Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: The Usos VS The New Day
Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with the tag team championship match between The Usos and The New Day. This was a solid match between the best two tag teams in WWE history. These four are always going to perform well together but was this as good as some of their previous encounters, no. There moves and transitions were solid but unfortunately, I didn’t buy into the close near falls. In the end, the Usos managed to get the big victory by hitting a mid-air 1D onto Kofi Kingston. A record-breaking victory for the Usos.
Grade: B
SmackDown World Cup First Round: Shinsuke Nakamura VS Santos Escobar
The Usos came into the Bloodline’s locker room and Roman Reigns congratulated them on beating the New Day. He then revealed that he will go and make an announcement in the main event. After this, it was time for the first match of the SmackDown World Cup. It was Japan VS Mexico as Shinsuke Nakamura took on Santos Escobar. This was a dream match for me and I thought it was solid. Santos came out repping full Mexican heritage which was really cool to see and Joaquin Wilde came out looking like Pee-Wee Herman. Both men put in a good effort and every time Shinsuke got on top, Legado Del Fantasma’s numbers game came into play. In the end, Santos Escobar managed to pick up the big victory with a Phantom Driver from the top rope. The finishing manoeuvres on this show have been excellent.
Grade: B-
LA Knight and Bray Wyatt, 6-Woman SmackDown Women’s Championship Number 1 Contenders match
LA Knight was being interviewed backstage by Megan Morant, but Morant was more interested in what was going on, on the screen behind Knight. Knight than looked at the screen and when he turned back around, he was faced with Bray Wyatt. Wyatt acted like he was trying to get a new friend, but the megastar is too confident in his own abilities meaning he started trash talking the former multiple time World Champion. Wyatt then headbutted Knight before he walked off. I’m still not sure as to whether we are getting a feud between the two or if the former Million Dollar Champion is going to join Wyatt’s faction. Either way, I’m excited. YEAH!
Grade: B
After this, it was time to see who would earn a shot at the SmackDown Women’s Championship come Survivor Series. This match wasn’t the best even though I was impressed with both Liv Morgan and Sonya Deville. Morgan is doing a great job at getting her psychotic character over whilst Sonya Deville kept trying to steal the win like she was JD McDonagh from Halloween Havoc. Xia Li was just there; she unfortunately just hasn’t worked in WWE and Lacey Evans didn’t even get a televised entrance. This is incredibly worrying given WWE were celebrating veterans throughout the night. I was a little bit disappointed with Raquel in this match because I expected her to dominate in this match but that never ended up happening. In the end, Shotzi managed to get the win by hitting her finisher onto Lacey Evans. Getting to see Shotzi have a shot at a singles title at a Premium Live Event as big as Survivor Series is really cool.
Grade: C-
Backstage stuff, Braun Strowman VS Jinder Mahal
Emma congratulated Shotzi who was celebrating backstage before Emma asked where Madcap Moss is. The two are together in really life. Shayna Baszler then came into shot and told Shotzi that the only thing that she had won was a broken arm. Nice line from the Queen of Spades. Shotzi then turned around to see Ronda Rousey before Baszler chocked out the former Blackheart. Even though I don’t like Baszler doing Rousey’s “dirty work”, I am sticking with it in the hope that Shayna beats Rousey for the title. Ricochet was then backstage where it was revealed that he would be taking on Mustafa Ali next week for a spot in the SmackDown World Cup semi-finals. Ricochet talked a bit about his history with the heart of 205 Live before Gunther walked in and said he hopes Ricochet wins the tournament so he can beat him up again. I’m so pumped for Ali Ricochet next week.
Jinder Mahal was then hyping himself up as the man to win the SmackDown World Cup before Braun Strowman’s music hit. They then had a pretty short match which saw Strowman pretty much squash Mahal before he hit the “Monster Bomb” to get the win. To be fair to Braun, he did well to hit that manoeuvre as Mahal is not a small man.
Grade: C
The Viking Raiders return to SmackDown, the build to War Games begins
It was originally scheduled to be a match between Zelina Vega and B-Fab. However, it never took place because the Viking Raiders music hit and they destroyed Legado and Hit Row. Zelina was able to escape which left B-Fab to take the wrath of the returning Sarah Logan. The Raiders are always cool and having Logan involved now makes them even cooler. Here’s hoping none of them get injured again.
Grade: B
Roman Reigns’ music hit and the Bloodline came out to a big pop. Roman Reigns talked about how hard it is to be his cousin and as he was about to give the Usos some credit, the Brawling Brutes came out. They declared that it was fight night and that they had some backup. That backup was in the form of the returning Sheamus. Unfortunately, his microphone kept cutting out which really hurt this segment but at least Roman is good enough to save them from total disaster. The groups then brawled and it was the Bloodline on top before Drew McIntyre’s music hit. Drew took out the Usos before he stared down with the man who cost him the Undisputed Championship Solo Sikoa. The two fought hard and even though Drew won out, Reigns was straight onto the Scottish warrior like a lion. The show then went off with a huge brawl between the two teams. This is almost certainly heading to War Games and if I was in charge of this, Kevin Owens comes in as the fifth man for the babyface team.
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