Friday Night SmackDown Review - March 8, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Randy Orton Interrupted United States Champion Logan Paul and Attacked KSI

Paul announced that his Prime energy drink will be the center-ring sponsor for all upcoming WWE premium live events starting at WrestleMania 40. He's a heel, so of course the crowd was going to boo that, but it's an interesting promotional tool that WWE has historically been against. I have to imagine that idea will be credited to Nick Khan, who has made this company a lot of money since being brought in. The rest of this segment was solid with Paul cutting an average promo and Orton laying out KSI to a big pop.

Randy Orton and Kevin Owens def. Grayson Waller and Austin Theory

After the angle that ended last week's show with Orton and Owens standing tall over Waller and Theory, this was a logical match to do. It was well worked, the crowd was behind the babyfaces and all of their offense, and the heels played their roles well. Paul attacked both Owens and Orton afterward, so it's pretty clear we're getting a Triple Threat for the United States Championship at WrestleMania.

Kayla Braxton Hosted a Sit-Down Interview with Bayley

Going the sit-down interview route with Bayley was smart. It gave her a chance to explain what she's been going through for the last month and respond to Dakota Kai's betrayal last week. The story they're telling is that she needs backup if she has a real chance of taking down Damage CTRL at WrestleMania. Interestingly, Naomi showed signs of sympathy when this interview was over, while Bianca Belair believes Bayley got what she had coming to her. Maybe Jade Cargill will feel differently?

Bobby Lashley def. Karrion Kross by Disqualification

I'm a fan of both guys, so I haven't minded this rivalry, but I don't blame the masses for not caring. There really hasn't been anything overly exciting about it. This match was good while it lasted, but it was simply more of the same from the feud, right down to the non-finish. If I'm not mistaken, we have yet to get the six-man tag team match between the two groups. I'm not optimistic they're saving it for WrestleMania. I assume we get it on SmackDown before then and they all end up in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Tiffany Stratton def. Michin

It's worth noting that Stratton has been on almost every SmackDown since signing with the blue brand after the Royal Rumble and has remained undefeated in one-on-one action. Officials seem to have big plans for her and it's encouraging to see. This was a nice match for what it was, but it was kept brief so it could showcase Stratton. For the second straight week, she had no interaction with Bianca Belair, so it doesn't look like they'll be facing off at 'Mania after all.

Dragon Lee def. Angel

Lee was shown celebrating backstage with The LWO on last week's SmackDown LowDown, hence why this match happened. I'm glad Lee is back on SmackDown after not appearing for a few months. This was a fun match in the time they were allotted. Angel doesn't often get a chance to showcase his skills, but he did here. Post-match, Legado del Fantasma laid out Lee and I have no idea why no one from The LWO made the save for him.

Cody Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins Confronted The Bloodline

I am not exaggerating when I say that there was a 20-minute gap between when this segment was announced as being up next to when they all finally started talking. WWE has a tendency to do that sort of thing, but it was especially egregious in this case because it felt like they ended up running out of time at the end. At least Rhodes got to slap Rock before they went off the air. That was the big moment along with Rollins and Rhodes accepting Bloodline's WrestleMania tag team challenge. This was a solid segment but was slightly underwhelming considering what it could have been.

Overall Show

This wasn't a bad show per se, but it was definitely a step back from the hot shows SmackDown has been producing in recent weeks. It was loaded up on star power and some storylines moved forward heading into WrestleMania, but it felt like a filler episode in many ways before the final segment, and even that didn't live up to the hype in my opinion. Thankfully, Rock will be back next week as well, so hopefully he'll hear more from him then.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews