“WWE SmackDown” stopped through Austin, Texas on Friday night, inching ever closer to the end of John Cena’s illustrious career. In the main event, Gunther earned the honors of squaring off with the “Never Seen 17” in his last dance on Dec. 13. The former world champion had to work for it though, delivering a late contender for match of the year.
👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑
What a week for LA Knight. I mean, seriously.
Advertisement
“The Megastar” was never expected to win this whole John Cena retirement tournament, let alone make it to the finals. His win over Jey Uso on “Monday Night Raw” was a certified banger and pleasant surprise, but his match with Gunther on “SmackDown” may have been the best of his WWE career. And although he lost, the man came out looking like a wrestler reborn.
These two meshed better than I expected, which was probably poor judgment on my part. We’ve seen Knight have great matches against bigger, agile workers like Bron Breakker. There’s a big difference between Breakker and Gunther, but still, the stylistic pairing we saw on Friday night was even better.
In the middle of the match, Knight hit an AA followed by a Burning Hammer, which undeniably should have been a finish against practically anyone. The AA wasn’t the cleanest, but a great nod to Cena, considering the circumstances. I don’t care that it’s Gunther, though — those are two of the most over finishers of all time, and it’s lunacy to not have that combo win a match.
Nonetheless, that’s probably my biggest complaint aside from the finish, which was much more minor. Gunther forced the tap with a cravat rather than his patented rear-naked choke, which Knight countered with a BFT for the near-fall that saw Gunther get his foot on the rope. Knight struggled for a good amount of time in the cravat after having his neck worked over. That was all a nice touch, and made him look mighty strong, but having him go out would’ve maximized the strength he already received.
Advertisement
Knight kicked out of a double splash and powerbomb along the way, and this whole match was just exceptional despite my nitpicks. Even in defeat, hopefully this is the moment to get Knight into the main-event scene properly and have him put on more classics like this one. He’s worked for the opportunity and has proven he can deliver.
As for Gunther, he’ll go on to surely retire Cena. And with Michael Cole mentioning that the former world champion did the same to Goldberg, this should lead to a Gunther “Legend Killer” run — ending with Randy Orton. Since WWE isn’t putting over fresh new talent with one of the greatest of all time, make it fun and go in that direction, please.
Advertisement
At a loss for creativity
WWE is reaching all-time absurdities. The refusal to shake up the roster and piece together new stories is getting wildly frustrating.
On this “SmackDown,” WarGames was seemingly retconned out of memory because Cody Rhodes was livid about Drew McIntyre attacking him before they went at it — last Saturday — at Survivor Series. If that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, it made even less sense when Rhodes took his frustration to the ring. Despite going undefeated in recent matches with McIntyre, the champion still demanded another, along with the request for “SmackDown’ general manager Nick Aldis to lift his suspension.
Why? How is there any justification to care about this feud still?
Rhodes’ consistent character trait has been to get overly emotional and make these stupid, personal demands. McIntyre has to win the title for this to pay off. Otherwise, it’s just been a slow-burning burial of the Scotsman, who no one should take seriously after so many gifted title shots.
Advertisement
Per Cena’s request
To make matters even weirder, WWE went an ultra-fresh route later on in the show. Despite all the nonsense from Rhodes to open “SmackDown,” he met with NXT Champion Ricky Saints and Oba Femi backstage. The two have their title match set for NXT Deadline, and the winner will face Rhodes at Saturday Night’s Main Event next Saturday.
Talk about the perfect opportunity to launch in a new direction with either of those talented, main-roster-caliber wrestlers. Obviously the history between Saints and Rhodes couldn’t be any easier to book a feud with. On the other hand, Femi needs no history, considering the monster he is. Push him to the moon. This should be the easiest win-win scenario ever for WWE, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Advertisement
Lost causes
Someone needs to explain why Jade Cargill is having squash matches as a world champion.
The Women’s WWE Champion ran through Alba Fyre, winning with a Jaded. Matters were made even worse when Giulia and Kiana James wandered out to attack the U.S. Champion Chelsea Green.
No, man. No. Unless this somehow gets Giulia into a feud with Cargill, this is all mixed and matched in the worst way possible. Move Giulia on from the U.S. title — a scene she never should have been in — and start doing something real with Cargill.
Instead, she’s sticking with the floundered past U.S. title challengers. Cargill ran into B-Fab — whom she had already squashed — and Michin backstage, seemingly setting up a match with the latter. This is all a waste of time.
Advertisement
You know what’s going to happen. We haven’t seen Tiffany Stratton since she lost the title. She’s earned a break, don’t get me wrong. But when she returns, it will be to attack Cargill and restart the neverending recycling of matches the women’s title has been stuck in since WrestleMania 41. Wait and watch, folks.
👍 FRIDAY NIGHT FIRE 👍
1. Ilja Dragunov successfully defended his U.S. Championship against Carmelo Hayes with the H-Bomb — after a Tommaso Ciampa interference. Listen, all matches from either of these two are going to be good, and revisiting a pairing between them is always welcome. However the interference made Hayes look like a chump, knocking the match down from any Uncrowned Gem potential.
The Ciampa match was inevitable for Dragunov, and hopefully it’s treated like a big deal with the build going into it. They’ll wrestle on the next “SmackDown.”
2. Solo Sikoa cut a very solid promo on the Wyatt Sicks. I’m a Sikoa guy, but nothing about this program interests me at all. Aside from maybe a Sikoa vs. Uncle Howdy match. But realistically, Sikoa’s MFT squad should be able to handle the Wyatts, numbers-wise.
Advertisement
Ultimately the promo dissolved into a brawl and a big, meaty man showdown between Erick Rowan and Talla Tonga. That’s fun, too. So there are elements here that work a bit. Don’t make it last long, though.
3. Bayley vs. Sol Ruca was added to Saturday Night’s Main Event. Before Ruca even appeared on-screen, I said her name as if she was Joe Hendry. Yes, yes, yes and more yes. That match is going to be an absolute banger, and even more so than the Rhodes match, Ruca needs to win and go to “SmackDown.” Announce it on the night right after she wins. Do it yesterday.
🤷♂️ IT HAPPENED 🤷♂️
Alexa Bliss beat Kairi Sane, countering the In-Sane Elbow with a Sister Abigail DDT. If that sounds ridiculous, it was. The match was perfectly good and fine until the finish. It legitimately felt like everything went into slow motion after Bliss went for the first Sister Abigail DDT — which is a finisher that needs to be abolished. At least the slow version. The one that Bliss won the match with was good because it was quick, unlike most of the time when she gives her opponent seconds to escape, and they never do.
Advertisement
Afterward, Nia Jax and Lash Legend stood tall, attacking everyone — just because, of course.
👎 DOWN & OUT 👎
Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley have been randomly reunited to take on Aleister Black and Zelina on next week’s “SmackDown.” At this point I have no clue when the Priest-Black feud will end, but it’s beyond its expiration — as is Ripley doing anything alongside Priest.
👑 Watch this “SmackDown” purely for its five-star main event, which earned the entire score for the night essentially. I give this show a Crown score of: 5.5/10. 👑
