CM Punk Interrupts Kevin Owens, Carmelo Hayes VS Jimmy Uso
After Pat McAfee came out in front of his home crowd, Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Joe Tessitore giving Kevin Owens the opportunity to share his side of the story, but Kevin wasn’t interested in talking to Joe so he instead just took back his Winged-Eagle Championship because why not?! Before KO could leave, though, CM Punk arrived to say that he apologises for overlooking the opportunity of them facing off in the Main Event of WrestleMania, but that the odds of Owens beating Cody Rhodes are slim! This was a fine segment, it wasn’t as good as you might have hoped, but I think the idea of KO-Punk could be interesting!
Grade: C+
After The Miz got himself into trouble with Andrade, it was time for the first match of the night as Jimmy Uso clashed with Carmelo Hayes! This was a decent match, I thought it had some good moments, and Carmelo Hayes continues to show out basically every week. However, Hayes also tends to lose every week, and that’s exactly what happened here as Jimmy managed to cheat to pin Melo with a roll-up!
Grade: B-
Women’s United States Championship: Chelsea Green VS Michin, Jacob Fatu Interrupts Damian Priest, DIY and Pretty Deadly VS Motor City Machine Guns and Los Garza
After we the annual “Royal Rumble: By the Numbers” video package, Chelsea Green headed down to the ring to put her Women’s United States Championship on the line against Michin! The problem with this is we’ve seen this match plenty of times now, and it just gets a bit tiring after a while. Also, this was meant to be Michin’s last opportunity at the Women’s US Title, but this match ended in a DQ as Chelsea wacked Mia Yim with a kendo stick, and that probably means we’ll just get this match again which is too much!
Grade: C-
After Charlotte Flair was given another video package, Damian Priest headed down to the ring to cut a promo about being on SmackDown for the first time in his career. Priest said he’s no longer interested in making a name for himself and everything going forward is about winning Championships! However, this brought out Jacob Fatu to give us an awesome stare-down as neither man looked intimidated at all! Damian then decked Tama Tonga which started a brawl, but it was still a 2-on-1 fight until LA Knight ran down to make the save and set up the show’s Main Event!
Grade: B-
After Legado Del Fantasma told Motor City Machine Guns that they don’t need to worry about them, Los Garza and The MCMG clashed with DIY and Pretty Deadly in 8-Man Tag Team action! This was a decent match, you could tell that despite there being two teams, no one liked each other and that played into it as after a tiny bit of miscommunication, Angel and Berto left ringside which left Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley in a handicap position. However, after Tommaso Ciampa accidentally caught Elton Prince in the face, Motor City Machine Guns were able to take advantage and steal a victory over the WWE Tag Team Champions!
Grade: C+
Naomi VS Liv Morgan, Andrade VS The Miz, Tiffany Stratton Speaks
Tommaso Ciampa was furious with Kit Wilson backstage as Pretty Deadly told DIY that they’re alone at the Royal Rumble before we got a video package for Cody Rhodes-Kevin Owens! It was then time for another match as Naomi clashed with Liv Morgan! Liv Morgan had already pinned both members of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions in the past week, so it was honestly a bit weird that this match was happening instead of a Tag Title match, but it was okay for what it was. Ultimately, Naomi managed to sneak away with the victory, but it was Liv and Raquel Rodriguez who stood tall to close the segment after Raquel laid waste to both The EST and The Glow!
Grade: C+
The Miz’s music hit next as it was time for The A-Lister to go one-on-one with Andrade! This felt like a bit of a showpiece match for Andrade who’s been needing some momentum following the end of his “Best of” series with Carmelo Hayes! The Miz did well here to put over El Idolo’s offense, and in the end, it was Andrade who got the win with his awesome back fist!
Grade: C+
Damian Priest bumped into Santos Escobar backstage before R-Truth appeared on SmackDown thinking it was Monday Night Raw! LA Knight then spoke to Damian about having each other’s backs in the Main Event as Shinsuke Nakamura watched on before Zelina Vega confronted Tiffany Stratton over her interest in capturing the WWE Women’s Championship! Tiffany then headed down to the ring to cut a promo about it being Tiffy Time, but this just led to Candice LeRae coming out to say that Stratton doesn’t deserve anything before Nia Jax ambushed Tiffy and laid her out with an Annihilator! I have no problem with Tiffany facing Nia, but I’m not sure that this segment was great.
Grade: C
Damian Priest and LA Knight VS The Bloodline
It was then finally Main Event time as Damian Priest and LA Knight came together to take on The Bloodline! LA Knight was worked over for a lot of this match, meaning Damian Priest got to run wild with the hot tag. To be fair, Tama Tonga did a lot of work here, and it also meant that Jacob Fatu was able to look like a machine again, but after Knight sent both himself and Fatu over the barricade, Damian Priest was able to get the win after nailing Tama Tonga with the South of Heaven before Jacob Fatu laid out Priest to end the show!
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