We started off Fridays Smackdown with Kayla Braxton in the ring, she kicks off the show by addressing the “rumours” surrounding Brock Lesnar's suspension. I don’t know about anyone else, I can't say I heard any rumours.
Romans music hits
This brilliant little Paul Heyman and Kayla feud continues with Hayman saying there is no place for rumours on the Island of Relevancy
Heymans work on the mic is gold as usual.
Letting Heyman pair up with Roman is probably the best idea WWE Creative have had since they let him pair up with Brock.
Heyman just doesn’t miss and Romans promo ability has benefitted massively as a result, you can see some “Heyman-isms” in Romans promos nowadays
Crowd chanting We want Brock…
Roman gets given the mic and delivers a decent promo about Brock and Big E being losers and how everyone is losing to him and he has done laps around the whole roster.. well, he tells no lies
He really sells the arrogant heel gimmick at this rate I would genuinely be happy with Heel Roman for the foreseeable future
During his promo he made a comment saying him not being in wrestling “could be sooner rather than later”
I wonder what this means, and if it was part of his script, Or is this going to be another thing that gets never talked about.
Now Jeff Hardy who just so everyone knows is my GOAT comes out for a tag team match
Jeff Hardy and Drew McIntyre Vs Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss
Jeff starts in the ring but Corbin attacks him before the match officially starts
We have had a bit of back and forth before,
VINTAGE HARDY
Hardy is in his home state and playing to the crowd and the crowd are certainly obliging
McIntyre hits a claymore on Moss and tags in Jeff, SWANTON BOMB. The pop for a Swanton Bomb is unmatched
Drew McIntyre is so so good. Need to see him vs Roman soon! Jeff needs one big title win a Rumble or MITB would be a great last hurrah for him, give him a big title for a little while before he sees his career out in AEW which is likely let’s be honest
This was a good match with some fantastic wrestling and we got 2 finishers in true tag-team style resulting in a clean pin which I am always happy to see, especially when it's Jeff.
A great opening match for the show.
Winner: Jeff Hardy and Drew McIntyre
Heyman interrupts Aaliyah and Kayla having a conversation backstage and asks whether she’s had confirmation of the Lesnar situation, some more Heyman and Kayla gold
Sheamus’s music hits and he comes out with Ridge Holland for Ridge vs Cesaro,
Does Ridge not have his own music?
Ridge Holland vs Cesaro
Sheamus is on commentary
Cesaro dominates early until a distraction from Sheamus and let’s Ridge take control of the match, can’t say I’ve seen much in ring of Ridge before, he looks very good so far. Sheamus shouts something to Ridge and allows Cesaro to roll up Ridge for the win.
Does there have to be a Roll up every week or something? I don’t really understand who this benefits. Let either one of these 2 hit their finisher and pin? It’s not really going to hurt either one to lose at this point in both their Careers
Other than the finish which is just typical WWE it was a decent Heavyweight match, a bit quicker paced than most heavyweight clashes There wasn’t any spectacular spots, nothing really special to write home about, just a nice solid match
Winner: Cesaro
McIntyre is backstage with Sonya Deville and Adam Pearce trying to make sure he’s part of the BLACK FRIDAY INVITATIONAL BATTLE ROYAL
Next up we have Rick BOOOOGZ I love him so much, wasn’t really a fan of Shinsuke before Rick Boogz was with him, but he and Pat Mcafee have given a great entertainment factor for Shinsuke NakamuRAAAAAAA to add to his undeniable in-ring talent.
So we have thanksgiving leftovers throw down match, who in the world thought this was a good name or idea for a match?!
Rick Boogz vs Angel Garza
in a thanksgiving leftovers throw down match…. *Sigh*
A fairly standard match to start with Rick Boogs is an underrated in-ring performer with some decent reversals and again in theme with the rest of the show some decent solid wrestling
Then Humberto who came out with Angel Garza stands on the table full of thanksgiving leftovers (sigh again) at the side of the ring and starts playing Boogz guitar *shocked face*
However Shinsuke comes to the rescue with a kick to the back of Humberto’s legs sending him backwards through the table and all the “thanksgiving leftovers”, and all is right with the world again.
Angel uses Boogz being distracted by that to hit a superkick and a wing clipper for the pin and the win.
Seemed like a needless gimmick match, just have a No DQ match?! Not that either person in the actual match did anything with any weapon… I use the term “weapon” extremely loosely. You could have done the same match without the gimmick, and had a nice mid-card match with a fairly standard ending and not been exhausting a pointless gimmick with no payout, don’t get me wrong I don’t mind these matches every now and again but we see them FAR too often for my liking.
Another match with nothing spectacular to write home about but some good in-ring wrestling just let down by some pointless stipulation.
Winner: Angel Garza
Charlotte Flair is out next….
WOO
Kayla and Adam Pearce are backstage she asks about the line-up for the Battle royal which he says isn’t confirmed yet, She then asks about the rumours surrounding Brock Lesnar's suspension
Cue video package of Brock smashing everyone to pieces on Smackdown
Adam says he hasn’t heard any changes to Brocks indefinite suspension and says he will be shocked if it gets lifted.
Back to the ring with Charlotte for an interview in the ring with Michael Cole
He asks if she’s disappointed with the loss to Becky Lynch at Survivor series, she says she’s only disappointed with the officiating in that match and goes on to talk about herself and Becky as per usual, She says she’s still the better woman and Becky is only who she is because of her. She goes on to say she’s the most dominant woman in sports entertainment.
Toni Storms music hits
Toni comes out to confront Charlotte, Toni slightly stumbled over her words as she was coming into
the ring but plays over it brilliantly and doesn’t break her stride. Charlotte asks how Toni would like to be embarrassed tonight, and goes to attack Toni but gets thrown out the ring, Toni goes to chase her out the ring and gets a pie in the face that’s still there from the thanksgiving leftover match (a third sigh)
I’m glad they’re pushing Toni into the title picture she deserves it. Seemed like they could have done more with this promo but hopefully, it gets built on, I personally would be happy to see Toni Storm and Liv Morgan as champions of their respective brands.
Sonya is on the phone and Sasha banks comes and blames Sonya for the Survivor Series match, says they would have won that match if Naomi was on her team and that she should have chosen the team as she was captain as a result of this Sonya makes a tag team match with Naomi and Sasha vs Nattie and Shayna Baszler
Naomi and Sasha Banks Vs Natalya and Shayna Baszler
Sonya Deville on commentary
Pat Mcafee is absolutely vibing to Naomi’s music at the commentary desk, he’s a whole mood!
Another Xia Li - coming soon promo before we get to the match, I hope they have more of a plan for her than they did for Toni when they gave her a load of coming soon promos.
Shayna and Sasha start in the ring
Pat Mcafee asks Sonya if she thinks she stinks at her job which made me laugh.
Great technical work in the ring from all of them in the first part of the match,
Baszler puts the Kirafuda clutch on Naomi and Sasha comes in the ring and hits a backstabber on Baszler.
Naomi hits a springboard double stunner on Nattie and Baszler and goes for the hot tag but Baszler pulls Sasha off the apron and they start to fight on the ringside, Sasha hitting a Meteora on Baszler, it baffles me how she doesn’t knock people out every time she does it
Back in the ring Naomi and Nattie have some very good back and forth culminating in Naomi hitting a sunset flip over the rope and pin combination on Nattie for the pin
A very good technical match with some great wrestling from everyone in it. Sonya and Michael Cole going back and forth throughout the match about a bias on Naomi and Sonya repeatedly saying that she has no bias against Naomi was tiring to listen to and Maybe could have been given some more time but even though it wasn’t a spectacular spot fest, it was still extremely entertaining to watch. It’s matches like this that make me hold the opinion that WWE right now have by far and away the best Women’s division we have ever seen in wrestling
Winner: Naomi and Sasha Banks
A bold statement and we didn’t see a massive amount of her in this match but in my opinion, regardless of gender Sasha Banks is the best in-ring performer in the world right now
Huge fan of The Boss
We go backstage and the Battle royal contenders have been announced!
Jeff Hardy, Sheamus, Ricochet, Ridge Holland, Rick Boogs, Happy Corbin, Mansoor, Madcap Moss, Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Erik and Ivar, Jinder and Shanky, Drew Gulak, MACE, Angel Garza and Humberto.
Backstage Drew McIntyre gets told by Sheamus he “didn’t make the cut” Sheamus laughs and walks away.
All the competitors are in the ring.
Drew’s music hits he comes steaming down to the ring Angela the Claymore in hand and swings it wildly in the ring, All the 18 competitors of the battle Royal ditch the ring,
Humberto and Angel Garza ducking under the swing of the sword on their way out
Adam Pearce comes down to argue with Drew telling him to leave and asking “what Is he doing” and Drew shouts “make me leave” he is not a happy bunny.
We come back from the adverts and the match has started, commentary just said Drew left the ring of his own accord during the commercials….
Is this going to make sense or be yet another thing that just never gets spoken about again? Make it make sense pleaaaaase.
Black Friday Battle royal for a #1 contender chance at the Universal championship
Not sure how I feel about matches like this, you can’t appreciate any of the actual wrestling for at least the first half of the match.
Sami eliminates Drew Gulak with a helluva kick.
Sheamus and Ridge eliminate Mansoor.
Madcap Moss eliminates MACE with a fireman carry throw over the top rope, then goes on to eliminate Shanky next. Pretty impressive they’re not small guys!
Sheamus and Ridge Holland go-to team up on Cesaro but Cesaro gets the better of Ridge and eliminates him, only to be instantly be thrown out of the ring by Moss!
Moss has been MVP so far, next he goes to eliminate his partner Happy Corbin, he starts to laugh and makes out like he’s joking for Corbin to then throw Moss out instead they carry on laughing no hard feelings there it seemed.
Sami Zayn is staying well away from everyone but Sheamus goes after him and attempts to eliminate him, but Sami survives.
Humberto hits a very picturesque springboard “Pele” kick on Boogs to make him stumble to the ropes and Angel Garza clotheslines Boogs over the top rope, the Viking raiders then eliminate both of Los Lotharios.
They start to go for Sami Zayn who falls through the middle rope. This obviously means he’s not eliminated!
I smell SHENANIGANS.
The Viking raiders try to take control of the match but quickly both get eliminated by Sheamus.
4 men left in the ring!
Jeff Hardy
Happy Corbin
Sheamus and Ricochet
Ricochet hits some typical springy offence then gets a clothesline and chokeslam back breaker from Corbin, they have some nice back and forth before Ricochet gets hit with a Brogue kick and eliminated by Sheamus.
Corbin and Sheamus start brawling and Jeff tried to take advantage but gets a reversal from Sheamus after a couple of hits on Corbin and Shamus from Jeff.
He next connects with a Whisper in the wind on Sheamus
Jeff needs to drop that move from his move set, seeing how slowly he does it compared to when he just used to glide makes me really sad.
He then hits a Twist of fate on Corbin.
Corbin and Sheamus team up to eliminate Jeff, but Corbin turns on Sheamus and eliminates him, then Jeff eliminates Corbin!
The bell goes
Winner: JEFF HARDY
*internally screams*
You forgot about the Shenanigans, didn’t you!
While the ring announcer is announcing Jeff as the winner and he’s celebrating on the ring post, Sami Zayn comes back into the ring and pushes Jeff over the top rope.
This was a decent battle royal as far as they go, I generally find them a bit chaotic and hard to follow at times but this wasn’t too bad. I’m not quite sure when Jinder Mahal got eliminated if I’m honest and probably would have preferred someone to get a clean win without the need for Shenanigans but as I say, I found this match enjoyable.
Winner: SAMI ZAYN
Cut to backstage where The Bloodline and Heyman are watching the match on a big TV and they’re all openly laughing at Sami winning the match
I found this a bit odd in hindsight it's fairly derogatory and unless they do something to redeem this slightly it's little things like this that will keep Sami in the lower mid-card or be seen as a joke for the foreseeable future in WWE.
Back in the ring, Kayla starts to interview Sami Zayn but she then completely ignores him as she receives breaking news...
THE SUSPENSION HAS BEEN LIFTED!
Brock Lesnar will be appearing on next week’s Smackdown!
We go back to the bloodline backstage, and they are no longer laughing.
Hopefully, they have a plan for Brock coming back, do they really need to see Roman vs Brock again, either one of them could potentially have an amazing feud with Drew McIntyre but I personally could do without another Roman vs Brock match for a little while.
A good show with some very good matches not a massive amount of big spots or spectacular matches, but sometimes a solid show is okay, I’ve always said there’s nothing wrong with a solid 7/10.
To be honest this show was a great showing of the Women’s division! Reiterating what I said earlier about having by far and away the best Women’s division we’ve ever seen. I’m excited for what they do with the storylines they’ve got going on Smackdown at the moment, I hope Toni gets a legitimate shot at the Championship she’s so talented in-ring and can hit a great promo.
It will also be interesting to see where they go with Sasha and Naomi’s feud with Sonya, we must be building to an in-ring return for Sonya!
I don’t mind messy finishes or shenanigans sometimes, but they should be far less common than a clean win, we see them far too often.
I hope they’ve got a plan for Jeff can you imagine the pop if he did win one last big title!
I’m incredibly biased with Jeff hardy but please please make the most of him while he’s still here!
I love the Bloodline I really do, but it was nice to have a show that still involved them and built their storyline but wasn’t completely dominated by them and their happenings.
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