Paul Heyman and Sami Zayn, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus VS Hit Row, Lacey Evans
Paul Heyman started Friday Night SmackDown in the ring and he cut a promo about how important the titles are to the Bloodline. He also made it clear that the Island of Relevancy doesn’t exist without the championships. Sami Zayn then arrived and he told Paul Heyman that Roman Reigns’ days as Universal Champion are numbered and he made a case as to why each member of the Bloodline will walk out on the Tribal Chief. He then told Paul to tell Roman Reigns that he doesn’t need to worry about Cody Rhodes because he’s going to be the one to take the Head of the Table down. Both men are excellent at promos so this did a good job of furthering their storyline.
Grade: B
Hit Row made it clear to Adam Pearce that they were meant to be facing Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, not Braun Strowman and Ricochet and this led to Pearce booking a match between the singers and two former WWE Champions. This was a literal squash match. Drew and Sheamus comfortably destroyed Ashante “Thee” Adonis and Top Dolla wasn’t even tagged into the match. Drew hit Top Dolla with a Claymore before Sheamus Brogue kicked Adonis for the win before Valhalla and the Viking Raiders appeared on the screen and challenged them to a match for next week’s show. This whole segment didn’t really achieve anything and the Raiders have to win that match next week.
Grade: C-
Jimmy Uso was seen trying to call his brother, but Jey wasn’t picking up. Karrion Kross then made it clear that he was going to beat up Rey Mysterio and move on to challenge Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship before Lacey Evans came out to have a match with a girl called Carmen Haress. Carmen legitimately looked like one of the local enhancement talents from 2K22 GM Mode and she was absolutely squashed by Lacey to the point where I genuinely think she didn’t hit a single move on the former Marine. Lacey connected with the Woman’s Right before she forced her opponent to tap in the Cobra Clutch. The Woman’s Right has clearly been moved down into a signature.
Grade: C-
SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The Usos VS Braun Strowman and Ricochet
Jimmy Uso still couldn’t get a hold of his brother before Paul Heyman walked in and asked why he hadn’t come out to help him with Sami Zayn earlier on in the show. It then became clear to Jimmy that he was most likely going to defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championships on his own due to the fact that nobody else from the Bloodline was in the arena. We then saw Sonya Deville asking Adam Pearce why she isn’t involved in the Elimination Chamber match before Chelsea Green walked in and said she wanted to see the SmackDown Manager as she has a complaint about the Raw Manager. That’s actually quite funny. This segment ended with Adam Pearce putting Deville and Green in a tag team match against Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan. Neither woman seemed particularly happy with this. Braun Strowman and Ricochet were then out in the ring before Jimmy Uso made his entrance alone (it looked really, really odd). However, just as Samantha Irvin was about to introduce Jimmy, Jey Uso came walking down through the crowd (Shield style) to join up with his twin brother. This was a pretty competitive match which saw the crowd fully behind Jey Uso. Ricochet did well, but he gets beaten up for the vast majority of the match whilst Braun Strowman gets tagged in to do some power moves. I struggled to enjoy this match too much because I knew that the Usos were going to retain. It’s a shame as there were a couple of good near-falls. I did like the finish though as after Ricochet hit the Shooting Star Press onto Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso (the legal man) landed the Uso Splash onto the One and Only to get the win.
Grade: B-
Lots of segments, Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan VS Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green
Rey Mysterio cut a promo where he said that he is going to beat Karrion Kross before the Usos were walking backstage. Jimmy asked Jey whether this meant he was still a member of the Bloodline and Jey responded saying “I don’t know”. You could then see Paul Heyman hiding behind a pillar and once Jey left, Paul asked Jimmy if Jey had said anything and Jimmy replied saying “he said nothing”. This is simple, smart, superb booking. Natalya then came down to the ring and said that she took something from Shayna Baszler last week before she made it clear that she is going to win the Elimination Chamber match next week. Shayna Baszler then came out and said that she is sick and tired of everything undervaluing her accomplishments because of Ronda Rousey before the Baddest Woman on the Planet return to SmackDown and she beat up... Natalya. Shotzi ran down to try and make the save, but this failed miserably. Shayna Baszler needs to get as far away from this program as possible.
Grade: C- for the women’s segment
Jey Uso was going to leave the arena before Sami Zayn came up to him. Zayn told Jey that he knew that he wants Roman Reigns to fall from his pedestal before he told him that he acknowledges Main Event Jey Uso. Jey told Sami that he needed to leave before he was spotted, but before that, the two fist-bumped one another. The best thing about this entire storyline is I legitimately have no idea how this is going to go. The obvious thing would be that Jey costs Sami at the Chamber, except Jey can’t go to the PLE because it’s in Canada. I expect this story to continue well after the Elimination Chamber next Saturday. LA Knight then made it clear that we’re not going to talk about Bray Wyatt anymore before it was time for a tag team match between Raquel Rodriguez, Liv Morgan, Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green. This match was alright and it was made clear that Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye. I’m personally a fan of that as not every bad guy should get along. As for the faces, Liv and Raquel have history as a tag team and they work well together. If neither woman wins the Elimination Chamber match, they are a good shout to take on Damage Control at WrestleMania. Morgan got the victory after Raquel powerbombed her onto Green.
Grade: C
Fatal 4-Way Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contenders Match
Madcap Moss showed off his new gear that was made by Emma before Charlotte Flair talked about how Rhea Ripley wasn’t ready for her 3 years ago. She then made it clear that she would be worried if Rhea Ripley wasn’t ready for her this year, but she made it clear that it’s going to take a lot longer for Rhea to get on Charlotte Flair’s level. Ripley’s only 26 so she’s got time. The main event of SmackDown then took place as Karrion Kross, Madcap Moss, Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar all battled for the chance to face Gunther in Montreal next week. Gunther was seen sitting in a private sky box with his Imperium buddies Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci and he watched as all four men showed why they could be the one to earn the next championship opportunity. Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar had a cool moment where the two stood face-to-face. That match has to happen if WWE has Premium Live Event in Mexico. Karrion Kross also performed well in this match and he looked like he was going to win after he wrecked Mysterio with the Kross Hammer. However, Santos Escobar sent Kross over the top rope (he went over too) and this allowed Madcap to hit his new finishing move (a cooler-looking elbow drop) onto Rey to get the win. That will definitely be one of, if not the biggest match in Madcap Moss’ career so far and it should be good. It makes sense to hold off Kross and Escobar as you can do that match on a bigger stage. Jimmy Uso was then backstage and Paul Heyman told Jimmy that Roman Reigns wanted him to stay at home with his twin brother next week as “you can see more things from watching on TV than in person”. This is a clever way to get around the fact that the Usos can’t go to Canada whilst also sending a warning that Reigns and Heyman have seen what the Usos have done tonight.
Comments