WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 19/12

Linus O'Howell
19 hours ago
3 min read

Damian Priest Starts the Show, The Kabuki Warriors VS Lash Legend and Nia Jax

This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Damian Priest, as The Archer of Infamy thanked John Cena for all his contributions to WWE, before he wanted to set his sights on 2026! However, that couldn’t happen as Zelina interrupted Damian, quickly bringing out Aleister Black who attacked Priest from behind! A brawl then broke out between the two of them, with Black eventually standing tall after sending DP crashing through a table! The way this segment was done was very typical of a pre-recorded show!

Grade: C+

After Nia Jax and Lash Legend said that they’re coming after the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, Aleister Black assaulted Damian Priest again backstage, laying him out with a Black Mass into a garage door! Nia and Lash then came down to the ring in fully festive attire as they faced off against The Kabuki Warriors! Of course, these four women all teamed together less than a month ago at Survivor Series: WarGames, but that alliance clearly wasn’t the strongest! This match wasn’t the best; it was sloppy at times, and the crowd being super flat certainly didn’t help matters! Despite Asuka’s best attempts at dealing with Lash Legend, eventually, Nia Jax was able to flatten Kairi Sane with an Annihilator to get the win, before Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair ran down to start a post-match brawl!

Grade: C

Alba Fyre VS Giulia, Cody Rhodes Promo, Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes VS DIY

Giulia made it clear that she wants her Women’s United States Championship back before The Miz got Nick Aldis to give him a match with Joe Hendry (on next week’s show)! Giulia then headed down to the ring as The Beautiful Madness was set to go one-on-one with Alba Fyre! This was another match that wasn’t particularly the best; not because of either woman’s lack of ability, but simply the fact that the crowd didn’t care at all! Like always, when WWE pre-records shows, they tend to be well below par, and this show definitely wasn’t an exception! In the end, Giulia nailed Fyre with both an Arrivederchi and a Northern Lights Bomb to get the win, seemingly establishing her as Chelsea Green’s next challenger (as long as she beats Sol Ruca on Tuesday)!

Grade: C+

After a Wyatt Sick6 video promo, Cody Rhodes headed down to the ring to cut a promo of his own, addressing his home invasion of Drew McIntyre! Cody said that that was just a snippet of what he was willing to do to Drew when he gets back to work, and this is when Nick Aldis arrived to tell Rhodes that he’s not above the law, and that McIntyre now holds more power due to his actions last weekend! The American Nightmare then fired back, stating that as long as he is the Undisputed WWE Champion, he works for the people, and Aldis works for him! This was quite the fiery promo from Cody Rhodes, and I can’t imagine that Nick Aldis will take all of this too well!

Grade: B-

After a backstage interaction with FRAXIOM, Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes teamed together to try and get some revenge on DIY! All four of these guys are very good at what they do, and I firmly believe that this was the match of the night! The crowd also seemed to be a little bit more interested in this one, particularly on the side of Carmelo Hayes, and that’s a real positive! It’s kind of crazy to see Dragunov and Hayes teaming up, given the long (and sometimes heated) history they have, but I guess it worked, especially against a duo like Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano! Eventually, after some great teamwork, Melo was able to score the win via Nothin’ but Net, and honestly, I was impressed!

Grade: B

WWE Tag Team Championships: The Wyatt Sick6 VS MFT

After Michin attacked Jade Cargill with a kendo stick, it was Main Event time as Solo Sikoa’s MFTs challenged The Wyatt Sick6 for the WWE Tag Team Championships! This match was alright; it got a fine amount of time, and I quite liked the presentation of having both Uncle Howdy and Solo Sikoa watching whilst sitting down (with backup around them)! Realistically, the likelihood of a Title change here was always going to be pretty low, but it meant there was a little bit of intrigue as to how WWE was going to book the finish! What they decided to do was have the match get called off, as everyone got involved to start a pretty big brawl! This wasn’t the most exciting of finishes, but that about sums up this show perfectly!