Date: May 30, 2017
Location: Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA
The Big Takeaway —
There will be a five-woman Money in the Bank ladder match at the PPV to determine a number one contender for Naomi’s championship. Shane McMahon made the announcement after the five women got into a chaotic brawl before their elimination match could start.
The New Day returned and will face The Usos at MITB for the tag titles. Kevin Owens will face Shinsuke Nakamura one-on-one next week in a non-title match after Nakamura pinned him again this week.
Oh, and Dolph Ziggler pinned AJ Styles in his home state.
Show Recap —
Cold open with backstage interviews from each woman in tonight’s five-way elimination match explaining why they will win.
Kevin Owens’ Highlight Reel
Owens reminded us that Chris Jericho claims he invented the Money in the Bank ladder match, but Owens will do what Jericho never could and that’s win the contract. The crowd chanted for AJ Styles. Owens claimed he would end up being a double champion and the face of WWE. He introduced his guest, Shinsuke Nakamura.
Nakamura had his full entrance, which now includes pyro (twice). He got a good reaction and people were singing his song. Owens said he retired the last guy who claimed to be a rock star. Nakamura was about to speak but was quickly interrupted by Baron Corbin.
Corbin, who takes the name of the Highlight Reel literally, wanted to show some highlights and they replayed his attack on Sami Zayn last week. Owens said Corbin shouldn’t be bragging about beating up Zayn for a few minutes because Owens has been doing it for 15 years. Corbin called him Cartman.
Nakamura called them forgetful and reminded them that he pinned Owens last week. He also reminded Corbin that Zayn beat him twice. Nakamura got some light “What” chants from the crowd. He was attacked by the two heels but Zayn ran down for the save.
Zayn said the fight between him and Corbin wasn’t over, and the fight with him and Owens is never over. Zayn challenged them to a tag match and they went to commercial. The announcers wondered if the match would be made official. It would be funny if it wasn’t.
Shinsuke Nakamura & Sami Zayn defeated US Champion Kevin Owens & Baron Corbin
A cheap shot by Owens with the referee distracted allowed the bad guys to take control. (I watch the Canadian broadcast and they don’t do the split-screen thing during commercials.)
Zayn hit Owens with a Blue Thunder Bomb immediately following the break but Corbin knocked Nakamura off the apron before Zayn could make a tag. Zayn caught him with a schoolboy for a nearfall but Corbin followed that with a spinebuster. Zayn eventually hit a hard clothesline and made the tag.
Nakamura hit kicks, knees, and running knee in the corner for two. Crowd chanted for Nakamura. Corbin broke up a pinfall attempt by Nakamura and Zayn pushed Owens into Corbin. This led to an argument between the heels. Corbin punched Owens, Zayn knocked Corbin out of the ring, and Nakamura nailed Owens with Kinshasa for the win. Big pop for the move and the win.
The SmackDown announcers plugged the Network by pushing how great the Raw PPV will be. They also plugged MITB. The Usos will address the tag division up next.
The New Day returns
The Usos accused the fans of looking salty and mad because they were still the champs. They said fans thought American Alpha would beat them, or Breezango would beat them, or the Falcons would beat the Patriots — but nope. Lots of heat for that. The Usos said not to boo them, they weren’t the ones playing. They were interrupted by the returning New Day.
New Day came out to a good reaction. They wear neon lime green now. Xavier Woods said hi to his mom in the front row and said they were happy to return in his hometown. Kofi Kingston started swiveling his hips but they were interrupted by the Usos (who moved outside the ring). “Did you guys get lost skipping down the yellow brick road or something?”
The Usos welcomed them to the Uso Penitentiary. Big E said they know what happens in a Penitentiary. He gazed at their tag titles and said, “we likes them, and we wants them.” Woods said they can do this the hard way or easy way, and Kingston said the answer better be yes.
The Usos told them to wake up from this fairy tale because they run the show and threatened to take them out back like Old Yeller. Woods mocked them and said Shane McMahon actually runs the show and he gave them a tag championship match at MITB.
AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler is tonight’s main event. They aired a video package of Jinder Mahal’s championship celebration and included some media clips from India.
Fashion Files: The Men Who Knew Too Little
This one was like an old black-and-white noir film. They followed Fandango along and we could hear his internal monologue. He saw the silhouette of a shapely lady. Turns out, it was Tyler Breeze undercover. We could hear each of their own internal voices, but it turned out they could somehow hear each other too. Their office and fashion files were destroyed and they looked for clues. They included they got too close to the tag titles and now they have a new case. This was quite good.
#1 Contender’s Fatal 5-Way Elimination match: Charlotte Flair vs. Carmella (w/James Ellsworth) vs. Tamina vs. Natalya vs. Becky Lynch
The match never happened. The Welcoming Committee attacked Charlotte and Lynch before the match could start. They beat them down for a while as the lone referee shouted at them to stop. Lynch made her own comeback on Carmella, tossing her over the barricade into the timekeeper’s area. Lynch then ran the barricade and nailed her with a forearm.
Tamina cleared the announce table but Charlotte tossed her into the ring post and suplexed Natalya on the floor. Charlotte then went up to the top and nailed a damn moonsault to the outside. Carmella nailed Charlotte with a crossbody, Lynch hit an Exploder on Carmella, Tamina superkicked Lynch, Charlotte booted Tamina, and Natalya clotheslined Charlotte.
Charlotte tossed Natalya into the steps and, finally, she powerbombed Natalya through the announce table. The crowd chanted “Holy sh*t.”
Shane skipped down the ramp and danced in the ring as if five women didn’t just try to kill each other. Shane called this amazing. He booked them in the first-ever Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Big Yes chant from the crowd.
Randy Orton will be on later.
Breezango defeated The Colons
The announcers explained that Breezango wanted a match with the Colons because cologne was among the evidence found in their destroyed office. Breeze wore a dress and wig to the ring, but it was quickly ripped off by Primo. Fandango and Breeze sprayed the Colons with water guns. Fandango back body dropped Primo to the outside and he landed hard on the mats (Epico was supposed to catch him but didn’t).
The Colons had control after a break. Fandango couldn’t tag out because Breeze was knocked off the apron. Breeze eventually reappeared as a janitor, ran wild and hit Primo with an Unprettier for the win.
Backstage, AJ Styles told Renee Young he would build momentum tonight and go on to win MITB. Ziggler interrupted and reminded Styles he’s won MITB once before and would do it again. Ziggler asked if he wanted to fight right now. Styles was ready but Ziggler backed off and told him, “See you out there, kid.”
All five women in the MITB ladder match will be on Talking Smack tonight with Renee Young and Shane McMahon. That should be something.
If there was any confusion, they reiterated that Randy Orton will face Mahal for the title at MITB in St. Louis.
Randy Orton promo
Orton reminded us of who he is. He’s been doing this for 17 years and beaten the very best, like Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, and Undertaker. His dad main evented the first WrestleMania and this business was in his blood. He said his grandfather would smack him around for losing the title to a guy like Jinder Mahal.
Orton’s family was all about respect and doing things the American way. Respect works both ways and Mahal doesn’t understand that. Orton would take the title back in his hometown or he wouldn’t be able to show his face there again. Orton said to ask his father, the Gagnes or Harley Race and they’ll all tell you that winning is the only option. Orton was about to pose but Mahal’s music hit.
Mahal’s big face showed up on the big screen. He told Orton to look “up here” as if we couldn’t see him. He called himself the future and held up the title as the Singh Brothers clapped. The crowd chanted USA. I guess you want Mahal featured on the show, but they might’ve been better ending this with the Orton promo. Orton sounded like a real person for once, although the stuff about doing things the American way felt pretty forced.
Shinsuke Nakamura will face Kevin Owens in a non-title match next week. Rich Swann and Sasha Banks plugged 205 Live and Extreme Rules.
Dolph Ziggler defeated AJ Styles
Ziggler wore black and silver tights with “Hollywood Heel” on the back. They went to commercial a minute into the match after Ziggler tossed Styles into the post. After the break, Styles came back with a backdrop, strikes and sliding forearm. Styles also hit a facebuster for two. Ziggler tried a cover with his feet on the ropes but the referee caught him and Styles followed with a fireman’s carry neckbreaker for two.
Ziggler tried to fight out of a vertical suplex but Styles suplexed him into the turnbuckles instead. Styles set up for a Styles Clash off the top, but Ziggler countered with a jumping DDT (bringing Styles down from the top rope). Ziggler hit a headbutt but Styles came back with a backbreaker.
They traded a few counters leading to Styles applying the Calf Crusher, but Ziggler raked his eyes to get out of it. Ziggler followed with a Zig Zag for a nearfall. Ziggler missed a superkick but he managed to crotch Styles on the top rope. Ziggler then superkicked Styles for the pinfall win.
That’s what happened. Good match aside from the finish.
Final Thoughts —
This was a pretty good show and probably one of the better episodes in a while. That was until the very end when Ziggler pinned Styles, which was baffling. It probably doesn’t mean anything, but Styles has now lost three straight singles matches (one by countout).
I normally don’t like when they don’t deliver on advertised matches, but the women’s brawl to set up the ladder match was pretty good (except for Shane dancing around afterwards) and got over with the crowd.
New Day’s return helps freshen things up and it was nice to see another episode of the Fashion Files knowing they could’ve easily shuffled Breezango aside.
