WWE Friday Night SmackDown is back tonight.
The post-Elimination Chamber episode of the weekly two-hour WWE on FOX blue brand program goes down tonight from the Ford Center in Evansville, IN., airing live on FOX starting 8/7c.
On tap for tonight’s show is Charlotte Flair & Rhea Ripley face-to-face to promote their WrestleMania Goes Hollywood championship showdown, the return of Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Funhouse segment, Rey Mysterio vs. Karrion Kross, as well as a six-man tag-team match pitting Braun Strowman, Ricochet and Madcap Moss taking on Imperium.
Featured below are complete WWE Friday Night SmackDown results from Friday, February 24, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 8-10pm EST. on FOX.
WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN RESULTS (2/24/2023)
This week’s post-Elimination Chamber 2023 episode of SmackDown kicks off with the usual “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together” opening signature narrated by pro wrestling legend John Cena.
From there, we see an in-depth video package looking back at the events that transpired during the conclusion of the WWE Elimination Chamber 2023 main event for the Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship between Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn.
The video package also looks at the post-match scene with Kevin Owens and the other members of Reigns’ Bloodline, as well as the follow-up promo segment with Zayn and Owens on the episode of Monday Night Raw that aired the following night.
Kayla Braxton Backstage With Jimmy Uso
Now we shoot live backstage where Kayla Braxton opens the show by pointing out that she is awaiting the arrival of The Bloodline.
With that said, Jimmy Uso walks in the building. She asks him if he has spoken to his brother. He says he told him to meet him in the ring tonight and tell him anything he wants to say to his face. He then walks off.
Braun Strowman, Ricochet & Madcap Moss vs. Imperium
After that, we head inside the Ford Center venue in Evansville, IN. where the familiar sounds of Braun Strowman’s theme hits. Out comes “The Monster of all Monsters” accompanied by his tag-team partners, Ricochet and Madcap Moss.
The trio head to the ring together for our opening six-man tag-team contest. They settle in the ring as the music fades down. Now they await the arrival of their opponents for what will be the first match of the show.
With that said, the entrance tune for Imperium hits and out comes WWE Intercontinental Champion Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci. The three men head down to the squared circle and settle inside as well.
Now that all six Superstars have finished their respective ring walks, the bell sounds and this one gets officially off-and-running. We see Vinci and Moss starting things off for their respective teams.
The crowd lets out a roar as things get going. Michael Cole and Wade Barrett catch fans on the broadcast up on the stories surrounding these six performers as the early action plays out in the ring.
Moss takes an early offensive lead, out-powering Vinci and dominating things coming out of the gate. He tags in Ricochet and “The Highlight of the Night” picks up where Moss left off, taking it to Vinci.
He points to Strowman and the crowd pops, but before he can tag him in, he is taken out by a huge clothesline from Vinci, who then tags in Kaiser. We see some double team action, which brings Strowman in.
As the referee is tied up getting him back on the apron, we see Ricochet dumped to the floor where Gunther comes in and adds some extra punishment as we head to a mid-match commercial break.
When we return from the commercials, we see Kaiser still taking it to Ricochet as the fans try and rally behind the baby face performer. Ricochet finally starts to show some signs of life, as he begins trading back-and-forth shots with Kaiser.
Unfortunately for “The Highlight of the Night,” the Imperium member takes back over and grounds the high-flyer. As he controls him on the mat, Michael Cole and Wade Barrett talk us through some replays of action during the break that saw Gunther getting involved.
As the action continues, the crowd makes a lot of noise for seemingly no reason until we discover as the camera shot changes that “The Scottish Warrior” Drew McIntyre, in street clothes, has emerged from the backstage area.
He begins walking down the entrance ramp Ricochet continues to get beat down in the ring until he finally leaps to his corner and smacks paws with “The Monster of all Monsters.” Strowman takes the hot tag and enters the ring, cleaning house of all three members of Imperium by himself.
The camera keeps showing McIntyre watching on with a smirk on his face. Gunther tags in, as does Moss. Gunther takes out Moss rather quickly and ends up finishing him off for the pin fall victory.
Winners: Imperium
Gunther/Drew McIntyre Staredown, Viking Raiders Attack
Afterwards, he stands tall with his I-C title and stares down McIntyre. McIntyre takes his coat off and begins walking towards the ring, but is ambushed and attacked from behind by Erik and Ivar — The Viking Raiders.
Finally, Sheamus makes his way out and “The Celtic Warrior” starts bouncing clubbing blows off Erik’s dome until he is met from behind with a big shot by Ivar. Braun Strowman and Ricochet end up getting involved, taking out The Viking Raiders.
Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar Talk Until The Judgment Day Interrupts
We shoot backstage where Rey Mysterio is being interviewed. He talks about his match against Karrion Kross tonight but then in comes Santos Escobar. He talks about respecting Rey and having a mask that his father gave him. Mysterio says the feeling and respect is mutual.
In walks The Judgment Day’s Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio. The two taunt Santos and Rey and walk off. Santos tells it not to bother Rey. Rey says how can it not, it’s my son. He walks off and we head to another commercial break.
Backstage With The Bloodline
We shoot backstage when we return from the break into the locker room of The Bloodline. We see Jimmy Uso talking with Solo Sikoa as Paul Heyman watches on from the background. They talk about Jey Uso and how he seems a little spooked because of this whole Sami Zayn thing.
Heyman says how about Solo stays backstage and Jimmy handles this in the ring by himself, man to man, twin to twin, Uso to Uso, personally. Jimmy agrees and the segment ends.
LA Knight Confronted By The New Day
Now we head back inside Ford Center where the familiar sounds of LA Knight’s entrance theme hits the house speakers. Out he comes and he settles into the ring with a microphone in-hand. The fans boo as his music dies down.
“Lemme talk-to-ya,” Knight begins. He says “’tis the season” and mentions how everyone in WWE is talking about wanting to make WrestleMania moments. He says he didn’t come here to make WrestleMania moments, he came here to make money and win titles.
He says he’s gonna give WrestleMania a LA Knight moment, but before he can continue, he is interrupted by the theme music for The New Day. With that said, out comes Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. They tell Knight he’s only been on the WWE roster for two months and ask who he is to be demanding anything.
Knight says he doesn’t recall inviting The “Nerd Day” down here. He says if they weren’t so busy playing their video games, they’d realize they’re talking at a virtual machine “…YEAH!” Woods says being nerds has made them a hell of a lot of money.
He then gets critical of the fake vest Knight has on right now before moving on to mention how Kofi Kingston had a WrestleMania moment, one many consider the best of all-time. Knight claps back and closes with, “and by the way, how did that Kofi Mania thing work out for ya?”
Kingston enters the ring along with Woods and says it went well considering he won the WWE Championship on “The Grandest Stage of Them All.” He then gets in his face and mentions shutting Knight up tonight in Evansville. They mock Knight’s “…YEAH!” catchphrase.
Kofi Kingston vs. LA Knight
Woods asks Adam Pearce to make it official and send a referee out here for a Kingston-Knight clash. A referee runs down to the ring and Michael Cole and Wade Barrett inform us that Kofi Kingston goes one-on-one with LA Knight … next.
On that note, we head to a pre-match commercial break. When we return from the break, we see the match get underway. The crowd is hot inside the Ford Center in Evansville, IN., as Kofi Kingston dominates the action early with fast-paced offense.
As we see LA Knight start to shift the offensive momentum into his favor, we head to a mid-match commercial break as the match continues. When we return from the break, we see Kofi starting to fight back into competitive form.
Xavier Woods starts to rally the Evansville crowd behind his fellow New Day member, playing the trombone as Kofi starts to fight back in the ring. Knight ends up cutting Kofi’s comeback short. He tosses Kofi out to the floor and Woods goes to check on him.
Knight comes out and gets in Woods’ face. He tells him to back off and go play his little trombone. Woods looks like he wants to hit him with it. Knight dares him and then turns his attention back to Kingston, whom he rolls in the ring and continues to beat down.
A “New Day-rocks!” chant breaks out and spreads throughout Ford Center as Knight still controls the action and starts to again taunt Woods after running and blasting Kofi with a knee as he was hanging over the middle ropes. He hits a flying shoulder tackle for a close pin attempt, but Kofi kicks out.
Kingston starts to fight back into the offensive driver’s seat. He hits a big Boom Drop and Xavier Woods starts going nuts again with the trombone at ringside. Kingston hits Trouble in Paradise and scores the pin fall victory.
Winner: Kofi Kingston
Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley & Dominik Mysterio Go Face-To-Face
Now Michael Cole and Wade Barrett introduce the “Progressive Match Flo” segment of the week, which is an elaborate video package looking at the events that have transpired thus far between Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley.
We see an in-depth look at what has gone down ahead of their scheduled showdown at WrestleMania Goes Hollywood for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. After this segment wraps up, Cole and Barrett inform us that “The Queen” and “Mami” go face-to-face when SmackDown returns.
On that note, we head to another commercial break. When we return from the break, “The Queen” makes her way out. SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair settles in the ring and her music dies down. The crowd cheers as she begins mentioning how we’re only 35 days away from WrestleMania.
Charlotte then calls out Rhea Ripley and says she’s interested to see what she has to say to her face. Nothing happens and Flair says this appears to be hesitation. She questions if Ripley is remembering what happened the last time they shared the ring together.
Dominik Mysterio comes out with a microphone in-hand and he mentions how women are the softer sex, but Rhea Ripley, “Mami,” is strong. He mentions how she squeezes hard enough to hurt his back when they hug.
Charlotte says she has someone at home with a thicker Spanish accent (cough Andrade El Idolo cough) and refers to him being a real man, not a “boy toy” like Dom is for Ripley. Dom goes on to get serious as he talks about his father, Rey Mysterio, being a deadbeat and mentions how Charlotte can relate to this with her father, Ric Flair.
“The Queen” says unlike Dom, she loves her dad. She says he’s 74 tomorrow, and wishes him a happy birthday. Charlotte looks like she’s about to attack Dom but then Rhea Ripley’s theme hits and “Mami” makes her way down to the ring as the fans boo.
Dom holds the ropes open for Rhea, but instead, she hops back off the apron. Dom joins her at ringside. Charlotte hoists her title up high and stares them down. Rhea jumps back in the ring and gets in Flair’s face. She says something to her off-mic quickly and then exits the ring again to end the segment.
Natalya vs. Shayna Baszler
Michael Cole and Wade Barrett bring up the social media battle between Natalya and Shayna Baszler. After that, we hear Natalya’s theme hits and out she comes accompanied by Tegan Nox.
As Nattie makes her way to the ring, we see split-screen footage of her being examined by the WWE medical team and getting cleared, hesitantly, for a match tonight. The footage also shows Nox saying she’s going to be at ringside with her tonight.
Cole says that explains why Nox is here with Nattie right now. He sets the stage for the next match and then we head to a commercial break. When we return from the break, Ronda Rousey’s theme hits and out she comes with Shayna Baszler.
Baszler and Nattie are both in the ring while Rousey and Nox are in their respective corners on the floor at ringside as the bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running. We see Baszler dominating the action early on after Nattie comes out of the gate faring well.
“The Submission Magician” continues to dominate the action but Nattie starts fighting into competitive form and eventually into the offensive driver’s seat. She knocks Baszler out to the floor next to Rousey.
She goes out after her and jaws with Rousey, giving Baszler enough time to recover. Nattie goes to re-enter the ring but walks into a big shot from Baszler, who follows up with a submission for the tap out victory.
Winner: Shayna Baszler
Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler Attack Natalya, Tegan Nox
As soon as the match wraps up, we see Rousey hit the ring as Baszler knocks Nox off the ring apron and back to the floor. Nox recovers as Rousey and Baszler approach Nattie with evil intentions. She hits the ring again and cleans house.
We see Rousey yelling at Nox about being “skittles” and vowing that she’ll make her “taste the rainbow” next week as she and Baszler retreat to the back while Nox stands tall with Nattie in the ring.
Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House Returns
Now we hear Michael Cole and Wade Barrett hyping up the return of Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House when we return. On that note, we head to another commercial break.
As we settle back in the familiar theme for Firefly Fun House hits, “We’re really glad …” and then the set of the program turns red and we see two hands pop up with action figures and pounding them together.
Now we see Bray Wyatt with a hat, leather jacket and glasses on watching himself cut a promo on a monitor in a production room. We then see footage of Bobby Lashley mentioning on Raw how he will not be disrespected by anyone on this roster.
From there, we see Bray Wyatt in his happy-persona attire with his puppet beside him as he welcomes us to Firefly News, a faux news segment. He questions who opened the door and then mentions it is time for the weather.
We see Uncle Howdy in front of a map giving the weather in an inaudible manner. Now we shoot to a fake game show called “Can You Keep A Secret?” where Wyatt is wearing a suit and a blond wig.
We see black-and-white footage of old 1960s fan crowd reactions and then a local community service-looking lineup for the next few shows on whatever this network is. Now some quick-cuts take place and we end with Wyatt in an unusual mask asking, “If I tell you a story, can you keep a secret?”
“The Wise Man” Gives A Serious Update To Jimmy Uso
We shoot backstage to The Bloodline locker room where we see Jimmy Uso, Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman once again. “The Wise Man” Heyman then delivers a message to Uso from “The Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns.
Heyman tells Uso that Reigns will be on SmackDown next week and if Jimmy doesn’t handle things with Jey in the ring tonight, “The Tribal Chief” will for him — personally — next week. On that note, we head to another commercial break.
Rey Mysterio vs. Karrion Kross
When we return from the break, Rey Mysterio’s theme hits and the fan-favorite legend makes his way down to the ring. The masked icon settles inside the squared circle and his music fades down.
Now the lights dim and the sounds of Karrion Kross’ entrance tune plays as he makes his way down to the ring accompanied by Scarlett for our next match of the evening. Scarlett does her “fall and pray” routine and then their entrance wraps up.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. We see Mysterio immediately hit a hurricanrana on Kross before knocking him over the top-rope and down to the floor at ringside.
He blasts him with a backwards 6-1-9 as he was attempting to re-enter the ring. He then runs off the ropes and soars, splashing onto Kross on the floor as we head to a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
When we return from the break, we see Kross has shifted the offensive momentum in a complete 180-degree turn, as he is now dominating the WWE legend with ease as the fans try and rally behind Mysterio with loud “Let’s go Rey!” chants.
Just as Rey starts to fire up for an offensive comeback, we see Scarlett get on the ring apron. Rey bounces the ropes which flips her over them and she crashes back-first onto the canvas.
Now Mysterio positions himself to finish off Kross when out of nowhere, Dominik Mysterio appears at ringside and yanks Rey out to the floor in mid-6-1-9 swing. This leads to the cross-hammer to the face and the cross-jacket from Kross for the finish. Karrion Kross wins.
Winner: Karrion Kross
Rey Mysterio & Dominik Mysterio Go Nose-To-Nose
Once the match wraps up, we see Rey Mysterio recovering in the ring when Dom comes in and yells at him to get up and be a man. Dom then shoves Rey down and dares him to do something to him for it.
Rey finally has enough and he stands up and gets right in Dom’s face. They go nose-to-nose and Dom yells at him to do something. Dom head-pushes Rey back and yells at him again to do something.
Mysterio gets mad and kicks the ropes and Dom yells at him, “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?” Rey walks off and Dom remains in the ring as the fans boo to end the segment.
Jimmy Uso Confronted By Sami Zayn, Jey Uso Arrives
We see Jimmy Uso backstage with a serious look on his face. He begins walking towards the entrance to the ring when Michael Cole and Wade Barrett talk us into another commercial break.
As we settle back in from the break, Jimmy Uso makes his way down to the ring. He gets on the microphone and starts talking about how he needs his brother, Jey Uso right now to come out here.
The crowd starts making a ton of noise as he continues to talk and we see Sami Zayn hop the barricade from the crowd with a hoodie on. He takes the hoodie off and enters the ring behind Jimmy.
Sami Zayn talks directly to Jimmy Uso about how he’s not here to fight. He mentions how he was hurt by Jimmy Uso using the word “brother” because that’s what they used to call each other. He says Jimmy taking him out at Royal Rumble without a hesitation hurt him.
Jimmy Uso yells back and says that he made his own choice. He says he had the chair and he had the option and he made his own choice. Jimmy then gets cut off by Zayn. Zayn says family doesn’t make you jump through hoops and make you prove yourself constantly, and manipulate you.
As Zayn talks about how that’s what Roman Reigns did to him and that’s what he’s been doing to Jimmy for years. The crowd makes a ton of noise and the camera shot changes to show Jey Uso in the crowd with a serious look on his face.
Zayn mentions how he’s going to take down The Bloodline, but tells Jimmy there’s a way out for him because he doesn’t have to go down with the ship. As Zayn notices Jey Uso in the crowd, we see Jimmy Uso blast Sami with a cheap shot. He begins beating down Sami as we see Jey Uso slowly making his way down through the crowd.
Jimmy Uso stops and looks back at Jey in the crowd and yells at him to join him in the ring. As he does this, Zayn blasts Jimmy with his kick-finisher. Jimmy is laid out now and the fans are chanting “Sami! Sami!” as we see Jey Uso getting closer.
We see Sami Zayn notice Solo Sikoa coming down the entrance ramp from the back, so he exits the ring on the other side and hops the barricade and enters the crowd. Solo stands tall in the ring and stares down Sami in the crowd.
Now we see highlights of all of this as Cole and Barrett talk us through it. They point out an interesting look that Sami and Jey made to each other after Zayn blasted Jimmy with the big kick. The show goes off the air on that note. Thanks for joining us!
