WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 02/10
Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Candice LeRae VS Tatum Paxley VS Tiffany Stratton
Shockingly, this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown actually started with a match as Candice LeRae, Tatum Paxley, and Tiffany Stratton collided in a Triple Threat match to determine the final competitor in this year’s Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match! I thought this match had a really good rhythm to it; the pace was strong, and there’s no doubt that all three women can go! You could also make valid arguments for why all three women should win: Candice is an incredibly safe pair of hands, Tatum would add to the NXT feel, whilst Tiffany has a storyline developing with Chelsea Green! In the end, WWE decided to go in the direction of Stratton, with Tiffy hitting a Prettiest Moonsault Ever to pin LeRae! It’s actually kind of crazy that Tiffany Stratton is the most experienced woman (Main Roster-wise) in the MITB Ladder Match, given the fact that she was NXT Women’s Champion back in 2023!
Grade: B-
Rey Fenix and FRAXIOM VS Ricky Saints and The War Raiders, Sami Zayn Gets Interrupted, Blake Monroe VS Giulia
Chelsea Green is very pleased for her friend Tiffany Stratton, whilst Nikki Bella is still gunning for the WWE Women’s Championship! Paige also has unfinished business with Bella (please make it stop), before we went into a rather random 6-Man Tag Team match as Rey Fenix teamed up with FRAXIOM to take on the odd pairing of Ricky Saints and The War Raiders! Now, this was set up in a digital exclusive last week, and I quite like the fact that Erik and Ivar also don’t like Ricky Saints; I much prefer it when Heels don’t just like each other because they’re all supposed to be evil! I’m also never going to complain when FRAXIOM get used; they’re far too good to not feature on Main Roster programming regularly, so I will say that this was fairly successful! In fact, Saints actually pinned Fenix with the Rochambeau, seemingly setting up a future AAA World Cruiserweight Championship bout!
Grade: B-
Cody Rhodes is eager to win Money in the Bank, whilst Trick Williams warned The American Nightmare that whatever the outcome is tonight, Trick will be leaving New Orleans as Mr. MITB! Charlotte Flair would then give Tatum Paxley a pink cap after she said that they’ll be going after Fatal Influence’s WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships next week, before Sami Zayn came down to the ring to talk about respect! As the Undisputed WWE Champion, you should be receiving respect from everyone, and yet, Sami Zayn doesn’t receive respect from anyone! In fact, Sami was proven right as Je’Von Evans interrupted to state that when he becomes the youngest Mr. Money in the Bank in WWE history, he may well reappear on SmackDown to cash in on Zayn! Penta would then arrive to basically say the same thing, whilst Trick Williams would eventually show up to renew his rivalry with “The Gingerbread Man”! Trick believes that he is the only person in the ring fitting of winning something like MITB, and all of this just set Zayn off as he believes that nobody deserves to be in the same ring as him! Zayn would then leave, only to come face-to-face with Finn Balor, as Gunther wiped them both out! I thought this was a pretty good segment; both Sami and Trick were very strong on the mic!
Grade: B-
Lash Legend plans on scuppering the plans of Chelsea Green and Tiffany Stratton, whilst Gunther has absolutely had enough of Danhausen! Thankfully, we finally got the Main Roster in-ring debut of Blake Monroe, as The Glamour went one-on-one with Giulia! It baffles me how you can call someone up from NXT due to the good work that they’re doing, only to not use them and then change their presentation! Yes, Blake still comes across as somewhat of a throwback movie star, but her titantron has completely changed, whilst she’s lost the mirror as part of her entrance! Why would you do that? Also, WWE still aren’t doing anything right by Giulia, who continues to get left behind as all of the other NXT women continue to flourish (minus Monroe)! Eventually, Blake Monroe would score the win after knocking out The Beautiful Madness, but honestly, this is such poor booking all-around!
Grade: D
Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Cody Rhodes VS Kevin Owens VS Johnny Gargano
After Sami Zayn made an excuse about how Nick Aldis said he’d be in big trouble if he ruined the Main Event, Johnny Gargano had to go it “alone” in the Main Event of this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown as he faced Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens in a Triple Threat match for the final spot at Money in the Bank! This was another match that was done well; besides the Guilia-Monroe match, everything on this show worked pretty seamlessly! Johnny Gargano truly is an excellent wrestler, whilst Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes always work well together! It’s ironic that those two faced off here, given how WWE continues to tell us that Cody is unable to pull the trigger, but maybe that’s what played into this! Even though Sami was “told” not to get involved, that didn’t stop Randy Orton, as The Viper cost Rhodes on multiple occasions! In fact, Cody even considered going for the Punt at one point, only to get taken out by Gargano, whilst KO would eventually win this match with a Pop-Up Powerbomb onto Johnny Wrestling! As much as I wanted Johnny to win here, having Owens in the Ladder Match with CM Punk makes sense!
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