WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 31/07

Finn Balor Starts the Show, Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green VS Michin and B-Fab

The final Friday Night SmackDown before SummerSlam saw Finn Balor come out to reminisce about SummerSlam 2016! Finn calls that night both “the best and worst” night of his career, with him now coming close to getting back to the very top! This brought out Sami Zayn, who’s furious over the fact that he’s got to fight in a Number 1 Contender’s match to begin with, as he firmly believes that the Undisputed WWE Championship match at SummerSlam should be a Triple Threat match, not just CM Punk VS Cody Rhodes! Sami then got into the ring to tell Finn that he respects him enough to not deck him right now, but maybe he should get the hint that he’s simply not good enough anymore! Gunther then showed up to attack both men from behind, with The Ring General firmly believing that he is the rightful Number 1 Contender! Nick Aldis then arrived to start a brawl with his SummerSlam opponent, with officials and security doing a surprisingly decent job of breaking them apart! I think both of these matches can be pretty good this weekend, even if Sami-Finn shouldn’t be happening to begin with!

Grade: C+

Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green were in matching blue and yellow gear as they faced Michin and B-Fab in the opening match of the night! I loved Tiffany’s and Chelsea’s gear, with them working well together against a rather pointless team in the form of Michin and B-Fab! Jade Cargill would make her presence known on the outside, throwing Stratton into the steel steps as “The Baddies” took advantage by dropping Green with a BTA to score the win! This is actually a good thing if you’re a fan of Chelsea Green, as this increases her chances of winning the Title on Sunday! Charlotte Flair then showed up after the match to start a brawl with Jade Cargill, but I still have to question why these two aren’t just facing each other in a singles match!

Grade: C

Winner Takes All: Damian Priest and R-Truth VS The War Raiders, Trick Williams Calls Out Baron Corbin

Credit: WWE

FRAXIOM were hanging out with Rey Fenix backstage as The Judgment Day walked by looking for Danhausen! Fenix said he hadn’t seen him, so JD McDonagh challenged him to a AAA Cruiserweight Championship match instead! Tama and Talla Tonga then got a massive bit of firing up from their father, the legendary Haku, before Damian Priest and R-Truth took on The War Raiders in a Winner Takes All match! The two Titles on the line here were the WWE Tag Team and AAA World Tag Team Championships, and whilst this story has been told for a while now, it was pretty obvious that this match wasn’t going to get a proper ending! That was made even clearer by the fact that this wasn’t even the Main Event, but I feel like the ending at least could’ve been done better, with the match just ending after both teams got physical with the referee! After a brawl through the crowd, The Tongans appeared to wipe both teams out, standing tall with both the WWE and AAA Tag Team Titles in their possession! I can’t lie, having Tama and Talla Tonga cause the DQ probably would’ve been a better way to finish this match than just having Priest and Ivar shove Charles Robinson!

Grade: C

CM Punk’s backstage interview was interrupted by Trick Williams, with the reigning United States Champion warning Punk that eventually, he’s going to be coming after the Undisputed WWE Championship! Nick Aldis then had a video package highlighting his past as a World Champion in both Impact and NWA, before Trick Williams made his way down to the ring to call out Baron Corbin! Trick is fed up with Baron attacking him from behind, with The Anointed One wanting to throw hands with Baron right now! Unfortunately for the fans in Green Bay, Wisconsin, one of the biggest things that Corbin learnt in his time away from WWE is to have patience, hence why he’s happy to wait until Sunday when the US Title is on the line! Where the flip is Carmelo Hayes?!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C

AAA World Cruiserweight Championship: Rey Fenix VS JD McDonagh, Giulia VS Lash Legend: WWE Women’s Championship SummerSlam Ladder Match Qualifying Match

After a video package hyping the upcoming Hell in a Cell Match between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi, Rey Fenix put his AAA World Cruiserweight Championship on the line against JD McDonagh! These are two of the best wrestlers that WWE has to offer, so this was always going to be a pretty fun match! The problem was that the crowd went completely silent for this match, highlighting a major problem with the WWE audience! As good as the wrestling was, if you’re not a big star, you rarely get a reaction, with the crowd only popping for when Danhausen came out to take care of Dominik Mysterio (with help from the Minihausen’s)! This just opened the door for Fenix to deliver an MMB to score the win, but I came out of this match just wishing that it had taken place in Mexico!

Grade: B (for the actual in-ring action)

After a hype package for Roman Reigns VS Seth “Freakin” Rollins, it was time for the Main Event match of the night as Lash Legend went one-on-one with Giulia in the final WWE Women’s Championship Qualifying Match! I’ll be honest, this was a mess! Firstly, it only lasted 2 minutes, which is never a good sign, and it saw Lash convincingly put away Giulia with a Lash Extension! I’m personally not against having Lash Legend in this match, but do we really need both her and Jade Cargill to do the same things in a Ladder Match? Also, surely Giulia is the much safer pick for that type of match, with Giulia herself deserving a spot in the Title match anyway! I literally feel like Chelsea Green was the only correct winner in any of the 5 qualifying matches, which is concerning!

Grade: E

CM Punk and Cody Rhodes Come Face-to-Face

The final segment heading into SummerSlam saw CM Punk and Cody Rhodes come face-to-face ahead of their Undisputed WWE Championship Match in Night 1’s Main Event! CM Punk already managed to get into Cody’s head from the start; he interrupted his entrance before addressing the WWE Universe whilst he was about to start talking to Cody! Rhodes and Punk would then both fire off words about how they need to win, with The Best in the World stating that he’d much rather keep the Title than a friend! A brawl then broke out between the two men, with Cody and Punk fighting on the announce table to close the show! This didn’t really add anything else to the feud; it was sort of ready from the start!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C+