WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 10/07
CM Punk Starts the Show, Finn Balor VS Tama Tonga
This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Nick Aldis returning to work as he confirmed that he’s back in charge of the show! Because of this, Aldis welcomed out CM Punk, a man who was in the mood to celebrate after becoming the brand-new Undisputed WWE Champion just days prior on Raw! Punk said that he’d been working hard to move to SmackDown for a while, and that Monday’s opportunity was just too good to turn down! CM Punk then listed a bunch of wrestlers that he’d like to face now he’s on SmackDown, from Finn Balor to Royce Keys, and even Damian Priest, whilst a name that wasn’t mentioned then interrupted in the form of Cody Rhodes! Whilst they’re good friends, both Punk and Rhodes are aware that they’ve been avoiding having this contest for years, with Cody wanting his shot at the Undisputed WWE Title (yet again)! CM Punk was happy with this, so Nick Aldis made the match for Summerslam! This didn’t need to be for the Title, but there you go!
Grade: C+
After Jade Cargill said that she’s going to hurt Alexa Bliss tonight, Finn Balor looked to get some payback on Tama Tonga in the opening match of the night! Finn and Tama have a lot of history together, with Tonga in particular wanting to leave the past in the past! I’ll be honest, I watched this match at 3am this morning, and I’ve had such a long day that I can’t really remember much of what happened! However, what I do remember is Balor kicking out of a Cutthroat/new move combo, which honestly felt kind of crazy for just a regular TV match! Eventually, Finn Balor would just win with a Coup de Grace, and whilst that result does make a lot of sense, I’m really not sure what we’re doing with the Tongans right now!
Grade: C+
Jimmy Uso VS Royce Keys, Alexa Bliss VS Jade Cargill, Trick Williams VS Carmelo Hayes
Carmelo Hayes directed some rather feisty words in the direction of Trick Williams and Lil Yachty, whilst FRAXIOM were delighted as R-Truth had to pay them a bunch of money due to some sort of World Cup bet! The War Raiders had once again had enough of Truth’s antics, whilst Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu were on the lookout for Solo Sikoa and Royce Keys! After Gunther told Nick Aldis that he had until the end of the night to “fix things” regarding Summerslam’s Undisputed WWE Championship clash, Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu’s attempt to call out Solo Sikoa just led to “Big Jim” facing Royce Keys! Interestingly, you can tell that Jacob doesn’t want to hurt Royce (given their history), with him leaving Jimmy to fight this battle alone! This meant that we actually got a decently competitive contest, with both men getting their shots in before Solo Sikoa arrived! Solo actually failed pretty miserably at trying to take Uso out, with Fatu returning to take Sikoa out! All of this distracted Royce Keys, opening the door for Jimmy Uso to get the win with a Spear, before all hell broke loose as Fatu would have to floor Keys before getting to Solo! Jacob actually could’ve wiped out Sikoa for good, but he instead held back, giving his former Tribal Chief one more opportunity to come back to the family!
Grade: B-
Candice LeRae wasn’t impressed with CM Punk ruining hope for the underdogs when he beat Sami Zayn this past Monday, whilst Punk gave both Candice and Johnny Gargano some good advice: “Go back to doing what you do best… wrestle”! Finn Balor also had a piece to say to the Undisputed WWE Champion, before Fatal Influence made it clear that they intend to leave Madison Square Garden next week as the brand-new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions! Alexa Bliss was then ready to go next as she went one-on-one with Jade Cargill! The premise of this match was that Jade was taking Alexa too lightly, that she was overlooking the fact that she’s a former 5-time Women’s Champion due to her focus being solely on Charlotte Flair! I actually thought that this was going to cost Cargill at one point, with there being a great near-fall via a roll-up, but eventually, a single Jaded was all that was needed for Cargill to put away Bliss! After the match was over, Jade Cargill viciously injured Alexa Bliss’ elbow, as Charlotte Flair was forced to watch in the arms of Michin and B-Fab!
Grade: C+
Trick Williams was perplexed at where his United States Championship had gone, with Lil Yachty revealing that he’d gotten Trick his own custom Title! This looks so silly, but I kind of like it! This then led nicely into the Main Event match of the night as Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes renewed their rivalry in non-Title action! I thought this was a pretty decent match, with Trick getting in most of the offense as Carmelo had to play the underdog Babyface role! It’s a weird dynamic in some ways, given how Hayes (in particular) was during their feud to NXT Stand and Deliver 2024, but I do feel like Melo plays that role well! In fact, after dealing with Lil Yachty on the outside, Melo actually looked set to win this match, only for a shocking return to take place as Baron Corbin attacked both Hayes and Williams to cause the match to have to end as a No Contest! I genuinely never saw this angle coming, so fair play to WWE! I rate Baron Corbin; I think he’s underrated, so it’s going to be interesting to see how he gets on this time around!
Grade: B-
Gunther Closes the Show
And in the final segment of this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Gunther came down to the ring to get an answer from Nick Aldis regarding his request to fix the match for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Summerslam! Surprisingly, Aldis was quite happy to give Gunther a match against both Punk and Rhodes, but it’s going to have to be in a tag match with Sami Zayn at next week’s Saturday Night’s Main Event at Madison Square Garden! Gunther seemed rightly angered by this, taking his frustrations out by choking out SmackDown GM Nick Aldis multiple times, with the show ending with Cody Rhodes running down to make the save! Firstly, where was Cody earlier?! Secondly, I thought this was a really well-done segment, even if Aldis VS Gunther is a bit of an odd choice for a Summerslam bout!
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