Friday Night SmackDown Review - March 22, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Santos Escobar def. Rey Mysterio

This was the match I was hoping would be saved for WrestleMania 40, and considering we got an actual finish, it's pretty clear we're not getting it again there. Instead, it looks like they're setting up some sort of a tag match with Escobar and Dominik Mysterio (who cost his father the win here) against Rey and possibly Andrade. The matchup between Escobar and Mysterio was very good and a hot way to kick off the night despite getting off to a slightly rough start.

Austin Theory and Grayson Waller def. The O.C. (Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) in a WrestleMania 40 Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship SmackDown Tournament Match

I don't think anyone could honestly tell you the last time The O.C. were in action on SmackDown without looking it up. NXT is where they've wrestled recently and that's where they should stay for the time being. There is zero reason to care about them on the main roster right now. This was fine and there was nothing wrong with it from an in-ring standpoint, but the best thing I can say is that the right team advanced.

WWE Women's Champion IYO SKY def. Naomi (Non-Title)

Naomi has become Damage CTRL's latest target and thus she fell victim to the numbers game here. She and SKY had a solid match and I didn't mind the Damage CTRL interference at ringside because that's the story they're telling. SKY attacked Bayley backstage beforehand and Bianca Belair was also laid out when she came out afterward. All signs point to The Kabuki Warriors (or Dakota Kai filling in for the potentially-injured Asuka) defending the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Belair and Naomi at WrestleMania.

The Street Profits def. Authors of Pain in a WrestleMania 40 Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship SmackDown Tournament Match

This was a rematch from a few weeks ago and I liked that there was something at stake this time. It was nicely paced and better than the original encounter. With this win, the Profits will face Theory and Waller next week and the winners of that match will qualify for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Ladder match at 'Mania. I'm not convinced we're getting Bobby Lashley and the Profits vs. The Final Testament at the event, but it would make sense for Final Testament to cost the Profits the victory next week as there has yet to be a payoff to that program.

Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes Went Face-to-Face

There's been a lot of chatter online regarding how this segment underdelivered and how Reigns "cooked" Rhodes on the mic. I wouldn't go quite that far, and I did dig this face-off for the most part, but I was expecting a bit more considering this is supposed to be the main attraction of WrestleMania weekend with it being the Night 2 main event. So far, it hasn't felt that way with The Rock clearly overshadowing Reigns. The final shot of the show with Jey Uso and Seth Rollins showing up to back up Rhodes and stare down The Bloodline was cool, though.

Overall Show

I didn't mention it above, but footage aired of LA Knight showing up at AJ Styles' house and getting "arrested," which was a clever way to further their feud. We also found out that Jade Cargill has signed with SmackDown and will officially debut on next week's show (which I'll be in attendance for), so all in all, this was an eventful, enjoyable episode. The main event segment left a little bit to be desired, but we got more WrestleMania progression as well as build for next week. No filler, either. WWE has largely been killing it with the road to WrestleMania on both Raw and SmackDown.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews