WWE presented the February 21st, 2025, edition of Friday Night SmackDown from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisana. The major highlight of the show was the return of The Final Boss, The Rock, who dropped a major announcement and offered his former rival Cody Rhodes a chance of a lifetime on WWE SmackDown.
Apart from that, the night was a sight of some explosive in-ring matches capped by a dominant main event match. However, SmackDown also saw some matches end in abrupt fashion.
Quick Results
- Jimmy Uso defeated Drew McIntyre in a singles match.
- The Miz & Carmelo Hayes defeated R-Truth & LA Knight in a tag team match.
- Tiffany Stratton picked up the win over Candice LeRae in singles action.
- Liv Morgan vs Naomi ended in No Contest.
- Pretty Deadly defeated DIY via Disqualification.
- Damien Priest & Braun Strowman defeated Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu in a tag team match.
Best Match
The best match of WWE SmackDown this week had to be the explosive main event match. It featured four dominant stars in action. The bout was a tag team showdown between Damien Priest & Braun Strowman against Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. It was a highly explosive match with heavy moves, and insane spots witnessed by the fans of New Orleans.
The match also intensified rumors of a potential feud between Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu for WrestleMania 41 with its ending. Jacob accidentally took out Solo with a superkick and got himself taken out by Braun Strowman outside the ring. This led to Priest planting Solo with a South of Haven chokeslam to score the pinfall.
Worst Match
The worst match had to be the tag team match between Pretty Deadly and DIY for the WWE Tag Team Championships. The bout started with a brawl and only went on for a few minutes. It came to a halt with the attack by Street Profits, who also took down the Motor City Machine Guns when they came out. It was just an abrupt segment with no real match taking place.
Noteworthy Moments
The biggest highlight of WWE SmackDown was The Rock’s return and segment with Cody Rhodes. He called out Cody Rhodes and offered him a chance to become his champion and take his career to unprecedented heights of success. The Rock then announced that he would appear at the upcoming WWE Elimination Chamber PLE, where he expects to hear Cody’s answer.
Related: Topps Offering Rare And Valuable The Rock Card In Select Packs Of Their New 2025 WWE Chrome Cards
Another highlight of the night was the ending of the match between Drew McIntyre and Jimmy Uso. Big Jim did a surprise roll-up to pick up the win over Drew following an intense match. However, he was later subjected to a post-match beatdown by The Scottish Warrior.
Holy Sh!@ Moments
The biggest Holy Sh!@ moment of WWE SmackDown this week had to be The Rock‘s announcement that WrestleMania 42 will take place in New Orleans next year at the Superdome on April 11 and 12, 2026.
One more shocking moment was Nia Jax taking down both Tiffany Stratton and Trish Stratus single-handedly after Stratton defeated her ally, Candice LeRae, in a match. Jax took them out both and landed a single Annihilator on both Stratus and Stratton ahead of their tag team match at WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 PLE.
Lowlights
The singles match between Naomi and Liv Morgan never kicked off as she and Raquel Rodriguez attacked Naomi and Bianca Belair as they were entering the ring, being a lowlight of the night.
Similarly another one was the tag team match between The Miz & Carmelo Hayes against R-Truth and his surprise partner, LA Knight. Fans were not into the match at all, and even the ending, which saw Shinsuke Nakamura interfere and attack LA Knight, did not get much reaction.
What’s in store for WWE SmackDown next week
Only one match was announced for next week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. The event will take place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and will see a hometown hero in action before the Elimination Chamber event. WWE Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green will face a mystery opponent that is yet to be announced.