Friday Night SmackDown Review - August 23, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kevin Owens and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Attacked A-Town Down Under on The Grayson Waller Effect

I really liked that Rhodes acknowledged that Waller's been using Theory and that the heels retaliated with a video package featuring all of Owens' betrayals over the years. Owens coming out and cutting right to the chase was great, too. He's definitely the most self-aware Superstar in WWE, probably ever. They turned what would have been a basic segment into an entertaining one while also setting up the night's tag team main event.

United States Champion LA Knight def. Santos Escobar

Knight gets flack from some fans about not being the best in-ring technician on the roster, yet he gets the crowd into every single one of his matches because of how over he is. This was one of those instances. He and Escobar had a very good match that was made even better by how hot the crowd was for Knight, despite the outcome never being in doubt. Fun fact: This marked the first United States Championship match on SmackDown in nearly a year, and Escobar just so happened to be the challenger that time, too. 

Naomi, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill def. Blair Davenport and WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn

This was a fairly standard six-woman tag team match, but similar to Knight vs. Escobar, the babyfaces are popular enough that they kept the crowd invested throughout. This was well worked and everyone had a chance to shine. Davenport lost whatever momentum she gained from beating Naomi last week as soon as she ate the losing fall. It was also announced that Cargill and Belair will get another shot at the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship at Bash in Berlin.

WWE Tag Team Champions The Bloodline (Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa) def. The Street Profits

Solo Sikoa cut a promo beforehand establishing that The Bloodling will be defending the tag titles under the Freebird Rule, likely because Jacob Fatu isn't cleared yet. At least he can still get physically involved. The match was solid, but the crowd was mostly quiet until the closing stretch. Hopefully the former Guerillas of Destiny can have a decent run as champs. #DIY made the save for the Profits afterward (before also getting laid out by The Bloodline), so an eight-man tag team match is probably inevitable.

Kevin Owens and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes def. A-Town Down Under

Not only has Owens worked with A-Town Down Under a thousand times in the last year, we actually saw this exact tag team match a month or two ago. In other words, this was nothing new. The only difference is that Owens and Rhodes told the tired "Can they coexist?!" story and there wasn't a hint of dissension. It was paint-by-numbers stuff that didn't really add anything to the build for their championship clash. I know there was a tease of Owens attacking Rhodes afterward, but I don't see it happening.

Overall Show

None of these matches will be remembered a week or two from now, yet this still ended up being a thumbs-up show with another lively crowd. There was more build for Bash in Berlin, a WWE Women's Championship Street Fight announced for next week's episode (also in Berlin), and some quality in-ring action. This was a straightforward and effective edition of SmackDown. Nothing groundbreaking went down, yet I was invested for the full two hours.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews