This week’s episode of Smackdown Friday Night The show opened with “The Grayson Waller Effect,” which featured a new set that wasn’t too different from the old set, with special guest WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. I expected them to do something to add some excitement to the title match between Rhodes and Kevin Owens at Bash in Berlin.
Indeed, Waller tried to stir up controversy by bringing up how many times Owens and Randy Orton have been beaten up because of their association with him. Rhodes took the opportunity to say that he is capable of, and has probably already beaten, every wrestler on the SmackDown roster, and therefore deserves a title shot.
Naturally, Cody then turned things around completely, targeting Austin Theory – who he called “Magic Mike” – and telling him that everyone in the back was waiting for him to grow up and get rid of the man holding him back.
So Grayson went to a video they had prepared of Owens attacking everyone he considered a friend of his in WWE. This was of course impressive because he did all of these things of course. You saw it in the video!
This prompted Owens to come out, defending himself by saying that everyone in the video deserved what happened except Kofi Kingston, to whom he then apologized. He promised not to attack Rhodes, and instead went straight to the formalities of having SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis come out to book a tag team match for the main event.
A short brawl broke out and Owens accidentally hit Rhodes. Any other hints?
A backstage segment led to Owens calling out Rhodes again, hoping Cody would believe that he’s no longer the same and that these guys really deserve it (except Kofi, of course). The champion said he believes his word and is just trying to prepare for what comes next.
Nations.
They made sure to do some teasing in the next match but Owens was there for Rhodes every time. He then pinned Waller with a Pop Up Powerbomb, giving the babyface team the victory.
After the win, there were still a few minutes left on the clock, which made me wonder if they were going to do anything here anyway. They did another mock, with Owens taking the WWE Championship and holding it up as if he was going to place it over Cody’s head. The crowd got up and prepared for the action, but at the last second Owens passed the championship to him and mocked A-Town Down Under.
Rhodes had seen enough to feel strange about this.
We all think it’s just a matter of time.
Hey, is there anything that adds excitement to this match, right? I’m here for it!
Solo Sikoa told Washington, D.C., he has a lot to talk about.
Item #1: OTC is done.
Rule #2: Whether Kevin Owens or Cody Rhodes wins the WWE Championship, he’s next. He’ll bring the title back to his family.
Item 3: Since he is going to be the Undisputed WWE Champion, there is something wrong with the Tag Team Titles. He asked Jacob Fatu to step up, which he did. Then he asked his assistant to give him the title. No, actually, give it to Tonga Loa.
Fatu did exactly what he was told. Sikoa said he couldn’t be the Tag Team Champion if he was going to be Solo’s personal enforcer. This seemed to be their way of transferring the title back to Loa, who had dropped the eye patch.
But does this mean The Street Profits will be dropped from the titles?
It looked like that for most of the match, with Angelo Dakines and Montez Ford controlling Lua and Tama Tonga for large parts of the match. It wasn’t until late in the match that it became clear how things would play out when Solo distracted the referee to allow Fatu to land a powerful kick to both Profits.
The breed retains.
DIY showed up on the scene after the match to try and help the Profits avoid defeat after the match, and they were also taken out. The tag team division seems woefully unprepared for what is still the best team in the country.
All the rest
- LA Knight’s first defense of the United States Championship was against Santos Escobar, who tried to use an ambush from his Legado del Fantasma teammates before the bell to gain enough of an advantage to steal the belt for himself. It didn’t work, and instead the referee sent the entire group outside, leaving Escobar alone. He wasn’t good enough to survive the blunt force trauma and Knight’s first defense was successful. I liked that Escobar was good and angry that his crew had screwed up so badly, telling them that they were useless to him if they weren’t there. This led to Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews coming out and laughing at them and a match was set for next week. LA Knight later stated that he would be making an open challenge for the United States Championship in Berlin.
- Carmelo Hayes cut a promo from the barbershop and Andrade came in to tell him that he disrespected him last week, so they would meet again next week. It didn’t end in a fight, and instead Hayes got mad at everyone around him for allowing Andrade to advance on him like that. It was lame, but it’s worth it for next week.
- The six-woman tag match saw Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair and Naomi compete against The Unleashed Union and Blair Davenport, with Cargill in particular looking impressive after a heated tag match. In the end, Naomi managed to pin Davenport, leaving the others to fight outside as a preview for their title match at Bash in Berlin. The babyfaces still look much stronger than the villains but at least the champions haven’t been pinned yet.
- They showed a great clip of Mechane, telling the story of a weak girl who was told she wasn’t good enough, but finally managed to win a title match against Nia Jax. They then cut to Jax being upset about the situation. Tiffany Stratton wanted to know what she could do for her, and Jax was able to fix the crown. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven were heard badmouthing Stratton, which planted more seeds of doubt about the possibility of a win, which could happen next week since Jax vs Mechane is going to be a street fight.
Decent offer.
Grade: C+
Your turn.
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