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Add FightsATW on GoogleWWE Friday Night SmackDown aired live from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, at Amerant Bank Arena, with appearances scheduled for John Cena and WWE World Champion Sami Zayn. Cena has appeared sporadically on WWE TV over the past several weeks as the “John Cena Classic” inches closer to reality, while Zayn is fresh off his loss to Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel.
With Survivor Series: WarGames in Houston, Texas, two weeks away, Roman booked the first actual WarGames match on Monday, so look for tonight’s itinerary to cover the women’s version of the double-cage match. The traditional 5v5 elimination match at Survivor Series pitting ‘Team Mexico’ versus ‘Team U.S.A.’ was also a major storyline tonight, as both teams worked to fill the vacant spots—Punk was seen giving team captain Cody a list of potential recruits.
THE CHAMP WAS HERE… SO WERE THE B**** A** HATERS
In the past several weeks, we have seen a different presentation of the WWE World Champion Sami Zayn, or more, an intensity shift. One moment to pinpoint would be his scathing promo on RAW before Crown Jewel. That night, Zayn successfully defended his title against Je’Von Evans, but it was the work on the mic that really stood out to fans.
Now, off the back of a fantastic performance at Crown Jewel, Zayn’s heat was white hot in a match most picked Roman to win. The crowd chanted ‘you suck’ only seconds into the promo, but, to be fair, it was after Sami referred to them as “b***h a** haters.”
Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae flanked the champ as he recapped his ‘respectable’ loss at Crown Jewel against Roman, where, in the post-match, Zayn delivered an emotionally charged promo that ended in a bro-hug. Kevin Owens eventually made his way out, confirming rumors that this was the direction for Sami’s next title feud.
Owens and Sami go back a long way, so there were a ton of easter eggs and callbacks for the longtime fans, but the program mostly focused on the ‘now.’ Owens called out Sami and roasted Gargano after receiving a title match just for standing up after months of laying down—hilarious callback. The segment ended with Owens promising to ‘end’ Sami’s title reign.
NEW JOHN CENA CLASSIC PARTICIPANT ANNOUNCED… WOMEN’S WARGAMES!
John Cena came out to announce the newest addition to the John Cena Classic—the tournament that is not a tournament—after names like Cody Rhodes and Zilla Fatu made headlines following their entries. Charlotte Flair came out to speak about the honor of being included in the Cena Classic, and she delivered an emotional promo that seemed to connect with the live audience as an authentic face—it’s almost always 50/50 with a star of her magnitude.
Flair took on women’s U.S. champion Jacy Jane in a fantastic match that was booked to further the women’s WarGames match. Both superstars went back and forth amid ringside interference, and it delivered on the idea of Flair challenging for the title—even if the finish was a total schmoz.
One by one, the superstars who had converged into a singular ‘beef’ divided into two factions eventually exploded into chaos on the outside. Flair benefited from the outside madness and picked up the pinfall victory.
The faces assembled in the ring, and together, Flair, Paxley, Bliss, Bayley, and Vaquer shouted “WARGAMES!” into the mic (Mr. William Regal, you are missed), and the heel team of Jade, B-Fab, Michin, and Fatal Influence accepted with a smile from Jade.
TIFFANY STATTON IS GREEN W/ENVY
The new women’s world champion Tiffany Stratton walked out in front of the SD crowd as a heel for the first time since cashing in her “MITB” briefcase on Chelsea Green at Crown Jewel. Green had just defeated Liv Morgan to become the Crown Jewel champion, and so she demanded answers by wasting little time, cutting into the champ’s promo.
Stratton explained that they were never friends and that Chelsea should enjoy the rest of her career ‘in catering,’ a comment that provoked Green to attack. The segment ended with the Crown Jewel ring still on the finger of the champ, but it is likely to be an additional point of contention, possibly a way of keeping the title on Stratton while allowing Green the payoff of retrieving her ring.
FINN BALOR ‘PUNISHED’… BY GUNTHER
We saw ‘The Demon’ Finn Balor return a couple of shows back, and rumors online suggested that this was supposed to be on the Crown Jewel card before Gunther ‘refused’ to go to Saudi for the PLE. There’s zero evidence to support these claims, but the internet still found a way to make it a story. The claim of ‘punishments’ being handed out after Gunther was seen losing ‘clean’ to Trick Williams on a “dark match” after RAW this week.
Well, Gunther beat Balor in singles action tonight in a truly great main event, with the crowd reacting to everything in the final 1/3 of the match. It was a back-and-forth affair, and Finn nearly pulled it off in a performance that’s becoming his trademark, but Gunther stacked up his opponent for the win. Still, it is curious that Balor held The Demon back after busting him out in a rare appearance—you’d like to think that creative knows better than to ‘waste’ it. Perhaps Demon Balor and Gunther are scheduled for the next PLE, but that would severely hurt the character’s impact in the program’s “blow-off.”
OTHER TIDBITS
– The MFTs defended their tag titles against Bakusai, the team of Shinsuke Nakamura and Kyoki, for the second time in several weeks. The match was probably the best showing by either team in their respective tenures, but the War Raiders interfered for the schmoz. This is heading for a triple threat, an odd choice for a division lacking depth on either brand’s roster.
– Damien Priest defeated Axiom in a quality showing that succeeded in putting the New York-born superstar and former heavyweight champion over as the dominant big guy. It was sad to see his time with R-Truth end, but this is exactly how Priest should be presented.
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