LA Knight Interrupts Paul Heyman, Montez Ford VS Santos Escobar
Paul Heyman kicked off this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown to talk about how happy he was that Jimmy Uso cost Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. He also talked about the fact that Roman Reigns VS LA Knight had been announced for Crown Jewel and that that would be the last time that anyone would see LA Knight. This brought out Mr. Knight as The Megastar started to mess with The Wiseman. LA told Heyman to tell Roman Reigns that it really is his game and he will take the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship off of him. This was a straightforward start to the show, but Paul Heyman is absolutely brilliant at what he does whilst the crowd absolutely love LA Knight (YEAH).
Grade: C+
After we saw Bobby Lashley fire up The Street Profits backstage, it was time for the first match of the night as Montez Ford went one-on-one with Santos Escobar. This was a decent contest which you would expect from two really talented performers, but some of the logic in this match didn’t make any sense. For whatever reason, the referee decided against ejecting Angelo Dawkins from ringside after Dawkins pulled Ford out of the ring before the ref turned his back and Angelo threw Santos into the ring post (how the ref didn’t hear this I’ll never know). AD then took out both Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde before Escobar got him back with a big knee strike. However, The Emperor of Lucha Libre then rolled back in the ring and got rolled up by Ford for the 3 count before The Street Profits ran away after Carlito returned with a chair in hand. For whatever reason, some of this felt a bit off.
Grade: C
John Cena Promo, Logan Paul and Rey Mysterio Come Face-to-Face, A-Town Down Under VS Cameron Grimes and Dragon Lee
Rey Mysterio thanked Carlito backstage for having Santos Escobar’s back before he said he needed to go and take care of some things before Logan Paul arrived. I have no idea what he was going on about. Pretty Deadly were then trying to relax in a Day Spa, but that didn’t happen as The Brawling Brutes just showed up and beat them up. Okay. Jimmy Uso was then talking to Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa about being the Starting Quarterback this week since Roman Reigns wasn’t there before John Cena’s music hit and the 16-time World Champion made his way down to the ring. John said that he’s been thinking about retirement due to the fact that he hasn’t won a WWE televised singles match since 2018 (that’s a long time ago). However, Cena said it’s time to change that and he will beat whoever comes down to the ring next. That person was none other than Solo Sikoa and it quickly became a 2-on-1 assault as Jimmy Uso ran down and delivered a Superkick to Cena. However, Jimmy Uso was then taken out by Jey Uso who jumped the barricade before security took him to the back and this segment ended with John Cena laying out Solo Sikoa with an AA. This was also a totally fine segment, but we still haven’t got that Cena 1-on-1 match.
Grade: C+
The Unholy Union of Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn warned Chelsea Green and Piper Niven that the curse over the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships could not be broken before Nick Aldis fined Jey Uso 10,000 dollars for showing up on his show and attacking Jimmy Uso. Adam Pearce then said that he should do the same thing to Jimmy before Aldis had both Jey and Pearce escorted from the building. I knew I was right when I said he was a Heel, and also, I really hope this leads to some sort of “Bragging Rights” Premium Live Event at the end of the year (NXT included). Logan Paul then made his return to WWE as The Maverick talked about his boxing “victory” last weekend. He then said that whilst he’s not interested in Rey Mysterio, he does want the United States Championship which brought out Rey Mysterio to challenge him to a match for the Gold at Crown Jewel. This was a simple segment and all I have to say is I hope Logan Paul wins the Title.
Grade: C+
It was then time for a Tag Team match as Cameron Grimes and Dragon Lee teamed up to take on A-Town Down Under. All four of these guys are good in the ring so they were able to have a decent match with what they were given. I really like the team of Austin Theory and Grayson Waller whilst it was just nice to see Cameron Grimes on TV because he’s really, really good. Unfortunately for Grimes, he had to take the pin in this once as he got dropped by The Arrogant Aussie before Theory nailed him with the A-Town Down to get the victory. Still wish WWE hadn’t booked Theory and Waller to lose last week.
Grade: C+
WWE Women’s Championship: Iyo Sky VS Charlotte Flair
After an interview where Kevin Owens said he looks forward to punching some new faces (his words, not mine), it was Main Event time as Iyo Sky put her WWE Women’s Championship on the line against Charlotte Flair. I actually enjoyed this match and I feel like it was comfortably Charlotte Flair’s best work since WrestleMania. Everything in this match was timed perfectly and that’s how it should be when you have two of the best wrestlers in the entire company (male or female) going at it. Charlotte even came close to beating Iyo at one point with a devastating Spear, but Bayley saved the day by putting her Damage CTRL partner’s foot on the rope. The Queen then took out The Role Model on the outside, but this allowed Dakota Kai to hand Iyo Sky her Title and after Charlotte collided head-first with the Gold, Sky was able to pin Flair to get the huge victory. After the match, Damage CTRL continued to beat down Charlotte Flair before Bianca Belair made the save and lay out Bayley because of course she did.
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