The road to WrestleMania XL continues tonight in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
WWE Friday Night SmackDown airs live tonight at 8/7c on FOX from the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI. with one of the last three episodes of the weekly two-hour WWE on FOX blue brand show before the two-night WrestleMania XL premium live event on April 6 and April 7 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA.
On tap for tonight’s show is The Street Profits vs. AOP and The O.C. vs. Grayson Waller & Austin Theory in bracket two semifinal matches in the ongoing tag-team tournament, Rey Mysterio vs. Santos Escobar with the LWO and Legado Del Fantasma banned from ringside, IYO SKY vs. Naomi, as well as WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes going face-to-face one-on-one in the ring ahead of their WrestleMania XL: Night 2 showdown.
Featured below are complete WWE Friday Night SmackDown results from Friday, March 22, 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 (3/22/2024)
The usual “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature gets us started and then we shoot to a live shot of the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI. We see footage of Damage CTRL and others making their arrivals to the building.
Rey Mysterio vs. Santos Escobar
Inside the arena, Corey Graves and Wade Barrett welcome us to the show as the familiar sounds of Rey Mysterio’s theme music plays. The WWE Hall of Fame legend emerges to a big pop and makes his way down to the ring for his first match back since his recent return from injury.
As he settles in the ring, a video package with comments from Santos Escobar plays. After it wraps up, we return live to the sounds of Santos Escobar’s theme music. The Legado Del Fantasma leader makes his way out to a ton of boos and has a big smile on his face as he heads to the ring.
The bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running. The commentators remind us, per SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis, that the LWO and Legado Del Fantasma have both been banned from ringside during this match. Mysterio immediately goes to work on Escobar, flattening him with a big elbow to start things off.
After enjoying a few minutes in the offensive driver’s seat, Escobar starts to take back over. As he does, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as the match continues. When we return, we see highlights of Escobar slamming Mysterio into the steps on the floor and repeating the spot that injured him a few months ago.
The crowd tries rallying behind Mysterio as the action resumes inside the squared circle, however Escobar silences them by taking Rey down with a big spot. He yells, “I’m not gonna stop!” and then hangs Rey upside down in the corner and goes to work on him. He goes for a spear, but Mysterio moves and Escobar crashes and burns on the floor.
Rey climbs to the top-rope and then to the top of the ring post and launches himself onto Escobar on the floor for a huge pop from the Milwaukee crowd. Back in the ring, Rey heads to the top-rope again and connects with a seated senton. Moments later, when it seems like Rey had it wrapped up, we see someone in a Rey Mysterio mask at ringside.
The masked Rey Mysterio impersonator gets involved and helps Escobar pull off the comeback victory over the WWE Hall of Fame legend in his return bout. The crowd loudly boos as the Rey Mysterio masked impersonator removes the Rey mask to reveal he is, of course, Dominik Mysterio.
Winner: Santos Escobar
Backstage With Bayley, Naomi & Bianca Belair
Backstage, we see Bayley and Naomi hanging out and being friendly when Bianca Belair comes up and takes issue with this. She tells Bayley she’s not genuinely sorry for all the stuff she did while she was with Damage CTRL, she’s just sorry that the consequences of her actions are finally coming around to her. She tells Naomi she doesn’t know what Bayley was like while she was gone.
We head to another commercial break. This time when we return, we see Naomi and Belair walking by themselves and we hear Naomi try to explain to Belair that she doesn’t care what happened in the past, and that she can’t do this alone because Damage CTRL is picking them off one at a time. She tells Belair she needs her help.
Tag-Team Title Eliminator Tournament Semifinals
The O.C. vs. Austin Theory & Grayson Waller
Back inside the Fiserv Forum, the theme for Austin Theory hits and out he comes accompanied by Grayson Waller. The two head to the ring for their scheduled bracket two semifinal match in the ongoing tag-team title eliminator tournament. They settle in the ring to a bunch of boos as their music dies down.
The O.C.’s theme hits next and as their entrance tune plays, out comes the veteran duo of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with our second bout of the evening. After some basic back-and-forth action from both teams, we see The O.C. duo pull ahead.
After dumping Theory and Waller out to the floor, the two pose on the apron as we head into a mid-match commercial break. When we return, after some more back-and-forth action, we see Theory and Waller pull off the victory. With the win, they will move on to face the winner of The Street Profits vs. AOP showdown later tonight.
Winners and ADVANCING: Austin Theory & Grayson Waller
Naomi vs. IYO SKY
After the tag-team title eliminator tourney bout wraps up. we head to another commercial break. When we return, we see footage of Roman Reigns’ appearance earlier today on The Pat McAfee Show live in Iowa.
As we return inside the Fiserv Forum, it’s time to “Feel The Glow” as the lights go down and the neon-clad WWE Superstar Naomi emerges and heads to the ring for our next match of the evening. As she settles inside, her music dies down.
Damage CTRL’s theme hits and then everyone who isn’t IYO SKY comes out. We cut to the back where we see IYO SKY is beating the crap out of Bayley. She eventually heads out to the ring.
IYO SKY tells the troops not to come down with her. Naomi attacks right away and hits shoulder shrugs in the corner. Scorpion kick from Naomi and she keeps up corner offense. IYO fights back with elbows then a kick and a jumping hurricanrana.
Corner dropkick from SKY, then kicks to follow up. Naomi fights back with an enziguri out of the corner then a dropkick. Swinging Bulldog from Naomi connects, SKY then takes a powder and we head to a mid-match commercial break as the match continues.
When we return, we see SKY is back in the offensive driver’s seat. She hits a big meteora spot for a close two count. Naomi starts to show signs of life and begins fighting back into competitive form as the crowd starts to rally behind her.
Damage CTRL runs out and the distraction allows SKY to take back over, finishing this one off with her top-rope “Over The Moon-sault” finisher for the pin fall victory. Afterwards, Damage CTRL all beat down Naomi.
Naomi fights back but Asuka sprays her in the eyes with poison mist. As they celebrate over Naomi’s fallen body, the theme for Bianca Belair hits and the crowd explodes. Out comes “The EST of WWE,” who begins beating down all of Damage CTRL by herself.
Eventually the numbers game is too much for Belair as well, and now we watch as all of the members of Damage CTRL take turns beating down Belair and Naomi. They leave them laying as IYO SKY’s theme hits and she poses with her WWE Women’s title over them.
Winner: IYO SKY
Jade Cargill Signs With The SmackDown Brand
A video package airs after the match showcasing the arrival of Jade Cargill. The video features comments from the former longtime AEW TBS Women’s Champion as clips are shown.
The video ends with her announcing she is bringing her talents to the SmackDown brand. It is then announced that Jade Cargill will make her first official appearance as a SmackDown star next Friday night. We head to another commercial break after this wraps up.
Backstage With Nick Aldis, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton & Pretty Deadly
When we return from the break, we see Bianca Belair and Naomi beat up backstage. They ask for something to clear Asuka’s poison mist out of their eyes. Tiffany Stratton walks up and mocks them and says “Toodles” and walks off.
Now we catch up with Pretty Deadly backstage with SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis, when they are approached by Kevin Owens. After the three banter back-and-forth, we hear “The Prize Fighter” challenge them to a tag-team match next week.
They try and point out that he’s by himself, but he points to someone off-camera and asks if he’ll team up with him next week. We see it is Randy Orton and he says that he will. Owens ends up decking both Pretty Deadly guys and runs off to brag to Orton about it.
Tag-Team Title Eliminator Tournament Semifinals
The Street Profits vs. AOP
After an “earlier today” cinematic experience-type of segment airs that sees LA Knight attacking AJ Styles at his home, only to be arrested by cops on the scene, we return inside the Fiserv Forum where we hear the familiar sounds of The Street Profits’ theme music.
Out comes the duo of Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins. As they settle inside the squared circle for our second bracket two semifinal bout of this week’s show in the ongoing tag-team title eliminator tournament, we head into a quick pre-match commercial break.
As we settle back in from the break, the screen turns black-and-white and then the theme for The Final Testament hits. Out comes The Authors of Pain with Paul Ellering, as well as Karrion Kross and Scarlett. The AOP duo of Akam and Rezar settle inside the ring and the bell sounds to get this one started.
We see some good action coming out of the gate, with the Profits jumping off to a strong start. Their larger opposition begins taking over as we head into a mid-match commercial break.
When we return, we see the AOP dominating and seemingly having this one in the bag, only for the Profits to pull off the win at the last second. With the win, The Street Profits will meet Austin Theory & Grayson Waller on next week’s SmackDown, with the winning team advancing to the tag-team title match at WrestleMania XL.
Winners and ADVANCING: The Street Profits
Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes Go Face-To-Face
It’s main event (segment) time!
Backstage, we see “The Wise Man” of The Bloodline, Paul Heyman, on his cell phone talking to Roman Reigns. He tells him that he has seen and been told, with his own eyes and ears, that Cody Rhodes is here — and he’s alone as requested. “Your public awaits, my Tribal Chief,” Heyman says, as we head to another break.
When we return, we hear the iconic sounds of the entrance tune of Roman Reigns and out comes “The Tribal Chief” to a big mixed-bag reaction. The reigning WWE Universal Champion slowly makes his way down to the ring for his one-on-one face-to-face showdown with his WrestleMania XL opponent, Cody Rhodes.
He enters the ring and soaks in the atmosphere as his music wraps up. He gets on the mic and tells Milwaukee to “ACKNOWLEDGE HIM!” He then says he’s a man of his word and he’s here by himself, with only “The Wise Man” Paul Heyman, who is no physical threat to anyone. We head to another commercial break on that note.
Cody Rhodes makes his way out to the ring as soon as we return from the break, and the crowd is smothering him with love in Milwaukee. “The American Nightmare” settles in the ring by himself as he promised he would. Cody says if Roman is here by himself, then he is a man of his word and he too is here by himself.
Roman cuts him off and says, “You’re stupid.” He goes on to talk about how Cody is dumb to be here by himself. He brings up how Seth “Freakin'” Rollins is supposed to have his back at WrestleMania XL, but where was he on Monday night when Cody needed him? He tells him he comes out here thinking everyone is going to be honorable, because he’s stupid.
Reigns brings up how Seth Rollins was in The Shield with him. He says Rollins eventually turned his back on him, and says that’s what he does, again pointing out how he can’t be trusted. Cody then responds, bringing up how he’s got his “Bullet cuff links” on his suit today as proof he knows something about factions, referring to The Bullet Club.
Rhodes then talks about Rollins before turning things around on Reigns and says he feels he can trust his partner, but what about Roman? Can Roman trust The Rock at WrestleMania XL? Roman then talks about how Cody is the greatest number two of all-time, but that’s all he’ll ever be, is the best number two. He says because he is number one — forever.
As Cody continues to talk, he admits that to the next generation of fans growing up right now, they’ll probably want to be the next Roman Reigns the same way they wanted to be the next “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, Ric Flair, etc. He takes issue with being called the greatest number two, however, and makes it clear that he’s number one.
Cody then tells Roman “good luck at WrestleMania,” before offering his hand for a handshake. Reigns isn’t interested in shaking hands. He instead starts to talk off as Cody’s hand is out-stretched in a trademark act of sportsmanship, something Reigns mocked moments ago by saying if anyone has a baby to kiss, Cody will make it part of his next ring entrance.
Reigns ends up simply walking off with Heyman as his music plays. He stops and snaps his fingers and then we see Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso emerging through the crowd with mean looks on their faces. The two hop the barricade and walk around the ring to join Reigns in the aisle. Reigns rubs his hands together and smirks as Cody stares at him leaning on the ropes.
The commentators point out how Cody is standing his ground despite The Bloodline seemingly preparing to attack. With that said, the camera angle changes and we see Seth “Freakin'” Rollins and “Main Event” Jey Uso emerge through the crowd the same way Sikoa and Jimmy did. As they join Cody in the ring, Reigns’ music stops and Cody’s begins playing. We see all six staring each other down as this week’s show goes off the air on that note. Thanks for joining us!
