LA Knight Starts the Show, LA Knight, Braun Strowman, and Jimmy Uso VS The Bloodline
This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with LA Knight as the brand-new United States Champion came out to a massive ovation from the Barcelona crowd! Before LA could say much, though, Jimmy Uso arrived to say that he wants his shot at Championship Gold before The Bloodline interrupted as Solo Sikoa felt that Jacob Fatu was more deserving! A brawl then broke out which saw Braun Strowman arrive to even the odds, and this led to Nick Aldis booking a Six-Man Tag Team Match for the first contest of the night! The match itself was decent, the crowd really didn’t like Solo Sikoa, but I thought he played into it all really well! I don’t have too many notes, it ended with the good guys getting the win, but I did like the aftermath as Jacob Fatu sent Braun Strowman crashing through the barricade!
Grade: C+
Charlotte Flair VS B-Fab, Miz TV (Featuring Cody Rhodes), Damian Priest VS Shinsuke Nakamura
After Jade Cargill’s interview was interrupted by Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez screaming at her, B-Fab spoke Spanish on her way down to the ring as she clashed with Charlotte Flair! This was B-Fab’s biggest match to date, both in terms of opponent and crowd size! To be fair, I thought she did alright, she got some good offense in, but you can tell that she’s still very much learning as she goes on. Thankfully, she was in the ring with Charlotte who could guide her through it in, and in the end, The Queen was able to get the win after locking in the Figure 8! After the match, Tiffany Stratton ran down to make the save, leading to a massive brawl that about 15 security guards weren’t able to break up (because they’re useless at their job)!
Grade: C+
After Drew McIntyre cut a brilliant promo explaining why he’s now targeting Damian Priest, we were supposed to get a new episode of Miz TV, but it didn’t start for a while because Tiffany and Charlotte were back to brawl around the stage area, eventually ending when Stratton delivered a Swanton Bomb off of the titantron! The Miz then welcomed out his guest Cody Rhodes, but Cody just decided to drop Miz with a Cross Rhodes instead as The American Nightmare told John Cena that he’d better see him in Belgium! Okay!
Grade: C
After we got a backstage interaction between Shinsuke Nakamura and Damian Priest, Nick Aldis booked a match for the two to face off right now! The crowd were invested in this, they were hot for Shinsuke, but they continued to get more behind Damian as the match went on! The action was solid, as expected for two talented competitors, but we didn’t have a proper finish as Drew McIntyre made his presence known to take out Priest and cause the Disqualification! McIntyre then beat up Priest on the outside before he delivered a Claymore to make a pretty bold statement! In one show and 2 segments, I am now fully hooked for Priest-McIntyre!
Grade: B-
Carmelo Hayes VS Randy Orton, Gunther VS Axiom
The Motor City Machine Guns made it clear to DIY that they’re still coming for their WWE Tag Team Championships before Zelina Vega got herself a match with Piper Niven for next week after Zelina disrespected Chelsea Green! Randy Orton then arrived to a massive pop as it was time for The Viper to go one-on-one with Carmelo Hayes! This was such a fun match, it was very house show vibes, the crowd were loud in support of the Babyface, loud in disgust at the Heel, and both Randy and Carmelo played their roles well! Ultimately, despite Melo trying his best to out-fox the veteran, Orton was able to drop Hayes with an RKO to get the win before Kevin Owens showed up to save Melo from a Punt Kick!
Grade: B
The Bloodline were getting hyped about Jacob Fatu’s match with Braun Strowman next week before Gunther made a surprise appearance on SmackDown to talk about wanting to give opportunities to different people! Amazingly, the person he picked here was “Spain’s own” Axiom, and this got a massive reaction from the Barcelona, and what followed was an amazing match! Like, this was so good, so much fun, it again felt like a House Show Match, except we got to watch it on TV! Axiom even kicked out of a Powerbomb at one point, and amazingly, I actually brought that he could beat The Ring General following a Golden Ratio! Of course, that didn’t happen, but it was still a lot of fun, and the World Heavyweight Champion was eventually able to pin 1/2 of the NXT Tag Team Champions before he choked him out in a sleeper!
Grade: B+
WWE Tag Team Championships: DIY VS The Street Profits
After Paul Heyman hyped up Roman Reigns and Gunther had an interesting interaction with Jimmy Uso, it was Main Event time as DIY put their WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against The Street Profits! This was another really good match on this show, the crowd were so loud for it, they were really invested, and they were also pretty mixed with who they wanted to see win! All four guys are talented, I thought Angelo Dawkins particularly stood out here, and it flowed really well! Amazingly, it was The Street Profits who got the win to become the brand-new WWE Tag Team Champions, and on one hand, this was a cool surprise! However, it’s another time where DIY have lost their Titles rather anticlimactically, and I don’t understand where this leaves Pretty Deadly!
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