Sheamus VS Solo Sikoa
This week's edition of Friday Night SmackDown started with a match between Sheamus and Solo Sikoa. This was a proper fight between two very talented individuals. Sheamus pulled out some great strikes whilst Sikoa was able to answer with some of his own. At one point, Sikoa hit a Samoan drop onto Sheamus from the top rope which was pretty cool. After some interference from Sami Zayn, The Usos laid out the Brawling Brutes before they tipped the announce table onto them which was both unique and cool. After more distractions from Sami Zayn, Solo Sikoa connected with the Spinning Solo onto the Celtic Warrior to get the biggest win of his main roster career. After the match, all four members beat down the Irishman before Jey Uso smashed two chairs onto Sheamus’ arm. It was that bad, Sami stopped Jey from doing any more harm. A solid start to SmackDown.
Grade: B-
Bray Wyatt speaks, Liv Morgan VS Sonya Deville
Rey Mysterio arrived at the arena before he was quickly met by Imperium’s Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci. After a quick back and forth, Rey challenged either of them to a match which Ludwig accepted. Bray Wyatt then cut a promo were to start with, he continued from last week's promo and thanked the fans. At the end though, Wyatt told the world that he was going to do horrible things, but he wouldn’t feel bad about it. It’s still unclear as to whether Wyatt is going to be a face or a heel.
Grade: B+
The Bloodline were then celebrating in a locker room with some sofas put in before Sami Zayn told Jey Uso that the Tribal Chief asked for none of them to interact with Logan Paul. The Right-Hand Man then told Zayn and his brother that they’ll just have to wait and see as to what happens. It was then time for Liv Morgan to take on Sonya Deville. Sonya Deville dominated a lot of this match which Liv seemed to be enjoying. In the end, Morgan snapped, attacked Deville outside the ring and the match ended up ending in a double count out. Morgan wasn’t done though, she through Deville back into the ring as well as six steel chairs before she hit a superplex of the middle rope onto Deville who fell right onto the chairs. I’m all for Morgan becoming a more crazy, sadistic character than before. However, I didn’t think this was particularly good.
Grade: C-
Braun Strowman and Omos come face to face
We then saw a video package highlighting LA Knight. This was done for people that don’t watch NXT so they can learn about the character. I still really enjoyed it though and I feel like they should do this for everyone who comes up to the main roster. After this, the Viking Raiders were preparing for battle. It looks like, they are going to be returning pretty soon and hopefully, with Sarah Logan alongside them. Braun Strowman then came out to the ring and called out Omos. MVP interrupted the Monster of all Monsters before he accepted Strowman’s challenge for Crown Jewel (on the behalf of the Nigerian Giant). Omos then came out and the two stood face to face and probably for the first time in his life, Strowman had to look up to see his opponent's eyes. Omos then shoved Strowman out of the ring before the former Universal Champion laughed it off. This was fine and the visual of the two was crazy.
Grade: C
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Damage CTRL VS Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi
Kayla Braxton interviewed Drew McIntyre and the Scottish Warrior talked about how he has been told about how there will be serious consequences if he and Kross continue to fight before he announced it will be McIntyre-Kross 2 at Crown Jewel, inside a steel cage! Logan Paul then arrived at Friday Night SmackDown before it was time for the Women’s Tag Team Champions Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky to defend their gold against Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi. All four women have so much history together back in NXT and this was sort of mentioned. Unlike normal Raquel Rodriguez tag team matches, her partner Shotzi got offense in. Shotzi is a good talent and once Raquel Rodriguez got in the match, she showcased why she is a future Raw or SmackDown Women’s Champion. At one point, Iyo Sky hit this tornado DDT onto Raquel Rodriguez and it looked awesome! After former buddies Rodriguez and Kai brawled on the outside, Bayley distracted Shotzi which allowed the Genius of the Sky to connect with the air-raid crash before Sky hit the over the moonsault to get the win. A good win for the Champs.
Grade: B-
Lots of promos, Rey Mysterio VS Ludwig Kaiser
Ronda Rousey cut a promo where she said that she does everything to spite the fans. She then announced that she would be holding an open challenge on next week’s SmackDown. We then saw a weird Wyatt video were at the end of it, a person uttered the word “Howdy”. I have no idea who this person is. We then saw Legado Del Fantasma sitting backstage before both Santos Escobar and Zelina Vega cut a promo saying that they are going to dominate Friday Night SmackDown. This group is truly great, but I wish they would mention why Elektra isn’t there. Hit Row were then watching backstage and they weren’t very impressed. Next week, there will be a six-man tag between Legado, Hit Row and a mystery partner. I have no idea who that is going to be.
The final match of the night then saw the number 1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship Rey Mysterio take on Imperium’s Ludwig Kaiser. This was a solid match, Mysterio knows what he is doing and Kaiser is very talented. During the match, Michael Cole and Wade Barrett talked about how Rey Mysterio started wrestling in 1989. After that, they mentioned that Ludwig wasn’t even born then which is absolutely ridiculous. Whilst the referee was checking on Ludwig in the ring, Rey Mysterio threw a chair at Gunther (who was ringside with Giovanni Vinci) and the Ring General smacked it to the floor. Rey Mysterio then fell on the floor, attempting to do his best Eddie Guerrero impression and it worked as both Gunther and Vinci were thrown out. Surely though, if the referee thought Gunther had hit Mysterio with the chair, surely it would have been a DQ. Anyway, Mysterio got back in the ring, hit the 619 and the springboard splash onto Kaiser to get the win. A good win for Rey; I’m assuming he’ll beat Vinci next week before he faces Gunther the following week for the Intercontinental Championship.
Grade: B
Logan Paul ends Friday Night SmackDown
Logan Paul came out to the ring to cut a promo hyping up his match with Roman Reigns in two week's time at Crown Jewel. Paul talked about how he has always been doubted and asked the question, “What happens if I win”. To answer that question, WWE fans would probably riot. As Paul was mid-sentence, he was attacked from behind by “Main Event” Jey Uso. Uso destroyed the Social Media megastar before Sami Zayn came out to stop him, reminding him of what the Tribal Chief had ordered. Jey wouldn’t listen but that distraction allowed Paul to recover before Logan hit Jey with the “One Lucky Shot”. This not only furthered the Sami and Jey storyline, but it also continued to build the narrative that Logan Paul can turn it around with just 1 hit. Surprisingly, I’m actually looking forward to Reigns VS Paul at Crown Jewel.
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