WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights From April 19 (2024)

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE SmackDown on April 19.

WrestleMania 40 may be behind us, but that doesn't mean things are slowing down. This week's SmackDown featured a title match and two No. 1 Contender's bouts.

Here is what WWE advertised leading into Friday's show:

Let's take a look at what happened on this week's SmackDown.

SmackDown kicked off with a match that was both a No. 1 Contender's bout and a WrestleMania rematch with Knight and Styles fighting to be the first challenger for Cody Rhodes' WWE Universal Championship.

They started with a clean lockup, but the fight quickly spilled out of the ring and saw Knight slam Styles' head into the announce table several times.

The Slim Jim spokesman played to the crowd a lot and got the fans to be vocal and rowdy. The Phenomenal One sold well for him when he was on defense, making Knight look even better in the process.

Knight is a good wrestler, but Styles has a way of making everyone look just a little better. Even a match like this that won't be remembered in a few weeks went off without a hitch. Every move was executed with precision and they followed up on their 'Mania encounter well.

He may have lost at 'Mania, but Styles was able to get the win with a thumb to the eye and a Phenomenal Forearm. Rhodes and Styles will do battle for the title at Backlash.

Result: Styles defeated Knight

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga were shown arriving and asking Paul Heyman to bring them to Kevin Owens. Back in the ring, Nick Aldis was there to present new belts to Austin Theory and Grayson Waller to replace the SmackDown tag titles with new WWE Tag Team Championships.

The champs remained at ringside to watch Akam and Rezar, Angel and Berto, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins, and Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate compete for a shot at those shiny new belts.

AOP played the big villains in the match, and their feud with the Profits carried over from WrestleMania, but all four teams played a part.

Bouts like this would benefit from having one member of each duo in the ring instead of just two legal competitors, but it rarely made a difference anyway. We saw several multi-man spots, especially at the end.

This was an entertaining bit of chaos that had a couple of convincing near-falls. Every team had multiple standout moments, but it was Dawkins and Ford who secured the win and a title shot. This was excellent and something you should go out of your way to see if you didn't.

Result: The Street Profits won

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

Sikoa and Heyman came to the ring for a promo, but Sikoa took the mic for himself after a moment. He spoke about needing to lose a brother in order to find a new one. That is when we saw Tonga bringing a bloody Kevin Owens to the ring.

Officials tried to help KO to the back while Tonga and Sikoa posed, but he tried to come back for a fight. He ended up on the losing end and the segment ended with Sikoa and Tonga standing tall. After a break, we saw a car crash that was apparently how Owens got his injury.

The next match saw Carlito with Zelina Vega by his side taking on Santos Escobar, who Elektra Lopez accompanied.

They started brawling right away and Carlito took control early by overpowering the luchador. Predictably, Escobar made a comeback and got the win. This was fine but uneventful.

Result: Escobar defeated Carlito

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

Before the main event, Damage CTRL, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill were shown in neighboring skyboxes.

These are two women who are noted friends and working as babyfaces, so this was a clean match that didn't rely on cheating or interference by either competitor's allies.

This was a solid match from start to finish, but knowing it was going to have a predictable finish definitely kept it from feeling as special as it would on a PPV.

Both women hit a few of their signature moves and came close to winning before Tiffany Stratton caused a no-contest finish by attacking both women.

The majority of what we saw was great, but the way it ended definitely left a bit to be desired.

Result: No Contest

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

For a two-hour show that only had four matches, this week's SmackDown moved at a brisk pace and featured several storyline developments.

New No. 1 contenders were found for Cody Rhodes and the team of Waller and Theory, Sikoa cemented his place as The Bloodline's leader in Reign's absence, and Stratton pushed herself into the title scene.

The Fatal 4-Way tag match was easily the highlight of the night. All eight men looked great and put on a fun performance that made the SD tag team division look stronger than it has in quite some time.

Backlash is approaching quickly, so WWE is already moving on from 'Mania, but we still have the upcoming draft, too. The landscape of WWE could look very different in a couple of weeks.

Grade: B