WWE SmackDown Results, Winners, Live Grades, Reactions and Highlights From July 25
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE SmackDown on July 25.
Last week, Cody Rhodes forced John Cena to sign their SummerSlam contract to officially make their title bout a Street Fight, so this week's show saw The American Nightmare address his upcoming fight.
The Wyatt Sicks were in action against Andrade and Rey Fenix, Alexa Bliss took on Roxanne Perez, and both Jelly Roll and Logan Paul helped hype their upcoming tag match with Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre as their respective partners.
WWE also took some time to pay tribute to the late Hulk Hogan following his death on Thursday.
Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's SmackDown.
WWE Remembers Hulk Hogan
1 of 7
SmackDown opened with a shot of the roster and some legends on the stage. Triple H talked about Hogan's passing before they played a 10-bell salute and then went to a video package about him. Jimmy Hart was crying a little on the stage.
Triple H narrated the video that covered select parts of Hogan's life and career.
Impaulsive TV
2 of 7
After a commercial break, Logan Paul came to the ring to talk about his upcoming tag match at SummerSlam. He said it was good to be back in Cleveland before he did his usual routine of insulting his hometown.
He brought out Jelly Roll as his guest and the musician cut his own entrance short to insult Paul from the aisle. He said Paul had been a "Silver spoon kid" his whole life. The man with the face tattoos showed no intimidation getting into the ring with Paul.
McIntyre slid into the ring to stand next to Paul, which led to the crowd chanting for Orton. As soon as The Viper got to the ring, he decked McIntyre to kickstart a brawl. McIntyre and Paul got the upper hand, but Orton and Jelly Roll came back and ended the segment by sending them out of the ring.
This would have made more sense to be the final segment before SummerSlam, but it did what it set out to do. This was a predictable but serviceable segment that seemed have the crowd invested enough to react.
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
—There is no way a WWE writer told Paul to pretend he though the crowd was chanting "Thank you, Logan" during the Hogan segment.
—Jelly Roll has clearly been working out. He has lost a ton of weight since his first appearance in WWE.
—Jelly Roll beginning to sing Orton's song so the crowd could join in was a fun moment.
Alexa Bliss vs. Roxanne Perez
3 of 7
Charlotte Flair accompanied Bliss to the ring for her match against Perez, who had Raquel Rodriguez by her side. This match was booked to hype the upcoming women's tag title bout at SummerSlam.
Bliss and Perez are two of the smallest women on the roster, so both of them are used to fighting bigger opponents in most situations. You could tell both were excited to work with someone who was a similar size because it allowed them to do some moves they might not normally do against taller opponents.
Bliss began to make a comeback when the show returned from a break. The Queen cheered on her partner as she hit Perez with a flurry of offense. When Flair and Rodriguez got into a fight, Alexa hit Twisted Bliss to save her partner.
When she got back into the ring, Perez rolled her up and used the ropes for leverage to get the win over a bloody Bliss.
Result: Perez defeated Bliss
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
—Charlotte did a good job looking like she begrudgingly agreed to carry pom poms for Bliss.
—Seeing Rodriguez stand a few inches taller than Flair is a good reminder of just how tall she is.
—It was hard to tell what did it, but Bliss was bleeding at the end of the match.
Jade Cargill vs. Chelsea Green
4 of 7
Jade Cargill got into a fight with Chelsea Green backstage and brought her out to the ring to keep beating on her. She rolled Green into the ring and a waiting ref called for the bell to make it official.
The show cut to a break almost immediately. We returned to see Cargill still dominating the former United States champion.
Piper Niven and Alba Fyre watched from ringside as Green made a short-lived comeback before she was hit by Jaded to give Cargill the win. Secret Hervice attacked after the match but Tiffany Stratton made the save.
This match took place mostly during the break and was a very basic squash. There's not much more to it.
Result: Cargill defeated Green
Grade: C-
Notable Moments and Observations
—The announcers seemed surprised that this was suddenly a match that was taking place.
—There was literally no reason for Stratton to want to save Cargill other than them both being babyfaces.
The Miz vs. Jacob Fatu
5 of 7
The American Nightmare came to the ring to talk about his upcoming match against Cena at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship. He spoke briefly about Hogan before giving his expected promo about Cena.
Backstage, Jacob Fatu was giving a promo when he was interrupted by The Miz, who said Fatu putting him on the shelf for six weeks helped him figure out who he is. He even slapped Fatu after telling him he got a match between them booked.
The Miz tried to avoid Fatu at first, but The Samoan Werewolf cornered him and beat him down eventually. Fatu was sent into the ring post as the show went to a commercial.
Solo Sikoa and his crew showed up but Fatu was able to fend them off before hitting a Samoan drop for the win. Sikoa's group pounced on him immediately. Jimmy Uso showed up with a steel chair to help even the odds.
The match and segment that followed were predictable but kept the feud between Fatu and Sikoa going in the right direction.
Result: Fatu defeated The Miz
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
—Rhodes acknowledging that Hogan's legacy was complicated was surprising.
—The Miz slapping Fatu was pretty funny.
—The Cleveland crowd was obviously happy to see The Miz, but they were also cheering Fatu.
—The video package for Damian Priest and Aleister Black was good.
—There was a split second when a camera that was not filming anything was selected.
The Wyatt Sicks vs. Andrade and Rey Fenix
6 of 7
Andrade and Fenix won a Fatal 4-Way to earn this tag title shot against Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy this week.
The match was a solid back and forth contest until Fenix was taken out by Lumis at ringside. That is when the Wyatts took control heading into the break.
When we returned, it seemed like any comeback the challengers made would be too little, too late. Lumis and Gacy looked dominant as they used quick tags and double-team moves to keep their opponents separated.
Sadly, WWE couldn't even commit to a decisive win and decided to have Nikki Cross pull the ref out of the ring to cause a disqualification.
The rest of the tag team division showed up to fight the Wyatts as a unit, but then Fraxiom took out DIY and it turned into an all out brawl. Nick Aldis eventually booked a TLC match for SummerSlam with all of the team involved.
Result: Andrade and Fenix won by DQ
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
—The Street Profits and DIY had another tense exchange backstage.
—It was cool to see WWE take the time for the full Wyatt entrance, but it led to the match being shorter than expected.
—The DQ ending wasn't ideal but the big brawl was fun.
The Final Word
7 of 7
Friday’s SmackDown felt very light on in-ring action in favor of having several non-wrestling segments along with the tribute to Hogan.
It was more than 30 minutes before the first match began, which seems excessive even for WWE. When we finally got to the action, most of the matches felt rushed and were hampered by WWE’s abundance of commercial breaks.
Fenix and Andrade vs. The Wyatt Sicks was probably the best match of the night, but it wasn’t exactly a high bar to clear.
SummerSlam is shaping up to be a decent card, but the buildup for the first two-night edition of the event has left a lot to be desired. The TLC match should be fun though.
Grade: C+
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