WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 12/12

Oba Femi Interrupts Cody Rhodes, Ilja Dragunov VS Tommaso Ciampa: United States Championship Open Challenge

After Nick Aldis invited Drew McIntyre to SmackDown to try and sort out their issues, Cody Rhodes stormed down to the ring to talk about his dislike towards Drew, stating that if he was in charge, he would fire McIntyre! This is when Oba Femi’s music hit, as the reigning 2-time NXT Champion made his presence known by warning Rhodes that he is focusing on the wrong man! Oba was clearly as fired up as always, stating that the future is indeed the now, and Femi ended his promo by saying that Cody Rhodes’ time is up, and The Ruler’s time is now! I believe this is genuinely the first time that Oba Femi has appeared on Main Roster TV, and this was a pretty strong way to introduce him to those who don’t follow/watch NXT!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B

Credit: WWE

Despite being offered backup by FRAXIOM, Ilja Dragunov swore to go at it alone as Tommaso Ciampa finally challenged The Mad Dragon to a match for the United States Championship! I honestly think this was the best match of Ilja’s Champion reign to date, and that’s saying a lot given he’s had a lot of strong matches since he returned a couple of months ago! I just think both Ilja and Tommaso are such strong strikers, and their selling for their opponents is top draw! We’ve waited a long time for this match; these two never quite crossed paths in NXT, but it was well worth the wait for what we got here! As always, Dragunov managed to bust himself open, and unlike previous US Championship matches, we could actually buy into the challenger beating the Champion! See, after Johnny Gargano distracted the referee, Candice LeRae took out Ilja Dragunov, allowing Ciampa to come oh so close to stealing the Title! Ultimately, it wasn’t meant to be for The Blackheart as Dragunov managed to sneak a roll-up victory to retain his United States Championship, before Carmelo Hayes ran down to make the save! A really great opening contest!

Grade: A-

The Wyatt Sick6 Speak, Alexa Bliss VS Lash Legend

Je’Von Evans seemed way too happy for a guy who was screwed out of winning the NXT Championship on Tuesday, but he found himself with another opponent after a backstage interaction with The Miz! The Wyatt Sick6 then came down to the ring as Uncle Howdy wanted to cut a promo on Solo Sikoa, stating that he uses the MFT’s for his own personal gain (which is exactly how Roman Reigns treated Solo years ago)! Sikoa then appeared on the screen, making it clear that his family tree are coming to take the WWE Tag Team Championships off Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis, and I guess we’ll just have to wait and see as to whether that happens or not! I’m not sure Bo Dallas’ promo was very good, but Solo did manage to save the segment a little!

Grade: C

After the likes of Tom Brady and Snoop Dogg wished good luck to John Cena ahead of his Retirement Match, Alexa Bliss headed down to the ring to try and get one over on Lash Legend! Both Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax were watching on from ringside, with Jax sticking her nose into Alexa’s business on multiple occasions, leaving Flair to have to deal with her! This match was alright; the size difference between Bliss and Legend is absolutely insane, but I think it worked well overall. Eventually, after flooring Charlotte, Lash Legend was able to drop Alexa with a Lash Extension to get the win, and I can see very big things in the future of The Boujee Bully!

Grade: C+

Je’Von Evans VS The Miz, Jade Cargill VS Michin

Aleister Black and Zelina seemed more than happy to punish Rhea Ripley for realigning herself with Damian Priest, before Je’Von Evans was ready for his third big match in the space of a week as he went one-on-one with The Miz! The Miz set his sights firmly on injuring Je’Von, with his belief that if Evans was injured and unable to compete, he would get a spot on Saturday Night’s Main Event! Of course, that is a floored plan for many different reasons, and one of those is the fact that Miz simply wasn’t able to keep up with Evans’ burst of speed! Rightfully so, Je’Von Evans scored the win after nailing Miz with an O.G. Cutter, but I get the feeling the result won’t be the same for The Young O.G. against AJ Styles and Dragon Lee tonight!

Grade: B-

After Nia Jax and Lash Legend warned Rhea Ripley that they’d be the ones taking the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships next, not RHIYO, Michin headed down to the ring, only to get attacked by Jade Cargill in gorilla! Jade was then in the middle of cutting a promo about how great she is before Michin returned to try and get revenge on her former friend, only for Cargill to floor her to stand tall! We didn’t even get a match between Jade and Mia Yim, so I’m not sure why this was even here!

Grade: C-

Aleister Black and Zelina Vega VS The Terror Twins

Credit: WWE

And in the Main Event of the final Friday Night SmackDown before Saturday Night’s Main Event, Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest reunited as The Terror Twins to try and take down the recent force that has been Aleister Black and Zelina! Unfortunately, this match was a bit of a mess, with Zelina all over the place throughout, missing many of her moments! It’s weird because Zelina and Rhea have a lot of history together, but nothing clicked here! It was also probably a mistake to have them both in the ring as long as they did; Aleister and Damian both should’ve been used a lot more, but for some reason, they weren’t! Anyway, after Priest dealt with Black (via a Razor’s Edge), Ripley was able to floor Vega with a Riptide to score the win, but I’m really not sure that any of this was a good idea anyway, let alone with how the match went!

Grade: C-