France is ready for a loaded weekend of WWE action, and Friday’s crowd in Lyon let “SmackDown” have it ahead of Clash in Paris. With limited title matches set for the Sunday PLE, today’s show got a good one to close the night, as Solo Sikoa came up short against Sami Zayn with his U.S. title on the line.
👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑
Despite plenty of the nonsense that came before the night’s main event, it capped off brilliantly with the Uncrowned Gem of the Night. Exactly how a show should close, right? Who would’ve thought?
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Zayn is the new U.S. Champion after a banger of a match with Sikoa. It took some help from Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu to even the odds against MFT outside the ring, but ultimately Zayn delivered a clean finish after back-to-back Helluva Kicks. You love to see such a sudden lack of DQs — so regarding that recurring issue, thank you, Triple H.
Thankfully, Sikoa looked pretty strong in this match, which was needed after his booking as champion. I didn’t quite believe he’d get a win without MFT help, but his kickouts of big moves like Zayn’s Blue Thunder Bomb were selling me a ticket. Not that Zayn usually (ever) wins with the move, but Sikoa kicked out impossibly late. There was plenty of drama here and the French crowd was rightfully into it. Zayn has always been an excellent mid-card champion, and now we’ll see if this progresses him toward that elusive world title around WrestleMania season. But first, you have to think Fatu will want another crack at the belt.
I’m sports entertained, y’all — as long as the MFT gets nerfed down a bit.
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🎤 Statement of the Night
It feels like John Cena is trying to prove something and make up for his horrible heel run, because he continues to be on fire as the confident, trash-talking, face version of himself, akin to when he first burst onto the scene way back when. Once again, he scorched Logan Paul in their promo battle, reminding the YouTuber that he asked for the match while calling him a “d*** head” and channeling “Thuganomics.”
And in a great full-circle moment, Cena even apologized to the Brussels, Belgium kid that he roasted the night after he turned heel. Somehow, “Big Match John” has felt more like a heel now than he was during his run, only he’s heeling against another, more despicable heels, making him easily favorable.
With all that said, Paul started red hot on the mic before Cena interrupted to steal the scene. Paul seems to be at his best when he’s aggressive and free to speak more realistically, as seen in his little highlight of the fans being “mad about a hydration drink.” It does sound silly when he points it out. (Prime still sucks, though.)
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As fun as this has been, it feels like more of the same formula for Cena’s retirement tour — and continued “Raw’s” recent tradition of lengthy, 20-plus-minute promo openings. Hopefully, after the Paul match, Cena can get into something more diverse, presumably with Brock Lesnar, to finish the run.
All the women’s titles on “SmackDown” are in shambles
We still have nightly awards for each of these, but wow, it’s a tough time over here in contrast to “Raw.” (Which, admittedly, has also hit a speed bump as of late.) The effort is clearly being placed in favor of one show over the other.
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Among the most important titles, WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton has been largely bumbling around “SmackDown” in recent months, which is a problem of its own. To make matters all the more hilariously bad, Jade Cargill confronted Stratton to proclaim that she earned a rematch by scoring the pin in their tag-team match last week.
Mr. Levesque, you really aren’t trying with “SmackDown.”
Struggling to make a Stratton vs. Cargill feud interesting is actually impressive, in a way. Because it should be one of the easiest pairings to heat up throughout all of WWE. It makes you wonder if Naomi’s cash-in at Evolution 2025 was actually a poor choice after all, given recent hindsight. Her cash-in was a great moment, but nothing more, as it ruined the perfection of the epic match between Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. And now the Women’s World title is floating around with Stephanie Vaquer salivating to officially hold it with no opponent in sight.
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Anyway, as alluded to, the other titles aren’t in any better shape.
🥱 Stall of the Night
Why is this happening with Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss? There’s just no hope for anything related to the Women’s Tag Team titles.
The champions were set to defend their belts against The Secret Hervice’s Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre (which was already a snoozer of an idea) until the challengers attacked Flair mid-entrance. That resulted in a pivot to Green vs. Bliss in a singles match. Really? Not only are we dragging out a program no one cares for with an already-over act, but the logic is absent in Green and Fyre literally taking their own title opportunity away from themselves. This sucks, man.
Bliss won with a roll-up in a relatively nothing match before getting beaten down by the duo to extend this. A hobbled Flair tried to make the save, but this angle is simply not interesting whatsoever.
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🤦 Lunacy of the Night
Michin buried Kiana James with a roll-up in seconds to “earn” a U.S. title shot. This is the type of utterly pathetic, uninspired booking I cannot stand. Michin has done nothing notable to reenter the U.S. title scene, which she lost in multiple times, so the idea of beating someone for a title shot was good. This was just ludicrous and proved nothing, other than how WWE feels about a returning James and this title in general. The champion, Giulia, deserves heaps better. Somehow, becoming a champion this early into her main roster run has been the worst thing that could have happened to her.
🧐 Realization of the Night
Damian Priest and Aleister Black’s feud is just the “SmackDown” version of Rusev and Sheamus’ feud. There’s no real good reason for them to be hating each other the way that they are, other than getting into physical altercations (which were also in matches), which is the point of this business. Also, funnily enough, these are both Black and Rusev’s first real feuds since returning from AEW.
👍 FRIDAY FIRE 👍
1. The Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre segment was relatively substanceless aside from McIntyre trying to turn Orton on Cody Rhodes. The best part was security — and Gregory “Hurricane” Helms — intervening to eat RKOs. However, unless I’m forgetting, Orton has been teasing the punt kick all year and yet to land it on someone. When he eventually does, it will have a profoundly impactful effect on whoever it is.
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Imagine if it were Cena — or Lesnar. I’m just saying.
2. The Street Profits earned a WWE Tag Team title shot at Clash in Paris against The Wyatt Sicks with a win over Melo Don’t Miz. This match was fantastic, but ended somewhat strangely when The Wyatts emerged outside the ring to distract The Miz from tagging in for Carmelo Hayes. Let’s see if Mr. Mizanin makes his presence felt in Paris after that one.
👑 The bookends of this “SmackDown” really carried its quality. Everything else between was relatively rough. I give this show a Crown score of: 5.5/10. 👑