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Hello everyone, welcome to WWE Smackdown on this Friday evening. We’re post Night of Champions and the WWE title is now with a man who resembles a bag of milk. This episode was taped on Monday, so if you want spoilers you can find them right HERE. Sami Zayn is getting his perfunctory title run right now, which objectively isn’t the worst thing. The Smackdown main event scene is pretty poor these days, Cody Rhodes is fine in the main event but Kevin Owens is still injured, Drew McIntyre is off with his movie, Randy Orton is off doing whatever the hell he’s doing, CM Punk’s horse is sick, and Smackdown has in general done a piss poor job of elevating people like Carmelo Hayes, Ilja Dragunov, or anyone else from the midcard last year into the main event scene. In an ideal world Brock Lesnar would show up tonight, give Sami the old Kofi Kingston treatment, and his match with Oba Femi could be for the WWE title. But instead Femi, despite winning King of the Ring, is not getting a title shot and the guy who lost in the finals gets one anyway. Because this is all fake and you shouldn’t invest in any of it, the WWE is just going to do whatever they want whenever they want. Sorry, that’s my own hang ups around the artifice of this genre getting pulled down and I shouldn’t project it that much onto all of you. But to that end expect Jey Uso to show up tonight in some capacity. Rey Fenix will defend the AAA cruiserweight title, which is now serving the role of workhorse belt since Trick Williams doesn’t ever defend the US title. On the women’s side of things they’re trying to push Michin and B-Fab along with Jade Cargill, but since we’ve still yet to receive a real update on WWE women’s champion Rhea Ripley they’re all messing around with Tiffany Stratton, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and Chelsea Green. Blake Monroe showed up last week and attacked Giulia, which normally would be a good thing but I’ve just got no faith in Smackdown’s booking at this point so I can’t get super excited about it. The tag team scene is a wasteland, Damian Priest and R-Truth are champions but have spent that reign beating the Tongan Kids and one match with Fraxiom. Still nothing for Ilja Dragunov, Shinsuke Nakamura, Royce Keys, or anything like that. Oh but we’re building to a match between Gunther and Smackdown GM Nick Aldis. Aldis and Gunther got into things after Night of Champions so Aldis is currently not in charge of Smackdown, meaning Adam Pearce will be on hand tonight for official duties. So that’s the lay of the land, we’re mercifully back to just 2 hours now though so hopefully the show is good.

First a recap of Sami Zayn winning the WWE title at Night of Champions.

After that Sami heads to the ring to kick the show off. We’ve still got the RAW commentary team given how close this was to RAW in terms of taping. Some pyro for Sami before he gets a mic, he’s getting a very mixed reception, but runs through his new catchphrases of course. Then he thanks everyone for people giving him love for finally winning the WWE title. But it’s funny, he’s been booed out of the building the last 6 months by the same people who three years ago were dying to see him win the big one. Almost like the passage of time changes things, funny isn’t it? Sami could be petty right now, but he wont because he’s a good guy. Sami puts himself over for a bit, repeats the same points he just made in exactly the same way, then says tonight we’re celebrating him as new WWE champion. Now he forever goes down as an all time great and no one can ever take this away from him. Unless you murder your ex-wife and a waiter buddy, always gotta add the caveat because WWE has erased plenty of people over the years. Anyway once he’s done yapping out comes former champion Cody Rhodes. Cody gets a mic and congratulates Sami on winning the WWE title, much like Sami was the first to celebrate with Cody he wanted to return the favor then offers a handshake. Sami deliberates then shakes Cody’s hand. Cody goes to leave but Sami stops him, he doesn’t want to play games and asks Cody to drop the act. We both know that’s not the only reason Cody is out here, Sami’s got the title and he knows Cody wants back. Sami leans paranoid but before Cody can respond here’s Jey Uso because who doesn’t love a revolving door promo segment. Jey gives Sami a hug and gets a mic, he does the handshake bit with Sami then declines to run back his entrance. He’s proud of Sami, but warns him he’s here on Bloodline business. This is Sami’s warning shot, Jey needs to bring that title to the family. Cody interrupts asking what year this is, Sami is standing as WWE champion, Jey’s a former world heavyweight champion, and now Jey’s just running errands for Roman Reigns. Sami isn’t going to do this, he was happy for Jey when Jey won the world title, both other men have been champion and now it’s Sami’s time to be WWE champion. Oh and Jey, as far as Sami’s concerned the WWE title is in the family but is staying with Sami. So as a friend and family, both Cody and Jey need to stay away from him. Sami, coward that he is, goes to leave but here’s Adam Pearce to no pop. Pearce says he’s in charge tonight since Aldis is at home after his issue with Gunther. Pearce is going to find Sami a challenger, Sami asks for input into his challenger and Pearce says this isn’t about SummerSlam. If Aldis was here Sami might get everything he wanted, but Pearce is here and Sami will defend the WWE title on RAW on Monday against the winner of Cody vs. Jey in our main event. So the Smackdown title is being defended on RAW? OK then.

In the back Cathy talks with Charlotte Flair, Charlotte gave Jade what Jade deserved and their issue is far from over. Alexa Bliss comes over to talk with Charlotte, they tease dissent between the pair over poor communication skills. Tiffany Stratton and Chelsea Green come over, Tiffany says she didn’t need Charlotte’s help then Green chimes in that Jade should be worried about them. Some awkwardness follows.

To the ring, here comes Charlotte for our first match and we head to break.

Match #1 – 6-Woman Tag Team Match: Charlotte Flair, Tiffany Stratton, and Chelsea Green vs. Jade Cargill, Michin, and B-Fab

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