There's been a dark cloud hanging over Friday Night SmackDown this week, and I won't pretend that the show hasn't been more difficult to watch, let alone review, given the circumstances. Vince McMahon has resigned in disgrace and let's hope he's finally gone.
However, the show goes on.
We'll of course cover The Bloodline and its history as the main topic of this week's episode, as usual, but first I have to point out something.
Because:
Wow, this trick!
I've been a big supporter of Trick Williams for a long time – just ask our NXT reviewer Marcus, who has been listening to me rave about him on the company Slack since he showed up there – and seeing the reaction to him here, gives me courage. This makes my belief that he is a big star in the making all the more justified. He has the looks, skills and charisma of someone who should be on a much bigger stage than the Performance Center, with all due respect to what he does in NXT.
Carmelo Hayes is fantastic in his own right, but you just can't tell me Trick won't main event in the future. You just can't do it. The quicker this man finally gets into the squad, the better off we will all be.
He has yet to win a championship in NXT, but they need to get him here sooner rather than later!
Roman Reigns was not in Miami for this show and so the other three men had to sell the match in the Fatal 4-Way at the Royal Rumble. Randy Orton opened the night with a short promo, wowing the crowd with the idea that he would emerge victorious. Of course, AJ Styles came on stage to express his opinion that he doesn't agree with this.
He was also unhappy with last week's RKO and promised a receipt would come.
They had really great timing when Styles said he would outdo Reigns, Orton and – cue music – LA Knight at the Rumble. It was incredible and deserved a big pop.
The man is still just as crazy as he was a few months ago, at least as far as the live audience is concerned.
Knight, for his part, claimed that Paul Heyman lobbied for him to face Solo Sikoa on that show to soften him up for the Rumble because they knew he was the biggest threat. He got out and Styles used the distraction to deliver the promised receipt.
A pretty standard segment, and there really isn't much they can do to convince us that any of these guys have a chance. But they made it entertaining enough.
Later, Styles was approached backstage by Jimmy Uso, who asked him for help in dropping Knight later that evening. After all, it would help them both in the Rumble. When the rest of the OC approached and asked about it, Styles simply said “Don't worry” and stormed off.
Intrigue?
Meanwhile, Heyman urged Sikoa to fix the problem this week, which he failed to do last time, and “don’t be merciful.” He then convinced Jimmy to enter the Royal Rumble, win it, attack the wounded Seth Rollins, and give The Bloodline the World Heavyweight Championship. And then, hey, maybe the next one could be tribal chief…
Intrigue!
How did the main event go?
Well, Styles actually did exactly what Jimmy asked him to do – he helped take out LA Knight. When Jimmy appeared to be bringing a chair to AJ, he waited and instead handed him the chair, telling him to continue the attack on Knight. Solo then directly demanded that he take care of it, “or I'll take care of you.”
This wouldn't be a complete turnaround as Styles turned chair on The Bloodline. Orton eventually joined the party and hosted the rest of the show as the credits rolled.
Only for Knight to recover, hitting him with Blunt Force Trauma and having his music play just as FOX triggers the fade-out.
One hell of a final stretch leading up to the match, especially considering Reigns wasn't involved.
All the rest
- The match between Carlito and Santos Escobar turned into a real melee, with LWO and Legado del Fantasma battling it out outside the ring. That ended up being a distraction to the big news that came out of it – the debut of Elektra Lopez, who showed up to take out Zelina Vega and help Escobar take Carlito to victory. It appears that she has rejoined Legado and it makes perfect sense to have her back in that role.
- Ava, the new General Manager of NXT, appeared on this show and asked Nick Aldis for advice. She was able to spend the evening taking notes while they got back to the part where wrestlers get their number out of the cup for the Royal Rumble. You know the deal – some liked the draw, others not so much.
- The Kabuki Warriors won the women's tag team titles from Kayden Carter & Katana Chance, defeating them cleanly in an entertaining match, giving Damage CTRL almost all the gold in the women's division. The timing is perfect considering Bayley is the only active member of Damage CTRL without a championship and has promised to win the Royal Rumble so she can challenge Rhea Ripley for her title. It adds another layer to this story and adds some stakes to a game, of which there are already many. Played well here all around. However, I feel a little sorry for Carter and Chance, who were still trying to find their footing. However, they have shown that they can hang.
- Lashley & The Profits were supposed to face The Final Testament, but instead Karrion Kross sent Scarlett into the ring and held back, saying they wouldn't give them the match they wanted tonight. Of course, this was all just a distraction, and when the Profits rushed to start the fight anyway, Scarlett jumped on Lashley's back and Kross was able to overpower him. The trap was laid, the plan was executed perfectly, and they got a lot of heat for it. This was pretty awesome and fit well with the general theme of Kross' recent promos. Who is really in control here?
This was an odd show considering the news of McMahon's resignation broke in the middle of it all, but outside distractions aside, it was actually an entertaining show with a great audience.
Grade: B+
It's your turn.