WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 24/07

Gunther and Nick Aldis’ SummerSlam Contract Signing, Lainey Reid VS Brie Bella

This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Adam Pearce officiating a contract signing between Gunther and Pearce’s colleague, Nick Aldis! Last week, Triple H confirmed that Nick and Gunther would have a match at SummerSlam, but it was Adam here who made it clear to Aldis that as soon as he signs this contract, he’d relinquish his power as SmackDown General Manager! Nick didn’t seem to care, mostly because he wants to teach Gunther a lesson, whilst The Ring General has no interest in any of this as he feels like it is all beneath him! Eventually, a brawl would break out, with Gunther standing tall after Powerbombing Nick Aldis through a table! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; I’m excited to see this match!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B-

Sami Zayn was completely losing his mind backstage, rightly so given the fact that he’s been screwed multiple times! Whilst Adam Pearce couldn’t add Sami to the Undisputed WWE Championship match at SummerSlam, he will get the chance to win his way back to the Title as he’s automatically into the Number 1 Contender’s match at SummerSlam! A Fatal 4-Way in tonight’s Main Event would decide Zayn’s opponent, but even then, Sami was still angry! It was then time for the opening match of the night as Brie Bella took on Lainey Reid! We did actually see this match at the start of this month, so it didn’t exactly feel very original! However, having said that, it makes sense to keep putting Lainey Reid in matches given her lack of experience in comparison to her stablemates Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley! Although I’m not sure that having Reid lose to Bella was a particularly good move, with Jacy quickly taking out the good guy’s post-match! This then perfectly set up the return of Nikki Bella, who challenged Fatal Influence to a 6-Woman Tag at SummerSlam! Why?!

Grade: C

WWE Women’s Championship SummerSlam Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Chelsea Green VS Kiana James, CM Punk and Cody Rhodes Come Face-to-Face, Charlotte Flair VS Nia Jax: WWE Women’s Championship SummerSlam Ladder Match Qualifying Match

Finn Balor is excited at the prospect of potentially heading back to SummerSlam to earn his way to a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship, but this is when Gunther decided to tell The Prince that he’s got next! Solo Sikoa then did a great job of being a hype man for both Royce Keys and LA Knight (Solo is fantastic), before Chelsea Green and Tiffany Stratton got excited over the prospect of them both heading to SummerSlam together! Blake Monroe then came face-to-face with Tiffany; an interaction that plenty of people have been waiting for! Speaking of SummerSlam, it was now time for a Qualifying match for the WWE Women’s Championship Ladder Match as Chelsea Green went one-on-one with Kiana James! The fact that Kiana James was in this spot sort of told us that Chelsea was probably going to win here, but given the fact that it’s Chelsea Green, that was anything but certain! Also, it’s not like we had the right winners win last week, so there was always a risk that Kiana could steal it here! Thankfully, she didn’t, as after a pretty competitive back-and-forth bout, Ms. Green was able to score the win with an Unprettiher! Please give Chelsea the belt!

Grade: B-

Damian Priest had to explain to R-Truth that he’s in a Fatal 4-Way tonight, with their Tag Team clash against The War Raiders coming next week! Cody Rhodes then interrupted the pair of them, with Priest later telling Rhodes that the locker room is sick and tired of the same people always being on the posters! The fact that the crowd cheered this statement is honestly pretty telling! Anyway, Cody Rhodes would then find himself in the ring as he was set for a face-to-face confrontation with his SummerSlam opponent, CM Punk! This segment already got off to an awkward start with Cody dropping the microphone, claiming it was an accident as Punk decided to grab a new one altogether! Cody then went on about how two things can be true; he can love CM Punk, but he can also admit that he doesn’t like him! Rhodes doesn’t like the fact that he followed in Punk’s footsteps when he left the company, and yet, all of the fans wanted it to be The Best in the World, not The American Nightmare! Punk then fired back about how Cody is lying to himself, that he needs to believe this as he can’t bring himself to fight someone he likes, hence the reason that all of the betrayals from the likes of Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, and John Cena happened to begin with! CM Punk then attempted to end the segment by saying not even “Dusty’s kid” can beat him at SummerSlam, but it was Cody Rhodes who got in the final line, saying he’s going to leave SummerSlam as a 4-time WWE Champion! I hope not! On a serious note, this was a pretty decent segment; I thought Punk’s points in particular were very strong!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B-

Due to Alexa Bliss being out injured, Charlotte Flair had to go it alone when she faced Nia Jax for the right to head to SummerSlam to challenge for the WWE Women’s Championship! This match came about after Charlotte completely screwed Nia over last week, but this honestly annoys me as Flair shouldn’t be allowed an opportunity to begin with! Weirdly, Lash Legend was nowhere to be seen, and that sort of didn’t make much sense as it meant that Bliss’ lack of appearance was completely nullified! Instead, Jade Cargill and her crew showed up, with Cargill eventually getting in the ring and attacking Charlotte Flair, causing the DQ finish! This means that Charlotte is, in fact, heading to SummerSlam, whilst Nia Jax has been screwed over once again! This is a terribly run show, as in no way should either Charlotte nor Jade be allowed in a World Title match after they keep ruining other people’s matches!

Grade: C-

Damian Priest VS Trick Williams VS Royce Keys VS Finn Balor

And in the Main Event of this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Damian Priest, Trick Williams, Royce Keys, and Finn Balor all fought for the right to head to SummerSlam to face Sami Zayn in a Number 1 Contender’s match! Basically, the easiest way that I can describe this is that all of these men were two wins away from a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship, simply because CM Punk mentioned their names a couple of weeks ago! No wonder Sami’s so annoyed! Anyway, the actual match itself was pretty good, I thought, with Finn Balor and Damian Priest the stars of the show! It felt firmly like Priest cared more about getting one over on his former Judgment Day partner; a mindset that would eventually cause his downfall! However, before we get to that, we need to mention the fact that The Usos got into a brawl with LA Knight and Solo Sikoa on the outside, whilst Trick Williams got taken care of via a South of Heaven! Speaking of Trick Williams, Trick was attacked by Baron Corbin after the show went off the air, leading to a potential match being made for SummerSlam! What in the world happened to Carmelo Hayes?! Anyway, back to the action, as eventually, a Coup de Grace was enough for Finn Balor to pin Damian Priest, earning his way to The Biggest Party of the Summer! I expect Finn to win that match against Sami Zayn, but there’s no way he’s becoming Champion!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B