Friday Night SmackDown arrived to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina for a new night of action following Saturday Night’s Main Event, where Jade Cargill became the new WWE Women’s Champion after defeating Tiffany Stratton. It’s safe to say though that the women’s locker room on the blue brand is in a state of chaos following everything that transpired tonight, so let’s get started!
Zelina Vega walked out with Aleister Black, confronting the Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, who had mentioned he was moving on to a new challenger, at the start of the show. Vega got in The American Nightmare’s face, suggestively touching his championship, and said it was too bad his nightmare was about to begin, slapping Rhodes in the face. Nick Aldis quickly made the main event match between Black and Rhodes.
Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano were in tow with Tomasso Ciampa, who accepted Ilja Dragunov’s weekly open challenge for Dragunov’s United States Championship. Dragunov once again denied him the opportunity, so Gargano fought in his place instead. During the resulting match, LeRae tried to get up on the ring apron during the commercial break, but quickly backed out when the referee noticed her. The Poison Pixie even took a swipe at Dragunov while the referee wasn’t looking, causing him to fall onto the floor and briefly giving her husband an advantage, but Dragunov ultimately retained his title.
Jade Cargill made her first appearance since winning the Women’s Championship from Tiffany Stratton last Saturday at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Cargill said that everyone saw what happened to Stratton, and that goes for every woman in the locker room. She lastly warned to make no mistakes about it: she’s that bitch. Dropping the mic and leaving the ring, Cargill raised her championship in the air when Charlotte Flair’s music interrupted; Flair was set to take on Nia Jax, with her and Alexa Bliss walking down the ramp as the Women’s Tag Team Champions stared at Cargill. Flair was almost considering putting her hands on the champ, but Bliss stopped her from doing so before commercials.
The show returned with Chelsea Green talking to her Slaygent, Alba Fyre, about her title match against the Women’s United States Champion, Giulia, later on. Green is looking to solidify her name in the history books as the “longest reigning first and fourth ever champion” when Michin and B-Fab, who we haven’t seen in recent weeks, interrupted them. Michin tells Green that she doesn’t think Green will be the longest reigning champion as that record has already been surpassed by Giulia; Green had incorrectly claimed during last week’s episode that Giulia was “9 days away” from breaking the record, which B-Fab poked fun at by stating that “the math wasn’t mathing”, but Green snaps back and says that holidays do not count.
Michin goes on and says that with Green’s ego overlooking Giulia, her and The Fab Female think they already know how the match is going to end, but Green says she knows how it’s going to go: she’s going to win and be the first and fourth Women’s United States Champion, and then she’s going to be a double champion, counting the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship that she won with fellow Canadian and NXT star Ethan Page last Sunday in Mexico. Green then gives a newsflash to the “dummies”: she is going to be the greatest SmackDown champion that they have ever seen. In fact, she already is… at least, when Jade Cargill’s not in the room.
Cargill freshly told Green to keep the words going, but a clearly intimidated Green said that she thinks Cargill looks gorgeous, words that The Storm isn’t buying. Cargill warns Green that if she keeps on talking, she’s going to stomp a hole through her chest, leaving Green feeling threatened and running off with Fyre, claiming that “they’re busy”.
Considering that Cargill had gotten along with Michin and B-Fab in the past, it seemed like the three of them were going to walk out of the locker room together, but the champ showed off her new attitude by telling B-Fab to move out of her way. Thinking she had walked off, B-Fab told Michin that she doesn’t know why the hell Cargill thinks it’s cool to be running around here talking the way she is to everyone, but Cargill, still listening, questioned her. B-Fab congratulates her for winning the title, but doesn’t think it’s necessary for her to be acting like that. Cargill cuts her off and tells her that she’ll do what she wants, and if she’s got a problem with it, she can step up and get stepped on in the ring next week. B-Fab accepts, and replies with a “bet”, ending the segment.
Back in the ring, Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair were still set to square off. The match began with Flair trying a shoulder tackle onto Jax, but The Queen simply bounced off her. Unfazed by it, Jax gave Flair two shoves in the face. That was then followed by Flair slapping The Irresistible Force, and it was off to the races. Flair tried to throw down on Jax and hit several punches on her, but Jax gave her a headbutt in response. Soon trying a powerbomb, Jax’s attempt at dominance was reversed into a headscissors takedown and a dropkick by Flair, who was then thrown head-first into the turnbuckle.
After a commercial break, Flair fought back by hitting a crossbody onto Jax from the top turnbuckle, with Bliss and the fans clapping for her. Flair kept gaining momentum as she delivered her signature chops to the chest of Jax, following it up with a clothesline that led to the screen going black for a second, because even a queen can get a little nip slip every once in a while. With Flair trying a moonsault, she attempted to pin Jax, who kicked out at 2.
Trying hard to win, Flair put Jax into the Figure Eight only for Jax to hit another headbutt, helping Flair lose her balance and putting her in position for Jax to hit a sitout powerbomb, which Flair also kicked out of at 2. With the match still not over, Jax got up on the top turnbuckle to attempt the Annihilator, but instead fell right on her bum, which Flair tried to take advantage of by pinning her only for Jax to stand up while holding her on her back, dragging Flair to the other side of the ring. Flair was able to kick Jax in the head and nearly pinned her again, but still failed to put Jax away, which flustered her.
Another try by Flair to pin Jax went awry when Bliss was attacked by NXT superstar Lash Legend, who emerged from the crowd and put Bliss in a chokehold, swinging her around like a rag doll. The attack distracted Flair, which Jax utilized to her benefit by setting Flair up in position to finally perform the Annihilator, which resulted in her winning the match. As commentators Michael Cole and Corey Graves speculated over Legend’s role in the match and what this means for her future as SmackDown’s newest female superstar – it’s clear that the two women, who actually had a brief feud not too long ago on NXT, have a partnership brewing.
Legend was a fixture of NXT from 2021 onward, initially hosting the Lashing Out segment and becoming a member of the Meta Four faction. This is in fact, not the first time we’ve seen The Boujee Bully on the blue brand, appearing briefly in October and November of last year when she was still teaming with the former Jakara Jackson, now known as Mara Sadè in TNA. At that time, the two were pursuing the Women’s Tag Team Championships, with Legend also being involved in a triple threat match during the tournament to crown the inaugural Women’s United States Champion.
Cathy Kelley welcomed us back to the show as she was on the scene to interview Lash and Nia about how their new partnership came about. Jax insulted Kelley for her usage of prescription glasses, wondering if she needed them to watch her match because she clearly would have beaten Charlotte. Jax stated Alexa and Charlotte told her she needed to find a friend, and jokes on them, because she found one. She faced Lash in NXT and besides considering her a formidable adversary, knows Lash is a badass, which is why they are friends. Mocking the tag champs, she asks Alexa and Charlotte if they can say that their friend is a former NCAA world record holder.
Jax then allows Legend to take the mic, who states that if people didn’t already know, she is the one and only Boujee Bully, and based on what she did to Alexa, clearly, she is everything she says she is and reminds us to best believe that her and Nia are going straight to the top, as tonight was just the beginning. The two then walk out of the arena and into the parking lot to end the segment.
The next match was the Women’s United States Championship match between defending champion Giulia, accompanied by Kiana James, and Chelsea Green, with Alba Fyre by her side. The match started with Green giving a slap to Giulia, only for The Beautiful Madness to slap her back. The action was very quick as Giulia hit her with a headbutt and an Arrivederci knee. Clearly unprepared for Giulia as Michin and B-Fab had predicted earlier, Green was grabbed by the hair and thrown onto the mat.
James would get involved by punching Green as the referee had his back turned, but Fyre would come to her leader’s defense, kicking James in the face which laid her out on the floor. Giulia kicked Fyre in the back of the head herself, but Green took advantage by rolling her up for a pin. Unbeknownst to the referee, Green put her foot on the ropes, but he counted to three anyway, which meant Green won the match and became the new Women’s United States Champion.
Fyre grabbed the title and handed it to Green as the two escaped into the crowd with Ethan Page, who was watching the match to support her. Giulia and James were not happy with how the match went down and it was clear they felt cheated out.
In the trainer’s room, Alexa Bliss was touching her neck, still hurt from the attack by Lash Legend as Charlotte Flair was with her. Bliss got an ice pack that the doctor they had spoken to said he would go get, but her and Flair soon realized they were looking at Asuka, who spit her green mist into both of their faces as her and Kairi Sane, disguised as doctors, taunted and laughed at them before leaving the room while Bliss and Flair could barely see.
Lastly, Zelina Vega accompanied Aleister Black during the main event match against Cody Rhodes. Vega primarily watched with intent, with glee if her husband was in control of the match, and with worry if The American Nightmare had the upper hand. She would get involved during the commercial break (3:05 to 3:12 in the video above), rubbing the face of Rhodes against hers to distract him, while the referee was focused on restraining Black from continuing to kneel on Rhodes’s neck. She would have a surprised look on her face when Drew McIntyre interfered and hit the referee with a Claymore Kick, but smiled when Black and McIntyre teamed up to attack Rhodes. Unfortunately, that smile would turn into a frown when Damian Priest arrived to come to the aid of Rhodes; once him and Black were throwing hands right next to the commentary desk, Vega tried to leap onto Priest, but the Puerto Rican superstar pushed her off, and she fell into the timekeeper’s area. After Black scratched him in the eye, him and Vega ran off into the crowd yet again.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the MVP Arena in Albany, New York. Here’s what’s set to take place:
- Jade Cargill vs. B-Fab
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below.