WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 23/01

Linus O'Howell
4 days ago
6 min read

Sami Zayn Returns Home, Carmelo Hayes VS Ilja Dragunov: United States Championship Open Challenge

This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Sami Zayn appearing in front of his hometown crowd in Montreal, Quebec, Canada! Sami said it was great to be back home, stating that there’s a whole heap of momentum behind him, before Trick Williams interrupted to remind Sami that it’s his time now! This brought out Damian Priest, who continues to question why Trick speaks up to everyone, potentially because he’s scared of The Punisher! Williams responded by flooring Zayn, leading to Priest and Sami getting in each other’s way, allowing Trick Willy to escape! For what this was supposed to be, I thought it was totally fine!

Grade: C+

Randy Orton made it clear that 2026 is going to be the year of The Viper, before a backstage segment led into the opening match of the night as Carmelo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov once again went at it with the United States Championship on the line! I’m not a big fan of seeing this match again personally, not because both guys aren’t incredible together, but because it felt like we were shelving this feud until down the line where they were fighting for something even bigger than this (I mean, Ilja literally said that in a promo weeks ago)! The match also didn’t feel as important as previous encounters (for clear reasons), but it was still decent enough! Backstage, Carmelo Hayes had taken a shot at The Miz, stating that Ilja had done more his career than The A-Lister ever did! Because of that statement, The Miz decided to show up at ringside and cost Dragunov the match, allowing Hayes to hit a First-48 to get the win (the selling by Dragunov was insane)! I quite liked this, especially as Melo didn’t see what happened (in a reverse of what happened with Dragunov months ago), but they can’t keep doing this match/have Dragunov lose loads!

Grade: B-

Jade Cargill VS Chelsea Green, The Wyatt Sick6 VS MFT: WWE Tag Team Championships, Johnny Gargano VS Nathan Frazer

Cody Rhodes was meant to have a sit-down interview with Michael Cole, but it didn’t exactly go to plan as Cody started the interview by dodging Cole’s questions! Jacob Fatu then stormed in to have an intense conversation with Rhodes, which resulted in The American Nightmare telling some hard truths as to why Jacob got locked up in the first place! Fatu then fired back, stating that he didn’t care whether this was or wasn’t for a Championship, because this had now gotten personal! I thought both guys did really well here! We then got a fun segment where Chelsea Green tried to recruit Jordynne Grace to her Secret Hervice, and amazingly, Jordynne was more than happy to come with them to ringside as Chelsea was set to take on Jade Cargill! As always with Jade Cargill matches, they were very short, very one-sided, and ended with a Jaded for a 3 count! I honestly have no interest in spending any longer on this than I have to, because it doesn’t do anything for anyone! Jordynne Grace then announced post-match that she will be entering the Women’s Royal Rumble Match, and that in itself is crazy considering Grace has been feuding with Cargill recently, and she’s still not getting a Title shot!

Grade: D

Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair were being as annoying as ever backstage, before the MFTs challenged The Wyatt Sick6 for the WWE Tag Team Championships! Firstly, the lantern was never given back to The Wyatts here, and that confused me as I’m pretty sure that was part of the agreement as to why this match happened to begin with! Secondly, Solo Sikoa clearly doesn’t rate/trust his group very highly as he decided to participate in this match alongside Tama Tonga! I guess as far as the MFTs go, that is their strongest lineup, but it was still a weird direction to go in! I thought the match itself was fine, nothing we haven’t seen before, but I did get quite annoyed with the fact that Talla Tonga came back out with the lantern despite being specifically told by Solo to head to the back to protect said lantern! Anyway, I guess it kind of helped the Heels as after Sikoa nailed Dexter Lumis with the lantern, Tama Tonga was able to hit his finisher to get the win, meaning we have brand-new WWE Tag Team Champions! Interesting!

Grade: C+

Nick Aldis had questions in regards to why AJ Styles would put his career on the line against Gunther at the Royal Rumble, but AJ cleared things up by stating that he has to stand up to a bully like Gunther! As expected, this wasn’t the only reason that Aldis had invited Styles to SmackDown, as Shinsuke Nakamura walked in to set up a match for tonight’s Saturday Night’s Main Event! It’s really over! We then headed back into quick-fire action as Nathan Frazer found himself going one-on-one with Johnny Gargano! Both of these guys are incredible in-ring workers; just look at their history in NXT, so this was always going to be a good match! Now, unfortunately, the crowd didn’t exactly seem to care at all, and that always annoys me because these guys are working so damn hard (and performing at a higher level than a lot of the crowd’s favourites)! Anyway, the ending was a lot of fun as Axiom decided to put his stolen mask around the face of Candice LeRae, resulting in Candice accidentally punching Johnny, which allowed Frazer to score the win! LeRae then threw the mask onto the floor in complete disgust, allowing Axiom to recapture his mask, only for The Poison Pixie to then steal it back like she’s Abu of Agrabah! This was so good, I had a lot of fun with it!

Grade: B

Drew McIntyre Speaks, Giulia and Kiana James VS Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair VS Lash Legend and Nia Jax: WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contenders Match

Lash Legend and Nia Jax were supremely confident about their chances of becoming both the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions and Royal Rumble winners before Drew McIntyre headed down to the ring to cut a promo! Drew said he was the first Champion that Montreal could be proud of in over 30 years before he listed all his potential opponents at the Royal Rumble! McIntyre wished Trick Williams luck, said he’ll end Damian Priest’s career if those two ever cross paths again, and called Randy Orton “soft”! However, by far the most damning statement came towards Sami Zayn, with The Scottish Psychopath claiming that Sami’s son has been disappointed ever since he realised who his father was! That’s a pretty strong statement to make, but hey, at least Drew delivered his lines well (like always)!

Grade: B-

Trick Williams once again had no interest in showing any kind of respect to Rey Fenix, before Kit Wilson called Matt Cardona toxic (TOXIC)! Giulia and Kiana James, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair, and Lash Legend and Nia Jax then collided in Triple Threat Tag Team action to determine the new Number 1 Contenders to the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships! Talk about scrappy; this match was all over the place! I cannot stand watching Charlotte Flair wrestle like this; it’s jarring because she’s so much better as a strong Heel! Instead, she tries to get the crowd into it, and it doesn’t work! Lash and Nia work well together, but I’m sick of seeing them face Charlexa, whilst the crowd still doesn’t care about Giulia (I’m not going into that again this week)! By far the best person in this match was Kiana James; she looked great, and this was really needed after not really having any notable in-ring moments since her days back in NXT! Amazingly, to top it all off, Kiana actually won this match, taking advantage of a Lash Extension (from Legend to Bliss) to get the win as Flair speared Legend out of the ring! Good, I’m happy for KJ and Giulia, but that doesn’t change the fact that this match was mostly a mess!

Grade: C-

Damian Priest VS Trick Williams

After Damian Priest told Sami Zayn not to get involved in his business, Sami slapping Drew, Cody Rhodes talking to AJ Styles, and Kiana James putting over the fact that her plan is to make Giulia a Triple Champion (now that would be something), it was Main Event time as Damian Priest and Trick Williams clashed just 24 hours before their important Number 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way at Saturday Night’s Main Event! I do think this was an odd match to do on the basis that we’re going to see these two fight each other tomorrow, but I suppose this show needed a Main Event! As far as this match goes, I thought it was alright, but there really isn’t much to note! Sami Zayn didn’t listen to Damian Priest in the slightest as he came down to ringside early on, and he also ruined the match by attacking Trick to cause the DQ! This rightly angered Priest, but all it did was result in Williams standing tall, before Randy Orton delivered a couple of RKOs to close out the show! I’m not sure that this ending quite landed as intended!