A special three-hour WWE Smackdown opened this week with the Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes, coming to the ring for a promo. He has been in a championship storyline with Kevin Owens, who has turned heel at his expense. The two are set to have a championship ladder match at Royal Rumble.
Rhodes gave Raw on Netflix a quick shoutout before mentioning how he is only so excited as he isn’t cleared to wrestle on the debut. When moving on to discuss his upcoming ladder match, Cody was interrupted by Drew McIntyre. In a strange turn of events, McIntyre came to the ring and gave Rhodes an awkward hug without speaking. Drew was there to help him, explaining how it’s a bad decision to put the title on the line in a ladder match against Kevin Owens.
Cody told Drew that he could see through him and offered him a title match right then and there. McIntyre would walk away, telling Cody to watch his back. Kevin Owens then blindsided Cody in the ring. The two would brawl before being separated by WWE officials.
The first match of the evening would see the WWE United States Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura, taking on Andrade. Great pace and reversals early. Andrade would gain control after some back-and-forth, leading to multiple believable false finishes. Nakamura would battle back and win a great match. After the match, LA Knight rushes to the ring and attacks Shinsuke.
Michin and Piper Niven would faceoff in the next match. Niven would get a couple of false-finishes before ultimatley losing an average match to Michin, to the dismay of the ringside WWE United States Champion, Chelsea Green.
Paul Heyman would come to the ring for a promo and come out hot. On Monday, we will find out who the true Tribal Chief is, says Heyman. Heyman would also make it clear who the real Tribal Chief already is in his eyes: Roman Reigns. Reigns will take on Solo Sikoa in a Tribal Combat match this Monday. When Heyman finished his promo, Sikoa would make his way to the ring to meet Heyman.
Solo would ask Paul Heyman for a favor, to hold for the match. In addition, he would crown the winner with it and make the loser acknowledge the other. The winner will also get Paul Heyman as their personal Wiseman forever.
DIY would defend their tag-team championship against the former champions, Motor City Machine Gun. DIY, former friends of MCMG, turned heel to take their titles. Both teams had tandem move-sets, reversals, and striking all on display. Pretty Deadly would get involved, distracting the challengers to aid DIY. Los Garza would come to fight Pretty Deadly, and the referee would have to throw the match out.
Naomi would get an opportunity at the WWE Women’s Championship against Nia Jax. Naomi tried to execute a Samoan drop on Nia, but she failed to get her up, leading to the moment lacking its intent. Outside of that, the match had a good back-and-forth and multiple believable false finishes. Naomi would have Nia in a submission when Candice LeRae would jump to the apron. Naomi’s tag partner, Bianca Belair, would take care of LeRae, only to get run over by Jax.
Naomi and Nia would continue in the ring to the point they were both on their backs. This is when Tiffany Stratton would run to the ring with her Money in the Bank contract. It would appear she would cash it in, but she would hit the referee with her briefcase and hit Naomi. This would lead to the opportunity Nia Jax needed to retain her championship.
During the after-match celebrations, Jax would jump Belair. At this point, Stratton would prove to be opportunistic by taking out both Jax and Belair, before officially cashing in her Money in the Bank Contract. She would hit her Prettiest Moonsault Ever to become the new WWE Women’s Champion.
The main event of WWE Smackdown would be a six-man tag match in which The Bloodline would challenge Sami Zayn and The Usos. After a quick start, this turned extremely slow as The Bloodline took control. It would take an extended period before Zayn could battle back enough to hit the hot tag on Jey Uso. The pace did pick up, but they all seemed to mail in the striking, and the kicks didn’t even look close.
Drew McIntyre would come to ringside but was quickly removed by Jey Uso. That would be enough for The Bloodline to regain control of the match. Solo Sikoa would end up with the pinfall over Jey Uso, Sami Zayn just out of reach.
Smackdown had championship storylines, defenses, and a successful cash-in of the Money in the Bank briefcase. They delivered a great three-hour episode leading up to the premiere episode of Raw on Netflix.
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