The stars of Friday Night SmackDown rolled into the Kia Center in Orlando, Florida for another night of action. Moving on from Wrestlepalooza in Indianapolis, the women of Team Blue now look forward to Crown Jewel on Saturday, October 11th in Perth, Australia – but not before a triple threat match would settle the issues between Tiffany Stratton, Nia Jax, and Jade Cargill, and determine which woman would walk away the WWE Women’s Champion.
Cathy Kelley interviewed Jade Cargill about the triple threat match, with Cargill saying she is so sick and tired of Tiffany and Nia, so it’s going to feel so good tonight when she becomes the new WWE Women’s Champion. Kelley brought to her attention that a new champion was in their presence: the Women’s World Champion of Monday Night Raw, Stephanie Vaquer. La Primera will go on to face the winner of tonight’s match in two weeks’ time at Crown Jewel, and Cargill tells her that when she gets the win tonight, a storm will be coming her way. Vaquer says, “Can’t wait.” As for Jade? “Bet.”
The Women’s United States Champion, Giulia and her legal representative Kiana James made their way out for the first of two women’s matches tonight, a tag team match against Michin and B-Fab. The match started with B-Fab and James locking up, with The Fab Female throwing several punches, a dropkick, and a sliding clothesline, finishing off with a kick to the face as she tagged in Michin, who hit a cannonball on James, who soon fought back and tagged in Giulia.
The Beautiful Madness came at Michin with a dropkick followed by hair pulls and slams, but the Blasian Baddie returned the favor with a hurricanrana, with B-Fab being tagged in again as the two showed off their teamwork. Giulia would get out of the ring as James tried calling for a time-out, but B-Fab would clothesline her to the floor while Giulia sent Michin into the announce table. Giulia then taunted the fans as Michin quickly got up and hit a missile dropkick on her from the table before the show went to commercials.
The show then returned with James trying to isolate B-Fab away from her partner at the turnbuckles, with Giulia hitting a headbutt on her, following it up with a missile dropkick but failing to put her away. Now tagging in James, the former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion missed an elbow drop, but did anything she could to pummel B-Fab and prevent her from getting Michin involved. Eventually giving James a kick, B-Fab finally tagged in Michin, unloading a flurry of rapid offense to James and kicking Giulia off the ring apron. Trying to return to the ring, a pump kick from B-Fab sent the champ away again while James employed a kick of her own to also send B-Fab out.
Distracted, James got rolled up by Michin, but kicked out. Michin would then hit Eat Defeat which left James dizzy, but thankfully landed right next to Giulia, who tagged herself in to hit an Arrivederci knee and a Northern lights bomb on Michin to finally win the match.
We then go to the Women’s Tag Team Champions, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, watching the match from the locker room when they were joined by NXT’s Zaria and dual Women’s North American Champion/Speed Women’s Champion Sol Ruca. Zaria says that the two have been eyeing Bliss and Flair for quite some time, but admiration goes so far, and she thinks it’s time that ZaRuca has a shot at the tag titles. Flair then tells Zaria that she can’t even wave her hand anymore and get a title opportunity; there are teams waiting in line, and she feels Zaria and Sol haven’t earned it.
Zaria continues to bite back and says that it is funny to hear that from Charlotte Flair, but Ruca tries to stop her from saying more insults, when Bliss pipes in and says that both women are very talented and no one is discrediting that, but they don’t look or act like a tag team. Her and Flair might argue and tolerate each other in a friend-ish way, but when the lights turn on and the bell rings, they get it together, which The Queen visibly agrees with. Bliss lastly adds that if the two want to get in the ring with them, they need to prove themselves, so until then, they should get in line. Ruca says that they’ll be there before the champs know it, and she and Zaria leave. Flair then tells Bliss that her words may have been a bit harsh, but she’s proud of her, feeling she has taught her well.
Tiffany Stratton was admiring her lips and hair in front of a mirror when we ran into Vaquer once again. La Primera says that she will be watching her tonight – who knows, maybe they will meet in the ring at Crown Jewel. Stratton on the other hand says that she respects Vaquer, but when it comes to both of them in the ring, it’s going to end with her on the ground and her as the Crown Jewel Champion. Vaquer’s final remarks: “We’ll see.” before walking off. The Buff Barbie smiles, but then takes a look at her Women’s Championship.
Nia Jax was walking in the hallway when Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre walked up to her. With Piper Niven being absent for the past month due to an unknown injury, Green and Fyre have been on the lookout for a new member to join The Green Regime. Wanting to offer Jax a position as a Slaygent of her Secret Hervice, The Irresistible Force rolls her eyes, and once Fyre hands her a paper advertising a job opening, chooses to rip it up instead.
It’s then Jax’s turn to run into Stephanie Vaquer, with the Women’s World Champion telling her “Buena suerte” (“Good luck”). Jax says that she could drop her where she’s standing right now, but she’d rather wait until Crown Jewel when she’s standing across the ring from her as the new WWE Women’s Champion.
It was then time for our triple threat main event. Jax tried to use her frame on Cargill early on to no avail, but Stratton hit them both with a dropkick to send them to the mat. The three would then fight for dominance of the match throughout commercials, with the show coming back with Stratton hitting a slightly missed suicide dive onto Jax, with all three women situated on the floor near commentary. Cargill then hit a fallway slam on Stratton to the ground, but Jax would then push The Storm into the ring post. Re-entering the ring, Jax turned her attention to Stratton, but Cargill pushed her off as she was trying to run towards Stratton.
Cargill then tried a pumphandle slam on Stratton, failing to put her away as Jax broke up the pinfall. Jax eventually got stuck between the turnbuckles as Stratton and Cargill fought over pins, but Jax was able to execute a leg drop on Cargill. Stratton then hit a basement dropkick on Jax and hit a Swanton bomb on her, but Cargill would kick Stratton as soon as she got up, leading to Stratton nearly winning the match as the three were down and out. Another commercial break followed, with the match remaining chaotic.
The show returned with both Stratton and Cargill on the top turnbuckle holding Jax and successfully superplexing her. With the “this is awesome” chants getting louder, Stratton performed a rolling senton followed by the Prettiest Moonsault Ever to pin Jax, with Cargill breaking it up at 2. After some blows with each other, Cargill finally got Stratton in position for Jaded, nearly getting the win until referee Daphanie LaShaunn was pulled away by Jax, who was not about to let either woman win. A pissed-off Cargill decided to get out of the ring and started to mess up the announce table, but would instead get thrown into the steel steps by Jax. Cargill’s face began to bleed a bit, and Jax removed one of the steel steps, with the intent of inflicting further harm, but the tables would be turned on her as Cargill hit a Samoan drop with Jax falling onto the remaining steel step.
The two then got inside the ring, where Cargill hit The Eye of the Storm on Jax before Stratton re-emerged, hitting a basement dropkick on Jax but only scoring a two-count. Stratton would once again hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever and finally score the win. This means Stratton will be Vaquer’s opponent at Crown Jewel. Speaking of Vaquer, the devil made her presence felt for the final time tonight, walking down the ramp and into the ring, where the two held their titles before the show went off the air.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinatti, Ohio, but no matches or segments for the women are currently advertised.
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