WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 24/10

Cody Rhodes Starts the Show, MFT VS Rey Fenix and Shinsuke Nakamura

Cody Rhodes came out to start this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown following a backstage conversation with Jimmy Uso, but Cody couldn’t really say much before Drew McIntyre interrupted to go absolutely mad about the crowd still cheering for Rhodes despite everything he’s done! Drew also made it clear that whilst he hates The Bloodline, he wasn’t the one who attacked Jacob Fatu, and this led to Jimmy Uso arriving to start a brawl with The Scottish Psychopath! This brawl then continued to take place backstage, so as always, WWE Security sucks!

Grade: C+

We then headed straight into the opening match of the night as Solo Sikoa’s MFT’s face the duo of Rey Fenix and Shinsuke Nakamura! Rey Fenix is certainly collecting quite the resume of Tag Team partners, but it never seems to go very well for him! I have to say, Tama Tonga looks miles bigger than he did before his injury, but it just makes him look an awful lot more imposing (and he also fits in the group better)! Eventually, after Talla Tonga got involved (following Solo Sikoa’s distraction of the referee), Tama was able to hit a running elbow strike to score the win!

Grade: C+

Tiffany Stratton VS Kiana James, Ilja Dragunov’s United States Championship Open Challenge

Credit: WWE

Nick Aldis wasn’t happy with all the chaos that Jimmy Uso was bringing to his show, but Jimmy got what he wanted in the form of a No Disqualifications Match against Drew McIntyre! Giulia then rejected Chelsea Green’s offer to merge their two parties together, before Tiffany Stratton was ready to go one-on-one with Kiana James! These two women have history, dating back to their time fighting for the NXT Women’s Championship, and this was totally fine for what it was! The crowd cared very little; they weren’t the best, and it was also pretty straightforward for the WWE Women’s Champion! Eventually, Tiffany was able to beat Kiana with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever, before Giulia attacked post-match! However, this is when Jade Cargill ran down to make the save, evening the odds to stand tall with Stratton! However, in what was a shocking turn of events, Cargill destroyed Tiffany Stratton, turning Heel in the process as she took out Tiffy’s leg! I guess Jade Cargill should, in theory, be better as a bad guy, but that doesn’t mean she deserves to be Champion!

Grade: C+ (Overall)

After Jade Cargill snapped backstage, Ilja Dragunov got some words of advice from Sami Zayn before he started his very own United States Championship Open Challenge! Ilja’s first challenger was revealed to be none other than Aleister Black, who has a brand-new entrance which includes Zelina Vega (this felt very much like Karrion Kross and Scarlett 2.0)! The match itself, however, was great! Both guys are so good at what they do, both guys are former NXT Champions for a reason, and this was a lot of fun! Some of the strikes were incredibly stiff; this whole match was hard-hitting, and it was all building up to the finish! See, Zelina Vega kept getting involved (this was giving NXT 2017/18 days), until eventually, Damian Priest showed up wearing sunglasses! Priest then took off his sunglasses, distracting Aleister in the process, as Dragunov delivered a Torpedo Moscow to retain his US Title! After the match was over, Damian went fully after Black, but the Heels were able to escape after Vega went after Priest’s eyes!

Grade: B

Carmelo Hayes has seemingly become a Babyface now, as he talked about wanting to do right by the fans, before Kit Wilson came over to call HIM toxic! Ilja Dragunov then seemed pretty happy about defending his United States Championship against FRAXIOM (in a HANDICAP match), before DIY once again poked fun at the talented Tag Team! Keeping with the “T” theme, Tama Tonga sent a deathly warning to Axiom and Nathan Frazer, before Nia Jax made it clear that she isn’t buying whatever this relationship is between Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair! This was a lot of backstage segments in a row!

Drew McIntyre VS Jimmy Uso: No Disqualification

Credit: WWE

And in the Main Event of this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Drew McIntyre and Jimmy Uso clashed in a No Disqualifications Match! This was actually a pretty good match, almost on par with Dragunov-Black from earlier on in the night! There were a lot of ruff bumps taken, especially on Drew’s side, and you could tell that both men were struggling come the end of their contest! Eventually, a Claymore was enough for McIntyre to score the win before a post-match beatdown resulted in Cody Rhodes running down to make the save! However, Drew McIntyre would have the last laugh, laying Cody out with a Claymore, and please, I need Drew to win the Undisputed WWE Championship!

Grade: B