Friday Night SmackDown rolled into Greensboro, North Carolinas First Horizon Coliseum for another night of action. While the ladies of Team Blue may not have been featured at last Saturdays Backlash premium live event, there was a lot in store tonight as Tiffany Stratton had to defend the Womens Championship against Nia Jax in the main event. As for the rest of the division, they are all now on the path of qualifying for this years womens Money in the Bank ladder match, with the first of these matches pitting Alexa Bliss, Chelsea Green, and Michin in a triple threat to determine one of this years participants.
Our first sighting came in the form of Michin, who was warming up backstage when her close friend and tag team partner B-Fab walked up to her. Being her hype woman, The Fab Female said that Michin in the Bank sounds great, so she needs her to go out there and win the qualifier, adding that the Womens Tag Team Championships on both of them would go great with the briefcase. Michin agrees, saying that once she qualifies and brings the briefcase to the both of them, they are going to get all the gold.
It didnt seem like the trio of Chelsea Green, Alba Fyre, and Piper Niven agreed, however, as Green laughed at the notion and said that if anyone is going to win Money in the Bank, its the VIP of last year her. Michin brings up that she lost last years match, but Green says that once she wins, shes going to implement a beautiful social economic policy with trickle-down effects that will lower interest rates for her Secret Hervice. Alexa Bliss then entered the scene, only smiling at Michin and giving the Green Regime a nasty glare, before saying See ya out there and walking off. Fyre and Niven tried to reassure Green, but B-Fab reminded them both that nobody is allowed at ringside in the triple threat match, so Fyre and Niven better have fun watching the triple threat from backstage. A pissed-off Green said that she was going to put tariffs on mediocrity and that Michin and B-Fab would be first.
Note: Same video as above, but starting from 4:50 for those that want to watch the first half of the match.
The qualifier was tonights first match, which Michin started off by kicking Green to send her out of the ring. Both Michin and Bliss laughed, before giving each other a respectful gesture and locking up. With both women still in the early goings, Michin missed a punch to Bliss, who used her speed to trip up Green as she got back in the ring, being sent out again via a dropkick from Michin. Several pin attempts followed as Bliss and Michin tried to quickly get one over on each other. Green got back on the ring ropes yelling at them, with the both of them dropkicking her to the floor two more times. Eventually getting back into the ring, Michin and Bliss now fought as the two wouldnt let the other get inside, but the arguing got them hit with a suicide dive from Green onto the floor.
As the show got into picture-in-picture commercials, Green threw both women into the barricades, but she would pick up Bliss and throw her back into the ring, beating on her and even taking a brief pause to throw her out of the ring and give a salute to Wade Barrett, before throwing Bliss into the barricade yet again. Fighting off Michin, Green and Bliss were back to scrapping inside the ring, where Bliss tried another ill-fated rollup attempt. Michin would return and hit several suplexes on Green, trying to put her away with a powerbomb that Bliss would break up.
Back to the show, Michin set Bliss and Green for the Longback Attack. It wasnt long before all three would be down on the mat from taking some big boots to the face. With Michin now on the floor, Bliss and Green remained in the ring, now duking it out with a series of punches and slaps to one another. The increasing momentum of Bliss was put to a stop by Michin, who got back in the ring with another dropkick. Green tried to hit the Unprettier on Michin, which was countered into Eat Defeat for a two-count that Bliss would again break up just in time. Bliss would follow that up by hitting a Tornado DDT that threw Michin in for a loop, setting her up perfectly to perform Twisted Bliss before Green broke the count by aggressively pushing Bliss out of the ring.
Now setting up Michin for the Unprettier a second time and executing it successfully, Bliss pulled Michins leg before Green could even get a pinfall. Becoming frustrated, Green would fall victim to Sister Abigail, allowing Bliss to win the match and punch her ticket to Money in the Bank. A lower-third graphic indicated that Bliss will be one of six competitors in this years ladder match.
An hour passed by and Bliss got even more of a spotlight as Byron Saxton interviewed her backstage. Congratulating her on her return last week and asking her about her feelings on tonights win, Bliss tells him that it feels amazing, and now her goal is to be the first woman to win the Money in the Bank ladder match twice, having won the match in 2018 and cashing in the same night to defeat Nia Jax for the Raw Womens Championship.
Back to the interview, Bliss would lose her train of thought and decided to excuse herself in order to walk up to Charlotte Flair, who just so happened to be waiting outside the office of Nick Aldis. With the two having had a tense confrontation last week, Bliss asked Flair if she gave any thought to the off-screen conversation they had. Flair mentions that Bliss brought up being friends, despite not being that close. Bliss said that when she debuted in NXT back in 2013, Flair took her under her wing and was a decent human being, which she never forgot about. Flair however, condescendingly tells Bliss that she doesnt remember these interactions.
With the conversation going quiet, the door would open to briefly show Giulia who has been teaming with Roxanne Perez over on Raw during the past month walking out. Aldis also exits the office, warmly telling Bliss and Flair to meet Giulia, who is now the newest member of the SmackDown roster. Wanting to discuss Money in the Bank, Aldis invites Flair to speak in his office. As Charlotte opens the door, she tells Bliss to stay out of her way, because she doesnt need her help. The segment ended with Bliss warning Flair to keep telling herself that.
A video package aired highlighting the relationship between Tiffany Stratton and Nia Jax, from their beginning as allies to Stratton cashing in her Money in the Bank contract and winning the Womens Championship, to Jaxs return and quest to get the title back in her posession.
Before the main event, Womens Champion Tiffany Stratton was walking backstage when she ran into Jade Cargill. Cargill said that it doesnt matter if she or Nia Jax win, because shes up next. Shes winning her qualifying match, taking that briefcase, and taking that title the same way Stratton did with Jax. Stratton retorts and says that Cargill can keep talking all she wants, but if she were her, she wouldnt get too comfortable because shes always ready. Cargill might be good enough to win the qualifier, maybe even good enough to win the Money in the Bank briefcase, but for as long as Stratton is champion, shell never be good enough to cash in on her.
Note: If one were to look closely, Naomi was also in the background, clearly stalking Cargill, although neither her or Stratton noticed.
The main event match was now underway, with the Womens Championship on the line. Jax started off by hitting Stratton with a headbutt, but Stratton regrouped quickly and used her speed to throw Jax off. The Irresistible Force didnt care though, throwing the Buff Barbie into the ring post and executing a hip attack aimed at Strattons head. Jax continued to dominate throughout the picture-in-picture break, hitting a powerful Samoan drop from the top turnbuckle onto the mat.
The show returned from commercials as Jax tried to execute another hip attack, but Stratton got her head out of the ring post in time and hit a baseball slide to Jax on the outside. With Stratton now at the timekeepers area, she would perform a Hurricanrana that sent Jax head-first into the ring post. The two then got back into the ring, with Stratton hitting a crossbody for a two-count. Jax would then hit another Samoan drop and followed it up with a senton for good measure, but she was disappointed when Stratton kicked out. Stratton continued to fight as she tried to get a roll-up on Jax, but when that didnt work, unleashed a back handspring and a spinebuster to unsuccessfully put her away.
The two kept on giving it their all as neither was going to stop until they had the match won. As both Stratton and Jax were laid out on the mat, Naomis theme music suddenly interrupted the match, and she came out with a steel chair in hand. The referee stopped her from entering the ring, at which point Jade Cargill made her presence felt, kicking Naomi to the floor and throwing her into the crowd, where their fight continued as Naomi tried to run away. Refocusing on the match, Stratton hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Jax, only for her to kick out, shocking her as Joe Tessitore mentioned that no one has ever kicked out of it. Stratton would then get on the turnbuckle, but got pushed to the floor by Jax, who then began to clear out the commentary desk to hit a Samoan drop on Stratton. The desk did not break as would normally happen, as the desk was reinforced.
Jax would decide to throw Stratton back inside the ring and geared up for the Annihilator, but Stratton, in an attempt to get up and hold her, still felt the impact of the move, but smartly chose to put her hand on the bottom rope for the two-count instead of kicking out. Jax was bewildered and started to shake her head nervously in disbelief, truly believing the match would have been hers. With about a minute and a half left in the show, Jax went fuck it and grabbed the Womens Championship, walking off, but not before grabbing the steel chair Naomi had left behind, intending to hit Stratton with it. That backfired quickly as Stratton hit a dropkick, with the chair landing on Jaxs face instead, which led to her bleeding. Stratton took advantage, hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever once again, and won the match to retain her Womens Championship. The show went off the air as she stood with the title on the top turnbuckle in celebration.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia, with the following set to take place:
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this weeks episode of SmackDown in the comments below.
