This week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown started with Jimmy Uso getting cozy with Cody Rhodes, because they’re still buddy buddy despite everything that has happened between the two sides. Jimmy wanted to get to SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis to see about who took out Jacob Fatu.
The WWE Champion expressed support while sending him Aldis’ direction.
Sure.
That led right into Cody taking the microphone out in front of the fine folks in Tempe, asking them what they wanna talk about and all
that. He wondered if he needed to apologize for last week and the way he treated Drew McIntyre.
Nobody endorsed as much. Instead, the man himself hit the scene to tell everyone to stop. The crowd is complicit in Cody’s crimes, completely brainwashed by the corporate champion’s propaganda. They still cheer for him, despite what he’s done.
“I’ve been screwed so many times this has become about Drew McIntyre finishing the story.”
That’s a good one.
But who attacked Fatu? Drew proclaimed his innocence while trying to point the finger at Jimmy, claiming he’s disgruntled and once again playing second fiddle to his brother, Jey. Rhodes snapped yet again, demanding a fight.
Instead, Jimmy attacked McIntyre from behind, kicking off a brawl that would continue into the backstage area after a commercial break. Eventually, Jimmy caught up with Aldis, campaigning for a fight. The GM agreed, and the main event was set — No DQ.
Said match was your standard fare, notable only for McIntyre loudly proclaiming his innocence while choking Jimmy out with a chair. He didn’t do it, damn it! Rhodes hit the scene to kick off the brawl with McIntyre once more. It only ended when he checked on Jimmy and DM Hunk laid him out with the Claymore Kick.
There’s not a lot of meat on the bone here, but they’ve got me invested enough. I think the main issue is McIntyre doesn’t feel like enough of a legitimate threat to take the title away.
All the rest
- Shinsuke Nakamura hasn’t been back long, but he’s out here teaming with Rey Fenix and doing jobs to the likes of The MFTs. They’re doing what they can to get the group over right now, but did they have to do our guy Nakamura like this?
- You won’t be surprised to learn WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton defeated Kiana James. It was always going to go that way. United States Champion Giulia, however, was in the middle of putting the boots to her when Jade Cargill showed up to run her off — just to turn heel and put Stratton down right after. She telegraphed the hell out of the attack but there’s some reason to be interested in what they do from here. Cargill’s promo was to say the world doesn’t reward patience, it rewards power and she ain’t asking for it but rather taking it. I’m down to see how she tries.
- Ilja Dragunov took the torch from Sami Zayn with not just the U.S. title but the U.S. title open challenge. His first was answered by Aleister Black and of course they had a really fun match that got a ton of time. Its finish wasn’t satisfactory, however, as Damian Priest made his return to simply walk out, show off the burn mark he got from the fireball weeks ago, and distract Black enough that Dragunov could hit his finish to win the match. I feel like it goes against the spirit of the challenge to book it like this, but it was still a great match.
- Nia Jax tried to drive a wedge between Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, using her history with Alexa as a point of attack. They set up a match for next week’s show, and Flair seemed to support her tag partner.
It felt like very little actually happened on this show.
Grade: C-
Your turn.
