Friday Night Smackdown – May 26th 2023: Results & Review
Welcome to this review of this past Friday’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown, right here on Nerdly. Let’s see what went down on the go-home show for “Night of Champions!”
Match #1: United States Title Match – Austin Theory def. Sheamus
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
In the final moments of the United States Title Match, Austin Theory attempted to use a steel chair against Sheamus, but the attack was quickly thwarted by The Brawling Brutes, which set up The Celtic Warrior to hit a whopping 25 Beats of the Bodhran. When Pretty Deadly attacked Butch and Ridge Holland as Sheamus was going for the Brogue Kick, the Irish Superstar began to dish out a second Beats of the Bodhran on Kit Wilson. As he did, Theory took advantage of the distraction and rolled up his challenger for the three-count.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #2: Raquel Rodriguez & Shotzi def. Bayley & IYO SKY
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Before both teams battle in a Fatal 4-Way showdown to crown new WWE Women’s’ Tag Team Champions on Raw, miscommunication between Damage CTRL’s Bayley and IYO SKY allowed the newly-formed tandem Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi to pick up a huge win.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #3: Cameron Grimes def. Ashante “Thee” Adonis
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Two weeks ago, Cameron Grimes scored a victory over Baron Corbin in near-record time in his SmackDown debut. Despite a bit of interference by Top Dolla early in the matchup, Grimes overcame Hit Row’s Ashante “Thee” Adonis with the Cave-In. As the dust cleared, Corbin suddenly ambushed the triumphant Superstar from behind on the ramp.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #4: LA Knight def. Rick Boogs
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
One week after LA Knight attacked his own tag team partner Rick Boogs for getting pinned in their match against The Street Profits, the short-lived tandem squared off as Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins watched. After Knight emerged victorious with B.F.T., he confronted Ford and Dawkins and informed them that it will be him that smokes them.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #5: AJ Styles def. Karrion Kross
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Before AJ Styles battles Seth “Freakin” Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE Night of Champions, his fellow O.C. member Michin emerged to chase away an interfering Scarlett. With the playing field leveled, Styles continued to battle Karrion Kross in a hard-fought matchup before hitting the Phenomenal Forearm for a huge win en route to his high-stakes showdown against The Visionary.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Final Verdict: 2/5
Just when you thought Smackdown couldn’t get any worse, the WWE delivered a pre-taped show that felt entirely “off” – the entire episode seemed to have been over-produced and instead of feeling like this could possibly be live (as usual), this felt almost as bad as some of Impact’s worst pre-tapes… and Impact have an infinitesimally smaller budget than the WWE! The show opened OK and closed OK but everything else in between was decidedly average IMHO. One of the worst go-home shows that WWE has produced in a long time…