Friday Night SmackDown aired this week from inside the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington and there was a lot that went down in regard to WWE’s female Superstars on this show.
The women’s tag team gauntlet match was our first match of the night, with important stakes as it pertained to WrestleMania: the winners would face Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for their Women’s Tag Team Championships at the big show. Featuring teams from both Raw and SmackDown, the match began with Bayley and Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria of Team Red facing off against fellow Monday night mainstays Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, who are still referred to as Pure Fusion Collective without their former leader Sonya Deville.
Control of the match was back and forth early on between Bayley and Baszler/Stark. Eventually, Valkyria tagged herself in, but PFC quickly took advantage as Baszler hit a Regalplex on Valkyria, and with the assistance of Stark, got a near-fall that was broken up by Bayley, who was then thrown into the barricade on the outside by Stark. As the Queen of Spades tried to maneuver Valkyria’s arm, the champion reversed it into a jackknife powerbomb to eliminate them from the match.
Entering next was the team of Natalya and Maxxine Dupri. The two have appeared together in backstage segments on Raw and on social media, but the larger story here is that Dupri has been trying to team with the Queen of Harts in an attempt to train at The Dungeon and gain her tutelage, so much so that the Alpha Academy valet even got matching ring gear made for them and coining the name “The Dungeon Dolls” in a social media segment posted before the show.
After a commercial break that started during their entrance, the show returned with Natalya throwing punches to Valkyria, who tagged in Bayley. The BOAT would hit her signature clothesline and tag in Dupri, who hit a crossbody on the Role Model and kicked her for good measure; when Valkyria tried to intervene, Dupri rammed herself into them at the turnbuckle and performed the Worm. Getting overexcited at the prospect of pinning Bayley, Dupri’s pin would be reversed for a near-fall, but the fashion-obsessed female wasn’t done there. As Natalya yelled out to tag her in, Dupri decided to execute the Sharpshooter on Bayley by herself, which was reversed into an inside cradle to eliminate them from the match as well. Natalya was not pleased at the result as an upset Dupri tried to explain herself.
Kayden Carter and Katana Chance then made their entrance next and came swinging early as Carter tried to pin Bayley. The two then resorted to using double-team maneuvers, making it difficult for Bayley to tag in Valkyria, but after the Role Model hit a flying elbow on Carter for a near-fall, the Raw team got their chance at control, a chance lost when Katana Chance was tagged in as her and Carter executed an impressive Kickstand, which only got them to 2 before Valkyria kicked out. Bayley had tried to break up the pin again, but as with Stark, was hit outside of the ring with a twisting corkscrew from Carter. Inside the ring, Chance tried to put Valkyria away with a pin, but got reversed into Nightwing for Valkyria and Bayley to stay in the match and thus taking Carter and Chance out of contention.
Next up was the team of Michin and B-Fab. After another break for commercials, B-Fab was seen kicking Valkyria and tagged in Michin, who tried to keep Valkyria at a distance from Bayley, but after missing a step-up enziguri, got The Role Model tagged in, but it wouldn’t be enough for Michin and B-Fab, who showed their chemistry and synchronization as a team. As B-Fab was trying to take Bayley out with a roundhouse kick, the maneuver was reversed into the Rose Plant for the cover, eliminating B-Fab and Michin from the match.
The last team to enter was The Secret Hervice, who from the outset made sure to dominate. One of the team’s notable spots had Niven holding Fyre, who made a salute as Niven slammed her into Bayley to get a pinfall. Taunting Valkyria, the bird lady would get her tag in, hitting a crossbody onto Niven and a step-up enziguri to Fyre. Valkyria would then try to get her offense in on Niven and attempted to hit a fisherman suplex, which got reversed and led to her leg being targeted by the Scottish-born Superstar. It wasn’t long though before Valkyria gained the upper hand, having enough strength in her to set Niven up for a powerbomb before tagging in Bayley, who hit a flying elbow only for Niven to kick out at 1. At this point in the match, the live crowd was chanting “This is awesome!”.
The end of the match would come as Niven put Bayley into a Japanese stranglehold, with Fyre doing another salute and hitting a Swanton bomb onto Bayley, which after all this time, would for sure put her and Valkyria away, but it was Lyra who broke up the pin and pushed Niven into Fyre. The four then broke out into a brawl, but the babyface team gained the advantage, starting with Bayley hitting a Bayley-to-Belly on Fyre and helping Valkyria powerbomb Niven onto the floor at ringside. Fyre would try to get a roll-up on Bayley, but failed twice, frustrating her as she sold the Rose Plant, with Valkyria finishing off with a leg drop to finish the match.
With this win, Bayley and Lyra will be going on to WrestleMania to face Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the Women’s Tag Team Championship. After their well-received match for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship earlier this week on Raw and their ability in this match, do they have what it takes to be on top of the women’s tag team division? We’ll just have to wait and see at the Grandest Stage of Them All.
As the two teams had a stare down, commentators Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore briefly brought up the video of Charlotte Flair attacking Tiffany Stratton in the parking lot earlier in the day. The two reveal that following their segment last week, both Stratton and Flair have faced disciplinary action, and after her attack, Flair was asked to go home for the rest of the week.
Byron Saxton was situated outside of Nick Aldis’s office to interview Roxanne Perez. The Prodigy said that since Ava doesn’t want to book her at NXT Stand & Deliver, she has decided to take matters into her own hands and speak to Aldis because as the runner-up of this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble, she would gladly compete for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania because she’s a professional. At 23 years old, The Prodigy is ready to steal the show because she sees that Tiffany Stratton clearly can’t handle the pressure. Stratton overheard this and immediately confronted Perez, believing Perez should be the last person talking about her. The way the Buff Barbie sees it, Perez could learn a little something from her. Perez retorts, saying that she always saw through Stratton in NXT and is so glad that she finally showed her true colors – she just hopes it doesn’t cost Stratton her WrestleMania title defense against Charlotte Flair. Stratton that says that at least she’s not coming to SmackDown begging for a match, while Perez says that she would gladly watch Charlotte Flair “rip her Barbie head off”, but she’s not going to pass up an opportunity when she sees one. Stratton decides that she’ll give Perez the spotlight she desperately needs tonight. Nick Aldis, who had just opened the door and heard their barbs at each other, said he would think about making a match between them, and told Stratton to cool off in the meantime.
Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green knocked desperately outside the door of the trainer’s room, yelling out for Alba and Piper as she needed them for her match against Zelina Vega, who Green caught mocking her. Vega brought attention to how the gauntlet match was really tough on them, which means Green now has to be a grown-up and do this match on her own. She lastly says that everyone is going to have to see what kind of champion Green really is.
The resulting match started with Green throwing her tutu at Vega and immediately catfighting with her, continuing to yell out Alba and Piper’s names. Vega tried to roll up Green, but Green kicked out and in a fit of rage, threw Vega into the barricade and argued with Barrett and Tessitore when she slammed Vega into the commentary desk. Lost in her anger, Green unknowingly got counted to 10 by the referee, which meant Vega won the match by count-out. Green was not happy and crashed out in the ring over losing.
Naomi and Jade Cargill were featured in a vignette to hype up their match at WrestleMania. Speaking to each other in separate rooms, Naomi goes first, referring to Jade as a leech, scum, and an opportunist, but there is one word that fits Jade to the core: snake. Had she not pushed Jade off the ledge and onto the windshield of that car last November, Naomi knows that it would have been her eventually. Once she got Jade out of her way, she took her rightful place as champion. Her and Bianca Belair grew an even stronger friendship, but now that Jade has returned, Bianca won’t even look at her. It’s okay though, because for Naomi, there is no more fake loyalty for Jade. She is doing what’s best for her, and she is going to get hers. At WrestleMania, she strongly advises Jade to proceed with caution.
Jade then gets her time to talk, saying that Naomi thought she could weather the storm by ducking and dodging her, but now, the moment is here and time is running out. She’s not just angry, she’s pissed. Naomi came at her because she thought she knew what was best for Jade, but she doesn’t, trying to take her out because of her own insecurities. Jade then asks her, what happens when a star starts to fade? They try to steal the shine from someplace else. The glow is fading, and Naomi is trying to stay relevant in any and every way. Naomi was jealous that Jade came into WWE with so much star power, so much aura, and so much glow. This WrestleMania, she’s not a rookie anymore. She is Naomi’s biggest threat, because a storm is coming.
Our final piece of women’s action came from the match between Tiffany Stratton and Roxanne Perez. The two began with a back-and-forth series of moves, with them both exchanging slaps to the face. The Center of the Universe would soon take control with some arm drags and two snap suplexes, with Perez beginning to favor her lower back. Perez would kick out of a near-fall, but tried holding on to the ring sheets, which she used to her advantage by raking Stratton’s eyes as the distracted referee made sure the sheets stayed on the outside and not inside the ring. Perez would take control by throwing Stratton under the turnbuckles and stomping on her left hand before cutting to commercials.
Once the show was back, Stratton herself was back in control, trying to cover Perez after hitting a spinebuster. Perez attempted an armbar that was quickly turned into a failed roll-up, and kicked out of another spinebuster attempt at 2; she would also execute a Russian leg sweep off the second rope when Stratton tried to perform the Prettiest Moonsault Ever. Things stayed competitive as Perez took an opportunity to hit Pop Rox, nearly being reversed into some sort of Alabama Slam, then into a pin attempt from The Prodigy, and then a cover from Stratton. Perez would put Stratton in a crossface, but the reversal resulted in Perez lying on the mat, setting herself up for the Prettiest Moonsault Ever and a win for Stratton.
As Stratton held her Women’s Championship up high, Charlotte Flair would show up out of nowhere to attack her WrestleMania opponent, throwing her into the barricade and ring post before hurling her into the commentary desk space. Wade Barrett would try to reason with her and stop her from doing more damage, warning her that she could be fired and telling her to behave herself. Flair ended up leaving, although clearly ticked off.
Lastly, a graphic was shown of this year’s WWE Hall of Fame inductees. This year’s female inductee will be former Divas and Women’s Champion Michelle McCool, and she will be inducted by her husband Mark “The Undertaker” Calaway.
Next week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown will carry the special “WrestleMania SmackDown” branding that has been commonplace for the pre-WrestleMania episode of the show since 2021. The show itself will be airing from inside the T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas, Nevada as a part of WWE’s WrestleMania Week of events held in Las Vegas. Here is what’s set to take place:
- Zelina Vega, Kayden Carter, and Katana Chance vs. The Secret Hervice (Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, and Alba Fyre)
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below!
