WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 12/09

Brock Lesnar Starts the Show, Sami Zayn VS Rey Fenix: United States Championship Open Challenge

Brock Lesnar made his return to Friday Night SmackDown to start this week’s show, but he didn’t get to say anything before being interrupted by R-Truth! Truth kept telling Brock that he was there to defend his “brother” John Cena, whilst Brock said he didn’t even know who he was! Lesnar then dropped Truth with an F5 to end the segment, and my goodness me, what a waste of time this was!

Grade: D

After Solo Sikoa said more sacrifices will be made in order for him and his Family Tree to recapture Championship Gold before Sami Zayn faced Rey Fenix in a United States Championship Open Challenge! Whilst it wasn’t exactly an open challenge as Sami had picked his opponent, it didn’t really matter as this match was great! Like genuinely, this was really, really good! Both guys are super talented; I’m always impressed by Rey Fenix’s ability, and Sami is great at what he does! Whilst you knew what the inevitable outcome would be, it didn’t take away from the close near-falls, particularly the one following a Blue Thunder Bomb (where Fenix managed to only get one shoulder up)! In the end, Zayn was able to put Fenix away with a Helluva Kick, and this was honestly the only reason to watch SmackDown this week!

Grade: B+

Giulia VS B-Fab, Tiffany Stratton VS Jade Cargill: WWE Women’s Championship

Kiana James got in the face of B-Fab, resulting in a match being made between B-Fab and Giulia before The Wyatt Sick6 sowed more seeds of descension between The Street Profits! We were then meant to get that singles match between Giulia and B-Fab, but it didn’t exactly happen as Giulia and Kiana James attacked B-Fab before the match even began! Michin then ran down to make the save, I’m assuming to set up a Tag Team match for next week!

Grade: C-

Credit: Features of Wrestling

Aleister Black cut another eerie promo on Damian Priest before Tiffany Stratton put her WWE Women’s Championship on the line against Jade Cargill! Whilst this match started off a little scrappy, it did get better as it went along, and it ultimately resulted in being a pretty decent match! It was certainly better than their Summerslam contest, but unlike at the biggest show of the summer, this match didn’t have a clean winner as the referee counted both women out after Cargill sent Stratton crashing through the barricade! After the match was over, Nia Jax came out and destroyed both women, nailing Tiffany with an Annihilator to make it clear that she still has Championship intentions! Why?!

Grade: B-

Chelsea Green was pleased with Nick Aldis for agreeing to give The Secret Hervice a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships before The Miz had the same enthusiasm as he’d assumed that Carmelo Hayes had gotten them a shot at the WWE Tag Team Championships! However, after a Brock Lesnar-John Cena video package, Melo made it clear that his eyes are set firmly on Sami Zayn and the United States Championship, and all I’ll say is Hayes has to win that Title (at some point)!

Drew McIntyre VS Randy Orton

Credit: WWE

In the Main Event of this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Drew McIntyre looked to get his anger out as he went one-on-one with Randy Orton! This was a decent match, pretty standard stuff, but I struggle to get invested in watching these two as they’ve been facing each other for years now! Both guys nailed one another with their finishing move, but neither could take advantage by covering their opponent! Towards the end of the match, Randy Orton wanted to deliver a Punt to Drew, but the referee stopped him, opening the door for McIntyre to deliver another Claymore to get the win! After the match was over, Cody Rhodes made his return to SmackDown by dropping Drew McIntyre with a Cody Cutter! Cody then challenged Drew to a match at Wrestlepalooza, so I really hope McIntyre wins the WWE Title there!

Grade: C+