Welcome to the ring, it's Rich and Adam
Breaking down the fights with flair and passion
Tag teams grappling, belts are clashing
Finishers and factions catching action
And welcome to this week's episode of Finishers and Factions does Friday Night Smackdown
And thank you to everybody that's come in to catch some action with me, Adam
Ordinarily we would have myself and my normal co-host Rich, as I have said on the previous few episodes
My main man Rich is out with an illness at the moment
He will be returning to us hopefully very shortly
And we'll resume our normal format for now however
Let us dive in to the February 7th edition of Friday Night Smackdown
Which comes to us from Memphis, Tennessee
Out of the FedEx Forum Arena, easier for me to say
And I mean, Memphis is a huge wrestling city
Used to be the base of the Memphis wrestling territory
Which I've not done the appropriate research to be able to state this
Without being completely sure of the facts that I am spouting forth
But I believe the Memphis wrestling territory was run by one Jerry the King Lawler
But we're going to dive in and see how far we get
So we started off this episode of Smackdown with a Royal Rumble recap
Pretty standard fare, I'm pretty sure they used the same VT that they did on Monday Night Raw
And then similar to Monday Night Raw, we started off Friday Night Smackdown with an appearance
Promo being cut in ring, but our action didn't start in ring
Started in the foyer of the FedEx Forum where we saw WrestleMania main event Jey Uso
Coming in through the crowd to another, oh my days, another Popacious Pop
And like Raw, the Memphis crowd chanting one more time
And again, WWE being the company of the fans that it is
Wasted no time in giving another round of yeet to Memphis
Now, main event Jey Uso was out after he'd finished his yeeting and his entrance
He'd come out to acknowledge all of the support that he'd got
Not just from his family, his friends, the boys in the back
But also the fans as well
He has come to Smackdown for one reason and one reason only
And that is to go face to face with Cody, the American Nightmare, Rhodes
Considering that Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes are famous friends
He gives him a fantastic entrance and we see Cody come out to the ring
Now, Cody and Jey start chatting about what would happen
Or if we got sort of Cody versus Jey at Mania
I mean, if we got that match, who would we be chanting for?
These are two of the most over superstars in the WWE today
And yeah, it's a case that...
I don't genuinely know who I'd be rooting for because I am a Cody Rhodes fan
Haven't always been when he was the dashing Cody Rhodes, yeah, no
But since he's come back from AEW and made his grand return
I am a Cody Rhodes fan, but I'm also a Jey Uso fan
Who would you be chanting for for that match, realistically?
I don't know, but I'd love to hear it from you guys
The email address, as it always has been, is
finishesandfactions.gmail.com
Drop us an email, let me know
In the eventuality that we get, Jey Uso versus Cody Rhodes
at WrestleMania in Las Vegas
Who are we chanting for? Who are we cheering for in that match, realistically?
I'd love to take a poll on that and see who comes out where
But as Cody comes out, he hugs Jey in the ring
Obviously giving him big props for winning the men's Royal Rumble
Something that Cody Rhodes has done twice consecutively, if I remember correctly
And they theorise about standing opposite one another as opponents
Or shoulder to shoulder as champions
What an image that would be, I mean
It's a case that, oh yeah, so much to unpack with this promo, realistically
But Cody is obviously still banged up after his match
He's got fluid on his elbow, he's got a tilted pelvis
And all the rest of it, it's just a case that
That match out with Kevin Owens at Royal Rumble was an absolute war
And he has his war wounds to heal before he can do anything else
But Cody is quite obviously beaming with pride for Jey
And they talk about their shared history when they were tag team champions
Sharing libations on the bus before press conferences
Something that I am almost positive my co-host Rich would have absolutely adored
To be talking about as it's something that we bring up in conversation
On a number of occasions and we reference to each other almost all the time
And yeah, I mean Cody talked about if Jey sets his sights on the WWE Championship
Their friendship might not survive it
It's a case that when two friends go to war over a championship
It changes the dynamic of how that friendship sort of continues on
Some friendships will survive it and others won't
And I think Cody is genuinely worried that if they go to war over that championship
It is a case that they may not come out on the other side as they went in
And then we are interrupted by Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu
The cross-eyed halfwits if I remember correctly from our friend LA Knight
Fatu talks about how his family needs that WWE Championship back
And it's important to reference at this point that Jey Uso is Jacob Fatu's family
They are all part of the same Samoan dynasty
But Fatu is determined that Jey is not going to be the one that will bring the WWE Championship back to the family
And Jey doesn't need to hear anything more after that
He doesn't want to hear any more after that as he delivers a superkick to Tama Tonga
And Cody goes after Jacob Fatu
Tonga isn't really the bigger threat here
It is most definitely Jacob Fatu
And it goes to show at the end of this promo we've got Fatu being really cut down to size with a superkick and Cody Cutter
And we are shortly treated after that as Nick Aldis wastes no time as SmackDown General Manager
Announcing the main event of tonight's card will be a tag team match
It's starting to sound like Teddy Long has come back in the form of Nick Aldis because player we're going to have a tag team match
And it's Cody and Jey vs Tonga and Fatu
So that will be one hell of a match to look forward to later on in the evening
But first, our first Elimination Chamber Qualifier is a women's singles match
Which sees Piper Niven who comes to the ring with the current women's US Champion Chelsea Green
Versus Bianca Belair, one half of the current women's tag team champions
Who comes accompanied with the other half of the WWE World Tag Team Championships for the women, Naomi
Now, this match I didn't get a massive amount of notes for, I find sort of, as much as I want to really like Piper Niven as she's from the UK
And really want to sort of encourage that homegrown talent which we in years gone by have not seen a massive amount of in the WWE
I find Piper Niven to be sort of, she's either never really given a good opportunity to get going or it's a case that she's sort of very one dimensional in her wrestling
I mean she's obviously talented enough to have made it to the upper echelons within professional wrestling and I ain't going to fight her because she'll flatten me
But it's a case that I'm just not a huge fan of watching Piper Niven wrestle as what I've seen of what she's done so far it just isn't inspiring to me
So I do find it really difficult and Bianca Belair I've always said I have a problem with the braid, I really do, it really bugs me, it really sort of sticks in my, it puts a bee in my bonnet
And yeah, it's a case that, so neither one of these I'm a huge fan of but can really get behind some of the work that they've put in
But Bianca Belair starts strong in the ring, Piper Niven makes a strong combat outside of the ring
Belair hits a huge spear to Piper Niven but ultimately Belair pulls off a huge KOD for a pinfall win over Piper Niven
And Bianca Belair becomes the, I believe Bianca Belair becomes the second woman to qualify for an elimination, in the Elimination Chamber match Liv Morgan from Monday night became the first
And yeah, we went from there to a GM Office promo with Nick Aldis talking originally to Kayden Carter and Katana Chance
A couple of female superstars who we haven't seen a lot of recently but, and we don't see a lot of them here, they make an onscreen appearance and then bagger off
As Carmelo Hayes comes in as the ladies are leaving, Aldis mentions about being in touch with Adam Pearce from Raw
And they've been discussing a Raw superstar for Hayes to face and Hayes just ain't happy about it
I mean Hayes has been, he's got a bit of a spotty record recently, he's had a couple of big matches, he had one last week on Smackdown vs Damian Priest
Which he didn't come out on the winning end of but had a really competitive match
And previously he's had matches with other superstars which he's not come out smelling of roses from
But this time a match is announced for Carmelo Hayes to face Akira Tozawa from Monday Night Raw
Part of the Alpha Academy or the Alpha Babes or whatever it is that they're currently going by
Akira Tozawa we may remember was previously, he was originally bought in I believe, where he was chasing the 24-7 championship
Which was one of good old man McMahon's final ideas that was taken apart pretty quickly by Hunter when he came into power
Which was a championship which spent a majority of its time being held by R-Truth and being pursued by R-Truth
Who was normally chased around by Akira Tozawa and a bunch of ninja, which was odd
It wasn't a fantastic, it was more comic relief, it wasn't a serious championship although in some cases it was shown as that
But the reason it was called the 24-7 is because it could be defended anywhere, anytime as long as there was a ref in tow
And that was where the comedy factor came in, it was defended in all areas of an arena, there were times where the champion was hiding
Famously R-Truth has been known to hide under the ring on top of tables and be revealed during matches that he's not even involved in
And things like that, but it was quickly scrapped because it lost its comic value very quickly and just wasn't worth carrying on with
But the reason that this match was hyped up to such a degree on Friday Night SmackDown is as we will all remember
I'm sure everybody's had a chance to watch the Royal Rumble by now, if not spoiler alert!
It's a case that Akira Tozawa was due to enter the match, the Men's Royal Rumble match, he was on his way down to the ring
Carmelo Hayes, shortly before that him entering had been eliminated, he was making his way to the back
He was obviously upset, frustrated and took all of that frustration out on Akira Tozawa with a back of the head shot
Akira Tozawa then lost his place in the Royal Rumble being replaced by I Show Speed
And yeah, Akira's just not that happy, he was, I mean understandably so
Hayes could, Hayes cost Akira Tozawa the potential, the potential of being able to go on and main event WrestleMania
Now, we know from our experience watching WWE television that it was incredibly unlikely that Akira Tozawa was ever going to be
Was ever going to make the, was ever going to make it to WrestleMania
It just wasn't going to happen, but he's costed, the potential went away when Carmelo Hayes took him out
But Akira Tozawa versus Carmelo Hayes comes later in the card, we'll dive into that when it comes to it
We go from there to an in-ring promo by the reigning defending tag team champions DIY
Who basically come out to brag about their win from the Royal Rumble in their 2 out of 3 falls match with Motor City Machine Guns
Which we covered in our Finishes and Factions Royal Rumble 2025 rest of the card episode
Which is currently on all of our platforms so far
So please, if you didn't see it, go back, I did the coverage myself, I know what I've said
So I'm not going to revisit it too heavily
And basically DIY come out pretty proud of themselves, not sure why, but they're pretty proud of themselves
They're still champions, so that's something to say
And they're basically trying to initiate a minute silence for Motor City Machine Guns chances of a future tag team title shot against them going away
When they try and get everybody to fall silent for this, they are pretty swiftly interrupted by Pretty Deadly
Who come out to interrupt for, to basically try and gourd for their perceived title shot
And DIY are more focused on the fact that they've just been dicks and interrupted the minute silence for Motor City Machine Guns
And Nick Aldis, after all of this exchange, is not too happy about the way DIY defended it
They're not happy about DIY making demands for it
And comes out to announce a non-title tag team match between the pair, so between Pretty Deadly and DIY
And if Pretty Deadly win, they will get a shot at the tag team title belts that DIY defend so adamantly
And the other stipulation to this, now this is to bear in mind, that DIY came out dressed for a promo
They didn't come out dressed for a match, they were still in their civvies, they were not dressed in their ring gear or anything along those lines
So Nick Aldis says that this match is actually for right now
And that brings us into match two, which was a men's tag team non-title defense match with Pretty Deadly versus DIY
Pretty Deadly come in with this aggressive style they've been toting about for the last few weeks
And I'm not going to lie, I'm here for it, go and get it lads
As it stands, again I believe Pretty Deadly are both British wrestlers, so they'll always get loads of support from us here
As much as we possibly can on finishes and factions
And yeah, but it's a case that we join the match in progress after an advert break
As we have to remember that while Raw is almost entirely upon Netflix now, SmackDown is still being shown in the US under a cable affiliate I believe
So we do get regular advert breaks, we join the match in progress where DIY as I said before are in their civvies, they're in their street clothes
And DIY are trying every dirty trick in the book
They don't want Pretty Deadly to have this title shot
Which makes you wonder why are Pretty Deadly so adamant about not defending this title against a team like Pretty Deadly
Who for all that I've been able to see are not that much of a threat
They're not traditionally a team to go, oh here comes Pretty Deadly, we'd better watch out
Oh there's Pretty Deadly, big whoop
So yeah, I'm not really seeing what DIY are so very concerned about
But DIY try a stacked pin holding onto the rope which was broken up
Pretty Deadly go into their own stacked pin again while holding onto the rope but this time nobody interrupts this stacked pin
Pretty Deadly pick up the win and a future Tag Team Championship opportunity for this match
Again I didn't get many notes on it, I'm not, as much as I'm going to say that I like to support homegrown talent
I'm not a huge fan of Pretty Deadly as you've probably gathered
So it gets really difficult for me to be able to comment on what's going on and everything along those lines
It was a solid match, don't get me wrong and I'm really enjoying the aggressive nature that Pretty Deadly are bringing to the table
Just not a huge fan of them as a pair
It just doesn't resonate with me which I think we can all sort of appreciate at the very least
And then we go from that Men's Tag Team match into a backstage promo between Andrade and The Miz
As I've pointed out previously, Andrade recently divorced from Charlotte Flair
I think more of a relief for him than for her I would imagine
He doesn't have to wake up looking at Charlotte Flair every morning
The biggest loss to that is having Ric Flair as your father-in-law
But without knowing the detail around their divorce I couldn't possibly say
Again that is all born from my dislike of Charlotte Flair and all the rest of it
But The Miz still trying as best as The Miz ever can to make friends
It's just a shame he's such a colossal douche
He seems incapable of making any friends
As he still seems to think that despite the age difference between The Miz and Andrade
He still seems to think that there is a lot that Andrade could learn from The Miz
And Andrade just comes back to him and says
Yeah I did, I'd learnt a lot from our match the last time we faced
I learnt how to kick your ass
Which you know what, we're not going to deny here on Finishes and Factions
Not one little bit
Andrade basically says that yeah I learnt how to beat you
Mic drop, off you go, bye bye
And we see Cody Rhodes walking from the back to be greeted by The Miz
I'm sure a highlight of his day
And yeah, The Miz basically painting him out to be some older, wiser sage of a superstar
Which I suppose to some degree probably is
But yeah, The Miz basically saying I don't know what this new crop of kids is all on about
They seem to respect us as veterans or anything like that
The Miz saying to Cody, you don't need to worry about the fact that none of these guys are going to have you back
I'll always have you back because we're old school
Cody goes, no you're alright thanks, I'd rather you didn't watch my back
And then Cody starts showing signs of his affiliation with Karrion Cross when he was on Monday Night Raw
As he starts sowing some seeds of doubt in Cody and Jay's friendship
Basically pointing out that he's not really, what's the word, that friendships don't really survive title bouts and things like that
I mean none of The Miz's friendships because they were never friendships, they were conveniences
But we also see Shinsuke Nakamura in the background of this promo
He seems to be hanging around a lot in the background of promos
And considering he's the current US title holder, I would expect him to be in the forefront
I'm not really sure where the creative is going for Shinsuke Nakamura and that US title
But I think they need to start bringing it more to the forefront
The women's US title is getting more airtime than the men's
And I'm not saying this in any sexist rant or anything like that
But they should at least be getting equal airtime to be able to move forward
And we're just not getting that at the moment
So I would like to see that in future
I'm sure a lot of us would because it's a title that is very quickly being forgotten about
I feel
We're also treated to the Cena post-show interview recap
Where he says, as we mentioned on the Monday Night Raw episode, just gone
That he has basically inserted himself into the elimination chamber
Without having to fight an elimination chamber qualifier match
Mostly because of filming discrepancies with his schedule
But it all comes down to, yeah, I've been here a long time
I've sustained multiple injuries and fought while hurt
Blood, sweat and tears for this company
The least you can do is just let me in basically
Which they've done and fair enough
He has, he held the company in the palm of his hand
He held it up on its shoulders, he was there when other people left and came back
And he was there week in, week out, defending championships and defending the WWE's honor
Going out, doing the press junkets and all the rest of it and did really well
Now he's taking some time for himself to go and pursue a career after the WWE
And yeah, I do think he's owed at least that much
Now, speaking of the elimination chamber
We come to our, I believe our first elimination chamber
No, it's not the first elimination chamber match qualifier
It's the second elimination chamber match qualifier
Which was a men's triple threat match between Drew McIntyre, LA Knight and Jimmy Big Jim Uso
Now Drew is the first to come out in this match
Now this was straight off the back of the news that Drew McIntyre has recently been drafted as a last ditch action in the transfer window
Over to Friday Night SmackDown where we will now see him for the foreseeable future
And he basically goes on a bit of a rant saying I'm glad to be back on Friday Night
It's so much better here, Nick Aldis listens to me, wah wah wah wah wah
Calling Raw a toxic work environment and all the rest of it
Still cashed his checks, he could have gone somewhere else
As you can tell, not really here for Drew McIntyre's crybaby attitude
And it would appear that Jimmy Uso shares my dislike of this sort of crybaby attitude
As he compares him to a bit of an ex-girlfriend and says that oh it doesn't work for me, oh no
And Drew tries hitting back, being a bit petty, showing off this new more positive attitude that Drew seems to have come to SmackDown with
By getting Jimmy's name wrong, purposefully accidentally calling him J
And then tries to get under Jimmy's skin by saying how differently things could have been if only Jimmy had said yeet first
And I can sort of see where Drew's going with it, it's not outside the realms of possibility to sort of theorise that
If Jimmy had said yeet first, would we be saying main event, WrestleMania main event Jimmy Uso instead of J
But nothing stops Jimmy from saying yeet, as he proves in the ring almost immediately
He's like yeah I can say yeet and gets a bit of a delayed response from the crowd
Which is understandable because they weren't expecting him to go that far
So I can fully understand a late response from the crowd on that one
Jimmy is really very unfazed by anything that Drew McIntyre has said
Laid out how proud he is of J and all of the obstacles that Drew would now have to overcome
Starting with Big Jim Uso
And this is where we see the entrance of LA Knight
Now LA Knight can cut one hell of a promo, he really can
And basically says, he comes out, immediately addresses Big Jim and says look you've cost me title opportunities in the past
There's no love lost between us, we're not friends
And this is where LA Knight goes on a bit of a, what almost seems at first like a bit of a, what's the word I'm looking for
Bit of a tangent, bit of a side note
He goes on a bit of a side note and starts talking about the fact that he sends a message
And this isn't a message to anybody in the ring, this is a message to every man and boy watching in the arena at home
Listening to this podcast even
LA Knight has told us that it is okay to cry and it doesn't make you any less of a man
And for somebody like myself that suffers with their mental health sometimes
And yeah, I agree with everything that he says in this promo because it is important that we realise
That while society as a whole does not really sort of accept that men crying is an acceptable thing to do
That it is an emotional release, that we need to be able to break that stigma around it
As there is not enough said about men's mental health that in on big stages like this
So big props to LA Knight for talking about it and everything along those lines
It's important that we know as men that it is okay to have an emotional response, it is okay to cry, it's good for your mental health
Whether you do it in private or anything like that, just don't feel like it makes you any less of a man to do
Having said that, LA Knight immediately brings this round to, brings this round and aims it directly at Drew McIntyre
Almost sort of going back on what he says to a degree
He doesn't diminish the message he's given but he does say there is a limit
It's okay to cry without being a big old crybaby
And points it at, and this will be the new name that Drew goes by in my head for as long as I can remember
Drew McIntyre, fucking love it
In fact to the point that whenever I watch one of these shows I hand write all of my notes
And throughout majority of all of this I think I changed his name throughout the entire thing to Drew McIntyre
Because that is how he's going to go now
So by this point LA Knight is down in the ring
And yeah, I mean this match starts off as you would expect it to
Big Jim, LA Knight ganging up on McIntyre to try and take him out of the running
As soon as that team play sort of boils out
Big Jim comes out looking strong, not going to lie
He comes out looking dominant against both LA Knight and McIntyre
And we've got the crowd chanting McIntyre as well
Which again just cements this in my head all the more
LA Knight slamming Jim's and Drew's faces into that reinforced announce desk
Which I mean even if it's not a reinforced announce desk
Your nose bouncing off something nice and solid is going to fucking hurt
But yeah, we progress later on in the match
McIntyre in the tree of woe in the corner
Jay sat on the top turnbuckle of that same corner
And Knight goes up top to deliver a superplex
And this was one thing I'm going to switch up a little bit and say that
Drew McIntyre really impressed me with this
As he uses a hell of a lot of core strength to go from a tree of woe position
Sitting all the way up and being able to essentially powerbomb LA Knight down
Which also brings down Jimmy Uso into sort of like a powerbomb superplex
Multi-move domino effect which was one of the highlights of this match for me
It was just yeah, the physical strength it takes to be able to sit from
Sit up from a vertical position is untrue
I mean I have trouble sitting up getting out of bed in the morning to be quite honest
But that might have more to do with mental health than anything else
Anywho, McIntyre starts looking dominant mid-point through the match
As we would sort of expect him to
He goes for a claymore kick which is sort of intercepted by Jimmy Uso with a superkick
Which takes McIntyre out of the ring
Big Jim gets Knight down for a pin attempt for the count to be interrupted by McIntyre pulling the ref from the ring
Which quite honestly was a smart move on Drew's behalf in my opinion
LA Knight with a near fall on Uso after a countered top rope dive
Was also a bit of a highlight
And Drew ends up picking up a pinfall win over LA Knight after a double claymore interrupting a blunt force trauma attempt from LA Knight to Uso
And McIntyre takes the third spot in the men's elimination chamber match
Joining John Cena and CM Punk in Toronto on March 1st
And yeah, I mean what an absolute match that was
I mean real contender for match of the night
I'd love to hear your thoughts, is there anything that I missed?
And we will do mop up sessions and things like that for bits and pieces that you guys email in about
Once we've got our social medias up and running we'll start doing short form content replying to these emails
And giving shout outs to any and all of our listeners which we would absolutely love to hear from you
At finishesandfactions.gmail.com
Get your email in and we'll have a look, we'll have a listen, we'll go through from there
And yeah, we'd love to hear from you
Moving swiftly on from there we go to a backstage promo where we see Byron Saxton interviewing Damian Priest
Who has recently made appearances on Friday nights
Where Priest is asked about his reaction to that last match
Priest starts talking almost like he's already in the chamber match
Even though we know he has yet to fight a qualifying match to make his way in
I mean Priest is good but he's no John Cena let's face it
And this is where we are interrupted by that one big SOB, Braun Strowman
And basically Strowman strolls in to correct Priest and say
Mate you haven't qualified yet and your match is next week
Where you will face me as well as the Samoan Werewolf Jacob Fatu
In a triple threat elimination chamber qualifying match
And I'm here for that, that is going to be one hell of a brutal match
To be able to look and find out what's going on with that
So yeah we'll have to tune in next week to find out how that all goes
But moving on from there we went to a VT recap of the aftermath attack
From Kevin Owens to Sami Zayn from Monday night
And this is where we're also treated to an uploaded VT from Kevin Owens' car that he posted to X
Basically shooting a bit of a promo explaining that he's showing his scars from his match with Cody
Theorises that Cody may have been trying to end not only KO's career during that match
But realistically I don't know what Kevin Owens was expecting after everything that transpired between the two
Kevin Owens obviously emotional recounts how Sami Zayn just stood at ringside and did nothing to help in his match with Cody
But ran directly to Roman Reigns' aid in the Rumble match which seemed to really hurt Kevin Owens' feelings
Kevin Owens calls Sami Zayn a bad friend, a disgusting human being and vows to never forgive him
And we're confirmed at this point that Sami Zayn is out indefinitely due to that attack from Monday night
Where he suffered a package pile driver from Kevin Owens and already injured Kevin Owens
So it's acceptable to theorise that we will not see Sami Zayn before Elimination Chamber and may well see him afterwards
We go on to match 4 which was a men's singles match Akira Tozawa vs Carmelo Hayes which we were told about earlier on in the evening
And Hayes seems to have gotten into a little bit of a habit on his ring entrance to come out and go on these conceited little rants that he likes to go on
I mean Akira comes well and truly comes after Hayes before the bell even starts, he is pissed
And again this comes down to Tozawa being denied an opportunity to even put his name forward for the main event of WrestleMania
Again we know it would have never happened but it's the loss of the opportunity for Tozawa that sort of really seems to stick in his bonnet a little bit
Which I think we can all appreciate
And yeah we see Tozawa pull off some... do you know what I actually really enjoyed this outing from Tozawa
He proved to us that he was... he's not just comic relief he is actually able to go in a match
And it may be interesting to see in the future Tozawa maybe go on for a singles run not just for a 24-7 title but for an actual legitimate title
Even if it's the case that he goes back to NXT and goes and dominates in NXT I'd love to see Akira Tozawa show off a little bit more of his repertoire
Because there's more there to see and it would be lovely to see it
Now we've come to the section of the podcast where... or the section of the episode where WWE give us a brief history of WWE in Memphis
This is the 16th SmackDown to take part in Memphis, Tennessee
There have been three PLEs that have been hosted in Memphis as well
And it is the home of Hall of Fame stars Jerry The King Lawler and Jimmy Hart
And Lawler himself is in attendance in Memphis
I'm a little bit disappointed that they couldn't talk Lawler into coming and doing some commentary
Because my all time favorite commentary duo will always be good old JR and Jerry The King Lawler
Those pair bounced off one another so well and were such a good team for so many years
They were the voice of Monday nights during the Attitude era
And in my view there's just nobody that's ever going to be able to beat them
There's no disrespect to any of the current commentators within WWE
It's just my opinion, it really is
And we go from that little bit of history over to a backstage promo where we see Akira Tozawa being helped to the back
By the ref from his match as well as Mr. R-Truth
R-Truth telling Tozawa to never give up as his hero John Cena always says
But Truth drops him like a sack of shit as soon as he spots Jey Uso
Goes up to Jey Uso congratulating him on winning the King of the Ring
We obviously know Truth is off in a separate dimension somewhere, he's not of this world, bless him
Jey corrects him and tells him that he won the Royal Rumble
And Truth responds with, oh you won that too?
And Jey Uso basically says, dude you dropped your mate
You dropped him on the floor, what are you doing with yourself?
And Truth just simply responds to Jey saying, oh he just yeeted on himself
Which, I mean Truth is hilariously funny, I love that
And we see at the end of this promo Cody Rhodes comes to find out about if Jey has made his WrestleMania decision
And we know that Jey Uso is remaining undecided at this point
We go from there to an in-ring promo with the Women's Royal Rumble winner for 2025, Charlotte Flair
And the first thing that I thought when I saw her walk out into Memphis, Tennessee
Was what the fuck is that woman wearing or not wearing or whatever the fuck was going on with that outfit
Because my god it looked awful, absolutely awful
I mean I'm sure on somebody else that may have looked like a really nice outfit, it just did not suit Charlotte Flair at all
And yeah, we saw obviously after Charlotte Flair's entrance that Memphis, Tennessee is a bit split over Charlotte Flair
They're not sure whether they hate her or whether they love her
But we see Charlotte Flair really sort of showing her true colours here where she cuts quite an on-brand conceited promo about herself
Genuinely asked the question, did you think after a 14, 15 month absence that she would do anything but win the Rumble?
I said, well, did we think that she would do anything but? Probably not
Do we hope that she would do something different? Yes!
And this is where Tiffany Stratton, our current Smackdown Women's Champion, comes out to confront Flair
Tiffany congratulating Flair, showing a lot of respect saying how she sort of modelled herself after Charlotte Flair and all the rest of it
Manages to point out that Flair was, everybody was so concerned after Flair left because she went out on injury, supposedly
And that everybody was concerned for about a day, which is about right, realistically
This is where Tiffany showed up, she started main eventing and got to the very tippy top of Friday Night Smackdown's Women's Division
Which, yeah, I mean, love her or hate her, you can't really deny her that she has done phenomenal work in such a short period of time
Despite that, Flair showing zero respect to Tiffany, really sort of belittling, bullying
I felt a bit uncomfortable for Tiffany at this point because this wasn't just sort of rivalry banter
This was Flair really going after Tiffany, I felt like there was some real disdain there between the two
And Flair mentions on Monday night she compared Rhea Ripley to a kid, she went one step further and said, Tiffany you're basically a child
And Stratton, unfazed by it, credit to her, just wants to beat Flair to get out of her shadow
Speaking of shadows, or before that happens, we have Flair demand that if Tiffany really wants the match
She needs to get down on her hands and knees and beg Flair for it
And I'm sort of glad we didn't degrade to that point because that might have been the end of me watching anything to do with Charlotte Flair in it
Because that would have been a step too far in my view, but we were thankfully saved from that happening
By Nia Jax and Candice LeRae coming down to the ring and announcing that Tiffany will be defending her women's title against Jax next week
So it's a case that all of this could be for naught as Tiffany Stratton may not even be the women's champion by this time next week
We could have Nia Jax, in which case it could be Charlotte Flair facing Nia Jax at WrestleMania
Which I wouldn't be against seeing, especially if Nia Jax is just going to flatten the bitch
Charlotte Flair announcing that she will be back next week to observe who wins that match so that she can make an informed decision
So Charlotte Flair is really going to milk this decision for as much as it's worth
As we're not going to get an answer from her on Monday night or anything like that, although we were likely to see her on Monday night
Regardless, Alexa Bliss, one of the surprise re-emergences of the women's Royal Rumble, comes out to her match
And yeah, we go from there
So we move on
The reason Alexa Bliss came out to the ring was that she was coming out for a match against Candice LeRae
In an Elimination Chamber qualifying match
So this was match five on the card
And this was Alexa Bliss's first singles competition in two years
Now I didn't realise she'd been gone that long
I mean, she was gone for all of the right reasons
She went off to start a family and credit to her, considering she's had a kid, she looks phenomenal for it
I mean, Alexa Bliss is one of my favourite female competitors
And I'm so glad that she's back
And honestly, during this match, it didn't seem like she'd missed a beat
She didn't show any real signs of ring rust
There were a couple of moments where I thought, do you know what, actually
It's not going to be as cut and dry as I thought it could be
But yeah, I mean, having said that
LeRae came out with some fantastic manoeuvres in this as well
With a big face buster off the apron to Alexa Bliss
And really started to push Bliss's buttons
Which anybody that's watched Alexa Bliss wrestle in the past will know
You do not push that woman's buttons
This woman was the right hand woman of the late great Bray Wyatt for a reason
You don't mess with this woman
But Bliss ends up picking up the win via pinfall
And this was followed by what looked like a sister Abigail DDT
I'm not sure that WWE will refer to that out of obviously reverence to Bray Wyatt
I think they're just going to refer to it as an Abigail DDT rather than a sister Abigail
But I think we're all sort of talking the same language here
So yeah, it's important to realise
But we go from that match
So that means that Alexa Bliss is now the third woman in the Elimination Chamber match in Toronto
Joining Liv Morgan and Bianca Belair as well
So we've got three more slots to fill in the women's, three more slots to fill in the men's
And still a few more weeks before we are close enough to the Elimination Chamber to see that match take place
But already shaping up to be some phenomenal matches there
We went from the Bliss match to a backstage promo with Byron Saxton
Interviewing Chelsea Green and Piper Niven
Byron points out that while Alexa Bliss has been successful in her Elimination Chamber qualifier
Piper Niven most certainly was not
But also announces that Chelsea Green has got an Elimination Chamber qualifying match next week versus Naomi
And we're then interrupted by Mishin and BFab
Who come to ensure that Green doesn't forget that Mishin is still chasing her title
And we're also reminded that Zelina Vega is currently searching for the title that she wants to focus on as well
As she comes out, takes one look at the belt around Chelsea Green's waist and says
Yeah, do you know what? That'd fit me
I'd be alright with that
And yeah, I'm hoping we see Zelina Vega in some kind of title chase soon
I'd love to see that
We're then treated to a VT promo of the Street Profits
This has been circulated on social media as well
And basically saying that they are back
They are coming after the Tag Team titles in the most violent fashion they can possibly manage
And yeah, I mean, it's not difficult to find this Street Profits promo if you want to go and find it
We're then treated to a backstage promo where the Motor City Machine Guns are allowed to react to that Street Profits promo
Basically Motor City Machine Guns saying they ain't going anywhere
We're still here, we're still going for it
And there ain't nothing that nobody can do about it
And this is when Los Garza come in to tell them to get over the loss
They've got bigger things to worry about as Motor City Machine Guns are going to be facing Los Garza next week on Friday Night SmackDown
We then go into one more VT promo where it's basically promoting the Elimination Chamber Qualifier match
Between Damien Priest, Braun Strowman and Jacob Fatu for next week
And then we come to the main event match, the one that we've all been waiting for
This is a men's Tag Team match
Again, we're channeling Theodore Long, who is a Tag Team match player
Between Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes versus Tamatanga and Jacob Fatu
And again, it's important to mention Cody Rhodes has already admitted to being pretty badly banged up
After his match with Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble
Having said that, Cody starts off the match against Tamatanga
And Cody, despite being injured, behaving like the champion we all know and love
Comes out and manhandles Tamatanga
And yeah, it doesn't last long as Cody gets in trouble early doors
Rhodes ducks a running attack from Tonga, which sees him go careening into Fatu at one stage during this match
A massive Cody Cutter to Fatu, but only earns a one count
Which has seriously devalued that move from Cody in my opinion
And I'm hoping they feel like they've done that for all the right reasons
Because otherwise we're not looking good here
Cody fails to secure a crossroads
Fatu drives Cody to their corner, Tonga tags himself in
And Fatu continues his attack, which Cody dodges
But Tonga sneaks in behind for two lots of two counts
That was really, again, we've seen Tonga and Fatu do this before
Where they've behaved, they've actually behaved really in a very cerebral way
To try and win the match rather than just relying on pure brute force
And I think this is where Tamatanga's influence comes in
Because we've seen Jacob Fatu on his own, he doesn't behave in a cerebral way
It's a very visceral, very primal way, he just tries to overpower his opponents
Which doesn't always work
At this point, Fatu has immobilised Jey Uso, or at least it appears that way
So Tonga and Fatu start to attempt to play the numbers game on Cody
For Fatu to be dragged from the ring by Uso, who sends Fatu flying over the announce desk
With a superkick followed closely by a suicide dive from the ring
Cody treats Tonga to a crossroads and a three count
This is where we see the big...
Obviously we have to leave everything on a cliffhanger moving forward
This is where we see a mysterious run in after the match with Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso
And this mysterious run in lays out Cody Rhodes in the middle of the ring
It turns out we have seen the return of one solo Sikoa
Who we previously haven't seen for a number of weeks
Since he last tried to come out, cut a promo, got booed out of the building
And seemingly took his toys and went home
And there's been lots of speculation around solo Sikoa
Whether he's going to continue on in the company
Or whether he's going to go elsewhere or give up wrestling altogether
I think we got our answer
Solo Sikoa is back and he is gunning for Cody Rhodes, it would appear
And that was the end of Friday Night SmackDown
It also means that it's the end of Finisher's and Faction's Does Friday Night SmackDown
And this has been me, Adam, giving you as much insight as I can
Into the world of WWE's Friday Night SmackDown programming
And I hope that you've enjoyed listening to us
We're hoping by next week, or by the next episode
We will be back to our normal form
Which is a two person discussion
But I hope you've enjoyed these episodes
If there's any feedback to be given
Make sure to email us in on finishersandfaction.gmail.com
And I will get back to you, I will take all feedback on board
But thank you for catching some action with Finisher's and Faction's Does Friday Night SmackDown
You will hear from us again after Monday Night Raw
Have a good one