Friday Night SmackDown returned to American soil this week from inside the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. If this week’s episode taught us anything, it was that no women’s feud on the road to WrestleMania can’t get just a little messy… or even a little chaotic. Let’s get started!
Charlotte Flair walked out to the ring for what was advertised as a “Face-to-Face” with WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton, moderated by Wade Barrett due to the heated nature of their recent interactions. The two started by playing to their crowd reactions, with ovations loud for both women. Barrett asks Flair why she chose Tiffany Stratton as her WrestleMania 41 opponent, and after their recent interactions, if she still agrees on it being a wise choice. Flair refers to herself as “the gift that keeps giving”. Stratton wanted a moment, and Flair hadn’t done any charity work lately, believing that the champion’s desperation leaks through every week. Flair says that she made the right choice because she wanted to show the fans in Chicago that there is no comparison.
Stratton then takes the mic, telling Flair that her biggest competitor has never been in this ring, but rather the fans, and no matter how hard she tries, no matter how long she’s out for, that is a battle that she will never win. Stratton adds that Flair loves to put on a facade that nothing gets to her, like she’s above everybody else, but then cries on a “boo-hoo talk show”, making a snipe at Flair’s appearance on Sherri Shepherd’s talk show this week. To Stratton, the saddest part about all of this is that no matter how many titles she wins, she could break all the records, but when it’s all said and done, she’ll always come second to her father, and at WrestleMania, she’s going to come second to Tiffany Stratton.
With the crowd now in Stratton’s favor, the reaction wouldn’t let The Queen utter her full response, but Flair continued on and mentioned that Stratton is regurgitating what her opponents have told her over the last 10 years. The crowd continues to boo and cuts Flair off more than once, finally giving up and deciding to let Stratton have the last word, so the Women’s Champion asked Flair what she was doing when she was 25 years old. At the time, Flair was trying to become a volleyball player and was drinking in her father’s basement. And what is Tiffany doing at 25 years old? Walking into WrestleMania as the WWE Women’s Champion. To Flair, this is just another match, but it seems like Stratton has gotten to her. Flair’s record at the Show of Shows may be 4-3, and she may be The Queen inside the ring, but outside of the ring, she wasn’t the queen of shit. Flair doesn’t directly respond to these statements, instead mocking her opponent’s voice in a very Mickey Mouse-like manner.
Stratton’s words didn’t end there, as she said that Flair has 16 more days to call herself WWE’s least favorite nepo baby, to which Flair corrects her by saying “Nepo Queen” and “#1 Nepo Baby”. When Stratton beats Flair at WrestleMania, and when it’s all said and done, Flair is going to be just like she is outside of the ring: alone with a 0-3 record, referring to her recent real-life divorce from Andrade; Stratton would then slide out of the ring to prevent any physicality. Flair then tries to retort and asks if that’s why (Ludwig) Kaiser is in her DM’s, but Stratton was already walking off as Flair remained in the middle of the ring.
Nick Aldis was backstage with an important announcement regarding the women’s tag team division. In conjunction with Raw General Manager Adam Pearce, there will be a women’s tag team gauntlet match next week on SmackDown between teams from both Team Red and Team Blue, with the winners facing Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the Women’s Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania.
B-Fab made her entrance, with Michin by her side, to take on Naomi. This match was made after Naomi savagely attacked B-Fab last week in response to backstage comments The Fab Female had made to Jade Cargill about Naomi’s change in attitude. Naomi then made her entrance after a commercial break, retaining the “Glow” theme music and light-up shoes with her new caution tape aesthetic, but Cargill would jump her from behind while the arena was still dark, with officials quickly rushing out to stop Cargill from inflicting further harm.
Naomi would get into the ring and the bell rang, with B-Fab taking advantage from the get-go by slamming her into the mat and hitting a series of clotheslines and kicks, leading to Naomi kicking out at 2; this infuriated B-Fab, who continued to strike at her opponent in a fit of rage, and yet again, only yielded a near-fall. B-Fab would miss an attempt at a kick, which is when Naomi took advantage and quickly pinned B-Fab for the victory.
Still in the ring, Naomi called out Jade, who snuck up behind her once again to attack and nearly set her up to perform Jaded, but officials would run out to the ring and stop her in time. However, the officials were not exceptions to Cargill’s wrath either, being thrown out of the ring so that she could get her hands on Naomi. Nick Aldis walks out to the stage and says that he’s had enough of the problems between the two, and he can see that there is only one solution, with that solution being a one-on-one match between Naomi and Jade at WrestleMania. After weeks of tension and even more months of resentment, both are ready, willing, and able to finally exchange blows with one another, but in two weeks’ time, only one woman can say that they came out on top.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington. Here is what’s set to take place:
- Women’s Tag Team Gauntlet Match: Kayden Carter and Katana Chance vs. Lyra Valkyria and Bayley vs. Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark vs. B-Fab and Michin vs. The Secret Hervice (Alba Fyre and Piper Niven) vs. Natalya and Maxxine Dupri – the winners of this match will go on to face Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the Women’s Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 41.
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s edition of SmackDown in the comments below!
