‘Friday Night Smackdown’ Review (Aug 23rd 2024)
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 this week’s show!
Match #1: United States Championship – LA Knight def. Santos Escobar
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Before the bell, Angel and Berto attacked LA Knight, but their attempt to subdue the champion backfired, leading to Angel, Berto and Elektra Lopez all getting ejected by the official. Knight and Santos Escobar traded finishing attempts, but both competitors had each other scouted and avoided one another’s devastating moves. After a massive elbow from the top rope followed by a BFT, Knight was successful in his first U.S. Title defense.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #2: Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill & Naomi def. The Unholy Union & Blair Davenport
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
The “big three” of Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill and Naomi reunited to take on the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Unholy Union and Blair Davenport. The Unholy Union and Davenport isolated Belair until The EST finally made the tag to Cargill, who emerged as a one-woman wrecking crew. Naomi hit a Split-Legged Moonsault onto Davenport to gain the victory for her team.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #3: WWE Tag Team Championship – The Bloodline def. The Street Profits
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Tonga Loa took the place of Jacob Fatu in The Bloodline’s defense of the WWE Tag Team Title against The Street Profits. The Street Profits were rolling until Jacob Fatu superkicked Angelo Dawkins with his walking boot behind the referee’s back. This allowed Tonga to pick up the win to retain the title.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #4: Cody Rhodes & Kevin Owens def. A-Town Down Under
The following is courtesy of wwe.com:
Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes teamed with his close ally and WWE Bash in Berlin challenger Kevin Owens against Grayson Waller and Austin Theory in a tense tag team match. Despite some initial miscommunication, Rhodes and Owens made a cohesive unit, and KO hit a Pop-up Powerbomb on Waller to win the match.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Final Verdict: 2.5/5
An OK episode of Smackdown this week. Much like last week, this week’s show sacrificed matches for storytelling and some of that storytelling was pretty poor – especially the opening stuff with A-Town Down Under, a tag team I give not two-sh*ts for in the WWE, or in wrestling as a whole. Unfortunately the wrestling also suffered this week, with a series of average matches – though if the opener was given more room to breathe and more time I’m sure we could’ve got a banger. Surprisingly the Bloodline match was the match of the night – though that was more down to the hard work of the Street Profits rather than Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa. Not an essential watch this week.
