Friday Night SmackDown came to us this week from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Team Blue’s women’s division is hot off the heels of SummerSlam. For starters, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair dethroned Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez to win the Women’s Tag Team Championships. Meanwhile, Candice LeRae not only kerfuffled with B-Fab and Nikki Cross, but fell onto a ladder during the TLC match for the men’s tag team titles. Lastly, Tiffany Stratton walked in – and out – of MetLife Stadium still the WWE Women’s Champion by defeating Jade Cargill. Now, with The Biggest Party of the Summer in the rear-view mirror, what’s next for all the ladies of SmackDown? Let’s get started and find out.
We start things off with Alexa Bliss walking backstage as she quickly runs into Charlotte Flair. The Queen tells her that she knows her birthday is tomorrow and thought it would be nice to get her something for her birthday. When Bliss asks her where the present is, Flair questions why she would give it to her in the hallway – it needs to be grandiose, with people present. Most importantly, she’s going to love it.
The Wyatt Sicks appeared in a vignette following their victory in retaining their WWE Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam’s TLC match. Nikki Cross said that the group made it very clear to the blue brand’s tag teams that their invasion of the division was not about fear or glory.
When the segment ended, B-Fab was seen with The Street Profits in the trainer’s room, wondering what the whole vignette meant. #DIY would walk in with Candice LeRae by their side, with Tomasso Ciampa calling the Profits a “mother killer” for, in their view, nearly killing LeRae when she fell off the ladder she was using to try and retreive the Tag Team title belts for him and Johnny Gargano. Ciampa would bring attention to LeRae’s thigh, which was extremely bruised and purple. B-Fab would retort by saying that The Poison Pixie looks fine to her, and besides, last time she checked, it was “her man and her man’s best friend” that pushed her off the ladder, and she wasn’t going to get the titles anyway.
LeRae continues to argue with The Fab Female, stating that they are lucky her leg is still attached to her body, and that her son cried when she got home. At this point, Nick Aldis would enter the room to let them know that #DIY and The Street Profits will face each other next week.
Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss made their way out, and it became clear that The Queen’s birthday present for good ol’ Blisster was an in-ring celebration – complete with cake and balloons around the ring posts. Flair said that her birthday falls at the same time as their championship celebrations, and she could have made this all about herself, but she decided to be gracious and share the spotlight. With two celebrations on one stage, Flair would say your welcome, but since she’s in such a giving mood, she offers to begin the celebration with the cake, which reads:
“Congratulations Charlotte Flair! & Alexa, P.S. Happy Birthday”
Flair said she had one more present that made her think about herself – er, Bliss, or… the both of them, a pink-wrapped gift with a silver ribbon. Bliss says she didn’t need to do this, but Flair says she did, with the two pushing the unopened gift back-and-forth in the other’s direction. Bliss says they are just tag team partners. Charlotte decides to open it, asking Bliss if she remembers what she gave her back in 2021, referring to when Bliss, in her “evil” era, gave her a doll with her likeness named “Charlie”. The gift turns out to be a Lilly doll with a tiny “We’re Not Friends” T-shirt like the one Bliss has worn over the past few weeks. Flair’s altruistic side continued to show when she stated that since her and Bliss are tag team partners, Lilly needed a partner of her own, resulting in the return of Charlie, which Flair had apparently kept all these years even though, in her words, it was really ugly, but it’s the sentiment that counts.
Bliss legitimately thanks Flair for the gift, which she appreciates, but Flair needs something else from her: a hug, telling Bliss “you may hug me” and spreading her arms out. Bliss isn’t sure if this gesture is necessary and seems uncomfortable, but before they can hug it out, the music of Chelsea Green interrupts, which can only mean the presence of Green and The Secret Hervice.
Flanked by Alba Fyre and Piper Niven, Green says that she is a proud Canadian, but listening to the fans cheering the two “self-absorbed, American-born weirdos” have her wanting to turn in her passport, but then again, in Montreal, judging for their love for the Habs (a local NHL hockey team), they don’t see champions often. Green does not know what Flair and Bliss think they are doing parading around their “freaky, tacky little dolls” around here and celebrating when they are in her country and should be celebrating her homecoming.
Flair takes her microphone and says that she has one more gift for “Lexi”: kicking Chelsea’s ass tonight, only fitting as both women are in their ring attire. Green says that she and the Hervice are busy and try to walk away, but Aldis walks out to the stage and says that for such a special occasion, he’ll tolerate wrestlers making matches on the fly again. Aldis has a gift of his own for Bliss: a brand new referee, and his first assignment will be calling the next match between Charlotte and Chelsea.
After commercials, their match began and Green immediately left the ring to call for a time-out, following it up by throwing Flair head-first into two of the turnbuckles before The Queen reversed Green’s offense to hit some chops to the chest. Green took control throughout the commercial break (seen only on Netflix in the video above), doing her best to ensure Flair stayed down and out as the show returned, but Flair would turn it around and hit some more chops on Green, setting her up for a walkover clothesline and a suplex. Green would go on to execute a superplex on Flair from the top turnbuckle, but when that couldn’t put her away, she instructed Fyre and Niven to grab the birthday cake, the two sliding it into the ring with the intent of embarrassing Flair by hitting an Unprettier, but Flair would reverse it, leading to Green getting her face and arm covered in cake. As Flair tasted it for herself, the Figure Eight was locked in, with Green having no choice but to tap out. With Flair winning the match, there was no celebration more appropriate than her and Bliss grabbing a small piece of cake.
Cathy Kelley was standing by backstage with the WWE Women’s Champion, Tiffany Stratton. When asked what is next for her, Stratton says that she’s going to keep doing what she’s been doing for the past 216 days, and that is keeping her title and defending it. The Buff Barbie doesn’t get to say much more as Jade Cargill walks into the shot. Cargill tells Stratton to be thankful that her foot found the rope, or else she would be standing right now empty-handed. Next time, the story’s going to be different. Stratton responds by saying the story may be the different, but the outcome will always be the same, with her as the WWE Women’s Champion, finally warning Cargill to trust that.
As Stratton walks off, in comes Kiana James and her client, the Women’s United States Champion, Giulia. James annoyedly tells Cathy to leave, then introduces herself to Cargill, stating that she couldn’t help but overhear how serious she wants the Women’s Championship around her waist; she gives her a calling card, telling Cargill not to hesitate in giving her a call. Cargill says that if she takes her title, it will be on her time and her way, but James and Giulia remind her to hold onto the card “just in case” before they also walk away.
Michin then enters the scene, asking Cargill if she’s going to do something with James’ card; The Storm has no interest in contacting her, but Michin does, deciding she might give “the one with the glasses” a call and get herself a Women’s United States title shot.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, although there are currently no women’s matches or segments advertised as of this writing.
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below!
