Roman Reigns Interrupts LA Knight, Austin Theory VS Kevin Owens
LA Knight came out to kick off the go-home edition of Friday Night SmackDown before Crown Jewel as LA talked about how quickly “Roman’s Reign can end”. This brought out Roman Reigns and The Head of the Table gave credit to Knight for getting himself over with the crowd before Reigns made it clear that he’s the only true Megastar in WWE. The two then nearly came to blows before SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis and a bunch of referees came down to split the two main eventers up. This was a fine start to the show that made LA Knight look strong. However, I have definitely seen better Roman Reigns segments.
Grade: C+
It was then time for the first match of the night as Kevin Owens looked to get a victory over Austin Theory. I thought this was a decent match between two very talented individuals. Grayson Waller was also on commentary and he’s always a joy and after about a 7-or-so-minute match, Kevin Owens laid out Austin Theory with the Stunner. This was pretty simple stuff, but that’s not always a bad thing.
Grade: C+
Chelsea Green and Piper Niven VS Shotzi and ?, John Cena and Solo Sikoa Come Face-to-Face, The Brawling Brutes VS Pretty Deadly: Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook Match, United States Championship Weigh-In
Bianca Belair cut a backstage promo before she was attacked by Damage Control. Nick Aldis was again back to break things up. Logan Paul then met Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits as the main two guys shook hands before B-Fab walked in and asked Bobby if she could have a “little chat”. Let’s see where this goes then. We then saw a clip from last week’s SmackDown LowDown where the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven challenged Shotzi to a Tag Team match. We then found out that Shotzi’s partner was going to be none other than Charlotte Flair because of course it was. This wasn’t a particularly great match mainly because I’m fed up with Charlotte beating established Tag Teams. Arguably, Flair could have done this herself as Shotzi barely got any offense in and a Big Boot to Chelsea Green was enough for the “Babyfaces” to pick up the victory. There was absolutely no need for this.
Grade: C-
Solo Sikoa was then out next as Paul Heyman got very excited about the prospect of Solo ending John Cena’s career. Cena then made his way down to the ring with a dodgy voice as Cena cut a 90-second “shoot promo” on The Enforcer. This was okay, but it also wasn’t anything special. The only other thing I have to say about this feud is Solo Sikoa needs/has to beat John Cena.
Grade: C+
After Bayley joked about challenging Iyo Sky for the WWE Women’s Championship, Nick Aldis confronted Damage CTRL and told them that they would be barred from ringside for Bayley’s match with Bianca Belair. Whilst The Role Model didn’t seem particularly pleased with this, Iyo Sky seemed more than happen to obey Aldis’ order. It was then time for the return of the “Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook Match” as The Brawling Brutes took on Pretty Deadly. This was a really good match in my opinion that highlighted all four men in a positive manner. Butch is especially made for these types of crazy matches, but Ridge Holland’s power game also came in clutch too. Shillelaghs, Wooden Stools, and other items were all used and the best moment of the match came when Butch nailed Kit Wilson with a Brogue Kick, only for Kit to kick out at the last possible moment. In the end, after Ridge Holland was sent into a couple of barrels, Elton Prince smashed Butch on the head with a glass before Prince and Wilson sent Butch crashing through a table to secure Pretty Deadly the victory. A “YES BOY”!
Grade: B
Nick Aldis came across Paul Heyman backstage and Paul told the SmackDown General Manager to have extra medics for Crown Jewel’s Main Event. It was then time for a United States Championship Weigh-In as both Rey Mysterio and Logan Paul stood on the scales before they got into an argument. This resulted with Paul flooring a security guard before Rey hit Logan in the head with a microphone. This was very odd and they shouldn’t do it again.
Grade: C-
Bayley VS Bianca Belair
It was then Main Event time as “The EST of WWE” Bianca Belair looked to gain some momentum heading into Crown Jewel as she took on “The Leader of Damage CTRL” Bayley. This was actually an alright match that got a good amount of time and didn’t really result in any sloppy moments. The reason I say this is because that’s not really been the case for the SmackDown Women’s Division over the past year. The WWE Women’s Champion Iyo Sky and her Damage Control partner Dakota Kai also stayed away which was a nice change and after Belair whipped Bayley with her braid, The EST picked up The Role Model and dropped her with the K.O.D. to get the victory. After the match, Bianca did the same thing again, but this time through the announce table which seemed a little bit unnecessary. Still, this was a good match.
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