Friday Night SmackDown aired this week from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, less than 24 hours away from Backlash in Tampa.
Our first sighting of the women was in the form of Tiffany Stratton, defending her newly-won Women’s United States Championship against Kiana James, coming after Stratton expressed her desire to defend the title and a resulting confrontation between the two women during the previous week’s episode.
A Twitter video from Chelsea Green aired to support Stratton, revealing her absence from the show to recover from her recent surgery. The match then began with the Buff Barbie overpowering SmackDown’s resident secretary in the early goings, but James would soon venture out onto ringside, targeting the legs of Stratton.
By the time the show had returned from commercials, James had continued to target the legs until the referee forced a rope break. Stratton soon rebounded, limping just a bit but still able to maintain her speed, leading to a basement dropkick that only yielded a 2-count.
James would eventually run into the ring post, which led to Stratton holding her up only for Giulia to get up on the ring apron to try and help. The distraction, however, threw James off her game due to the referee being so concentrated on Giulia that he couldn’t count her attempt at a roll-up. This miscommunication helped Stratton win the match and retain the Women’s United States Championship with a Prettiest Moonsault Ever. James glared at Giulia as The Beautiful Madness attempted to explain herself.
After a vignette recapping the impact Fatal Influence has made over the past two weeks on SmackDown, Cathy Kelley interviewed the team of Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss backstage ahead of their six-woman tag team match against them later on. Ripley says that Fatal Influence wanted to make an impression, and they did. The only problem is, they chose the wrong ones to attack, which is why she’s excited for tonight as she can’t wait to remind them exactly who they are. Flair interjects to say that they, as a team, can all get their hands on them together, but Ripley isn’t buying her words, questioning if The Queen can trust her, but all Flair says is that Ripley is not the only one who wants revenge.
Asking Flair if they’re going to have a problem, Bliss inserts herself in the conversation to get in between them and quash any tension, mentioning that they are both big and strong, but none of that matters unless they put all that behind them. As Flair chuckles, Bliss mentions that they have tagged with each other and have teamed and trusted each other before, and they can do it again, right? Ripley says she’ll be fine if Flair is, while Flair says she’s fine. As Flair and Bliss walk off, The Queen says Ripley started it, while Mami says that Charlotte is lying.
Candice LeRae made a brief appearance as Sami Zayn was going through the room where people were mourning the casket of The Gingerbread Man. After several months, Johnny Gargano remains lying motionless.
Blake Monroe appeared in another vignette advertising her upcoming arrival to SmackDown. Applying makeup to her face in her mirror, Monroe says her mirror is “the envy”, “the scandal”… obsession follows her wherever she goes. Let it be a warning: she can take everything you love and make it hers.
The segment was then followed by an in-arena appearance from the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Brie Bella and Paige, who hit the ring for a promo. Brie started off by saying that there’s a lot of teams in WWE right now saying they have what it takes to beat them, but like they showed The Irresistible Forces last week, it’s not so easy to take the titles off her and Paige, so whoever it may be, the result will always be the same.
Paige then added that she heard what The Judgment Day had to say about their title reign and “stopping the nostalgia tour”. When Paige thinks about a nostalgia tour, she thinks about the has-beens trying to recreate the magic that they don’t have anymore, but her and Brie are the best they’ve ever looked, and if Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez want to step up, then she challenges them to step up. Whether it be Raw or SmackDown, they are the champions, and it is their house.
The music of Fatal Influence interrupted the monologue, with Fallon Henley, Jacy Jayne, and Lainey Reid walking out. Jayne says she’s heard enough, claiming that Brie and Paige are clearly in over their heads, and she hates to be the one to break it to them, but The Judgment Day are not the ones they should be worried about. She thinks the two of them forgot that two weeks ago, Fatal Influence dropped them and left them laying in the middle of the ring.
Fallon Henley says that they were maybe too distracted to see that they are already taking over SmackDown, and part of that takeover means taking the Women’s Tag Team Championships. Lainey then speaks and adds that they shouldn’t stop there, as there is plenty of gold to go around, and pretty soon Jacy Jayne will be standing as your new WWE Women’s Champion. Per Jacy, though, tonight they have business to take care of, so if Brie and Paige were smart, they’d get out of their ring, walk back to the locker room, and watch how a real team gets the job done.
The Irresistible Forces then come out to the stage, with Nia Jax questioning how the trio of Divas could skip to the front of the line. Lash Legend then took the mic, calling them “pipsqueaks” who can’t possibly think that they’re big and bad coming to SmackDown when it clearly isn’t NXT, and the trio can’t possibly think that they’re going to get in the way of the two getting their titles back. Jax continues to insult Fatal Influence, calling them “knockoff mean girls” while Legend demands that they better get to the back of the line, before the two attack Paige and Brie.
The actual WWE Women’s Champion, Rhea Ripley, then made her way out to the ring, indicating that it was now time for the six-woman tag team match pitting Fatal Influence against Ripley, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss. Ripley had a brief stare down with Lash Legend, who walked away with Nia.
The match would begin with Bliss and Henley trying to take each other down as Bliss mocked Henley’s taunt. Jayne and Reid attempting to intervene helped sway the match in Fatal Influence’s favor, with Reid becoming the legal woman. Mocking Charlotte’s pose gave Bliss ample time to tag in Ripley, who unleashed a flurry of rapid offense against Reid and Jayne while punching Henley out onto the ground.
Fatal Influence would reverse course and get the upper hand of Ripley throughout the commercial break, but a kick to Reid left the Alabama native wobbly, allowing Flair to be tagged in and take out the heel trio. Jayne kicked out of a Natural Selection attempt by Flair, and Jayne alongside Reid stayed sharp as they stopped Flair and Bliss’s attempt at a double maneuver.
Jade Cargill then made her presence felt for the first time since WrestleMania 42 by tripping Ripley to the floor, which referee Daphanie LaShaunn did not see as she was trying to restore order. This allowed Jayne to hit a Rolling Encore on Bliss to win the match for Fatal Influence. As Cargill confronted them, the trio left as Cargill looked at a fallen Bliss. Flair would try and get up to stop her, but was attacked by the also returning duo of Michin and B-Fab. Ripley then entered the ring only for Cargill to hit her with a punt kick, before the three stood over them in the ring.
Backlash airs tomorrow night from inside the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT on the ESPN app in the United States, with the first hour also airing live on ESPN2. There will be one women’s match taking place:
International viewers will be able to stream the event on Netflix, with the full schedule as follows:
4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT – WWE Countdown (2 hour pre-show airing on the ESPN app and WWE’s social media accounts; the last hour will air live on ESPN2)
6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT – Backlash (first hour will air on ESPN2)
When the event concludes – Post-Show (on the ESPN app and WWE’s social media accounts)
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Colonial Life Arena in Colombia, South Carolina, although no matches or segments have been advertised as of this writing.
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below.