WWE SmackDown 4/11/2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that asks the question "How long can we really wait before actually announcing the full WrestleMania card?" Actually we still don't have the full Mania card yet, because we still don't know exactly what Randy Orton is doing — and don't worry, we have thoughts on that — but that's only happening because Kevin Owens got injured, so we'll give Randy a pass. Aside from that, while we're still adding a stipulation here and filling in some title challengers there, it looks like we finally know what we're in for next weekend.

Similarly, it's only fair that you know what you're in for when you start reading this column. This is not the objective facts of the show — you want our "SmackDown" results page if that's what you're looking for. This right here, on the other hand, is all the WINC staff's subjective opinions, all the time, so be aware of that going in. From Charlotte Flair beating up Tiffany Stratton in the parking lot to Jacob Fatu giving LA Knight one last moonsault before the feed fades to black, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 4/11/25 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

Charlotte Flair and WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton's hot mess of an off-script promo segment last week caused a ton of buzz across wrestling media and the IWC over the last week, but WWE did a pretty terrible job of capitalizing on it this week. Video of Flair taking out Stratton in the parking lot of the arena before the show was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by a fan ahead of "SmackDown" and nothing was done with that outside of an awkward mention or two on commentary. Toward the beginning of the night, commentary mentioned that both women were facing disciplinary actions and Flair had been sent home, but they didn't mention the attack on Stratton.

Later on, Stratton was seen backstage arguing with Roxanne Perez and seemed perfectly fine after getting her head bounced off an SUV window by Flair earlier in the day. So fine, in fact, she was able to go toe-to-toe with "The Prodigy" in the ring. Commentary then mentioned something about a "viral video," which I'm assuming was the beat down video, but they didn't even bother to play it. I assumed when I wrote that story earlier in the night WWE was going for the "fan footage" angle like back when Kevin Owens attacked Cody Rhodes outside of his bus. Sadly, I was wrong, and I'm still confused as to why WWE did nothing with that. 

Of course, Flair came back after Stratton defeated Perez and the pair got into another scuffle, though it didn't last long before they were separated. I can understand not wanting to put these two on a live microphone, especially up against one another again, but doing nothing with the social media video they even referred to on commentary seemed like a huge swing and a miss here, especially when you could keep them separate and avoid another hot mess near-disaster. 

WWE is likely trying to make me think Flair went rogue and actually did attempt to fight Stratton on sight, but I'm smart enough to know that wasn't the case. This week fell flat after last week's buzz-worthy segment, but I will admit, I'm interested to see how WWE handles these two next week on the go-home show before WrestleMania.

Written by Daisy Ruth

On this week's episode, we got three women's matches. There were two singles matches and a big gauntlet match. The gauntlet match set up Number One contenders for the tag titles for WrestleMania 41. Along with the matches, there were two backstage segments and a promo featuring Naomi and Jade Cargill ahead of their "WrestleMania" match.

The gauntlet match kicked off the matches for the night. Champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez had a front row seat to all of the action. The match saw a total of six teams compete. Sure, you could make the argument that they were cramming a bunch of women in one match to get them on TV. The match at least served a purpose in creating contenders for the tag titles and got 12 women in action. While I, too, hated that a current singles champion and another singles wrestler got the title shot, the match was good.

The Secret Hervice was the last team to face Bayley and Lyra Valkyria. Following the match, they went to the trainer's room. US Women's Champion, Chelsea Green was seen beating on the door telling them her match was next and she needed them to come with her. Her opponent, Zelina Vega told her she'd have to be a big girl and face her on her own. This played into the match as Green got in a lot of offense on her opponent, but while she was complaining about her Slaygents missing the match, she got counted out and Vega won the match. The match was short, but the story was effective.

The other backstage segment led to a match between Roxanne Perez and Tiffany Stratton. During the match, commentary stated Charlotte Flair was sent home for the rest of the week. Stratton and Perez had a great match with the champion getting the win ahead of her "Mania match. Following the match, Flair attacked Stratton with Wade Barrett having to stop her. She was able to hold back and save it for next Saturday.

The show did a great job showcasing the women in the ring, advancing storylines, and building anticipation for upcoming WrestleMania matches. Overall, it was nice to see all of the women's matches having direction to further feuds, while it's also frustrating when other women like Baszler and Stark – an actual tag team – left off the biggest show of the year. Hopefully the focus on women's stories and matches will continue after Mania is over.

Written by Samantha Schipman

To be completely accurate and fair this is very much an issue that transcends this show individually, but the women's tag team gauntlet this Friday managed to showcase the untapped potential as well as the dire state of the current division. For starters, there should never really be an instance where a team runs through the entirety of the division in their first match together to get a shot at the Women's Tag Team Championship – at the industry's biggest show of the year no less. In just a single match, Lyra Valkyria and Bayley went from battling for the Women's Intercontinental Championship during "WWE Raw" to getting a WrestleMania tag title shot on "SmackDown." Now I like the pairing, don't get me wrong, but that doesn't exactly bode well for the rest of the division and it's hardly indicative of any tangible thought and care put into it. The past week in their saga together has felt like two chapters at polar ends of the story, mashed together for the sake of getting the tag titles on the 'Mania card at the very last minute. 

Within the match itself there felt a largely degrading tone towards the prospects of the challengers themselves, with it being made clear by commentary that Maxxine Dupri was lesser than her partner Natalya without addressing the nuance between the tenure of the pair, which then compounded with Dupri getting caught out for a fairly trivial pin to hardly convey her in a positive light. Everything felt largely rushed until the closing stretch between Valkyria and Bayley against Alba Fyre and Piper Niven. It does make sense for them to be one of if not the toughest challengers within the match, but again it isn't great that they were the first team after Michin and B-Fab, Dupri and Natalya, Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter to actually put up a genuine fight. WWE simply has to do better in presenting a formidable women's tag team division, because at this current state there is still a lot to be desired – and it's a let down to the excellent performers who are more than capable of delivering that.

Written by Max Everett

If there's one feud that's had excellent build in what's been a pretty lackluster leadup to WrestleMania, it's Damian Priest versus Drew McIntyre. From their history, to their feud reigniting at the Royal Rumble this year in the most simple way, this is a match I've been looking forward to. Their segment this week was simple, yet effective, and also much needed after the match was made official on social media on Monday before "WWE Raw." That aspect annoyed me probably much more than it should have since I think all WrestleMania matches should be made on WWE programming and not online, but Friday's announcement of the Sin City Street Fight made up for that a bit in my mind.

Their feud is one that lends itself to a hardcore stipulation and the men further proved that on this episode. They were meant to have a face-to-face, but McIntyre blinded Priest, who had mostly recently got the best of "The Scottish Warrior" by sending him through a windshield backstage a few weeks ago. McIntyre got his heat back that way, which was needed, and even rocked the eyepatch down to the ring, just to remove it to let the crowd know he was 100% cleared and ready to go at WrestleMania. Of course, Priest battled his way back down to the ring after they had been separated and he was pulled to the back, but it was McIntyre who stood tall after hitting him with a Future Shock DDT on top of the steel steps. I could be wrong, but I feel like I haven't seen McIntyre pull out that move in awhile, so that was cool. I thought this really worked after McIntyre had been off TV for a bit. The whole sneak attack to get Priest to the back before cutting the promo, then going right back to the brawl was also something just a little different.

I'm all for stipulation matches and WrestleMania was seriously lacking one. McIntyre has had some pretty brutal fights in recent memory with CM Punk and Priest was one-half of my favorite street fight in modern day WWE when he faced Bad Bunny at Backlash in Puerto Rico. This week's segment was a small win going in to WrestleMania when a lot of the build to other matches hasn't been so great.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I had a lot of fun with Rey Fenix vs. Berto this week, which is a statement that can typically be applied to basically any Fenix match — but it was the stuff happening around the match that intrigued me more than the match itself. You had Santos Escobar consoling Berto somewhat after the match, but mainly praising Fenix; his initial words of comfort for Berto basically amounted to "It's okay, you were never going to win, he's just that much better than you." Later, when we see them again backstage, Escobar is far more iron fist than velvet glove — he mocks Berto's claims about being superior to Fenix, openly says he's disappointed in him, and tells Angel "Come with me, let's go congratulate Fenix on his win tonight." Just absolutely, scathingly brutal.

There are two main reasons these interactions were the highlight of "SmackDown" for me this week. First, as a hardcore "Lucha Underground" fan, I love seeing Fenix being openly coveted by Escobar, who worked in "Lucha Underground" as King Cuerno and had a great series of matches with Fenix in 2015; they've been involved with each other a lot in Mexico over the past decade plus (alongside Penta, who will surely be added to this stew sooner or later). Second, it's just simple, basic character stuff. Berto talked a big game and lost, so now he's embarrassed; Escobar is already in love with Fenix (and understandably so) and appears to be abandoning Berto for a shiny new toy, and Angel is torn between the two. And then suddenly you've got Andrade of all people coming to pick Berto up after Escobar literally went to go congratulate the guy that beat him. It's nothing revolutionary, it's not winning any Emmys, and I won't begrudge anyone who has a hard time investing in these characters and their modest TV time or doesn't trust WWE to do well by luchadors and ex-luchadors alike, but it has an actual human heart beating at the center of it — and in today's world of AI chatbots and lifeless Cody Rhodes promos, that's about as much as I can ask.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Randy Orton went into this week's show looking to answer the question over what he will be getting up to at the "Show of Shows" after Kevin Owens had to pull out through injury. In the ring with General Manager Nick Aldis, whom he gave an impromptu RKO to during last week's show, it seemed almost certain that the question was going to be answered in one way or another. Orton himself played with the idea of Aldis strapping up the boots again for a match between them, and given that's my personal preference I admit to being somewhat biased in my annoyance over that being the extent to that particular vein. Then Orton was interrupted by Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga, which with absolutely no disrespect to either of them hardly spoke of a WrestleMania feud. 

But then the United States' very own Champion, LA Knight, made his appearance and brought everything almost full circle. Orton was now playing side character to Knight and his proxy feud with Tonga and Sikoa – playing into his title defense against Jacob Fatu. By the end of the match, he was brawling with Sikoa into the crowd as Knight got the win and the closing angle with Fatu. It's understandable that Owens being sidelined will have had an immeasurable impact on the planning when it comes to Orton – and now the US title picture potentially – but at the same time is this the very best that could be done with him? Orton was heading into this year's event with a genuinely hot feud and now it's largely unknown what he is doing this close to WrestleMania.

Written by Max Everett