Dragon Lee VS Santos Escobar: United States Championship Number 1 Contender’s Tournament (Round 1)
After a song to celebrate America, Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Dragon Lee and Santos Escobar “running it back” in the first match of the United States Championship Number 1 Contender’s Tournament. Straight away, Dominik Mysterio’s music hit which made sense as the NXT North American Champion is defending his Title tonight against Dragon Lee at NXT Deadline. I thought this match was decent, but I don’t think it was nearly as good as their match at Survivor Series. In the end, Santos just won with the Phantom Driver and whilst I was happy that Escobar won, the finish did seem a bit anticlimactic.
Grade: C+
Cody Rhodes Appears, Bobby Lashley VS Karrion Kross: United States Championship Number 1 Contender’s Tournament (Round 1), CM Punk Promo, Asuka VS Charlotte Flair
Randy Orton wasn’t impressed with Nick Aldis for putting him in a team with LA Knight simply because he’d never heard of him till last week. What a stupid thing to say. Anyway, Randy then handed Nick Aldis a check for a double fine so he won’t have to pay him next time. Cody Rhodes then came out to thank the Armed Services for their help before members of the Army Drill Team came out to do some cool little tricks. I don’t really know what else to put. Anyway, it was then time for the second match of the night as Bobby Lashley and Karrion Kross collided for a chance to move on in the United States Championship Number 1 Contender’s Tournament. This wasn’t much of a match as it was more just a showcase for Bobby Lashley who used to be a part of the US Army. In the end, Lashley dropped Karrion with a Spear for an easy victory and I don’t really get what WWE are doing with Mr. Kross right now.
Grade: C
Dakota Kai agreed with Bayley that she should stay in the back for Asuka’s match with Charlotte Flair, but the same cannot be said for the rest of Damage CTRL. CM Punk then arrived to cut a promo and this was by far the best thing on the show. Punk cut a fiery promo where he took shots at Kevin Owens, Cody Rhodes, Seth “Freakin” Rollins, and even Roman Reigns. Punk’s line about Roman never being around and Seth “not even being The Man in his household” were both really, really good. CM also referenced his run in AEW before Punk said that he’s going to enter the Royal Rumble and go on to finish his story which is Main Eventing WrestleMania. I feel pretty confident to say it’s going to be Rollins-Punk at Mania.
Grade: B+
It was then time for the next match of the night as Asuka and Charlotte Flair went one-on-one in a rematch from WrestleMania 34. Before the match even began, Michin, Zelina Vega, Shotzi, and Bianca Belair all arrived to make sure that Kairi Sane and the WWE Women’s Champion Iyo Sky weren’t going to be factors and this allowed us to have an okay match between Asuka and Charlotte, but I’ve certainly seen better. In fairness though, the match wasn’t helped by Flair seemingly injuring her knee and at times it looked like The Queen could barely stand. In the end, Asuka was able to score the roll-up victory, and most importantly, due to help from Bayley.
Grade: C
LA Knight and Randy Orton VS The Bloodline
After CM Punk came face-to-face with both Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and LA Knight, it was Main Event time as Knight and Orton teamed up to take on The Bloodline. This felt very much like a House Show match as the Babyfaces dominated the Heels for nearly the entire match before Orton dropped Uso with the RKO to pick up a pretty simple victory. However, Randy stealing Uso away for an RKO when it looked like Knight was about to drop Jimmy with the BFT was at least a bit intriguing.
CM Punk! CM Punk! CM Punk!
I think this guy might be pretty good at this whole pro-wrestling thing!