The road to WrestleMania XL winds down tonight.
The WrestleMania XL go-home episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown takes place tonight, Friday, April 5, 2024, at 8/7c on FOX from the sold out Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On tap for tonight’s show is the latest annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, The KO Show with Kevin Owens and special guest Randy Orton, Austin Theory & Grayson Waller vs. New Catch Republic, Zelina Vega vs. Elektra Lopez, as well as “Main Event” Jey Uso vs. Solo Sikoa and the final build-up to WrestleMania XL.
Featured below are complete WWE Friday Night SmackDown results from Friday, April 5, 2024. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired from 8-10pm EST. on FOX.
WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN RESULTS (4/5/2024)
The usual “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature narrated by WWE legend John Cena airs to get us started here on this week’s WrestleMania XL “go-home” episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown on FOX.
Meek Mill Cold Open Video Package
We then shoot to a special Meek Mill music video-style “cold open” package welcoming us to Philadelphia for WrestleMania XL Week. We then shoot live inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philly for the first time, where Corey Graves and Wade Barrett welcome us to the show.
The KO Show With Kevin Owens, Randy Orton & Logan Paul
Now we hear the familiar sounds of the theme song for “The Prize Fighter” and out comes Kevin Owens. Owens heads to the ring, which is decked out with the set of his talk-show segment, The KO Show. Owens welcomes us to The KO Show and then introduces his guest.
With that said, the entrance tune for Randy Orton plays and out comes “The Viper.” Orton settles inside the squared circle and takes a seat in one of the two chairs in the middle of the ring as part of The KO Show set. The two banter back-and-forth, having some fun, while the fans start to chant “Logan Sucks!”
The two agree that Logan sucks and as they continue to dog on him, we hear someone off-camera laughing. The camera shot switches to show Logan Paul standing in front of what appears to be the top of the entrance stage. The only problem is, it is the top of the entrance stage, but the one set up inside Lincoln Financial Field, not the Wells Fargo Center.
Logan Paul talks about how stupid Owens and Orton are, boasting being two steps ahead of them at all times. He says he’s already in the venue for WrestleMania XL envisioning his victory over both of them to retain his WWE United States Championship. Owens and Orton talk about how close Lincoln Financial Field is to the Wells Fargo Center.
They decide to head over to confront Paul right now. They each exit the ring, hop the guard rail and head out through the crowd, with apparent plans on invading Lincoln Financial Field to get their hands on Paul before their scheduled U.S. title triple-threat tilt on Sunday at night two of WrestleMania XL.
As they leave, we also see the duo of Austin Theory and Grayson Waller slide out from under the ring, where they were apparently hiding the entire time. We head to a commercial break on that note. When we return, we check in with Orton and Owens, who head off in a golf cart to try and catch up with Logan Paul at the WrestleMania XL host venue.
2024 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
It’s that time of the year once again for the annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
As noted, WWE has advertised Cedric Alexander, Ashante “Thee” Adonis, Kit Wilson, Elton Prince, Cameron Grimes, Veer, Sanga, Julius Creed, Brutus Creed, Ivar, Akira Tozawa, Otis, JD McDonagh, Apollo Crews, Andrade El Ídolo, Ricochet, Chad Gable, Bronson Reed, Shinsuke Nakamura and Omos for the bout.
A special video package airs to promote the bout and when it wraps up, we return live where we see everyone in the ring. Well, almost everyone. The lights go down and the theme for Ricochet plays. Out he comes as the next person to the filled up ring, as the ring announcer begins the formal ring introductions for the match.
Omos comes out next with MVP. “The Nigerian Giant” settles in the ring as one of the clear match-favorites, as Corey Graves handles live ad-reads for Snickers and WWE 2K24. After Omos settles inside the squared circle, the bell sounds and this one gets officially off-and-running.
Omos stands in the middle of the ring while multiple people take turns coming in after him while everyone else stands around and watches. Omos handles everyone easily thus far, including launching Kit Wilson over the top for the first fast elimiation of the bout. Upon seeing this, Elton Prince decided to hop over and eliminate himself.
Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo are also eliminated quickly. Cameron Grimes is also thrown out pretty early in. Apollo Crews is thrown out as is another participant who isn’t named. The Creed Brothers eliminate Indus Sher to get some of the big boy favorites out of the mix. On that note, we head to a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
We return from the break and are shown footage from during the commercials, which shows Omos hitting a double clothesline to eliminate The Creed Brothers at the same time. Unfortunately for “The Nigerian Giant,” he also went over and eliminated himself at the same time The Creed Brothers went over. Whether or not that was planned would be interesting to know.
Akira Tozawa ends up eliminating JD McDonagh of The Judgment Day for an enormous pop. Bronson Reed and Ivar each squash Akira Tozawa in between them. Otis, Ivar and Bronson Reed have a stare-down in a trio of big guys with the same body shape. Otis knocks them down and does the Catapillar spot for another big pop but is then eliminated by Ivar.
Moments later, Reed got the win with the final elimination. He stood next to the massive Andre The Giant gold trophy at ringside as the commentators sung his praises.
Winner of the 2024 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal: “Big” Bronson Reed
Randy Orton, Kevin Owens Ultimately Out-Smart Logan Paul
After the 2024 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal wraps up, we shoot to a video package that shows how this past Monday night’s episode of Raw went off the air, with The Rock and Roman Reigns beating down Cody Rhodes and Seth “Freakin'” Rollins once again before their big night one tag-team main event at WrestleMania XL Saturday.
Once the video package wraps up, we see Logan Paul walking the halls backstage with a giant smile on his face. The commentators point out that he’s backstage at the Wells Fargo Center right now, and apparently has been all along, as we’ll likely discover that he filmed the segment we saw earlier from Lincoln Financial Field, where Kevin Owens and Randy Orton are on their way to.
On that note, we shift gears and head to another commercial break. When we return, we see a video package with The Final Testament. Karrion Kross boasts being the reason Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits are even on WrestleMania XL. He vows victory in their Philadelphia Street Fight on WrestleMania Sunday.
Now we return back inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philly where the theme for Logan Paul hits. Out comes the WWE United States Champion looking proud of himself. He starts talking at the end of the entrance aisle before he gets into the ring. He calls Philadelphia trash and says whoever had the idea for him to spend the weekend in Philly is fired.
He settles in the ring and talks more about how stupid everyone in Philadelphia is, just like Kevin Owens and Randy Orton. He says they’re so stupid they’re at Lincoln Financial Field trying to find him, when he’s been here all along. He says he has his boys Austin Theory and Grayson Waller about to meet up with Orton and Owens, along with a camera crew.
He says if we’re timid at the sight of violence, to turn away. He then directs our attention to the big screen, where we see Theory and Waller befuddled and confused. They talk into the camera and tell Logan they’ve looked everywhere and can’t find Owens or Orton. After a few seconds, the crowd behind Paul begin popping.
The camera pans back and we see Owens and Orton coming out from under the ring inside Wells Fargo Center. Logan Paul hasn’t noticed yet, but after a few seconds, he does. He freaks out and tries sliding out of the ring, but Owens stops him and slams him into the barricade. He throws him into the ring where Orton kicks him and he turns into a Stuner from Owens and then an RKO from Orton.
Zelina Vega vs. Elektra Lopez
Backstage, we see something going down. When the cameras catch up to the scene, we see Carlito leaning over a laid out Dragon Lee as the other members of the LWO and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis show up. They ask him if Santos Escobar and Legado Del Fantasma did this, and he loudly says he doesn’t know and that it must’ve been.
Meanwhile. we hear the LWO theme begin playing and they are told they have to head out to the ring. Rey Mysterio and the other members of the LWO head off with Zelina Vega, who is scheduled for one-on-one action in our next match of the evening. Carlito hangs back with Dragon Lee, who is still on the ground. Inside the arena, Vega makes her way to the ring accompanied by Rey.
On that note, we shift gears and head into a quick pre-match commercial break. When we return, we see the match is already in progress. Elektra Lopez is Vega’s opponent, and presumably her entrance took place during the break.
We see Zelina firing away at Lopez with big forearm shots and kicks, before taking her down with back-to-back clotheslines. Lopez takes over for a few minutes. Vega gets in a big shot and looks to finish this one up until Dominik Mysterio, who is in Lopez’s corner with Santos Escobar and Andrade, distracts her on the apron. This leads to Lopez getting the win with the Elektra-Shock.
After the match, Dom-Dom and Andrade, along with Santos Escobar, join Elektra Lopez in the ring to celebrate the win. Rey Mysterio comes in to check on Zelina, and as he does, he is attacked from behind by “Dirty” Dom and Escobar. Andrade watches on. Dom ends up pushing him, leading to him laying out Dom and Santos. He takes his sport coat off for a big pop and stands beside Rey and Zelina.
Winner: Elektra Lopez
Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair & Naomi Send Message To Damage CTRL
Once the post-match scene with Andrade, Rey Mysterio, Zelina Vega and Legado Del Fantasma and Dominik Mysterio wraps up, we shoot backstage where we see the trio of Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair and Naomi walking side-by-side. Corey Graves and Wade Barrett inform us they will deliver a message to Damage CTRL ahead of their WrestleMania XL showdown when we return.
With that said, we head into another commercial break. When we return, we hear the familiar sounds of Naomi’s theme music. Out she comes to the ring to a decent pop. She is joined by Bianca Belair, as the theme for “The EST of WWE” hits next. The two each settle in the ring with both ladies wearing cowboy hats.
They talk about their rivalry with Damage CTRL and mentioned how Naomi came around to help Belair, but that they weren’t enough to deal with Damage CTRL because they were out-numbered. They mention how someone else came through to help even things up. With that said, we hear the theme for Jade Cargill.
Out comes the newest addition to the women’s talent roster on the WWE blue brand, Jade Cargill, who is also wearing a cowboy hat like Belair and Naomi. They talk about how Damage CTRL are now in the eye of the storm and that they are ready to go to war at WrestleMania XL this Saturday in their six-woman tag-team showdown.
New Catch Republic vs. Austin Theory & Grayson Waller
We head to the backstage area, where we see a fired up “Main Event” Jey Uso. He says he has now come to your city and then mentions how tonight he’s going to whoop up on his brother Solo Sikoa as a tune-up for this weekend, where he’s going to whoop up on his twin brother Jimmy Uso at WrestleMania XL.
He asks the crowd to give him a “Yeet!” They happily oblige. Back inside the Wells Fargo Center, the theme for the New Catch Republic hits and out comes “The Big Strong Boi” Tyler Bate and “The BruiserWeight” Pete Dunne for our next scheduled match of the evening.
As they settle inside the squared circle, we shift gears and head into another quick pre-match commercial break. When we return, we see Rey Mysterio and Andrade in the LWO locker room learn via an official that Dragon Lee is not medically cleared and won’t be able to compete in the scheduled tag match at WrestleMania XL.
Zelina Vega asks Rey what he’s going to do, telling him he can’t wrestle Dominik Mysterio and Santos Escobar by himself. Andrade tells him not to worry, because he will take his place. Rey is excited about this. In comes Carlito, who asks if Rey heard the news. Rey said he did and tells him that Andrade has stepped up.
Carlito seems annoyed but fights back the feeling and acts as if he’s happy as well with the plan. He tells them they’ve got this and to take care of Santos and Dom this weekend. Back inside the arena, Austin Theory and Grayson Waller are finishing up their ring entrances, in progress. The bell sounds and off we go with this one.
Dunne and Bate start off strong, however after a minute or so, we see the action spill out to the floor where Theory and Waller take over. Theory slams Bate into the barricade and near the commentary desk. Waller hits a big follow-up spot. The crowd boos as we head into a mid-match commercial break with Theory and Waller in the lead.
When we return from the break, we see Waller beating down Bate. Theory tags in and picks up where he left off. After a few moments, Bate eventually makes the much-needed hot tag to Pete Dunne. “The BruiserWeight” comes in and takes over, leading to he and Bate connecting with the Birming-Hammer double-team finisher for the win.
After the match wraps up, we see The Judgment Day hit the ring. Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh and Rhea Ripley all collectively beat down everyone in the ring, weakening the competition ahead of their Six Pack Challenge Ladder Match defense of the tag-titles at WrestleMania XL.
Winners: New Catch Republic
LA Knight Talks AJ Styles And WrestleMania XL
We shoot to a lengthy “Road to WrestleMania XL” video package that looks at the story leading up to the Bayley vs. IYO SKY showdown for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania XL. After that wraps up, we see Jimmy Uso hyping up Solo Sikoa ahead of his main event showdown against their brother, “Main Event” Jey Uso.
On that note, we head to another commercial break. When we return, we hear the familiar sounds of the theme song for LA Knight. With that said, “The Mega Star” makes his way out and heads down to the ring as footage of his brawl with AJ Styles from last week is shown.
He cuts a promo explaining why at WrestleMania XL we’ll all see who’s game this is, with everybody saying L-A-Knight … YEAH! Same old stuff from “The Mega Star” here.
After this, we see a response video package from Bobby Lashley, The Street Profits and B-Fab to the one from The Final Testament earlier tonight promoting the Philadelphia Street Fight at WrestleMania XL this coming weekend.
“Main Event” Jey Uso vs. Solo Sikoa
It’s main event time!
After the video package from Bobby Lashley, The Street Profits and B-Fab wraps up, we head back inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA., where we hear the familiar sounds of “Main Event” Jey Uso’s theme song.
Out comes the master of “Yeet!” to fans singing along with his theme song and doing the collective wave along with Uso on the ropes in the corner of the ring. As he continues to settle inside the squared circle for our final match of the evening, and the final before WrestleMania XL, we head to a pre-match commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see a compilation video of all of the mainstream media coverage this week for WrestleMania XL on Saturday and Sunday evening at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. Graves and Barrett then run down the lineups for WrestleMania XL nights one and two.
From there, we hear the familiar sounds of Solo Sikoa’s theme music. Out comes “The Enforcer” of The Bloodline accompanied by Jimmy Uso. He settles in the ring and the bell sounds to get our brother versus brother main event of the WrestleMania XL “go-home” episode of SmackDown officially off-and-running.
Jey Uso gets off to a hot start, taking it to his younger brother Solo with a ferocious offensive flurry coming out of the gate. It isn’t long, however, before the stone-faced killer of The Bloodline takes over. Solo takes over and continues to dominate Jey on the floor at ringside.
On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as our main event of the evening continues. When we return from the break, we see Solo still dominating the offense, which has resumed in the ring. Uso starts to fight back, with the crowd chanting “YEET!” as each shot lands from “Main Event” Jey.
Sikoa cuts his offensive comeback short, and begins pummeling his older brother once again. He has Uso flatteneed in the corner of the ring. He stalks him from the opposing corner and waits for him to get up. As he does, he sprints full-steam ahead at him, but Uso side-steps him and Sikoa crashes into the turnbuckles with authority.
From there, Uso starts to fight back again, and once more we hear loud “YEET!” chants from the sold out Philly crowd as each shot he throws lands. He hits a big hip-attack on Sikoa in the corner for a close two count. Sikoa hits a Samoan Drop to slow Uso down. He goes for a Samoan Spike, but Uso avoids it and takes over.
Uso starts to fire up again with rapid-fire punches to repeated “YEET!” chants. He lays out “The Enforcer” of The Bloodline and then heads to the top-rope, looking for an Uso Splash. Before he can do so, however, Jimmy Uso hits the ring and blatantly attacks Jey, prompting the referee to call for the bell.
Winner via DQ: “Main Event” Jey Uso
Cody Rhodes Vows To Finish One Story, Start A Better One On Sunday
Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa begin a two-on-one beat down of “Main Event” Jey Uso. As Sikoa goes for a Samoan Spike while Jimmy holds Jey, we hear the familiar sounds of Cody Rhodes’ theme. Out comes “The American Nightmare” and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin'” Rollins to make the save.
Cody and Seth beat down Jimmy and Solo and after they do, we see Cody reach under his shirt and he begins taking off his custom weight belt. He goes to whip him but stops. He hits a Cross Rhodes after throwing the belt to Rollins. Rollins begins whipping Jimmy with the belt. Jey hits an Uso Splash on Jimmy.
Fans chant “Cody! Cody” and he grabs the mic to close out the show. “40 years of WrestleMania … can you feel that?” He says talk about the pressure. Tomorrow night, himself and his partner and friend, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin'” Rollins are going to slap “The Final Boss” The Rock so hard that his ego lifts so far out of his body and soul that he remembers what it’s like to be The People’s Champion.
He also promises to shatter the foundation of The Bloodline and on Sunday, he’s going to dethrone “The Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns. Fans chant “Cody! Cody!” Cody says he’s fighting for every single fan who has believed in him. He says “My dream was to become champion and this Sunday, know this, that one when good story ends, an even better one begins!” That’s how this week’s WrestleMania XL “go-home” episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
