WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 04/09

Gunther Starts the Show, Fatal Influence VS Charlotte Flair and Tatum Paxley

After a recap of the ending to last week’s show, this week’s edition of NXT kicked off with Gunther quickly calling out Sami Zayn after his actions last week! Sami would then appear in the crowd, stating that no one will get anything until he gets his rematch for the Undisputed WWE Championship! Gunther then had plans to meet Sami in the crowd, only for Finn Balor to get there first, before Zayn would be forced to run off once Kevin Owens arrived! Backstage, CM Punk was watching on as Nick Aldis told him that he needs a new challenger! Punk would then try to fire up Johnny Gargano, which amazingly worked, as Gargano stood up for the first time in 7 months (outside of NXT) to accept a WWE Championship opportunity! In fairness, SmackDown’s Main Event scene is stacked!

Grade: B-

To Charlotte Flair’s dismay, Alexa Bliss wasn’t in her gear as Flair was forced to team up with Tatum Paxley to take on Fatal Influence in the opening match of the night! In fairness, Charlotte and Tatum worked well together, but we have to mention the fact that Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid are the reigning WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, so they shouldn’t be losing to a makeshift team! So, that’s exactly what happened as Flair and Paxley scored the win before Jade Cargill, B-Fab, and Michin attacked from behind! I couldn’t care less about the 6-Woman Tag that’s taking place at Sunday Night’s Main Event; this entire feud needs to end!

Grade: C-

Chelsea Green Gets Her Answer, Nia Jax VS Tiffany Stratton, Bakusai VS The Miz and Kit Wilson

Nikki Bella and Paige got into a heated war of words backstage, whilst Gunther’s request for Nick Aldis to treat him better got interrupted by Danhausen! Aldis would then make his way down to the ring with a doctor as they needed to be transparent about Chelsea Green’s current condition! Chelsea wasn’t interested in doing this all over again, so the doctor made it clear that as long as she wears her protective mask at all times, she is cleared to compete! The Irresistible Forces would then storm their way down to the ring as they’ve been waiting to get their hands on the WWE Women’s Champion! Instead, Tiffany Stratton ran down to even the odds, with Aldis happy to book a match between the two former partners (in Jax and Stratton)! This match wasn’t good in the slightest; there was literally zero momentum throughout, and it's honestly kind of sad given that Nia and Tiffany were pretty good together in 2024! After interference from Lash Legend, Nia Jax was able to take advantage, nailing Tiffy with an Annihilator to get the win! This was painful!

Grade: D

Credit: WWE

Whilst Kevin Owens is happy for Johnny Gargano, he knows what CM Punk is doing before Bakusai made their Tag Team debut against The Miz and Kit Wilson! Firstly, it was nice to see The Miz and Kit back wrestling again; they’ve been wasted for months, whilst it’s always good to see Shinsuke on TV! For Kyoki, I thought this was a pretty good debut; he seems pretty entertaining, and that will get him far in WWE! Bakusai are definitely a team capable of going on to win the WWE Tag Team Championships, which was made clear with a debut victory that was followed by an appearance from MFT! A good debut!

Grade: B-

Undisputed WWE Championship: CM Punk VS Johnny Gargano

After a hype promo between The War Raiders and the team of Damian Priest and R-Truth, and Giulia once again attacked Blake Monroe, the Main Event of this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown saw Johnny Gargano return home as he went one-on-one with CM Punk for the Undisputed WWE Championship! Before his entrance, Sami Zayn told Johnny Gargano to take advantage of any openings that he got, which basically meant that Sami was going to come down to the ring to help his friend! Candice LeRae would then follow up a distraction with a wonderful hurricanrana to Punk, with Gargano delivering One Final Beat for a near-fall, before Kevin Owens, Gunther, and Finn Balor all appeared to cause chaos on the outside! Zayn would stand tall out of all of them, wrecking Punk with the WWE Title as Gargano came within a whisker of becoming World Champion! Nick Aldis would then arrive to chuck both Sami and Candice out, with CM Punk quickly delivering a GTS to retain his Championship! After the match was over, Punk agreed to face Sami Zayn for the Title in Mexico City last week, and my overall thoughts about this Main Event are: why have we had Johnny Gargano lying down for 6 months?! He’s Johnny “Freakin’” Wrestling for a reason!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B