Friday Night SmackDown emanated from Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Fiserv Forum for this week’s action between the Superstars on the blue brand.
Prior to the show going on the air, WWE’s Chief Content Officer Triple H made the announcement of a tournament consisting of triple threat matches, with the end goal of crowing the first-ever Women’s United States Champion when Saturday Night’s Main Event returns next month as a televised program for the first time since 2008. As you can see below, all participants are women from the SmackDown roster.
Now as for tonight’s show, the in-ring action started when Bayley made her way out for the first match in this tournament. Her opponents would be Candice LeRae, who she’s had many differences with throughout the past month, and B-Fab, valet of The Street Profits and the unproven “dark horse” who has yet to show her in-ring skills against the rest of the division.
The match began with B-Fab making a statement right out of the gate, pummeling both The Role Model and The Poison Pixie and holding her own against them. The action remained vicious as it went on, with multiple failed pin attempts and all three women exchanging beatings with one another. LeRae would miss a moonsault and be sent into the second turnbuckle by Bayley, with B-Fab falling victim to a quick roll-up for the former Women’s Champion to win the match. Bayley now advances to the next round, with her opponent still to be determined.
B-Fab was seen backstage after the match with The Street Profits, who praised her performance and told her not to worry about her loss. As they left, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven would arrive, with Green calling her “B-Flop” and Niven telling her that not everyone can be championship material, but they can, with Chelsea alluding to wanting her and Niven to be champions together. B-Fab retorts and asks her what will happen when they end up in the finals against one another. Michin enters the shot and asks B-Fab if there’s a problem. Having been at odds with Team Blue’s resident meanies, all she has to do is stare down Green, startling her and choosing to walk out with Niven to “strategize”.
Before Naomi would challenge Nia Jax for the Women’s Championship, she was shown getting ready backstage when Bayley walked up to her to wish her good luck in the main event. Bayley quickly shifted the conversation to mentioning Naomi’s appearance on Raw earlier this week where she allied with Damage CTRL and Bianca Belair, trying to remind her to be wary of IYO SKY and the past that they share. Women’s Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill happen to walk in on this. Belair shadily alludes to her difficult relationship with Bayley that continues to linger even after their history with one another, but says that tonight is about Naomi, with Jade and Bianca telling her that they have her back.
Both Naomi and Nia make their entrances for what is tonight’s main event title match. Jax made use of her strength and power early on to bring down Naomi but wasn’t able to keep her down. Both the team of Belair and Cargill as well as Tiffany Stratton were seen watching the match from different areas backstage. Jax and Naomi’s battle continued, with Jax notably headbutting her and Naomi hitting a suicide dive onto Jax outside the ring. Other surprising spots included Naomi reversing a powerbomb attempt into what appeared to be a sunset flip. The crowd was on Naomi’s side, cheering her on as the match became more intense.
The show then cut to backstage, where Jade Cargill was laid out on the floor. The camera quickly revealed this to be a set-up from Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, who also threw Bianca Belair into a box.
With Jax and Naomi unaware of what was going on, Tiffany Stratton attacked Naomi without the referee’s knowledge, seemingly setting her up for a loss but then getting her just desserts from Bayley. A split-legged moonsault by Naomi almost got her the victory but Candice LeRae would launch Bayley into the ring post, resulting in an Annihilator being executed on Naomi for Jax to retain her Women’s Championship. The action would end with Stratton, Jax, and LeRae standing tall.
Here’s what set to take place next week on Friday Night SmackDown, which will air from Salt Lake City, Utah:
- First round triple threat match in the Women’s United States Championship Tournament: Bianca Belair vs. Chelsea Green vs. Blair Davenport
