Three Things We Hate and Three Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s weekly review of “WWE Smackdown.” The show will eventually add the fifth match to “Saturday Night Main Event.” The WINC crew actually have some thoughts about it this week, but of course the big story is the Return of Wyatt Sids, which is forced to rule our attention. He also had strong feelings about Candice Lela reconciliation with Johnny Gargano, R. Truth cutting off the heartfelt promotion with John Cena, and the bank qualifier winner, the winner of the women’s funds at the bank.

Unfortunately, bank funds will fall on the roadside this week, along with others that we don’t have enough passion for writing. If you need to literally know everything that happened on a Friday night, be sure to check out the “SmackDown” results page. If you’d like to know what Wrestling Inc. staff have thought about the show, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 5/23/25 episode of “WWE Smackdown.”

A while later, whining how booked in a short stint for “WWE Raw” following WrestleMania’s weekend, it was a welcome surprise that Giulia qualifies for women’s money in the bank’s ladder match, due to the fact that Giulia came not only from itself, but also from the victory of Charlotte Flair and the victory of the current women’s US champions. Jellina Vega won the final pinfall. For some reason, losing a match if the talent is not paid is a cardinal sin, which is a particularly annoying point. But you can’t win everything. And, in the end, inheriting Julia at this stage was the right decision.

The match itself went very well, but unfortunately Vega’s disadvantages increased the chances of singles between Julia and Flair, which took it for granted at a larger stage. There were some great exchanges between the three competitors, and one of them looked like the winner. But in terms of who needed the victory at night, it had to be a debutant. As mentioned earlier, Vega is already a TV established incumbent champion, but Flair is exactly who she is.

Julia has already joined WWE and had conversations about being the best female wrestler before winning “NXT” in a short time, so keep her protection as much as possible. She doesn’t even have to earn money in a bank ladder match, but just being in the match will certainly raise her position, and it certainly increases the chances that it will be legally exciting.

Written by Max Everett

See, I’m a huge Candice Lera fan. Anything that gives her more TV time is good. But I really don’t understand what I’ll get from pairing her with Johnny Gargano and Tonmaso Cimpa again.

At one point, I was excited that a potential main roster of a version of the method with Ciampa instead of Austin theory would be run, but that was a long time ago and Indi Hartwell still had a deal for WWE. Now, she goes to her real husband’s side, as she feels like she doesn’t know what to do with Lerae. In other words, the same story has been explained since Lerae’s career essentially arrived at “WWE NXT.” None of Lerae’s recent creative creatives were inspired. Essentially, he runs with a female WWE Speed ​​title and a stint as Nia Jax’s henchman, but this decision is not like a correction, nor is it like a surrender.

I have been saying for many years that it’s insane that you can’t find anything interesting with a special wrestler like Candice Lerae. Maybe this DIY reunion will ultimately inspire something, but that hasn’t actually been before.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

I was thinking today not to support the women’s mid-card champions by pitting the bank’s money tonight’s bank qualifiers over women’s American champion Zelina Vega against Charlotte Flair and Julia. I wasn’t wrong there, but thankfully the right woman (Julia!) won the match, but not completely bad for Vega this WWE Tampa weekend. We are still hoping for a last chance qualifier, so she may not be in the bank ladder match for now, but she will have a big spot in the main event of Saturday Night. Tonight it was announced that she will defend her title in the only women’s match at the event against Chelsea Green.

Green has not won a title rematch since Vega defeated her by winning her first singles championship in WWE on April 25th “Smackdown.” The opportunity for a rematch is floating there, and Saturday night’s main event seems to be the perfect place for the match. If you think about that, you can go either way. WWE was able to choose to maintain the championship with Vega for a while, due to her fanbase support so strong, but SNME is also where Green became the first female U.S. champion, and that fact adds a little more intrigue to their matches. The cards desperately needed a women’s match to make things even. And, as an addition to a very final moment, both Vega and Green deserve a network special spot.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Promotions are one of the most important parts of wrestling, but it’s equally important that they have diversity in them so that they stand out from each other and stay in the hearts of their fans.

There are only so many ways in which different wrestlers express the same sentiment that they don’t understand why John Cena turned his back on himself and the fans, and that he wants to go back to his old personality. It sounded very fast, repetitive, uninspired, uncreative, and at the same time. That was exactly what R-Truth’s promotion tonight. True personality is portrayed in recent memories as a fun, loving man who normally doesn’t know what he’s doing, so hearing him cut the same promotions that were previously cut about Senna felt like a place like his character for his character in the way it was phrased. All this was upset by Cena’s overall absence from “Smackdown.” And he’s known for being a part-timer recently, which made me feel he should have appeared on the show.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

For the first time in 2025, Wyatt Sids appeared on WWE TV. They chose the perfect date to return: the late Bray Wyatt’s 38th birthday. With the show closure, they went home. The title match main event between Street Profits and Fraxiom was already falling apart as #Diy and Candice Lerae tried to participate and the Motor City Machine Gun stopped them. Just the right amount of chaos to bring back Wyatt.

The lights dropped and when they returned to Uncle Howdy, Nikki Cross, Dexter Lymith, Joe Jacee and Eric Rowan were in the center of the ring, aiming at Montesford. Each member targeted everyone, both inside and outside the ring, with Johnny Gargano taking sister Abigail from Howdy. They all posed in the center of the ring. A birthday cake with a candle candle was seen in the middle of the ring. Howdy turned to heaven and cried out, “My life for you!” Before you blow the candle. No, your eyes are foggy.

If you’ve read this column last year, you’ll probably remember my love for Bray Wyatt. Most of the time I’ve loved everything Wyatt Sids (except that one exception is Howdy’s scary wig), and this was no exception. It was a beautiful tribute to the man who meant so much to each member and fans of the Sids. It reminded me that everything they do is for Bray. While they still pave their own path, he is the light of their lanterns, leading them on the path forward.

It remains to be seen whether any of the members will target the tag team title or take as many people as possible at once and notify the rest of the locker room. Alexa Bliss (and Lily) is also on the Blue brand, so hopefully she will soon be the six of Wyatt Sids and will eventually complete the unit they were always intended to be. What a gift for Bray.

Written by Samantha Schipman

I’m extremely excited that Wyatt Sids is back in WWE programming, but the fact that Alexablis doesn’t seem to get anywhere close enough to meet them is something that bothers me. Of course, the faction has just returned and appears to have inserted herself into the WWE Tag Team Championship scene, but Bliss still feels she’s about 1,000 miles from where she was supposed to be. Thankfully, Bliss has gotten some of her first in-ring promotional time since WWE returned tonight, but she doesn’t look creepy like Wyatt Chic and is very focused on winning money in a bank briefcase.

I didn’t like anywhere that my blissful interaction with Charlotte Flair has been going on over the last few weeks, but tonight didn’t make much sense. They interacted a bit in the ring in a segment that included WWE women’s champion Tiffany Stratton, but only had a shorter behind-the-scenes interaction. I thought the story would move a little faster, but it appears the creative wasn’t completely fleshed out before Wyatt Sids returned. Last week, Bliss wanted to talk to Flair, but this week she told Flair that she only spoke to Lily dolls. Whatever it is, Flare is blissful and doesn’t fit any of this. And I hope that if there is no complete story already written or considered for these two women, it will be dropped soon.

Certainly, Nikki Cross could be involved and could sacrifice bliss on the money of a bank contract that will come here in two weeks. At this point, if it’s probably WWE is actually trying to do it, you start to roll the ball and get bliss on fact. That might be a great story, but after all the reports, we’ve seen Bliss is the leader of fact. I don’t think I should complain because both Wyatt and Bliss are back in WWE programming and they are all amazing, but I don’t think it makes much sense to connect these two current stories.

Written by Daisy Ruth