The WWE universe continues to barrel ahead to Bash in Berlin, with the scene returning to the Blue Brand and all of its storylines. Last week was action packed as Roman Reigns took a serious beatdown at the hands of Jacob Fatu after again wiping Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga out in an in-ring confrontation. Fatu's emergence, still in a walking boot, turned the tide. Will there be retribution on Friday? The Bloodline is on the card, defending their tag-team belts.

Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes came to the rescue of Kevin Owens as he was being jumped by A-Town Down Under, reversing the relationship the two have had during Rhodes' feud with the aforementioned Bloodline.  There was tension in the air ahead of the two's meeting at the next PLE, the Bash in Berlin, next Saturday.

With the PLE being overseas, next week's SmackDown episode will be in Germany as well. That means that there are only two more stateside episodes of SmackDown remaining on the Fox network, this one and September 6. On the 13th, SmackDown moves to its new home on USA Network.

Date: Friday, August 23, 2024
Time: 8 pm ET
Location: Washington, DC
Broadcast: FOX 

• WWE Tag Team Championship Match- The Bloodline (Tama Tonga & Jacob Fatu) (C) vs The Street Profits
  • The Bloodline doesn't necessarily need the titles to be at the top of the blue brand. Will there be any interference in this match?
• WWE United States Championship Match- LA Knight (C) vs Santos Escobar
  • Knight and Escobar have been dancing around each other for multiple weeks, including Santos stealing the tagline and turning it into "Es-co-bar-Si!"
• Six-Woman Tag Team Match: Naomi, Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair vs Blair Davenport, Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn 
  • The rivalry between Cargill and Belair, who lost their titles to Fyre and Dawn without being pinned, continues with the additions of Naomi and Davenport who wrestled last week. Everyone's just waiting for the divorce but the brand is still keeping Cargill and Belair together for now.

Match Results

The Grayson Waller Effect

Talk about biting off more than you can chew. Then again, when doesn't Waller's mouth write a check his ass has to go into overdraft to cash? Having called out WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on X/Twitter and challenging him to appear on the Grayson Waller Effect, then cutting his music, then interrupting his famed intro question, then showing a video package of Rhodes' friend and "Bash in Berlin" opponent, Kevin Owens, being a villain — it got Waller and an unsuspecting Austin Theory a tag match in the main event against a pissed off Owens, who asked general manager Nick Aldis to make it official.

WWE United States Championship Match- LA Knight (C) vs Santos Escobar

Of course Escobar wouldn't fight fair. Hell, he wouldn't even wait for the bell to ring to send Legado Del Fantasma at Knight, a strategic move to avoid being disqualified for that pre-fight attack by his faction, but it got them ejected from ringside and left Escobar one-on-one with a furious Megastar. That ended with Escobar having one hell of a headache from a brand-new Side Effect, an elbow from the top rope and a BFT to end Santos' night.

'Melo Cuts a Promo

Andrade jumped all over Carmelo Hayes in their rivalry with a 2-0 series lead before dropping one to the rookie first-overall pick last week, before a melee broke out between the two after Hayes followed the victory with disrespect that set Andrade off. Chilling in his safe space this week, the barbershop, Hayes was talking more trash before Andrade burst in and had to be held back — promising to teach him a lesson in a fourth match to come, next week.

Six-Woman Tag Team Match: Naomi, Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair vs Blair Davenport, Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn 

Yeah, this was a banger, but less because of what the champions showed and more of what we saw from Belair, Cargill and the Glow Queen. Most of the match was dominated by Bianca and Davenport did turn the tides eventually, but this was never in hand for her and the Unholy Union. So when Cargill was tagged in and shop was wrecked, all Naomi had to do was bat clean up, and she did exactly that. She ran through all three opponents before pinning Davenport after a springboard split moonsault and even whipped her hair with each pound of the referee's fist, because why not?

A Knight to Remember?

Usually there's a tournament to determine the No. 1 contender for the United States Championship or Aldis coronates the next challenger, but not this time. Knight, hot off of the victory over Escobar, issued an open challenge for anyone who wants a title shot in Germany next weekend. The question is who "has enough tingle in their loins" to step up???

WWE Tag Team Championship Match- The Bloodline (Tama Tonga & Jacob Fatu) (C) vs The Street Profits

Ah, the Freebird Rule is in full effect for The Bloodline. You can read more on that by hitting that link, but Solo Sikoa made sure the WWE knew it when he told an injured Fatu to give his belt to Tonga Loa until further notice. That meant it was the Tongans against the Street Profits on SmackDown, but with Sikoa and Fatu lurking in the weeds and waiting to guarantee the belts didn't leave the faction. And so it went that after the Street Profits put on an absolute clinic of wrestling against two who can barely strap up a pair of boots, Fatu interfered to ensure they'd lose. DIY would run out afterwards, to get beat to a pulp. Oh, and Roman Reigns was nowhere to be found, as Sikoa promised.

Men's Tag Match: Kevin Owens, Cody Rhodes vs. A-Town Down Under

As noted, there's no shortage of foreshadowing for a potential heel turn of Owens, and that continued with the commentary of Wade Barrett and Cory Graves during this match. Rhodes and Owens were able to handle business as a team though, and without incident between them, which was honestly a bit disappointing although the match itself was entertaining. Owens completed the win with a pop-up power bomb against Waller to shut him up for now. Oh and, well, it wasn't entirely without an eyebrow raise, considering it appeared that, after the match, that Owens was about to clean Rhodes' clock with the belt but immediately turned it into a friendly handing over of it. Rhodes was noticeably disturbed. Hmmm .....