The Saturday Night Main Event of “Go Home” SmackDown takes place on Friday night in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. While John Cena is out on the eve of his final match in WWE, several major stars on tomorrow night’s farewell card are putting in great promotions outside of Cena vs. Gunther.
👑 Uncrowned Night Gem👑
Let’s not waste any more time and give away the Uncrowned Night Gem now.
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The opening segment of SmackDown was absolutely dominant, with a rare moment where Cody Rhodes was overshadowed on the mic. After briefly discussing Drew McIntyre, Rhodes was interrupted by NXT Champion Oba Femi – his opponent in Saturday night’s main event.
Fermi had one of the most important moments of his career. His swagger, promotion and presence have somehow supplanted WWE’s current biggest star in the field. 23 years after Cena and his “Ruthless Aggression” challenged Kurt Angle to a fight, Fermi is doing the same thing to Rhodes.
I expect McIntyre to make his presence felt in tomorrow’s match and protect both champions in the process, but I very much hope I’m wrong, especially after Friday’s showdown.
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Fly with A-list stars
Although this weekend will be all about Cena, Je’Von Evans is in the perfect position to fully fulfill the 17-time champion’s wishes when his last match went from a straight tribute to an NXT showcase – stealing the show.
Evans faced off against The Miz on Friday night in a match that was pretty standard on television. There won’t be any long-term programming or anything to make this match stand out other than the fact that an underrated superstar of the Cena era will challenge the future of WWE.
While there’s nothing that will particularly make you remember this conflict, I think that’s what makes Evans special. Evans’ talent level was so high that the extraordinary became ordinary to him. His offense is breathtaking. Time seems to slow down as Evans takes to the air, and he seems to have found a rhythm and grace that few masters in the industry have. Even if he sells out, he’s doing it better than any 21-year-old WWE player.
Tomorrow, Leon Slater vs. AJ Styles and Dragon Lee will be a match not to be missed.
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eliminate this angle
Rhea Ripley was in the main event spot, but it felt very out of place. It’s not that Ripley doesn’t deserve to be last, quite the opposite in fact.
Ripley reprises his role as the Terror Twins, joining Damian Priest in Friday’s final against Zelina Vega and Aleister Black. The problem here is that Ripley is far stronger than anyone else in this match, and we have a potential matchup with WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill, as well as her continued pursuit of the Women’s Tag Team Championship with Iyo Sky.
Priest, Black, and Vega are firmly in the middle of the card, which means the weight of this mini-feud and match rests squarely on Ripley’s shoulders, and there’s no way she’s going to lose or pull off a landslide victory here.
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As Riggs said last week, Ripley felt shoehorned in to make us care a little more, but it ultimately didn’t pan out.
👍Friday Night Fire👍
1. Ilja Dragunov and Tommaso Ciampa had an incredible match. The water is also wet. Carmelo Hayes made the save after Johnny Gargano intervened after the match. This is a huge improvement for Hayes. The United States Open Challenge remains one of the consistently great events in wrestling.
2. Lash Legend defeated Alexa Bliss in a singles match. The legendary star is still on the rise, and her team with Nia Jax looks destined for a Women’s Tag Team Championship match against the Kabuki Warriors in the near future. To Jax’s credit, he once again played a key role in the main roster introduction of an NXT rising star.
🤷♂️It happened 🤷♂️
Wyatt Sicks and the MFTs exchanged promos and will compete for the WWE Tag Team Championship next week. Zoroa Sikoia has stepped up a bit in this feud, but like most things with Wyatt Sixx, this is more of a tease than anything substantial.
👎 Frustration and depression 👎
Jade Cargill’s road to her first singles championship in WWE wasn’t off to an encouraging start. I understand building her into an unstoppable force, but she’ll soon need a challenger with legitimate substance. This is a weird place to be in because WWE does a great job with the women’s tag team and the Raw women’s division, but doesn’t seem to know how to balance it all on SmackDown.
👑 The first hour of the show was much better than the second hour, Evans-Miz aisde. My rating for this drama is: 6.5/10. 👑
