WWE SmackDown Notes: Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton Set for 7/12 SNME Show, Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair Advance to Women’s Tag Titles Match at Evolution, Trish Stratus Surprise Return, Jade Cargill vs. Naomi No Holds Barred and WWE Women’s Title Matches Set for Evolution 2

Jul 4, 2025

Drew McIntyre Makes Surprise Return, McIntyre vs. Randy Orton Announced for July 12th SNME Show

Friday’s taped WWE SmackDown show also featured one new match announced for the card of WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event show on July 12th at the State Farm in Atlanta, Georgia.

This new match announced was a singles match of Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre.

This new match was setup following a promo segment involving Cody Rhodes, Orton, and McIntyre. During the show, Rhodes came out to the ring to talk about his King of the Ring tournament victory only to be quickly interrupted by Orton. After some words about their King of the Ring Finals match, Orton made Rhodes promise to him that he will take down John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam 2025. This led to McIntyre’s music playing and him making his surprise return to interrupt Rhodes and Orton. After some mocking words by McInryre, Orton responded by hitting a RKO to McIntyre laying him out.

.@DMcIntyreWWE has entered the chat…

and he has some things he wants to get off his chest 😬 pic.twitter.com/brD3WGZoGP
— WWE (@WWE) July 5, 2025

In a follow-up segment, McIntyre confronted SmackDown GM Nick Aldis backstage and stated that he wants Orton after what he did to him earlier. Aldis told him that Orton has left the building but if he wants Orton, then he can get him next week in a match at Saturday Night’s Main Event show.

NEXT WEEK!@DMcIntyreWWE will face @RandyOrton at Saturday Night's Main Event 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QR3ZWpdZUu
— WWE (@WWE) July 5, 2025

This was McIntyre’s first appearance since this past May’s Backlash 2025 event due to him taking a break to heal up from his injuries.

Current card for July 12th WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event show:

WWE World Heavyweight Championship – Goldberg vs. Gunther (c)
LA Knight vs. Seth Rollins
Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre

Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair Advance to WWE Women’s Tag Titles Match at WWE Evolution 2

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured one newly updated match for the card of Evolution 2.

This newly updated match was a WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal Four-way match – RAW mystery team vs. NXT mystery team vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs. Judgement Day (Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez) (c).

Bliss & Flair qualified as the team representing the SmackDown brand following them defeating The Secret Hervice (Alba Fyre & Piper Niven) and Michin & B-Fab in a Triple Threat match.

Did they just hug?! 🤭@MsCharlotteWWE's head pat just accidentally earned her and @AlexaBliss_WWE a match at WWE Evolution! pic.twitter.com/xEHYkAlExv
— WWE (@WWE) July 5, 2025

Trish Stratus Makes Surprise Appearance, Stratus vs. Tiffany Stratton for WWE Women’s Title Announced for WWE Evolution 2

Friday’s taped WWE SmackDown show also featured the first of two new matches announced for the card of Evolution 2.

This new match announced was a WWE Women’s Championship match of Trish Stratus vs. Tiffany Stratton (c).

This match was setup following a promo segment involving Stratton, Jade Cargill, and Stratus. During the show, Stratton came out and talked about her upcoming title match against Jade Cargill at SummerSlam. Stratton stated that she also wanted to defend her title at WWE Evolution . This led to Cargill coming out to interrupt and after some words, Stratton announced that she wants to defend against Stratus at Evolution. This led to Stratus making her surprise appearance and came out to the ring to accept Stratton’s challenge.

Look who it is!

WWE Hall of Famer @trishstratuscom is here 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/kqazVsPdzZ
— WWE (@WWE) July 5, 2025

Official graphic for Tiffany Stratton vs. Trish Stratus for the WWE Women’s Championship at Evolution!#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/7aPnhb9KGH
— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) July 5, 2025

.@tiffstrattonwwe will defend her WWE Women's Championship against @trishstratuscom at #WWEEvolution 🏆

🎟️ https://t.co/EeVPiItMeH pic.twitter.com/o9hOPrsgJA
— WWE (@WWE) July 5, 2025

Jade Cargill vs. Naomi No Holds Barred Match Set for WWE Evolution 2

Friday’s taped WWE SmackDown show also featured the second of two new matches announced for the card of Evolution 2, which takes place on July 13th at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

This new match announced was a No Holds Barred match of Jade Cargill vs. Naomi.

This match was initially setup over recent weeks shows over the bad blood issues between Naomi and Cargill. During tonight’s show, Cargill was seen backstage with Trish Stratus talking about Stratus’ upcoming match against Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women’s Championship at Evolution 2. After Stratus left, Naomi showed up and attacked Cargill with her Women’s Money in the bank briefcase. Naomi then taunted a downed Cargill and left leading to SmackDown GM Nick Aldis showing up and granting Cargill’s request for a match to end this once and for all.

OFFICIAL FOR WWE EVOLUTION

Jade Cargill vs. Naomi NO HOLDS BARREDpic.twitter.com/cKdlYZjRqW
— WrestleTalk (@WrestleTalk_TV) July 5, 2025

Current card for WWE Evolution 2:

WWE Women’s Championship – Trish Stratus vs. Tiffany Stratton (c)
WWE Women’s World Championship – Rhea Ripley vs. IYO SKY (c)
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal Four-way match – RAW mystery team vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs. NXT mystery team vs. Judgement Day (Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez) (c)
WWE NXT Women’s Championship – Jordynne Grace vs. Jacy Jayne (c)
Women’s Championship #1 Contender Battle Royal match – TBA vs. TBA(s)
No Holds Barred match – Jade Cargill vs. Naomi