WWE Smackdown 7/18/2025

WWE Smackdown 7/18/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/wwe-smackdown-7112025.html 

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/wwe-smackdown-7252025.html

Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore are on commentary.

We start in the parking lot. There's a multi-car accident with Solo Sikoa's crew. Tonga Loa's face is busted open and police are there. Adam Pearce says this is brand new news. Cody asks him about a contract and Adam says they will talk about it later.

We see video of Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair talking from earlier. Flair says she got them a tag title shot at Summerslam. Flair asks her to be out there in her match tonight. Bliss asks if she looks like her cheerleader. Flair says yes and Bliss agrees.

Charlotte Flair vs Raquel Rodriguez

RR pushes her back off the lock-up. Flair wristlocks her then RR reverses it. Flair cartwheels out of it and is pulled down by the hair. Flair boots her out of the corner then 2nd rope diving headscissors her. Flair lariats her over the top. Flair plancha's her outside. Roxanne Perez goes up top Flair but Bliss confronts her.

RR lariats Flair on the floor then rams her into the post. We go to PiP break and return. RR has her in a gori special. Flair sunset flips her and gets booted and stomped. RR hits a corkscrew elbow drop off the buckles. Flair hits big forearms and chops. Flair forward cartwheel lariats her. Flair germans her and kips up. Flair boots her out of the corner. Flair top rope crossbodies her but RR catches her, rolls through it and spinning slams her for 2.

Flair facekicks her then Perez gets on the apron. Flair grabs her and Alexa pulls RR's throat down over the top. Flair superkicks her and wins.

Thoughts: I liked this. Flair was busted out old face offense here (though it wasn't super pretty) and the two matched up well together. Bliss interfering adds to the storyline with Flair as well.

Adam Pearce talks to the police in the back. The police are looking for Jacob Fatu and say he's a person of interest in their investigation. He helps then find Fatu. Fatu says he's not going with the punk @ss police and says they are too close. Adam tries to calm him down and Fatu goes with them. 

We get a video on Tiffany Stratton. She says she will defend her title against Jade Cargill at Summerslam. She talks about their similarities then Jade talks as well. Jade says she fought through betrayal while Tiff became champ. She says she let Naomi distract her and she's done with it. Tiff says she heard she's naive and a dumb blonde but she's standing here as champ. Tiff says Jade will just be another name on the list of people she has beaten. Jade says she will end her at Summerslam as a storm is coming.

Earlier in the day, we see Damian Priest talk to Carmelo Hayes. He asks if he has seen Aleister Black. Melo says he didn't and wouldn't say anything to him if he did. DP says Melo always picks the wrong time to open his mouth. Melo said he warned him this would happen and it did. DP says he did. He says he will find Black and says Black will be praying for forgiveness when he finds him. He says he's not a peacemaker, he shuts people's mouths then celebrates. Melo says DP won't shut his mouth. DP challenges him for tonight. Melo says he's been looking for an opportunity against a 2x champ and says it's crazy DP wants to get laid out 2 times back to back.

Damien Priest vs Carmelo Hayes

Melo hits DP while he poses on the ropes after teasing it. Melo pounds and stomps on him. Melo clubs on him. Melo flying forearms him then runs into a facekick. DP hits shots on him in the corner. Melo knocks him out of the ring with a forearm.

DP is dropkicked into the post. Melo then poses. We go to break and return. DP hits forearms on Melo then misses one but Melo goes down anyway. DP pop-up drops him on his chest. DP flying back elbows him in the corner and flying forearms him.

DP's throat is pulled down over the top. Melo springboard twisting lariats him. DP blocks sweet chain music. DP ear claps him then Melo hits a la mistica facebuster. Melo springboards and is forearmed. Melo hits a top rope frogsplash for 2 after hitting a codebreaker off a chokeslam attempt. 

Melo jumps off apron into DP's forearm. DP hits a lifting flatliner on the commentary table. DP ropewalks then Aleister Black crotches him on the top for the DQ.

Thoughts: What we got was fine here and at least Melo didn't lose for a change. I did pop for Black casually just crotching Priest on the top rope.

Black high kicks DP down after.

We get a Wyatt Sicks video. Howdy says they are where they belong. Dexter says The Street Profits only lust for gold. Rowan says a new family is forged and it's not by the blood they share. They all laugh. Gacy says they will strip the teams one by one of their desires. Howdy says to let The Wyatt's be your guide and all you have to do is follow.

Solo Sikoa and The MFT's come out to talk. Solo says without his guidance, Jacob Fatu is reckless. He says he doesn't care or listen to anybody, he just cares about himself. He said he gave Fatu the world but says he deserves none of it. He says once a criminal, always a criminal.

We then see Fatu coming out of the police car and Jimmy Uso greeting him. The cop says Fatu is not a person of interest and is free to handle his business. Fatu says he's a punk @ss police.

Fatu comes out. Jimmy Uso attacks The MFT's from behind. Talla is sent out and Loa is superkicked. Fatu running back elbows JC and stomps Solo. Talla facekicks Uso outside. Fatu topes Talla over the commentary table. Talla gets up and tells him to come on with it. Talla is superkicked by Fatu and Uso then takes a double superkick. Uso crossbodies Talla over the commentary table. Fatu hits mounted shots on Solo. Fatu corner hip attacks Solo.

JC Mateo comes back in and pounds on Fatu. Uso superkicks  Loa and top rope splashes him. Fatu then top rope moonsaults JC. Fatu chairs JC and Loa. 

Adam Pearce comes out and said Solo framed Fatu and got him locked up. Adam says let's see how he likes it. He says Solo will defend his title vs Fatu at Summerslam in a steel cage. Adam then brings out the cops and the cops arrest Solo.

We see Jelloy Roll talk to Randy Orton on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Orton says retribution will come quick at Summerslam. Drew McIntyre comes in. He says they are an inspiration to trailer trash. Orton and Drew fight through doors. Logan Paul comes in and tells Jelly to stay in his lane. He says he's a greasy prison rat and slaps him. Jelly then chokeslams him through the desk. 

Stephanie Vaquer vs Alba Fyre

Alba waistlock takedowns her and SV armdrags her. SV flying headscissors her and tries a bridge pin. SV headbutts her. SV goes to springboard and Alba superkicks her. Alba topes her outside. Alba top rope swantons but SV gets her knees up. SV superkicks her and backdrops her. SV then hits the devil's kiss. SV hits her SVB and wins.

Thoughts: It was just a quick squash here with SV getting the win. It's a shame they didn't let it play out more. SV won as expected. Piper Niven bodyblocks and sentons SV after. Piper is pushed down to the floor and SV superkicks her from the ring.

The Street Profits and B-Fab are interviewed in the back. Ford says last week was a good week for The Wyatt's. Ford says they aren't ready to face losing their titles back. Dawkins says they are getting the titles back soon.

DIY come up to The Profits. They say they blew it vs The Wyatt's last week. Johnny says they will save the tag division. Ciampa says they always knew they didn't have what it takes to keep the tag titles from the Wyatt's. Ciampa tells them to pay attention as they will do what they couldn't do.

#1 Contender's Match - Fraxiom vs Andrade and Rey Fenix vs The Motor City Machine Guns vs DIY

Sabin and NF trade wristlocks. They both head flip out of them and stand off. DI then nails both. Rey springoard dropkicks Ciampa then is thrown into a headscissors on Johnny. Fraxiom hit superkicks on Andrade and Rey. The Guns do stereo baseball slides on DIY. Savin topes DIY under Alex's legs.

We go to break and return. Alex hits a ddt + flatliner combo. Ax germans Johnny. Ciampa takes a double team sequence ending in a DDT. Ax is lifted into a dropkick on Rey then Fraxiom hit a bunch of topes on everyone outside.

Ciampa takes a legsweep + top rope dropkick combo for 2. Rey top rope crossbodies NF. Rey springboard spin kicks Ax. Andrade hits three amigos on Ax. Rey top rope frogsplashes Ax for 2.

The 8 then trade shots. The Guns hit corner attacks. NF takes kicks from The Guns. NF slingblades Sabin. Ax is dropped with a forearm. Johnny slingshot ddt's Andrade. Ac cradles Ciampa for 2. Ciampa lariats him then hits project ciampa on Ax for 2.

We go to PiP break and return. Johnny takes a sequence ending in a basement dropkick from The Guns. Ax takes a double kick in the corner from The Guns. Andrade flying forearms Ax. Ax top rope spanish flies Andrade and NF phoenix splashes Andrade. Rey codebreakers Johnny into a senton on Ciampa's back.

Rey spin kicks Ciampa in the face. Rey top rope tornillos outside onto everyone. Candice LaRae distracts Andrade. Ciampa gets a 2 count on Andrade. Johnny superkicks Ciampa on accident. Andrade spinning elbows Johnny. Rey tope con hilos Johnny outside. Andrade hits the message on Ciampa and wins.

Thoughts: It was what it looked like a very fast paced match with everyone flying all over the place. It was full of action and if you blinked, you missed it. I'm not a big fan of Andrade and Fenix winning here but I don't think they will beat The Wyatt's anyway.

Adam Pearce hosts a Cody Rhodes vs John Cena contract signing ceremony. Cody comes out first and signs it. Cody says his father was a Texan but he got to be WWE Undisputed champ. He said he posted on social media last week and said he said do not flinch and thanked everyone for riding with him but people overreacted. He said he didn't flinch at various times in his career. He said he flinched at Wrestlemania 41 against John Cena.

Cody says Summerslam is one match for the rest of his life and asks for Cena to be brought out. Cena says he has bad news for Cody at the contract table. He says he will not be at Summerslam. He says he's filming a big move for Netflix in NYC. He says they all feel it's best he doesn't compete at Summerslam.

Cena says they can do the rematch elsewhere and says he can't sign the contract. Cena says there is nothing we can do. He says this is what's best for business right now. Cena said he wanted to give the people a night to remember. He says this is all he can give the people.

Cena thanks everyone and says goodnight. Cody chases after Cena and hits punches. Cena's head is banged off the apron. Cody is sent into the steps. Cena grabs the title and misses a shot with it. Cody grabs the title and hits Cena with it. Cody top rope splashes Cena through the table. Cody then grabs Cena's hand and forces Cena's signature on the contract. Cody says to check the fine print, it's not just a match for the title at Summerslam, it's a street fight.

Thoughts: I don't think Cena's signature there is legally binding. This was an unusual angle.

Overall thoughts: The stars were not in action here as Damian Priest was the biggest star wrestling, but at least Cody and Cena were here. We opened up with a literal car crash that we found out was faked. I liked the opener more than I expected. Priest/Melo was fine until the run-in ended it. Vaquer quickly squashed Alba. The four-way tag match was exactly what it looked like on paper with tons of fast paced action. Then we kind of had a silly angle to close the show with Cena trying to get out of the Summerslam match with Cody. I'd give it a 5 out of 10 as the angles were goofy on this one but the in-ring work was fine.