WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 06/02
- Linus O'Howell
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Cody Rhodes Attacks Drew McIntyre, RHIYO VS Giulia and Kiana James: WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Drew McIntyre heading down to the ring, only to get attacked by Cody Rhodes on the entrance ramp! Cody then cut a promo on both Roman Reigns and CM Punk, before he got back to Drew about how nothing is going to be the same again! Rhodes finished off his promo by stating that he will make sure that McIntyre doesn’t even make it to WrestleMania, which I’m pretty sure is definitely a threat!
Grade: C+
After Kiana James continued to put over the quest of making her client a Triple Champion, Kiana headed down to the ring alongside Giulia to challenge RHIYO for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships in the opening match of the night! This match was alright; I enjoyed the interactions between Iyo Sky and Giulia, whilst Rhea Ripley and Kiana James also had some decent moments! This was a weird match in the sense that it never felt like we were going to see a Title change, and yet, it kind of would’ve made sense if we did! The storyline of making Giulia a Triple Champion is actually quite interesting, mainly because I don’t remember seeing this happen before, and I thought it would create a lot of good intrigue heading into at least the Elimination Chamber! Instead, a Riptide followed by an Over the Moonsault was enough for Ripley to pin the Women’s United States Champion to get the win, so there goes my excitement!
Grade: C+
Carmelo Hayes VS The Miz, Chelsea Green VS Lash Legend VS Tiffany Stratton: Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match, Kit Wilson Gets Destroyed!
Ilja Dragunov had intentions of answering the United States Championship Open Challenge, but The Miz informed Ilja that he’d already gotten the match made by Nick Aldis for him to face Carmelo Hayes next! Melo wasn’t impressed by this, so he decided to scrap the open challenge for the night for just a regular singles match! I thought this was quite unique, but it makes sense given The Miz hasn’t done anything to deserve a Title shot! Anyway, I thought the match itself was pretty decent, with the taken away stakes actually adding to this bout as it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see Miz win this match, given it wasn’t for anything! However, despite that, Carmelo Hayes was still by far the superior performer in this match, showing off his athleticism with an amazing counter of the Skull-Crushing Finale, before Hayes nailed Miz with a First-48 to get the win! Melo remains a perfect 6-0 in 2026!
Grade: C+
After Alba Fyre handed Tiffany Stratton some newspapers, Uncle Howdy confirmed that Solo Sikoa’s biggest fear is being left with nothing! Tiffany Stratton then returned to Friday Night SmackDown in a Triple Threat Match against both Lash Legend and Chelsea Green! This match was all about earning a spot in this year’s Women’s Elimination Chamber, a match that Tiffany kind of made a name for herself back in Perth two years ago! It was also interesting to me to have all three of these women in this match, given they all arguably deserve to be in Chicago in three weeks’ time! Unfortunately, though, the match itself wasn’t that great, with Legend, Stratton, and Green all being a little clunky around one another! Nia Jax wrecked Alba Fyre on the outside, but that couldn’t help her Tag Team partner, as eventually, Tiffy scored the win after nailing Chelsea with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever! This just didn’t work for me!
Grade: C-
After Aleister Black and Zelina sent a warning shot to Randy Orton, Kit Wilson came down to remind everyone about the toxic masculinity that we saw at the Royal Rumble last weekend! Kit went absolutely mad about some of the people in the ring, with the crowd playing along to his “toxic chants”, before Wilson challenged anyone from this weekend’s Royal Rumble Match to face him “like a man”! This didn’t age well for old Kit, as Oba Femi showed up and absolutely destroyed this fool in about 38 seconds to earn his first victory on the Main Roster! Damn, The Ruler is already taking over this whole company!
Grade: B
Shinsuke Nakamura VS Tama Tonga, Jade Cargill and Jordynne Grace VS The Judgment Day, Drew McIntyre Promo
R-Truth seemed to absolutely love Oba Femi, but the same couldn’t be said about Damian Priest’s feelings towards Drew McIntyre! Drew then headed down to the ring, only to get attacked by Jacob Fatu, meaning Nick Aldis had to have the same conversation with Fatu that he’d had with Cody Rhodes earlier in the night – “leave the building, and win your qualifying match for the Elimination Chamber next week”! Shinsuke Nakamura’s music then hit next as The King of Strong Style was set to go one-on-one with Tama Tonga! These two have known each other for a long time now, and it feels like they’ve been building a rivalry on WWE television for quite a few months, even if it only really became about them recently! This match was alright, with both Tonga Loa and JC Mateo making their presence at ringside known to Shinsuke, a situation that would eventually be the Japanese star’s downfall! After Tonga Loa tripped up Nakamura (whilst Mateo was distracting the referee), Tama Tonga delivered not 1, but 2 Cutthroats to get the win!
Grade: C+
Johnny Gargano appeared pretty lifeless backstage as a result of losing Axiom’s mask, with neither FRAXIOM nor the Motor City Machine Guns showing any sign of sympathy to the former Rebel Heart! RHIYO then realised that challengers are still very much coming their way in the form of Lash Legend and Nia Jax (as well as The Judgment Day), before Kit Wilson got mad at both Matt Cardona and Apollo Crews (what on earth?)! Nick Aldis then brought out the 2026 Women’s Royal Rumble Winner, Liv Morgan, to discuss her future plans regarding who she’s going to face at WrestleMania 42! Liv’s thoughts seemingly haven’t changed one bit from the promo she cut on Monday, with Raquel Rodriguez's attempts to bring issues up being halted by the arrival of Jade Cargill! This brought out Jordynne Grace, and all of this somehow led to a Tag Team match! Guess what? It didn’t really work! Jade and Jordynne teaming up makes literally no sense in the world, whilst Liv and Raquel are arguably the greatest Women’s Tag Team of all time in terms of accomplishments! However, that didn’t matter here as neither team showed any signs of being able to get along, with Jordynne taking advantage of Raquel staring down Jade to get a lacklustre roll-up win! Nobody came out of this looking better than before this show started, but at least JG will finally get her shot at the WWE Women’s Championship next week!
Grade: C-
After Trick Williams fired shots at both Rey Fenix and Sami Zayn, Drew McIntyre finally got to say his piece without being attacked! Drew wasn’t impressed with either CM Punk or Roman Reigns’ comments on Monday, with Drew making it clear that the Undisputed WWE Championship is the Number 1 Title in all of Professional Wrestling! McIntyre then continued by telling Roman that he’s smart to go after Punk instead of him, and he’ll be ready for whoever challenges him at WrestleMania! This brought out Trick Williams, who was set to watch the Main Event from ringside, but before that, Trick wanted to step up to the Champ, telling Drew that he’s coming for his Title at Mania! I don’t care what the current storylines are; I want this!
Grade: B
Men’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Solo Sikoa VS Aleister Black VS Randy Orton
And in the Main Event of this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Solo Sikoa, Aleister Black, and Randy Orton clashed in a Triple Threat to determine the first competitor in this year’s Men’s Elimination Chamber! This felt like a very one-sided matchup, with Randy Orton the clear star out of the three! Aleister Black is definitely talented, but he was never going to win this match, whilst it felt like Solo Sikoa was just going to get screwed over by The Wyatt Sick6! In fact, that didn’t happen, with Solo just losing to Orton clean following an RKO! I think next week’s qualifier should be a lot better!
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