Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE SmackDown on December 6.

Here is a look at what WWE advertised for Friday's show:

• Cody Rhodes kicks off SmackDown
• MCMG vs. Street Profits (Tag titles)
• Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Elektra Lopez (U.S. title tourney)
• Solo Sikoa responds after WarGames loss

Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's episode of SmackDown.

Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Elektra Lopez

SmackDown opened with a video recapping what happened at Survivor Series. Tanga Loa, Bronson Reed and Jimmy Uso's injuries were all mentioned. Backstage, the New Bloodline was shown assaulting several random workers.

When we finally went live to the arena, Rhodes made his way out to the ring to kick off the show. Chad Gable and American Made ended up interrupting him and talked about how draft season was coming up and he's been talking to Nick Aldis.

They went back and forth with insults, with Rhodes bringing up Shorty G and Gable saying Kevin Owens deserved a better friend. The American Nightmare told Gable to talk to Aldis about booking them for a match in the main event.

The first match of the night was a triple thread bout in the ongoing women's U.S. title tournament with Stratton, Naomi and Lopez.

Naomi occasionally found herself being double-teamed, but she did a good job creating space between everyone.

There was a clear lack of chemistry and a few miscommunications throughout this match. They did some good stuff, but the number of clunky moments really stood out.

After Candice LeRae interfered and distracted Naomi, Stratton was able to throw her out of the ring and hit a moonsault on Lopez for the win. Her hometown crowd gave her a big pop.

Result: Stratton defeated Naomi and Lopez

Grade: C

Notable Moments and Observations

• The slow-mo close-up of Reed breaking his ankle was tough to watch. 
• Rhodes should do a one-night-only return as Stardust. Every time he brings it up, the crowd pops. 
• Jesse Ventura was shown sitting in the crowd. 
• Naomi almost fell off the top rope but caught herself. You could see Lopez look scared when it happened and pause for a moment. 

Bianca Belair vs. Piper Niven

After getting into a fight backstage related to Jade Cargill being taken out, Bianca Belair and Piper Niven were booked for a singles match.

Chelsea Green was at ringside to be a continuous thorn in The EST's side and distract her so Niven could take control.

Belair had her ribs taped up to sell the brutality of the WarGames match, so Niven focused a lot of her offense on the midsection.

These two have had some great matches in the past, so they had no problem finding that chemistry again. The bout was a little slow in some places but not enough to hurt it. In fact, it helped make the sequences when they picked up the pace have more impact.

The EST not only hit the KOD on Niven to get the win, but she did it by dropping her on top of Green. The longer this went, the better it got.

Result: Belair defeated Niven

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• The Street Profits were attacked backstage, so Aldis allowed DIY to step into the tag title match later in the show. 
• Niven and Green using a classic cheating technique with an abdominal stretch was great. You almost never see that anymore. 
• Belair's spear needs some work. She hit Niven a little too high on her body. 
• Niven's Saito suplex looked awesome. Belair sold it perfectly, too. 

Motor City Machine Guns vs. DIY

Shinsuke Nakamura came to the ring with his newly won U.S. title, but LA Knight came out before he could speak. The Megastar was about to go fight him, but Andrade came out and said he wanted his shot at Nakamura.

Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu showed up and beat up Knight and Andrade, but they chose to leave Nakamura alone once he started spewing black liquid from his mouth.

Up next was Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano taking on Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley for the tag titles. This match came about after Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins were attacked backstage by an unknown assailant.

Ciampa went right after Sabin as the ref called for the bell. He yelled at Gargano that they needed to be more aggressive in their pursuit of gold as he stomped on Sabin in the corner.

This match became more about the growing division between Gargano and Ciampa than the titles. Ciampa grew frustrated and told Gargano that he would do it himself.

After inadvertently kicking Gargano off the apron, Ciampa found himself outmatched by MCMG. They got into an argument and Ciampa looked like he was going to leave, but he tried to come in with a chair.

While the ref was distracted, Gargano hit Shelley with a low blow. He superkicked Shelley and a smiling Ciampa held his hand out for a tag. They pulled the wool over everyone's eyes and hit their finisher to get the pin and win the tag titles.

This was an absolutely unexpected direction for this to go, but being surprised in pro wrestling is rarely a bad thing. DIY has turned heel and hopefully, Candice LeRae can start hanging out with her husband again.

Result: DIY defeated MCMG

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Nakamura letting some of the mist leak out was such a creepy and cool look. 
• Kevin Owens was supposed to have an interview with Michael Cole but he refused to enter the arena, so he said Cole could come to his car if he wanted. 
• Gargano and Ciampa have broken up and made up so much that they are basically the new Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. 

Chad Gable vs. Cody Rhodes

This week's main event was the match that was booked in the opening segment between Rhodes and Gable. As usual, Ivy Nile and the Creed Brothers were at Gable's side.

They started with a nice exchange of takedowns and counters. Gable is obviously an Olympian but Rhodes was also an accomplished amateur wrestler, so they were trying to one-up each other immediately.

The energy was high from the opening bell and it never went down. Gable knew this was a big opportunity for his character, so it looked like he was trying to make every move extra crisp. The undisputed champion was a great dance partner.

On a technical level, this match was the best thing we saw on the entire show. The great thing about Rhodes is his ability to work with opponents who wrestle every kind of style, but seeing him get to show out against someone who is just as talented was a lot of fun.

After Rhodes hit his finisher to score a hard-fought win, Kevin Owens showed up in the ring and immediately went after him. Several officials tried and failed to break them up as the show went off the air.

Result: Rhodes defeated Gable

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• The fans giving Gable the You Suck chant during his entrance is the final step in him becoming Kurt Angle's successor. 
• Rhodes' vertical suplex looked awesome. Gable was perfectly vertical the whole time. 
• They hit one of the most perfect inverted superplexes you will ever see. They landed perfectly flat. 
• KO wearing a Dusty Rhodes shirt was an awesome detail. 

The Final Word

This week's SmackDown gave us two men's matches and two women's matches along with a handful of segments to further various storylines, but a few things stood out the most.

Belair and Niven added another great performance to their already impressive list of showdowns, and Stratton moved forward in the United States Championship tournament with a hometown win over Naomi and Lopez.

DIY turning heel and winning the tag titles is something nobody expected to happen when the show started, especially since they weren't even booked in the title bout until the Profits were taken out by who we can now assume was Ciampa and Gargano.

Gable and Rhodes closed the show with a fantastic match that showcased their ability to keep a crowd invested from bell to bell, and ending the episode with a pull-apart brawl with Owens was the icing on the cake.

As a whole, this was a very strong episode of SmackDown that made the blue brand look good heading into the new year.

Grade: B+