The Grayson Waller Effect (Featuring Cody Rhodes), LA Knight VS Santos Escobar: United States Championship
Friday Night SmackDown kicked off this week with The Grayson Waller Effect as A-Town Down Under welcomed out their guest, Cody Rhodes! Grayson Waller went in on Cody, calling him a bad friend which is when Rhodes fired back by questioning Waller’s loyalty to Austin Theory. The Arrogant Aussie then showed a great video package highlighting Kevin Owens’ previous history of attacking his friends before KO arrived and set up a Tag Team match for the Main Event! This was a pretty basic segment, but at least it had a fun video package!
Grade: C+
We then headed straight into the first match of the night as LA Knight put his “newly-won” United States Championship on the line against Santos Escobar. Before the match could begin, Angel and Berto decided to attack LA from behind, but this ultimately resulted in the whole of Legado Del Fantasma being ejected from ringside. This left us with a straightforward singles match which was totally okay, it had some good moments, but we have seen this match a while now which definitely takes a bit of the shine off things. Still, this was all about giving LA Knight his first successful Title defense, and Santos Escobar is a great guy to be put in that role. Ultimately, Knight hit the BFT to score the 3!
Grade: C+
Alba Fyre, Isla Dawn, and Blair Davenport VS Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi, Solo Sikoa Promo, The Bloodline VS The Street Profits: WWE Tag Team Championships
Andrade found Carmelo Hayes at the Barber Shop as yet another match was made for them before Santos Escobar got annoyed at Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin disrespecting him. It was then time for some Six-Women Tag Team action as Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn teamed up with Blair Davenport to take on the trio of Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi. Surprisingly, Bianca Belair was beaten up for a lot of this match, but that all changed when she tagged in Jade Cargill who ran wild! Naomi also then made the tag late on as she ultimately scored the victory for her team after hitting the Split-legged Moonsault onto Davenport. This was fine for what it was.
Grade: C+
After a video package highlighting WWE’s history in Germany, The Bloodline arrived as Solo Sikoa demanded acknowledgement from the Washington, DC crowd! Solo then decided to make a change with the Tag Team Titles as he asked Jacob Fatu to give his Title to Tonga Loa because he needs him “for bigger things”! The Street Profits then arrived as it was time for a WWE Tag Team Championships match! This was a pretty even contest, The Tongans worked well together whilst The Profits are very good following a hot tag. As always with The Bloodline right now, Jacob Fatu proved to be the difference maker as he wiped out Angelo Dawkins before Tama Tonga hit his finisher to score the win. After the match, DIY ran down to try and make the save, but they failed miserably!
Grade: B- (Overall)
Kevin Owens made it clear to Cody Rhodes that he’s not the same guy he was back then before Byron Saxton only cared about how The Street Profits were. Michin then had her own video package before Pretty Deadly had a pair of glue guns as they were trying to fix Nia Jax’s crown! Queen Nia was not at all impressed by this before she overheard Chelsea Green and Piper Niven talking about how Tiffany Stratton is eventually going to cash in on the WWE Women’s Champion! A lot happened in this 60-second segment!
Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens VS A-Town Down Under
And in the Main Event, Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens teamed up to take on A-Town Down Under. This was the usual standard SmackDown Main Event, but the plus is that Austin Theory and Grayson Waller work so well together. Kevin Owens also had a great burst following a hot tag, even though he didn’t take out the Prime Bottle this time! This was actually an overall pretty convincing performance by KO who scored the victory with a Pop-Up Powerbomb before the two good guys celebrated to end the show!
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