Hiya!

Right now, it does seem like the decision of the WWE to split SummerSlam into 2 nights was a good idea. That’s at least because of my thoughts on Night 1. That show, besides the main event, was pretty good. All of that won’t matter, however, unless they can nail the landing and make Night 2, at the very least, just as good. We have a total of 6 matches to see if they did. So, let’s not waste any time and let’s check them out!

The first match of the night was a Triple Threat match for the RAW Women’s Championship. This had Naomi defending the belt against both IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley. I did like how they used this match to show off Naomi’s new heel persona as she relied on underhanded tactics like chomping on Ripley’s hand and digging her nails into SKY’s back. Some of the more memorable spots had Naomi performing an enziguri to Ripiley which caused Ripley to DDT SKY, Rhea Ripley putting IYO SKY into an electric chair position only for the Genius of the Sky to do a reverse frankensteiner on the Eradicator, SKY hitting a springboard moonsault to both Ripley and Naomi on the outside, Naomi hitting her split legged moonsault to Rhea and moving away as IYO SKY tried to break up the pin with her Over The Moonsault finisher and IYO jumping between the ropes to grab Rhea into a sunset powerbomb onto Naomi.

The finish came after IYO SKY tossed Rhea Ripley back into the ring after the sunset powerbomb spot I just mentioned. The Genius of the Sky set herself up to do her Over The Moonsault finisher but the Eradicator recovered and slammed SKY into the mat with an avalanche version of her Riptide finisher. Ripley went for the pin but Naomi scrambled back into the ring, rolled Rhea up with a handful of tights to get the pinfall victory and keep her RAW Women’s Championship.

The match itself started off kind of slow as the first half was mostly the 1-on-1 situation with them switching partners. Once we got to the halfway point and all 3 competitors started to get involved in the spots, the quality of the match elevated. In the end, this somewhat lackluster match turned into something really good.

The next match was a Six-Pack Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships. This had the current champions, Wyatt Sicks members Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis, taking on Andrade and Rey Fenix, DIY’s Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, the Motor City Machine Guns consisting of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, Axiom and Nathan Frazer (collectively known as Fraxiom) and, finally, The Street Profits’ Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford. Those are just the official competitors, by the way. There were more as this was one heck of a crazy match!

There were so many insane moments but, if I were to name my favorite ones, those would be Rex Fenix jumping on Andrade’s shoulders to try to get the Tag Team belts without the use of a ladder, the Street Profits tossing Gacy into a ladder and missing… so they simply repeated the spot, DIY tossing Ford towards a table only for Ford to leap over it and crashing into the competitors on the outside, Fenix hitting a frog splash to Frazer through a table, that spanish fly from Axiom to Dawkins into a table that was set on the outside, Candace LeRei trying to get the belts for DIY only for her to get sent through a table on the outside, Ciampa hanging from the hook the belts were on and avoiding a spear attempt from Frazer, Uncle Howdy sending DIY through a stack of tables and many more! Oh, man! There are so many, many more!

The finish came after Andrade took out Uncle Howdy with a sunset bomb through a ladder. Rey Fenix tried to get the belts but Gacy and Lumis took him out with a tag team suplex into a powerbomb move. There was no one left so Gacy climbed the ladder and unhooked the belts to retain their Smackdown Tag Team Championships.

This was a totally and utterly bonkers match! Not only were the spots super intense, they were also very creative as well. There was indeed an element of chaos with people who weren’t even included in the match getting involved but it simply made things much more interesting! The only real weakness is, because of all of the spots, there were moments where they kind of forgot they were supposed to be trying to get the belts hanging in the middle of the ring, not killing each other! Still, a minor gripe for something so good!

The next match had Becky Lynch defending the Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Lyra Valkyria in a No DQ match. Wow, they’re not calling it a “no holds barred” match? Hallelujah! Besides that stipulation, there’s also the addition of, if Lyra Valkyria loses, she will not be able to challenge Becky Lynch for the title ever as long as The Man holds the belt. I like that as it ups the stakes for the challenger. There were a few weird botches early on, like Valkyria falling off the barricade after kicking Lynch but still going for a crossbody and Lyra tossing Becky into the ringside cameraman (who didn’t crumple to the floor in a heap like a WWE referee). There were some otherwise decent spots, such as Lynch zip tying Valkyria’s hands and then hanging her from the ringpost to wallop her with a kendo stick, Lyra using her ziptied arms to lock Becky in with a front belly suplex, Valkyria hitting her Nightwing finisher from the ringside steps to the outside and Lynch trapping Valkyria inside a chair and repeatedly ramming her into the announcer’s table before jamming her up by kicking the chair.

The finish came after the aforementioned attack. Becky Lynch then threatened to beat Lyra Valkyria with a crowbar but Bayley jumped from the crowd to save Lyra. Lynch tried to get Bayley to hit Valkyria with the crowbar but The Role Model relented and started beating on The Man instead. Becky tried to take some respite on a table but that was a mistake as Lyra crashed through Lynch and the table with a legdrop! Valkyria dragged Lynch back into the ring and tried to go for her Nightwing finisher but Becky got out of it with a rake to the eyes. Lynch went for her Manhandle Slam finisher but Valkyria reversed it with an arm drag. Bayley, however, got on the ring apron and tried to strike Becky with a fist wrapped in a steel chain but Lynch ducked, leading to Bayley hitting Lyra instead! Lynch went for the Manhandle Slam and getting the pinfall victory. Becky Lynch is still your Women’s Intercontinental Champion.

This was a pretty good match but I just felt it went on for a little too long. It’s not like there were parts which felt long and boring. It’s just that, at a certain points, the stunts were getting a little too repetitive and gratuitous. This was still a superstar making match for Lyra Valkyria and, in retrospect, that was the point. This was to cement her on the level of a Becky Lynch or a Bayley. In that respect, this did just do that.

The next match of the night was for the Smackdown’s Men’s United States Championship in a Steel Cage match. This saw the leader of the New Bloodline, Solo Sikoa, defending the title against his former enforcer, Jacob Fatu. I’ll say this right off the bat: having the match at this specific time kind of hurt it. The match started at dusk, making the arena kind of dark but not dark enough to turn on the overhead lights. It was already hard to see because of the cage but the lowlight and some of the camera angles just compounded the issue. Then again, it didn’t help how the majority of the match was just your standard steel cage match. We had all the greatest hits, like bodies being sent into the cage wall and such. There were a couple of highlights, like Fatu not getting fazed after getting slammed into the cage and the Samoan Werewolf performing multiple springboard moonsaults. Sadly, like I said, there were only a couple before we got to the finish.

The finish came after Solo Sikoa’s lackey surrounded the ring. Although Jimmy Uso came out to try to even the odds, he was taken out by Talla Tonga. During this, Solo tried to escape but Fatu tossed him back into the middle of the ring but Sikoa retaliated with a Samoan Spike for a 2-count. Solo tried to escape by climbing the cage but Fatu still caught him. JC Mateo, Tonga Loa and Talla Tonga tried to scale the cage to help their boss. Fatu managed to knock Tonga Loa out but JC Mateo and Talla Tonga managed to get in. Talla Tonga handcuffed Jacob to the top of the cage! Solo Sikoa crawled towards the door but Fatu broke off the cuffs and stopped Sikoa from escaping! While they were scrambling near the cage door, Talla Tonga kicked the door, which smashed into Fatu’s face. This allowed Solo Sikoa to get out of the cage and stay the Men’s United States Champion.

Things didn’t end here, however. Jimmy Uso ran in and superkicked JC Mateo while Solo Sikoa was celebrating. He then tossed Mateo into the cage with Jacob Fatu, who then proceeded to destroy both JC Mateo and Tonga Loa. Fatu then laid them both on the mat, climbed to the top of the cage and delivered a massive moonsault on both of them!

This was a matter of a little too late. The match felt a little too standard for my tastes. The interference was okay but, at the same time, just came off as dumb. Jimmy Uso really didn’t do much but was there because he needed to be there to toss Mateo into the ring for Fatu to get some form of revenge. Also, having Solo Sikoa and Talla Tonga stand around and do nothing was stupid. At least go and beat down on Jimmy Uso while Fatu is doing the same thing to your compatriots! While not a terrible match, it definitely could have been much, much better.

The second-to-the-last match of the night had “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio defending his Men’s Intercontinental Championship against AJ Styles. Maybe I missed something but I don’t understand why this wasn’t just for the 2nd biggest prize on RAW. This was also a tribute match to Eddie Guerrero. I can get why “Dirty” Dom would be included in an Eddie Guerrero tribute match as he was his storyline “papi” for a good while. What I don’t get is why AJ Styles is getting the Guerrero glow-up, even coming to the ring in a low-rider. I don’t even thing they met each other as they were never in the same wrestling association at the same time.

Anyway, this was mostly a standard match. There were a few good spots, like Mysterio sweeping Styles’ feet with a 619, that spot with The Phenomenal One blocking a hurricarana attempt from Dominik where it looked like Styles was going to reverse it into a Styles Clash before Styles had to settle for a tornado DDT and Mysterio only getting 2 out of the 3 Amigos before Styles hit a suplex of his own. I also have to say AJ Styles still looked good in the ring as he was doing all of his standard stuff but I just wanted something more unique this time as this might be his last SummerSlam match.

The finish had Dominik Mysterio sending AJ Styles face first into the 2nd rope turnbuckle. While Styles was down, Mysterio took off one of the turnbuckle pads in full view of the referee. As the official tried to put back the pad, “Dirty” Dom took a steel chair, slammed it into the ring to simulate someone getting hit by it before tossing the weapon to Styles and laying down on the floor. Styles, who was apparently familiar with Eddie’s tricks despite never having competed against him, wrapped the chair around his neck and also laid on the floor. As the referee couldn’t determine who was hit with the chair, if anyone was anyways, let the match continue. Styles dropkicked Mysterio into the corner and tried to hit a splash but Dominik sent AJ up into the top rope, hurting his leg. Mysterio then set up for a frog splash but Styles kicked the second rope into Dominik’s nether region. Styles then went for his Calf Crusher submission but Mysterio’s boot came off. Styles charged at Mysterio but “Dirty” Dom ducked and AJ almost hit the official. While the referee was covering up, Dominik took the boot that fell off and struck Styles with it. Mysterio hit a frog splash to get the pinfall victory and retain his Men’s Intercontinental Championship.

I already mentioned how the majority of this match was pretty normal. Thankfully, the finish, with all of the lying, cheating and stealing antics from both Dominik Mysterio and AJ Styles was very entertaining. I can’t say you have to watch the entire match but I can say skip to the ending moments as that’s when things turned entertaining.

The last match of the night and the main event for SummerSlam 2025 Night 2 had John Cena defending Smackdown’s biggest prize, the WWE Championship, against Cody Rhodes in what turned out to be “Street Fight” rules. C’mon, WWE! Just call it a No DQ match! Before we start, I just have to say I really hate how the WWE just turned John Cena into a face with a speech. What a very anticlimactic end to John Cena’s heel run! Then again, I’ve said they really weren’t doing such a good job with it anyway. I guess for the purposes of this match, having John Cena back as a face makes sense since, as you’ll see, made it work so much better than if he was the lame heel he was.

There is a lot to talk about this match. I mean, a lot. I do have to talk about, despite both participants being faces, the clear fan favorite was John Cena. In fact, Cody Rhodes are getting booed, making me wonder if he was going to turn heel in the middle of the match! This added a good air of mystery if they would pull the trigger here.

They really utilized the entire Street Fight/No DQ stipulation in this match! Some notable moments had John Cena taking one of the crutches of some basketball guy (?) and using it to hit Cody Rhodes with, Cena actually tossing the bottom half of the steel steps at Rhodes and actually hitting him (!), the American Nightmare connecting with a corkscrew crossbody on Cena, Cody actually hitting a banned piledriver on John Cena, Cena reversing a pop-up powerbomb pin into his STF submission, John Cena hitting a Code Red on Cody Rhodes on the outside (!) and then hitting an Attitude Adjustment through the announcer’s table, Rhodes suplexing Cena into an erected steel barricade and that awesome spot where John Cena came up on the elevator Cody Rhodes’ uses for his entrance while carrying the American Nightmare in his Attitude Adjustment fireman’s carry! There’s a lot more but you get the gist of how much stuff they did here!

The finish came after John Cena kicked out of a Cross Rhodes and getting tossed through a table (!). Cena lowbridged Cody but Cody retaliated with a chair shot. Cody then removed the turnbuckle support from the bottom rope and started striking Cena in the head with the metal implement. Cena rallied and hooked in his STF while using the now very loose bottom rope to choke Cody (!). Cody reversed it and started to choke Cena with the rope. Cody then hit 3 Cross Rhodes but Cena still kicked out!

Rhodes then grabbed the WWE Championship Belt and attempted to strike Cena with it but the Doctor of Thuganomics ducked and hit 2 Attitude Adjustments before hitting an avalanche version of it for a 2-count! Cena then put up a table and set Rhodes up for another avalanche Attitude Adjustment but through the table. Rhodes blocked the move and hit an ugly looking avalanche Cody Cutter through the table! Rhodes hit another Cross Rhodes to finally get the pinfall victory and the NEW WWE Champion!

It’s not over, though. Cena, being the face that he is, handed the WWE Championship Belt as a sign of good sportsmanship. Cody then bows out to allow John Cena to soak up the adulation of the live crowd.

Brock Lesnar‘s then started playing. Crap.

Brock Lesnar strutted to the ring to get in the face of the already beaten John Cena. Cena tried to fight back but Brock hit his F5 finisher to send a message to Cena as well as the rest of the locker room that he’s back to close the show.

One thing I did actively disliked about this match was how both competitors would kick out of finishers! I get John Cena and Cody Rhodes are the top guys in the WWE at the moment. Even so, at a certain point, if people of their caliber can kick out of finishers multiple times, it just makes their finishing moves look weak. One or two, fine. Cody kicking out of 8 of John Cena’s Attitude Adjustment finishers is just absurd! I’m also of two minds regarding Brock Lesnar’s return. I get this is the way to make the most impact but it also makes the least amount of sense. You get there just to beat down a beaten man? That’s not exactly a show of dominance, is it?

Even with those things I mentioned, I really enjoyed this match. This had a big match feeling and it delivered on that! I do love how they juxtaposed Cody Rhodes “do anything to win” attitude to John Cena’s more tempered style of never going that far. Sure, it led him to lose but that’s what makes John Cena a great face! This was a fun one!

Overall, I can say SummerSlam 2025’s Night 2 was also a great success. However, I do think Night 1 had a little more balance to it. Night 2 didn’t have a bad match but a couple of them like the one for the Men’s Intercontinental Championship and the rather tame cage match for the United States Championship did drag it down a bit. Even with those, I do think the entire SummerSlam 2025, both Night 1 and Night 2, are definitely worth a watch.

Byee!

What did you think of SummerSlam’s 2025’s Night 2? How does it compare to Night 1? Let me know in the comments section below!