the non-finish because we get them so often in WWE Tag Team Championship matches, but they made up for it afterward with the announcement that it will be a Six-Pack TLC match for the tag titles at SummerSlam, which is awesome after they were left off the WrestleMania 41 card. That could easily steal the show.

Overall Show

Obviously, there's a lot that can be (and has been) said about Hulk Hogan outside of the ring, but he was definitely deserving of a worthy tribute on WWE TV considering his contributions to the company and the industry as a whole, and I thought the video package that followed the 10-bell salute was fantastic. It was a middle-of-the-road show otherwise with not much else standing out, but at least they ended the night on a high note with that SummerSlam match announcement.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews