WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 23/05

Linus O'Howell
May 24
4 min read

Tiffany Stratton Starts the Show, Zelina Vega VS Giulia VS Charlotte Flair: Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match

This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Tiffany Stratton as she wanted to address Money in the Bank! Tiffany made it clear that if someone tries to cash in on her, it won’t work, and this brought out Alexa Bliss who told Stratton to pray for her not to win! Charlotte Flair then also made her presence known as she stated MITB is the one thing she hasn’t won, and then Tiffany just decided to leave! This was just here!

Grade: C

We then went straight into the first match of the night as Charlotte Flair, Giulia, and Zelina Vega clashed for an opportunity to head to Money in the Bank! Unfortunately, this match didn’t quite click, it was quite scrappy for the most part, and that’s honestly a massive shame given the talent involved! Charlotte is arguably the greatest women’s wrestler of all time, Zelina is the current Women’s United States Champion whilst Giulia was NXT Women’s Champion back in January! Ultimately, despite it looking like Flair was going to win, Giulia took her out and then followed it up with her finisher on Vega to get the win and book her ticket to Los Angeles!

Grade: C

Chris Sabin VS Tommaso Ciampa, The Secret Hervice VS Michin and B-Fab

Tommaso Ciampa cut a seething promo on the Motor City Machine Guns before Zelina Vega got into a fight with The Secret Hervice, leading to Michin and B-Fab to ask for a Tag Team match! Before we got to that, though, it was time for Chris Sabin to go one-on-one with Tommaso Ciampa! This was a decent match, both guys have been singles Champions in the past so they’re not just Tag Team specialists, and this was solid action! Johnny Gargano tried his best to get involved, but he was dealt with by Alex Shelley! However, unexpectedly, Candice LeRae came from out of nowhere and tripped up Sabin, opening the door for Ciampa to nail the knee to get the win!

Grade: C+

FRAXIOM cut a promo saying they’re ready to become WWE Tag Team Champions before Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest’s brawl continued as they fought down to ringside before security pulled them apart! It was then time for some Tag Team action as Michin and B-Fab faced off with The Secret Hervice! This was decent, I like the duo of Alba Fyre and Piper Niven, they do great work, and B-Fab is definitely getting a little better! However, this was another match that wasn’t the cleanest as Chelsea Green tried to get involved, but she was dealt with by Zelina Vega, and this opened the door for B-Fab to hit her finisher onto Fyre to get the win!

Grade: C+

The Bloodline VS Jimmy Uso and Rey Fenix, Aleister Black VS Shinsuke Nakamura VS LA Knight: Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match

The Street Profits had an interesting interaction with The Bloodline backstage before Santos Escobar confirmed that Legado Del Fantasma will be at World’s Collide! It was then time for more Tag Team action as Jimmy Uso and Rey Fenix came together to take on The Bloodline! However, this wasn’t the most cohesive version of The Bloodline as neither Jacob Fatu nor JC Mateo like or trust each other, and they seemed very reluctant to work together! It got better as the match went on, Solo Sikoa did a great job on the outside, but the team of Jimmy and Rey was very odd (to say the least)! Towards the end of the match, Solo got onto the apron and distracted Jimmy, allowing JC to hit his finisher and get the win!

Grade: C+

R-Truth came out to cut a promo ahead of his match with John Cena at Saturday Night’s Main Event, and the reason I’m only talking about this in a short amount is because there really wasn’t much to this, Truth said he doesn’t see his childhood hero in the current John Cena, and that he’s going to beat the Hustle, Loyalty, and Disrespect into the 17-time World Champion tonight! Naomi, Jade Cargill, and Nia Jax then had a video package hyping up their Triple Threat Match for next week’s show before Aleister Black, Shinsuke Nakamura, and LA Knight went at it in another Money in the Bank Qualifying Match! This was a good match, Aleister Black is so good at what he does, Shinsuke is super cool, and LA Knight is still over a lot! There were moments where it looked like both Black and Knight could be victorious, but in the end, after Black nailed Nakamura with a Black Mass, LA Knight chucked Aleister out of the ring and stole the pin to earn himself the 3 count!

Grade: B-

WWE Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits VS FRAXIOM

After Solo Sikoa made Jacob Fatu laugh, and Bianca Belair had her first video promo for a while, it was Main Event time as The Street Profits put their WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against FRAXIOM! FRAXIOM have new music, which I don’t like, but that was honestly my only negative of the entire final 25 minutes of this show as this was easily the best match of the night! Both teams are really good, they put on a great spectacle, and I enjoyed it a lot! Both teams came close to winning at different points, Montez Ford had to break up a pinfall following a Nathan Frazer Phoenix Splash, and the closing phases saw the arrival of both DIY and the Motor City Machine Guns! However, their presence wasn’t to be the last as the lights went out, and The Wyatt Sick6 made their long-awaited return, taking out everybody to stand tall and send a message to the SmackDown Tag Team Division! This was all very well done!