Friday Night SmackDown aired this week in a pre-recorded episode from inside the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Following last week’s mixed tag team main event, Zelina made her presence felt at the start of the show by interrupting Damian Priest’s opening promo and laughing. Calling Priest a hypocrite, Vega talked down on him for thinking that getting “his Mami” to fight his battles for him makes him a real man when he didn’t even get the pin. Continuing the verbal assault, Vega told Priest that he couldn’t stand the fact that Aleister Black broke him. Priest made his decision, and now, he’ll have to live with theirs.
As Black’s entrance music and graphics began to show on the stage, Priest waited for him in the ring, only for Black to sneak up behind him to launch his attack.
As the brawl spilled onto the floor rather quickly, Priest got the upper hand and grabbed a Slim Jim-branded table from underneath the ring as Zelina pleaded at him to stop with an angry tone in her voice. Ultimately, Black took a page from his wife’s playbook and hit Priest with a Meteora onto the table, even at the expense of clutching his own leg. Satisfied with the level of pain they caused, the evil couple would walk away as officials checked up on Priest.
Lash Legend and Nia Jax were interviewed by Byron Saxton in advance of their non-title tag team match against the Women’s Tag Team Champions, The Kabuki Warriors.
Saxton congratulated Legend for an upset victory over Alexa Bliss last week, but the two stopped him right there, with Jax stating that Legend clearly beat Bliss handily, and The Boujee Bully added that no matter how great “Little Lexi” is, she didn’t stand a chance against her because she was “whooping her little tail” up and down that ring, because that’s what The Boujee Bully does, and now that they’re done with Alexa and Charlotte Flair, they are moving on.
Jax then says that once they annihilate The Kabuki Warriors, they are going to become the new Women’s Tag Team Champions. Saxton, however, points out that Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY do have an upcoming tag team title opportunity, but The Irresistible Force cuts him off and calls him annoying; it doesn’t matter who wants to become best friends all of a sudden, those tag team titles are theirs. Forget RhIYO, forget The Kabuki Warriors, forget Charlexa, it’s about The Irresistible Force and The Boujee Bully now, and they’re coming after those the tag team titles – Lash’s words, not mine.
The fight between Damian Priest and Aleister Black continued in the backstage area following commercials, with Zelina and Aleister instructing officials to stand back as Black hit Priest in the back with a snow shovel, following it up with Black Mass which sent Priest crashing against a steel grate.
Meanwhile in the ring, the tag team match began with Kairi Sane and Lash Legend starting things off. Legend was able to fight off Sane, who had jumped on her back, but The Pirate Princess used her smarts to combat Legend’s strength by ducking out of an attempted big boot, sending Legend’s leg right into the turnbuckle for Sane to hit a kick of her own at her. Sane then got on the top rope, with Legend grabbing onto her in mid-air, putting that momentum to a stop, even when Sane tried to get a pin while Legend was able to keep her body in balance to avoid falling on the mat.
Now tagging in Jax, the two rammed their bodies into Sane one after the other as Asuka could do nothing but watch as she waited for a tag. With Jax now the legal woman for her team, Sane rolled herself out of the way of an elbow drop and tagged in Asuka. The two then made sure to kick Jax enough times to keep her down as Asuka became the legal woman. The Empress of Tomorrow continued to aim more kicking-based strikes at Jax, rocking her with a Codebreaker and a double dropkick with the help of Sane to send Jax and Legend out of the ring; an Insane Elbow from the ring post had the heel team laid out on the floor.
After a commercial break, the show returned with Jax choking Sane out with her boot. A clip of the match during the break was shown where Sane had been the recipient of a punt kick by Legend, which turned things around for her and Jax. A double suplex by Jax and Legend was reversed by Sane into a double DDT. With Sane once again tagging in Asuka, the Empress came swinging again with a missile dropkick onto Jax and Legend. With her and Jax now the legal women, Asuka tried to put her in the Asuka Lock only for Jax to stand up, but The Irresistible Force soon fell on her bum. Legend and Sane then got back in the ring, where Legend hit Sane with a forearm that caused Sane to fall on the mat.
Asuka and Sane then held Jax up top, ready to cover her for a pin when Legend pulled Asuka out. Sane, meanwhile, prepared to execute the Insane Elbow yet again when she was hit with a chokeslam from Jax, who dragged her across the ring and got up on the turnbuckles to hit the Annihilator for her and Legend to earn the victory.
Unfortunately, Jax and Legend’s celebration was cut short when Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair came running out to attack them. Sending the heels out of the ring, Bliss and Flair stayed in the ring where they held the Women’s Tag Team Championship belts up in the air.
The resident female reporter of Monday Night Raw, Jackie Redmond, made a rare one-off appearance on the blue brand. Standing in the locker room area, Kiana James walked in to say that she doesn’t know who Redmond thinks she is, but here on SmackDown, if she wants to address her client Giulia, she’ll have to go through James first. Once Redmond asked respectfully if she could speak to her, James allowed it.
Redmond mentions that Giulia has made it aggressively clear that she wants the Women’s United States Championship back, but Chelsea Green is making life difficult and having her go through Alba Fyre tonight for a future shot at the title. The Beautiful Madness says that she will take out Fyre, but warns Green that time is running out, bidding her Arrivederci to end the segment.
The match between Giulia and Alba Fyre took place near the end of the show’s first hour. Giulia was quick to throw down with the redheaded Secret Hervice agent, throwing punches, dropkicks, and even ramming her knee into the head of Fyre, a clear message to Green of what she is capable of doing inside the ring.
The Beautiful Madness remained fixated on Green, watching the match in support of Fyre, who took advantage for a moment to hit some punches of her own but quickly got caught in a rough-looking snapmare from Giulia, who followed that up with another snapmare (this time sending Fyre across the other side of the ring) and an abdominal stretch. The action remained fast as the two started moving around the ring in an attempt to roll each other up for the pin, but a kick and a lateral press from Fyre wouldn’t keep Giulia down. The Beautiful Madness then tried a backslide pin on Fyre, who kicked out at 1.
Giulia then hit her signature Arrivederci Knee followed by a longer-than-usual Northern Lights Bomb on Fyre for the victory, with The Beautiful Madness staring at Green, who angrily said that Giulia would never take her title and backed away when Giulia threatened to attack her.
Candice LeRae accompanied #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa) against Carmelo Hayes and the United States Champion, Ilja Dragunov. LeRae got on the ring apron to distract the referee as Hayes argued with her, allowing Johnny Gargano, who was on the opposite side of the ring apron and not the legal partner of his team, to attack Dragunov while the referee’s back was turned; her and Hayes got into each other’s faces shortly thereafter. The Poison Pixie got her revenge later in the bout by pulling at his legs, but Hayes and Dragunov would soon win the match.
Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair were walking backstage when Jackie Redmond re-emerged to get a comment on why they attacked Nia Jax and Lash Legend after their match earlier. Bliss answered and said that her and Flair tried to send the message that if you look too far in the future, you tend to forget who’s standing right in front of you. Rhea and IYO might have their tag team title match on January 5th, and Bliss is sure Lash and Nia think they are next in line, but Flair adds that they aren’t; they are in their way. Bliss lastly says that whoever wins the Women’s Tag Team Championships, they’ll be waiting.
The two then run into the WWE Women’s Champion, Jade Cargill, who as in past weeks, simply gives a dismissive look, the same look she’s given other women on Team Blue. Jackie decides to interview her next on the fly, and asks her if there was anything she would like to say after attacking Michin last week.
Cargill said she was shocked to see Michin get back up after she knocked her down, and her and the rest of the women’s roster are going to take Ls. Cargill is big on charity, so she’ll give her a little spotlight, and then, she’s going to knock her lights out. Condescendingly asking Redmond if she’s done, Michin then attacks Jade, targeting the champion’s back with her kendo stick, but officials as well as B-Fab restrained her from continuing to inflict further pain.
Nikki Cross, part of The Wyatt Sicks, had a brief involvement in the main event WWE Tag Team Championship match between Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis, representing the Sicks, and J.C. Mateo and Tonga Loa, representing The Bloodline. When Erick Rowan took out all of the Bloodline members during the match, which had gone to a no contest, the only one left standing was Talla Tonga, situated on the floor. Cross wanted to get involved in the melee that had broken out between both teams, and Rowan put her in a powerbomb position, launching herself down to the floor to take out Talla. The show ended with both teams continuing to brawl in the ring.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That episode is being pre-taped tonight, although no announcements were made regarding women’s matches or segments during tonight’s show.
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below.