Summerslam 2025 Night One Preview
For the first time ever, we have a double night edition of the show and that means that, barring any last minute changes, we’re going to be seeing six matches a night. That should make for a good weekend as the cards are looking good enough. This week’s Smackdown has me curious about what we’re going to see and hopefully they can live up to the hype. Let’s get to it.
Women’s Tag Team Titles: Judgment Day(c) vs. Charlotte/Alexa Bliss
The idea here is Charlotte and Bliss work well together but they’re both skeptical about calling themselves friends. This has led to some fairly amusing moments, including both of them acting as the other’s cheerleader. What matters the most here is that the fans are seemingly getting behind the idea, which I’m sure has nothing to do with Charlotte not going after a singles title for a change.
I’ll take the titles changing hands here, as this version of Judgment Day was thrown together due to Alexa Bliss’ injury. That means it might already be time to switch the titles again. Charlotte and Bliss staying together for the time being sounds good, as I don’t think I can take another Charlotte betrayal and singles heel run. If nothing else, just keep Charlotte doing something different for awhile as it’s refreshing.
Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross
This is about whether Kross is right about Zayn needing to embrace the dark side. On the other hand, Zayn is fighting back, saying that he believes in the fans and wants to be himself. The loser has to admit that they were wrong about the winner and that could make for an interesting moment. This seems to be another step on Zayn’s eventual (or maybe very eventual) path to the World Title and that could make for an interesting situation.
This could go either way, but I’ll take the safe path and go with Zayn winning to get rid of Kross. While Kross has been hot with the fans as of late, there are ways to present him without having him beat Zayn. I’m not sure what is next for Zayn, but he shouldn’t be losing a fairly high profile match like this one. It could go either way, but Zayn winning is the right option here.
Randy Orton/Jelly Roll vs. Drew McIntyre/Logan Paul
So here we have the celebrity match of the show, which feels like something of a handicap match as Paul could hang with Orton on his own. That’s before you get to the monster that is McIntyre, which leaves Orton having to take care of Roll and do everything else on his own. Unfortunately that means having to slow things WAY down for Roll, which isn’t exactly an inspiring usage of people this good.
As simple as it should be to have McIntyre and Paul smash through Orton and Roll, I have a bad feeling that they’ll go with the celebrity win. That’s what we’ll say happens, as Roll gets a rollup win over someone which doesn’t feel right in any way. Odds are this won’t be it for Roll as WWE loves itself some celebrity interactions, but please let him be at least decent at the whole wrestling thing.
Smackdown Women’s Title: Tiffany Stratton(c) vs. Jade Cargill
Here we have a showdown between two members of the upcoming generation, which is a nice thing to see for a change. Stratton has already become an established star and that title she’s wearing helps a good deal. At the same time you have Cargill, who might feel like a major star but hasn’t got the hardware to back it up. That’s where things get interesting here, and it might lead to a change.
Despite Stratton doing rather well as the champion, this feels like the place where the title changes hands and Cargill gets her big moment. I’m not wild on the change as Stratton is doing well enough that she shouldn’t be losing, but WWE seems all in on the Cargill train. I’ll go with her winning here, even if that doesn’t seem like the best option for everyone involved.
Roman Reigns/Jey Uso vs. Bronson Reed/Bron Breakker
This is the latest stop in the never ending saga of everyone involved here, which is only so interesting. This week’s opening Monday Night Raw segment where Paul Heyman tried to sew some seeds of doubts in Uso’s mind didn’t do much for me. Later in the night though, things got into a wild brawl, which is what works best for these guys. That’s what I want to see, as you can only hear these guys talk so much.
As for a winner…dang I’m really not sure. I can’t imagine Reigns taking a fall, but Breakker shouldn’t be pinned either. That leaves Uso or Reed so….we’ll say the good guys win, likely with Reed taking the fall. It’s a match which could go either way, though Reigns and Breakker could have a heck of a showdown and something of a tease for later. This is a match that should be big, but it only means that we’ll likely be coming up on another match in the near future.
Raw World Title: Gunther(c) vs. CM Punk
Here we go. This is the match where I’m rather curious to see what happens, because it could go either way, including a third way. In this case, that means we’re going to be seeing a match which has a lot of drama. Punk is arguably the biggest star on all of Monday Night Raw (or very close to it) and having him win the title would be a huge moment. At the same time, Gunther beating Punk would be a huge coup for his career. So where do we go?
I’ll take Punk winning the title, as Gunther has already had a lengthy reign and then the start of another one. Punk hasn’t picked up anything outside of personal wins since returning, and having him win the title would be a great change. That being said, the big question is Seth Rollins, who could very easily SHOCK THE WORLD again and have his knee injury be faked to come in and steal the title. I’m not sure they’ll go there, but my goodness if they do, the heat on Rollins could be incredible. Either way, I’ll take Punk to win the title, but I’m not sure if he’ll leave with it.
Overall Thoughts
The more I look at this card, the more interested I am in the whole thing. The show feels big and we could be in for more than one big moment. Hopefully they can live up to the hype and make Summerslam feel important again. That’s one thing that has been needing to be fixed, and having half of Summerslam go beyond the hype would be a great start.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:
Hey KB, you made a small error by saying Alexa Bliss had an injury. I think that you meant Liv Morgan.