This Week In WWE Review (14/7/25 – 20/7/25)
Welcome back to the WWE weekly review. What a weekend of wrestling we were treated to. Before it even began, Bandido and Konosuke Takeshita put on a match of the year candidate heading ROH Supercard of Honor. Saturday saw NXT put on a great show with a card full of good matches, the best being Ethan Page and Ricky Saint’s Attitude Era level brawl. Saturday Night’s Main Event saw Goldberg go out with his head held high with his second best match over the past 10 years, although he has ruined his farewell by being a whinge.
The eyes were all on AEW on Saturday which got off to a slow start but escalated into one of the shows of the year. Adam Page vs Jon Moxley was AEW’s equivalent of WWE’s Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 40. Overbooked in all of the best ways. However, just when everyone thought that All In had clearly won best show of the weekend, the women of WWE said “hold my drink”. Evolution 2 ended up being a complete success, a card full of great matches sandwiched in-between another 2 of the best WWE matches of 2025. Go check out my reviews if you haven’t already for more details.
The ball must keep rolling because we are just less than 3 weeks away from the first ever 2 Night Summerslam and we have a lot to talk about.
Let’s get crackin’ with the knackin’.
WWE RAw – 14th July from Birmingham, Al

Highlights
Proceed With Caution
We begin with the new Women’s World Champion, Naomi. She laughs maniacally as she brags about her victory. Naomi refuses to allow the fans to support her because they never did before. “You didn’t feel the glow but you’re sure feeling me now!” She shouts out Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. Naomi says she never betrayed Bianca, she out grew her. She also congratulates Jade for beating her, but it was Naomi making history when the night was over. She warns the Raw roster to proceed with caution.
Rhea Ripley comes out and she is not a happy bunny. Rhea warns Naomi that she is not cautious, she is reckless and she is also pissed off. She had 2 goals for Evolution. Defeating Iyo Sky and win the women’s title back and now she has completed neither. She tells Naomi that she is now on her list. Iyo Sky comes out now initially full of smiles but she gets serious when she enters the ring. She tells Rhea to wait her turn, because she wants her title back first. Naomi tells them both of them to get to the back of the line.
Adam Pearce comes out as the women start bickering and reveals that they will face off in a triple threat at Summerslam.
Very good opening segment that clearly lays down the story for their match at Summerslam. Naomi’s facial expressions and character work is at such a high level, she is fantastic. Rhea Ripley continues to be mega mega over. Honestly, all 3 women were receiving loud reactions from the crowd.
Iyo Sky looked incredible here I must say.
Judgement day Thrive
The first match of the night was a solid tag match between Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, taking on the Kabuki Warriors. It followed the basic WWE TV tag formula but the action was pretty fun. The shortcomings of a still rusty Kairi Sane are well hidden by the great work of Asuka and their entertaining opponents. Raquel has been on a roll ever since her match with Rhea Ripley and her good form continues here. It is nice she is finally shining on the main roster.
Kabuki Warriors have have the match won a few times but Dominik keeps distracting the referee. Asuka drops him with a backfist. Perez rolls her up, Raquel puts her foot on Perez’s ass to help secure the pin. She nearly missed her cue on that. No complaints from me. Kabuki Warriors looked good and the cheap loss doesn’t damage them too much.
Dominik being out there makes Adam Pearce suspicious that he isn’t as sick as he claims, so he is being re-evaluated next week for his injuries. There is a funny moment where AJ Styles is again found near Dominik, this time he is praying to God but he tells Mysterio he is always watching. Mysterio starts praying to God too as he leaves. AJ says “Don’t listen to him God, listen to me.” I am loving this AJ Styles.
2 out of 3 ain’t bad
Our next match is Lyra Valkyria vs Bayley in a 2/3 falls match, for the right to face Becky Lynch at Summerslam. I think we all knew that this was going to be good but I didn’t expect them to get 20 minutes and have yet another absolute banger of a match. This was great and told a much better story than their last match together. This physical encounter saw the established star Bayley showing the up and comer Lyra what it takes to be victorious.
Bayley scored a flash roll up within the first couple of minutes, immediately putting Lyra at the disadvantage. Bayley also wrestles as the heel in this match which I think was the best choice. Lyra is fighting from underneath, but she hurts her back going into the corner which is another set back. Bayley targets the back throughout the match. Things look bleak but Lyra gets revenge by trapping Bayley in a flash roll up of her own, proving that she can measure up to her.
Lyra starts targeting the leg of Bayley now too as we are in the final fall. A lot of big moves and big kick outs by both women. Bayley sunset flips Lyra into the steel steps, rolling her into the ring for a diving elbow drop to the injured back for a great near fall. Even better was Bayley transitioning from the kick out into a crossface. Lyra reaches for the ropes but Bayley kicks off and rolls back to the centre. Lyra manages to transition from that roll into a Nightwing and pin Bayley to win. Becky comes out to have a stare down with Lyra.
Amazing match and I am very surprised at the result. We have seen a lot of Lyra vs Becky so I assumed we would get the two bigger names going at it at Summerslam. I’m not against this decision though. I hope Bayley has something to do on Summerslam though.
la chelsea green
A short but really fun interaction with Vaquer and Green backstage. Green calls Vaquer ‘La Primavera’ which is apparently Spanish for Loser. She calls herself La Chelsea Green which is apparently Canadian for winner. She has a match with Nikki next, the Secret Hervice protect her from Vaquer and Green says “you can look but you can’t touch”.
Chelsea Green is the goat.
Who’s Next?
Gunther is happy and full of smiles. He brags about retiring Goldberg before asking who is next. He is going to go watch 5 top stars compete for his amusement and determine a new challenger for Summerslam.
Paul Heyman & Bron Breakker come out. Gunther goes to leave but Bron stands in his way. Heyman hypes up Breakker as the Next Big Thing and the Big Dog and that this is his yard. He is a Steiner and he will be the next world heavyweight champion at Summerslam.
A short but fun promo. Heyman did a great job putting over Breakker and hyping a match between these 2. Both men look like stars here. Future Wrestlemania main event?
Run the Gauntlet
Our main event is a 5 person gauntlet to determine a new contender. Bron Breakker and Penta start. They wrestled a solid 10 minute match and kept the pace slow which makes sense considering the match length. Bron beats down Penta, Penta makes a comeback but he gets speared in mid-air. Solid action with a great finish.
LA Knight is next. This match started hot with Knight taking the fight to his rivals. He wears down Bron’s arm trying to handicap his power. Bron continues to punish Knights already injured ribs that have been a target over the past few weeks. Another fun 10 minute match here. Bron hits the spear and gets another win.
-Jey Uso is 4th. Jey Uso taking out Bron and then running back his entrance music for a Yeet Party MID MATCH is so damn funny. He is on offence a lot for his match but Bron shows a lot of resiliency. Jey goes for the Uso Splash but Bronson Reed pulls him down in front of the referee. That is when I learn this is No DQ. Is it? Are gauntlet matches no DQ? I never thought about that. One more spear and Breakker advances.
CM Punk is last. He starts hot, attacking Breakker with his jacket still on. Bron is doing great heel work here, trash talking and being over confident. This was a competitive back and forth with a lot of great near falls. Punk rolling through the Frankensteiner into a pin, the diving elbow drop to Bron for a pin, then transitioning into the Anaconda Vice. This was great stuff. Bronson Reed gets involved, Jey Uso comes back to make the save and CM Punk hits a GTS to win. Punk vs Gunther sounds good to me.
Overall a good match that put over Bron Breakker is an absolute beast for wrestling for over 40 minutes. A good storyline narrative throughout since Breakker is wrestling various rivals. A long but strong main event.

OTC1
The show ends with Roman Reigns making his return, saving Jey Uso (and CM Punk by proxy) from an attack by Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. Paul Heyman’s facial expressions sell this so damn well.
This was one of the consistently loudest pops I have heard in a LONG time. Roman has never been so over. I am unsure what the meaning behind OTC1 is but I am just happy to see him back. This is the first time we have seen him incorporate his old logo design in over 5 years too. The OTC is back and I am interested to see what he does since Seth Rollins is injured.
We probably won’t have him for long, he is set to begin filming the Street Fighter movie in August with Cody Rhodes.
Lowlights
I Don’t want to look or touch
Why do WWE keep putting Chelsea Green in a position where she is in the weakest segment of the show? I stand by my convictions. It is not her fault. She is doing the best with what she has to work with. However, she is not strong enough in the ring to carry a rusty Bella.
This was unfortunately not great. Not a lot of heat at all, the crowd was quiet and didn’t care. Nor did they have any reason to care because there wasn’t really anything in this match that was enjoyable.
The ring work was okay at times, but a lot of Nikki offence was sloppy which makes sense since she hasn’t wrestled a singles match in 7 years. The finish was pretty awkward, I think Nikki went for the wrong move instead of her TKO finish. Her TKO looked pretty bad too.
I think Chelsea should have won here. What is the harm? Green has been eating so many losses it would be nice to see her actually win. Stephanie Vaquer saves Nikki from a beat down. We’re probably seeing a 6-woman tag at Summerslam.
Results & Grades
Naomi Warns Her Challengers To Proceed With Caution (B+ Grade)
Judgement day defeats Kabuki Warriors (B Grade)
Lyra Valkyria defeats Bayley, 2/3 Falls (A Grade)
Nikki Bella defeats Chelsea Green (C- Grade)
Gunther Asks “Who’s Next?” (B Grade)
CM Punk Wins the Heavyweight Contender Gauntlet (B+ Grade)
Overall, I would gave WWE Raw a A- Grade.
WWE NXT – 15th July from Orlando, FL

Highlights
Memory Lane
It took some time but we finally got something good to talk about. Before I get to the match, throughout the show we got 3 video packages detailing the backstory of the D’Angelo Family.
Part 1, the Birth of the Don, saw the rise of Tony D’Angelo from a mere mobster to the Don of NXT.
Part 2, Enter the Underboss, follows the rise of Channing Lorenzo as Tony’s right hand man.
Finally in part 2, Rise & Fall of The Family, it is self explanatory. The additions of Luca Crusifino and Adriana Rizzo. 2x tag champions. D’Angelo winning the North American and Heritage Cups. Then, the betrayal of “Stacks” at Stand & Deliver which has led to the slow disintegration of the Family.
I thought these video packages were well done and a great recap of the whole story arc. Though, it just reminded me how much better these guys were booked prior to Channing’s heel turn.
SHow Stealer
You have heard me complain a lot about the D’Angelo Family fallout, but at least it ended on a high. Wow, this far surpassed any expectations I had for this. The announcers and the wrestlers do not know what they want to call this match though. The Final Fight. The Final Battle. Family Business Triple Threat. I’m pretty sure on of them called it the Final Showdown too. pick a tagline!
This match was awesome, a very physical brawl with a lot of intensity. However, not only was the action good but so was the storytelling. Channing Lorenzo looked for a crowbar he stashed, but Tony D’Angelo knew he would do this and he moved it elsewhere. There were other moments that commentary alluded to like D’Angelo turning his back on his opponents and hanging his hat on the ring post. Great little touches make the match feel bigger.
D’Angelo played the jaded powerhouse, willing to do the wrong things but for the right reasons. Channing played the opportunistic heel, trying to avoid damage at all costs and run sneaky plays with a crowbar. Crusifino was the more traditional babyface here, getting a lot of chants from the crowd and doing flashy high-flying moves. This brawl ended in spectacular fashion. Tony spears Stacks through a wall, then he chokeslams Luca through the announce table, then hits his spinebuster finish on Lorenzo to win.
A great blow-off to this family drama. Surely this means we will see character changes for Lorenzo and Luca right? They cannot just be ex-mobsters as solo guys. They need new personalities.

Champ pins champ
Our main event is a fun 6-woman tag that was set up at the start of the show. Fatal Influence facing Sol Ruca, Zaria and Masha Slamovich. I’ll talk about how this was set up in a little bit, but first, the match.
Fatal Influence showcased their strength as a unit in this match whilst their opponents thrived individually. Ruca did a great sell job taking the heat. Both Zaria and Masha had good hot tags coming in full of fire.
The match was going great, until the final few minutes. The Culling come out to try and distract, but before they can even do anything ZaRuca come flying off the apron to attack Tatum Paxley and Izzi Dame. Then, Hank & Tank come out to fight Shawn Spears and Niko Vance. The 8 people all brawl to the back, leaving Masha on her own. Did the Knockout’s champion lose to the disadvantage? Of course not.
Masha fought off Fatal Influence with ease, then hit Jacy with her finisher and scored the pin over her opponent this Saturday. That tells me Jacy is walking out as champion.
The last few minutes of the match was unnecessarily messy, which is a nice metaphor for this entire show. An overdone finish but that didn’t harm the action too much. The match was still a fun one.
Lowlights
Main Event Setup
The show opens with a heel Fatal Influence promo. NXT Women’s champion Jacy Jayne says that her allies Fallon Henley and Jazmyn Nyx dropped the ball at Great American Bash, but they redeemed themselves at Evolution. Jayne continues to shock the world and she will shock them again by becoming the TNA Knockout’s Champion.
This brings out the TNA Knockout’s champion, Masha Slamovich. They cut her music too early and there is a very awkward silence of her getting into the ring and not saying anything. Masha says Jayne only retained thanks to Blake Monroe. It took 4 women to defeat Jordynne Grace. Masha says that she will be making history at Slammiversary, but Jacy denies this and says that she will be the only double champion in NXT.
That comment brings out Zaria and Sol Ruca. Sol counts the titles she is carrying, the North American championship at the Speed championship, making her the only double champion in NXT currently. Zaria puts Sol over for wrestlng three days back to back. They don’t need to tell everyone how good they are, they prove it. Jazmyn Nyx says at least Fatal Influence talk about their problems in the open unlike you two “colliding by accident”. Of course, the 6-woman brawl, the faces prevail and this sets up our main event tonight.
This was fine, though pretty basic and generic. I am still enjoying the heel work by Jacy and it was nice to actually hear Jazmyn contribute for a chant. I thought that the layup to bring out Sol Ruca was very contrived though. It did not come across organic at all. The Masha awkwardness was blatant too. She has never been a great promo but that is okay because she is a fantastic wrester. They should have done better to hide her shortcomings but instead they made her look even weaker. That will change by the end of the night.
Pointless
Opponents for TNA Slammiversary team up in the latest edition of “how can they co-exist?!” Mike Santana, Trick Williams and Joe Hendry team up to face DarkState. This is literally a carbon copy of the angle they ran 3 months ago between Je’Von Evans, Oba Femi and Trick Williams. Can they co-exist ahead to defeat DarkState? Is Trick Williams actually working with DarkState? Actually, it appears that they have dropped that narrative, even though it was alluded to several times last week. I am glad it was dropped because it would make literally no sense.
This match was a pointless waste of time. Trick, Hendry and Santana get some early offence. DarkState dominate Santana for some slow, boring heat. Hendry gets the hot tag, Trick is pissed off that they are not working with him. Hendry and Santana punch Trick and prepare to face DarkState 2v4, but out comes TNA’s The System. The System attack DarkState, the referee throws the match out.
I have so many issues with this. Why is this match even happening? You’re going to run a “can they co-exist” angle between 3 people literally fighting over the legacy of an entire wrestling promotion? That is crap booking HBK. Why was this a No Contest, when DarkState were the ones attacked. Shouldn’t they win by DQ? Why are we not doing wins by DQ, until it is convenient to do it again? Second, who in the right mind cares about The System vs DarkState? Yes, I know that DarkState attacked them on TNA causing their match to end in a No Contest. It is not a case of things not making sense, they do, but it is terrible storytelling. This was not fun to watch nor is it worth anyone’s time.
A boring, mediocre match that ended with a deflating finish, rendering the whole thing pointless. It developed nothing, it tainted the TNA world title triple threat and no one got over as a result of this. Awful stuff.
Rushed Angle
Josh Briggs comes out and he is getting booed to HELL by the fans. He says that he tried his best at the Great American Bash to help Yoshiki Inamura win, but it didn’t work out. Briggs says that he wanted the win more than Inamura did. He calls him too nice, in a cutthroat business where you need to win by any means necessary. He is upset that Inamura was given a title shot within a year when he has never even came close to getting an opportunity.
Oba Femi says that Josh Briggs made Saturday all about himself, but the result would not have changed either way. He calls Briggs jealous, but Josh denies this. He says Inamura is honourable, but he is not. Yoshiki comes out and confronts Josh for what he is saying. Oba says that Inamura deserves a title rematch, but Briggs deserves nothing. Briggs claims that he only wants to fight Inamura because he knows he won’t do what it takes to win like him. Inamura says he will do what it takes, but he will also fight with honour. Briggs challenges Oba to a triple threat match and then attacks him. Both Femi and Briggs accidentally strike Inamura in the scuffle. Briggs approaches Yoshiki but he gets shoved and now security are holding them all back.
I know you can put this down to heel work, but I think Briggs come across incredibly stupid for 2 reason. 1) he has unsuccessfully challenged for every other championship NXT has to offer. 2) He was in an NXT title contender battle royal and he lost. Briggs has had plenty of opportunities and he has failed to win them all. I think there was a better angle for him to take.
The segment itself was fine but once again I am not sold on the execution. The transition for Briggs from loyal friend to whiney bitch is jarring, it happened so quickly and unnaturally. All 3 men do a solid job with the promo, I just personally think that all of this feels incredibly rushed. Briggs hasn’t full turned on Inamura, but it is clear that it will happen soon.
Results & Grades
Fatal Influence Are Confronted (C Grade)
DarkState vs Santana, Hendry & Williams Ends in a No Contest (D- Grade)
Kali Armstrong (c) defeats Karmen Petrovic by DQ, Evolve Women’s Championship / Jordynne Grace Wants Blake Monroe (D Grade)
Tony D’Angelo defeats Channing Lorenzo & Luca Crusifino (B+ Grade)
Josh Briggs Calls Out Oba Femi (C Grade)
Masha Slamovich & ZaRuca defeat Fatal Influence (B- Grade)
Overall I would give WWE NXT a C- Grade
WWE Smackdown – 18th July from San Antonio, Tx

Highlights
Car Crash opening…literally
The show cold opens in the parking lot and police are on the scene! Solo Sikoa and his MFTs got into a car crash, Tonga Loa is bleeding from his head and Adam Pearce is trying to get information on what happened. What an exciting way to start the show!
Later, the police are asking to find Jacob Fatu as a person of interest in regards to the investigation. Pearce and the police find Jacob Fatu, but he refuses to go with the “punk ass police”. Pearce convinces him to go have a chat with them.
Midway through the show, the US champion Solo and his MFTs come to the ring. The fans chant for OTC and you can see Solo mouthing “why are they chanting for him?” I was thinking the same, they haven’t been feuding for over 6 months. Solo calls Fatu reckless who only cares about himself. The fans finally chant for Fatu. Solo takes credit for Jacob’s success and calls himself for betraying his real family. “Once a criminal, always a criminal.”
Solo is interrupted by Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu backstage, Fatu has returned! He has been cleared of any blame after reviewing the footage, it was staged by the MFTs. Fatu calls them “punk ass police” once more before walking towards the ring with a purpose. Jimmy Uso attacks them from behind and helps Fatu in the fight. Talla Tonga tries to chokeslam Jimmy Uso through the announce table but Fatu dives onto them for the save. Talla stands back up. Fatu & Uso work together to wipe him out. Fatu beats up Solo Sikoa, Talla Tonga saves him from complete decimation.
Jacob destroys Tonga Loa and JC Mateo with a chair. Adam Pearce books Fatu vs Solo for Summerslam inside a steel cage, then directs police to arrest him!
This was such an awesome narrative and a great segment running through the first half of the show. Fatu looks like such a badass and he is ready for the main event push.
The fans pissed me off here. Why were they chanting for the OTC? Not only during Solo’s promo, but after Fatu had already came back. Are they dumb? It was disrespectful in my eyes to cheer for anyone other than Fatu in that moment.
Flair For The Gold
The opening match of the night saw Charlotte Flair take on Raquel Rodriguez, moments after the announcement that Flair & Alexa Bliss will challenge Raquel & Roxanne Perez at Summerslam for the tag gold.
The match starts off with a wrestling showcase by Charlotte Flair but it isn’t long until Raquel begins to overpower Charlotte, dropping her with a stiff lariat on the outside. Raquel beats up Flair throughout the break, Charlotte eventually fights out of a Gory Special and prepares to make a comeback. The city woos as she chops her way back into the match. Raquel goes for the Tejana Bomb, Flair escapes and lands a big boot. She goes for the figure 8 but Perez distracts her. Bliss hops up and attacks Raquel, allowing Flair to hit a superkick and the roll up of doom to win.
Pretty solid opening match, they didn’t do much special but this was teaser for Summerslam as well as establishing some story. Flair and Bliss continue to have really fun energy on screen together. It is clear they’re both having a good time.
Commentary was a bit annoying here. We get it, Bliss and Flair claim to not be friends but they clearly get along like friends. Yes, Charlotte Flair is finally getting positive reactions. I don’t need this repeated over and over.
Looking for a Priest
Hell yeah we are getting Carmelo Hayes wrestling again! He is facing off with Damian Priest. Melo tries to attack during his entrance but it only takes a couple of minutes for Priest to recover and punch him out of the ring. The action spill outside, Melo sends Priest into the ring post to take control.
Hayes uses dodging and striking to remain in control through most of the break, Priest shows some life with a Falcon Arrow but afterwards he is tripped into the turnbuckle. Hayes taunts too much while slapping Priest and allows the big man to power up and fight back. Melo stays in the fight though and hits a springboard. He tunes up the band and goes for Sweet Chin Music in Texas. Great heel work.
Some great counters and near falls here. Melo reverses a South of Heaven with a codebreaker. He also lands a beautiful frog splash for a near fall, shades of Eddie Guerrero. Priest is in control and goes for an Old School, but Aleister Black appears and swipes his leg, causing a DQ. Black drops Priest with Black Mass, he turns around and scares Carmelo Hayes away.
The screwy finish left a bad taste in my mouth, but I think that is because I only just caught up on NXT just before this aired. I still think this was a good match, but the finish was a tad lame.
Follow
Not much to say here but we got an awesome little vignette from the Wyatt Sicks where all of them got an opportunity to speak. It looks like they are going to run through every team on Smackdown and expose them for their selfish desires. Uncle Howdy says they will guide the other teams on this journey, all they have to do…is follow. We want more of these! Keep the spooky storytelling going. Hopefully they don’t absolute annihilate the SD tag division though.
New Contender
WWE must have read my How I Would Fix Smackdown article, because this was my idea! Well, I cannot blame them. I have have some good creative juices flowing through me.
Fast paced action from all 4 teams to start but DIY take control and slow down the match with an assault on Alex Shelley. Rey Fenix is very over with the crowd, they keep chanting for him to enter the ring. Fraxiom tag themselves in and it is all aboard the dive train as they wipe out all their opponents. Rey gets in and the crowd explodes for him. Andrade honours Eddie Guerrero with the Three Amigos, Rey hits a massive frog splash but everyone breaks the pin.
All 4 teams fight and take turns hitting some big offence. Andrade & Fenix show off their great chemistry as a team. Ciampa hits Project Ciampa on Axiom for a great near fall, I thought it might have ended there but we are going into another break. The focus is on Ciampa vs Axiom, he hits a top rope Air Raid Crash to the outside onto everyone else! That was an ugly looking landing for Axiom.
Fraxiom hit the Spanish Fly / Phoenix Splash combo but Ciampa blind tagged in to try and steal the victory. Rey Fenix codebreakers Gargano onto the pin to break it. He runs absolutely wild to take out everyone, Andrade is left to hit Gargano with The Message. Candice LeRae causes a distraction, Gargano rushes at Andrade but accidentally takes out Ciampa instead! Andrade hits The Message to win.
What a great match. It is nice to see Rey Fenix get loud crowd reactions, Andrade got some loud cheers too. They deserve a featured spot on Smackdown, the other teams have had their opportunities. Not much to add here really. Add 4 Smackdown tag teams into a match and you are bound to get a banger. Keep up this high level of match quality and I won’t have much issue with you Smackdown.

Contract Signing
Contract signing closes off Smackdown. Adam Pearce introduces Cody Rhodes first who is carrying the documents to a huge ovation. Rhodes immediately signs and speaks about his family being Texans. He talks about a tweet he said “do not flinch, thank you for the ride.” He did not flinch about over all of the obstacles he overcame to reach the world title, defend the world title and return to being a contender. Rhodes did flinch at Wrestlemania 41 though against John Cena. It is an unenviable task to take the WWE title away from one of the most beloved wrestlers, but it is the task he was born for. Cody has signed, but it takes two and he asks Pearce to introduce the champion.
John Cena comes out, huge ovation as expected. He is wearing San Antonio Spurs colours which looks GREAT on him. Proper heel vibes. Cena tells Cody to sit down and he wants a second. John has bad news tonight. He is not going to be at Summerslam. It was a tonight decision but it was out of his hands. He is filming for Netflix in New York, he is emotionally exhausted and it is best he doesn’t compete at Summerslam. Cena understands and he offers to do it in Paris or Perth, but it cannot happen at Summerslam. Now the fans are booing him. He is in absolute politician mode he even says “this is best for business”.
Cena wanted to give the fans a night to remember but physically and emotionally he cannot give everyone what they wants. He thanks the fans and their understanding. He thanks Cody’s patience then says goodnight. The fans boo hard, Cody chases Cena down and fights him at ringside, but Cena whips him into the steel steps. Cena grabs his title to use as a weapon, Cody kicks him and hits Cena with the title himself. Cena is on the table, Cody hits a diving splash through it. He grabs Cena’s hand and forges the signature himself on the contract. “John Cena, check the fine print. It is not just a match for the title at Summerslam, it is a street fight!”
A really fun way to end the show and a nice new spin on the contract signing. I liked Cena trying to weasel his way out of the match, pretending to be the good guy again but really he is being a chickenshit. He and Cody did a great job turning the San Antonio crowd on Cena and in favour of Rhodes. Cena vs Rhodes in a Street Fight should hopefully be fun. Who will we see a run in from? I can already foresee all of the mentions of Cody being in the upcoming Street Fighter movie following this.
Lowlights
Diet Jade Cargill
I do not like this Jade Cargill character. I can get over her rough-around-the-edges wrestling ability because she looks like a star and they could make her female Goldberg. I’m talking WCW Goldberg, not WWE Goldberg.
However she is just another cookie cutter baby face talking about overcoming challenges, overcoming adversity, overcoming hate. It is lame! Where is “That Bitch”? Where is the badass that we got in AEW? I don’t want Diet Jade Cargill. I want full sugar, full fat Jade Cargill with a whiskey chaser.
Disappointed
I was excited to see Stephanie Vaquer vs Alba Fyre on the line up for tonight. If they give these 2 good time, they could wrestle an awesome match.
Unfortunately, Vaquer ran through Fyre in about 2 minutes. Boo.
They have a nice back and forth early on but Vaquer hits the Devil’s Kiss and then the SVB to get a quick win.
I understand that they’re putting over Vaquer strong ahead of her title match, but I think it would have benefitted both women if this was longer and more competitive. Fyre looks like an absolute chump even though she is so damn good in the ring. She deserved better than this.
Results & Grades
Charlotte Flair defeats Raquel Rodriguez (C+ Grade)
Damian Priest defeats Carmelo Hayes by DQ (B- Grade)
Jacob Fatu Gets Payback On Solo Sikoa & Co (A Grade)
Stephanie Vaquer defeats Alba Fyre (C- Grade)
DIY defeats Andrade & Rey Fenix, Fraxiom & Motor City Machine Guns, No.1 Contender (A- Grade)
Cody Rhodes Forces John Cena To Sign The Contract (B+ Grade)
Overall, I would give WWE Smackdown a B+ Grade.
Top 10 of the Week
- Lyra Valkyria
- Bayley
- Rey Fenix
- Tommaso Ciampa
- Axiom
- Andrade
- Bron Breakker
- Jacob Fatu
- Solo Sikoa
- Tony D’Angelo
WWE Match of the Week

Lyra Valkyria vs Bayley, WWE Raw
Next Week
Raw
???
NXT
Oba Femi (c) vs Yoshiki Inamura vs Josh Briggs, NXT Championship
Ricky Saints vs Jasper Troy
Wren Sinclair vs Blake Monroe
The Undertaker Confronts Trick Williams
Smackdown
Wyatt Sicks (c) vs Andrade & Rey Fenix
Alexa Bliss vs Roxanne Perez
Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton & Jelly Roll Will Appear
Confirmed Summerslam Card
John Cena (c) vs Cody Rhodes, Street Fight for WWE Championship
Tiffany Stratton (c) vs Jade Cargill, WWE Women’s Championship
Gunther (c) vs CM Punk, World Heavyweight Championship
Naomi vs Iyo Sky vs Rhea Ripley, Women’s World Championship
Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul vs Randy Orton & Jelly Roll
Becky Lynch (c) vs Lyra Valkyria, IC Championship
Judgement Day (c) vs Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss, Women’s Tag Championships
Solo Sikoa (c) vs Jacob Fatu, Steel Cage for US Championship
Check out Part 1 of my Fantasy Booking of 2001-2002 WWF without the Invasion Angle!
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