With Crown Jewel in Perth, Australia being only hours away, the stars of Friday Night SmackDown have arrived in the land down under as this week’s edition of the show emanated from the RAC Arena, the site of tomorrow’s show.
The Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer was in a hallway backstage putting athletic tape on her wrists when Chelsea Green walked up to her. Green wanted to congratulate her on becoming a champion, remembering how it felt when she became the first-ever Women’s United States Champion late last year.
From a former champ to a current champ, Green believes Vaquer has “it” and offers her the position of being a Slaygent for her Secret Hervice, unintentionally mispronouncing her nickname La Primera (“the first”) as “La Primavera” (“the spring”). She also shades Vaquer’s Crown Jewel opponent, the WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton, by stating that she would never ask or offer such a position to “Tacky Time”, when Stratton walks in. Green chooses to walk away and Vaquer tells Stratton that tonight, they have each other’s back, but she will say it again: tomorrow, may the best woman win. The Buff Barbie is glad they’re on the same page, with Vaquer wishing her good luck in Spanish: “buena suerte”.
Later on in the first hour, Vaquer and Stratton had their tag team match with the Women’s United States Champion Giulia and Kiana James. Coming after The Beautiful Madness and her legal representative crashed their contract signing last week, the match started with Vaquer and James representing their teams. James offered a handshake, but kicked Vaquer. Vaquer got up quickly and it wasn’t long before she hit the Devil’s Kiss. Giulia then entered the ring, where her and Vaquer traded offense back-and-forth. James grabbed Vaquer’s leg at the ring apron, causing La Primera to fall and setting up a back suplex from Giulia that led Vaquer to land on the floor.
James would be tagged in again, slamming Vaquer head-first into the turnbuckle, kicking her and giving her a bodyslam before tagging in Giulia again. The Beautiful Madness hit a missile dropkick on Vaquer, but failed to put her away. Vaquer tried to tag in Stratton, but James grabbed her leg again to keep her from doing so. James would get hit with an enziguri, giving her time to give Stratton the tag. Knocking off Giulia, Stratton executed an impactful spinebuster on James, but the businesswoman kicked out and hit a big boot on the Center of the Universe following a distraction from Giulia, where the match began to descend into chaos.
Giulia hit an Arrivederci knee to Stratton’s jaw, but a pin attempt was broken up just in time by a returning Vaquer. An Alabama Slam from Stratton followed, with James being the recipient. Tagging in Vaquer, La Primera dropkicked Giulia and hit an impressive Angel’s Wings to James for the pin, but Giulia re-emerged to break it up. With Giulia being thrown outside the ring, Vaquer launched herself to keep her at bay. In the ring, James got close to pinning Stratton, but the champ kicked out and reversed her offense into a rolling senton, setting up James for the Prettiest Moonsault Ever and scoring the win for her and Vaquer. The native Chilean gave Stratton a look before the referee raised their hands up. The two then walked up to the ramp, where they held their belts up near the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship.
Sol Ruca and Zaria were chatting backstage, with the dual NXT Women’s North American/Speed Women’s Champion asking her friend if she’s ever owned a koala. Zaria says no, but that there was a rabid one that roamed around. Their conversation is interrupted by the Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair; Flair says that they watched their match last week and thought it was impressive, but they do know that facing Charlotte Flair and the Alexa Bliss is not just another match, and stepping into their spotlight. Bliss adds that it’s not their first rodeo; stepping into the ring with them, they are going to find out really quick that there’s a big difference between winning a match and standing across from the very best, and she thinks that the both of them are not ready for that lesson yet.
Zaria says that they hear the compliments, and they appreciate it, but they’re not just going to sit around and wait for their turn; if Bliss and Flair don’t think they’re ready yet, prove it, unless they’re scared to risk it. Flair says her comments are rude and “borderline disrespectful”, but bold, and she respects that as it reminds her of herself. Ruca says that they respect what Bliss and Flair have done, but someone gave them both an opportunity at one point and that is all they’re asking for, a chance to prove themselves. Flair says “request granted”, while Bliss tells them not to expect her and Flair to hold back. They’re not here to make their dreams come true, they’re here to win. Ruca and Zaria walk away but bump into each other, which Bliss uses to point out to Flair that they are not on the same page. The champions then walk off in opposite directions, but Bliss reminds Flair that she’s going the wrong way.
During the WWE Tag Team Championship match between the Street Profits and The Wyatt Sicks, their valets B-Fab and Nikki Cross got involved. As Angelo Dawkins pinned Joe Gacy, Cross put Gacy’s leg on the bottom rope, which B-Fab took offense to, responding by throwing Cross over the steel steps. Erick Rowan then stared at The Fab Female, allowing Cross to tackle B-Fab near the announce table. The Sicks went on to retain their titles, but The Bloodline would confront them in the ring, with the group’s leader Solo Sikoa staring down Cross.
In the show’s main event, a Last Man Standing match took place between Aleister Black and Damian Priest. In what was not surprisingly a brutal affair, the war among the two men took them to the crowd, where Black started pleading for mercy with Priest. As fans wondered what was about to happen right in front of them, Zelina Vega made her first appearance on SmackDown since early August.
Making her way through the row, the fellow Boricua began to plead with Priest, as Black hid behind her and looked like he was pulling something out of her shoe. As the Archer of Infamy looked annoyed at her presence, Vega got out of Black’s way, and as Priest was about to chokeslam him, Black threw out of a fireball, causing Priest to lose his balance. This was followed by Priest being hit with Black Mass and falling onto a slightly lower level of the audience, shocking the fans. The referee counted to 10 without him getting up, meaning he lost the match, and Black and Vega walked off as Vega had a glaring expression on her face, turning heel. This is the first time we’ve seen Vega’s real-life marriage to Black be acknowledged on WWE programming, and it looks like the feud between Black and Priest isn’t over just yet now that Vega is involved.
Crown Jewel airs tomorrow, Saturday, October 11th on the ESPN app in the United States and Netflix internationally. The following women’s matches will take place:
- Women’s Crown Jewel Championship: Stephanie Vaquer (Women’s World Champion) vs. Tiffany Stratton (Women’s Champion)
- IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley vs. The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane)
Due to Australia being in a different time zone, for viewers in the United States, the main show will begin at 8 a.m. Eastern Time. The pre-show will start 2 hours earlier, at 6 a.m.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the SAP Center in San Jose, California, featuring the fallout from Crown Jewel.
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s edition of SmackDown, plus your predictions for Crown Jewel, in the comments below.