WWE SmackDown results, highlights (July 25): WWE pays tribute to Hulk Hogan
💪 Tribute of the Night
"SmackDown" celebrated the indescribable impact of Hulk Hogan with a tribute to Terry Bollea's life and legacy. It continued throughout the night, and interestingly enough, had comments about his legacy being "complex" mentioned by commentary and even Cody Rhodes.
What more can be said that hasn't already been said? I haven't commented on the matter publicly, but to add my two cents, watching that excellent tribute video really made it feel bizarre to think that Hogan is gone. He truly is a figure worthy of that "Immortal" label.
Reflecting on my earliest memories of Hogan is challenging. He had finished his final stint as a full-time wrestler with WWE by the time my fandom fully initiated around 2003. Honestly, I probably knew him more from "Hogan Knows Best," as I gradually learned more and more. Then there was the famous 2005 programs with Shawn Michaels. By then, it felt special to see him in action, despite the controversy surrounding how it ended.
Ultimately, Hogan is unequivocally the biggest megastar pro wrestling has and will ever produce.
🗑️ Contrast of the Night
There literally wasn't any better way to show the incredible change of times, going from the Hogan tribute to the Logan Paul and Jelly Roll program.
I'm not going to spend much time on this whatsoever because it was as cringeworthy as you'd imagine, and nothing more than the pure business move it is. You can argue that this will enhance Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre as team members, but come on. We know that it won't in the long run. And it's not even like either needs a boost. McIntyre, specifically, just needs something to do, and here we are.
It's bad and dumb, man. I suppose you could also argue that it's a callback to the old days of Hogan's prime and the early WrestleMania era, but we've evolved, and this is all for non-wrestling fans.
👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑
I won't lie to you guys, it's been difficult to hand out the Uncrowned Gem award in recent weeks, and not because there have been too many good happenings to choose from.
Even on this "SmackDown," Roxanne Perez's victory over Alexa Bliss, achieved by a roll-up and holding the ropes, was far from perfect. So, let me just say that it was an incredibly stupid in-character move by Bliss to save Charlotte Flair from Raquel Rodriguez on the outside, as it cost her. She had Perez lined up for Twisted Bliss, and it took about three years for Bliss and Rodriguez to formulate that rough spot. Bliss also busted open her nose from it, falling straight into Rodriguez's knees.
The blood added to the whole moment though, and most importantly here, story-wise, this was incredibly good to see Bliss and Flair care more and more about each other — to the point that it costs them matches.
They're both so wildly likeable together, and I can't reiterate enough how much this has salvaged Flair's goodwill she lost with the audience. It will all culminate at SummerSlam when they become champions. Despite the awful women's tag team "division" and its lack of care, that title tilt is one I'm most excited for at the two-night event.
🥴 Senslessness of the Night
Jade Cargill essentially squashed Chelsea Green in a somewhat impromptu match after a backstage comedy spot. I'm over The Secret Hervice, and this is a weird booking choice after what happened on "Raw" with the ruining of the Stephanie Vaquer vs. Iyo Sky rematch. It's as if they're the fallback jobber squad whenever WWE doesn't know what to do on a weekly show. It's not so much a Green problem because she's great. It just feels like she could be utilized more effectively while the TV time gets spread throughout the roster.
It also makes zero sense for Tiffany Stratton even to consider helping her seemingly invisible title challenger. This was all around awful.
🤢 Regurgitation of the Night
Abolish the Women's U.S. title. This is embarrassing.
How? How can Triple H completely disregard so many female wrestlers? Especially after Evolution. On next week's "SmackDown," Zelina Vega gets a rematch against the champion who beat her, Giulia, without having won since, and just because, I guess. This also came with Kiana James randomly becoming Giulia's manager.
Here's a crazy idea. Totally and utterly insane stuff, right? Book James — a fresh face — to seek the title instead of one of the same four people who have circled this title since it was introduced.
There's nothing to care about with this rematch, and Giulia, of all people, deserves better. She's suffering from that Iyo Sky World Champion predicament of just not getting booked after winning the title, and when she does, it's lame.
Admittedly, this is made so, so, so, so, so much worse when you look over at what's been going on with the Women's Intercontinental title.
🤬 DQ of the Night
I don't even want to talk about this boiling garbage. The number of times I repeated "Oh my God" from annoyance when Nikki Cross got The Wyatt Sicks DQ'd in their title defense against Andrade and Rey Fenix is uncountable. It's legitimately impressive how WWE has managed to waste such degrees of this jam-packed, talented tag team division.
The only good thing about this is that now SummerSlam gets a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the titles between all the teams.
Yes. That means The Wyatt Sicks vs. The Street Profits vs. Fraxiom vs. DIY vs. Andrade and Fenix vs. Motor City Machine Guns.
As fun as that overbooked chaos could be, it might actually be too much, and delaying it with these stupid bookings in the interim was so unnecessary. Just do the thing, man. You want to keep The Wyatts protected? This is a smart way to do it, but it simultaneously displays the whole problem with them to begin with.
👍 FRIDAY NIGHT FIRE 👍
1. The aforementioned Rhodes cut an excellent promo on John Cena before their SummerSlam "street fight" rematch. It's somewhat of clockwork at this point, as he asked for the "real" Cena to show up. So, all we can await is the potential double turn, or at the very least, Cena's turn back to a face.
2. Jacob Fatu beat The Miz with a pop-up Samoan drop before a Solo Sikoa and MFT beatdown. The match and aftermath were whatever, but what was great about this was seeing the fired-up Miz return in his hometown. A confident Miz is always great on the mic and more interesting to watch, thanks to his usual cowardice.
👎 DOWN & OUT 👎
There was an overly dramatic promo video for Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black on next week's "SmackDown." Listen, the match should be pretty good, but this couldn't feel more forced. Black playing a "debt collector" role is cool, but there is no debt here. He started the feud — because Priest talked to him.
👑 WWE's hot is hot, and the cold is icy. There hasn't been much consistency lately, except for some wildly annoying decisions. I give this show a Crown score of: 2.5/10. 👑
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