WWE SmackDown 7/4/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show where they taped the episode in advance and spoiled Trish Stratus' return for some reason! Yes, we'll be talking about that here — in fact, we'll be at the very least touching on just about everything that happened this week. Why? Because "SmackDown" is, blessedly, serendipitously, back to being a two-hour wrestling program! What better way to celebrate Independence Day? With an extra hour in our back pockets every Friday night once again, America is truly the land of the free.

As always, feel free to check out our "SmackDown" results page for a comprehensive and objective look at this week's blue brand happenings. If you want to know what we thought of the show, however, from Drew McIntyre's return to Jacob Fatu being put through the announce table, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 7/4/25 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

I swear, even with the show going back to two hours, "SmackDown" seems determined to bore the daylights out of me at every given opportunity. I think the reason for that is very obvious — aside from the Bloodline angle, which has somehow once again emerged as consistently the best part of this show, there's basically nothing going on with any heat whatsoever. And I don't mean like, they're trying to get heat and failing — they're not even trying.

It started in the opening segment, when Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton came out to tie a big babyface vs. babyface bow on their little babyface vs. babyface mini-feud. It was basically the same tone as the mini-feud itself, so it was boring, but not only was it boring, it was repetitive. This is at least the second time in a calendar year that Cody Rhodes has won a big PLE singles match because his opponent was his friend and hesitated to hit a finisher — the same thing happened against Kevin Owens 10 months ago. The way the King of the Ring final went down made a lot of people think Orton might be turning heel like Owens (eventually) did ... but no, that would be too interesting. Instead, he and Cody are still babyfaces and still friends who respect each other, brother. Cool. So compelling. Not even Drew McIntyre's return could salvage this for me, mostly because I have absolutely zero interest in whether Orton and Cody being friends makes them "beta males."

The lack of heat didn't stop there, though. It continued throughout the women's tag title match qualifier (which was about the "can they co-exist" relationship between two babyfaces and nothing more) through the eight-man tag (which pit four babyfaces against two faces and two heels) and into the Tiffany Stratton challenge segment, which involved three babyfaces in the ring. It finally culminated in the Fraxiom vs. Andrade & Fenix match, which appears to have been very good in a vacuum but which absolutely none of us cared about because it once again had no heat. Both teams are babyfaces. There's no feud. There's no angle. As one of my colleagues pointed out, "Good wrestling in today's wrestling environment simply isn't enough."

Personally I think you could make the argument that it never was — that "good" wrestling has always fundamentally been about how wrestlers get you invested emotionally. Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly unclear whether WWE in the TKO Era will end up being anything more than a glitzy parade of babyfaces with the crowd singing all their songs, and then they'll hit some moves and one will win and they'll hug it out and people will cheer and they'll do it all again next week, and absolutely none of it will matter.

Maybe it's appropriate this episode happened on the 4^th of July. Not for the first time today, I am begging the citizenry to demand more from your decision-makers.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

While it hasn't felt like a long time since we've last seen Drew McIntyre, it's still excellent to see him back and immediately in the thick of things. The last time we saw him was his steel cage match loss to Damian Priest at Saturday Night's Main Event back in May, and we're going to be seeing him back in action once again at next Saturday's NBC special. McIntyre came back tonight and did what he does best, talk s*** on the mic to some of the biggest players in WWE. This time, it was Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton in the opening segment of the show.

The other thing McIntyre does well, outside of in-ring action, of course, is bring up excellent points when he's talking crap. He mentioned that Rhodes targeted Orton's surgically repaired back immediately after "The Viper" tweaked it during their Night of Champions match, but Orton was hesitant when it came to the punt kick, which he ended up not hitting on his friend. McIntyre basically challenged Rhodes if he (when he) defeats Undisputed Champion John Cena at SummerSlam next month, and said he wouldn't hesitate to rip the title from him – unlike Orton. He then turned into a beautifully executed RKO and demanded a shot at Orton the second he saw General Manager Nick Aldis backstage.

For some reason, it feels like we've seen a lot of Orton versus McIntyre matches, but we really haven't. Their last bout came in March, and at that time, it had been a year since they faced off. Hopefully they can show off something new and exciting on Saturday, and I bet the story will be good considering the weekend it's happening. It also seems like we're working toward McIntyre versus Rhodes, when he wins the title, and I definitely don't hate that. McIntyre is great when it comes to title chases, but first, he has to get through Orton on a jam packed weekend full of wrestling.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Evolution 2 is a little over a week away and matches are still being made. On "WWE Raw," three matches were made official. "WWE SmackDown" had two matches made official, with Tiffany Stratton challenging her Elimination Chamber partner, Trish Stratus and putting her title on the line.

During "Raw," Roxanne Perez officially replaced Liv Morgan as one half of the Women's tag team champions. In order to prove that they can coexist, they will defend their titles against a team from "Raw," "SmackDown," and "NXT." To determine the "SmackDown" team, there was a three way match between Secret Hervice, Michin and B-Fab, and Charlotte and Alexa Bliss. In a backstage segment prior to the match, Bliss had to convince Flair to even be in the match and enticed her by the possibility of winning gold.

It was obvious before the match was even made that Flair and Bliss would be the Blue brand's representative. Since Flair's return, Bliss has been trying to be friends with Flair. It's also the easiest way to get two of the biggest superstars on the Evolution 2 card. Bliss got the win after Flair condescendingly patted her on the head and that counted as a tag. So now we have two teams trying to see if they can co-exist in the 4-way.

While I understand getting Flair and Bliss onto the card, it was at the expense of an actual tag team. Technically two since Michin and B-Fab have teamed up some too. The Secret Hervice are an actual tag team and have competed as one for several months. They're a very good team and putting them in a tag match on Evolution 2 is an obvious choice since they should have a shot at the tag titles. I don't think many fans are chomping at the bit to see Flair and Bliss hold tag team gold together. It's likely that the Secret Hervice, B-Fab, and Michin will be in the battle royal, which isn't a bad consolation prize. But I'd rather Bliss and Flair have singles matches instead of competing for tag titles after having a single tag team match.

Written by Samantha Schipman

It's no secret that I watch a lot of wrestling as the person who does live coverage for a wide array of weekly shows and pay-per-view events. As a fan, I love that I have the opportunity to be exposed to so many different shows but the last thing I wanted to do at the end of the week on a Friday night was sit through 3 extremely prolonged hours of "SmackDown." So, you can imagine my excitement when I found out that WWE had officially reverted the format of the show back to two hours and made it easily my favourite part of this entire (very mediocre) edition of "the blue brand."

While I know I obviously can't speak for WWE's entire fanbase, I know that many of us here at Wrestling Inc. aside from myself were also incredibly happy that WWE chose to revert "SmackDown" back to the two hour format. There are upsides to having 3 hours of television programming in that there's more opportunity to tell more stories and utilize more stars, but that wasn't being done with "SmackDown" in any way whatsoever. It became a drag to watch 3 hours of "SmackDown" every single Friday night, and the show quickly grew to be quite stale without a wide array of different content so that everyone could find something that they liked. This two hour change wasn't just welcomed, but it was also necessary to build up some momentum for the show and scale back everything in order for storylines to be told more effectively and concisely.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

The build to Evolution 2 has been ridiculously subpar and has almost seemed like an afterthought to WWE, and I have to first say that I really disliked both champions just choosing their challengers. Tonight, it was revealed that WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton chose WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus, for seemingly no other reason than Stratton just liked teaming with her at Elimination Chamber back in March. Their segment tonight, and the backstage segment that followed, was just oddly clunky, as well.

While my little Attitude Era heart loves Stratus to no end, I'm really not excited to see her challenge for a title in 2025. I think she would have worked well as a nostalgia pop in the battle royal. However, when I went to peruse the "SmackDown" women's roster to see who Stratton could have called out, there weren't many, if any, options that made sense. While there are plenty of talented women on the blue brand, nobody but maybe Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, who are already tied up for Evolution, make sense for the world title picture. Chelsea Green, of course, but that could be a legitimate feud if WWE puts some fire under Green and gives her some victories. But, that's a rant for another time.

When Stratus mentioned possibly becoming an eight-time women's champion, Stratton also got kind of nasty with her. She told her it wouldn't be easy, "because it's not the Attitude Era anymore." Okay, Tiffy, but you were the one who said you really wanted to challenge Stratton? It just didn't make sense she was being pretty s*** to her after being the one to bring the legend back. And of course, there's only one more episode of "SmackDown" before Evolution next Sunday, so there's absolutely no time for a build to play off of Stratton's nastiness. The women likely have words next week, possibly a brawl, but that doesn't seem too likely, so there will be nothing really exciting or anything of substance ahead of the premium live event, which is meant to be historic once again, but is really falling flat for me. I'm not looking forward to this match, as its outcome is super predictable.

My other problem with this segment was Queen of the Ring Jade Cargill. While I love her as well and think her QotR victory made all the sense in the world, I'm confused as to why she was out there and upset that Stratton wasn't challenging her. Cargill gets a title shot at SummerSlam no matter what, so it was unclear why she was out there at all. It seemed like she also forgot she was there when it came to the following backstage segment, as after all three women were in the ring together. Cargill awkwardly told Stratus, "I see you have a title shot." Um, yeah. You were there when it happened? It was just a bit cringe and I wasn't a fan of Cargill looking silly like that.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Following his theft of the United States Championship from Jacob Fatu, this week's "SmackDown" set the wheels in motion for the next chapter of Solo Sikoa and The Bloodline in full force. As always, it stayed a somewhat family affair on Friday, with the show being kicked off with a parking lot skirmish; Sikoa and co. were in their SUV coming into the venue, only for Fatu to jump them, yanking Sikoa through the window and sending JC Mateo head-first into the passenger's door before being separated by officials. 

Nick Aldis reprimanded Fatu and told him he can't just go around assaulting people in parking lots – because that is an "NXT" thing – but he can get his hands on two of The Bloodline in the main event should he be able to find a partner. Fatu's cousin, Sikoa's brother, and all-round thorn in this specific Bloodline's side, Jimmy Uso, offered to partner up with the "Samoan Werewolf" and their match was official. 

The match itself was really your run of the mill TV tag match – on a show loaded with run of the mill TV tag matches – with the added spice that comes with Fatu in the ring. He and Uso ultimately picked up the win, and some well-needed momentum post-Night of Champions, and this is where the good bit truly started. Fatu sought further revenge against Sikoa, attempting to set him up on the announcer's desk for a moonsault. The newly debuted Tala Tonga (Hikuleo) and Tonga Loa emerged to wipe Fatu and Uso out, with Loa delivering a swinging neckbreaker to Uso draped off the apron. They, led by Sikoa and alongside Mateo, then took turns laying out Fatu before they were directed to put him through the announcer's desk – typically, with a Triple Powerbomb. 

It was a solid way to continue the feud between Fatu and Sikoa while also building The Bloodline back into the realms of credibility. Fatu himself exemplifies the breakout potential that being a part of the group carries. And there still remains the presence of Uso, an interesting character in the story who adds a dynamic element to the narrative going forward; he could turn on Fatu, or his ties to the Original Bloodline could be leaned into as things progress. In any case, there's certainly meat to the bones of this tale and this week was a solid, even if nothing spectacular, way of building in that direction.

Written by Max Everett