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WWE SmackDown results and highlights (Nov. 29): Jacob Fatu secures WarGames advantage for New Bloodline

anthony sulla-heffinger
Staff writer
·8-min read
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - NOVEMBER 29: Jacob Fatu enters the ring during SmackDown at Delta Center on November 29, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by WWE/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - NOVEMBER 29: Jacob Fatu enters the ring during SmackDown at Delta Center on November 29, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by WWE/Getty Images)

WWE's biggest stars showed they were ready for war* on Black Friday.

(*WarGames, not the retail variety that took place online and at malls across America.)

Friday's go-home "WWE SmackDown" for WWE Survivor Series: WarGames teased the uneasy alliances within both babyface teams for the men's and women's WarGames matches, as well as determined which Bloodline — OG or New — would have the advantage Saturday night.

In honor of the biggest shopping day of the year, we're going to be buying or selling each segment/match that took place on Friday's show.

Whenever we have a big, special match on a PLE, you can almost guarantee we're going to open the show with a tease featuring all parties involved. Friday didn't deviate from that formula, with all 10 women involved in the women's WarGames match cutting a promo to kick things off. This wasn't anything we haven't heard before, doing very little to hype us up any further for the match.

I'm sure the match will be great — it's hard for it not to be considering the talent involved — but I wish there was more substance/difference in the mic work.

That said, there was a winner from the open...

Rhea Ripley is still the most over person in this match, but Morgan's star is shining incredibly brightly and she is delivering on every level right now. While Ripley, Bianca Belair, Naomi and Iyo Sky all essentially said "We're mad and want to make you pay" in different ways, Morgan (and Nia Jax, who deserves some praise here as well) added a new wrinkle by suggesting Bayley may have been behind the Jade Cargill attack.

Much like her "Watch Me" tag line, Morgan demands your attention when she's on your screen.

Nakamura's entrance has always been among the best in WWE, and the latest iteration is now different. I'm getting serious Undertaker vibes from the repackaged star.

After that awesome entrance, Nakamura and Andrade proceeded to put on an absolute banger of a match. Andrade showed off some truly impressive offense — including a springboard dropkick followed by a top-rope moonsault to the floor — and there was a pair of violent elbow strikes from both men in the latter stages of the match. Nakamura looked as good as ever, despite a seven-month layoff.

The finish protected Andrade, and afterward Nakamura misted LA Knight, standing tall a day before their United States Championship match. There's a good chance no matter who wins Saturday that we still (justifiably) see Andrade in the United States Championship picture.

We got a trio of backstage segments between matches on "WWE SmackDown." First, we got the New Bloodline hyping up Jacob Fatu before his crucial contest against Jey Uso in the main event. SmackDown GM Nick Aldis interjected and announced that all other Bloodline members (OG and New) would be banned from ringside. This was fine, but I would have loved for Solo Sikoa to be a bit more menacing toward Aldis.

We also continued to watch Tommaso Ciampa's descent into Goldie madness and the inevitable DIY split — Johnny Gargano has one more week to figure out how to get a WWE Tag Team Championship match against MCMG or the Ciampa destruction tour resumes.

Finally, Kevin Owens made his case for why Cody Rhodes deserved the attack at Bad Blood and that the Undisputed WWE Champion turned a blind eye when Owens needed him. These two will square off at Saturday Night Main Event next month, which is giving immaculate vibes already.

Hayes, a former NXT Champion, is extremely talented and looked great at times in his match against Rhodes, but he has yet to captivate the crowd on the main roster like he did at NXT. Hayes showed off his film study by evading some of Rhodes' signature moves and forcing the Undisputed WWE Champion to adjust his game plan, utilizing his power advantage more than we're used to seeing.

Was this the best match of the night? No, but it was a high-profile moment for a rising star in WWE and Rhodes' level of work at this point is worth the price of admission, so we're in on this.

Paul Heyman was the star here, and appears to be the pawn in this brewing uneasy alliance between Reigns and Punk.

I didn't love the way Reigns approached the meeting — acting more like the heel Tribal Chief. He just battled side-by-side with Punk against the New Bloodline last week and now he doesn't trust the guy?

Another confusing moment came when Heyman warned Punk that if the New Bloodline wins, they are going to target him as the next biggest threat on the roster. Why wouldn't they go after Rhodes' Undisputed WWE Championship?

We did get an added wrinkle in the form of a favor owed to Punk by Heyman when all is said and done — very "Rocky III" of them.

This felt like an attempt to recapture the magic of the Reigns-Rhodes Georgia Tech promo, but it fell flat for me. I like the added intrigue that the Heyman-Punk favor adds and there's real question about who the Wise Man will wind up being loyal to.

No disrespect to Michin, but she would have been my third choice to win against Piper Niven and Lash Legend. Not great considering it was a triple-threat match.

The match itself wasn't bad, aside from a clunky finish, but if we're looking ahead in the bracket, keeping alive a Niven-Chelsea Green final is intriguing and Lash Legend has been so impressive in her short time on the main roster that I would have preferred the spot go to her as well.

Michin could have been protected and been the first challenger for the eventual winner.

Bryon Saxton caught up with Knight as he got medical attention after being misted by Nakamura. This promo felt too rehearsed/cookie cutter. Not Knight's best work, despite everybody (literally) saying L A Knight, YEAH, at the end.

Much like he did for the New Bloodline earlier in the night, Aldis informed Sami Zayn and Jimmy Uso that they would be banned from ringside. This happened in Gorilla Position, which robbed us of Jey Uso's popular through-the-crowd entrance. For that, I'm not buying.

From a logistical standpoint, it has to be Jacob Fatu, right? The Samoan Werewolf secured the advantage for the New Bloodline in Saturday's WarGames match with a win over Jey Uso in the main event. It was also Fatu's first singles match on WWE television.

Logistics aside, Fatu continues to shine every time he steps foot in front of a WWE camera or in a WWE ring. His match with Uso was tremendous and stood out on a "SmackDown" episode that didn't have a bad match on it. Fatu — and the main event — are obvious buys.

Michael Cole and Corey Graves' announce table didn't do the one thing announce tables need to on a wrestling show — get destroyed. Seriously, if we're giving out reviews, its failure to collapse on a Samoan drop from Fatu to Uso earns it zero stars and I'm getting announce table customer service on the line ASAP.

Despite having some gripes with the promo work, this was a really strong episode of SmackDown:

I give Friday's "WWE SmackDown" 👑 9/10 crowns. 👑