Friday Night SmackDown aired on USA Network this week from the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. There’s not much time left until Survivor Series: WarGames and things will only continue to escalate for both sides of the women’s match. Team Blue will also continue to find its first-ever Women’s United States Champion ahead of the return of Saturday Night’s Main Event, which will be airing on NBC Saturday, December 14th. Let’s get started!
The music of Bianca Belair kicked off the in-ring action as the Women’s Tag Team Champion was set to take on Chelsea Green and Blair Davenport, who has not appeared on the show since August, in another first round match in the Women’s United States Championship tournament.
The match started with several covers from all three women, none of which were successful. Davenport was briefly thrown out by Green but returned rather quickly as she tried taking out the EST by tying her braid around the ropes. Belair regained her footing over both competitors as the match returned from commercials, but Davenport and Green would keep at it. Green would try to break up multiple attempts from Belair to put Davenport away, but Belair’s attention would be diverted by Jade Cargill, who was found by the medical team laid out with a cut on her face and glass being smashed on her car. Obviously concerned about her tag team partner, Belair was forced to make a rapid decision and ran off to tend to her friend.
Green would get into the ring, taking advantage of being down one competitor to finally end the match by hitting an Un-pretty-her on Davenport for the win. Green is now the second woman to advance in the tournament after Bayley‘s victory over Candice LeRae and B-Fab last week.
Note to self: Very upset that I no longer get to hear Samantha Irvin saying “IT’S CHELSSSEEEAAAA GREEENNNN” at the start of Chelsea’s theme. Sigh… it grew on me, dammit!
The show resumed from commercial with a panicked Belair running to the ambulance in the arena’s parking lot. Also on the scene was SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis, Naomi, and Bayley, all of them equally as concerned about Jade. Belair said it was her tag team partner and she entered the ambulance as it drove away.
Nick Aldis spoke with Nia Jax backstage, asking her if she knew anything about Jade’s attack. The Women’s Champion immediately questioned him, stating that she wouldn’t know as she was helping out Candice LeRae and Tiffany Stratton for their tag team match against Bayley and Naomi later on tonight, and that if she wanted to take Cargill out, she would do it during WarGames.
Bayley and Naomi made their way out to the ring against Tiffany Stratton and Candice LeRae, with Nia Jax walking out alongside them. Stratton argued briefly with LeRae and told her that she would start the match, with the miscommunication leading to the babyface duo getting the upper hand early on. The action continued as all four women got involved, with Bayley and Stratton sharing space inside the squared circle at this stage of the match.
Jax suddenly began to openly attack Naomi as the Role Model was about to tag her in, causing a disqualification as she threw the Girl with the Glow into both the barricade and steel steps. LeRae and Stratton would gang up on Bayley inside the ring as IYO SKY ran out to even the odds, but after wiping the three women out, was beat up by Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan, in turn triggering the presence of Rhea Ripley, who scared the heel tandem off for good.
As Corey Graves and Michael Cole went over next week’s show, they mentioned that Jade Cargill is still not medically cleared to compete and were waiting for an update on her condition. With that in mind, she has been taken out of her scheduled triple threat match in the Women’s United States Championship tournament next week.
Here is what’s set to take place next week on Friday Night SmackDown.
First round match in the Women’s United States Championship tournament: Piper Niven vs. Michin vs. an opponent to be determined
Please note that next week’s episode will be taped tonight following this episode’s conclusion.
Make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s SmackDown in the comments below!
