WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 25/04
- Linus O'Howell
- 11 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Randy Orton Interrupts John Cena, FRAXIOM VS Los Garza
John Cena came out to start the SmackDown after WrestleMania, but he was immediately joined by Randy Orton! Randy said he watched John make kids’ dreams come true for 25 years so he doesn’t buy anything that Cena’s currently saying before he told his old Rival that he should maybe have children! This angered Cena who came back firing, saying he has had to raise thousands of kids for the past quarter of a century, and this then led to Cena ripping into a child again! Orton then brought up the success of his family, saying he won’t allow Cena to ruin Wrestling, and this is when Randy challenged John to a match, only for the Undisputed WWE Champion to accept for Backlash instead! John Cena then jumped Randy Orton, but it was an Orton RKO that ended the segment! I thought both men delivered their lines well here, even if some things didn’t exactly add to the story.
Grade: C+
It was then time for the opening match of the night as FRAXIOM made their Main Roster debut against Los Garza! Axiom and Nathan Frazer being on SmackDown has been a long time coming, they’ve been the Best Tag Team in the World for the past 12 months, so them getting extra exposure is only going to bring them more greatness. Whilst the crowd were slightly flat to begin with, they got really into this match as it went on, and that tells you everything you need to know about Axiom and Frazer! To be fair, Los Garza were also very good here, Angel and Berto continue to put in strong showings, but this once again wasn’t about them. In the end, a super Spanish Fly from Axiom followed by a Phoenix Splash from Frazer was enough for FRAXIOM to debut on a strong note!
Grade: B
Tiffany Stratton Gets Interrupted, Jacob Fatu Celebrates, Chelsea Green VS Zelina Vega: Women’s United States Championship
Tiffany Stratton was out next to bask in the glory of her first WrestleMania win over Charlotte Flair! Tiffany said that she beat one of the best of all time, and that she will continue to reign as the WWE Women’s Champion! This brought out Jade Cargill who said she’s moving on to bigger and better things right now, and she also said Tiffany isn’t the best until she faces her! This led to an impromptu matchup between Stratton and Cargill, and I’ll be honest, it wasn’t that good. I don’t enjoy watching Jade Cargill at all, I think she is really poor in comparison to other women around her, and nothing that happened here was worth watching. Obviously, the match ended in a No Contest after Naomi attacked Cargill, but the interesting thing is Nia Jax made her return to WWE TV to annihilate Tiffany to stand tall with the WWE Women’s Title in hand! It’s good to see Nia back!
Grade: C-
The Bloodline were out next as Solo Sikoa congratulated Jacob Fatu on becoming the brand-new United States Champion! Solo believed that that moment happened because of him, and that everyone should be thankful for him, but Jacob didn’t seem to agree! LA Knight then interrupted as he wanted a rematch for his United States Championship, but that request was batted off by Drew McIntyre as The Scottish Psychopath said he wanted to face the baddest Champion in the land which just so happens to be The Samoan Werewolf! Nick Aldis then came out to say that later in the show, Drew and Knight would clash where the winner would get a shot at the United States Championship!
Grade: C+
Zelina Vega said she’s not leaving Texas without the Women’s United States Championship before Zelina tried her best to win the Title from Chelsea Green! This was a totally okay match for what it was, probably the definition of a midcard match, but that’s okay! Both Piper Niven and Alba Fyre decided to try and attack Zelina in front of the referee which is stupid, but the referee just decided to eject The Secret Hervice rather than just call for the bell! This then led to Vega hitting a Code Red out of nowhere to pin Green and become the brand-new Women’s US Champion, and this honestly came out of nowhere! It’s cool for Zelina Vega, I’ve liked her since her NXT days, but this did feel a little bit rushed. I mean, for Chelsea Green to not appear at WrestleMania and then lose like this felt very odd indeed!
Grade: C
The Miz Gets Attacked, Drew McIntyre VS LA Knight: United States Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match
The Miz gifted Carmelo Hayes a golden Andre the Giant necklace before Melo called himself “The 10th Wonder of the World”! Please let that stick! The Miz then made his way down to the ring to complain about not getting onto WrestleMania whilst guys like Rey Fenix and even Joe Hendry appeared at the show of shows! The Miz then went to remind everyone that he is awesome before the lights in the arena went out, signalling the return of the one, the only, Aleister Black! Black came down to the ring with his awesome NXT entrance before he floored Miz with a Black Mass! This was super simple, and super effective!
Grade: B
Bianca Belair confirmed that she has some broken fingers following WrestleMania 41 before Nia Jax and Naomi both gave each other warnings! It was then time to determine the Number 1 Contender to the United States Championship as Drew McIntyre went one-on-one with LA Knight! This was a decent match for what we got, it was commercial free so that helped with the flow, and it was totally acceptable Television! Solo Sikoa arrived late on and delivered a Samoan Spike to The Megastar, but this only left Drew with even more conflicting emotions than before! As McIntyre went to deliver the Claymore, Damian Priest pulled him out of the ring to cause another DQ finish before Priest sent McIntyre crashing through the announce table with South of Heaven! LA Knight then got into the fact of Damian Priest before Jacob Fatu arrived and wiped out both of them! I guess we’re heading for at least a Fatal 4-Way at Backlash!
Grade: B-
WWE Tag Team Championships TLC Match: The Street Profits VS Motor City Machine Guns VS DIY
After R-Truth had an interaction with his “childhood hero” John Cena, it was Main Event time as The Street Profits, DIY, and the Motor City Machine Guns clashed in a Triple Threat TLC Match for the WWE Tag Team Championships! This match must’ve got the last 25 minutes of the show, with no ad breaks too, and it was absolutely insane! Whilst this should’ve happened at WrestleMania, at least here it wasn’t lost in the shuffle, and every team got to do their own thing! There was almost too many tables, ladders, and chairs spots to even recount everything, but I will say Tommaso Ciampa’s air-raid crash to Montez Ford through a ladder and Angelo Dawkins' Spear to Ciampa through a table were probably the best two spots of the night! Everyone shined, the Motor City Machine Guns were great, Johnny Gargano was excellent, but in the end, it was Montez Ford who managed to take down Gargano and Chris Sabin to unhook the Titles meaning The Street Profits remain on top of the SmackDown Tag Team Division! Insane!
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