Drew McIntyre VS Jimmy Uso
After Nick Aldis told Cody Rhodes that he’d been pulled out of the show’s Main Event by The Rock, this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Drew McIntyre taking on Jimmy Uso! This was a fine match, Jimmy got in plenty of offense, but it was still Drew who was mostly in control (as you would expect)! However, Drew was also acting cocky throughout, and that ultimately backfired on The Scottish Psychopath as Big Jim was able to take advantage and stun McIntyre with a roll-up! Drew then beat up Jimmy after the match, ultimately leaving Uso laying following a Claymore!
Grade: C+
The Miz and Carmelo Hayes VS R-Truth and ?, Tiffany Stratton VS Candice LeRae, Naomi VS Liv Morgan
Solo Sikoa pulled up to the arena to be told what tonight’s plans are by Jacob Fatu before we got a video package hyping up the contenders in this year’s Men’s Elimination Chamber Match! Carmelo Hayes then got annoyed again at R-Truth’s antics before Zelina Vega cut a video promo where she said that her size won’t define her! It was then time for a pretty random Tag Team match as The Miz and Carmelo Hayes teamed up to take on R-Truth and a mystery partner that was connected to New Orleans, Louisiana! However, that partner was none other than LA Knight, and this very much felt like a bit of a comedy act. However, there are certain parts of “Melo Don’t Miz” that do actually work, and R-Truth can be funny at times. This also furthered another storyline as towards the end of the match, Shinsuke Nakamura arrived to take out LA Knight, opening the door for The Miz and Hayes to deliver a First 48/Skull Crushing Finale combo to get the win! Interesting!
Grade: B-
After a Charlotte Flair video, Tiffany Stratton came out to the ring to cut a promo of her own about how she’s going to take Charlotte’s spot as the “Top Girl” in all of WWE come WrestleMania 41! This then led to Nia Jax interrupting proceedings as it was time for Tiffany Stratton to go one-on-one with Candice LeRae! This match was up-and-down, there were some really good moments between two great in-ring performers, but there were also moments that just didn’t quite click. Charlotte Flair made her presence known at ringside as she joined commentary, and Queen Nia was also trying to insert herself when possible too! In the end, Stratton was able to take all of them out and pin Candice with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever before Jax attacked once again, leaving Trish Stratus to run down, and fail to make the save! The segment then ended with Charlotte once again standing over Tiffany, and yeah, all of this was okay.
Grade: C+
Cody Rhodes and Damian Priest had another interesting backstage interaction before Braun Strowman made sure that him and Priest were on the same page before their Main Event match against The Bloodline! We then got another video package, this time for the Women’s Elimination Chamber before Bianca Belair and Naomi once again proved that they’re incredibly dumb! Alexa Bliss then got her own video promo before we were supposed to get a match between Naomi and Liv Morgan, only for Liv and Raquel Rodriguez to beat up the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions to the point where the match didn’t even happen! There’s really not much else to add about this, I guess it was Liv and Raquel’s way of getting some payback for Monday!
Grade: C
The Rock Returns to SmackDown, DIY VS Pretty Deadly: WWE Tag Team Championships
After Nick Aldis kicked Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez out of the building, Chelsea Green came over to tell Aldis about how ridiculous it is that the Women’s United States Champion isn’t fighting in front of her own crowd in Toronto! The SmackDown General Manager agreed and told Chelsea that she’ll be facing someone next week before The Rock made his return to Friday Night SmackDown! Firstly, The Rock had a massive announcement that WrestleMania 42 will be coming to New Orleans next year (which is pretty damn cool), and his second thing was that he wanted to speak to Cody Rhodes! Cody came out as the two embraced, with The Rock admitting that they’ve become good friends since WrestleMania 40! However, Rocky wants more for Cody, and he in turn wants Rhodes to be his Champion! Honestly, a lot of this was the typical Rock rambling and not really saying much, but at least this could be interesting down the line!
Grade: C+
DIY were then out next for a moment of silence that was quickly interrupted as Pretty Deadly were ready to face them for the WWE Tag Team Championships! For the second straight week, the crowd seemed to be behind Pretty Deadly which is great to see, and the bits that we got here were good. However, it wasn’t much of a match as The Street Profits arrived relatively quickly to cause the DQ before the Motor City Machine Guns arrived, only for them to also be dropped by Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins! It feels like we’re heading to a multi-team matchup at WrestleMania, but it’s still 2 months away so it’s not certain!
Grade: C+
Braun Strowman and Damian Priest VS The Bloodline
After a John Cena video package and Kevin Owens cutting a promo from outside of Sami Zayn’s house, it was Main Event time as Braun Strowman and Damian Priest came together to take on The Bloodline! Whilst Braun and Damian aren’t equipped very well together, they were let off by the fact that Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu aren’t on the same page either right now, and it showed throughout, especially when Jacob floored Solo with a Superkick! Strowman was then able to run through both Fatu and Tama Tonga on the outside before Priest dropped Sikoa with the South of Heaven to pick up yet another pinfall win! All Rise!
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