At the Elimination Chamber PLE last weekend, John Cena did the unthinkable when he turned heel to ally himself with The Rock. With the help of Travis Scott, Cena and Rock beat down the WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and left him a bloody mess. Rhodes has been silent since the attack but tonight’s episode of Smackdown will finally address the fallout of the assault.
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Cody Rhodes Will Address WWE Fans About John Cena’s Heel Turn
Prediction: Cody Rhodes Will Be Vindicated About Not Having Friends
- Cody Rhodes will address John Cena’s heel turn at Elimination Chamber 2025.
- Rhodes has been wary of his “friends” in recent months.
- Rhodes’ promo will be emotional.
Cody Rhodes always has had a knack for emotional promos. This goes even back to his career in AEW as Rhodes wasn’t afraid to get choked up and shed a tear during promos. That might happen tonight as well as he’s set to address John Cena’s actions at the Elimination Chamber.
It’s not known exactly what Rhodes will say, but if we look back to Rhodes’ promo ahead of the Royal Rumble back in January with CM Punk on Raw, we might have an answer:
Rhodes’ feud with Kevin Owens really put a strain on Rhodes’ mind as Rhodes has to come to grips with the fact that many of his former friends have turned their backs on him including AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar and Owens himself. If anybody could have been seen as loyal to the end, it would have been John Cena but now even Mr. Hustle, Loyalty and Respect has turned his back on Rhodes. Expect Rhodes not trusting anybody going forward to be the theme of the promo.
Street Fight For The WWE Women’s United States Championship: Chelsea Green (c) vs. Michin
Prediction: Chelsea Green Has Too Much Momentum To Lose To Michin
- Chelsea Green and Michin have been feuding since Fall 2024.
- The win-loss record between them in WWE is 3-2 in favor of Chelsea Green.
- This will likely cap off their feud so Green moves onto a new program for WrestleMania.
In terms of midcard performers in WWE, there are few hotter right now than Chelsea Green. Since her return to the company at the 2023 Royal Rumble, her “Karen” gimmick has won over fans and she has now evolved into a sort of delusional American hero with her “secret service” bodyguard in the form of Piper Niven.
Michin has scored some wins over Green in the feud and it will likely culminate in a street fight tonight. It’s hard to see any way of Green losing this since Niven will almost certainly help Green pick up the win. We have advocated for a Nikki Bella vs Chelsea Green feud at WrestleMania and I’ll still hold true to that happening.
Randy Orton Will Return To WWE Smackdown
Orton Wants To Get His Hands On Kevin Owens
- Randy Orton returned at Elimination Chamber and almost punted Kevin Owens.
- Orton will likely have something to say about his career rival John Cena turning heel.
- Orton hasn’t appeared on Smackdown since November 8th, 2024.
While the heel turn of John Cena gobbled up all the attention from Elimination Chamber, another notable legend made some noise and that would be Randy Orton. After being written off television via a Kevin Owens piledriver, Orton returned to exact some measure of vengeance against Owens after his unsanctioned match with Sami Zayn.
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While Orton will absolutely have some words to say to Kevin Owens, he also will certainly have something to say about his career rival John Cena betraying his former protege Cody Rhodes to join up with The Rock.
Jade Cargill Will Speak About Her Assault On Naomi At Elimination Chamber
Some Fans Speculate That Naomi May Not Have Acted Alone
- Jade Cargill returned to WWE at Elimination Chamber and badly beat down Naomi.
- Cargill was laid in a heap atop a car in November 2024.
- Fan speculation remains that Bianca Belair was involved.
To kick off the Women’s Elimination Chamber match, Jade Cargill made her way into the ring before the door to the chamber was shut. It looked like she was going to attack Liv Morgan at first, but she actually kicked off a brutal assault against her former ally Naomi.
It was implied on WWE TV that Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were the ones responsible for taking out Cargill in November, but based off her actions Saturday, Cargill seems to think that Naomi was the one who did it. Fans online have speculated though that Bianca Belair was also involved in the attack, but we might have a better idea of this after Cargill speaks tonight.
How To Watch WWE Smackdown In 2025
WWE Smackdown Airs On The USA Network In The United States
- SmackDown did great ratings on FOX, thanks in part to The Bloodline story.
- FOX let SmackDown go because of disappointing ad revenue.
- The quality of SmackDown on USA hasn’t dipped.
Every WWE show moved network in the past year. NXT was a big success for the USA Network on Tuesday nights, but just recently they made the switch to CW, which brought a new look to the developmental show.
In 2019, SmackDown made its own big move, going from cable to network TV on FOX. This led to a huge increase in ratings, thanks in part as well to The Bloodline story, but with FOX not getting the ad revenue they hoped for, they let the Friday night show go. On September 13, it went back to the USA Network, and although that meant a big decline in viewership, the quality of the show hasn’t missed a beat.
International Fans Can Now Watch SmackDown on Netflix
Archived Episodes Of Smackdown Are Also On Netflix
- SmackDown has officially moved to Netflix internationally.
- Netflix has a series called WWE SmackDown Vault.
- Select episodes of older SmackDown episodes will be available to watch.
For American fans, the change to WWE Smackdown isn’t as major as the change for international audiences. Starting in January 2025, Smackdown has been streaming live on Netflix for all outside the United States.
As well, WWE viewers in the U.S. noticed that Netflix added WWE Raw content on January 1 with selections named “Raw Vault”, “Raw Is Netflix”, “Best of Raw 2024”, and “Raw Classics” (which is hosted by Big E), there’s more online for international fans.
According to Sports Illustrated, WWE SmackDown Vault is on Netflix, along with the WWE NXT Vault as well. The description for WWE SmackDown vault reads:
“From Attitude Era origins to the modern day, these matches and milestones spanning over 25 years reinforce what it means to lay the SmackDown in WWE.”
According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider:
“The Raw Vault has been added to Netflix both domestically and internationally. We are getting emails from readers pointing out some episodes are not there. That was always going to be the plan. They will be adding new content every month to that area. Internationally, the SmackDown and NXT Vaults will be similar with new content added regularly. They are not going to put everything up at once. The idea is to keep people paying for new content.”
As proof of this, Johnson reported that international viewers can currently see every episode of SmackDown from 2022-2024. While you can’t see any episodes from 2009-2021, there are select episodes from other years such as 1999, 2000 and 2008. In time, look for Netflix to have every episode just like the WWE Network did.