Friday Night SmackDown aired this week from inside the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona, six weeks away from WrestleMania 42.
Our first Diva sighting tonight was in the form of Nikki Cross, who accompanied Uncle Howdy (Bo Dallas) and Erick Rowan of The Wyatt Sicks for their tag team against Solo Sikoa and Talla Tonga of MFT. Sikoa got distracted by Cross by stealing the Wyatt’s lantern, which has been in his possession as of late. Taunting him by skipping around ringside, the distraction allowed Howdy to hit Sister Abigail and win the match for his team. However, Tama Tonga would cheap shot Howdy to steal the lantern and leave. Cross, still inside the ring, screamed as it was no longer in the hands of its rightful owners.
Kiana James and Giulia addressed Tiffany Stratton in a brief backstage segment. Speaking to the camera, James says that Stratton talks a big game, but talking only gets her so far. Giulia questions if Stratton really thinks she deserves the Women’s United States Championship (which Stratton has not spoken of or implied since returning) when she can’t even beat Kiana tonight. James continued, saying she had zero issues shutting her up tonight and proving that Tiffy Time has expired.
NOTE: Same video, but starting at 1:43.
Jade Cargill and Michin then faced off in the first of three women’s matches. Before the match could begin, Michin attacked Cargill from behind to send her out of the ring. Once the bell rang, Michin was quick to throw punches and kick at Cargill, including hitting a suicide dive when Cargill got out of the ring briefly. Cargill quickly turned the tables in the ring with a bodyslam and continued to beat on and taunt Michin throughout the rest of the match, not allowing The Blasian Baddie to get much offense in.
Michin began to rebound a bit in the second half of the match, with Cargill rolling out of the ring, only for her to escape from a cannonball attempt and throw Michin right against the barricade near the timekeeper’s area. Cargill would lick Michin’s face, and then hit Jaded for the win.
After the match, Cathy Kelley entered the ring to try and interview Cargill, but The Storm took the microphone away and made her leave. Cargill went on to say that what she did to Michin is what happens when “these wrestlers” believe in their own hype. All the women backstage know what it is, when they see her in the hallways, they get real quiet. But for some reason, the world tells her that she should be scared of one woman: Rhea Ripley, questioning why she should be afraid of as she doesn’t see a challenger or a threat, and she ain’t never been afraid of nothing. She promises to beat Ripley’s ass come WrestleMania and show her why she’s always on top.
Rhea Ripley makes her way out and walks to the ring, but upon entering the squared circle, Cargill left the ring to a chorus of boos. Ripley says Cargill is out here running her mouth, but now wants to run from a fight with her. Adding on, Ripley claims Cargill is not the embodiment of female empowerment, and that she’s not “B” or “A” level, but after WrestleMania, she’s going to be her bitch. Cargill then walked away as Ripley remained in a very confrontational mood inside the ring.
Michin was now seen backstage, sitting right outside the trainer’s room with an ice pack on her shoulder as B-Fab was talking to her. Rhea walked up to the two and asked Michin if she was good, but The Hardcore Princess didn’t give her a reassuring response, mentioning that if Jade hadn’t taken her out on her shoulder before, they would be having a whole different conversation, feeling that the “pity party” is not needed. B-Fab calms her down, and tells Rhea that Michin needs a second, with the two walking off.
NOTE: Same video, but starting at 2:57.
Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss made their way out for their Women’s Tag Team Championship match against reigning champions The Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax and Lash Legend). However, before the match could go down… the words “you can look, but you can’t touch… you keep dreaming from the stars above” sounded off in Phoenix, which could only mean the returning Bella Twins, who several weeks ago on Raw, expressed their desire to go after the titles.
With a mic in hand, it was Brie who spoke to the Bella Army in the twins’ hometown, saying it felt good to be back on SmackDown. Nikki said hello to Charlotte and Alexa, but got straight to the point: as much as they’d like to wish them luck in their match tonight, that’s not why they’re here. Brie adds that no matter who wins the match and walks out as champions, the Bellas came back for gold, and they are next in line for the Women’s Tag Team titles. As for tonight, the two will be sitting at ringside to get a good look at their competition.
With the match now underway, Nia and Lash attacked Charlotte and Alexa to begin, but the champs were quickly sent out of the ring as the Bellas watched on. Later on, after returning from commercials, Bliss tagged in Flair, who launched at Legend with her signature set of chops and walk-over clothesline, but was nearly pinned with a Samoan drop from Jax. Thankfully, The Queen missed an Annihilator, but Legend pushed her off after hitting a moonsault to put away Jax. The Boujee Bully herself was stopped by a DDT from Bliss, but after Jax was thrown into the ring post on the outside, Flair, ready to hit a big boot on her, instead mistakenly hit Nikki, who fell to the floor.
Jax attacked Brie before getting back into the ring, where Flair hit Natural Selection on Jax. With Alexa priming herself for Twisted Bliss, her attempt was stopped when Brie rushed into the ring to attack Jax. Bliss tried to restrain her, only for the two to begin arguing when they got clotheslined by Legend. Nikki then got back up and tried attacking both champs, but the Fearless One was instead met with a destructive bear hug/leg drop combination. Nia and Lash took pleasure in seeing the other two teams laid out on the mat as fans in the arena were not happy.
Alexa and Charlotte were walking backstage now, visibly hurt and touching their necks after the attack by Lash and Nia. The Bellas walk up to them, with Nikki asking them where they think they’re going. Bliss mentions that seeing her get kicked in the face sucks, but they had the match won until they interfered. Flair reiterates the same thing, that sticking their noses where it didn’t belong cost them the Women’s Tag Team titles. Nikki, however, argues, that Lash and Nia attacked them, and they weren’t just going to do nothing. Brie mentions that they came back to fight for the tag titles, and thanks to general manger Nick Aldis, they are next in line to face them.
Candice LeRae was backstage with Alex Shelley trying to speak to Johnny Gargano, who after last week’s impromptu match with Oba Femi, is back to lying down on a box. LeRae doesn’t know what to do anymore, although Shelley tries to remind her to get back to basics, and their solution is to continue pushing the box, with LeRae doing so by herself.
Interestingly enough, as this was happening, B-Fab was caught talking to someone, but it quickly turned out that it wasn’t Michin, but rather Jade in a continuation of what happened earlier. The two walked off together, indicating that maybe B-Fab doesn’t hate the Women’s Champion as much as she’s been letting on.
Tiffany Stratton was admiring herself in front of a mirror when she began to speak to the camera, reminding Giulia to hide behind “that little secretary of hers”. Chelsea Green rolled up in her wheelchair to confront Stratton, but was quickly pushed off by her as Alba Fyre chased after Green. Stratton continues with her statement to Giulia and that after beating Kiana James tonight, she is coming for the Women’s United States Championship. The Beautiful Madness can kiss that title goodbye because soon enough, her and everybody else will know exactly what time it is. This served as a segueway into her entrance.
The match between Stratton and James started off with a lockup between the two, but things were quickly paced and back-and-forth overall in the early goings. James soon took control, driving Stratton’s back into the ring apron. The show then went to break for commercials, and upon the show’s return, out came Alba and Chelsea as Stratton had the upper hand at this point in the match. Stratton tried the Prettiest Moonsault Ever, but Giulia pulled James out of the ring to prevent it. That wouldn’t matter to the Center of the Universe as she hit a suicide dive on James outside the ring.
Green got up from the wheelchair, with a pink wrench in hand ready to attack, but Giulia shielded her from Stratton, pushing Green back into the wheelchair and getting into Fyre’s face. The commotion led to James accidentally hitting a big boot on Giulia, helping Stratton hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to win the match.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Here is what we can expect:
- Women’s Tag Team Championship: The Irresistible Forces (Lash Legend and Nia Jax) (c) vs. The Bella Twins (Brie Bella and Nikki Bella)
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below.