WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 01/05
- Linus O'Howell
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Cody Rhodes Starts the Show, Charlotte Flair VS Jacy Jayne
This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Cody Rhodes coming down to the ring to announce that he is now officially medically cleared to compete! That only leaves the question of who’s going to challenge Cody, a call that was answered by none other than “Absolute” Ricky Saints! Ricky fired off on Cody, reciting their past whilst also renaming SmackDown to “Friday Night Saints” (which actually works really well!) Cody then asked Ricky what the difference is between the two of them, which led to Saints saying that this version of The American Nightmare isn’t the same as the one he knew! All of this eventually led to a match being set up for later in the show, and I liked this a lot; I said it on NXT, and I’ll say it again here, Ricky Saints can do great things on SmackDown!
Grade: B
After Charlotte Flair rejected Rhea Ripley’s offer to even the odds, Charlotte headed down to the ring to face Jacy Jayne in the opening match of the night! It’s crazy to think of the names that Jacy Jayne has already gotten herself involved with since her Main Roster debut last week, but it’s maybe even crazier that she doesn’t feel out of place! When I say that, I’m talking about the Jacy Jayne from a few years ago, as NXT and TNA Knockouts World Champion Jacy Jayne has been killing it over the past 12 months! As expected, Fatal Influence got involved, resulting in Alexa Bliss having to try and take on both Fallon Henley and Laieny Reid! However, to my surprise, this match didn’t end in a DQ, as Jayne took advantage, nailing Flair with the Rolling Encore to get the win! After the match was over, Fatal Influence continued their onslaught post-match, leading to Rhea Ripley running down to make the save! Jacy beating Charlotte is a big deal!
Grade: B-
WWE Tag Team Championships: Damian Priest and R-Truth VS FRAXIOM, The Usos Interrupt Solo Sikoa, Cody Rhodes VS Ricky Saints
Brie Bella and Paige are keeping their eyes on Fatal Influence whilst also preparing for The Irresistible Forces, whilst Damian Priest gave FRAXIOM a shot at the WWE Tag Team Championships! Before that, though, Kit Wilson’s master plan to trap Danhausen just resulted in The Miz losing 40,000 dollars, before we got the WWE Tag Team Title match between Damian Priest and R-Truth VS FRAXIOM! FRAXIOM should be the type of team holding Championship Gold; they’re incredibly talented, and it’s kind of silly to me that they would lose to a team like R-Truth and Damian Priest! However, what I did like about this match was that Priest was presented like the beast that he was for a while, running through both Axiom and Nathan Frazer to earn the win for his team! After the match was over, both teams got laid out by Talla Tonga (and Solo Sikoa)!
Grade: C+
After the ad break, Solo Sikoa and Talla Tonga were still in the ring, with Solo set to cut a promo about Jacob Fatu! Solo brought up the fact that Jacob has taken out all of his MFTs (besides Talla Tonga), which means he’s going to drop him on site when he sees him next! This then brought out The Usos, who weren’t happy with this at all due to the fact that Roman Reigns wants to get his hands on Jacob at Backlash! Jey Uso then made it clear to Sikoa that they weren’t asking him, that they’re telling him that he needs to wait, resulting in Tonga taking both of them out! Solo Sikoa then told The Usos to send Roman Reigns a message that he’s not his Tribal Chief, and that his family tree doesn’t take orders from Roman! I liked Solo in this segment!
Grade: C+
After Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn had another tense backstage conversation, Cody headed down to the ring to take on a debuting Ricky Saints! Two years ago, Carmelo Hayes made his Main Roster debut against Cody Rhodes, so it’s interesting that Ricky Saints has done the same thing, especially given the history between Saints and Rhodes! This match was pretty decent, both guys are talented, and I actually quite like it when Cody wrestles different names on SmackDown! Unfortunately, it was pretty obvious that The American Nightmare was going to win here, but that doesn’t hurt Ricky in my opinion, as he sold the eventual Cross Rhodes perfectly! Interestingly, after the match was over, Gunther arrived, choking out Cody to send a message to the Undisputed WWE Champion! Give Gunther the belt!
Grade: B-
The Miz Makes His Choice, Royce Keys VS Angel
Danhausen was then out next to send out free t-shirts for the Fanhausens in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before The Miz interrupted to state that he’s finally accepted that he is indeed cursed! Because of this, The Miz will mentor Danhausen, something the crowd were well behind, but Kit Wilson was not! Kit came out and pleaded with Miz to give them a chance, with a pretty good poem to boot, leading to The A-Lister having to decide which superstar to shake hands with! Interestingly, The Miz chose Danhausen, only to attack him from behind, with a beatdown followed up by Miz and Kit to stand tall! This was such a silly segment, but it worked!
Grade: B-
Los Garza’s run of having to put others over continued as Angel went one-on-one with Royce Keys! This match really didn’t go very long, with Keys destroying Angel before he eventually won with the “Ultimate Spinebuster”! I literally have nothing to say about this other than the top-rope slam move that Royce delivered was pretty awesome, but I’m not sure that this is helping Keys get over!
Grade: C
Sami Zayn Attacks The Gingerbread Man, Brie Bella and Paige VS The Irresistible Forces: WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
Chelsea Green wanted to celebrate Tiffany Stratton’s Birthday, but Tiffany wasn’t into that at all! Giulia then wanted a rematch for the Women’s United States Championship, but Stratton instead decided to give that opportunity to Kiana James (next week)! Royce Keys then did a good job of reminding Jacob Fatu of who he is, only for Solo Sikoa and Talla Tonga to wipe both of them out! We then headed back to the ring to see The Gingerbread Man costume in the middle of the ring, as Sami Zayn came down to cut a promo about how he doesn’t appreciate the disrespect that he’s been shown over recent weeks! Sami still doesn’t understand why the crowd have turned against him, but he clearly blames it on The Gingerbread Man as he decided to attack him! Zayn then continued his onslaught, leading to Trick Williams running down to make the save! This is the most bizarre segment I’ve seen in a long time: was this Trick’s official Babyface turn? What!
Grade: C
The Irresistible Forces are firmly focused on recapturing their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, blaming a replacement as the reason that they lost them in the first place, before Trick Williams announced a rematch against Sami Zayn due to the death of The Gingerbread Man! What?! Brie Bella and Paige were then ready to put their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against The Irresistible Forces! I didn’t enjoy this match at all; the Women’s Tag Team scene has fallen off again, and I can’t believe that I’m watching Brie Bella in 2026! I also thought the ending was kind of lacklustre, with the referee getting distracted by Lash Legend, only for Paige to get the advantage by cheating, opening the door for Bella to steal the win over Nia Jax! This was easily the worst thing on this show!
Grade: D
The Usos VS MFT
After Sami Zayn lost his mind over an announcement of The Gingerbread Man getting a Funeral next week, and Nick Aldis telling Danhausen that he can have a match with The Miz and Kit Wilson at Backlash if he finds a Tag Team partner, before it was finally Main Event time as The Usos took on MFT! Solo Sikoa clearly was telling the truth about the rest of his family being taken out, as Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and JC Mateo were all missing! This match also wasn’t the best, either, with not a lot happening before Jacob Fatu arrived to cause the DQ! What I did like, though, was Solo Sikoa’s acting towards Jacob, with Sikoa realising that Fatu was ready to take him out! Fatu then followed that up by putting Talla Tonga through the announce table, before he gave The Usos a message to take back to their Tribal Chief! Some parts of this week’s SmackDown was good, but others were very questionable!
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