This week’s edition of World Wrestling Entertainment’s Friday Night SmackDown was an exciting one, as the show was back in Madison Square Garden for the first time in two years. The card featured Brock Lesnar making an appearance, and Seth Rollins took on Edge in a SummerSlam rematch. Then, in the main event, The Usos defended their tag team championships against The Street Profits. With a loaded card, let’s see what happened.
Roman Reigns, along with the Usos, came out to start the show. Reigns talked about how the Bloodline runs SmackDown, the WWE, and now Madison Square Garden. Then, Brock Lesnar’s music hit; Lesnar walked down to the ring stalking Reigns. As Lesnar entered the ring, he stared down The Usos; the tension was high, and chaos was about to ensue. Paul Heyman, though, tried to deescalate the situation, asking why not Lesnar go after another championship, then Lesnar took Heyman’s microphone. Lesnar responded, “Why didn’t you tell Roman I was going to be at SummerSlam?” Leading to Reigns walking out of the ring. Once Lesnar had Heyman by himself he said, “Before Roman fires you, accept my challenge for the Universal title; you have five seconds.” Lesnar proceeded to attack Heyman, but the Bloodline ran in. As a result of this, Lesnar sent The Usos to Suplex City with a pair of suplexes. This segment was a great way to open up getting the crowd hot for the rest of the show.
Grade: 7/10
Next was a 10-man tag match as Shinsuke Nakamura, Rick Boogs, the Mysterios, and Big E against Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Bobby Roode, Otis, and Apollo Crews. This match was a cataclysmic disaster. The start of the match was Zayn introducing that Trae Young was in their corner. From there nothing happened, except a back and worth between the heel and babyface teams. The only time the crowd got hot was when Young was thrown out of ringside because he got involved in the match. The babyface team did pick up the victory, as the Mysterios hit a double 619 leading to a Big Ending from Big E. Very much a throw-away match, just for a petty pop.
Grade: 4.5/10
Things only got worse in the first hour from there; Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair had their contract signing for a Women’s title match at the upcoming pay-per-view. Belair entered first, repeated what she said the last two weeks then signed the contract. Lynch then made her entrance and proceeded to cut a lackluster promo herself. At one point, Lynch asked Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville what would happen if she didn’t sign the contract, but two minutes later signed the contract after the crowd chanted, “Sign it, sign it, sign it”. After, Lynch signed the contract and left, ending the segment. This segment was horrible, and it makes sense Lynch was never the best at cutting on promos, while Belair is still raw at it. The only thing that will save this feud is the match they will have. Overall, this segment was repetitive and boring.
Grade: 5/10
To kick off the second hour, Edge took on Seth Rollins, and this was the infusion of excitement this show needed. It was a feeling-out process in the beginning as the two traded blows in the ring, on the apron, and the outside. Rollins though gained control by catching Edge with a dive through the ropes. Rollins then hit two Glam slams, a move made famous by Edge’s wife, Beth Phoenix. Edge began to rally after a series of reversals and nailed a pedigree. The pace picked up for a bit, leading to Edge diving off the top rope into Rollins on the outside, right before the commercial. Coming back from the break, Edge caught Rollins in the Boston Crab before turning it into a crossface. Rollins, though, was able to force a break by making it to the bottom rope. The turning point was as Edge worked Rollins in the corner he was caught with a low blow, leading to a superkick from Rollins. Then, the moment of the night happened after Rollins nailed Edge with a third superkick, Edge was on his knees expressionless; then he fell to the ground. This led to Rollins’ curb stomp ending the match. This match saved the show from its storytelling to the pacing, to the end where you could see the look of regret on Rollins’ face after what he just did. With Edge getting help from medics at the end, this indicates the feud isn’t over and there is even more to come.
Grade: 8.5/10
The main event came as it was The Usos defending their tag team championship against The Street Profits. The match started quickly as Montez Ford hit Jimmy Uso with a dropkick, but the early momentum wouldn’t last as Jimmy landed a dive on the outside. A good back and forth ensued, but Ford’s high flying ability lead to the Street Profits gaining momentum. Ford landed a flying back buster with one shoe on. Dawkins then tagged in and hit a beautiful neckbreaker slam combo with Ford. After Dawkins kicked out of two superkicks and a frog splash, the crowd went insane, and the Street Profits fed off of it into the ending. Jimmy thought Dawkins was the legal man, but Dawkins put his knees up on the second frog splash, which in turn lead to Ford hitting one of his own. The Street Profits were about to win until Roman Reigns attacked Ford, ending the match. After the match, Reigns locked Ford into the guillotine while The Usos beat down Dawkins. Reigns then grabbed a microphone and announced he accepts Lesnar’s challenge only after he smashes Finn Balor first. Then the lights went out; Balor’s music hit but with a different tone. The Demon King had risen, Balor was in the war paint of his alter ego, and the crowd lost it. The show ended as Demon King Balor stared down Reigns. From the amazing match to the Demon King reappearing, this was the perfect way to end the show.
Grade 9/10
This week’s SmackDown was a tale of two hours. The first hour of the show was rough and largely carried by the opening segment, but a second hour that featured Edge versus Seth Rollins and the return of the Demon King saved the show.
Final Grade: 6.8/10