WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review - April 23
Cesaro In-Ring Segment
Cesaro is standing in the middle of the ring, just about to speak his mind. Seth Rollins quickly interrupts before Cesaro can even get started.
Rollins comes out to “congratulate” Cesaro for fulfilling his potential. That potential being a performance at WrestleMania with Seth Rollins, “The New Mr. WrestleMania.”
Rollins laughs at Cesaro for wanting to move on from Rollins and into the Universal Title picture. He blames the rain delay for his loss to Cesaro at ‘Mania.
Cesaro tells Rollins that he’d be happy to prove himself once again, and beat Rollins tonight.
Jey Uso comes out, telling Cesaro that he doesn’t deserve to be in the ring with Roman Reigns, Jey Uso or Seth Rollins.
Seth Rollins tells Uso to calm down, and they could team up on Cesaro.
They begin to circle, but Daniel Bryan comes out to even the odds.
Rollins and Uso retreat and Bryan challenges the two of them, as well as Roman Reigns to a fight.
Roman Reigns is here, flanked of course by Paul Heyman.
Roman tells Daniel Bryan that he shouldn’t even be here after what he did to Bryan at WrestleMania. Roman tells Bryan and Cesaro that they are top-tier losers.
Roman exits.
Rating: 3/5
Multiple story threads and character arcs collide in this opening segment, which provides us with a thru-line for the remainder of the episode. I enjoyed this a lot.
Cesaro and Daniel Bryan vs Seth Rollins and Jey Uso
This match starts hot, as it is preceded by a brawl between the four main event superstars.
Rollins gets his big stuff in early, hitting a sling blade and a springboard knee on Cesaro.
Highlight: Seth Rollins reverses the flying knee and turns it into a buckle-bomb on Daniel Bryan. It’s followed with an Uso Splash, Cesaro breaks up the count.
Interesting chemistry here between Uso and Rollins, both associates of Roman Reigns. The two of them have worked well together throughout the match.
Cesaro gets in on the hot tag, punishing Uso with a barrage of uppercuts and a near fall coming in the form of a huge clothesline.
Uso cracked Cesaro with a superkick from off the top rope, which nearly put Cesaro away.
Rollins manages to tag out of the match and abandons Jey Uso to take the running knee from DB for the win.
Rating: 3.5/5
I would love to give this match a higher rating, with all of the action and high pace that was delivered tonight. Unfortunately, the ending really didn’t hit for me. Having Rollins bail really put a poor taste in my mouth.
Daniel Bryan and Cesaro Torture Segment
Daniel Bryan grabs the mic after the match, calling out Roman Reigns again, but it’s not answered.
Uso gets in the ring again and gets swung around close to 20 times for his trouble.
Bryan and Cesaro continue to call out Reigns, torturing Uso with another series of swings.
Roman still refuses to come out.
Bryan says that Roman must be scared, and Cesaro swings Uso for another round.
Rating: 4/5
The sheer amount of swings that Uso was put through is remarkable, the man deserves an award.
Backstage with Apollo Crews and Adam Pearce
Crews says that he is livid that he must defend his Intercontinental Championship tonight against Kevin Owens.
Pearce tells him that he will defend his championship tonight, and if he wins, Big E will get his WrestleMania rematch as well.
Rating: n/a
Nia Jax vs. Tamina
Reginald caused some shenanigans…skip.
Tamina wins a roll-up
Rating: 0/5
Just not worth watching. I can’t watch any more Nia Jax matches, I think I’ll spontaneously combust.
Backstage with Kevin Owens
KO is thrilled to have the opportunity to challenge for the Intercontinental Championship, and he’d be glad to take the title off of Crews.
Big E appears, calling KO a “habitual line-jumper.”
KO tells Big E that he’s right and that he deserves a rematch. But it’s not gonna be tonight.
The two laugh in each other’s face, teasing some tension.
Rating: 2/5
Why would Big E be upset about KO getting this championship match when Adam Pearce has already promised him a future championship opportunity? KO is always believable on the mic, solid stuff from him.
Daniel Bryan Backstage with Adam Pearce
Bryan is advocating for a Universal Championship match for Cesaro, and Pearce says he’ll do what he can to make that happen.
Rating: n/a
Kevin Owens vs. Apollo Crews (c) - Intercontinental Championship
A slow start for these two, trading holds and posturing for leverage in the early going.
Owens got some offense going, but was cut off after Commander Azeez stopped Owens from attacking Crews on the outside.
Highlight: Apollo Crews went for a standing moonsault off the apron, landed on his feet, but ate a superkick for his trouble.
Owens hits a swanton bomb from the top rope, but Crews kicks out. Sami Zayn’s music hits, as the conspiracy theorist makes his way to the ring.
Zayn joins Pat McAfee and Michael Cole on commentary. He seems to have shifted his focus towards the Intercontinental Championship as well.
Owens and Crews trade reversals to their signature moves until Owens gets the upper hand with a pop-up powerbomb.
Commander Azeez popped up on the apron, distracting Owens and allowing Crews to roll up Owens for the win.
After the match, Owens hits a stunner on Crews and is put down by the Nigerian Nail from Commander Azeez.
Zayn danced over the body of KO after the assault.
Rating: 3/5
Another really strong match that is tarnished by a weak finish. Owens should not have been distracted, he very well could have put this match away. Instead, we’re bogged down with another interference finish, this time with higher stakes.
Backstage with Paul Heyman
When asked if Roman Reigns would accept Cesaro’s challenge, Paul Heyman said that he has an incredible amount of love and respect for Cesaro.
Heyman says that Roman Reigns, himself, will respond to Cesaro’s challenge tonight.
Rating: n/a
Backstage with Apollo Crews
Apollo Crews is interviewed by WWE’s newest backstage correspondent, cheering himself on for beating Kevin Owens.
Before he can continue, he is attacked by Big E. WWE Officials pull Big E away before Commander Azeez can do damage.
Rating: 2/5
Azeez shouldn’t have left him alone.
Aleister Black Vignette
Black sits in a dark room, surrounded by candles. He reads from a storybook, telling of a dark celebration of life and death.
He speaks directly to the WWE Universe, telling them that they are monsters and that he believes that WWE fans are liars and are vile, deceitful people.
He disappears.
Rating: 3/5
Whatever it takes to get Aleister Black back on my television. I think a darker, more evil version of Black will be a great character for SmackDown.
Backstage with Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode
When asked who is next for the Dirty Dawgz, Ziggler said it wouldn’t matter because they will beat any tag team that steps to them.
The Street Profits step to them claiming to “have next.”
The two teams face-off, then Bayley comes to cut the tension.
She begins to talk smack about her Backlash opponent, Bianca Belair. Montez gets Belair on the phone, and Belair says she’s on her way.
Rating: 4/5
Combining the long-standing rivalry between the Street Profits and the new matchup between Belair and Bayley does both storylines wonders, breathing both fresh air and legitimacy to both stories.
Bianca Belair and Bayley Backstage
The two are face to face, Bayley totally changes her tone from the previous segment.
She sucks up to Belair and walks away, much to Bianca’s disbelief.
Bayley comes back as Belair turns towards Kayla Braxton, cackles in Belair’s face, and walks away.
Rating: 3.5/5
This is so in line with Bayley’s character, using her signature condescending tone and sarcasm to get her way in a verbal bout.
Rey and Dominick Mysterio vs. Alpha Academy
The match starts with Otis demanding to start the match against Dominick, surprising Chad Gable. He is quickly outwitted and out-moved.
Dominick gets cut off by the sheer strength of Otis, who continued to beat the life out of Dominick throughout the commercial break.
Dominick finally makes the tag to his father, who uses his vintage speed and luchador techniques to shift the momentum back towards the father-son team.
Highlight: As called by Pat McAfee, Dominick Mysterio hit Chad Gable with a sliding sunset flip powerbomb into the barricade. That’s a mouthful.
Some nifty teamwork allowed Rey to hit the 619 on Chad Gable, as the Mysterio’s picked up the win.
Rating: 2.5/5
Really basic, fundamental tag team action here. Nothing wrong with that, just nothing special either. All good.
Cesaro In-Ring Segment #2
Cesaro, along with Daniel Bryan, is in the ring calling out Roman Reigns. He is looking for an answer to his challenge.
Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman and Jey Uso make their way to the ring. Roman looks disturbed.
Roman disrespects Cesaro, berating him for believing himself equal to The Tribal Chief.
Roman says no.
He instead challenges Daniel Bryan. He gives Daniel Bryan one more opportunity, next week on SmackDown.
But if/when Bryan loses, Roman wants Daniel Bryan to disappear from his show forever.
Cesaro tells Daniel that he has to take it.
Daniel grabs the mic, gets into the face of The Head of the Table, and accepts.
Show Close.
Rating: 4/5
I don’t love Roman entirely dismissing Cesaro in this scenario, but I love the setup for a “Win or Go Home” stipulation for Daniel Bryan’s final championship opportunity next week.
Overall
This show was mostly really good. I enjoyed the wrestling on this show, and the promos were both convincing, logical and moved the stories forward. My one gripe, which I’ve been critical of for the last two months, is the Women’s division in WWE. The only women’s match was a Nia Jax/Tamina matchup. We can’t do any better than that?
Rating: 2.9/5