Smackdown – August 1, 2025: The Beginning Of The End Of The Endless Summer
Smackdown
Date: August 1, 2025
Location: Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey
Commentators: Joe Tessitore, Wade Barrett
It’s the last show before Summerslam and the big story is John Cena and Cody Rhodes being in the same building tonight. That should be enough for the big go home push towards the show and everything else can come along with it. Other than that, I’m sure we’ll get some build towards this weekend, which has some interesting prospects. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
There is a cage above the ring.
Here is John Cena to get things going. Before he can say anything though, here is Cody Rhodes to interrupt. Cena says that he told Rhodes he was exhausted and a match at Summerslam would be too much. Then Rhodes forged Cena’s signature to a match to one of the most dangerous matches at Summerslam, for the most important prize in WWE.
Cena thanks Rhodes for giving him the motivation that he needed. The reality is that Cena threw everything away after twenty years of hard work for the sake of a shock. Cena wants to walk away as champion after his last match so people won’t forget about him. He realizes how stupid he was acting and Rhodes forced him to face it and fight.
If Cena doesn’t show up for war, he shouldn’t show up at all. The fans are VERY pleased with Cena’s change of attitude as he says the only platinum rapper coming after Rhodes is Cena himself. Rhodes takes off his jacket, welcomes Cena back, and shares a beer with him. That’s good to see as the Cena heel run was a mess, but this is either a way for Rhodes to turn or a swerve from Cena. Neither of those is exactly promising.
Earlier today, Logan Paul interrupted Jelly Roll’s training session and helped Drew McIntyre beat him down.
Women’s US Title: Giulia vs. Zelina Vega
Giulia, with Kiana James, is defending. Vega charges at her and gets thrown down to start, followed by Giulia muscling her up with a suplex. Back up and Vega sends her to the floor for a dive as we take a break. We come back with Giulia hitting a wheelbarrow faceplant, followed by a modified camel clutch. A hard stomp drops Vega again but she’s right back with a suplex.
Giulia goes up and gets German superplexed back down as the fans are (rightfully) impressed. That’s shaken off and Giulia hits a hard knee to the face, followed by a sitout hammerlock powerslam for a rather near fall. Giulia and James are stunned by the kickout and Vega scores with a Backstabber. The moonsault hits raised knees though and Giulia gives her the northern lights bomb to retain at 12:11.
Rating: B. This was the title match before the pay per view and they worked well together. It made for a good, hard hitting match with Vega fighting a match where she had no chance to win. Giulia is the big new star and even has a manager. That isn’t the kind of person who loses a title so soon, but they had a good match on the way there.
Solo Sikoa and the MFTs are ready for Jacob Fatu at Summerslam and they have plants for tonight as a bonus.
AAA Tag Team Titles: Los Garza vs. ???/???
Los Garza are defending in an open challenge and it’s….Mr. Iguana/Psycho Clown from AAA answering. Clown slugs away at Garza to start and even forearms Berto off the apron. A pop up forearm gets two on Garza but Berto comes in to take over. Garza cranks on both arms as commentary argues over Iguana’s puppet.
Clown fights up and dives over for the tag to Iguana, meaning it’s time to pick up the pace. The Iguanarana into a crucifix bomb has the champs on the floor but they catch a running flip dive. Iguana gets thrown into Clown for a big crash and the double super gorilla press drops Iguana for two. Clown comes back in and gets caught in the NTY for the pin to retain at 7:00.
Rating: C+. This was a way to have Iguana on the show and that’s all it needed to be. Iguana made a big impact at the AAA show earlier this year and the fans were into him again here. The AAA Tag Team Titles don’t mean anything here so let Los Garza get a win and probably sell some Mr. Iguana merch. Simple and to the point here.
Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre will address attacking Jelly Roll later tonight.
Video on the Tag Team Title situation, leading to this weekend’s TLC match, featuring a look at each team.
Aleister Black vs. Damian Priest
Feeling out process to start with Priest’s kicks to the chest sending Black outside. Back up and Black kicks him in the head for a crash to the floor and we take a break. We come back with Black hitting a knee in the face for two, which has Priest firing himself up. The Old School crossbody connects and a big clothesline gives Priest two. Priest superkicks him to the floor but dives into a knee to the face. That doesn’t do much good though as Priest hits a Pounds over the announcers’ table. Back up and Black throws a chair at Priest’s face for the win at 8:47.
Rating: B-. I was getting into this one and then the ending felt like it was designed to set up something else later. That’s not the most thrilling feeling as it was more like part one of a series than a big match. As usual I’ll take the DQ over one of them getting pinned, but this feud hasn’t exactly caught fire yet and I’m hoping that the second round picks up a good bit.
Post match Black beats him up with the chair, followed by Black Mass to leave Priest laying.
We look at Tiffany Stratton saving Jade Cargill last week.
Cargill tells Stratton that she didn’t need help last week but now there will be no distractions at Summerslam.
Talla Tonga vs. Jimmy Uso
Solo Sikoa is here with Tonga. Uso strikes away in the corner to start but gets slapped down with a single chop. Tonga slowly hammers away and gets in a slam but misses a charge to the apron. An enziguri puts Tonga on the floor and a dive…doesn’t actually drop him but it does send us to a break. We come back with Uso trying, and failing, to chop his way out of trouble. Uso slips out of a chokeslam attempt and fires off some superkicks, followed by the spear. The Superfly Splash is pulled out of the air though and a chokeslam finishes Uso at 9:41.
Rating: C+. Tonga is a good choice for the monster as he’s looking like someone who can do damage, which has been the calling card of the MFT’s. Uso is going to be the same no matter what he does so the loss doesn’t hurt him. It helps when the match was little more than a way to get Sikoa, and likely Jacob Fatu, around for after the match and it was good enough to see Uso fighting from underneath for about ten minutes.
Post match the MFT’s run in for the beatdown as the cage is lowered. Jacob Fatu runs in to make it inside the cage just in time though and cleans house as Fatu and Tonga escapes.
Summerslam rundown.
Charlotte and Alexa Bliss begrudgingly admit they’re getting alone but they still don’t want to use the F word. Fondue?
Here are Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul for a chat. Paul talks about how they are here to defend this place from outsiders like Jelly Roll. They think Jelly Roll needs to consult Weight Watchers but here are Roll and Randy Orton arriving at the arena in a card. The brawl is quickly on but security breaks it up. Orton RKO’s two of the cards and Roll adds a chokeslam to the third to end the show. This was a quick and to the point segment to set up the match, which is what you have to do when Roll isn’t a wrestler.
Overall Rating: B-. The opening segment was the big focal point here and now we get to find out where things are going from here. Other than that, this wasn’t a show meant to shake things up before Summerslam, which is understandable. They basically played it safe and reinforced what was already set up. It was a breezy two hours, with only the Cena deal feeling like it make a big impact on this weekend’s shows. Hopefully Summerslam is good, as this was a nice setup for the big stuff.
Results
Giulia b. Zelina Vega – Northern lights bomb
Los Garza b. Mr. Iguana/Psycho Clown – NTY to Clown
Damian Priest b. Aleister Black via DQ when Black used a chair
Talla Tonga b. Jimmy Uso – Chokeslam
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