The Superstars of Friday Night SmackDown rolled into the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for a night of action and major fallout from Elimination Chamber last Saturday. Bianca Belair won the women’s Elimination Chamber match, but the win didn’t come without a series of surprises. From Jade Cargill making her return and attacking Naomi at the start of the match, to arguing with Rhea Ripley and causing her to lose the Women’s World Championship to IYO SKY just weeks away from WrestleMania 41, the EST’s road to The Grandest Stage of Them All is sure to be rocky.
In other news, Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton teamed up with Trish Stratus in a winning effort against Nia Jax and Candice LeRae. Was the Buff Barbie finally able to focus on her big match with Charlotte Flair? And lastly, Chelsea Green defended her Women’s United States Championship in a street fight against recurring rival Michin. After all this time, has their beef finally been squashed? Let’s get started and find out.
Tiffany Stratton was backstage earlier in the day speaking with Nick Aldis in his office, but as soon as the segment began, Chelsea Green interrupted their conversation, saying that it was unconstitutional that he made her defend her Women’s United States Championship against Michin in a street fight. Stratton reminds Green that her and Aldis were in the middle of something. Green retorts and says she hopes Stratton is in the middle of discussing her consequences for ruining her “Canadian homecoming” last week, questioning Aldis on allowing Tiffany to “bully her” into a match last week and now allowing Michin to bully her into a match as well, calling his behavior “discrimination” and that she knows her rights. Stratton says that maybe Green should exercise her right to remain silent for everyone in the room. The champion’s words provoke Piper Niven to speak up for Green, leading to Stratton challenging the Secret Hervice to a match in order to make her “shut up”, but Green tries to avoid the situation by claiming that Niven works for her and “can’t make it”. Aldis butts in to remind her that Niven works for WWE and believes the match is a great idea.
The two competitors made their entrances for the match, which began with a lock up. The two had unique advantages, Stratton with her athleticism and Niven with her strength. Neither woman seemed to let up as the Center of the Universe tried her signature cartwheel to little damage. Stratton ultimately won after being able to avoid Niven crashing onto her, taking advantage of Niven falling onto the mat to perform the Prettiest Moonsault Ever. Stratton’s celebration was short-lived though as Charlotte Flair cheap shot her from the leg, and put her in the Figure Eight before referees had to force Flair to let go and keep her distance from the Women’s Champion.
Bianca Belair made her way out to the ring, noticeably walking with a look of concern on her face. In the ring, Belair cut a promo, saying that after winning the women’s Elimination Chamber match, she should really feel like she’s on top of the world and stay focused on WrestleMania, but it’s really hard to do that when two of her friends, Jade Cargill and Naomi, are fighting. She’s formed bonds with both of these women, with her and Jade elevating the women’s tag team division together and Naomi stepping in so all that hard work wouldn’t go to waste.
She goes on to say that her and Naomi were close before, but once they formed their tag team, she can honestly say that Naomi became her best friend. She doesn’t believe that Naomi would do something like attack Jade, but she’s confused, feeling like she’s going crazy and now she’s being accused, so she needs answers as Naomi is not texting her back and Cargill isn’t talking to her. Feeling like she is losing both of her friends, Belair asks Naomi to come out to the ring and give her some answers right now. Naomi comes out wearing a neckbrace but not in a happy mood one bit. Belair asks Naomi what in the hell is going on; Naomi says that this is not at all what it looks like and needs Belair to “lock in” with her and to understand what she is about to say.
Naomi asks Bianca that when Jade couldn’t compete, who stepped up? Who had her back? And who made sure that she didn’t have to relinquish the Women’s Tag Team Championships? Bianca, in a despondent tone, tells her to stop, and asks her if she attacked Jade. Naomi says that her and Bianca need to re-focus on getting their titles back from Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, and her focusing on WrestleMania.
Bianca once again tells her to stop as she is talking about everything else aside from the elephant in the room. They are here for Jade. Naomi says that she never told Bianca this in the past because she didn’t want to be messy and didn’t want to hurt Jade’s feelings, but Naomi feels that Jade has been piggybacking off Bianca’s success the entire time they teamed up. That is her truth, and she has been forced to watch someone like Jade succeed off of Bianca’s excellence, experience, and hard work, while she was left and pushed to the side to fight for herself every match without saying a word and letting the two get their flowers. The Girl with the Glow began to tear up, and it showed in her voice as she said she was proud of them, but deep down, that’s the way she feels, capping off by saying she doesn’t give a damn about Jade because Jade didn’t give a damn about Bianca.
Bianca tells Naomi to stop for the third time, also beginning to cry as she said that the answer is simple: it is a yes or a no, threatening to walk out of the ring and that Naomi would never hear from her again if she didn’t answer. Naomi also starts to cry, admitting that she attacked Jade, having done it for Bianca and for their partnership because she felt it was always supposed to be Bianca and her. Belair cannot contain her emotions and says that this revelation hurts her badly because of how much she loves Naomi, and Naomi feels the same, but Belair refuses to hear any of it, saying that she has said enough, and that they’re done as a team.
Belair starts to walk away as Naomi tells her that she did it for her, but she just doesn’t understand that right now, taking off her neck brace and revealing that she should have pushed Jade harder and sooner. Every time Naomi has stood up for herself, people have turned on her and that is exactly what she thinks Belair is doing, calling her an “ungrateful bitch”.
A video suddenly appeared on the big screen of Jade Cargill rolling up to the building and walking her way to the ring as she immediately broke out into a brawl with Naomi, throwing her into the announce desk and into the ring post, before hitting Jaded on her in the ring.
Byron Saxton interviewed Charlotte Flair, asking her why she decided to ambush Tiffany Stratton after her match. Flair responded by saying that she had already warned Stratton that the fun and games were over and that she would be wherever she was, stating that the attack was the fault of the Women’s Champion for not listening to her. Flair also adds that it seems like the women’s division on SmackDown has gone a little “soft” for a threat like her. Every time she comes back, she has to remind people that there are levels to what WWE Superstars do. B-Fab walks in and boldly confronts her, with The Queen stating that the division is lacking “a little talent” since she’s been gone, and no one compares to her. The Fab Female knows that Charlotte was out of action for a long time, but nobody wants to compare to her and everyone wants their own legacy, with nobody being interested in bowing down to her anymore. Flair retorts and says that she’s wrong, as everyone eventually bows down to the queen, and next week in Barcelona, she’ll meet her in the ring and show her how to bow down.
Piper Niven reappeared and was shown to be in pain despite wearing her Secret Hervice outfit. Chelsea Green tells her that she needs her to be there for her street fight with Michin. Zelina Vega interrupts her and says that she just came to wish her good luck – or not, because if it’s her or Michin, it doesn’t matter who wins, she’s coming after the Women’s United States Championship. Green is not pleased and tells Niven to get it together, tugging her by her hair and forcing her to walk out to the ring with her.
The street fight for the Women’s United States Championship was underway as Chelsea Green, wearing a Cactus Jack-inspired attire, took on Michin. The two started exchanging some punches, with The Crazy One hitting Green with a baking sheet and throwing all sorts of weapons into the ring, tripping her head-first into a steel chair and hitting her back into chains. Green ultimately took control throughout the commercial break, but would get fire extinguisher smoke all over her face. The match started to attract more commotion as Michin would bring out a table from under the ring but got attacked by Niven, who helped Green perform Shane McMahon’s Coast-to-Coast on her for a near fall.
This brought out B-Fab, an ally of Michin’s for the past three months, to hit Niven with a kendo stick at ringside and chase her into the crowd. More kendo stick shots by Michin to Green followed, with the Longback Attack onto a trash can covering Green’s face only producing a near fall. Now finally able to bring out the table she’s been wanting to use, Michin set it up but would get hit by a bulldog from Green, who then tried to set it up herself but would only get it collapsed as Michin hit Eat Defeat on her.
As Michin got ready to pin, Green was pulled out by someone hiding under a hoodie, quickly revealed to be Alba Fyre who executed the Canadian Destroyer onto Michin and helped a dazed Green retain her title. Based on her salute to the champion, it appears Fyre has joined Green and Niven’s alliance and will be appearing on the blue brand going forward.
After tonight, Team Blue is set to go overseas! Next week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown airs from inside the Olimpic Arena in Barcelona, Spain. The following will take place:
- B-Fab vs. Charlotte Flair
Be sure to share your thoughts on everything surrounding this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below!
