John Cena Returns to WWE, Jimmy Uso “Explains All”
This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with the return of John Cena! John Cena thanked the WWE Universe for a bunch of things before he announced that he’s going to be the host of Payback tomorrow. Cena was then interrupted by none other than Jimmy Uso (who was debuting a new entrance theme). Jimmy revealed that the reason why he attacked Jey Uso at Summerslam was because he didn’t want him to turn into Roman Reigns, something he’s already said in the past. Jimmy then called Roman and John Cena the same which is a fair point before Cena laid out Uso with the AA. This was fine and I have to say, Jimmy Uso looked pretty good in this segment, even if it did end up with the 16-time World Champion standing tall.
Grade: B-
Austin Theory and Grayson Waller VS The LWO (Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar), Bobby Lashley Promo, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn VS The LWO (Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde)
Austin Theory and Grayson Waller didn’t care one bit that John Cena was back in WWE before we saw Jimmy Uso storming through the backstage area. The LWO’s (and Rey Mysterio’s) music then hit as it was time for the United States Champion to team up with Santos Escobar to take on the team of Austin Theory and Grayson Waller. I think Austin Theory and Grayson Waller can be World Champions in the future if things work out for them, and I do think them teaming up works in the short term. As for the pair of Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar, I’m sick of it and I want it to end! After Theory dealt with Mysterio, Waller hit his Rolling Stunner onto Escobar to pick up the victory. I may be wrong, but I believe that’s the Arrogant Aussie’s first victory on the main roster.
Grade: C+
Michin was talking to Adam Pearce backstage before Jimmy Uso walked in and he didn’t seem to care that he interrupted their “meeting”. This bothered both Pearce and especially Mia Yim to the point where The H.B.I.C. went to Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, but they didn’t really want to get involved with The Bloodline. However, AJ Styles felt differently about the situation and said he’d sort it out. Bobby Lashley’s music then hit as The All Mighty was ready to talk. Bobby talked about his respect for The Street Profits before Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford arrived and did the same entrance that they’ve been doing for years. They then cut a very annoying promo before Bobby Lashley said they have their sights set on gold. This wasn’t very good and I think dislike The Street Profits even more now than before.
Grade: C-
The Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn then arrived and walked past “The Suit Profits” as it was time for them to take on The LWO’s Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde. These are two top tag teams that could put on a fantastic match (if given time). However, they weren’t given the opportunity here as the match went about 3 minutes (if that) and the Tag Champs picked up the victory after Del Toro was hit by 3 finishers (Pop-Up Powerbomb, Helluva Kick, Stunner). This was only done to give KO and Sami a victory heading into their big title defence against The Judgment Day, but it didn’t have to come at the expense of a really good tag team.
Grade: C-
LA Knight interrupts The Miz, Bayley VS Shotzi
AJ Styles found Jimmy Uso who was about to leave the arena and told him that disrespecting Michin isn’t cool. Jimmy then responded by saying “I don’t even know who that is” which was quite funny before AJ was attacked from behind by Solo Sikoa. Solo told his older brother that he’s only out of The Bloodline when they say he is, but Jimmy didn’t care one bit and left. After a commercial break, AJ Styles said he wanted a match with Solo Sikoa, but once again, Gallows and Anderson didn’t like the idea at all. The Miz then arrived, but he couldn’t speak for long before he was interrupted by LA Knight to a big reaction. LA Knight talked about how he’s the bigger star out of the two, but Miz would then always fire back by naming a bunch of his accomplishments as well as his film career. Knight also had a good line about how he’s not even the biggest star in his own reality show before The Miz eventually dropped The Megastar with the Skull Crushing Finale. However, the former Million Dollar Champion fought back before the two had to be separated by security. This was the best thing on this show in my opinion, it was another good segment between two masters on the mic. It’s a credit to both LA Knight and The Miz that this has been, in my opinion, one of the best feuds of 2023.
Grade: B-
Damage CTRL’s music hit as we then found out that Bayley was about to go one-on-one with Shotzi. This feud could’ve been pretty cool, but instead, Shotzi’s been off the show for weeks and now we just went straight into the match. Anyway, the match itself was fine, Bayley is a top performer whilst Shotzi has some decent moves. One move that The Ballsy Badass does hit superbly well is her Suicide Dive and she whipped The Role Model out during this contest with it. In the end, Charlotte Flair arrived to come to the aid of Shotzi and even booted Iyo Sky’s WWE Women’s Championship instead of The Genius of the Sky herself. All of this allowed Shotzi to hit a really nice finishing move to pick up the victory which is cool, just a shame the rest of this wasn’t.
Grade: C-
AJ Styles VS Solo Sikoa
After we got an awesome video package hyping up the feud between Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura, it was Main Event time as AJ Styles took on Solo Sikoa. This was a pretty decent match between two talented competitors and it was also cool to see someone as young as Solo take on someone as experienced as AJ Styles. Paul Heyman arrived midway through the match to watch on which is always a good thing, and in the end, Jimmy Uso returned and tripped Styles whilst he was attempting the Phenomenal Forearm which allowed Sikoa to hit the Samoan Spike for the victory. Jimmy then hugged his younger brother before Solo went to hit him with a Samoan Spike. Luckily for Mr. Uso, Paul Heyman convinced Sikoa that this was a bad idea. Jimmy then nailed AJ Styles with a Superkick and a Uso Splash to close out the show.