World Heavyweight Championship Tournament: AJ Styles VS Edge VS Rey Mysterio, Austin Theory VS Sheamus VS Bobby Lashley
Friday Night SmackDown started with one of two triple-threat matches as Edge, Rey Mysterio and AJ Styles battled for a place in the Semi-Finals of the World Heavyweight Championship tournament. This was a good match as all three men put on a show. There were plenty of one-on-one moments for the three stars, but there was also plenty of 3-way action. Everyone came close to getting the victory, but in the end, AJ Styles capitalised off of a mistake by Edge to deliver the Phenomenal Forearm to get the victory.
Grade: B-
WWE then went straight into the second triple-threat match as the United States Champion Austin Theory battled Sheamus and long-time rival Bobby Lashley. Sheamus and Bobby were bringing the hard-hitting style to the match whilst Austin Theory whilst trying to calculate his way to victory. It nearly worked for him as he chucked Lashley out of the ring after the All Mighty delivered a Spear to Sheamus, but unlike at BackLash, this wasn’t enough for Theory to steal another win. Bobby Lashley cut his head open late in the match when he collided with the ring steps, but that didn’t stop him from applying the Hurt Lock on the US Champ. However, Sheamus delivered a Brogue Kick to Theory before Lashley chucked the Celtic Warrior out of the ring and pinned Theory to advance to the Semi-Finals. I liked the fact that they played into the BackLash triple threat match from last weekend.
Grade: B-
Baron Corbin VS Cameron Grimes, Roman Reigns returns to SmackDown
Adam Pearce was on the phone backstage before Grayson Waller walked up to him. Waller asked Pearce if he could have the winner of tonight’s World Heavyweight Championship Semi-Final clash between AJ Styles and Bobby Lashley on his hit talk show “The Grayson Waller Effect”. Adam agreed and I’m now very excited for this. I was then even more excited as Cameron Grimes made his main roster debut after over 8 months out as he went one-on-one with Baron Corbin. Before the match, Corbin mocked Grimes and told him he was going to send him back to NXT. The bell then rang, Grimes hit the Cave-In and won. This show was all over the place in terms of pacing, but this was actually well done. It gives Grimes a victory which is always good and it works pretty well with Corbin’s current character.
Grade: C+
Roman Reigns’ music then hit as the Tribal Chief made his first appearance on Friday Night SmackDown since before WrestleMania. Roman’s entrance took place in the ad break so something was clearly up with time on this show and Reigns stated that whilst he’s been gone, Solo Sikoa’s stepped up. However, the same could not be said for The Usos before the Head of the Table demanded that the Usos apologise. Jimmy Uso didn’t seem to agree with this very much and after Roman shoved him, Jey Uso jumped in just before his twin could do anything about it and apologised to his cousin. Paul Heyman then announced that at Night of Champions, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn will put their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against Solo Sikoa and the Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns. I think this is cool, but Sami and Kevin going to Saudi is a bit strange and Roman not defending his titles on the day his title reign turns to 1000 days doesn’t make much sense. However, Roman delivered his promos as well as he usually does.
Grade: B-
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez VS Damage CTRL, Bianca Belair’s Championship Celebration
Damage CTRL were interviewed by Kayla Braxton backstage and Bayley kept comparing herself to Roman Reigns which was pretty cool. The LWO then took the mick out of the Usos before Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez put their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against Damage Control’s Bayley and Dakota Kai. This match was a bit messy in my opinion, it just felt really slow. There were also a few moments that didn’t look great and at one point, it looked like both Dakota and Bayley hurt themselves. After a failed attempt at interfering by Iyo Sky, Liv Morgan rolled up the Role Model to get the victory and retain her tag team titles. The most interesting part of all of this was the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn (The Unholy Union) were watching backstage. If they were to have a match to unify the two sets of women’s tag titles, I’d really like Fyre and Dawn to win.
Grade: C-
The Brawling Brutes were backstage asking if Sheamus was alright before Pretty Deadly arrived. Kit Wilson and Elton Prince introduced themselves before they took the mick out of their fellow countrymen. A match will happen between the two teams will happen next week and Pretty Deadly should win because they’re awesome. The Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair then returned home for her championship celebration. However, this didn’t last long as Asuka’s music hit and the Empress of Tomorrow made her way down to the ring. She then put her hand out and as soon as the EST shook it, Asuka spit blue mist all over her face. I’m sorry, but this made Belair look incredibly dumb. Firstly, Asuka does this all the time and secondly, she should feel pissed after what happened at WrestleMania. Hopefully, Asuka can capture the gold this time.
Grade: C
World Heavyweight Championship Tournament: AJ Styles VS Bobby Lashley
The main event of this week's Friday Night SmackDown saw AJ Styles battle Bobby Lashley for the right to face Seth “Freakin” Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions. This was a decent match, but you could also tell that Bobby Lashley was struggling. Why? Because his head started to bleed again. However, the two still did some good work and they both made you believe that they would be going to Saudi Arabia. In the end, though, it was AJ Styles who hit the All Mighty with the Phenomenal Forearm to get the winning meaning the Phenomenal One will face the Visionary for the World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions. Even though it doesn’t makes sense why SmackDown superstars are involved in this tournament, AJ Styles deserves to be in the World title picture. Arguably, Rollins and Styles have been WWE’s two best in-ring workers since 2016 so this match should be awesome.
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