Friday Night SmackDown Review - October 11, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Roman Reigns Confronted Jimmy Uso

It was cool to get Reigns and Jimmy in the same segment together for the first time since before WrestleMania 40. It was a tired sight for a while, but it feels fresh again because Jimmy was gone for so long. They played off each other nicely and established that they're going to need more backup. There was a subtle hint of them calling upon Jey Uso, which you have to know is inevitable, but they'd need a fourth man for WarGames as well. Cody Rhodes will likely be busy with other matters, so what if Jey brings Sami Zayn along with him?

United States Champion LA Knight def. Carmelo Hayes

I really enjoyed this match. Knight has been a great fighting champ and Hayes has been killing as of late in his series of matches with Andrade. I didn't think Hayes would win, but I appreciated that he was made to look credible in defeat. The finish looked fantastic. Nick Aldis said in a backstage segment later on that Andrade and Hayes will have their seventh (and potentially deciding) match next week with the winner getting another shot at the United States Championship, so I'm hoping for this to lead to the Triple Threat I've been wanting for at least a month now.

Tensions Boiled Over Between Kevin Owens, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton

Owens interrupted Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson's entrance for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match to rush the ring and call out Rhodes, only for his microphone to get turned off. The chaos that ensured with him, Rhodes and Orton was excellently executed. Owens went on to attack Orton backstage, so there's no denying he's a heel at this point. Rhodes will be busy with Gunther at Crown Jewel, but maybe Rhodes vs. Owens again at Survivor Series or a Triple Threat? There's so many different directions they can go with this and I'm hooked.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill def. The Meta-Four (Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson)

There was no mention of Legend and Jackson being The Meta-Four, probably because they haven't been The Meta-Four since Noam Dar got injured months ago, but I'll continue to call them that until we know for sure that the stable has disbanded. At any rate, this was perfectly fine. It was way too short for anyone not familiar with Legend and Jakara from NXT to get an idea of what they're capable of, but I can't imagine this would've been that much better with more time. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven teased wanting a title shot by standing at ringside.

Naomi def. WWE Women's Champion Nia Jax (Non-Title)

I legitimately thought Naomi had won the championship because I believe there was a mention during the pre-match promos about this being an impromptu title match, but obviously not. Regardless, this was a good match and a nice surprise win for Naomi. I'm never thrilled when champions get pinned in non-title matches (especially considering Jax already got pinned by Bayley and Naomi in that tag team match last month), but I assume this sets up Naomi getting a title shot soon to tease the possibility of her facing Liv Morgan at Crown Jewel instead of Jax. Speaking of Morgan, her and Rhea Ripley's unadvertised appearances here were well done. I can't even pretend to care about WWE ignoring the rules of the Brand Split these days.

Solo Sikoa def. Jimmy Uso

From an in-ring standpoint, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this match, but it told a simple story: Jimmy wanted revenge on his little brother for kicking him out of The Bloodline back in April. He put up a fight and came close to winning before falling victim to the numbers game. Post-match, Reigns attempted to make the save but got laid out as well. Yep, Jey is definitely reuniting with them and I'm happy WWE is taking their time getting there.

Overall Show

It's worth noting that Aldis told Los Garza backstage that they'd be facing a new team next week, which was followed by another cryptic vignette that clearly featured the letters MCMG. Motor City Machine Guns are about to debut, baby! As for this edition of SmackDown, I thought it was a strong show. In addition to the Bloodline stuff (which is moving forward finally), we also have the Rhodes/Owens/Orton drama to get invested in, not to mention there's some other entertaining storylines worth paying attention to. Two thumbs-up for the blue brand this week.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews