WWE Friday Night Smackdown: An Intercontinental Celebration Edition

So... like it's becoming the norm... we start with more bad pub for WWE as the company may have even more of a mess on its hands than normal thanks to a new version of the #MeToo movement focusing on wrestlers dubbed #SpeakingOut

It started with British independent wrestler (an American from the northeast) David Starr... who dubs himself as the 'Bernie Sanders of professional wrestling' as part of his much larger intro and at a recent appearance was unironically wearing an AOC t-shirt... who was accused of rape by an ex-gf of not just her but numerous other women. Starr replied to that tweet by essentially both admitting and denying it at the same time

Now that story wouldn't be here unless either WWE, NXT, or AEW got entrapped in this somehow... and WWE/NXT it is. Current formal WWE/NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin (the cruiserweight champion currently stuck overseas... and thus the reason WWE/NXT needed an interim champion) has also been accused of taking some liberties with the ladies... forcing a response from WWE essentially saying "we're looking into it"

That somehow overshadows the news that the positive COVID test that suspended the Tuesday tapings has caused another 1 of WWE's top guys to walk away from the company for the time being as Kevin Owens has apparently said he's out of action until the COVID stuff calms down... so we'll be without the KO Show for the foreseeable future

But enough bad stuff... let's get onto tonight's show from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla. shall we?

The Fireflies return from a bit of a hiatus as Bray Wyatt and the Firefly Fun House comes back tonight with all of our friends, Abby the Witch, Mercy the Buzzard, the unkillable Ramblin' Rabbit, & Huskus the Pigboy. Will "He" come play too?

Last week, AJ Styles became the new Intercontinental Champion... and tonight he'll have a red carpet, star-studded celebration with a giant red carpet presentation of his new championship title. Surely no one would interrupt this grand celebration, would they?

Miz TV returns tonight with the denim dandy... Otis' peach... Mandy Rose as the special guest to talk about her failed friendship with the butch Sonya Deville... who can't possibly lose during pride month, right? It's Sonya's month... she should win all the titles

The only match promoted for tonight isn't even really a match... as the King of Bros Matt Riddle will make his Smackdown in-ring debut against what I'm guessing will be a jobber opponent so a nice easy win for Riddle

Bayley Dos Straps (pre-Karen haircut) anyone?


and speaking of Bayley's Karen haircut... she apparently had the image of a cake shaved into the back of her head (under her hair) for her birthday Monday