Friday Night SmackDown Review - November 22, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Solo Sikoa Advised Roman Reigns to Accept the Terms of Surrender

After being named the fifth man on The Bloodline's WarGames team last week, Bronson Reed appeared alongside The Bloodline for this segment. Sikoa kept it short and sweet by simply calling for Reigns to accept the terms of surrender later in the show. Anyone watching had to know that wouldn't be the case (much like when Reigns refused to "acknowledge" Sikoa as his tribal chief last month), but it did create a cliffhanger for whether Reigns' team's fifth man would be revealed by the end of the night.

Chelsea Green def. Blair Davenport and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Bianca Belair in a Women's United States Championship Tournament Quarterfinal Triple Threat Match

This was the second straight Women's U.S. title tourney match that was quite good. This tourney is off to a strong start. All three women worked very well together. This marked Davenport's first WWE TV appearance in months and even she had a solid showing (though it was obvious she was eating the pinfall loss). Belair being distracted by Jade Cargill getting attacked in the back gave her an out for losing. Green was the correct choice to advance.

United States Champion LA Knight def. Santos Escobar

Knight denied Escobar another shot at the strap during his open challenge last week after already beating him back in August and gave Berto an opportunity instead. Despite that, Escobar challenged for the title again here, so this was weird. It was along the same lines as their initial encounter in that it was a quality contest, but the match itself was overshadowed by Shinsuke Nakamura's well-produced promo from beforehand and his latest post-match attack.

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens Exchanged Words

I've largely enjoyed Rhodes' reign so far, but this Owens program is bringing out a side of him we haven't seen during his entire title run. They've made matters personal and cut strong promos here recapping their reasons for wanting to fight each other. They spoke with awesome intensity and they got me fired up for their next match, which looks like it will be saved for Saturday Night's Main Event in December. That's probably for the best if Survivor Series is going to be in Canada since you don't want Owens intentionally getting cheered.

Bayley and Naomi def. Tiffany Stratton and Candice LeRae by Disqualification

This was a mostly basic tag team match designed to further the feuds involved. It was well wrestled, but the focus was on the post-match angle with everyone in WarGames coming out and brawling with each other. With Cargill getting attacked, I assume she'll be replaced on the babyface team for WarGames. Bayley would be the most obvious choice, but would that also mean she's responsible for taking out Cargill?

Montez Ford def. Tommaso Ciampa

I love that things are heating up in the tag team division. There are plenty of talented tandems on SmackDown right now, but they desperately needed more stories and I'm digging the one that's playing out with The Street Profits, #DIY and The Motor City Machine Guns. Both Ford and Ciampa should be getting more singles opportunities. They made the most of the time they were allotted here and had a fun match.

Roman Reigns, CM Punk, The Usos and Sami Zayn Attacked The Bloodline and Bronson Reed

I didn't honestly think the fifth man on Reigns' WarGames team would be revealed on this show, so that was a pleasant surprise. The execution of this segment from start to finish was fantastic with The Bloodline and O.G. Bloodline facing off, Paul Heyman returning and then Punk being introduced as the fifth man. I maintain that the five-on-five format isn't necessary, but Punk is the perfect person given his history with Heyman and desire to spite Seth Rollins. This left me more excited for the men's WarGames match than I was before.

Overall Show

SmackDown had one of its best episodes all year last week and amazingly followed that up with another excellent episode this week. Everyone will be buzzing about the closing segment and rightfully so, but the segment with Rhodes and Owens was equally outstanding, we got another entertaining Triple Threat from the women, women's WarGames received some hype, the angle with Cargill was intriguing, and there was some progression in the U.S. title picture as well as the tag team division. The blue brand feels like it's firing on all cylinders at the moment.

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