Friday Night SmackDown Review - May 17, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Bianca Belair def. Tiffany Stratton in a Queen of the Ring Quarterfinal Match

This is a WrestleMania-worthy match, and hopefully someday, we can still see it on a big stage. They worked as well together as I figured they would and had a great opener. I was hoping Stratton would pull out the victory, but no such luck. In fact, she lost clean. She can easily bounce back, especially if the idea is for her to win the women's Money in the Bank Ladder match coming up soon instead.

Tama Tonga def. LA Knight in a King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match

For anyone worried Knight is losing steam, listen to the crowd reactions he gets every week, specifically this one. He's still super over. Granted, he can't keep losing whenever it matters most, but Tonga advancing made more sense and I appreciated that they teased Knight and Logan Paul going face-to-face backstage right before this. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this as a match, but it was solid while it lasted.

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and United States Champion Logan Paul Signed the Contract for Their Champion vs. Champion Match at King and Queen of the Ring

If WWE was being intentionally vague last week with the "Champion vs. Champion" stuff with these two for King and Queen of the Ring to set up this segment, then job well done. There is zero reason for the United States Championship to be on the line in their match, and with Rhodes signing the contract, it looks like that's official. This was strong stuff with excellent mic work and the crowd giving them both big reactions.

Nia Jax def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Jade Cargill by Disqualification in a Queen of the Ring Quarterfinal Match

I was very curious to see how this would play out. Cargill vs. Piper Niven exceeded my expectations last week, but this could have easily been a train wreck. Thankfully, they kept it short and sweet. Within minutes, Cargill hit Jax with a chair after Jax got in Cargill's daughter's face at ringside, so that's one way to have her lose without getting beat clean. It was a little lame, but I understood it. It was also better that they did that quickly as opposed to dragging the match out and then doing the disqualification.

#DIY def. Legado del Fantasma (Angel and Berto)

There was a really good profile package for #DIY on last week's show. They need more stuff like that if they're going to get over with the audience along with a consistent string of wins. This was a nice start. It was a quality contest for the time it was allotted. A-Town Down Under were at ringside, but I hope they're not going to that WWE Tag Team Championship matchup anytime soon. That should be saved for SummerSlam (in Johnny Gargano's home state of Ohio) in my opinion.

Randy Orton def. Carmelo Hayes in a King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match

First Rhodes, now Orton. That's two SmackDown main events for Hayes in three weeks. That's certainly an encouraging sign for his future. I assumed he wouldn't win here, but they had an entertaining main event and he was made to look credible in defeat. Orton vs. Tonga will take place in the semifinals on next week's episode. Fingers crossed we're getting Orton vs. Gunther in the finals and not Tonga vs. Jey Uso.

Overall Show

The King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournaments once again dominated the show this week and it made for another thumbs-up episode with enjoyable action. Throw in the contract signing delivering and it was a terrific effort heading into next weekend's pay-per-view. Everything felt like it mattered, including the tag team match that was clearly designed to plant the seeds for #DIY vs. A-Town Down Under eventually.

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