When Friday Night SmackDown opened this week, we were quickly informed that the main event would be the triple threat ladder match for the WWE tag team championship. Because of course it would. The Bloodline defending gold takes the top spot, no matter what else is on the card.
Once it came time for said main event, they did the long single shot take with the group making the walk to the ring. Jacob Fatu got to cut a promo as they went, and you know?
There really is every reason to believe this is the guy somewhere down the line.
By the time Solo Sikoa was looking right into the camera and demanding we acknowledge him he just came off … I don’t know … lesser. But I also felt at least a little pissed off that we’re still having to deal with this fraud playing this role.
He is not my Tribal Chief.
(They really got me, y’all. I love it.)
The ensuing match was a ton of fun, about as good of a ladder match as you could expect considering the time constraints and that it was a TV main event as opposed to a match on a major PLE. Montez Ford, in particular, went all out and took a couple of rough bumps.
The finish was creative, with DIY and the Profits coming together to take down Tonga & Loa before ultimately being unable to avoid taking each other out on their way to glory. This was done really well, to protect everyone in the match while keeping the titles right where they are. The Bloodline, after all, has long been about opportunism just as much as outright dominance.
The tank rolls on.
Speaking of, they promised a look at Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns taking on Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu and gave us very little in that regard. Considering the production value on the various vignettes and cinematic videos they’ve given us, I expected something cool. Oh well.
We’re off to see how bad the blood really is in Atlanta.
They had a country artist named Hardy open the show this week and he was tasked with introducing us to AJ Styles, making his big return after a number of months away. The way he did so?
“Please welcome The Phenomenal Forearm!”
Sure.
Styles was greeted with chants and cheers, and he responded to it with pure enthusiasm, shouting out to the Nashville faithful “I freakin’ love you guys!” He seemed really happy to be there!
He came right out and said it — he missed everyone a lot. He regrets a lot of things he’s done in the past but he’s not going to even bother with talking about that. Instead, he’s going to focus on rebuilding the legacy of AJ Styles and remind everyone that this is still the house that AJ Styles built.
Cue Carmelo Hayes.
He called himself a fan of Styles, and even mentioned him announcing the signing of a Legends contract, but he wanted to talk about himself. AJ instead took the time to put over United States Champion LA Knight. Hayes stopped him to say he doesn’t take advice from “quitters.”
“If you were HIM, you would be United States champion right now, wouldn’t you?”
Nashville responded with a “he’s not HIM!” chant. Brilliantly done.
Styles offered up a match, because after all that’s what we’re here for, and when Carmelo refused it, the Megastar hit the scene. Knight didn’t spare Styles, despite how nice he was being, saying he was basically a liar for acting like he was going to retire and then coming back anyway.
Sure.
Meanwhile, he went off on a rant that eventually led to his promising if Hayes could defeat Styles right now he would get a crack at the U.S. title. A referee ran in and off they went!
They gave them a lot of time, multiple commercial breaks, and then ended the match when Styles sold his knee enough. He was acting awfully pissed off, and they were shooting the doctor talking to him after Robinson called it off. They even made sure to announce him, with Hayes being called the winner.
Well, he was going to be announced as much but Knight hopped in the ring and hit him with a BFT. This felt very much like an angle, especially considering the way they shot it, and like they just wanted to give Hayes a win without Styles taking any kind of pinfall or submission loss.
I didn’t love this. It instantly felt like they brought Styles back without knowing what to do with him.
Later, he was shown being looked at and we were told he has an ankle injury and he was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation. Meanwhile, SmackDown GM Nick Aldis didn’t want to give Hayes a title shot considering the nature of the win.
Because of course.
Ultimately, they left everything open ended. I didn’t like anything about this.
All the rest
- You won’t be surprised to know the Dumpster match between Michin and Chelsea Green was a lot of fun, including a brutal spot where Michin hit a senton on Green while Chelsea had a garbage can over her head. It looked brutal! Despite the stipulation, fans were still just chanting for tables. So they gave them what they wanted, setting one up across the dumpster. Michin then hit a jumping powerbomb from the apron right through it, closing the lid afterward to win the match. Credit to Chelsea for being willing to go all out for every match she’s involved in.
- Bayley called Women’s Champion Nia Jax out to the ring because she had something she wanted to say to her. Bayley told her she has never cared about the title the way so many others have but she is putting together a run as one of the most dominant women in history. But she’s one of two people who can take the title away from Nia — and the second is Tiffany Stratton, thanks to her Money in the Bank contract. Stratton pushed back against the idea that she could only win because of the contract but before another rift could set in, Tiffy again turned it back on Bayley, hilariously enough calling her “Pam” in the process. Shoot names were flying! Bayley ended up calling her a “stupid bitch” to be a big pop before Bayley used the briefcase to lay Jax out and drape the title over her stomach. Stratton got back in the ring, saw this, and again contemplated taking advantage. And then Jax turned around, like usual, and nothing happened. Fans chanted “cash it in” and the message was clear — it’s happening sooner rather than later.
- Just after that segment, Naomi scored a roll up victory over Stratton after a decent enough TV match. That falls in line with thinking that Tiffy Time is coming soon. In line with that, they had a backstage segment where Jax told her supposed friend that she should think about cashing in on the women’s world title and to promise she will never betray her. Stratton did so but, again, it’s clear what’s coming.
The two big matches were fun but this was an odd show, and I really didn’t like how they handled Styles’ return.
Grade: C-
Your turn.