WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 22/08

Becky Lynch Starts the Show, Motor City Machine Guns VS Melo Don’t Miz

With SmackDown taking place in Dublin, Ireland this week, we got a special guest as Becky Lynch arrived to kick off this week’s show by talking about how she used to come to this arena as a child to watch the live events! However, Becky doesn’t believe that the Irish crowd deserved to have a televised show, simply because they didn’t worship her like they should! This brought out Tiffany Stratton who got a good reaction, only for Nia Jax to once again stake her claim for a shot at the WWE Women’s Championship! Nia then floored Tiffany with a right hand before Jade Cargill ran down to make the save, leaving Nick Aldis no choice but to book a Tag Team match for the Main Event! Becky was good here; the rest was just there!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C+

After Melo Don’t Miz had a backstage interaction with FRAXIOM, The Miz and Carmelo Hayes made their way down to the ring as they faced the Motor City Machine Guns in the opening match of the night! I thought this was a good match, two talented teams, and the crowd were really into it which is great to see! Once again, Miz and Melo tried to one-up each other constantly, but despite all of that, it worked a treat for them as Hayes nailed a First 48 before The Miz tagged himself in to sneak the 3 count! By winning this match, Melo Don’t Miz have a Number 1 Contender’s opportunity next week!

Grade: B-

Charlotte Flair VS Piper Niven, John Cena and Logan Paul Come Face-to-Face, MFT VS The Street Profits

Sami Zayn gave a massive congratulations to Jimmy Uso backstage whilst Solo Sikoa said the new babies’ going to have a lot of great Uncles in the form of MFT! Charlotte Flair was then out next as she was set to go one-on-one with Piper Niven! Interestingly, Alexa Bliss wasn’t at ringside for this match, most probably because she wasn’t able to fly over yet, but I can definitely see that being turned into a storyline down the line! As for the match itself, it was alright, Charlotte controlled things for the most part (despite Piper’s size advantage), and it was going as expected for the large majority of it! However, in a shocking turn of events, after Chelsea Green racked the eyes of Charlotte Flair, Piper Niven was able to pin Flair to score a massive victory over the 14-time Women’s Champion! I didn’t expect this one bit, I’m not sure anyone in the audience did either, but I was very happy for Piper!

Grade: C+

Michin was once again looking for a Women’s United States Championship opportunity, but Kiana James was adamant that she has to go through her first! John Cena was then out next to a raucous reaction from the WWE Universe in Dublin, only for the boos to echo loudly soon after with the arrival of Logan Paul! This was easily the best thing on this show for me, I thought this was excellent! Logan Paul is such a good Heel, he plays his role fantastically, he knows how to react to the crowd, and I think part of the reason he’s so disliked is down to the fact that he’s actually really good! Now, John Cena also delivered a fire promo of his own, ripping into Logan, calling him “an outsider” whilst making it clear that his time is being wasted right now! John said he will beat respect into The Maverick in Paris, and the segment then ended with Cena delivering an AA after Paul took a swing! This was genuinely superb television!

Credit: WWE

Grade: A-

After Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill didn’t agree on things, and Drew McIntyre fired up Logan Paul, it was time for some more Tag Team action as MFT faced off against The Street Profits! The winner of this match would earn the right to take on Melo Don’t Miz in next week’s Number 1 Contender’s match, so there were definitely stakes involved, and it benefited from that! In terms of the match itself, it was again fine, MFT aren’t that exciting honestly, and The Street Profits need to steer clear of the WWE Tag Team Championships scene for a bit (in my opinion)! Ultimately, The Profits were able to score the win after Jimmy Uso and Sami Zayn dealt with Talla Tonga and Solo Sikoa, and yeah, I hope Melo wins next week!

Grade: C+

Aleister Black was all set to face R-Truth in the next match of the night, but Truth had stupidly flown to Dublin, Georgia, instead of Dublin, Ireland! However, Ron Killings had a backup plan as Damian Priest returned to start a massive brawl with Black! Drew McIntyre then came out to talk crap about Cody Rhodes, saying he’s gone into hiding, only for Randy Orton to floor him with an RKO! I don’t need to see those two guys wrestle again, either!

Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill VS Becky Lynch and Nia Jax

And in the Main Event, we got two old duos teaming up as Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill faced off against Becky Lynch and Nia Jax! Not only were the teams weird, but the match itself was; it didn’t feel like it went very long at all, with most of the action coming in the ad breaks! I mean that because out of nowhere, Jade Cargill just delivered a Frog Splash onto Nia Jax to score the win, with the cameras then cutting to the back to see Logan Paul knocking out John Cena with his One Lucky Punch! This was all so odd!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C