WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights from June 9 (2024)

Who will Jey Uso align himself with: brother Jimmy or cousin Roman Reigns?

This was the central question of Friday's SmackDown, an episode that sought to write the latest chapter in the Bloodline saga while continuing WWE's march to Money in the Bank on July 1.

What did Jey do in the face of his sibling's assault at the hands of their younger brother, Solo Sikoa, and which Superstars cashed their tickets to the O2 Arena in London and the upcoming pay-per-view by way of MITB qualifying wins?

Find out with this recap of the June 9 broadcast.

Announced in advance for Friday's show in advance were:

Will Jey Uso fall in line and rejoin Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman in The Bloodline?

It was the question on the minds of WWE fans entering Friday's show and The Right Hand Man opted to keep the audience guessing, but not before taking the Special Counsel of The Bloodline up on a shot at Austin Theory for the United States Championship.

The segment ended on a cliffhanger, with Uso neither pledging allegiance to the faction in the wake of his brother Jimmy's attack at the hands of Sikoa nor completely divorcing himself from the group.

Will he dethrone Theory? What awaits him if he does not? Whose side does he choose: Jimmy's or The Bloodlines?

Those are questions enhanced or presented for the first time by this segment, which convinces fans to stick around for the night's main event.

Good stuff from all involved and a perfect way to start the show.

Grade

A

Top Moments

Santos Escobar continued the hottest year of his career Friday night with a win over Mustafa Ali that cashed his ticket to Money in the Bank and a shot at a guaranteed championship opportunity.

A fun, energetic match that had the fans invested based on the raw athleticism on display from the competitors, it was a great way to kick off the in-ring portion of the night's show. While it is never a bad thing for Ali to score a high-stakes victory, Escobar has meant more to WWE storytelling this year than his opponent and was the right choice to leave this one victoriously.

Backstage, Sami Zayn attempted to talk sense into Jey Uso, reminding him of the manipulation of Roman Reigns and urging him to listen to his heart.

Result

Escobar defeated Ali

Grade

B

Top Moments

The women's tag team division is about to get a pair of unified champions, thanks to a promo segment that turned physical Friday night.

NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn had their promo time with Kayla Braxton interrupted by new WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler.

Words were exchanged, a challenge for a unification match was laid down by Rousey and Baszler, and the dark and twisted tandem formerly of Tuesday nights accepted.

The segment was, like most of the women's tag team division on either show, uninspired. With that said, it was nice to see Fyre and Dawn get one over on their new-found foes, even if there is very little chance of them actually winning both sets of titles when the time comes for the proposed matches.

Grade

C

Top Moments

There was very little to the Money in the Bank qualifier between Bayley and Mia Yim, with most of the attention paid to AJ Styles at ringside and the post-match angle that ensued.

Bayley scored the win to secure her spot in the upcoming ladder match in a too-short-to-be-good match. Attention quickly turned to Scarlett's mind games and a physical assault of Styles by Karrion Kross that reignited that feud.

This was an efficient segment if nothing else in that Bayley qualified and we got the latest from Styles and Kross. Still, it felt majorly disappointing for what could have been a better match with more time to be relegated to the background, but it is an all-too-common theme of late.

Result

Bayley defeated Yim

Grade

C+

Top Moments

It's beginning to feel a lot like 2018 up in here.

Asuka may have been the recipient of the newly unveiled WWE Women's Championship, but it was the returning Charlotte Flair who stole the focus away from The Empress of Tomorrow and immediately challenged her for the title.

Adam Pearce, presiding over the ceremony, at least called out Flair's attempted jumping of the line but The Queen admitted as much, even claiming to have started the line. Asuka attempted to spray her blue mist, Flair evaded it and the babyface stood tall.

While some may be excited for Flair's return, which makes total sense given her all-timer against Rhea Ripley back at WrestleMania, it is hard to get excited for her comeback when we have seen her, directly or not, undermine a big push for Asuka once before.

Hopefully, that is not the case here.

Unfortunately, past experience suggests that is exactly what will occur.

At least making things interesting is that Pearce promised Bianca Belair a rematch with Asuka, potentially setting tension up between The EST and The Queen and, more importantly, a heel turn for the former champion.

In a brief backstage segment, Paul Heyman told Jey Uso to get his suit and passport ready because he is flying to Money in the Bank in The Tribal Chief's persona jet and appearing next week in a special ceremony.

Uso told the special counsel that, if he is in The Bloodline, Heyman is not.

Grade

C+

Top Moments

For the second time on this show, the Money in the Bank qualifier took a back seat to another ongoing storyline.

Baron Corbin allowed himself to become distracted by the presence of Trick Williams and NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes at ringside and paid dearly for it, losing out on an opportunity to become a two-time Money in the Bank winner as The Brawling Brutes' Butch pinned him for the win.

A brawl between Corbin and his rivals ensued but neither that nor the presence of future star Hayes was enough to alleviate the bad taste of the qualifier match once again being utilized to further an extracurricular storyline.

Result

Butch defeated Corbin

Grade

C+

Top Moments

Bayley recognizes that her path to victory in Money in the Bank is much easier with Damage CTRL Iyo Sky by her side and Friday night, The Role Model assisted The Genius of the Sky to a tainted victory over Shotzi.

The match was never allowed to get going, a victim of time constraints, but the finish certainly highlighted the premise of said story as Bayley made sure her friend and teammate cashed her ticket to London's O2 Arena on July 1.

There has been mounting tension between them of late and the high-stakes ladder match will likely be the time and place for the demise of Damage CTRL. If it gets Sky in a more prominent role and gives us match between the two of them on a larger stage, by all means, make that creative decision.

Just give that eventual match more time than either of the Women's Money in the Bank qualifiers was allotted.

Result

Sky defeated Shotzi

Grade

C

Top Moments

An errant superkick from Jimmy Uso while attempting to save his brother doomed Jey to defeat as Austin Theory retained the United States Championship and Paul Heyman got the last laugh.

Jey was left in a state of uncertainty, not sure of who to trust or where to pledge his allegiance, setting up what is likely to be a significant segment of television in this Bloodline saga on next week's show.

Like the opening segment, this provided fans with a cliffhanger that creates anticipation for what is to come, something we do not see nearly enough of in today's wrestling landscape. Everything involving Heyman, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa on this broadcast was master storytelling and proof that WWE does not need Roman Reigns on every broadcast to tell effective stories.

The match between Uso and Theory was solid, too, and the fans' reaction to the former suggests they are champing at the bit for the opportunity to consistently cheer The Right Hand Man.

When Jey finally turns on Reigns, the fans will have a brand new hero to throw their support behind and WWE will have a red-hot babyface on its hands.

Result

Theory defeated Uso to retain

Grade

B+

Top Moments

The Bloodline stuff was fantastic, as has been the case for the last two or three years at this point, but the rest of Friday's show suffered from being too jam-packed with no real opportunity to focus enough time on any one match or segment for it to mean anything.

The qualifying matches were a waste of time and energy if for no other reason than they fact that they were inconsequential in comparison to the storyline within, and the Flair-Asuka segment felt like an unfortunate case of deja vu that absolutely no one is in a hurry to experience.

Again.

This central story was Jey's plight but everything around it was so-so at best and as a result so is the grade.

Overall grade: C