WWE Friday Night SmackDown Results And Review (8/7): New Faction Invades Show, Braun Strowman Responds To The Fiend, And More

Friday Night SmackDown

This episode of Friday Night SmackDown took place once again at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando Florida with PC trainees in attendance. Advertised segments and matches included Bray Wyatt addressing The Fiend’s attack on Alexa Bliss, Jeff Hardy taking on Corbin, Matt Riddle taking on Sheamus and Sonya Deville being a guest on The Dirt Sheet.

Fire Fly Fun House started off the show. Bray blamed Braun for what happened to Alexa Bliss. He said The Fiend is waiting for him and he wants Braun to give him what he wants. He said The Fiend will be there with someone special.

Matt Riddle Defeated Sheamus By DQ

Shorty G attacked Riddle from behind causing a DQ. Riddle fought back, tossing him into the steps and barricade. Riddle left and Sheamus landed two Brogue Kicks to Shorty G, laying him out in the ring.

Review: Solid opening match. Riddle and Sheamus gel really well with each other in the ring considering their fighting styles. Shorty G coming out to cause a DQ was kind of a shame since I was enjoying the match. That kind of ruined it to be honest. I would’ve waited for Shorty to come out after the match.

Sheamus confronted Corbin backstage about Shorty G costing him the match. He warns Corbin that he better have him cost another match again or he’ll beat him up. Corbin said if he wasn’t dealing with Jeff hardy later on, he would put a dent in his skull.

Miz and Morrison welcomed everyone to the Dirt Sheet and showed what happened last week between Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. Miz and Morrison’s mic gets cut off multiple times as they interview Mandy’s hair. They imitate Mandy’s hair as it was shown on the titantron. They introduce their actual guest: Sonya Deville. Sonya came out to the ring. Miz asked why she cut her hair and Sonya said she made her ugly like she promised. Sonya said she loved every second of it because Mandy was always concerned about her image. She said Mandy is destroyed so she won’t give the fans their satisfaction. Sonya said she looks more like Otis now and Miz and Morrison agree as they list other comparisons. Heavy Machinery came out and attacked Miz and Morrison.

Cesaro Defeated Lince Dorado

Review: Good match. I’m not too sold on The Lucha House Party being Cesaro and Nakamura’s next challengers for the title. It just shows how small the tag division on this show really is.

Otis is fuming mad backstage as Tucker tried to calm him down. Kayla Braxton interviewed them asking about The Dirt Sheet. Otis said Miz and Morrison crossed the line and said no one will be laughing once he gets a hold of him. Tucker also said that what Sonya did to Mandy was despicable.

The Fiend came out to the ring. As they came back from commercial, The Fiend was in the ring with Alexa Bliss. Alexa was terrified. The Fiend was about to do the Mandible Claw on Alexa until Alexa pushed it away. Braun interrupted Fiend on the screen, saying that he made a mistake playing with his emotions because he doesn’t care about Alexa. He tells Fiend that he can have whatever he wants and he will go face to face with the monster at Summerslam.

Jeff Hardy Defeated King Corbin By DQ

Sheamus came out and nailed Hardy with a Brogue Kick to Jeff Hardy. Corbin and Sheamus argued on the outside of the ring and ready to go at it each other as officials try to hold them back.

Review: Okay match. It did what it needed to do but it wasn’t anything that I had much interest in.

Sheamus Defeated King Corbin

Review: Another okay match. Riddle costing Corbin the match was nice touch to it. Otherwise, not that much significance or importance was worth watching the match at least for me.

Sasha came up to Bayley and asked if everything is alright. Bayley said she wished she talked to her about facing Asuka Monday night. Sasha said that Bayley has got this and she needs for Bayley to do this. She brags about them having all the gold. A producer came up to them, saying that they are needed for a video conference with Stephanie McMahon.

Kayla Braxton interviewed Big E about what his journey is going to look like. Big E said he doesn’t know what the journey is going to take him but he promises that they will get all of him.

Sasha and Bayley were in the ring when Stephanie McMahon came on the screen. She congratulated them for getting all the championships. Bayley and Sasha gloat about it. Stephanie McMahon said they have everyone’s attention with their actions of finding a loop hole in winning the Raw Women’s title including hers. Sasha and Bayley said they know what’s best for business and pay attention to everything her and her husband do. Stephanie McMahon said Sasha will defend the title against Asuka at Summerslam if she wins and there will be a triple brand battle royal to determine who will face Bayley for the Women’s title at Summerslam.

Miz and Morrison are interviewed by Kayla Braxton backstage and they said they will not apologize for their commentary. They said they can easily out wit them and if they can’t stand the heat, they need to get out of the kitchen.

Heavy Machinery Vs. Miz and Morrison ended in a no contest

Mandy Rose came out and attacked Sonya Deville at ringside. They brawl in the ring causing the match to be thrown out. Officials, Heavy Machinery, Miz and Morrison tried to break them up but the two of them kept going at it.

Review: It was alright but I wasn’t sure if this should’ve main evented the show until I saw what it lead to.

Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville continued their fighting backstage as they were being held back. All of a sudden, the lights were going out. Retribution, the group in the mask and hoodies came out with weapons. They attack the PC trainees at ringside. They graffiti  everything around ringside, flip over the announce table, chainsaw the ropes off. The show went off the air with them continuing to destroy everything.

Overall Review: The show was pretty good with the matches being solid, Sonya and Big E’s promos were probably the best. The segment with Braun Strowman and The Fiend was really underwhelming though with Alexa being in the ring and the way she handled The Fiend then she was just nonexistent after Braun came on the screen. Braun said he didn’t care about Alexa which I didn’t understand. I mean I know they were trying to make Braun back to being a monster here but this just makes the whole point of Alexa seems pointless now unless they have her turn on Braun at SummerSlam. The ending was different and it was cool with how they destroyed the area but it reminded me too much of what the Nexus did 10 years ago when they made their debut. I couldn’t take it as seriously with how they were trying to portray it because it just didn’t feel different and it is mind boggling that they got to rehash the same way they did Nexus from 10 years ago when they do these invasion type of stories. The attack on the PC trainees is what they should’ve done but they didn’t even use their weapons when they attacked them so what was the point of even coming out with those weapons. I don’t want to trash on the Retribution storyline too much since it’s still early they can still steer it in the right direction but this was not a very convincing start to it.

Grade: 5/10

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