Two matches are set for next week’s episode of SmackDown and a Cruiserweight title match has been confirmed for Survivor Series.
WWE announced on last night’s SmackDown that Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable would be challenging for The Usos’ Tag Team titles and Rusev would be facing AJ Styles in a Survivor Series qualifying match next Tuesday.
Benjamin & Gable became number one contenders when they defeated Breezango, The Hype Bros, and The Ascension in a fatal four-way match last month. The winner of Rusev vs. Styles will become the final member of SmackDown’s men’s division Survivor Series team, joining Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode & Shinsuke Nakamura.
Whichever team holds the SmackDown tag titles will face Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose in a non-title match at Survivor Series on November 19th.
On 205 Live last night, it was also announced that Enzo Amore would be defending his Cruiserweight Championship against Kalisto at the pay-per-view. That will be Survivor Series’ only title match since all of Raw’s champions are facing SmackDown’s champions in non-title bouts at the show.
Shelton Benjamin’s first match at a WWE pay-per-view since 2010 will be on the Hell in a Cell pre-show.
It was announced on last night’s go-home edition of SmackDown that Benjamin & Chad Gable would be facing The Hype Bros on Sunday. The match was set up in a SmackDown fallout video last week when an interview with Benjamin and Gable was interrupted by Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder arguing about losing to The Usos.
Benjamin & Gable previously defeated The Hype Bros on an episode of SmackDown last month, with Ryder refusing to shake hands with the winners after the match.
Though it had been advertised that Breezango’s Fashion Files would be coming back on SmackDown last night, it will instead return on Sunday with a new segment airing during Hell in a Cell. There was also another stipulation added to Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens at the PPV, with it now being a falls count anywhere Hell in a Cell match.
The Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan will host Hell in a Cell on Sunday. Here’s the updated lineup for the show:
Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens in a falls count anywhere Hell in a Cell match
WWE Champion Jinder Mahal defending against Shinsuke Nakamura
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day defending against The Usos in a Hell in a Cell match
SmackDown Women’s Champion Natalya defending against Charlotte Flair
United States Champion AJ Styles defending against Baron Corbin
Randy Orton vs. Rusev
Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler
Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. The Hype Bros (kickoff show)
Shelton Benjamin wrestled in his first WWE match since returning to the company on SmackDown last night, teaming with Chad Gable to take on The Ascension. After they were victorious, Benjamin & Gable cut a post-show promo about wanting to win the tag titles.
Tag team action also went down in the main event as Shinsuke Nakamura & Randy Orton faced Jinder Mahal & Rusev. And while the faces picked up the win, Orton made sure to send a message to Nakamura ahead of their WWE title number one contender’s match next week.
Also on the show, Kevin Owens addressed his problems with Shane McMahon, Bobby Roode appeared for his second week on the main roster, and Breezango premiered the second season of “Fashion Files.”
Date: July 18, 2017 Location: Legacy Arena in Birmingham, AL
The Big Takeaway —
Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin beat AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event, with Owens pinning Styles after a powerbomb. Becky Lynch picked up a somewhat surprising tap-out victory over Charlotte. The two were laid out by Natalya, Tamina and Lana, then Natalya was taken out by Tamina.
Rusev laid out John Cena after a long promo. Mike Kanellis won his debut match against Sami Zayn with help from Maria. Also, at Battleground, it looks like we will finally find out who was behind the attack of Breezango.
Show Recap —
Jinder Mahal and the Singh brothers opened the show. Tom Phillips gave us the details of the Punjabi Prison–the inner structure is 16 feet high and the outer structure is 20 feet. Mahal said this would be the final resting place of Randy Orton’s legacy and the crowd chanted “USA.”
The Singh brothers explained the rules of the match, which was nice of them. Basically, the inner doors will open be open for a short time, and if you miss it, you have to climb out. Either way, you have to climb out of the outer cell. Mahal said he would smash Orton’s face until it represents the ugliness of this country’s people. Mahal’s voice started to crack as he began speaking Punjabi.
Randy Orton interrupted. Orton questioned Mahal’s decision to lock himself in there with him because there would be no escape. Orton said he had nothing to lose after Mahal took his title, messed with his family and left him for dead. Orton slowly began climbing the prison as he spoke.
Orton let Mahal know he has the pressure of the entire nation of India on his back. He stood atop the structure and said this would be his view after he leaves Mahal’s “jacked up” ass in the ring and would be declared the new champion.
The crowd liked Orton but this wasn’t much of a segment. The prison is impressive to look at, but it’s also hard to see through.
Jimmy Uso (w/Jey Uso) defeated Kofi Kingston (w/Big E & Xavier Woods)
Like last week, Phillips let us know how personal the feud is and again they showed clips from the rap battle excluding the thing that made it so personal. Kingston twerked in Jimmy’s face after getting a two count then tossed him outside. Kingston faked a dive then hit a springboard flip dive instead, which was an amusing spot.
Jimmy got the heat during commercial by dropping Kingston on the apron. Kingston came back with a foot stomp and boom drop. Kingston went to the top but was distracted by Jey on the apron. Kingston hit a crossbody anyway, but Jimmy rolled through into a small package for the win at 8:37. This was fine and pointless.
There was a meeting backstage with Shane McMahon and the five women in this Sunday’s number one contender’s match. They were all facing the camera, so they were essentially standing shoulder-to-shoulder-to-shoulder etc. Shane basically wanted them to book their own match for tonight.
Charlotte wanted a match with Lana, Natalya wanted a match with Lana, and Becky Lynch wanted a match with Lana. Tamina said no and Natalya suggested Charlotte face Lynch. Charlotte said Shane wanted a competitive match for tonight, which offended Lynch. They argued and Shane made the match official, which the crowd popped for.
Chad Gable sit-down interview
A video package aired of the Kurt Angle-Jason Jordan segment from Raw. They cut to Renee Young who sat down with Chad Gable backstage. Gable didn’t know anything before the announcement. It didn’t just change the lives of Angle and Jordan, but changed his as well. Gable has spoken with Jordan since last night and understood what he was going through. He said they’ve been through a lot together and ran down their accomplishments. Jordan has his support. Gable said the WWE can look forward to seeing him on his own.
Mike Kanellis (w/Maria Kanellis) defeated Sami Zayn
Mike Kanellis won in 3:00 with a Samoan Driver. Zayn dominated for the first two and a half minutes but Maria jumped in the ring after Zayn hit an Exploder in the corner. This was somehow not a DQ, and the distraction allowed Mike to clock Zayn with a right hand and nail the Samoan Driver for the win. Mike Kanellis’ tights have pink and red lips all over it, as well as a big pink heart with the words “M+M 4ever” and a drawing of Maria in a bikini.
John Cena promo
Cena plugged some of the matches for Sunday, including the women’s match, the Nakamura match, and the Punjabi Prison match. He said the match we remember will be the flag match, taking place in the very city the country was founded. He pointed out the flags which were positioned in each corner as they will be on Sunday.
Cena noted that there was more to the match than just the flags. Cena doesn’t like Rusev. He said we’ll remember the match because of which flag is being flown at the end. He knows he’s not everyone’s favourite, but knows we all care about the American flag (presuming everyone watching this is American).
Cena said the pressure was on but he’s the man for the job. Cena promised that he was ready. He continued on with a long history lesson about how great this country was. He grabbed the American flag and said it will fly high on Sunday.
Cena’s music played and he posed with the flag when Rusev suddenly attacked from behind. Rusev nailed a superkick and applied the Accolade. Cena managed to stand up with Rusev on his back but Rusev never let go and managed to re-apply the Accolade as Cena passed out. Crowd booed Rusev and chanted “USA.” He grabbed the Bulgarian flag and held it high.
Nakamura approached AJ Styles backstage. They both got big pops. Styles was about to reminisce about Japan when he noticed Nakamura was staring at his US Title. Nakamura pointed at the belt and said, “One day, you call… I answer.” This was good.
Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair
This is the first singles match between these two in over a year. Natalya is on commentary. The crowd did dueling chants for each women. They had a couple of back-and-forth exchanges when Lynch almost applied the Disarmer, but Charlotte escaped the ring for a commercial break.
They traded strikes, an exchange Charlotte got the better of. Lynch escaped a Figure Eight attempt and hit a forearm and Exploder. They traded counters until Charlotte nailed a big boot for a nearfall. Charlotte missed a moonsault, Lynch applied the Disarmer and Charlotte tapped out. Lynch with the submission win at just under 9 minutes. Decent match. I’m just glad we got a clean finish.
Charlotte and Lynch shook hands afterwards. Tamina and Lana came out (to Tamina’s music) and the distraction allowed Natalya to attack the babyfaces from behind. The heels took out Charlotte and Lynch. Natalya argued with Lana, so Tamina superkicked Natalya.
Backstage, Naomi said she looks forward to every challenge. She didn’t come here to play, she came here to glow. She hoped her opponent was ready for SummerSlam. Carmella showed up and kicked out Renee. Carmella reminded Naomi that wherever she goes, so does Carmella and her contract.
The Fashion X Files: The Truth is not H
Tyler Breeze wore a wig, of course, playing the role of Scully. They heard a strange ghost-like noise from behind a curtain, but it was just Aiden English warming up. He asked, “Do you mind?” and they shut the curtain. A delivery guy showed up with a package. Breeze was horrified upon looking in the box. Fandango wanted to know what was in the box (a reference to Se7en). Fandango looked in the box — it was the head of Tully (the horse). There was a note that read “Battleground” in the box as well, and it looks like this will come to a conclusion on Sunday.
Drew Gulak plugged his 2 out of 3 falls match against Mustafa Ali on 205 Live.
Kevin Owens & Baron Corbin defeated U.S. Champion AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura
Corbin tried to attack Nakamura during his entrance, but he saw it coming and fought back. Owens ran out to double team him, so Styles jumped in for the save. The good guys got the better of this and jumped back in the ring ready to fight as they went to commercial.
The match was underway after a break with Corbin in control on Styles. Nakamura tagged in and had the better of Owens until Corbin got in the way and they got the heat on him. Nakamura came back with a flying boot but Corbin yanked him down by the hair and knocked Styles off the apron.
Nakamura came back with kicks to the chest. Owens distracted Nakamura and Corbin nailed a Deep Six, but Styles broke up the cover. Styles made the hot tag and nailed Owens with a strike combo, clothesline and sliding forearm for two. He followed that with a facebuster for two but Owens nailed him with a clothesline and tagged out.
Corbin launched Styles across the ring but Styles came back with a Calf Crusher. Corbin got to the ropes and Styles set up for the Phenomenal forearm, but Owens wiped him out on the apron. Nakamura went after Owens but Corbin knocked him into the timekeeper’s arena. Styles set up for a Styles Clash on Corbin, but Owens had made a blind tag and hit a superkick and pop-up powerbomb for the pinfall win. Fun match.
Final Thoughts —
This was another dull show, which is likely because they’re building to a particularly weak split-brand pay per view. Hopefully things pick up heading toward SummerSlam.
By the way, the last Punjabi Prison match occurred at No Mercy in October 2007, nearly 10 years ago, a show main evented by Randy Orton.
The future of a WWE Superstar, or any pro wrestler for that matter, is no certain thing. So many factors, some controllable, some not, can determine the fate of a wrestler’s career. Only the smallest percent of WWE talents make it to the absolute top: the Shawn Michaels, The Rocks, the Austins, The Undertakers, the John Cenas. In the current era, the majority float around the middle. Some get close to breaking through the glass ceiling and separating themselves from the mid-card pack, while others spiral down into obscurity.
What is it that creates the divide and that differentiates a major star from an enhancement talent? Is it one’s work rate? Look? Mic skills? Charisma? Who one is or is not in a relationship with behind the scenes? That elusive and abstract “it” factor? Plain old dumb luck? Some wrestlers come along who seem to be the complete package, but wind up floundering, while another guy who throws the worst punches known to man and can’t take a bump to save his life gets pushed to the moon and becomes the face of the company for an entire generation. Sometimes, it almost feels like the decision to push or not push a performer is made completely at random.
This unpredictability is especially relevant for the “rookies” of WWE’s NXT for whom the future holds many different paths. Some will never make it past the developmental phase. Some will be promoted to the main roster only to be sent back after failing to get over like they had in NXT. The fortunate will go on to have a successful WWE career. One NXT wrestler who looks destined for big things in the WWE is Chad Gable.
Gable is at an exciting point in his pro wrestling career. He’s currently one of NXT’s most over talents, and has (almost) all the tools needed to become major star. While getting over with the fastidious NXT audience is a worthy accomplishment, they are a comparatively small sample size compared with the larger WWE fanbase. We’ve already seen acts that have gone over like gangbusters in NXT, but fall flat with the larger audience when brought up to the main roster.
To Gable’s credit, he has got over in NXT with his charisma and ability alone, as opposed to some outlandish gimmick, that, while initially entertaining, comes with a limited shelf life. This is a positive sign that Gable will be (G)able to connect with the wider WWE fanbase when he’s brought up to the main roster.
With that said, getting over with the audience is only part of the battle. Fortunately, Gable is a natural when it comes to actual wrestling. Before his arrival at NXT, Gable had trained and competed in folkstyle, freestyle, and Greco-Roman wrestling. He particularly excelled in the latter, winning a number of national championships, and placing ninth at the 2012 London Olympics. Gable has impressively transitioned from amateur to professional wrestling, creating a beautiful blend of sports entertainment and amateur wrestling styles in the process.
He has also shown himself to be very competent on the microphone. Mic work is often the downfall of even the most skilled wrestlers, and the saving grace of some of the less naturally gifted athletes. Do you think the Miz would have ever won the WWE Championship if he wasn’t such a good talker? Gable’s charisma and comedic timing come through not only in his wrestling, but more importantly (in sports entertainment) on the microphone. He’s a naturally gifted wrestler, he can talk, he’s charismatic, and he connects with audience. Gable has just about everything one needs to be top star in the WWE. Well, almost everything.
The only thing, at this point, that might stop Gable from making it to the tippy top is the dreaded size aspect. Gable is billed at 5’8” (173cm). In most professions, that would be irrelevant, but in WWE, admitted or not, size matters. The number of WWE champions under six feet tall can be counted on one hand (with a few extra fingers left over). Guys like Daniel Bryan and Rey Mysterio have proven that smaller wrestlers can reach the top, but in both cases, they were never really considered the top guys of the company like Cena has been.
With any luck, and if there’s any justice in the world, Chad Gable’s aforementioned attributes will be enough to overcome his sole drawback.
Only the most pessimistic of pessimists would doubt that Gable will make something of himself in the WWE. The real argument is to what extent will he make it. Will he become a top guy, a mid carder, a comedy act, a tag team lifer? Gable draws comparisons to a range of WWE wrestlers, past and present, who fill(ed) those various roles. Gable’s destiny might be to emerge as the second coming, but of who?
The Next Kurt Angle?
Like Angle, Gable is a champion amateur wrestler. Like Angle, Gable represented his country in the Olympic Games, admittedly not faring quite as well despite not even having a broken frickin’ neck. Still, he wrestled in the Olympics. That’s probably, like, super hard to do. Like Angle, Gable transitioned into professional wrestling seemingly effortlessly. Like Angle, Gable’s a good talker with a knack for humour. It’s hard not to argue that Gable is Kurt Angle 2.0. The only real difference is height, and even there, the disparity is minor with Angle billed at 6-0”, four inches taller than Gable. Besides, don’t even try to tell me Gable couldn’t pull off an adorable little cowboy hat. Don’t. Even. Try.
The Next Daniel Bryan?
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Gable is a fan favourite at Full Sail Arena. Gable and tag partner Jason Jordan were the highlight of the inaugural Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, getting some of the best reactions at NXT TakeOver: Respect despite failing to make the finals. Someone else who is (was?) good at getting the crowd behind him is Daniel Bryan. An argument could also be made for Gable becoming Bryan’s successor. They both have the distinction of being ”smaller guys” in the pro wrestling sense. Yet, it’s that smaller stature among the sea of ex-football playing, bodybuilding gladiators that helps make them such endearing underdogs. It might be the rabid support of the fans that ends up pushing Gable to that next level.
The Next Cesaro?
Of all Cesaro’s skills and attributes one could wish to share, like his amazing work in the ring and charming Swissness, Gable could end up sharing Cesaro’s one main undesirable attribute: being a super talented wrestler whom the fans clearly want to see succeed, but is never given any serious push because of the decision of one man based on vague, shaky reasons. Lamentably, that man is the one who decides who gets pushed and who gets to join the mid-card club. (Side note: nobody steal my Bullet Club Parody shirt #436: Mid Card Club.) Of course, if Chad Gable does become the next Cesaro, his first name will have to join Antonio, Adrian, and Wade up in first name heaven. First name heaven is, by the way, is conveniently located next to last name heaven, where Langston is currently residing.
The Next Santino Marella?
Here’s where that gift for great comedic timing and mic work might come back to bite Chad Gable in the behind. There’s nothing wrong with being the comedy guy. I love the comedy guy. Some of my best friends are comedy guys (I mean, they would be if I had friends). Sometimes you just want more for some wrestlers, especially one this early into his career. Having said that, WWE is missing that reliable comedy guy right now, and nobody, besides perhaps Damien Sandow, has really embraced that role since Santino’s departure from our TV screens. Gable does have a bit of a Les Kellett vibe about him in the ring. There are worse things than being the comedy guy; just ask Curtis Axel. Wait, on second thought…
If anything has been made clear from this exercise in comparisons, it’s that Chad Gable is a talented, well-rounded professional wrestler with the tools to make a name for himself in the biggest wrestling promotion in the world. But wrestling is wrestling and nothing is guaranteed.
Gable could blow out his knee like Seth Rollins before getting called up to the main roster. He could get a concussion that puts him on the shelf indefinitely like Daniel Bryan. Or, he could go on to become the next Kurt Angle and have a HOF worthy career. As flattering as it may be to be compared to such talented peers like Bryan and Cesaro, I don’t really want Gable to become the somebody.
Instead, what I truly hope is Chad Gable becomes the first Chad Gable, and that he makes his own mark on the wrestling world. And there’s no better time than now. He’s ready, willing, and Gable, after all.
