Friday Night SmackDown made its way to Columbia, South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena this week for another night of action from the blue brand.
A scheduled tag team match between Women’s Champion Nia Jax plus Tiffany Stratton against Bayley and Naomi was cancelled by Nick Aldis after Stratton fell sick with the flu, according to Jax who was on the phone with her. Aldis said that the match was cancelled unless she could find a partner. Coincidentally, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell happen to enter Aldis’s office with the intention of offering their services to Jax as a partner. Since LeRae is the inaugural Women’s Speed Champion, her and Hartwell believe it only makes sense that a champion team up with a fellow champion. This idea “smells like money” to Aldis and thus LeRae is Jax’s new partner. The Queen of the Ring is not pleased, warning LeRae that she better hold up her end of the bargain, or she will end her. Nonetheless, the Speed champion and Hartwell are excited to be involved the match.
Piper Niven and Chelsea Green made their way out to the ring for Niven’s match with Lash Legend in what is her and Jakara Jackson’s latest appearance on the main roster shows. Women’s Tag Team Champions Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair are spotted watching the match from the crowd.
The match starts off with Niven and Legend doing some trash talking, which quickly escalates into a shoving contest. Legend tries to make an early cover after a big boot, but Niven kicks out. The action keeps quite a back-and-forth pace between both competitors, with each trying to lay waste to each other but not being able to put each other out. The Bougie Bully got a good reaction after performing a body slam on Niven but would get distracted by Green; that would backfire as Green was then thrown into the barricade by Jackson. With Legend not focused on her opponent, who still managed to stand up after the body slam, it was Niven’s opportunity to cheap shot her, nearly setting up a pin attempt, but Legend would get out of the way and lift Niven, this one proving successful as she got a pinfall victory.
Cargill and Belair were surprised by the victory, but raised their championships in the air as this victory for Lash is a victory for both her and Jackson, ensuring that they will remain credible contenders in the women’s tag team ranks.
With almost a half-hour left in the show, the tag team match was due to commence. The action started initially with all four women tagging each other in. Bayley charged to attack Jax but was immediately thrown into the turnbuckle by her before the champion tagged in LeRae. Bayley had an easier time holding LeRae down and tagged in Naomi. The Poison Pixie then ran to tag in Jax, at which point her and Naomi were the legal competitors. Jax continued to execute some offense on The Girl with Glow, getting a near fall before a commercial break.
The show returned from commercial just as Naomi and Jax would tag their respective partners back into the match, with Bayley giving LeRae a quick flurry of attacks. Jax would interrupt a cover from The Role Model, but would get kicked by Naomi in retaliation, with the two taking their fight outside the ring. Hartwell finally made her presence felt outside the ring, slamming Bayley into the turnbuckle as the referee tended to LeRae inside the ring. Surprisingly, LeRae would hit a moonsault and actually win for her team. A seemingly upset Jax had her hand raised by the referee while LeRae and Hartwell smiled.
Share your thoughts in this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below!
