WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 02/05

Damian Priest VS LA Knight

Credit: WWE

After a back-and-forth promo segment, this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown properly kicked off with a match between Damian Priest and LA Knight! This match got plenty of time, it was a battle between two of the bigger-named players on Friday Night’s, and it was overall decent to watch. Unfortunately, throughout the entire contest, you were kind of just waiting for it to end in a Disqualification, and that’s exactly what happened as Solo Sikoa attacked Priest! Damian and LA then worked together to take down Solo, but they were then wiped out by Jacob Fatu for the second-straight week! A lot of big names in the United States Championship scene right now!

Grade: C+

FRAXIOM VS Pretty Deadly, Nia Jax Calls Out Tiffany Stratton, Alesteir Black VS The Miz

After a backstage segment between the two teams, it was time for a Tag Team match between FRAXIOM and Pretty Deadly! This was a match between my two favourite teams in the company, so it was cool to see in my eyes, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite go to plan. Elton Prince got massively busted open after Nathan Frazer delivered a standing shooting star press, and this clearly scuppered the rest of the action as FRAXIOM then hit their Tag Team finisher pretty quickly after to get the win! This was a shame!

Grade: C

B-Fab and Michin asked Nick Aldis about a potential shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships before a mourning Chelsea Green asked for a rematch for her Women’s United States Championship! Instead, Aldis told Green that Piper Niven would be facing Zelina Vega tonight! Nia Jax was then out next as she talked about her time at home, saying she is now more focused then ever to recapture the WWE Women’s Championship! This brought out Tiffany Stratton who said she would defend her Title against Nia at any time, but Naomi wasn’t impressed by this as she clearly has her eyes on the Title too! The same could also be said about Jade Cargill who went after Naomi, starting a brawl that Nick Aldis eventually stopped by announcing a Tag Team match for the Main Event!

Grade: C

Credit: Tuttowrestling

After Carmelo Hayes tried to hype up The Miz backstage, it was time for Alesteir Black to make his WWE in-ring return against The A-Lister! This was a pretty good match, definitely the best of the night, I’d forgotten just how good Alesteir Black is, like everything he does is always on point! The Miz did a great job here too when it came to selling Black’s strikes, but Alesteir just looked dominant throughout! Some of the knee strikes in particular were amazing, but in the end, it was a Blackmass from AB that ended the match before we got a cool stare-down between Black and Melo! This was a great way to return to in-ring action!

Grade: B

Zelina Vega VS Piper Niven, Randy Orton Promo, Rey Fenix VS Santos Escobar

Santos Escobar got into the ear of Rey Fenix which annoyed the newcomer before Zelina Vega went one-on-one with Piper Niven! This got better as it went on, it was a bit clunky to start with, but both women were able to find a decent rhythm towards the end! Chelsea Green was brilliant on the outside, her facial expressions are always on point, and the closing phases saw Zelina take advantage of a coming together between Chelsea and Piper to score the win! They need to change Vega’s entrance music, it’s absolutely atrocious!

Grade: C+

After Solo Sikoa’s words landed Jacob Fatu in a Fatal 4-Way for his United States Championship at Backlash, Randy Orton came down to the ring to cut a promo. Randy talked about how he’s always seen through the act that is John Cena, that Cena just wants everyone to love him, but the respect is well and truly gone after John’s threat to end erase the Orton legacy! There really wasn’t much to this promo, it should be better next week when Cena returns!

Grade: C

After R-Truth told Randy Orton that he’s going to lose to John Cena at Backlash, it was time for the final singles match of the night as Rey Fenix clashed with Santos Escobar! This actually started off quite an aggressive bout, with both men swinging at each as Santos verbally tried to get into the head of Rey Fenix! However, it never quite worked for The Emperor of Lucha Libre as Fenix clearly didn’t believe in what Escobar was saying, and in the end, it was Rey who picked up the win following a wicked Meteora to his fellow Luchador!

Grade: B-

Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill VS Nia Jax and Naomi

After Jade Cargill made it clear that she wants the WWE Women’s Championship (and a segment between Legado Del Fantasma and Andrade), Jade and Tiffany Stratton were forced to team up to take on the duo of Nia Jax and Naomi! This honestly wasn’t that interesting, I thought Nia Jax did a good job as always, and I will say that the new presentation of Naomi is definitely far better than her previous gimmick! However, the actual in-ring action wasn’t that great, and it ended with Jade Cargill pinning Nia Jax which is a bit odd! Also, after the match, Cargill just put the WWE Women’s Title on her shoulder, and that’s just very strange behaviour!

Grade: C