John Cena Opens the Show, Roman Reigns Returns to SmackDown
John Cena kicked off this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, but he couldn’t say much before he was interrupted by the returning Roman Reigns. Roman called John a coward for returning when he was “on leave” before Cena threw a curveball at The Head of the Table by acknowledging him. Cena then said that he wasn’t going to challenge Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship because he hasn’t earnt the right, but he knows someone who has, and as he said that, LA Knight’s music hit to a big roar from the crowd. Roman laughed at Knight for getting over in his absence before Knight introduced himself as the “fastest rising star in SmackDown history”. As Reigns and Knight stood face-to-face, Jimmy Uso attacked Knight from behind (to the annoyance of The Tribal Chief), but that didn’t work particularly well for him before Solo was ordered to challenge The Megastar to a match for the show’s Main Event. This was a really good start to the show as Roman, Cena, Paul Heyman, and even Solo Sikoa all played their roles superbly well whilst LA Knight is clearly now a genuine Megastar. YEAH!
Grade: B
The Brawling Brutes VS Pretty Deadly, Bayley VS Zelina Vega
The first match of the night saw Elton Prince make his return from injury as Pretty Deadly took on The Brawling Brutes. Butch and Ridge Holland dominated this match and they barely let Kit Wilson and Elton Prince hit anything. However, Prince went down near the end of the match with an “injury” which meant the referee had to stop Holland from causing any more damage. This then allowed Wilson to deliver a cheap shot to “Ridge the Fridge” before Prince rolled Holland up for the 3 count to prove that #EltonStrong really does work! A YES BOY!
Grade: B- (just because it was great to see Pretty Deadly again)
Kayla Braxton interviewed Carlito backstage, but it was quickly interrupted by Bobby Lashley. Carlito then came up with a great idea to have his first match back on SmackDown be against The All Mighty, but I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon as The Street Profits attacked “Mr. Cool” from behind. We then came back from the ad break to see some of The LWO as well as Dragon Lee checking on Carlito before Bayley walked over and took the mic. This annoyed Zelina Vega so Adam Pearce booked a match between the two competitors. Roman Reigns then asked Jimmy Uso what he was playing at and Jimmy responded by saying he was calling an audible. Roman then laughed at Jimmy thinking that he’s the Quarterback before he asked his cousin what he would do if he was in the Quarterback role. Jimmy’s response was “Get Jey back” and I’m sorry, but that makes even less sense than whatever Jimmy’s doing right now. The Tribal Chief then made it clear that they need to take care of Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso being the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. It was then time for the match between Bayley and Zelina Vega and it wasn’t good, but it also wasn’t bad. The reason why I say this is because this contest can’t have gone more than 3 minutes and after a small distraction by the WWE Women’s Champion Iyo Sky, Bayley nailed Zelina with the Rose Plant to get the victory. Charlotte Flair then ran down after the match to even the odds (whilst also making Vega look even smaller than usual).
Grade: C
Triple H Makes an Announcement, Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso VS A-Town Down Under: Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships
Triple H’s music then hit as The Game made his way down to the ring to make an important announcement. Before that though, Triple H had to gloat about Fastlane being “super successful” because of course he did. Hunter then praised Adam Pearce’s work over the last three years, but he also agreed that the job was just too big for one individual. That’s why he’s promoting Adam Pearce from a WWE Official to the General Manager of Monday Night Raw and just before Triple H could announce who the new General Manager of SmackDown is, Dominik Mysterio’s music hit. The NXT North American Champion rightly questioned why Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso were putting their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line later in the show despite them having a match with The Judgment Day for the titles on Monday before it was finally revealed that Nick Aldis is the new General Manager of Friday Night SmackDown. Aldis then dissed “Dirty” Dom before his first bit of business was to welcome out Friday Night SmackDown’s newest Superstar after the trade that took place to get Jey Uso onto Monday Night Raw. That person is/was none other than Kevin Owens who made his way down to the ring and delivered a Stunner to Mysterio. I thought Triple H and Dominik Mysterio looked great in this whilst I like the fact that we’re getting General Managers again even if it’s a shame that Big E isn’t one of them. I was surprised to see Kevin Owens as the trade pick with Jey Uso, but that does kind of make sense when you think about it (from a sports point of view).
Grade: B-
We then saw Roman Reigns’ reaction to this and he wasn’t best pleased with Kevin Owens being back on his show and he also wasn’t best pleased with Jimmy Uso “sitting on his couch and drinking his water!” Roman made it clear that he wants Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso handled before Jimmy and Solo left the room. We then saw Chelsea Green and Piper Niven (even though it was mainly Chelsea) pitching to Nick Aldis for new WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles before Aldis kicked them out because he wanted to speak to Charlotte Flair. Aldis told Charlotte that he was giving her a match for the WWE Women’s Championship next week (what a terrible way to make him a Babyface) before Charlotte came face-to-face with Jade Cargill. Whilst I haven’t seen Cargill wrestle that much, I would like to see her take on The Queen at some point. The Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships were then on the line as Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso looked to fend off the challenge from A-Town Down Under. This was a decent match between four very talented and despite Austin Theory and Grayson Waller’s best efforts, they were no match for The American Nightmare and “Main Event” Jey Uso and a Cross Rhodes was enough for the Champs to retain. Honestly, I was slightly disappointed with this match only because I was a big fan of A-Town Down Under staying undefeated for the foreseeable future. Anyway, Roman Reigns’ music then hit and it led to a tense stare-off between Reigns and Rhodes whilst Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso had their eyes locked on their brother Jey. This was cool.
Grade: B- (Including the Post-Match Stuff)
LA Knight VS Solo Sikoa
We then went straight into the Main Event of the “Season Premier” of Friday Night SmackDown as LA Knight went one-on-one with Solo Sikoa. This was another decent match that Solo controlled for the most part, but LA was quickly able to get back into it to the delight of the WWE Universe. Near the end of the match, Jimmy Uso rolled into the ring, but he was then intercepted by John Cena who delivered an AA before Knight planted Sikoa with the BFT to pick up a huge victory. As The Megastar celebrated, he turned around and got met with a massive Spear by Roman Reigns as The Head of the Table celebrated with his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. The ending of this show was pretty good and was once again a reminder that SmackDown is a very good show as long as The Tribal Chief’s around.
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