Celebrating Bray Wyatt, Rey Mysterio VS Grayson Waller
This week’s Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with WWE Superstars and Staff Members taking part in the “10 Bell Salute” in order to remember both Bray Wyatt and Terry Funk. You could tell that everyone was emotional and some of the guys and girls were in tears. We then got a super video package showcasing the career of Bray Wyatt as well as the man himself, Windham Rotunda. This was epic and there’s no way that anyone can say anything negative about this. We then came back to the arena to see Bray’s Rocking Chair which was a really cool tribute, as was Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman being at the front next to Triple H.
Grade: A+
We got a bunch of nice tweets about Terry Funk (who also sadly passed away earlier this week) before the first match of the night saw the United States Champion Rey Mysterio go one-on-one with Grayson Waller. This was a solid match that furthered the feud between The LWO and Austin Theory. Theory made his way down to the ring to try and distract Rey Mysterio, but Santos Escobar ran down to make the save and he did so again not long after before Mysterio nailed Waller with both the 619 and the Splash to get the victory.
Grade: C+
WWE Women’s Championship: Iyo Sky VS Zelina Vega, Cody Rhodes Celebrates Terry Funk, The Brawling Brutes VS The Street Profits
Some nice messages for Bray Wyatt popped up on the screen before Damage Control cut a promo about how Iyo Sky’s going to breeze past Zelina Vega tonight. That match against Zelina Vega for the WWE Women’s Championship was next and I thought this was good. Iyo Sky is one of, if not the best female competitor in the company (and one of the best in general) whilst Zelina Vega has really broken out in 2023 as a top Babyface. Bayley and Dakota Kai watched on from ringside and they nearly saw Iyo’s reign as Champion end prematurely, but that wasn’t to be the case as Sky eventually hit Over the Moonsault to pick up the win. This was definitely one of the best things I’ve seen from the Women’s Division on the main roster for a while.
Grade: B-
We got some tributes to Bray Wyatt before Cody Rhodes arrived to celebrate the life and career of Terry Funk. Cody talked about how Terry did everything to give other people “the rub” and he also talked about how he will go down as one of the greatest to ever do this. We then got a video package for Terry Funk which was really nice before The American Nightmare announced that the next match would be a “Terry Funk Hardcore Tag Team Match”. Butch and Ridge Holland then arrived to a nice pop as the “Terry Funk Hardcore Tag Team Match” was going to be contested between The Brawling Brutes and The Street Profits. This was a decently fun tag team match, even if I still really dislike The Street Profits. Bobby Lashley arrived at one point and got annoyed with Butch after The Bruiserweight accidentally bumped into him. This played into the finish as the All Mighty pulled the former UK Champion off the top rope before he whipped him out with a devastating Spear, allowing Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins to send Ridge Holland crashing through a table with The Revelation to get the victory.
Grade: B (Promo and Match Combined)
Finn Balor VS LA Knight
We got some more messages for Bray Wyatt before we saw The Miz getting interviewed by TMZ. Miz said he’s going to beat LA Knight so bad he won’t make it to next year’s WrestleMania before LA Knight arrived and cut a lovely, serious promo about Bray Wyatt. LA Knight talked about how Bray Wyatt prepared him for where he is today and even paid tribute by telling The Miz to “RUN”. Finn Balor then arrived as two of Bray’s former rivals went toe-to-toe in the Main Event of Friday Night SmackDown. It was really cool to see LA Knight fight an established star in Finn Balor and I thought they had a decent match. In the end, LA Knight picked up the victory with The B.F.T. which was a cool moment before the show went off the air with Bray Wyatt’s lantern in the middle of the ring. This was a really lovely tribute to Bray who will go down as one of the most creative Superstars to ever grace the Wrestling World.
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