WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 18/09
Sami Zayn’s Championship Celebration, Trick Williams VS Rey Fenix VS Randy Orton: Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Nick Aldis welcoming out the brand-new Undisputed WWE Champion, Sami Zayn! Sami wanted to celebrate his accomplishments, but neither Nick nor the crowd were particularly welcoming to him! Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae would then arrive with ulterior motives than what Sami first thought, as Gargano reminded Zayn that he promised him a Title shot if he was able to beat CM Punk (which he did)! Whilst Sami started his response by saying that he never promised anything, he was quickly able to deflect as Aldis said that he makes the matches! Kevin Owens would then arrive to floor Johnny with a Stunner, believing that he’s the one who deserves a World Championship opportunity! Once again, Aldis would say no, only for KO to bring up some good points before Zayn grabbed Nick’s jacket, resulting in the SmackDown General Manager booking an Undisputed WWE Title match for the show’s Main Event! Poor Sami!
Grade: B-
Things would only get worse for Sami Zayn as Randy Orton arrived ahead of the opening match of the night as The Viper faced both Trick Williams and Rey Fenix in a Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match! My first thought about this match is: when is Rey Fenix going to get a week off? This guy wrestles at least twice a week! Anyway, we had two Champions in this match, and Randy Orton, so there was quality throughout! Even Lil Yachty took a bump, with Orton dropping him on the announce table, whilst Randy would also catch Fenix with an epic mid-air RKO! However, Trick Williams would then send Orton crashing to the outside, taking advantage as he stole the pin on Fenix! Trick in the Bank has a nice ring to it!
Grade: C+
MFT VS Bakusai, Jacy Jayne VS Alexa Bliss VS Jade Cargill: Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
Sami Zayn continued his strong manipulating skills on Johnny Gargano backstage, telling Johnny that he’ll never get another shot at the WWE Championship if Kevin Owens wins the Title tonight! Charlotte Flair would then blow out a “bad luck” candle whilst trying to hype up Alexa Bliss, before MFT stormed their way down to the ring to take on Bakusai! Before the match, Tama Tonga said that he never needed Shinsuke Nakamura, and that Kyoki should’ve stayed in Japan! This match was pretty decent; Bakusai continue to be a fun little tandem, whilst this version of MFT is much better than what it was back when Solo Sikoa was leading it (which is a lot more to do with WWE than it is Solo)! Eventually, Haku would have enough, causing a disqualification after viciously assaulting Nakamura with his staff! The Tongans would then beat up Kyoki to end the segment, which I assume means we’ll get more battles between these two teams down the line!
Grade: B-
Kevin Owens believed that tonight is the night due to being in the same arena where he made his Main Roster debut against John Cena (now that was a long time ago), whilst Finn Balor also wants next! Danhausen has seemingly taken up space in Nick Aldis’ office, whilst Tiffany Stratton told Chelsea Green that she will be entering a Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match! Unlike Tiffany, Nikki Bella doesn’t need to qualify for anything, saying that she’s just going to come and take the WWE Women’s Championship, before Cody Rhodes had a sit-down interview where he spoke about how everyone’s waiting for him to change, but why would he when he’s been so successful! That WWE is exactly the problem! Anyway, after Jade Cargill said the wrong name, Jacy Jayne looked to punish her as Alexa Bliss also competed in a Triple Threat match for the right to head to Money in the Bank! As high as I rate Jacy Jayne, she’s still pretty young, particularly on the Main Roster, so having her have to do a lot of the carrying against Jade Cargill wasn’t the smartest decision! In fact, Cargill made a mess of breaking up a pinfall at one point, whilst Alexa Bliss isn’t as good as she once was (which is to be expected)! After Bliss got floored with Jaded, Jayne sent Jade to the outside, with Jacy stealing the pin over Alexa to book her ticket to New Orleans! Whilst having the exact same finish twice in the same night wasn’t the best idea, at least the youngsters keep winning!
Grade: C
Giulia has her sights set on qualifying for Money in the Bank, whilst The Irresistible Forces won’t let that happen! Trick Williams then came up to Sami Zayn to reignite some old flames, with Sami reminding Trick that he’s won the WWE Championship twice since they faced off at WrestleMania, before Damian Priest explained his actions from last week! Everything that Priest said was correct: R-Truth has been holding him back!
Undisputed WWE Championship: Sami Zayn VS Kevin Owens
And in the Main Event of this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens went one-on-one over the Undisputed WWE Championship! It’s been cool that we’ve been getting a lot of big matches on TV recently, with the history between Kevin and Sami being decades long at this point! As expected, Johnny Gargano showed up to distract the referee, opening the door for Candice LeRae to deliver a wonderful tornado DDT to KO, only for Owens to kick out following a Sami Zayn Helluva Kick! Gargano would then continue to get involved, with Owens eventually dealing with him with a Stunner, before CM Punk arrived to smash Kevin in the face with the WWE Title (as revenge for last week)! After a terrible bit of refereeing, Sami Zayn would eventually deliver yet another Helluva Kick to successfully retain his Title, before Punk would floor both Sami and KO with a GTS! SmackDown’s Main Event scene continues to be stacked, but that referee botch was bad!
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