Friday Night SmackDown emanated from inside the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky for another night of action. Last Saturday at Money in the Bank, Naomi warned and won as she successfully claimed the Money in the Bank briefcase. Now, it’s only a matter of who and when she’s cashing in. Meanwhile, the rest of Team Blue’s women are putting their focus on the Queen of the Ring tournament. Roxanne Perez of Raw advanced to the semifinals on Monday, but which two lucky women from SmackDown will take the next step to outcompete the rest? Let’s get started and find out.
Nick Aldis welcomed Piper Niven and Alba Fyre into his office, with the two informing him that Chelsea Green wanted to speak with him. Niven pulls out her phone, with Green (on video chat) being nowhere near the show – and relaxing somewhere nice with a drink. Green, with her nose now healed, mentioned that she had an impossible time trying to get to “that one-horse town, Lexington”, so she will need her Queen of the Ring match to be postponed until next week. Aldis has no interest in going ahead with that plan, and decides that Fyre will take her place instead. The two walk away, but in comes the Women’s United States Champion, Zelina Vega, who demands to see Giulia, but she also is not in the building. Aldis knows that Vega wants to get her hands on The Beautiful Madness, but Vega says that she has been snatched harder by better, and that one little sneak attack isn’t going to scare her. She is the champion, and next week, she wants to confront Giulia face-to-face, because she doesn’t need to pretend or hide for nobody. Vega left the office still in a frustrated mood.
The first of SmackDown’s two Queen of the Ring first round matches was underway as Jade Cargill, Piper Niven, Michin, and Nia Jax were set to square off. The four women broke out into a brawl that quickly spilled into the outside. Piper threw Michin into the barricade while Cargill sent Jax flying into the steel steps. Cargill and Michin eventually got into the ring, exchanging backbreakers and dropkicks before Niven pulled Michin out of the ring to hit a bodyslam onto the floor. Meanwhile, Jax gained control over Cargill, hitting an elbow drop followed by some chops and a Samoan drop. Niven re-emerged to give Cargill another elbow drop, deciding to ally herself with Jax as the two had the obvious size advantage. Cargill was able to fight them off quickly, avoiding a collision that sent Jax into the ring post and onto the floor, and kicking Niven out of the ring, but it wouldn’t last as Michin hit a moonsault from the top rope onto all three women heading into the commercial break.
The show returned with Jax and Niven continuing to manhandle Cargill inside the ring. The partnership between both women broke down as Niven pinned Cargill, which The Irresistible Force had not agreed to. Michin would take advantage of the spat by performing a hurricanrana on Jax and a Tornado DDT on Niven. It wasn’t long before Jax and Niven went back to teaming, with both women throwing Cargill into the commentary desk to ensure she wouldn’t dare to make another move; Jax also flipped off the crowd as this happened. The two then shifted their attention to Michin, giving her a chokeslam to the mat, but Jax proved it was every woman for herself when she punched out Niven. Setting Michin up for the Annihilator, Niven wouldn’t let Jax get away with the win and the two continued to fight into ringside, where Niven speared Jax into the timekeeper’s area. Niven got back into the ring, where she became the unsuspecting recipient of a re-emerging Cargill, who hit Jaded for the win.
Cargill now goes on to the semifinals to face Monday’s Queen of The Ring first round winner, Roxanne Perez; that match will take place on next week’s edition of SmackDown.
Naomi made her way out to address the WWE Universe for the first time since winning the Money in the Bank ladder match. Upon entering the ring, the Orlando native said that she sees the Lexington crowd looking real surprised, shocked, and stupid. She doesn’t know why, when she told us all that she was done accepting scraps. She took what she deserved, and look at her now: she is Ms. Money in the Bank!
What’s funny to her is that the entire time she was trying to beat Nia Jax for the WWE Women’s Championship, the one girl who held the briefcase, distracted her, and bashed her in the head was Tiffany Stratton. “Too nice Naomi” just let it happen, but now, Naomi isn’t letting anything slide. She’s here for payback, and when she clocks Tiffany in the head with her briefcase, it’s going to feel so good when she holds the WWE Women’s Championship.
Stratton’s entrance music interrupts Naomi’s spiel, stating that she talks a big game, so why doesn’t Naomi just do it? Why not cash in and take her title right now? Naomi doesn’t move a muscle, giving Stratton a mean glare, all the while Stratton says that Naomi claims she’s changed and is different now, but she’s really just the same old Naomi: all talk and no action, and that’s why she never beat Nia Jax. Lashing out at the Buff Barbie, Naomi says she is not going to cash in on the champ right now; she’ll do it when she least expects it. In the meantime, though, she’s going to enjoy making Stratton’s life hell, laughing maniacally and leaving the ring.
As Stratton watched Naomi walking away, Nia Jax returned and attacked the champ out of nowhere, finishing her off with an Annihilator. Naomi ran into the ring, seemingly for a potential cash-in, but Jax instructed her to get out, muttering “she’s mine”.
Alexa Bliss was interviewed by Byron Saxton in gorilla position before heading out for her fatal four-way match, stating that she wasn’t rattled by losing Money in the Bank as she had already won and cashed in. Tonight, she would remind everyone who Alexa Bliss was as she intended on getting one step closer to becoming Queen of the Ring. The interview was interrupted by Charlotte Flair, who said that there was only room for one queen in the women’s division.
With the two also having to deal with Alba Fyre (standing in for Chelsea Green) and Candice LeRae, both Bliss and Flair got pummeled by them to begin. Flair got up and threw Bliss out of the ring, and was quick in her offense as she delivered a series of chops to Fyre and LeRae, but it didn’t deter their tandem, with LeRae hitting quick punches at the face and Fyre using her tie to try and choke out Flair. This would be the predominant focus of the match, and it could be argued that LeRae and Fyre were perhaps united in jealousy over Flair’s long-standing status as a top star in the women’s division, with the two taking as much aggression out on her as they possibly could.
Bliss sent the three women down to the mat as The Poison Pixie and Slaygent A attempted a double underhook suplex on Flair from the top turnbuckle. Bliss would keep gaining momentum as she fought off Fyre and LeRae, but fell victim to a Natural Selection from Flair, which The Queen would use to transition into locking in the Figure Eight, but LeRae would hit a springboard off the second rope to ensure Flair wasn’t stealing the victory.
In the final moments of the match, Bliss hit Fyre with a DDT, setting her up in prime position for Twisted Bliss, but Flair stopped the count and ruthlessly kicked Bliss out of the ring and onto the floor. LeRae tried a quick roll-up, but was unsuccessful. Flair would fight her off and turned her attention to Fyre, locking her into the Figure Eight as she tried to grab onto Flair’s knee pads. While keeping Fyre in the hold and maintaining her position, Bliss would rush in and hit LeRae with the Sister Abigail for the win. Bliss is now headed to the semifinals, but her opponent will be determined in Raw’s final first round match, a fatal four-way featuring the returning Asuka, Stephanie Vaquer, Raquel Rodriguez, and Ivy Nile.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with the following set to take place:
- Alexa Bliss vs. winner of Raw fatal four-way match (either Asuka, Stephanie Vaquer, Raquel Rodriguez, or Ivy Nile)
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below. And of course, we at Diva Dirt always pledge our allegiance to Chelsea Green, even when she’s not wrestling.