WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 20/02

Cody Rhodes Starts the Show, Ilja Dragunov VS Tama Tonga

This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Cody Rhodes coming down to cut a promo, only to immediately get interrupted by Jacob Fatu! Jacob told Cody that the only reason he’s even in the position that he’s in is because of Drew McIntyre, which is why Fatu needs to get his hands on the Undisputed WWE Champion! This brought out Nick Aldis, who told Jacob that he’s given Drew the night off in order to prevent chaos from taking place, but McIntyre clearly hadn’t listened as he cut a promo from a skybox he’d brought! Eventually, Aldis and security guards had to calmly take Jacob Fatu to the back as Rhodes took a verbal shot at McIntyre! Is there really still two months until WrestleMania?

Credit: WWE

Grade: B-

After Jacob Fatu listened to reason when it came to leaving the building, a fired-up Ilja Dragunov came off the back of an intense interaction with Carmelo Hayes to take on Tama Tonga in the opening match of the night! I thought this was a good match; both guys are talented, and the intensity really came across well through the screen! Ilja Dragunov is without a doubt one of the best wrestlers in the entire world (in fact, he’s Number 1 in my opinion), but to be fair, Tama Tonga is performing really well right now! Eventually, after multiple instances of interference, Tama was able to nail Ilja with a Cutthroat to get the win, and it’s clear that WWE are pushing Tonga as a real contender for the United States Championship! However, I’m not a fan of seeing Dragunov lose this much!

Grade: B

Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Charlotte Flair VS Nia Jax VS Kiana James, Oba Femi VS Kit Wilson, Tiffany Stratton VS Alba Fyre

Credit: WWE

Nick Aldis wasn’t happy with Drew McIntyre’s antics, basically threatening the Undisputed WWE Champion, before Randy Orton got himself a match with Aleister Black after Black and Zelina talked nonsense! After Lash Legend and Nia Jax gave Byron Saxton no chance to do his job properly, Jade Cargill came out to cut a promo about how great she is! Jade literally said nothing of note here, besides forgetting Kiana James’ existence, and this segment ended with Cargill coming face-to-face with Charlotte Flair, as The Queen was set to face Nia Jax and Kiana James in a Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match! This match was sort of focused on the bad blood between Charlotte and Nia, with Kiana very much being an afterthought! However, that was a smart way to book this match as James showed out whenever she got the opportunity, especially when she managed to drop Jax with a Samoan Drop! It was expected that Flair would win here, given that her current Tag Team partner, Alexa Bliss, is also in the Chamber, but that wasn’t the case, as Kiana James managed to shock the world by pinning Flair to earn her way to Chicago! This is not only a really nice surprise, but it’s also well earned! However, it does create some intrigue with Giulia moving forward (which I like)!

Grade: B-

Credit: WWE

Kit Wilson was then out next to try and survive against Oba Femi, and his way of doing this was to read Oba another poem! In fairness, Kit’s first poem was pretty good, with Femi clearly enjoying it, but his “old material” left a lot to be desired! Despite the match already technically being underway for multiple minutes, eventually, Femi destroyed Wilson, winning with a Fall From Grace! There were bits of this I quite liked; Oba’s charisma shone through, but we need to move on from this now, because as much as I like Kit Wilson, The Ruler should be doing a lot more than this!

Grade: C+

R-Truth seemed to be convinced that he’s also in tonight’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match, but Nick Aldis had to make it clear to Truth that it’s just Damian Priest facing Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams! Tiffany Stratton was then out next as she was set to go one-on-one with Alba Fyre! Alba brought Chelsea Green down to ringside with her, with Chelsea throwing stick at Tiffany before she eventually rose to her feet! Anyway, I thought the match itself was quite good; Tiffy’s an amazing competitor, whilst Alba Fyre is massively underrated! As expected, Stratton scored the win with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever, and I still expect to see her win the Chamber Match next week!

Grade: B-

Men’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Carmelo Hayes VS Trick Williams VS Damian Priest, Giulia VS Rhea Ripley

Credit: WWE

Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn had a really heated backstage interaction, with Sami telling Cody that he should be ashamed of himself, whilst Rhodes reminded Zayn of why he’s never become a World Champion! Eventually, after getting an earful from Trick Williams, Sami ran over and apologised to Cody, and the crowd booed! Rightly so, too! Anyway, it was then time for a Men’s Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match as Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams, and Damian Priest were all trying to keep their WrestleMania Main Event dreams alive! What I liked about this match was that the action was really good; everyone involved is very talented, and it delivered a fun, flowing contest! What I didn’t like about this was Carmelo Hayes VS Trick Williams! See, as a massive NXT lover, Trick-Melo was one of the biggest storylines in NXT history, with these two literally Main-Eventing the biggest Stand and Deliver of all time (which is literally NXT’s WrestleMania)! So, this should have been a massive deal, but it really wasn’t! Not only did we not get any segments between these two before this match, but it didn’t feel like it was being put over enough, considering how big WWE treats Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn’s rivalry! Anyway, despite Melo outperforming Trick for the most part, it was Mr. Williams who got the win after he nailed Priest with a Trick Shot! Interesting ending, a good match, but it should’ve been a lot more!

Grade: B-

A bunch of SmackDown Tag Teams seemed very intrigued about what’s inside the massive Elimination Chamber crate, whilst somehow, Johnny Gargano was on top of it! Jordynne Grace’s comments towards it all annoyed Candice LeRae enough for Nick Aldis to book a match for next week’s show, whilst Jade Cargill then came face-to-face with B-Fab and Michin! Deary me! Anyway, despite being initially advertised as Giulia VS Iyo Sky, we instead got Rhea Ripley taking on The Beautiful Madness! This was a decent contest; in fact, the craziest moment of the match actually took place in the ad break (I recommend finding the clip if you can)! I personally would’ve preferred to have seen Giulia VS Iyo; I think that would’ve been awesome, but I guess it doesn’t really matter given how this match ended! See, after Nia Jax showed up to cause a distraction, Lash Legend wiped out Ripley to cause the disqualification finish, before Iyo Sky ran down to make the save! I hope “The Irresistible Forces” win the gold next week!

Grade: C+

Aleister Black VS Randy Orton

After The Miz introduced himself to Oba Femi, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair got into a war of words with Giulia and Kiana James, and Shinsuke Nakamura questioned why Tama Tonga continues to remain in the shadow of Solo Sikoa, it was Main Event time as Randy Orton looked to teach Aleister Black a lesson! Whilst this was a weird choice for the Main Event, it’s cool to see Aleister Black in this position on the card, and the crowd always love Randy Orton! Randy got most of the offense in here, with Zelina trying her best to cause distractions, but it didn’t exactly help her husband out! In fact, the thing that helped Aleister out was interference from Drew McIntyre, as McIntyre smashed Orton with his Undisputed WWE Championship! Then, as Cody Rhodes chased Drew off, Black nailed Orton with a Black Mass to score a pretty massive victory! I’m honestly not sure why Drew McIntyre would take out Randy Orton, but what a massive moment this could be in the career of Aleister Black!

Grade: B-