Friday Night SmackDown emanated this week from inside the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio as we are less than 24 hours away from Backlash in St. Louis, Missouri tomorrow night.
During Damian Priests entrance in the opening tag team match, the show cut to a brief shot of Jade Cargill arriving to the arena, carrying her luggage while on the phone. Cargill would end up throwing her water bottle at a production truck when she saw Naomis face plastered on it.
After the commentators recapped Zelina Vegas win over Piper Niven last week, the show switched to a visual of a dark room, lit only by fake candles and a picture of the Womens United States Championship. As Niven held the hand of a crying Green, Alba Fyre narrated the following:
We are here today to celebrate the United States title reign of Miss Chelsea Green.
The light is eventually turned on, blinding all of them and revealing that they are actually in the office of general manager Nick Aldis. With the actual champion Zelina Vega by his side, Aldis asks them what is going on. Niven responds and says that a friends and family event is ongoing, and that he doesnt have clearance to be in the room even though its his office. Green says that Fyre was about to say the most beautiful eulogirlie a eulogy for the girlies, according to her and they are in mourning, so they need Aldis to leave. Vega calls out Green for mourning a title that she lost fair and square and calls her pathetic. Green retorts and says that Vega wouldnt understand because she doesnt have any girlfriends. Vega says that since she doesnt have any girlfriends, then why not have Green and Niven take on her and a tag team partner of her choosing, a match idea that Aldis agrees with.
As the tag team match was underway following the segment, Vega revealed her tag team partner: the returning Alexa Bliss. Conspicuous by her absence since the Elimination Chamber event, Bliss returned in front of a welcoming home state crowd as she is from Columbus, Ohio. Vega tried immediately to target Niven in a similar fashion to last weeks win, but couldnt muster enough force. Niven quickly took control and tagged in Green, but not before slamming Vega to the mat. Vega dodged Greens offense and set her up for a 619, but when Niven tried to intervene, also ran into the same position as Green, with Vega executing the move on both of them. Green would then kick out at 2 and prevented the champion from tagging in Bliss before a commercial break.
The show returned after the break with Niven continuing to stop Vega from giving a tag to Bliss. Vega would counter Nivens attempt at a slam into a DDT and finally tagged in Bliss to raucous cheers. With the match having become a more fast-paced affair, Bliss went full throttle on Green. Leaving the Madame-in-Chief hanging upside down from the turnbuckles, Bliss jumped at her midsection and hit Twisted Bliss, which Niven broke up quickly. Vega tried to go for Code Red on Niven, but nearly couldnt until Bliss kicked Niven to allow the maneuver. The two continued to fight on the outside with Vega hitting a Meteora on Niven to the floor. With Green and Bliss still in the ring, Green tried to hit the Unprettier, but would get it reversed into a Sister Abigail by Bliss for the babyface team to get the win.
A car pulled up to the arena, with another woman we havent seen lately opening the door: Charlotte Flair. Clad in a gold-colored get-up, The Queen eventually walked out to the ring. With the crowd booing her, Flair said that here she was coming off the greatest womens match in WrestleMania history, and she needs to give credit where credit is due. Flair was out for almost two years with a career-ending knee injury and she took Tiffany Stratton, the WWE Womens Champion, to her absolute limit. A picture of Stratton from their WrestleMania match is shown on the screen, and Flair asks if that looks like a woman who is enjoying her WrestleMania moment. Flair says she enjoyed her WrestleMania moment so much that shes here to announce her path back to the Womens Championship.
With the crowd still booing her, Flair questions their disrespect when she is the GOAT of womens wrestling. She threatens to leave Dayton and never come back if they continue to be disrespectful, ultimately throwing her microphone in anger and exiting the ring, but Jade Cargill makes her entrance for her #1 contenders match with Nia Jax. With the two having yet another staredown, one could say in this moment that Charlottes thunder was stolen, both by Jade and by the fans.
Cargill wasnt done, however, taking the mic and telling Flair that before she goes, she had her chance, and now its time to head to the back of the line.
Now walking backstage in a huff, Charlotte is arguing with Nick Aldis over her professionalism, with Aldis saying that shes supposed to be a leader instead of throwing a temper tantrum when things dont go her way. With the door to her car open and requesting to be taken to the airport, the door is closed by a furious Alexa Bliss, who tells her Lets chat. Could this mean a potential alliance between the two?
Meanwhile, the match between Cargill and Nia Jax was set to begin when Tiffany Stratton made her presence felt. Waving and blowing a kiss to the crowd, Stratton took a seat, clearly wanting a closer view of the incoming action. The match then began for real as Stratton taunted Jax from ringside, telling her to be scared and booing her in the early goings as she dominated Cargill, who retaliated with punches, delighting the Buff Barbie, who said she was impressive. Jax then hit both a Samoan drop and a leg drop on Cargill for a two-count.
After a commercial break, Cargill herself was able to get Jax to fall on her bum and lift her up for another Samoan drop, additionally reversing a suplex attempt from Jax. Hitting two superkicks and a spinebuster, Cargills offense only yielded another two-count. The Irresistible Force tried a powerbomb on Cargill that also stopped just short of 3. With the stakes getting higher, the fire inside of both competitors kept on burning. Jax threw Cargill into the turnbuckle, and getting ready to ram herself into her, was met with a punt kick from Cargill instead for a two-count.
With Stratton out of her seat (literally although mentally, on the edge of it), the crowd suddenly got louder as Naomi emerged to attack her, stopping Cargill from an attempt at Jaded and setting her up for the Annihilator, helping Jax gain the victory and placing her now at the top spot to challenge Stratton for the Womens Championship.
Michin and B-Fab appeared backstage to speak to the WWE Tag Team Champions The Street Profits, appearing for the first time after their ladder match with #DIY and the Motor City Machine Guns two weeks ago. Michin mentions that they look messed up, particularly Montez Fords stomach being bandaged, but as their former manager, B-Fab mentions that they look good in gold and that their match was nothing less than fabulous. Ford says that the two of them never lie, but he and Angelo Dawkins heard them last week putting their foot down and putting everyone on notice in challenging for the Womens Tag Team Championships once Liv Morgan returns from filming her movie in Tokyo, stating that they intend to do the same. Its nice to see that although B-Fab and The Profits may be on separate paths now, the connection they have remains strong.
A video package aired recapping the career of Becky Lynch, despite being a Raw Superstar; shell be squaring off tomorrow night at Backlash for the Womens Intercontinental Championship against her former ally and defending champion, Lyra Valkyria.
Tiffany Stratton was backstage looking for Naomi after being attacked by her during the #1 contenders match. Nia Jax soon entered the shot to mock Stratton, telling her it must not be easy to be Womens Champion now seeing that shes made some enemies, but instead of worrying about Naomi, Stratton needs to be worried about her, as she beat Jade Cargill to become the #1 contender and take back what is rightfully hers. Stratton says thats fine, as once she beats Jax, shell make sure theres a spot for her at the losers table right next to Charlotte Flair. Stratton says her signature Toodles!, leaving Jax speechless.
Lastly, a brief clip of Bianca Belair was shown to promote Stephanie McMahons new podcast, titled Whats Your Story? With Steph McMahon. Belair touched on her dad trying to jump the barricade when winning the SmackDown Womens Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 37 back in 2021. The podcast is available to listen to on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and can also be watched in a video version on WWEs YouTube channel.
Backlash takes place tomorrow night on Saturday, May 10th from inside the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, with the following matches set to take place:
Friday Night SmackDown also airs next Friday from the First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. As of this writing, no womens matches or segments are currently advertised.
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this weeks edition of SmackDown in the comments below.
