 Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Naomi and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Bayley def. Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai and WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors) and Tiffany StrattonThis was quite the star-studded affair made even better by the white-hot crowd. Of course, that was the case throughout the entire episode, but they were especially into this match and everything they did. Damage CTRL are on their way to Raw after being drafted, so this was their SmackDown swan song. With the win, the babyfaces built momentum heading into their respective title matches at Backlash. Authors of Pain def. New Catch RepublicThe Final Testament attacked New Catch Republic last week on SmackDown, and then New Catch Republic cost AOP the NXT Tag Team Championship when they challenged for the titles on Tuesday's NXT. Almost any other crowd would have sat on their hands for this match and I wouldn't have blamed them, but the French crowd made this much more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. I appreciated that they got some time, too. They should've saved this match for Monday's Raw since that's where both teams ended up in the Draft, anyway. Randy Orton and Kevin Owens Brawled with The Bloodline on The RKO ShowWe found out earlier in the episode via a backstage segment with Paul Heyman and Nick Aldis that it was actually Heyman who pulled Roman Reign out of the WWE Draft pool on Night 1 and that he hasn't spoken to Reigns since WrestleMania 40. The RKO Show was fantastic follow-up with Orton and Owens playing off each other exceptionally well as always, Heyman shining in this role, and the closing brawl with The Bloodline leaving viewers looking forward to the Backlash tag team match. This was strong stuff all around. LA Knight def. AngelKnight wasn't advertised for this episode ahead of time to my knowledge, so seeing him come out was a pleasant surprise because this crowd treated him like he was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. He and Angel had a nice little match and I'm glad it wasn't competitive for no reason. Knight and Santos Escobar declared themselves for the King of the Ring tournament afterward, so I assume they'll meet in the first round next week. WWE Tag Team Champions A-Town Down Under def. The Street ProfitsPer WWE.com, A-Town Down Under is the official team name for Austin Theory and Grayson Waller (it was their unofficial team now before recently). I didn't think they'd lose the titles in their first defense, but the Profits came close to capturing the gold on a few occasions. This was an entertaining encounter where, again, the crowd was invested in the action. I would've rather seen Theory and Waller beat New Catch Republic as their first challengers (since they're now on Raw, anyway) and save the Profits for another time, but it was a quality contest, nonetheless. AJ Styles Slapped Undisputed WWE Champion Cody RhodesThis was a vast improvement over their contract signing last week, where it felt like they didn't reach that next gear with their mic work. They did here, however, and both guys gave it a great effort. Styles comes across as more motivated than he's been in a while, so although there's nearly no chance he walks away with the title at Backlash, I'm hoping they have the kickass match they're capable of together. This segment closed the show on a high note. Overall ShowWWE could have easily phoned it in with this being a pre-taped show due to the time difference, but it ended up being a terrific piece of business on the whole with excellent last-minute hype for Backlash. Every SmackDown match on the pay-per-view card received some love and the two hours flew by. Viewers should be sold on Backlash for the French crowd alone. They were incredible on this episode and I'm excited to see what they have in store for Saturday.
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