WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 27/06

Cody Rhodes Starts the Show, Jimmy Uso VS JC Mateo

Cody Rhodes came out to start this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, but just like last week, Cody couldn’t say anything before he was interrupted by Randy Orton! Randy was in the middle of praising Rhodes for his strong match with Jey Uso on Monday Night, and this is when the feed just cut out! Like genuinely, I have no idea what else happened in this segment!

When we came back (half an hour later), Solo Sikoa was giving JC Mateo clear instructions as JC faced off with Jimmy Uso in the opening match of the night! This was fine, it was pretty straightforward, not a lot of exciting moments, but nothing was particularly bad either! Mateo was able to score the win after he delivered his finishing manoeuvre, and the beatdown then continued on Uso until Jacob Fatu ran down to make the save!

Grade: C

Women’s United States Championship: Zelina Vega VS Giulia, Asuka and Jade Cargill Come Face-to-Face, DIY VS Andrade and ?

DIY were once again furious with the rest of the SmackDown Tag Team Division, so Nick Aldis gave them a match with Andrade and a partner of El Idolo’s choosing before it was time for the first of 3 Championship matches as Zelina Vega put her Women’s United States Championship on the line against Giulia! This was pretty straightforward also, Zelina got some offense in, but it was mostly Giulia who was in control! After a pair of Arrivederci Knees followed by a Brainbuster, The Beautiful Madness was able to pin Vega to score her first Championship on the Main Roster! Giulia as US Champ should be a vast improvement!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C+

Alexa Bliss told Charlotte Flair that she thinks that they should look out for each other before Wade Barrett hosted a Face-to-Face confrontation between Asuka and Jade Cargill! Jade said she’s coming to win the crown to head on to Summerslam and become a Champion whilst Asuka just said she’s the best! The crowd were fully behind The Empress of Tomorrow whilst they booed Cargill, and this brought out Naomi who said she has all the power! Jade then pushed Asuka out of the way in order to try and get to Naomi, and this just resulted in Asuka flooring her Night of Champions opponent!

Grade: C+

Aleister Black was trying to talk to Nick Aldis before R-Truth interrupted, and then it was time for a Tag Team match as DIY faced Andrade and a mystery partner! That “mystery partner” was revealed to be none other than Rey Fenix, and this was such a good match; all four men did superb! The crowd was also great here, the Saudi fans were well behind everyone because they’re all great in-ring competitors! The action between Johnny Gargano and Andrade was great, the action involving Tommaso Ciampa and Rey Fenix was also great, all of this was really well done! Eventually, it was the make-shift duo of Andrade and Fenix who got the win, and this was just a lot of fun!

Grade: B

WWE Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits VS The Wyatt Sick6, Tiffany Stratton VS Nia Jax: WWE Women’s Championship Last Woman Standing Match

After another video package for John Cena-CM Punk, R-Truth stormed into the ring to call out John Cena! Instead of this, Aleister Black showed up and floored Truth with a Black Mass! Damian Priest then questioned Black on this backstage before Carmelo Hayes let his thoughts be known, which annoyed Priest a lot! The Street Profits were then ready to defend their WWE Tag Team Championships against The Wyatt Sick6! The action here was fine, nothing wrong with it at all, but that wasn’t the main focus. Instead, the main focus was surrounding the rest of the SmackDown Tag Team Division as “all” the teams surrounded ringside, resulting in Los Garza eventually attacking The Profits to cause a DQ! A massive brawl then broke out, with FRAXIOM and the Motor City Machine Guns working together to deal with Erick Rowan!

Grade: C+

Credit: Wrestling Cafe'

After Jacob Fatu told Jimmy Uso that they’ll be fine as long as he stays in his lane, it was time for the Main Event match of the night as Tiffany Stratton put her WWE Women’s Championship on the line against Nia Jax in a Last Woman Standing Match! Nia Jax dominated this match, she put Tiffany through hell, whether that be with steel steps, kendo sticks, or a nasty-looking Splash through a table (on the outside)! Jax even delivered an Annihilator onto Stratton onto a steel chair, and realistically, that should’ve been the finish! Instead, Tiffany fought back until Naomi showed up with her Money in the Bank Briefcase, only to do nothing but cost Nia! Tiffany then sent Jax crashing through a pair of tables to retain her WWE Women’s Championship, and this was an important win for The Center of the Universe!

Grade: B-

CM Punk Interrupts John Cena

The final segment on the final SmackDown before Night of Champions saw John Cena attempt to grace Riyadh with his presence, but he was instead interrupted by CM Punk who brought his own spin on the “Dr. of Thuganomics”! Punk took multiple shots at Cena throughout this, but for whatever reason, this just didn’t work for me! Some of the lines were good, particularly the one about The Undertaker, but I just didn’t rate it!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C