WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 05/06

Linus O'Howell
Jun 6
6 min read

Gunther Starts the Show, Bayley VS Jacy Jayne VS Raquel Rodriguez VS Kiana James: Queen of the Ring Tournament (Round 1)

This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, live from Bologna, Italy, kicked off with an irate Gunther going absolutely mental over being screwed over at Clash in Italy! Gunther was right to be furious after the referee failed to spot the fact that his foot was under the bottom rope, leading to Cody Rhodes successfully retaining his Undisputed WWE Championship! Amazingly, Cody actually agreed with The Ring General, offering a rematch tonight, but this is when Sami Zayn interrupted to quite the reception from his “Ride or Die” fans in Italy! Sami was right to point out that Cody had said that he was going to teach him a lesson after he’s beaten Gunther, but clearly Rhodes isn’t done with the Austrian yet! Speaking of, all of this just annoyed Gunther, leading to him attempting to wipe both men out, but unlike a few weeks ago, Zayn did at least attempt to make the save here! However, it didn’t exactly work out that well for Sami Zayn, with Sami storming off to end the segment! A Triple Threat at Night of Champions?

Grade: C+

The Miz was on the phone with Kit Wilson before he attempted to destroy Danhausen’s lab! Danhausen warned The Miz of what would happen, but Miz didn’t listen, leading to him getting electrocuted! Gunther was then losing his mind again, this time at Nick Aldis for the constant amount of disrespect, before we went into the opening match of the night as Bayley, Raquel Rodriguez, Kiana James, and Jacy Jayne all clashed in an opening round match of the 2026 Queen of the Ring Tournament! With this match taking place in Italy, it allowed for a much better atmosphere than what we would’ve gotten had this match taken place in America! Bayley was the absolute favourite here; no surprise given the love she receives throughout Europe, but it was also nice to see the crowd chanting for Jacy Jayne! That’s because a lot of European Wrestling fans watch more than just Main Roster WWE, so they appreciate Jayne’s run as the NXT Women’s (and potentially even the TNA Knockouts World) Champion! I honestly thought that Jayne was going to win here, given she should be racking up victories right now, but that didn’t happen! Instead, it was actually Raquel Rodriguez who managed to score the win after dropping Kiana James with a Tejada Bomb, which I assume was done to keep the whole Judgement Day storyline going! Speaking of Kiana James, there was an incident during the match which saw her get very frustrated with Giulia post-match, an altercation that led to The Beautiful Madness flooring her (now) former business associate! Given where this show was filmed, it’s hard to tell whether this will actually help Giulia finally get over in the long term!

Grade: C+

Royce Keys VS Talla Tonga, Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair VS Jade Cargill and Michin

Sami Zayn was once again chatting to a broken Johnny Gargano, before Nick Aldis told Sami to stay out of Cody Rhodes and Gunther’s business! Zayn then wanted to have a chat with Aldis, but the SmackDown General Manager revealed that he already had a meeting planned! That meeting was with none other than Chad Gable (YES)! Royce Keys was then out next as he was set to take on Talla Tonga of the MFTs! I can’t lie; I struggled to get into this match; I didn’t find it to be particularly engaging at all! I’m not sure that this storyline is working either; Keys clearly has no interest in joining forces with Solo Sikoa, but WWE seemingly has more interest in telling this story rather than paying off the long-term storyline between Solo and Tama Tonga! Instead, Sikoa and Tama just pulled out the usual Bloodline interference, opening the door for Talla Tonga to hit the T-Bone Chokeslam to get the win! After the match was over, the MFTs continued their beatdown on Royce Keys, leading to R-Truth running down to make the save, only for Damian Priest to save him! I’m glad that Priest didn’t get into the ring to help Keys out; why would he?!

Grade: C

Liv Morgan is still adamant that she and Dominik Mysterio are going to be King and Queen of the Ring together, but Liv keeps forgetting that Raquel Rodriguez also has her eyes on the crown! Finn Balor then got a video promo ahead of his return to Friday Night SmackDown next week, before Damian Priest made it clear to R-Truth that he’s only here to help him, not anyone else! After Priest left, The War Raiders approached Truth, potentially setting up a future Champions VS Champions match (which would be quite cool)! Rhea Ripley was then out next to cut a promo about her successful Title defence over Jade Cargill at Clash in Italy, and how that chapter is over! This brought out Charlotte Flair, who stated that whilst she’s enjoyed hanging out with Rhea over recent weeks, she will be coming after the WWE Women’s Championship once she wins the Queen of the Ring Tournament! Tiffany Stratton also seemingly has her eyes set on taking back the WWE Women’s Title, whilst Jade Cargill, Michin, and B-Fab all then arrived to cut a pointless promo that set up a Tag Team match against Charlotte and Tiffany! Why do we keep getting constant Women’s Tag Team matches? They’re almost never good! All this segment/match showed me is just how far down the pecking order that Tiffany Stratton has fallen; she was the star at the start of 2025, and yet she felt like nothing in any of this, despite being the reigning Women’s United States Champion! Like always, Jade Cargill beat Stratton, and that’s honestly all I have to say about this!

Grade: C

Carmelo Hayes VS Ricky Saints, Chelsea Green VS Lash Legend

Jacy Jayne was furious over not progressing in the Queen of the Ring Tournament, but she made up for it by getting Fatal Influence to floor Brie Bella and Paige, the reigning WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions! Royce Keys then told R-Truth that as much as he likes him, a problem is coming Damian Priest’s way if things remain how they are, before Carmelo Hayes and Ricky Saints met in the ring for the third time in the space of a month! I like both of these guys, particularly Carmelo Hayes, but I’m going to have to start bringing up the fact that doing the same matches over and over again gets boring after a while! Now, I’m not at all saying that the actual wrestling was boring; these two have great chemistry together, but there are other guys that Saints or Hayes could face! Anyway, it looks like we’ll be getting this match again soon after Ricky stole the victory by holding Melo’s tights, but that has to be the last match!

Grade: B-

Trick Williams has his sights set firmly on matching Booker T by becoming King of the Ring, but someone who clearly won’t allow this to happen is Bron Breakker! This was cool! Tiffany Stratton then rejected Chelsea Green’s offer to join her at ringside, whilst Blake Monroe’s next journal was about the current Women’s United States Champion! Chelsea Green was then forced to head down to the ring alone as she went one-on-one with Lash Legend! Unlike for Chelsea, Lash was accompanied by Nia Jax, and as expected, Jax would get involved on multiple occasions! I do feel like Chelsea Green as a Babyface can work, but she needs to be fighting performers of higher quality and experience! Unlike last week, Green wasn’t able to come out victorious, with Legend dropping Chelsea with the Lash Extension to score the 3 count!

Grade: C

King of the Ring Tournament (Round 1): Bron Breakker VS Damian Priest VS Dominik Mysterio VS Trick Williams

After Solo Sikoa reminded Royce Keys of what he’s done for others, Chad Gable apologised to Rey Fenix, and Cody Rhodes said he’ll face Gunther in two weeks' time, it was Main Event time as Bron Breakker, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, and Trick Williams clashed in an all-Champions King of the Ring First Round matchup! The fact that all four of these men came out wearing Championship Titles is absolutely incredible; they’re all former World Champions in one way or another, and it made this match feel even bigger! The hype was definitely surrounding Bron Breakker VS Trick Williams, but honestly, Breakker was struggling a lot here! Having said that, though, Bron would put Trick through the announce table in the spot of the match! This left a Judgment Day reunion between Dominik and Damian, with Liv Morgan proving crucial, opening the door for Mysterio to deliver a 619/Frog Splash combo to Priest to advance to the Semi-Finals! “Dirty” Dom will now meet Oba Femi in a couple of weeks’ time, which is going to be incredible!