WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 24/01

Cody Rhodes Starts the Show, Motor City Machine Guns VS Pretty Deadly

WWE Friday Night SmackDown kicked off this week with an in-ring interview from Cody Rhodes as the Undisputed WWE Champion spoke to Joe Tessitore about Kevin Owens and how privileged he is to be the Quarterback of the company! Cody put over KO, saying he’s a once in a generational talent, but when it comes to next week’s Ladder Match, it will be The American Nightmare who walks out as the Undisputed WWE Champion! This was totally fine, some good points were made, but it didn’t really add to the story.

Grade: C+

Credit: Wrestling Cafe'

After DIY told Pretty Deadly that they’re too busy to help them, it was time for the first match of the night as Pretty Deadly clashed with the Motor City Machine Guns! This was a decent little match, Pretty Deadly were a lot more aggressive than usual, a bit like their old days back in NXT, and that’s honestly a good thing as it feels like it was needed. It’s clear how talented the Motor City Machine Guns are, with Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley putting in strong showings every week, and despite Kit Wilson and Elton Prince being in control for the most part, it was MCMG who got the win with Skull and Bones!

Grade: B-

Chelsea Green and Piper Niven VS Michin and B-Fab, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair and Naomi VS Liv Morgan, Nia Jax and Candice LeRae, Johnny Gargano VS Apollo Crews

Nick Aldis told The Miz that he’s officially joining Friday Night SmackDown which The Miz really didn’t like due to The Wyatt Sick6 also being moved there before we got a cool video highlighting Braun Strowman and Jacob Fatu! Kevin Owens then arrived to talk trash about Cody Rhodes, Joe Tess, and the crowd in Austin, Texas before Jimmy Uso ran down and started a brawl, leading to a match being made for later in the show. Nick Aldis then told Carmelo Hayes that he could face SmackDown’s newest acquisition later on before it was time for Chelsea Green and Piper Niven to take on the pairing of Michin and B-Fab! This was fine, Michin and Piper Niven had some good spots, with Piper very much doing the heavy lifting for her team as Chelsea Green kept trying to sneak away. In the end, it Michin who got the win by pinning Chelsea with Eat Defeat, and that means that that feud has to continue!

Grade: C

Nick Aldis introduced Damian Priest as SmackDown’s newest signing which didn’t impress Carmelo Hayes before we got a video package that confirmed that Charlotte Flair will be returning at the Royal Rumble. I have no idea why WWE decided against keeping this a secret! Anyway, Tiffany Stratton was then out next to cut a promo about how the winner of the Women’s Royal Rumble will be running on Tiffy Time, but Rhea Ripley arrived to remind Tiffany that she’s not the only Women’s Champion! We then got a bunch of interruptions as Nia Jax, Naomi, Bianca Belair, and Liv Morgan all declared themselves for the Women’s Royal Rumble before Nick Aldis booked a Six-Woman Tag Team Match with Rhea teaming up with Bianca and Naomi whilst Liv aligned with Nia and Candice. The promo segment itself was not very good, and this match wasn’t great either, it felt way too sloppy, and honestly, it felt very missable. Nia Jax was probably the best thing about this match (again), but yeah, it just didn’t work, and it ended with Morgan sneaking away with a roll-up victory over Belair!

Grade: C-

Chelsea Green told Piper Niven they need more security after Michin confirmed that she’s getting another shot at the Women’s United States Championship before Johnny Gargano took on Apollo Crews! The action here was totally fine, it was another “nothing” match in all truth, but there was at least some story too it. See, with Johnny Gargano being in control, the Motor City Machine Guns came down to cause a distraction which allowed Apollo Crews to steal the win with a shock roll-up! At least this went somewhere!

Grade: C+

LA Knight VS Tama Tonga, Carmelo Hayes VS Damian Priest

Credit: Sports Illustrated

After Jacob Fatu hyped him up, Tama Tonga was ready to clash with LA Knight. However, before that could happen, LA Knight cut a promo where he took shots at both men before we got to a match that was actually decent. There wasn’t lots of memorable moments, but it was pretty smooth and incident free which is a good thing. Towards the end, Tama Tonga tried to get his big move in, but LA Knight managed to dodge before The Megastar nailed Tonga with the BFT to get 1,2,3! After the match, Jacob Fatu beat up Knight before Braun Strowman came down and sent Fatu over the top rope to make the save! There’s a chance Strowman-Fatu could actually be the best match on tonight’s edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event!

Grade: C+

The Miz seemed to have found some friends in the form of A-Town Down Under, but that was short lived as Nick Aldis walked in to tell Austin Theory and Grayson Waller that they’re officially moving to Monday Night Raw! Shinsuke Nakamura then had a video promo where he officially declared himself for the Men’s Royal Rumble Match before it was time for Carmelo Hayes to go one-on-one with SmackDown’s newest signing, Damian Priest! This match got a lot of time, and whilst it started off slow, it definitely picked up towards the end. Carmelo Hayes worked over the leg of Damian Priest for most of the match, meaning the pace was slower than you would perhaps want, but these two are both World Champion-level performers so they still managed to make a good match out of it. Despite Melo’s best attempts, it was Priest who got the win after dropping Hayes with the South of Heaven, and I’m very intrigued to see what Damian Priest gets up to on Friday Night's moving forward!

Grade: B-

Nick Aldis confirmed to DIY backstage that they will be defending their WWE Tag Team Championships in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match against the Motor City Machine Guns at the Royal Rumble before we got an interesting interaction between Cody Rhodes and Damian Priest! The Miz then tried to recruit Andrade to be his friend, but that didn’t work before Jimmy Uso got into another interaction with Carmelo Hayes which resulted in Melo attacking Jimmy as Uso made his way down to the ring!

Kevin Owens VS Jimmy Uso

After Carmelo Hayes was taken to the back, it was Main Event time as Jimmy Uso looked to refocus against Kevin Owens! This was a decent Main Event, it was solid for what it was, you could tell that neither guy was going fully at it, but that also makes sense given it’s the Royal Rumble next week. As always, Jimmy Uso delivered multiple Superkicks to Kevin, but Owens was able to fight back with strikes of his own! In the end, a Pop-Up Powerbomb was enough for KO to beat Big Jim before Cody Rhodes arrived post-match to make the save and start a brawl with his rival!

Grade: B-