{"id":133645,"date":"2025-04-12T01:16:44","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T05:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=133645"},"modified":"2025-04-12T01:16:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T05:16:44","slug":"wwe-smackdown-preview-4-18-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/12\/wwe-smackdown-preview-4-18-25\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE SmackDown Preview (4\/18\/25) &#8211; WrestleMania 41 SmackDown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The latest installment of WWE SmackDown will be the final stop before Saturday and Sunday&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/11\/stipulation-wwe-wrestlemania-41-match-official-wwe-smackdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Showcase of the Immortals<\/a>,&#8221; WWE WrestleMania 41. Last week&#8217;s show <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/11\/wwe-smackdown-results-4-11-25\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">set the bar high<\/a>. However, WWE could top that and make the weekend a three-day extravaganza with this week&#8217;s Friday Night Fight Night. With all that said, let&#8217;s get right into it. Here&#8217;s a WWE SmackDown preview for April 18th, 2025, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/11\/wwe-wrestlemania-41-night-1-2-matches-revealed\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">night before WrestleMania 41<\/a>. Let&#8217;s run it down.<\/p>\n<h2>WWE SmackDown Preview &amp; Card (4\/18\/25):<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>John Cena Returns to SmackDown<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/04\/11\/wrestlemania-41-womens-tag-title-contenders-wwe-smackdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">6-Woman Tag Team Match<\/a>: Katana Chance, Kayden Carter &amp; Zelina Vega vs. Piper Niven, Alba Fyre &amp; Chelsea Green<\/li>\n<li>Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal<\/li>\n<li>WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits (c) vs. Motor City Machine Guns<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Claiming The Giant Crown<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zyNNhap74ao?si=6rsBR6EdMwPAwWD6\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal is dedicated to one of, if not, the best giant in WWE history. As such, it&#8217;s only fitting that a lot of heavy-hitters compete in the match every year, and big-time names win the whole thing. The likes of Matt Hardy, Bronson Reed, Jey Uso, and of course, &#8220;The Monster of All Monsters&#8221; Braun Strowman, to name a few.<\/p>\n<p>As we all know now, these superstars went on to do big things in WWE. On this week&#8217;s SmackDown, another person could have a star-making performance in this multi-man showcase.<\/p>\n<p>Who will be the one to stand beside the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale trophy at the end of the night?<\/p>\n<h2>The Prodigal Son Returns Home<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VMVNj0Pnerg?si=QDcSAHYk0L1GVUEB\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After almost three years, John Cena returns to WWE SmackDown this Friday night, days before his showdown with Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Champion on the night two main event of WrestleMania 41. Over the last month, John Cena and Cody Rhodes have said <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/03\/17\/john-cena-cody-rhodes-wwe-raw\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">unimaginable things<\/a> to one another.<\/p>\n<p>Rhodes is hell-bent on protecting the WWE Universe from Cena. On the other hand, Cena wants to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/03\/24\/john-cena-says-ruin-wrestling-wwe-raw\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">tear down everything he felt like he built<\/a> but was never appreciated for. The intensity reached a fever pitch when Cody Rhodes finally landed the first blow on John Cena on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/03\/31\/wwe-raw-results-3-31-25-live-updates-and-highlights\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">WWE Raw<\/a>, laying him out with a Cross Rhodes.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a__cXH1gxlc?si=5CETVKJnoUODAnj9\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We haven&#8217;t seen or heard from John Cena since then. Fortunately for the Las Vegas crowd, the GOAT will be in attendance this Friday night and will address the whole world.<\/p>\n<p>What does John Cena have to say on WWE SmackDown ahead of WrestleMania 41?<\/p>\n<h3><em>That concludes the WWE SmackDown preview for April 18th, 2025. Will you be tuning in this Friday night?<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><strong>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i>Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\"><i>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0for more on WWE Evolve and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/title\/81788927\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>Netflix<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usanetwork.com\/wwe-friday-night-smackdown\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>USA Network<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cwtv.com\/shows\/wwe-nxt\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>The CW<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/tubitv.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>Tubi<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aetv.com\/wwe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>A&amp;E<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments) and\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>Peacock<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0(WWE Main Event as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/wwe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>YouTube<\/i><\/a><i>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/events\/1773457579022155776?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>WWE Speed<\/i><\/a><i>).<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest installment of WWE SmackDown will be the final stop before Saturday and Sunday&#8217;s &#8220;Showcase of the Immortals,&#8221; WWE WrestleMania 41. Last week&#8217;s show set the bar high. However, WWE could top that and make the weekend a three-day extravaganza with this week&#8217;s Friday Night Fight Night. With all that said, let&#8217;s get right [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3735,"featured_media":133646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2192,26,4,3],"tags":[7610,571,165,7265,5452],"class_list":["post-133645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-america","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-andre-the-giant-memorial-battle-royal","tag-chelsea-green","tag-john-cena","tag-the-motor-city-machine-guns","tag-the-street-profits"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3735"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133645"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133649,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133645\/revisions\/133649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}