Friday Night SmackDown aired another pre-taped episode this week from inside the Wembley Arena in London, England.
Alexa Bliss was getting ready backstage when Charlotte Flair, in a happy mood, booty bumped her and asked Bliss if she missed her. Bliss admits that last week sucked, as she lost her Women’s United States Championship match against the champion Giulia, Nia Jax and Lash Legend got in her head before the match, and then attacked her after the match. It was a complete number’s game and she was left all alone, so she needs to know if Flair was really sick. Charlotte says she was, and adds that she’s turned down many title opportunities because she put their team first, but fails to answer when Bliss tells her to name two. They appear to each other’s backs, and Bliss walks off to let Flair warm up.
Nia and Lash then arrive, and Nia says that while there is no reason for Flair to trust her, but tells her that the behavior of Bliss is typical: she makes the other person feel guilty and makes herself the victim, with Lash adding that she’s really good at it too. Flair knows that she doesn’t trust them both, and tells them that the next time they give unsolicited advice, they’re not going to like her response.
Our first of two women’s matches took place afterward, with Alexa and Charlotte taking on the Women’s United States Champion Giulia and Kiana James. Bliss and James started things off, although the Ohio native soon tagged in The Queen. After trading attacks, Giulia and James took control, with both women taking their turns with Bliss in a clear sign of unity. James punched out Flair, who kept trying to intervene to aid Bliss, but was stopped by the referee since she wasn’t the legal woman. James moved Bliss far away to the heel team’s corner to avoid tagging in Flair, driving herself head-first into the midsection, with The Beautiful Madness following it up with a missile dropkick.
Bliss finally had the chance to tag in Flair, fighting off the heels with multiple chops to the cheers of the London crowd. Giulia and James continued to try and throw Flair off her game, fighting with her back-and-forth, until Bliss hit the Sister Abigail DDT on James for the win.
Nia Jax and Lash Legend returned afterwards, this time to attack both teams. Giulia got in Jax’s face, although James attempted to restrain her client.
Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano were walking backstage, Gargano still having Axiom’s blue mask in hand, boasting about how they fooled Nathan Frazer last week, with The Poison Pixie asking her husband who even wears turtlenecks anymore. Axiom confronts the two and wants the mask back, but LeRae runs off with it. Frazer then disguised himself with another Axiom mask and attacked Gargano, announcing that they would be having a match the following week after speaking to Nick Aldis.
Chelsea Green took on Jordynne Grace. The WWE Women’s Champion, Jade Cargill, was watching the match from ringside. Just as she did with Alba Fyre last week, it didn’t take long for Grace to overpower the slightly taller Green. Fyre did interfere at one point by kicking Grace in the face, but Green still didn’t get much in the way of any dominance. Grace ultimately won the match via a move called The Direct Effect, described by commentator Joe Tessitore as a cartwheel driver.
Cargill clapped slowly, a sign of disrespect to the new Team Blue star. Grace would take the microphone and call her out, telling her she was glad to see her out here to watch the match, as it’s extremely important that she knows exactly what’s coming to her. If watching tonight was just enough, that’s fine, but if she’s finally tired of babysitting the title, then she should step into the ring, right here and right now. Chelsea, who was still in the ring, tried to run toward Grace, but ended up pushing Cargill off the ring apron. It appeared The Storm accepted Grace’s challenge as she was heard saying, “Bet.”
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with the following set to take place:
Women’s Tag Team Championship #1 Contender’s Match: Kiana James and Giulia vs. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax and Lash Legend
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below.