Jade Cargill: ‘The Storm Has Arrived’

Tonight’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown featured a female-heavy broadcast, with the main event featuring Bianca Belair and Dakota Kai, while a major debut in the women’s division was given a significant spotlight.

The show was live from the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and it was the first show on the road to WrestleMania not to feature any of the main players in the Night One main event tag team match. Still, we were shown a video package of what went down on RAW when The Rock delivered a brutal beating on Cody Rhodes.

We were shown some ‘bonus footage,’ which was just more beatdown, but it certainly underscored the violent turn this feud has taken.

Main Event: Bianca Belair vs Dakota Kai

Belair showed off great strength in this match, her signature attribute, and kept control throughout the match. Kai was set up last week to face Belair after Damage CTRL added her to their list of targets heading into Mania. Belair won the match by pinfall after landing the K.O.D. (Kiss of Death), but that only opened the door for the rest of Damage CTRL to gang up on the winner. Naomi came out to help even the odds, but the numbers game was just too much for the ‘faces.’

That is when the newly debuted Jade Cargill’s music hit, and she walked out, slowly, to ‘make the save,’ complete with an outfit change. Jade came out to hit her ‘best of’ move set on every member of Damage CTRL she could get her hands on, and she hit a Popup Powerbomb that looked devastating and impressive.

Naomi and Belair eventually joined Jade and stood beside her as Damage CTRL looked on from the outside, defeated. It was a strong showing from Jade and a powerful position placement in the women’s division.

Stay Jaded

Jade Cargill made her first live appearance since the Royal Rumble, as was announced last week and promoted all week, and they gave her the royal treatment. Her outfit was red, but the carpet in the ring was blue, make of that what you will, but she greeted fans on her way to the ring and had a ‘babyface’ tone and feel to her promo. It is too early to say definitively, but she seems to be leaning toward ‘face’ as far as her creativity goes [her later appearance in the show confirmed her character’s “babyface” status].

This could be a mistake, as her best work in AEW was when she was able to express her attitude. However, she was not great in AEW, not on the mic, not often. Creative gave her a pretty standard promo that she stumbled through at first, but it was not a long enough, or meaningful enough, promo to really say what lane WWE currently has her placed.

Still, with all of the rumors that her debut had been pushed based on her lagging progress both in the ring and on the mic, you wonder how much the smoke and mirrors tonight were there for presentation and how much was to hide her shortcomings.

In-Ring Action

Randy Orton & Kevin Owens vs Pretty Deadly

The tag team tournament continued on and even opened tonight’s show. Randy showed tonight why he is one of the best in the business by controlling the action and elevating his partner, Kevin Owens, with a change of pace that worked well for the team. After Orton created magic with his former tag team partner Matt Riddle, it is clear that he operates at a legendary level.

Orton and Owens had the match well in hand, but Logan Paul came out for the interference—clubbing Owens with a fist full of brass knuckles. This cost Owens and Orton the match, and Pretty Deadly moves on in the tag tourney. But Randy, upon viewing the replay of Logan’s run-in, went after the US champion—cornering him with the help of KO.

Legado Del Fantasma vs New Catch Republic

The New Catch Republic took it to LDF, picking up the victory and advancing one step closer to the tag titles.

Other Tidbits

• Santos Escobar and co came out to cut a promo on Rey Mysterio, but the boos really kicked in when ‘Dirty’ Dom Mysterio came out to join them for the bashing. Rey answered the call by making his way to the ring with LWO reinforcements. Rey admitted he thought he was done fighting his son but then said he relished in the idea of teaching both Garza and Dom a lesson. Then, Rey made a challenge of his own for a tag team partner of his choosing to face off against Dom and Garza at WrestleMania. That is when Rey revealed the newest member of the LWO, Dragon Lee, who came out to help his LWO brethren to clear the ring.

• Returning from the break, The Judgment Day was huddled up to discuss Dom’s decision to get involved in the LWO feud without discussing it with any members, including Mami Rhea Ripley. When Dom entered the room, the tension was thick, and Dom came in knowing he had to do some fast talking to smooth things over with Rhea and the crew. The segment ended with tension spread throughout the group, hinting at a possible split or some backstabbing turns on one or more members.
• LA Knight continued his assault on AJ Styles, keeping the momentum as their WrestleMania showdown looms ahead—and with high expectations of being a ‘show stealer.’
• It was announced that Triple H, Rhea Ripley, Logan Paul, and Cody Rhodes would be guests on the Pat McAfee Show next Friday as part of All Access, or, more accurately described, WrestleMania Comic-Con.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

See author's posts