WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 07/03
- Linus O'Howell
- Mar 8
- 5 min read
Randy Orton Starts the Show, Tiffany Stratton VS Piper Niven
After Drew McIntyre arrived at the arena and attacked Damian Priest, this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Randy Orton as The Viper cut a promo about how Kevin Owens’ jealousy continues to get the best of him. Randy said that the reason why KO continues to attack people is because he is jealous of their success, and that’s why Orton is coming to take out Owens for good! This was a totally fine way to start the show, I don’t really have anything else to add!
Grade: C+
After Nick Aldis made a decision that Chelsea Green didn’t like, it was time for the first match of the night as Tiffany Stratton clashed with Piper Niven! This was pretty decent stuff, I rate both women highly, and it was interesting to see Tiffany face another big opponent after recently feuding with Nia Jax! Ultimately, after Piper missed with her splash, Stratton nailed the Prettiest Moonsault Ever onto Niven to get the win before Charlotte Flair attacked from behind, locking in the Figure-8 to end the segment!
Grade: C+
WWE Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contender’s Match: Los Garza VS Pretty Deadly VS Motor City Machine Guns, Bianca Belair Calls Out Naomi, Braun Strowman VS Solo Sikoa
After a great video where Nick Aldis demonstrated the chaos that is the SmackDown Tag Team Division, it was time for a Triple Threat Tag Team Match as Los Garza, Pretty Deadly, and the Motor City Machine Guns clashed for the right to earn a shot at the WWE Tag Team Championships! All three of these teams are talented, and they also know each other so well so they were able to get straight into the thick of things! Whilst this arguably could’ve gone either way, it made sense for Pretty Deadly to get the win given WWE has a European Tour coming up, and in the end, that’s exactly what happened as Kit Wilson and Elton Prince managed to take advantage and pin Chris Sabin to earn the shot against the winners of next week’s DIY-Street Profits collision!
Grade: C+
Bianca Belair was out next to talk about the emotional week she has had before she asked Naomi to come out to the ring so they can talk about what happened with Jade Cargill! Both women were very emotional as Naomi continued to avoid the question in hand, but eventually, The Glow admitted to being the one who attacked Jade Cargill, saying she did it for the both of them! This seemingly broke Bianca’s heart who left the ring as Naomi continued to shout about her disdain for Jade before Cargill arrived, walked past Belair and dropped Naomi to end the segment! Whilst I’m not sure about certain parts of this from Naomi’s side, I thought Bianca Belair did very well here, her acting was good, but I also don’t feel sorry for her cause she sort of caused all of this!
Grade: B-
Drew McIntyre told Byron Saxton that his attack on Damian Priest was payback for Priest consistently taking his WrestleMania opportunities away before Charlotte Flair got into a face-to-face confrontation with B-Fab! Braun Strowman was then out next as he was ready for a colossal clash with Solo Sikoa! These are two big men who went at each other from the off, trading hard-hitting shots as both Braun and Solo showcased their impressive power and strength game! It did seem like Strowman was going to get the win, but Tama Tonga arrived to cause the DQ before Jacob Fatu’s music hit as Fatu stormed down to the ring and started a brawl with The Monster of all Monsters! In the end, Braun managed to send Jacob crashing through two tables in the production area, but Fatu wasn’t down for long!
Grade: C+
Women’s United States Championship Street Fight: Chelsea Green VS Michin, Cody Rhodes Promo, Drew McIntyre VS Jimmy Uso
After LA Knight cut a backstage promo, Chelsea Green dragged Piper Niven down to the ring as it was time for the Women’s United States Championship to be on the line in a Street Fight against Michin! This was hard-hitting, it was enjoyable, and it was probably the best match these two women have had so far! Chelsea and Michin have fought a lot, in fact way too many times, but both of these women are very good in hardcore-style matches, so this wasn’t dull! In fact, Michin was able to fight off Piper Niven as she looked to get the victory, but Alba Fyre made a shock allegiance to Ms. Green as Chelsea managed to steal away “and still”! I have no idea how this is going to work, but I could get behind the trio of “CAP”!
Grade: B-
After Santos Escobar berated Los Garza backstage, Andrade walked in and told Berto that he has to stand up for himself! Cody Rhodes was then out next to talk about the crazy events of Elimination Chamber, and Cody made it clear that he wasn’t going to back down from the fight, the challenge that faces him with John Cena aligning with The Rock, and that he knows that he has the whole crowd behind him! I will say, whilst I don’t have many notes, I thought Cody’s delivery here was really good, his line at the end where he used Cena’s “Want some, come get some” line was very good, and this was definitely effective!
Grade: B-
The Miz managed to bag Cody Rhodes for Miz TV next week before Nick Aldis gave Randy Orton a match with Carmelo Hayes for next week’s show in Barcelona, Spain! Drew McIntyre then made his way down to the ring as it was time for The Scottish Psychopath to go one-on-one with Jimmy Uso! We’ve already seen this match multiple times now, but it was still decent, it didn’t drag on, in fact it was actually a lot shorter than I expected it to be! Jimmy tried his best to get his main shots in on Drew McIntyre, but ultimately, McIntyre only needed one Claymore to get the win before Damian Priest arrived after the match to start a brawl with his long-term Rival! Whilst there’s an argument that both men could (and should) be doing more at WrestleMania, I don’t see a problem with a Priest-McIntyre run!
Grade: C+
United States Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura VS LA Knight
After both The Street Profits and DIY got their own promos to hype up next week’s WWE Tag Team Championships showdown, it was Main Event time as Shinsuke Nakamura put his United States Championship on the line against LA Knight! This was a decent Main Event, the crowd was into it, both guys know what they’re doing, and the action was smooth throughout! In the closing phases, Shinsuke accidentally spat red mist into the face of referee Charles Robinson, and this cost LA who clearly had a 3-count over Nakamura! However, after Knight dropped Nakamura with a BFT onto the steel chair, a new referee ran down and counted to 3, meaning The Megastar is now a 2-time United States Championship! Honestly, whilst the result didn’t surprise me, it is disappointing to see how poorly Shinsuke Nakamura continues to be booked, even with the Title, WWE didn’t do anything with him, and he probably won’t even be on the WrestleMania card now! However, I guess this was done to give LA Knight another reign heading into Mania!
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