This week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown opened with a replay of Kevin Owens attacking WWE Champion Cody Rhodes following their match at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Last week was a taped show that didn’t give us much follow up because of that, so they were promising just that here.
Naturally, then, it was SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis who opened the show with a formal address to refute Kevin Owens’ claim that he is the rightful champion while carrying around the winged eagle championship title, one that means a lot to many. He has no claim to the title, so he was given an ultimatum: give the title back by the end of the show or he will face severe consequences.
Later, we got a video of Owens in his car, holding the title, saying he deserves to have the belt because he is the true, rightful champion. Instead of just giving it back, he wanted a discussion but on his terms: Owens. Aldis. Alone in the ring.
What was funny about this was I assume they screwed up their timing a bit because he came out for the big meeting while The Bloodline, Sami Zayn, and Braun Strowman were still in the ring at the end of their segment. It didn’t end up playing a part in anything, just funny to me.
Owens made clear right away that he was going to use the belt as leverage, something he could put up to negotiate for another shot at Cody Rhodes and the WWE championship. Aldis tried to play hardball with him, saying to give it back or he wouldn’t ever step foot in a WWE ring again.
That’s when Rhodes came into the picture, of course.
Aldis outright pleaded with him to walk away and let the GM handle this. Cody refused, going full blown true blue babyface talking about how he does all this for his fans, for the kids, for his mentor Randy Orton, for everyone who put faith in him, for the man who gave him the winged eagle for one night only to give the fans something special, for everyone. To him, then, it’s his responsibility to take the title back himself.
So while Owens wants a match where the referee can’t screw him, Rhodes decided he wants a match where the referee can’t stop what he’s going to do to him.
His proposal: put the titles hanging above the ring and run it as a ladder match.
Aldis went for it and announced it for Royal Rumble.
Owens offered his hand to shake on it, Rhodes refused, so he pushed Aldis into Cody and then took advantage by kicking him the neck while he was down. That’s how the show faded out, with Cody selling the neck as big as possible and Owens screaming “I’ll see at the Rumble, bitch.”
They’ve done a damn fine job stretching this out and making it feel so important.
Chelsea Green showed up to her women’s United States championship celebration dressed like the Statue of Liberty. There’s something especially incredible about that.
She then went on to say she has turned the “blue brand” into the “Green house.” She’s incredible.
She made like she was going to give credit to Piper Niven for standing by her side, and then thanked herself for always being there for, well, herself. She went on to say she would tell Michin she could do anything and be a champion like her one day but she’s Canadian and Canadian’s don’t lie.
That finally got plenty of boos from the live audience.
Finally, Michin made her presence felt with a kendo stick promising to whoop some ass. Naturally, Niven intercepted her on her way to the ring. She was taken out but Green had time to get out of dodge before Michin could take her head off.
She finished the segment screaming about it being her moment.
I absolutely love everything about Green as champion, and the title is perfect for giving time to feuds exactly like this. We can expect more TV time moving forward with three hours just around the corner.
That’s great for us!
All the rest
- Nia Jax maintained she did not touch Jade Cargill, and she even cast doubt on Bianca Belair doing so well in her absence. She took zero time replacing her with Naomi. In fact, maybe she’s just trying to avoid suspicion on herself! She doesn’t want to share the spotlight with someone bigger, stronger, and better! The women’s champion demanded Belair own up to the attack or she would make her. This is how they led into the already scheduled six-woman tag pitting Belair & Naomi & Bayley vs. Jax & Tiffany Stratton & Candice LeRae. If you’re wondering what happened here, you can imagine exactly what — Stratton teased yet another Money in the Bank contract cash-in, she was stopped yet again, and her team lost the match because of it. Stratton was openly saying she wants to be champion to LeRae, who stopped her. I’m begging for this to end much sooner rather than later.
- Sami Zayn came to the show this week asking Aldis to get some revenge on The Bloodline. When Carmelo Hayes showed up and interrupted their chat, Zayn changed his mind and asked for a match with the young upstart. It was actually a pretty good match, too, until Hayes decided to walk out and ran into a pissed off Braun Strowman. That’s when The Bloodline finally made their presence felt on this show, attacking Zayn from behind. Strowman decided to get involved by helping Sami, leading to a showdown with Solo Sikoa. Braun even got the better of it before he, too, got an electric staredown with Jacob Fatu. I swear Fatu has had a moment like that with half the roster, the guy just has too much aura. In the end, The Bloodline stood tall over everyone.
- Braun Strowman tore up the set of “The Grayson Waller Effect” last week, so he got to square up with Austin Theory this week. It was a babyface showcase, where he pretty much ran through the heels en route to a clean pinfall victory. The crowd seemed to be hot for it, so it worked well enough. Standard fare but sometimes in this industry that’s all you need.
- Pretty Deadly were eye witnesses to the attack on the Street Profits weeks ago, and they made like they were going to blame Johnny Gargano but instead said it was “Garza.” Naturally, Legado del Fantasma were just feet away, and a brawl broke out, leading to a match. Said match was a competitive affair, one that turned when Elektra Lopez got involved and found herself eating a flying front kick from B-Fab. That opened the door for Dawkins and Ford to score the pinfall victory off the Doomsday Blockbuster. Corey Graves said this “new aggressive attitude may be the missing ingredient!” Yeah, sure! Later, DIY confronted Pretty Deadly about lying for them, and they asked about a title match. DIY blew them off, instead saying they would watch their backs too. The silly Street Profits thanked Pretty Deadly before Apollo Crews showed up to say he also saw the attack and actually it was DIY. I don’t know what this was supposed to do for anyone but it didn’t work for me.
- Andrade pledged to come for Shinsuke Nakamura for taking his title opportunity. We learn right after that his promise will be fulfilled next week during the first three hour SmackDown.
Not the strongest effort from the blue brand but not a bad show by any means.
Grade: C+
Your turn.