1 Up & 6 Downs From WWE SmackDown (11 July - Results & Review)
Jelly Roll saves SmackDown on a night of title changes and other mediocre segments for WWE.
Even Trish Stratus has been joking in the media about WWE's scheduling. The legend knows there hasn't been much gas put into her title bout vs. Tiffany Stratton heading into the all-female Evolution PLE this weekend, so Trish must've been less than Stratus-fied by what creative had planned for them on Friday night. Talk about an afterthought - no Stratus match should feel this overlooked in 2025.
No, this wasn't a banner night for SmackDown's writing team. There was a title change, some Evolution hype, a bit of Saturday Night's Main Event chat and even some SummerSlam start up, but...the energy was lacking. Nashville felt it too. They were quiet for some of the blue brand squad's biggest moments there, and Tennessee only really came alive for Jelly Roll, Randy Orton and a few select others.
Speaking of Jelly Roll, it perhaps says everything that his performance saved the night. No joke. The musician looked comfortable out there. This won't be enough to win over those who simply don't want to see him teaming with Randy against Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre on one of the biggest tentpole events going, but you've got to call 'em how you see 'em. Jelly put a lot of WWE's current roster to shame here.
Incredible.
Unfortunately, the lively atmosphere couldn't sustain once Roll's segment with Logan, Orton and McIntyre ended. SmackDown went right back to mediocrity for the rest of the evening, which sucks to say.
Here's a tiny helping of good and far too much bad from the final stop before SNME-into-Evolution.
Downs…
6. Functional But Bland Opening Segment
This opening segment set the tone for the rest of the night.
LA Knight always gets a pop when his music hits, but he was the only dynamic thing about this bland opening segment. Paul Heyman didn’t say much of anything when threatening Knight to watch his back, Solo Sikoa and Knight resuming old issues is tame after an overload of that over the United States Title, and Nick Aldis announcing a tag bout pitting Knight and Jimmy Uso vs. Solo and JC Mateo didn’t get much of a stir from the live audience. It felt like a so-so main event on paper.
Sikoa and Uso are at loggerheads, but Knight is an odd man out in all of this. He’s supposed to be feuding with Seth Rollins and crew, not Sikoa’s Family Tree, so it's puzzling that Sikoa and buddies took umbrage with anything he and Heyman were saying. Honestly, the lack of true drama here was alarming and must be mentioned.
WWE's TV shows aim to launch hot and get the live crowd onside early. That resonates through the screen and in turn makes programming more enjoyable (if fans in the stands are into it, then that really goes a long way with the viewer back home - look at Backlash 2024 in France), but SmackDown didn't have a whiff of that from the get go.
Functional but bland would just about cover it. Next time, because there will be a next time for these revolving door skits, please make sure everybody has a point to make so nobody rambles on like Sikoa did.