WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 25/09
United States Championship Steel Cage Match: Trick Williams VS Baron Corbin
After a well-put-together video package, this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with Trick Williams and Baron Corbin going one-on-one for the United States Championship, inside a Steel Cage! In fairness, this match was a lot better than I expected it to be; their feud hasn’t been very good, but this was a good ending to it! This was probably the best you can hope to get out of Baron Corbin; he delivered multiple good-looking power moves, whilst the superplex that he and Trick delivered off the top of the cage was impressive! Despite Baron managing to kick out of a Trick Shot, it was Williams who would eventually retain following a trifactor of Bookends! Trick will now move on to Money in the Bank, whilst I have no idea what Corbin’s going to do!
Grade: B
Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Charlotte Flair VS Lash Legend VS Giulia, Fatal Influence VS Chelsea Green, Tiffany Stratton, and Paige, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton’s Feud Continues
Lash Legend is adamant that she’s going to be heading to Money in the Bank, whilst Nick Aldis wanted to make it clear to both CM Punk and Kevin Owens that they need to stop affecting his show! Whilst Punk was happy to stay out of KO’s way, Owens would just storm, before Nikki Bella once again scared Chelsea Green! I really don’t need to see a Chelsea Green-Nikki Bella feud, anyway, let alone over the WWE Women’s Championship! Anyway, it was then time for another Money in the Bank Qualifying match as Charlotte Flair looked to use her experience to topple Lash Legend and Giulia in a Triple Threat Match! This match wasn’t that great, unfortunately, with multiple botches throughout! As much as I do think Lash Legend can be impressive, she didn’t look good in this match, whilst Charlotte wasn’t that great, either! Giulia was easily the best wrestler in this match, which meant she had to take the pinfall, as Legend eventually delivered the Lash Extension to book her ticket to New Orleans! Giulia deserved to win this match, but the result didn’t surprise me!
Grade: C-
Blake Monroe trash-talked Giulia backstage, leading to Nick Aldis finally booking a match between the two of them for next week, before Randy Orton got a sit-down interview with Michael Cole, which he demanded before the show! If anything, Orton was basically interviewing himself here, with The Viper questioning whether Cody Rhodes would finally be able to pull the trigger! Both Randy and Michael agreed that they don’t think Rhodes has it in him, and this was a very aggressive segment! Sami Zayn was then panicking backstage over all of the people that are coming after him, before Johnny Gargano once again asked Sami where his Title match is? Sami, continuing to embrace his inner Tribal Chief, told Gargano and Candice LeRae that he’d gotten them both a Money in the Bank Qualifying Match for next week, with this being the opportunity for them to both earn themselves a WWE Championship opportunity! This storyline is so good, I’m really scared about how WWE is going to end up messing it up! Anyway, it was then time for some 6-Woman Tag Team action as Chelsea Green, Tiffany Stratton, and Paige came together to take on Fatal Influence! I believe that this match was set up in a backstage interaction a couple of weeks ago, but it was hardly interesting! We all know that Tiffany Stratton is going to turn Heel at some point, but until that happens, she will continue to remain boring! Paige feels bland; she hasn’t done anything of note since WrestleMania, whilst Chelsea Green is being made to look stupid! Eventually, Paige would attempt to go for some sort of dive, only to get tripped up by Nikki Bella, leading to Jacy Jayne flooring the Brit with a Rolling Encore to get the win!
Grade: C
Damian Priest beat the crap out of R-Truth at the NXT Performance Center, whilst Gunther continues to get more and more annoyed at Danhausen! Cody Rhodes would then make his way down to the ring to cut a promo, where he called himself the “Uncomfortable Position King” (or something like that)! I feel like I’m always repeating myself when it comes to Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, but that’s simply because their segments are always talking about the same things!
Grade: C
Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: CM Punk VS Finn Balor VS Gunther
And in the Main Event of this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, CM Punk, Finn Balor, and Gunther collided in a Triple Threat match for a spot in this year’s Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match! In a similar way to the show opener, this was a well-put-together match, with everyone involved having moments that made you believe that they could pick up the victory! Style-wise, Finn Balor suits the MITB Ladder Match the best, whilst having someone like Gunther in it would’ve been fascinating! However, star power-wise, CM Punk is obviously the biggest, and that’s ultimately why he got the win here! Despite Balor delivering a Coup de Grace to the back of Gunther, it was Punk who was able to get the cover to get the win, with The Best in the World now setting his sights on making history in New Orleans!
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