WWE SmackDown Notes: Elton Prince In-Ring Return, Nick Aldis Debuts as SD GM, Kevin Owens, Women’s Title Match Set, Jade Cargill

Oct 13, 2023

Elton Prince Makes In-Ring Return on Friday’s SmackDown Show

Friday’s season premiere SmackDown show in Tulsa, Oklahoma featured Pretty Deadly’s Elton Prince making his in-ring return from injury.

Prince competed in a tag team match with Kit Wilson against The Brawling Brutes’ Ridge Holland and Butch, which was won by Pretty Deadly.

Prior to his return, Prince had been out of action since this past July due to a shoulder-related injury.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s Big Announcement – Adam Pearce Announced as RAW GM & Nick Aldis Debuts as SD GM

Friday’s SmackDown show in Tulsa also featured WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque making a big announcement.

During an in-ring promo segment, Levesque praised WWE official Adam Pearce for all of his hard work these past few years. Levesque then stated that he was giving Pearce a promotion and officially named him as the new General Manager of WWE’s RAW brand.

Before Levesque was able to finish his announcement, Dominik Mysterio came out to interrupt and berated both Levesque and Pearce for Judgement Day being screwed out of their Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles at Fastlane 2023. Levesque responded stating that Mysterio is yelling at the wrong person since Pearce is the RAW General Manager and instead should take up his issues with the new General Manager of SmackDown, which was revealed to Nick Aldis.

Welcome to SmackDown, our NEW General Manager, @RealNickAldis! 👏👏👏

For any complaints regarding the blue brand, you can take them up with him! 😂#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/uoyD2O702x
— WWE (@WWE) October 14, 2023

Kevin Owens Announced as SmackDown’s Trade Compensation for Jey Uso Trade

Friday’s SmackDown show in Tulsa also featured RAW brand talent Kevin Owens being officially announced as SmackDown’s trade compensation for the Jey Uso trade deal.

This was revealed following an in-ring segment involving WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque, new RAW GM Adam Pearce, Dominik Mysterio, and new SD GM Nick Aldis. After some back-and-forth banter between Aldis and Mysterio, Aldis announced that SmackDown’s trade compensation for the Jey Uso deal was Kevin Owens, who came out and proceeded to hit Mysterio with a Stunner sending him flying into the air.

Welcome back to #SmackDown, @FightOwensFight! pic.twitter.com/h4JAuIYAAu
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 14, 2023

Charlotte Flair vs. IYO SKY for WWE Women’s Title Set for Next Week’s SmackDown Show

Friday’s SmackDown show in Tulsa also featured one new match officially announced for the card of the October 20th SmackDown show in San Antonio, Texas.

This was announced to be a WWE Women’s Championship match of Charlotte Flair vs. IYO SKY (c).

This match was setup following a backstage segment involving new SmackDown GM Nick Aldis and Charlotte Flair. Aldis stated that he saw what had happened to Flair during the Triple Threat match for the WWE Women’s title at Fastlane 2023 and claimed that she would be champion now if not for Damage CTRL’s actions. Aldis then stated that he would give Flair a title match for SKY’s WWE Women’s title and that this match would be taking place on next week’s SmackDown show.

Jade Cargill Makes Surprise Appearance on Friday’s SmackDown Show

Friday’s SmackDown show in Tulsa also featured Jade Cargill making her official on-screen SmackDown debut.

Following a backstage segment involving new SmackDown GM Nick Aldis and Charlotte Flair, Cargill and WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque showed up leading to a brief encounter between Flair and Cargill before Flair walked away.

.@Jade_Cargill is here on #SmackDown!@MsCharlotteWWE @TripleH pic.twitter.com/GOEtSPaXju
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 14, 2023