Next Sunday is the Clash of Champions pay-per-view, so WWE was in full planning mode during Friday's SmackDown.
As Sami Zayn continues to claim he is the rightful intercontinental champion, AJ Styles unfairly lost a match for the title last week because of Zayn's interference. The two stepped into the ring this week to settle their differences.
We also saw Sasha Banks return for the first time since Bayley turned on her to address what happened with her former partner and where she goes from here.
Alexa Bliss invited Nikki Cross onto her talk show after attacking her during last week's Fatal 4-Way bout with Sister Abigail. Has Bliss gone to the dark side, or can Cross pull her back to the light?
Let's take a look at everything that went down on this week's SmackDown.
SmackDown opened with The Miz and John Morrison in the ring for an episode of The Dirt Sheet. They said it's their duty to keep the WWE Universe informed and plan to reveal the dirt behind several storylines happening on the blue brand.
The A-Lister claimed he has been trying to help Otis by keeping him on his toes and sending Mandy Rose to Raw so she is not a distraction anymore. He implied that Rose has already been unfaithful with a Raw Superstar before Otis made his way out.
He tackled The Miz and took Morrison's head off with a big right hand. Tucker showed up to keep The Miz and Morrison from escaping before Otis could do some more damage.
Based on what we saw backstage after the break, this may have been part of a bigger plan by The Miz. Otis was served with legal papers later in the show.
Grade: D
Analysis
The Miz and Morrison are hilarious three out of five times. This was, unfortunately, one of the two times when they were not at their best.
This segment only served the purpose of giving Otis a chance to humiliate The Miz, which has already happened a few times during this feud. Having Otis rip The Miz's pants off to reveal he was wearing briefs felt especially sophomoric, even for WWE. Luckily, this segment was short.
Cesaro and Gran Metalik met for a match this week, but the main storyline had to do more with Kalisto having tension with Lince Dorado than anything else.
They argued so much at ringside that the referee kicked them to the back, which eventually led to Cesaro hitting his finisher for the win.
Grade: C+
Analysis
This was a decent match, but the main focus was on Kalisto and Dorado, which is a shame because two guys like Cesaro and Metalik would be able to tear the house down under normal circumstances.
With so many tag team members injured and other teams breaking up, it seems odd that WWE would tease another breakup with Lucha House Party, especially since Kalisto is almost certainly too small to be an effective heel.
Bliss appeared to be in a great mood as she welcomed Nikki Cross to the show despite having attacked her so-called best friend last week. Cross still earned the title shot and even hugged Bliss as she came out for the interview, so she must have chalked up the attack to them being in a match as opponents.
The Goddess brought up how many times Cross has lost to Bayley in the last year and asked how she planned to change her game plan heading into the match. Cross said with Banks, Bayley won't win.
Cross got serious and asked why Bliss hit her with Sister Abigail and left the match last week. The Goddess said she doesn't know how to explain it because she doesn't understand it herself. That is when Lacey Evans came out to class up the joint.
The Sassy Southern Belle mocked both women relentlessly until Cross grabbed her handkerchief, blew her nose in it and threw it back at her. This led to a brawl before they had an official match.
They had a physical back and forth fight that saw Evans get in a lot of offense to make Cross' victory feel more earned in the end. Evans mentioned The Fiend, and it caused Bliss to attack her with Sister Abigail before leaving in a trance.
Grade: B
Analysis
The interview segment was as vague as expected regarding what Bliss is going through with Bray Wyatt. We didn't get any answers, but we did see Bliss acknowledge that she is aware something is happening to her. It was a good way to keep the story moving without revealing too much.
Evans served her purpose as an obstacle for Cross to overcome before she challenges Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Championship. She came out, dished out a few mean words and lost to make Cross look good. The interview segment was more interesting than the match but only by a little bit.
Lacey using hand sanitizer before the match was both a great heel move and something you would already expect from a character who thinks everyone else is nasty.
Banks appeared in a neck brace to talk about being betrayed by Bayley a couple of weeks ago. Michael Cole replayed the footage of the attack to remind us all of how brutal it was.
The Boss said she heard every word Bayley said last week and she is filled with emotions because they had plans to take over the world of professional wrestling together.
She began to cry as she talked about how she and Bayley did so much together before their breakup. Then, The Role Model attacked her from behind with a steel chair.
A few people forced Bayley to back off before she was able to do any serious damage.
Grade: A
Analysis
Banks did an excellent job with this promo, and Bayley attacking her out of nowhere cemented her as the biggest heel in the women's division, which was something that eluded her until now.
This is going to be one of the premier feuds on WWE television over the next couple of months, and so far, everyone is knocking it out of the park.
As Zayn demanded the announcer give him a proper introduction, Styles attacked him from behind and brought him into the ring to get the match going. He tried to end it quickly with a Styles Clash, but Zayn escaped his grasp.
Zayn recovered and almost hit a Helluva Kick, but Styles was able to counter it and hit a Phenomenal Forearm on the floor. We returned from the break to see Zayn hit a stun gun against the top rope.
The self-proclaimed IC champion hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near-fall. The ref caught him trying to use a handful of tights during a pin and stopped the count, allowing The Phenomenal One to roll him up for the pin.
Jeff Hardy came out and attacked both men with ladders. Zayn narrowly avoided a Swanton from the top of a ladder before Hardy said their triple threat at Clash of Champions would be a ladder match.
Grade: B
Analysis
Zayn and Styles are two performers with a history of producing great matches, but it felt like they were holding back during this encounter.
We know what both men are capable of, so it was a little surprising to see them hold back until it became clear that Jeff Hardy was going to attack both men with a bunch of weapons.
The match they produced was all right, but the attack after it was over to set up a ladder match at Clash of Champions instantly made the PPV a lot more interesting.
The main event of the night saw Reigns and Uso team up to take on the same two men they faced last week, Sheamus and King Corbin. This time, they fought in a Samoan Street Fight. The Big Dog gave a quick promo and said SmackDown was still his yard and promised to beat his cousin at Clash of Champions.
Reigns and Uso took control right away by sending their opponents out of the ring, but The Celtic Warrior and The King were not out of the fight for long.
It didn't take long before chairs and tables were pulled out from under the ring. This is where the fight slowed down and became more about moving from one spot to another than putting together a match that tells a story.
The Big Dog Speared Sheamus through the barricade, but it was Uso who won for his team with a Superfly Splash on Corbin. He narrowly avoided hitting his own cousin on the way down.
Grade: C+
Analysis
For a Street Fight, this didn't feel like it had enough violence to justify the stipulation. In fact, they could have done almost everything they did in a regular contest.
The feud between Uso and Reigns gets more interesting by the week. When they finally implode, it's going to be awesome. They may have hugged at the end of the match, but The Big Dog is not going to just let his cousin take his title.
