WWE SmackDown 8/8/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that saw John Cena wrestle just his second televised match in almost three years — and this one as his usual babyface self! Sure, maybe some people were hoping to see Brock Lesnar show up on TV following his return at SummerSlam (or, you know, maybe not) but what's undeniable is that the real Cena is back, and the Wrestling Inc. staff have thoughts! We also have thoughts on the show ending with a tease for a Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre feud, Sami Zayn beating Solo Sikoa in Montreal, and lots more!

As usual, those of you who prefer your blue brand coverage to be more comprehensive and less opinionated, you can read all about the entire show on our "SmackDown" results page. For those who want to know what the WINC staff thought of the content itself (or at least the stuff we cared about most) here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/8/25 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

John Cena is apparently full of surprises now that he's back to being a babyface, and tonight, he surprised the crowd in Montreal by actually wrestling a match on television, something I don't believe he's done much, if at all, on the retirement tour. Cena and WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, who seemed to settle their differences last week between Cena's babyface turn on Friday and their SummerSlam match on Sunday, teamed up to take on Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre in the main event on Friday.

Cena previously teamed with Paul against Rhodes and Jey Uso at Money in the Bank, but this still worked pretty well between their opening promo battle, Paul challenging Cena to a match at Clash in Paris, and Paul low blowing Cena tonight to cause the disqualification. This was all fine and good tonight, because I didn't assume Cena would wrestle too much on a random episode of "SmackDown" after having a hell of a match against Rhodes at SummerSlam less than five days ago. Rhodes started off the match, took a majority of the beating, and then Cena got the hot tag.

Once involved in the match, Cena played a few of the greatest hits, including hitting the Five Knuckle Shuffle and the Attitude Adjustment to Paul. Paul hit the low blow to Cena in front of the referee, getting himself disqualified, but that made sense for his heel character. They brawled to the back, or really, Paul kind of chased Cena back to gorilla, which was fine to keep the former champion protected and even better to get the focus entirely on the champion and his next challenger.

Honestly, it's very strange why WWE would bring back Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam and then have Cena go directly into a program against Paul, but I can't say I hate it, especially after Cena showed off what he can still do in the ring on Sunday. He very well could have an awesome match against "The Maverick" at the end of the month, because as we all know, Paul is sadly disgustingly good. I didn't expect to see a Cena match tonight, and honestly, I wasn't sure what we were going to get after the return of Lesnar on Sunday, so this short match, with some storyline implications for Cena and Paul, and even more for Rhodes and McIntyre, was a good way to end the night.

Written by Daisy Ruth

This episode of "SmackDown" desperately needed something major to happen in at least one of the ongoing storylines on the brand in order to make it feel nothing more than painfully average. The tag team match between MFT and Motor City Machine Guns certainly didn't provide that in any way at all, and if anything, accomplished the exact opposite of that.

There was nothing wrong with the match itself, with the action being perfectly fine but not necessarily anything special. The bigger problem with this one was just how random and out of left field it felt. MFT and Motor City Machine Guns have had very limited – if any – interaction with one another on WWE programming, with MFT feuding with Jacob Fatu and Jimmy Uso while Motor City Machine Guns have been involved with the rest of the tag division in attempting to take out The Wyatt Sicks once and for all as they chase after the WWE Tag Team Championship. While the "SmackDown" after SummerSlam may provide the perfect opportunity to kick off some new storylines and MFT picking up another win makes sense to continue establishing them as a dominant force on the blue brand, there was absolutely nothing that was done either last week or even tonight to set up the match at all. It just made such little sense, and was incredibly puzzling above anything else.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

And so, Giulia continues to remain an afterthought.

During Friday's very whatever episode of "WWE SmackDown" (aren't we supposed to be hyping this up as the post-SummerSlam edition of "SmackDown?" Whatever), Giulia and Kiana James appeared in a backstage segment, and I was already peeved off. Literally nothing of consequence happened on Friday's episode of "SmackDown," aside from some developments in the world title scene and some decision-making from Nick Aldis, so why Giulia and James were banished to the dimly-lit hallway of equipment boxes and apathy was already beyond me. Then, James confronted one Jade Cargill, and while James' work was *fine* (I don't know how you can mess up a backstage segment), the progression of her and Giulia's story is straight-up vexing. Why are James and Giulia asking people to challenge Giulia for the Women's United States Championship? Why is Giulia — one of the hottest new signees to "WWE NXT" and one of the rare few competitors who have held the Women's United States Championship — begging people to fight her?

Okay, so Giulia's not on her hands and knees begging, but it certainly feels that way. It is crazy to me that Giulia even has to ask for new challengers, especially considering the relative rarity of her title. Her championship is supposed to represent power and prestige. The white leather of the title belt, the gold trim, the proud bald eagle in the center of her sideplates are all symbolic of in-ring power and a space on top of the in-ring hierarchy, so why is its titleholder booked as the pursuer, rather than the pursued? Combine this with Cargill's dismissal of James' offer, and you have an infuriating situation. I get that Cargill is fresh off a loss, but for her to not jump at the bit for another title opportunity — one that can help her climb back to the main event title picture — is burying. Women's United States Champion Giulia shouldn't be the one begging to have a match with you. You should be the one begging to have a match with her.

Why is Giulia booked so poorly, to the point where she can't even be brought to the ring for a title feud kick-off segment? There is literally no excuse. This episode of "SmackDown," as stated previously, was filled with a whole lot of nothing. There was ample room on that card for an in-ring segment. Giulia and James could have easily gone to the ring to speak in front of fans — to form the connection with the audience that all in-ring competitors strive towards — to stake an open challenge for Giulia's title. Then, you can have Cargill and Michin or whoever come out and challenge her. It is so easy to make Giulia look like the same big deal she was when you signed her, so why WWE is choosing to be lazy with her booking is beyond me.

Why put a championship on Giulia if you aren't going to book her like champion?

Written by Angeline Phu

The MFTs had a workload ahead of them during this week's show as Talla Tonga and JC Mateo took on the Motor City Machine Guns in tag team action, winning that bout and ending the segment – or so it would seem – with Solo Sikoa putting the locker room on notice to him and his big bad group; only for Nick Aldis to come out, call Sikoa out for running his mouth, and introduce a special inter-brand surprise for the Montreal crowd in Sami Zayn. 

Sikoa and Zayn obviously share a very storied history together, with Zayn becoming the "Honorary Uce" and being the first man to truly break through the hard exterior the "Tribal Enforcer" had since joining The Bloodline. This wasn't just a thrown-together match for the sake of the venue – it very well probably might have been, in actual fact – because there was an intrinsic story for the pair to follow. This was another chapter in an ongoing dynamic between intertwined characters. At the very least, that's how it came off to me, in my opinion. 

It should really go without saying at this point, but Zayn very rarely wrestles a bad match, and much in that vein he and Sikoa wrestled a really fun little sprint that played into the best aspects of one another. Sikoa has really found his groove as the goofy, unserious heel backed by sheer volume in numbers, and that meshed well with the uber-compelling babyface underdog that is Zayn, if only for a relatively brief match. 

Neither looked particularly bad, everyone got involved in an organic way, and the right man walked away with the result given their current trajectories. Does that win for Zayn mean a further United States title feud is on the way? Who knows, but Zayn getting the win gives the chance to ask that question. But without getting too far off-track, the match within its own vacuum ticked all of the boxes of your bog-standard TV match, and it was a damn sight better than the tag match that had come before it.

Written by Max Everett

Two heels turns have officially ended within a week of each other. John Cena's awful heel turn mercifully ended on last week's "SmackDown" with the crack of a beer. During a backstage segment tonight, Ron Killings' all too brief heel run is also over.

Just two months ago, Killings was told his contract was being renewed, ending his 17 year WWE career. After overwhelming fan outrage, he was brought back. Instead of R-Truth, he'd be going by his real name. He even had a shirt with that name on it. During a press conference, Paul Levesque tried to pretend it was all part of the story when in fact, they did indeed release a fan favorite and realized just how badly they screwed up.

He cut off his signature braids on live TV and cut promos with a fire we haven't heard in a very long time. Within a week, they were back to calling him R-Truth on commentary and in graphics. Sure, he did have a few segments where he was this new character. Instead of building off the momentum and giving him the serious run he wants before retiring, they pretended it didn't happen.

Tonight, he ran into his favorite childhood wrestler, Cena. They mirrored each other before Truth exclaimed, "you're really back! If you're back, I'm back!" before engulfing him in a bear hug. There was a little inside baseball where Cena was talking about both of them when he talked about Truth acting weird, being really mean to people, and "making that kid in Brussels cry." The segment was fun, but it's still unfortunate that they couldn't give Killings a real shot at doing something different and something he actually wanted to do. They don't seem to be in the business of keeping fans happy these days anyway.

Written by Samantha Schipman

While Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul's tag team match against Cody Rhodes and John Cena ended in a disqualification, I'd argue that we won tonight as the pieces for a McIntyre and Rhodes feud begin to solidify. I don't know why WWE has taken so long to run this feud, but it is here, upon us now, and I cannot be more excited. Both men are notorious for committing to their storylines, and if that gnarly Claymore through the announce table is a sign of things to come, I think we're in for a bloodbath for the next few weeks.

McIntyre isn't one of the best heels in the business for no reason. One look at McIntyre's feud with CM Punk will tell you that he is willing to match his opponent's freak to a degree that is dangerous to the public, and it is that conviction that makes him one of WWE's most lethal villains. From silly "still bored at work" selfies to blood-soaked matches over friendship bracelets, McIntyre's commitment to the storyline is what sets his feuds apart, and you can bet your bottom dollar that we will see that same creed of insanity in his feud with Rhodes. I can easily see him going to dastardly lows to antagonize Rhodes: think scathing promos, brutal post-match beatdowns, perhaps even a gorey stipulation at Clash in Paris or beyond to really sell their hatred for each other. There isn't a low that McIntyre isn't willing to sink to in order to get what he wants, and that insane commitment to his desires is what sets him apart from other heels in the business.

In McIntyre is one of the best heels in the business, then Rhodes is the perfect babyface to stand across from him in that ring. Rhodes is also known for matching his opponents' intensity — just look at his recent match with Cena at SummerSlam — and McIntyre is unlikely to be an exception. Where McIntyre will attempt to get Rhodes with mind games and biting words, Rhodes will likely respond with some inspiring promos of his own, all laced with the passion that has followed and distinguished his career. He will not stand down from McIntyre's attempts at intimidation, even if they spill blood — if anything, he will bite back, and bite harder. Rhodes is fully the type to match McIntyre's intensity, and if they are given the time and opportunities to develop this storyline, their match will tear the house down in Paris.

Why give Rhodes' championship reign a cool-down period? Let's go straight ahead and throw him in the deep end with one of WWE's most vengeful figures. Do I think that Rhodes will drop the title to McIntyre at the end of all this? No, but I'm not approaching this feud with hopes of seeing McIntyre with the Undisputed WWE Championship (sorry). I'm approaching this feud with sheer excitement. McIntyre and Rhodes are on the path to mutually assured destruction, and I'm grabbing popcorn.

Written by Angeline Phu