AJ Styles VS LA Knight: Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match
Friday Night SmackDown kicked off this week with a WrestleMania rematch as AJ Styles and LA Knight collided for the right to face Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship in two weeks time at Backlash. The crowd were very much into this match and behind LA Knight and this was probably the best thing on the show, certainly the best match anyway. Towards the end, AJ racked the eyes of Knight after the referee turned his back before Styles dropped The Megastar with the Phenomenal Forearm to score the victory. Rhodes-Styles should be pretty decent in France!
Grade: B-
Triple H Unveils Brand-New Championships, A.O.P VS Legado Del Fantasma VS The Street Profits VS No Catch Republic, The Bloodline Appear, Carlito VS Santos Escobar
Solo Sikoa arrived at the arena wearing some fancy clothes and asked Paul Heyman to find Kevin Owens before Triple H headed down to the ring to continue to go on about all of WWE’s recent success. Nick Aldis then brought A-Town Down Under out before they were handed the brand-new WWE Tag Team Championships. Theory and Waller then refused to shake Triple H’s hand in a funny moment before we got a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team match to determine Austin and Grayson’s first challengers. Out of all of the teams here, it was definitely No Catch Republic who looked the best. The Authors of Pain and Legado Del Fantasma were also decent, but it was Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate who contributed to most of the exciting action. The match itself was alright, but it was also a bit clunky at times. In the end, though, it was actually The Street Profits who walked out victorious and I kind of expect them to go on and beat A-Town Down Under relatively quickly (which sucks)!
Grade: C+ (Promo and Match Combined)
Bayley cut a promo backstage saying how important tonight’s Main Event is to her (Naomi did the same thing earlier in the night) before Solo Sikoa seemed very annoyed at Paul Heyman for questioning his reasons for going after Kevin Owens. Solo then stormed to the ring with Paul before Sikoa got booed whilst talking about Jimmy Uso. Tama Tonga then brought a rather bloody Kevin Owens down to ringside before officials and more importantly, Nick Aldis arrived to stop things from going any further. I thought Solo delivered his lines well and this Tama Tonga guy is completely insane!
Grade: B-
Nick Aldis gave Paul Heyman a clear warning after finding out that Tama Tonga crashed into Kevin Owens in the Parking Lot and all of this seemed to scare the life out of The Wiseman before it was time for Carlito to go one-on-one with Santos Escobar. This match was okay, but it just felt a bit too slow at parts. There was a good bit where Elektra Lopez caught Zelina Vega mid-hurricanrana before Lopez slammed Vega into the barricade, and this ultimately led to Santos hitting Carlito with the Phantom Driver to score the win. I’m telling you, no one kicks out of that move!
Grade: C
WWE Women’s Championship: Bayley VS Naomi
After Cody Rhodes cut a promo from the UK and Damage CTRL got into an argument with Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill in a sky box, it was Main Event time as Bayley put her newly won WWE Women’s Championship on the line against Naomi. This was another match that I felt was a bit too slow, it for whatever reason didn’t click which is a bit of a surprise given how well these two know each other. Bayley did hit a really good elbow drop at one point and Naomi nearly won via roll-up, but in the end, none of that mattered as Tiffany Stratton arrived to cause the DQ before The Center of the Universe hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to close the show standing tall. It very much looks like a Triple Threat is coming at Backlash!
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