Randy Orton Starts the Show, Carlito VS Santos Escobar
After The Bloodline were shown arriving at the arena, Singer Eladio Carrion arrived to welcome out his buddy Randy Orton. Randy talked about The Bloodline’s dominance before he said he’s the man who’s going to end it all and become a 15-time World Champion in the process. AJ Styles then interrupted this to say he’s going to be the one to beat Roman Reigns before LA Knight arrived and cut by far the best promo out of the three whilst the crowd said The Megastar’s catchphrases. This segment then ended with AJ rocking Orton with a Pele Kick to stand tall. This was pretty simple stuff, but LA Knight’s promo was really good.
Grade: B-
It was then time for the first match of the night as Carlito took on Santos Escobar. The action here was fine, but it wasn’t exactly must-see. However, that changed late on as The LWO’s Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde started to brawl with Angel and Humberto before Zelina Vega was taken out by none other than Elektra Lopez! This distracted Carlito and ultimately allowed Escobar to pick up the victory with a roll-up, and yeah, whilst the match wasn’t anything special, the addition of La Madrina makes this feel like a really important moment!
Grade: B-
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Katana Chance and Kayden Carter VS The Kabuki Warriors, The Pride and The Final Testament Come Face-to-Face, Austin Theory VS Carmelo Hayes
Jimmy Uso approached AJ Styles with the idea of taking out LA Knight. The O.C. then walked in and asked what’s going on, but AJ shut them (the O.C.) down quickly. Nick Aldis then met “NXT General Manager” Ava for the first time as the two watched both Bobby Lashley and Santos Escobar draw their numbers for this weekend’s Men’s Royal Rumble match. We then got a really cool video promo from Bayley talking about her Damage CTRL plan before R-Truth was picking his own number for the Royal Rumble. It was then time for a Championship match as Katana Chance and Kayden Carter put their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against The Kabuki Warriors. Chance and Carter are a great, great Tag Team whilst Asuka and Kairi Sane are fantastic in-ring workers. Wouldn’t you know it, all four women put on a great showing in a really fun match that had some really good moments. In the end, a crazy assisted InSane Elbow from Kairi was enough for The Kabuki Warriors to become the brand-new Tag Team Champions before Damage CTRL celebrated on the ramp as Bayley’s plan grows ever closer to being fulfilled!
Grade: B
Solo Sikoa told Paul Heyman that he would fix the problem regarding Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship defense at the Royal Rumble before Heyman pitched to Jimmy Uso the idea of him winning the Rumble and taking the World Heavyweight Championship off of Seth “Freakin” Rollins. The brilliance of this is not only did The Wiseman say this to Jimmy after Solo left, but also because he knows if Jimmy was to turn on Roman, Reigns would still win. However, with Solo, that could well be a very different story. Anyway, Bayley was then dancing her way into Nick Aldis’ office which was already occupied by Bianca Belair. The Role Model then took her own number and did not seem very pleased about it, which is rather concerning. Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits were then in the ring as they were about to come face-to-face with The Final Testament. However, that didn’t really happen as Scarlett wandered to the ring and stood looking at Lashley whilst Karrion Kross, Paul Ellering, and The Authors of Pain spoke from the aisle way. In the end, Scarlett jumped onto Bobby and racked The All Mighty’s eyes which allowed Kross to get in a few shots whilst A.O.P. absolutely clobbered Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins! I’m a big fan of Karrion Kross so I’m really glad he’s being positioned like this, and if we’re being totally honest, The Final Testament shouldn’t lose when you look at who’s in their group.
Grade: C+
Jimmy Uso didn’t seem pleased with the number he picked out for the Royal Rumble, but the funniest thing about this segment was the fact that there was no reference to the fact that Jimmy and Ava are related. Anyway, it was then time for another match as NXT’s Carmelo Hayes went one-on-one with Austin Theory. This match was called off a couple of weeks ago due to injury concerns, and I’m glad to report that there was no such repeat of that this time. The action here was solid, but I will say that I feel like both men were holding a little bit back (which is fine because they’re going to be around for a long time). In the end, after multiple distractions from Grayson Waller, Theory was able to sneak the win a roll-up (whilst holding the tights) before A-Town Down Under started to beat down Melo. However, Trick Williams' music hit to a big pop as the charismatic Superstar made the save and dropped the Heels. All I’ll say is if you weren’t convinced that Trick Williams is a star, you certainly should be now!
Grade: B- (Mainly because of Trick)
LA Knight VS Solo Sikoa
After The Bloodline threatened Eladio Carrion, it was Main Event time as Solo Sikoa looked to take out LA Knight. As we know with Friday Night SmackDown, the Main Event is usually more about the story than the actual contest itself. This proved to be correct as after a match which Knight dominated, AJ Styles arrived and dropped LA with a Phenomenal Forearm to cause the disqualification. However, AJ also took out Sikoa and Jimmy Uso with a Steel Chair after Solo originally told Styles to use it on Knight. This then brought out Randy Orton who dropped Sikoa, Uso, and Styles respectively before he delivered an RKO onto The Phenomenal One to stand tall. Or so we thought as LA Knight was able to drop Randy with a BFT just as the show was about to go off the air. I guess this was alright, but the endings to Friday Night SmackDown are becoming very repetitive now.