Friday Night SmackDown Review - September 23, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sami Zayn Acknowledged Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns

This was truly tremendous television. First of all, it was an awesome visual seeing all of The Bloodline in the same place at the same time since Solo Sikoa was added at Clash at the Castle. It was a solid segment to start the show that only got greater by Reigns teasing that Zayn would be booted right then before giving him a new "Honorary Uce" shirt instead. That was a wonderful swerve. The betrayal is coming eventually, but I'm happy they're holding off a little longer.

SmackDown Women's Champion Liv Morgan def. Lacey Evans (Non-Title)

I don't mind Evans as much as most people, but it's actually quite comical how she went from one of the most featured women when Vince McMahon was in charge of Creative to being just another women on the roster with Triple H at the helm. I believe she was gone for two months due to an injury or some other health-related reason, but it's not like she's gotten any sort of a push since coming back. Yes, she dominated this match, but it was all about Morgan, telling her underdog story and sending the message that she can go to the extreme. That was the purpose this served and it was solid.

The New Day def. Maximum Male Models (Mace and Mansoor)

The fact Models didn't receive a televised entrance should tell you all you need to know about where they're slotted on the card and why it's imperative Max Dupri/LA Knight gets the hell away from them. The match was fine, but it only existed so Dupri/Knight could walk out on the Models afterward and further tease tension with them. A return to his Knight persona is long overdue and I'm glad we're headed in that direction.

Braun Strowman def. Otis

This was Strowman's first match since returning to WWE. It would have been easy for his first match back to be a standard squash, but I actually appreciated it was more competitive than that and Otis was the perfect opponent to take him to the limit. This was a fun hoss fight with Otis being made to look credible in defeat. I'm curious who Strowman's first full-fledged feud will be with and if he'll continue decimating dudes in the meantime.

Karrion Kross Attacked Drew McIntyre

This feud has been logically furthered so far with both guys playing their roles well and I've liked their intensity, but this was a miss of a segment in my opinion, largely because of the fireball botch. It didn't look good at all, but to their credit, they improvised and played into it. The bottom line is that their match at Extreme Rules will be a Strap match, which I don't have an issue with. It should protect whoever loses, but I hope they can make it enjoyable because Strap matches aren't always the most exciting.

Raquel Rodriguez def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Dakota Kai

I was looking forward to Kai and Rodriguez renewing their rivalry from NXT one-on-one here, but the match ended up being total throwaway. They weren't given much time at all and it ended in a cheap roll-up win for Kai. I understand wanting to protect Rodriguez, but the execution of the finish wasn't very clever. Shotzi making the save for Rodriguez and attacking Bayley at ringside set up Shotzi vs. Bayley for next week. Hopefully then we'll see the return of Shotzi's tank (and possibly her Blackheart surname as well).

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos def. The Brawling Brutes (Ridge Holland and Butch)

To be honest, the video package that aired for The Usos earlier in the evening highlighting their historic reign as tag team champions genuinely made me think they might lose on this show, and perhaps that was the point. It was silly to think Brawling Brutes of all teams would be the ones to do it (when it should really be Zayn and Kevin Owens), but they successfully added some uncertainty surrounding the outcome. It was an entertaining main event, though I can't understand the crowd not being all that into it because of the heel vs. heel dynamic. Also, I could have done without Imperium interfering. Brawling Brutes could have eaten the clean loss and it would have been perfectly fine, but it didn't ruin the match for me.

Overall Show

The three biggest things that were hyped up in advance (Reigns' appearance, Strowman vs. Otis, and the tag title main event) all delivered, making for a thumbs-up show. Everything in the middle wasn't super strong, but each of the matches and segments served a purpose at least. If nothing else, make time for the opening segment with The Bloodline. Zayn is a national treasure and is probably the best thing going in the company today. More effort is being put into the women's and tag team scenes, which has helped improve the quality of the blue brand on the whole.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews