Welcome to POST Wrestling’s live coverage for tonight’s episode of WWE Friday Night Smackdown. Keep an eye on this article throughout the night for the latest news and results from the event. Make sure to hit the refresh button in your browser to see the most recent edition of this page!
Results
- Cody Rhodes def. Gunther (Undisputed WWE Championship) (Special Guest Referee Sami Zayn) (11:20)
- Gunther def. Cody Rhodes (Undisputed WWE Championship) (DQ) (1:09)
- Damian Priest & R-Truth def. Talla Tonga & Tama Tonga (WWE Tag Team Championships) (10:12)
- Ricky Saints def. Carmelo Hayes (WWE United States Championship #1 Contender Match) (14:25)
- Jey Uso def. Je’Von Evans (King of the Ring Semi-Final) (17:55)
Still to come
- Charlotte Flair vs. Liv Morgan (Queen of the Ring Semi-Final)
Sami Zayn’s ref performance helps Rhodes retain against Gunther
This week’s episode of WWE Friday Night Smackdown, live from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, opened with the biggest match of the night, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes facing Gunther.
This rematch was booked after Gunther controversially lost to Rhodes via pinfall at Clash in Italy despite one of his legs providing a rope break. Gunther insisted that the rematch would feature Sami Zayn as the special guest referee, as Zayn’s relationship with Rhodes has been rocky as of late. This match was promoted as commercial-free.
A major theme early in the match was whether or not Zayn was being an impartial referee. There were some slight critiques from the commentary desk, but nothing egregious to pick out during the opening minutes.
Rhodes connected with a Cody Cutter in the early minutes of the match. Gunther attempted to leverage himself on the ropes while applying a Figure Four submission, which Zayn stopped. Zayn got in Gunther’s face, telling him that he was breaking the rules. Gunther seemed annoyed that Zayn wasn’t being as biased as he had hoped. The challenger got in Zayn’s face once again after a near fall moments later.
Rhodes countered a powerbomb from Gunther into a Cross-Rhodes. A pin attempt was stopped by Zayn, who spotted that, just like at Clash in Italy, Gunther had a boot under the bottom rope, which counts as a pin break. It became Rhodes’ turn to get frustrated at Zayn, shoving him. Zayn shoved back, incidentally pushing the champ into a sleeper hold from Gunther.
Zayn seemed worried that he might have caused the finish to the match. Luckily, Rhodes made his way to the ropes to break up the submission. Gunther was late to let go of the hold, so Zayn grabbed him by the head and peeled him off. Gunther was now once again mad at Zayn, shoving him twice. Zayn responded with a slap. Gunther reacted by powerbombing Zayn.
After surviving now a few instances where he easily could’ve been disqualified, Gunther ate a top-rope Cody Cutter, then a Cross-Rhodes. A new referee hit the ring to count the pin, but Gunther just narrowly beat the count!
Gunther dodged a top-rope dive from Rhodes, scored a shotgun dropkick, then connected with a huge powerbomb. He went for the pin, but then Zayn pulled the replacement referee out of the ring to stop the pin!
Zayn, quite frustrated about how Gunther had handled him earlier in the match, helped Rhodes get into a roll-up pin position, then did an ultra-fast three-count to end the match in 11 minutes. Rhodes defended again against Gunther, but the challenger arguably has another argument as to how he got screwed out of a title win.
This was quite the overbooked match. And, for a title match (especially one that was promoted as commercial-free), I was hoping for maybe a bit longer of a performance than this.
Rhodes vs. Gunther in Kansas City, part deux
Backstage after the break, we saw Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Sami Zayn and Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis arguing. An irate Rhodes returned to the ring, grabbed a mic and demanded to restart his match with Gunther with a new referee.
After dropping Zayn with an attack in gorilla position, Gunther charged to the ring and another title match between these two was underway. The match got started with these two trading sleeper holds. This ended after Zayn hit the ring and dropped Gunther with a Helluva Kick, causing a disqualification finish.
Zayn inadvertently struck Rhodes with the Undisputed WWE Championship during a post-match scuffle between these two. Knowing that this accidental attack would once again further complicate his relationship with Rhodes, a frustrated Zayn stormed out of the ring. Curious to know where they go from here. Obviously, Gunther is not out of the title program just yet. But, where does Zayn factor into the next title match? We’ll see.
Backstage, Jade Cargill was seen calling out Tiffany Stratton for a WWE Women’s United States Championship at Night of Champions.
Gunther wants yet another shot, Fatu approaches Solo
After the break, Gunther was seen approaching GM Nick Aldis and demanding another title shot at Night of Champions.
In the locker room, we saw Jacob Fatu come up to Solo Sikoa. Before Fatu said anything, Sikoa told him that, if he’s here to try and make him join Roman Reigns’ Bloodline, the answer is no. Fatu said that he’s on Smackdown to make sure nobody gets in the way of Jey Uso’s King of the Ring semi-final match. Before he left, Fatu made it clear he thinks Sikoa is making a mistake with his thoughts by not aligning with the Bloodline.
Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga saw Sikoa talking to Fatu and asked what was happening. Sikoa told them not to worry about his Bloodline issues. Tama asked Sikoa to stay backstage for their tag title match tonight, as Sikoa’s presence could attract some Bloodline agitators.
“Your family business is starting to mess with our family business,” Tama said.
Solo causes MFTs to lose high-stakes bout
Blake Monroe, who has still yet to debut on Smackdown, had another vignette air next. Her latest video clip was about Giulia, talking about the times they crossed paths when they were both on the STARDOM roster in 2023. I had to look this up because I was genuinely curious: Monroe’s debut on Smackdown first started getting teased nearly two months ago. If she’s not in the London show next week, in her home country of England, I’m not sure she ever debuts.
WWE Tag Team Champions Damian Priest and R-Truth put their titles on the line in the next segment, facing Talla Tonga and Tama Tonga of the MFTs. We saw shots of AAA tag champs War Raiders watching this one backstage at points.
The match started with Priest and Talla, the two big men in the match. R-Truth was isolated during the commercials, allowing Priest to get a hot tag once they returned. He gave Tama a Flatliner, earning him a two-count.
Talla got into the ring briefly, a distraction which allowed Tama to give Priest a neckbreaker. As the bout neared the 10-minute mark, Solo Sikoa went against the wishes of his teammates and appeared at ringside.
Priest attempted to attack Talla while he was arguing with Sikoa at ringside. Instead, Sikoa ate a clothesline from the champ. The scuffle out of the ring caused Tama to try and grab the head of Priest. R-Truth got into the ring and rolled up a distracted Tama, giving him the pinfall win in 10 minutes. Sikoa caused a mess at ringside and ended up costing his team a win.
A frustrated Tama and Talla left the ring without Sikoa to end the segment.
Rick Saints earns Night of Champions title shot
The next challenger for Trick Williams’ United States Championship was determined next, as Ricky Saints and Carmelo Hayes faced off in a #1 contenders bout. Commentary noted that this was the fourth showdown between these two since May.
An attempted La Mistica from Hayes was countered into a roll-up attempt from Saints late in the bout. After Hayes had his own roll-up, Saints caught him on his shoulders then hit a flapjack for a two-count.
After a long stretch of reversals, Hayes and Saints dropped eachother with a pair of clotheslines. Hayes connected with a Dirty Diana then a crafty cutter for another near fall. A pair of top-rope moves were countered between these two. One of the top turnbuckles in the ring was ripped off unintentionally during a sequence. This became important just a minute later, as Saints knocked Hayes off-balance while on the top rope, causing him to fall groin-first on the exposed buckle.
Hayes, despite taking the painful move, dodged a Roshambo just seconds later then connected with a First 48. As Hayes was about to go for the pin, Saints kicked Hayes back-first into the exposed buckle again, giving him the pinfall win in 14 minutes. What? After all these big moves, including an exposed buckle spot that was recovered from within seconds, the finish is a guy just getting pushed into the buckle again? That feels incredibly flat. Anyway, Saints vs. Williams is confirmed for Night of Champions.
Backstage, Cody Rhodes was apologetic to Nick Aldis about what happened earlier in the night. He proposed that the only way to solve the title picture’s issues is to face both Gunther and Sami Zayn in a triple threat match at Night of Champions. Aldis agrees and says it’s official. A very low-key way to book the main event of a PLE.
The latest – 10:21 p.m. ET: Jey Uso secures King of the Ring finals spot
Backstage, Danhausen was harassed by Los Garza for not cursing the New York Knicks. Matt Cardona came in for the save, causing the heel duo to leave.
A semi-final bout in this year’s King of the Ring bracket was next, with Jey Uso squaring off against Je’Von Evans. The winner would earn themselves a spot in the grand finals at Night of Champions against Oba Femi.
There was some bad blood heading into this one after Evans called Uso “unc” during a backstage segment. To be fair, Uso is 40 years old, which absolutely is in unc territory.
Evans had a strong start to the match, delivering a huge dive to the outside early on then continuing to control the bout through a break. There was lots of trash talk during this one.
Uso found an opening at the six-minute mark, tossing the light Evans incredibly high in the air for a Samoan Drop – this looked great. Evans took a lot of damage in the minutes that followed, narrowly beating a count-out at one point.
Evans started to regain momentum during commercials, dumping Uso into the timekeeper’s area then diving over a barricade onto him. This dive was wild, Evans spilled over another guardrail and into the first row.
Back in the ring, Uso dodged a top-rope move from Evans then scored a superkick for a two-count. The fight went to the top rope, where Evans hit a massive Spanish Fly. Still, it wasn’t enough for the win.
Uso targeted the injured ribs of Evans with a superkick, then a spear. A tough Evans kicked out, extending the match beyond the 16-minute mark. Evans countered another spear attempt, instead dropping Uso with a superkick. Evans came off the ropes with his Red Dot head kick. He tried for an OG-Cutter off the top rope, but Uso tripped him up in the corner to prevent it.
Uso hit a spear then came off the top with an Uso Splash for the pinfall victory in just under 18 minutes. Uso is heading to Riyadh. I’m usually not too hot on Jey Uso matches, but I honestly enjoyed this one.
Uso put his drama with Evans behind him after the match, raising the young up-and-comer’s arm after winning.
In a pre-taped promo, Giulia called out Kiana James for a match as part of next week’s Smackdown London.
Tiffany Stratton accepted a U.S. title match against Jade Cargill for Night of Champions in a backstage interview.
Here’s what was announced for next week’s Raw during a commercial:
- Paige & Brie Bella vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria (WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships)
- Austin Theory & Bron Breakker vs. Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins (WWE World Tag Team Championships)
- We hear from King & Queen of the Ring Finalists
