Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that, for better or worse, has the job of being the final sell for any given WWE PLE and this Friday, it was the go-home show for SummerSlam 2025, the first two-night edition of the event ever. Of course, the big story happened right at the start, when John Cena (apparently) re-embraced the WWE audience, ending his heel run. The WINC crew has thoughts on that, as well as the women's United States title match between Giulia and Zelina Vega, the closing segment featuring JellyRoll andLogan Paul, and just WWE commentary as a whole.
If you were dying to know what we thought about Mr. Iguana's main roster debut, our apologies; none of us felt strongly about it to comment. That's what makes this column different from, say, our "SmackDown" results page while that is an objective and comprehensive survey of the program, this column only includes matches and segments that made us feel a way, along with the way we felt about them. In other words, these are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/1/2025 episode of "WWE SmackDown!"
Normally, I have a witty title for these slides, but honestly, I am at my wit's end.
I don't know what this commentary team is doing. Like, at all. Ever since Evolution, I've noticed week in and week out just how bad WWE's commentary team is it has been an absolutely precipitous drop in quality, even outside the sphere of personal preference. It's one thing to find Michael Cole's play-by-play style grating or Wade Barrett's side comments unnecessary; it's not the end of the world if you've started to mute Corey Graves or Joe Tessitore. It's one thing to have bad commentary, it's another to have inaccuratecommentary.
If you don't know what just happened, keep your mouth shut. That's an adage that everyone should live by: if you don't know what just happened, don't act like you do. There is no reason you should be calling a Northern Lights Bomb when you, apparently, don't know what a Northern Lights Bomb looks like. In Giulia's Women's United States Championship title defense against Zelina Vega, commentary was hyping up Giulia's Northern Lights Bomb. Giulia had used the Northern Lights Bomb to put away Vega in order to win the title, and "WWE SmackDown's" commentary booth was really hyping up this fabled Northern Lights Bomb as the end-all of the match. However, when Giulia hit a sit-out Michinoku Driver notably and definitively not a Northern Lights Bomb Tessitore loudly and confidently called the move as the fabled Northern Lights Bomb. Sure, Vega's kick-out would have been shocking either way that Michinoku Driver looked gnarly, especially after the Avalanche Butterfly Suplex and Arrivederci Knee combo but it's another thing to garner false shock at a finisher kick-out fake-out, just because you can't call a move. It's another thing to possibly bury a wrestler by falsely calling a finisher kickout when one didn't happen. To the casual watcher at home, they might think Giulia a less capable performer, because her finisher got kicked out of. The casual, at-home viewer relies on the commentary team to give them efficient and accurate commentary, and WWE has dropped the ball with that over the past several weeks.
Let's be a bit kind. Tessitore is not used to calling these fanciful move names, and to be honest, sometimes we, as writers, call moves inaccurately as well. If this was a one-off mistake, I would have been less annoyed by it. I would have given the commentary team the benefit of the doubt. However, WWE's commentary team has just been so careless recently, that this slip-up is just another pebble on the scale. It is just another thing to add to our case file of incompetent and inefficient commentary moments from WWE's booths. Factor in the discrepancy between obvious commentary slip-ups during women's and men's matches, and you have a can of worms that continually eat away at the product.
It's tough to have great commentary. It's the bare minimum to have accurate commentary. Right now, WWE has neither.
Written byAngeline Phu
I was certainly not expecting an abrupt babyface turn by John Cena tonight, and definitely not in the opening segment of "SmackDown," but after mulling it over for awhile, I actually think I really liked it. In part, because I didn't expect it, and usually, WWE's go-home shows before its premium live events are nothing to write home about. And, to be quite honest, I liked it because it means the terrible experiment of Cena's heel turn (and all the absolutely terrible booking, or lack thereof that went with it) is finally over.
The fact that Cena mentioned The Rock, subtly, when he said he made a mistake five months ago when "he bought into someone's idea of making shocking TV" was a nice touch. He didn't outwardly mention The Rock, which I think could possibly come in to play this weekend. I've seen more talk about Dwayne Johnson this week, thanks to "WWE Unreal," which highlighted Cena's heel turn back in March, than I have in quite some time. I don't know if the powers that be in WWE would be smart enough, Rock himself included, to reintroduce him to the story at SummerSlam, since it was apparently his idea to want to turn Rhodes heel in the first place.
I also don't know if Rhodes is turning at SummerSlam, but after tonight, I believe that more than I ever did. Since we're not getting the shock of a double turn, maybe getting The Rock back out there to end SummerSlam is a possibility. Rhodes grabbed some beers and toasted with Cena tonight without saying much, and by doing so, he left things a bit more open going into the weekend, because we didn't get to hear what he was thinking after Cena abruptly decided to be a good guy once again, and he even thanked Rhodes for what he had done for him. I love the fact I have more questions than answers after this all tonight, and I like that it makes SummerSlam just a bit more interesting.
Cena also took a shot at Travis Scott, which was also a highlight of this promo, when he told Rhodes that he would be the "only platinum rapper coming to kick his a** this weekend." I didn't find myself liking a lot of Cena's heel promos, but tonight, he had some fire to him, and I liked it. And again, to be quite frank, I'm glad Cena basically confirmed that Scott won't be there.
I would have flipped around tonight's opening and closing segments, because in my opinion, it would have been better to go off the air with Cena celebrating with fans after his surprising turn rather than with the Drew McIntyre, Logan Paul, Jelly Roll, and Randy Orton pull apart brawl, but other than that, I really liked Cena's segment because of the questions I'm left with going in to SummerSlam this weekend.
Written byDaisyRuth
On the eve of the first ever two night SummerSlam, "SmackDown" was bookended by two segments related to two matches for Sunday. Following a match with Talla Tonga winning his debut match against Jimmy Uso, there was a segment between Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. In this very column on Monday, I wrote about how the go home "Raw" did nothing to build excitement for the PLE. Tonight's show did a better job, but was still lacking.
A video package that will air before their match at "The Biggest Party of the Summer" was shown of the six tag teams that will be competing for the "SmackDown" tag titles. It briefly highlighted each team, but didn't do anything to sell the match. Given that the match was just made last week, it could've used an in-ring segment or a backstage segment. Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill at least got that much.
The Wyatt Sicks just won the titles a few weeks ago. Although every team in the division is in this match, with the exception of Pretty Deadly, it still deserved something to build excitement. It's not just any match, it's a TLC match. That match is synonymous with the tag teams of the early aughts. On the "SmackDown" after WrestleMania 41, Street Profits, #DIY, and Motor City Machine Guns delivered a Mania worthy TLC match. Given how much fans raved about the match, one would think that WWE would want to make a bigger deal about a version involving six teams on a PLE. The time they used for a video package could've added a couple minutes and been a segment to make the match something fans are interested in beyond a hastily made TLC match. Silly me for thinking wrestling promotions should do a better job of promoting and booking their tag team division.
Written bySamantha Schipman
While this could and probably should have been a match bumped to the SummerSlam cards this weekend, Giulia and Zelina Vega went out for a United States title rematch and left it all in the ring. This was Giulia's first title defense since capturing it from Vega on "SmackDown" in June, which isn't an ideal statistic but ensured that Giulia stamped her reign with a really good opening. Neither were afraid to get stuck into the bout, with Giulia delivering stiff kicks which were then returned in kind by Vega, and so on and so forth. And each of them excelled at playing their part, with Giulia setting the pace and Vega working around her really well, fighting from underneath and surviving everything her opponent threw at her.
Even in an eventual loss, Vega was cemented as a very credible challenge to the champion, perfectly characterized with a rare genuinely surprising near-fall; Giulia delivered an avalanche butterfly suplex, followed it up with a Kamigoye and a Northern Lights bomb for what surely looked like the winning pin with an exclamation point. Vega kicked out of the move at the last fraction of a second, combined with Giulia holding a very tight cover, and that slight attention to the detail added to the surprise of it. When all was said and done it was a great title match, definitely the best match on the card, and was more than deserving of a PLE spot.
Naturally, there will be the argument that "SmackDown" needs to have its own marquee matches, and that is an argument with merit. Especially given that this week's show was a much better one for having this bout on the card.
Written byMaxEverett
When Giulia went said that she would "not forgive [herself]" if she did not make it onto the SummerSlam 2025 card, I thought that Giulia you know, as the Women's United States Champion would be able to find her way onto the first-ever two-night SummerSlam. I thought that surely, with eleven match slots up for grabs, that Giulia would be able stake her claim onto the SummerSlam card. I was hopeful heading into her Women's United States Championship title defense on Friday's episode of "WWE SmackDown." Maybe with Kiana James at ringside, Giulia would pull shenanigans and get the match thrown out, so they'll run it back in Jersey, at SummerSlam. Perhaps some huge name in the women's division will come and challenge Giulia for her title, and the match would get added to the two-night event. I mean, how are you going to scramble for one of the hottest names to come out of STARDOM and NJPW, just to leave her in the back?
How are you going to sign one of the hottest independent stars to come out of Japan, just to leave her in the back?
To make things clear, this isn't directly aimed at her match with Vega. I kind of wish she defended the title against someone else, since Vega just lost the title, but I can't be too mad, considering how much Vega's improved in the ring, especially when paired with a technical master like Giulia. No, this critique is aimed at Giulia's overall main roster booking. You can't make a big deal out of signing Giulia you can't make an even bigger deal about Giulia during her time in "WWE NXT " just to not book her on the cards of your big shows. You can't hype up Giulia's signing without following through on it. Make it make sense.
Giulia is one of the better in-ring workers on WWE's roster, so I'm not too sure why they're just limiting her exposure to go-home episodes of "SmackDown." You think I'm joking? According to Cagematch, her last three matches were Friday's Women's United States Championship defense against Vega (go-home SummerSlam show), the Evolution Battle Royale, and the June 27 episode of "SmackDown," where she won the Women's United States Championship on the go-home "SmackDown" before Crown Jewel. I see absolutely no reason to book Giulia almost exclusively on go-home shows instead of, you know, the actual show we're going home to.
Is it that Giulia isn't ready for the premium live event spotlight? I struggle to believe that, as she has a singles title on her shoulder, and Stephanie Vaquer, who was positioned to be her equal and rival in "NXT," already has a premium live event date with the WWE Women's World Champion at Clash in Paris. Giulia's not new to the game; she can handle the PLE pressure. I am racking my brain for answers as to why Giulia is, yet again, snubbed from a PLE card. I have nothing. Do better, WWE.
Written by Angeline Phu
No matter which way you look at them or the names that are involved in them, celebrity matches in WWE are always going to be a big deal and garner at least a little bit of mainstream attention due to the notoriety of the name(s) that are involved in them. Naturally, this sentiment applies to the SummerSlam match pitting country singer Jelly Roll and Randy Orton against Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre. For that reason, it was nice to see this match actually be treated like a big deal on the final episode of "SmackDown" before the two-night Premium Live Event.
Was this segment objectively over the top and a little excessive with the amount of security guards it took to pull Jelly Roll, Orton, Paul, and McIntyre apart? Yes, but in this particular case, it actually felt warranted. Not only did this segment earn the final spot of the night, but it also made the SummerSlam tag match feel like a major deal. WWE hasn't had a ton of time to build up the storyline between the four men, and while things between them have escalated at an almost surreal rate, this entire segment still felt like it left a lasting impression. It created some good last minute hype for SummerSlam, as well as being a fun way to close out a "SmackDown" that was otherwise pretty subpar and standard.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
