Courtesy of WWE
SMACKDOWN 5/31/24 REVIEW
- Rob Crowther, Editor In Chief
The latest installment of Friday Night Smackdown emanating from Albany, NY featured strong storylines, solid in ring action, and even a few surprises. Long term storytelling continues to be at the forefront of the blue brand with the continuing saga of The Bloodline, the crowning of a new Queen of The Ring, and even a brief rivalry revisited.
The show opens with the very fitting crowning of the new Queen of the Ring, Nia Jax. I'm so happy to see Nia with this recent momentum, as she will continue to dominate as a monster heel. Nia is the perfect person for the evil queen role. Nia is interrupted by Bayley who she'll be facing at Summerslam, but Chelsea Green and Piper Niven jump Bayley and have some words for Nia. Green says Piper will be WWE Women's Champion come SummerSlam, so no need to worry about Bayley. Nia isn't phased one bit.
Tomasso Ciampa takes on Theory in our opening contest, perhaps ahead of a tag team Championship bout down the line. (Cleveland?) Good match, and before Ciampa could hit the Fairy Tale ending, Theory hits the Ataxia. Somehow Ciampa is able to kick out!! Grayson Waller begins to talk garbage about the former faction The Way, Johnny Gargano, and the likes, but Waller inadvertently distracts Theory allowing Ciampa to get the roll up for the win. Next week we have Johnny Gargano vs. Grayson Waller, which should be great if you remember their Stand and Deliver Match from 2023.
Next up Apollo Crews had a strong showing against Andrade, but loses the bout courtesy of interference from Angel Garza. A furious Apollo wants Angel next week, and it could be interesting to see Apollo with this new attitude.
In the next segment Kevin Owens is in the ring for a short time before being interrupted by a very anxious Paul Heyman. Excellent performance by Heyman here who towed the line between being scared but at the same time desperately wanting Roman to Return. Lots of skepticism from Owens here, but this is some great storytelling and I can't wait for more Bloodline.
After the new look Bloodline make their way to the ring to interrupt, KO is no longer outnumbered thanks to the arrival of The Street Profits with B-Fab. Really great impromptu tag match here keeping all teams involved looking strong, but ultimately giving The Bloodline the momentum.
Match of the night goes to our final match featuring Bayley & Naomi taking on the team of Piper Niven and Chelsea Green. Naomi pulled out all the stops with her high risk, high flying offense including a very impressive corkscrew plancha to the outside. Chelsea's selling is absolutely next level, as her ability to not only take punishment from her opponents, but her partner Niven is always incredibly entertaining, much like we saw in The Royal Rumble match. Stellar match ending with Niven executing a senton on both Chelsea and Naomi, then stacking Green on top of Naomi for the win. Absolutely brilliant finish here.
The continuing thread through the show featured an emotional and somewhat more babyface AJ Styles then we've seen recently, talking to Nick Aldis (among others) garnering sympathy ahead of some time of in ring announcement. The announcement turned out to be Styles in the ring with The OC, emotionally expressing that he wants to spend more time with his kids and family. He asks Cody to come to the ring, and takes a seemingly final bow with the WWE Champion before ultimately attacking him, perhaps setting up a rematch for the title. AJ's performance was solid and had a lot of people convinced. The blue pastel jacket may have been a nod to Mr. Mark Henry, who for my money can't be touched when it comes to the "Salmon Jacket" promo. Strong ending to a very good SmackDown heading into the next PLE and putting the pieces in place ahead of SummerSlam in Cleveland.
Keep it here on BCP+ for all your WWE Coverage.