WWE Smackdown 6/27/2025

WWE Smackdown 6/27/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/wwe-smackdown-6202025.html

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/wwe-smackdown-742025.html

Note - There was apparently a big power outage for over 30 minutes when this aired on Netflix internationally.

Michael Cole and Wade Barrett are on commentary. We are in Ryadh, Saudi Arabia. They are in a big and dark arena.

We see various wrestlers arrive.

Cody Rhodes comes out to talk and Randy Orton follows right after. They have the WWE KOTR crown on a podium.

Orton asks if we watched Raw and says Cody/Jey should be in the running for best match of the year come slammy time. Orton says Cody might want the crown but he needs it. He said he also fell short to Gunther last year in KOTR. he said Cena embarrassed him in his hometown. We get a message saying there were technical issues and we see them filmed from a weird angle.

Orton says there's nothing he wont due to make sure he leaves with the crown around his head. He says the goal will come true. He says he will reintroduce Cody to the RKO.

Cody says Orton shouldn't feel embarrassed. He said Orton slapped his dad during his first night in WWE. He calls Orton his teacher and said he's thankful and grateful for him. Orton says he needs it a bit more than Orton. Cody says Orton won't be KOTR, he will be.

Thoughts: It was hard to watch with the technical difficulties as the camera was at a weird angle. The camera quality was also not as good as usual. This stuff is happening too much these days post-Vince and needs to stop.

Solo Sikoa tells JC Mateo to give Jimmy Uso one more chance to come back to the family. He says to remind him what it is like to have no back up. He says to take care of Jimmy as he will take care of Fatu tomorrow night. He say everyone will see that they are just getting started.

JC Mateo vs Jimmy Uso

Uso jumps at him, is caught and takes corner spears. JC pounds on him in the corner. Uso uppercuts JC then hits chops. JC flying lariats him. Uso back elbows him and sends him out. Uso spinning enzugiri's him. Uso goes for a dive. Solo stops him and tries to recruit him.

We go to break and return. Uso is caught coming off the buckles and JC slams him down. JC standing moonsaults him for 2. Uso back elbows him then corkscrew moonsaults him off the top. Uso hits shots then he spinning enzugiri's him. Uso corner hip attacks him then superkicks him out. Uso topes him. Solo trips Uso. JC spinning powerslams Uso and wins.

Thoughts: Uso went down easily here which was unusual. I hope it wasn't for nothing. What we got was fine but it could have been a lot better than it was.

Solo tries to help up Uso after and asks if ready to rejoin him. He offers a hug and Uso slaps him. JC hits Uso from behind. Jacob Fatu then runs out. Fatu pop-up samoan drops JC then goes for Solo but Solo runs. Fatu then top rope moonsaults JC. Fatu and Uso stare down. Uso pushes him out of the way and superkicks Solo.

DIY talk in the back to the other non-Wyatt tag teams. They try to tell them how bad The Wyatt's being tag champs would be. Johnny says tonight is about the survival of the tag division. Nick Aldis comes out and Ciampa says they are the trying to motivate the division to fight against The Wyatt's. They tell Nick to do something about it. Nick brings in Andrade and tells him to find a partner to fight DIY with. DIY hates the idea.

We get a video on Giulia. She says her and Zelina Vega have been calling each other out. She says she doesn't have to talk about how hard she works like Vega. She says her hard work is obvious. She says the title is just a stepping stone to her. She says Vega acts like the title belongs to her and she says she will prove it does.

Zelina Vega says you go out to the street and handle it if you have a problem with someone. She says Giulia likes to do sneak attacks. She says she will have to pry the title from her cold dead body if she wants it. Vega says she will use her to show why she is the US champ.

WWE Women's United States Title - Zelina Vega (c) vs Giulia

G = Giulia

The girls are wearing full body outfits here. Vega takes her down then G crucifixes her. They high kick each other at the same time and both go down. G suplexes her. Vega flying knees her off the apron. Vega 2nd rope moonsaults her outside.

We go to break and return. G curbstomps her. Vega armdrags her and meteora's her against the steps. They go back in. G hits forearms and is lariated twice. Vega meteora's her against the buckles. Vega 2nd rope meteora's her for 2.

G hits a top rope butterfly suplex. Vega code red's her for 2. Vega takes a running knee to the face then G knees her in the face again. G northern lights bombs her and wins.

Thoughts: The match was about average and it felt like there were a lot of meteora variations here. I still don't see what WWE sees in Giulia but they are trying to get her over by having her win the title. The crowd wasn't that into this one.

Giulia gets fireworks after.

They announce that Smackdown will be 2 hours starting next week. As a reviewer I like it as it means no more reviewing stuff until 11PM and means an easier night for me. But it's going to mean a lot less midcarders make the show and it'll mean shorter matches which isn't good. I can't say I thought they made the most out of the extra hour they had.

Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss talk in the back. Flair says she doesn't need friends. Bliss says she's not trying to be her friend but says they need to be on the same page. She says they should be allies of convenience and Flair shakes her head.

Wade Barrett is in the ring for a segment with Asuka and Jade Cargill with the QOTR crown. Jade says people get nervous when they see Asuka. She says she sees an opportunity. She says this isn't pressure, it's purpose. She says she doesn't plan on just taking the title, she plans on taking the whole throne.

Asuka says she's strong but the power is not everything. She says she has skills and experience. She says no one is ready for Asuka.

Naomi interrupts. She says her MITB briefcase means they can fight over the crown but she has the power. She says she can do whatever she wants. She talks about when she might cash-in. She says Jade hates that Naomi has the power to take away whatever she does. Naomi says it gives her pleasure to think about how sweet it would be to ruin the biggest night of Jade's career.

Naomi gets on the apron, Jade pushes Asuka aside. Asuka hits headkicks on Jade and drops her.

Thoughts: I'm not sure what we were supposed to do with Jade and Asuka here. Both are kind of faces and the crowd did not boo Asuka dropping Jade. I don't think that was a good look.

Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis talk. They say they need to do something about the women's tag titles quick. Aleister Black comes in then R-Truth interrupts. Truth says he wants Cena now. Nick says Cena is here for Punk, not Truth. Truth says he's here for Cena and not to worry about it. Black then follows Truth. 

We see clips of Los Garza winning the AAA Tag Titles at Triplemania.

DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa) vs Andrade and Rey Fenix

Andrade waistlocks Ciampa and takes a back elbow for it. Ciampa takes shots form both opponents then is tripped into the 2nd rope with JG. Andrade and Rey then hit an enzugiri + basement dropkick on them. Rey and Andrade hit top rope plancha's outside.

We go to PiP break and return. Rey back body drops JG outside. Rey high kicks Ciampa and enzugiri's him. Rey goes for the tag and Andrade is pulled down. Ciampa pumping knees Rey in the back for 2. We go to quick PiP break for Jurassic World: Rebirth with Rey getting punched by DIY.

Rey rope walk kicks Ciampa. Andrae comes in and hits offense in DIY. Andrade misses a corner euro, blocks JG's slingshot spear and reverse tornado ddt's him. Andrade is popped up into a shatter machine for 2.

We go to break and return. Andrade flips out of a top rope move and hits a corner meteora on JG. Andrade botches some kind of top rope moonsault and like moonsault double stomps JG. Rey tope con hilos Ciampa through the ropes.

Rey top rope moonsaults and germans JG off of it for 2. JG cradles Rey for 2. JG poisonrana's Rey. Rey takes a superkick + angel's wings for 2. Rey takes project ciampa for 2. Ciampa takes a springboard spin kick from Rey. Ciampa takes the message from Andrade and is pinned.

Thoughts: It was what you would expect - a flippy match without much selling. I wasn't a huge fan of it. JG seemed to hurt his leg here and Andrade turned a top rope moonsault into a moonsault double stomp on JG on this one. 

We get a video on the history of John Cena vs CM Punk.

R-Truth walks in front of the commentators to get in the ring. Truth says he wants John Cena right now. Aleister Black shows up behind Truth and drops him with a high kick. Black says they are even now.

The Street Profits are interviewed about their match against The Wyatt's. Ford says it's been 4 years since they had gold and they had to go through fire to get to the mountain top. He says any team who thinks they can take their titles must be out of their minds. Dawkins says The Wyatt's are the only threat they got so they will eliminate that threat.

B-Fab goes up to them. She says she has their backs if they need it.

Damien Priest and Aleister Black talk in the back. DP says Black is feeling tough. Black says he's not. He says Truth's debt is paid. DP says the next time he's looking for payment, he should go face to face with Truth. He says the result will be different. Black says sure it will be.

Carmelo Hayes walks up to DP. He says he'd mind his own business if it was him. He says if it's he's his boy, get out of his way before he ends up a casualty. DP tells Melo to walk away and Melo says the truth hurts.

World Tag Titles - The Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins) vs The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy)

Dex hits shots on Ford. Ford dropkicks him. Ford takes a spinebuster then Joe sentons him. Other tag teams come down to watch. Joe handspring lariats Ford. We go to PiP break and return. Ford superkicks Dex then takes a pop-up uppercut. They clothesline each other at the same time then collide with crossbodies.

AD hits lariats on Joe. He flying back elbows him, corkscrew splashes him and enzugiri's him. Dex is tripped and pulled out by Los Garza. AD pounces Dex into Los Garza. AD is pulled out by DIY then he gets hit by tag teams and The Wyatt's get DQ'd.

Thoughts: It was short. They kept this one moving but there wasn't much but interference and some dives going on here.

The tag teams fight after then Erick Rowan cleans house. Rowan takes a 4 person superkick then he catches Frazer's tope. Los Garza's baseball slide him over. Howdy hits sister abigail on Axiom. AD lariats Howdy over the top then tope con hilos a bunch of people outside. Ford then tope con hilos onto everyone over the post. 

Jacob Fatu and Jimmy Uso talk outside. Uso says he didn't need his help. Fatu says he didn't need his help last week. Fatu asks if there's a problem here. Uso says it's just respect and said he should have stepped up to Solo a long time ago like he did. Fatu says if he gets in where he fits in, they will be alright. 

WWE Women's Title Last Woman Standing Match - Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Nia Jax

Nia hits Tiff before intros are done. Tiff is sent into the buckles shoulder first. Nia takes off a turnbuckle pad. Nia is sent out and Tiff baseball slides her. Nia headbutts her outside. Tiff jumps at her off the apron and Nia kind of tilts the steps into her.

Nia samoan drops Tiff on the commentary table. We go to PiP break and return. Tiff top rope crossbodies her. Tiff top rope swantons her. Tiff basement dropkicks her. Tiff is dropped face first on the buckles. Tiff is sent into the rails then put on a table. Nia splashes her off the apron through a table. We go to PiP break and return. Nia chairs her. Nia banzai drops Tiff then banzai drops a chair into her. Nia goes on the 2nd rope and Tiff powerbombs her through a table while Nia is on the 2nd rope.

Naomi runs down while both girls are struggling to come in. She wants to cash in but gets hit by Tiff first. Tiff hits Naomi and Nia with the briefcase. Tiff double jump moonsaults both opponents on top of each other.

Nia is on the apron in front of tables. Tiff tries to knock her off and does after hitting her with the MITB briefcase. Tiff then wins then Nia can't answer the 10 count.

Thoughts: It was a bit dragged out. We didn't get to see a lot of it due to breaks. The tables here were rigged to break very easily as Nia just touched them and they exploded. It was okay but not a classic at all. Naomi trying to cash in during the middle of the match was dumb but thankfully it didn't go through.

John Cena comes out. He says to get used to it as this is what a winner looks like. He says CM Punk has been outmanuevered and is out of tricks. He says Night of Champions is a formality and Punk can do nothing about it.

We then hear John Cena's "Basic Thuganomics" theme play with the word "Punklife" on the tron. CM Punk then comes out dressed like Cena from 2004. Punk says this is basic Punkanomics. He said Punk plagiarized his pipe bomb so he's stealing Wordlife. He raps and insults Cena. 

He talks about WWE hiring his ex and says Batista is a better rapper. He then says he's a fish-belly Hulk Hogan that is more problematic. He says Cena can't wrestle and does Cena's "you can't see me" line. He says he's a washed up bum. He says he's a leech and a phony. Punk then stands on top of the rail and does Cena's old pose.

Thoughts: It was something different but a little cheesy and it made Punk look old and unhip.

Overall thoughts: The show started off bad with technical issues ruining the Orton/Cody segment. Uso/Mateo was fine but not their best. Vega/Giulia was average but we got a title change out of it. DIY vs Andrade/Fenix was a flippy match without a lot of selling. The tag title match was short and filled with interference. The last woman standing match got ripped up by commercials and it was a little dragged out. They tried for a classic but it was a very safe type of WWE hardcore match and was just okay. The Punk/Cena segment was something different but I thought it made Punk look old. I'd give this one a 5 out of 10 as the framework was there for something great but some of the matches didn't get enough time and the opening and main event segments didn't hit.