Tag: smackdown live results

WWE SmackDown live results: Contender’s tournament begins

Posted on by Marc Quill

WWE SmackDown will take place at London’s OVO Arena.

Last week, Drew McIntyre survived the Three Stages of Hell to become the new Undisputed WWE Champion after a war against Cody Rhodes as he took advantage of a returning Jacob Fatu on the warpath and escaped the steel cage. Tonight, we’ll hear from the new champion.

Also on tonight’s show, four #1 contender’s qualifying matches for McInytre’s newly-won title, with the winners to face each other in a fatal four-way match on Saturday Night’s Main Event next week, and the winner of that match going on to the Royal Rumble to face McIntyre for the WWE Title.

These four matches tonight include: Randy Orton vs. The Miz, Damian Priest vs. Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn vs. Ilja Dragunov, and Matt Cardona vs. Trick Williams.

U.S. Champion Carmelo Hayes’ Open Challenge also continues tonight, with a new challenger stepping up to see if they can defeat the champ.

Our coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.

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– Over a shot of London, England, the voice of Joe Tessitore greeted us to tonight’s SmackDown. We then got the pre-requisite arrivals of wrestlers including Randy Orton, The Miz, Damian Priest, Solo Sikoa, Matt Cardona, Trick Williams, Ilja Dragunov, and Sami Zayn. Those aforementioned stars will compete in four separate #1 Contender’s Qualifying Matches later tonight.

– In the arena, we went to a shot of commentary as Tessitore was joined by Corey Graves. They discussed the events of last week’s SmackDown, where we got a new Undisputed WWE Champion after Drew McIntyre survived Three Stages of Hell.

The new Undisputed WWE Champion arrives

A procession of bagpipe players appeared at the top of the stage and played a jaunty tune before our new Undisputed WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre, made his way to loud cheers from the London crowd. McIntyre himself seemed quite moved by the fans’ reaction to his victory as he took his time to make his way to the ring to bask in the cheers. In the ring, he posed with his title as pyro went off on the stage.

After a while, McIntyre took the mic and said that he prayed for this and it happened as the fans chanted “you deserve it” to him. He said that it’s been a rough couple of years in the U.K., but there’s only one man that can bring everyone together, that being the first and only British-born WWE Champion. McIntyre talked about the love and support he’s received in the past week or so in Europe has been overwhelming, but… he only had one thing to say about all that: “screw you”.

McIntyre complained about how nobody was there when he was fired or when Roman Reigns and the Bloodline were screwing him over and when CM Punk screwed him over. Drew said that there was only one person to thank in all of this, and that person was himself. He then turned his attention to the former Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes, pointing out that there is no rematch for the title after he had a provision signed before the Three Stages of Hell match last week. As McIntyre declared the era of the “Dangerous and Unpredictable Drew McIntyre” to be here, he was interrupted by Randy Orton, who got a massive reaction from the Wembley Arena crowd.

Orton entered the ring as McIntyre said that he assumed Randy was out to congratulate him. Orton cut right through it and said that he wasn’t here for that, instead to remind McIntyre of the time that he declined kick his head through the announce table a while ago. While McIntyre hesitated, Orton won’t and he’d take the Undisputed WWE Title courtesy of the three most dangerous letters in sports entertainment: R.K.O.

Jacob Fatu’s theme hit, as the man himself made a beeline for the ring and went after McIntyre right away. The brawl was on as Fatu went after McIntyre through the crowd. Meanwhile in the ring, The Miz snuck up on Orton and hit a Skull-Crushing Finale on him as we’re told that their #1 Contender’s Qualifying match will be up next after the break.

Interesting opening segment, and McIntyre immediately going to heeling on the British fans was kind of funny.

**********

#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Randy Orton vs. The Miz

We returned from commercial with the match already in progress as Miz hit his signature DDT for a two-count. Orton rolled out of the ring and poked Miz in the eye to gain a brief advantage. Orton attempted the back drop onto the announce table, but Miz escaped and hit his own version of Orton’s announce table slam.

As the action spilled back into the ring, Miz and Orton exchanged punches to the face to one another before the latter struck with a hard lariat, followed by the scoop powerslam. As Miz rolled onto the apron, Orton looked like he was going to hit his draping DDT, but his opponent escaped out of it. However, Miz could not avoid the announce table back drop from Orton this time around. This was then followed up by another back drop across the table as the crowd wanted to see it one more time. Orton obliged and slammed Miz onto the table.

Back into the ring, Orton hit the draping DDT on Miz and looked like he was about to put an end to things as he stalked his foe. Orton’s RKO was countered into the Skull-Crushing Finale by Miz, but that wasn’t enough as Orton kicked out at two. Miz attempted another SCF, but Orton escaped it and eventually got the RKO for the three.

Randy Orton def. The Miz via pinfall

Just a standard match with Orton playing his greatest hits in a match that Miz realistically did not stand a chance in. The purpose was to get Orton into the Fatal Four-Way match and I guess job accomplished.

**********

– Backstage, Drew McIntyre skulked about with his Undisputed WWE Title clutched firmly in his arms. He was confronted by Ilja Dragunov and called his shot for the title once he beats Sami Zayn later tonight to advance to the SNME Fatal Four-Way. McIntyre didn’t have time for it as he was looking to escape that “mentalist”, Jacob Fatu. He promised to knock out Dragunov’s teeth at the Rumble if he made it that far.

– We got a Progressive Insurance-sponsored recap of the Wyatt Sicks/M.F.T.s eight-man tag match from last week. After that, remarks from The Wyatt Sicks aired as Bo Dallas stated that the lantern was never meant to be a weapon. He said that he carried the lantern in the dark so that the dark didn’t carry them. Dallas said that he and the Wyatts would not rest until the lantern was home with them as the video ended.

– Charlotte Flair tried to say hello to her partner Alexa Bliss, who said that last week suck, on top of her losing against Giulia and being laid out by Lash Legend & Nia Jax. Bliss wanted to know if Flair was truly too sick to be at her side last week. Flair said that she was actually sick, but that Bliss had a title opportunity that she didn’t. Flair talked about all the chances at the title she could’ve had, but she put her and Bliss’s team first. However, Flair apologized for not being there and said she had Bliss’s back tonight.

As Nia Jax & Lash Legend tried to stir up trouble, Flair wasn’t going to have any of it, telling Jax that Bliss was right in ditching her and that Legend “changed” before walking off.

Giulia & Kiana James vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair

James and Bliss got the match started for their respective teams. James gave her opponent a shove before Bliss answered with a pair of slaps followed by a dropkick. James responded with a knee to the gut of Bliss before dropping her with a suplex. Flair was tagged in as she blasted James with a dropkick. Bliss tagged in again as Flair carried her with an assisted dropkick on James. Giulia entered the match and nailed Bliss with a dropkick as she and James celebrated to take us to the break.

We returned from the break as James & Giulia kept Bliss isolated in their corner. Bliss avoided an attack in the corner, which allowed her to make it to her corner to get the hot tag from Flair. Both Giulia and James fell victim to chops a-plenty from Flair, as the former WWE Women’s Champion then hit her somersault clothesline on James. On the top rope, Flair connected with the crossbody on James for the near-fall. James attempted a boot to Flair’s face, but got felled by a boot to her face instead. As Flair headed up top, Giulia created a distraction to stop her advance. James hit a nice spinebuster on Flair as Giulia tagged in and blasted Flair with the Arrivederci knee. The cover attempt was broken up by Bliss, who then took James out of the ring.

Inside the ring, Flair and Giulia hit each other with their best shots as James blind tagged Giulia to enter the match. Bliss entered the match in a similar manner after a knee strike from James sent Flair onto the ropes. James ran right into a Sister Abigail DDT from Bliss for the win.

After the match, Lash Legend and Nia Jax hit the ring and launched an attack on the victorious team, but not before Giulia got pushed aside by Jax. This naturally riled up the Women’s U.S. Champion, who had to be held back by James before anything could heat up further.

Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair def. Kiana James & Giulia via pinfall

A fun, if basic tag match. The finish with James running into the Sister Abigail was nice and the tease of Giulia maybe wanting to face Nia Jax after the match does add some needed variety to the SmackDown women’s division, so there’s that.

**********

– We got a promo from Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s, who talked about how if that the Wyatt Sicks wanted their lantern back, they should put their tag titles on the line. Sikoa said that it was only the beginning and that they were going to go for all the gold. He then concluded that it would start tonight when he beats Damian Priest and get one step closer to the WWE Title before mimicking Bray Wyatt’s lantern blowing out to end the segment.

Cody Rhodes addresses his Undisputed WWE Title loss

The former Undisputed WWE Champion headed to the ring as the crowd serenaded him with a singalong of his theme, as well as a smattering of boos.

Rhodes said that things sounded a bit different but it seemed like things became a lot more “episodic” in his mind as he’d go through the motions of tapping his fist three times, the crowd saying “whoa-oh” and then asking them what they wanted to talk about. The crowd then started chanting “Oh, Drew McIntyre” as Rhodes continued and said that he wanted to be not only the company’s champion, but the people’s champion.

Rhodes talked about how he let things become more episodic and blind him to all the ways he could’ve lost… or was it just that Drew McIntyre was just that good? He could ask that himself, or he could ask Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, or Steve Austin, all of whom were the only ones who won the Royal Rumble two times in a row. Rhodes then declared himself as the first entrant of the 2026 Royal Rumble. Rhodes then turned his attention to Jacob Fatu. He discussed how Fatu was on the come up when he saw him in APW. However, Rhodes said that Fatu should know about the word “receipt”. He then challenged Fatu to come face him or he could go find him to beat the brakes off his ass.

Before Rhodes turned around the crowd by putting over his history in London, I found the crowd booing him to be interesting. While there’s no realistic way that WWE would turn the wrestler who’s undoubtedly their “top guy” a heel, there’s a few ways they could shake things up when it comes to this post-title run for Rhodes. We’ll just have to see where this showdown with Fatu will take him.

**********

– Matt Cardona was interviewed about his upcoming match against Trick Williams in the #1 Contender’s qualifiers. Cardona talked about how he, like both Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, left WWE to reinvent themselves. Unlike them, however, Cardona wasn’t a champion just yet, but he was looking to change that as he was back on a mission to become Undisputed WWE Champion.

#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Matt Cardona vs. Trick Williams

Williams and Cardona locked up in the middle of the ring before they separated. Williams talked a bit of trash to Cardona and got hit with a series of strikes from the veteran that forced him into the corner. Williams responded with a scoop slam, followed by a running shoulder block that grounded Cardona.

Williams continued to talk trash, but he was met with a dropkick and a flatliner from Cardona. A clothesline from Cardona sent Williams out of the ring, as he then made no mistake with the dropkick from the apron on Williams. The match went into a break at this point.

SmackDown returned from the break as we got a replay of what happened during the break with Williams slamming Cardona onto the apron, face-first. Back to live action, Williams pummeled Cardona with elbows to the face followed by a British Bulldog-style chinlock. Cardona broke the hold, and caught Williams’ axe kick attempt and hit a back suplex instead.

Cardona delivered hard strikes in the corner to Williams, which caused his foe to slump against the bottom turnbuckle. He then hit the Broski Boot, followed by a Zig-Zag for the near-fall. Williams missed with a splash in the corner and ended up in a prone position again, but he avoided the Broski Boot by rolling out of the ring. Cardona did manage to get him with a diving kick to the outside. As Cardona got onto the apron, Williams used the ropes to throw him into the ring and right into a spinning kick. One, two… NO! Williams’ attempted suplex was countered, but he avoided the Rough Ryder. He then followed that with a massive pounce before he picked up the win on a Trickshot Knee.

Trick Williams def. Matt Cardona via pinfall

This was a decent match, and I’ll admit that I’m enjoying Trick Williams’ presentation on the main roster so far. Even though he’s probably not going to be the #1 Contender for the Undisputed WWE Title, this four-way he’s got himself into should be a good showcase of Williams’ skills.

**********

– After the match, the infectious theme of Kit Wilson interrupted, which brought the “international sensation” out to the ring. Wilson noticed Cardona around ringside and attacked him. He threw Cardona into the steel steps and yelled “Toxic!” at him. The crowd chanted along with his theme song as this segment ended.

– Damian Priest talked about his qualifying match against Solo Sikoa coming up later tonight and said that like before, it was one versus all, but he was ready to do whatever he can to get a shot at the Undisputed WWE Title.

– Back in the ring, Kit Wilson had a mic and talked about how there was a problem and that he was the solution. He said that we needed leadership and a tonic for the toxic masculinity problem. As he was talking, Jacob Fatu snuck up and attacked Wilson, as the crowd booed. He hit his moonsault on Wilson as he then demanded a microphone.

Fatu said if Cody Rhodes wanted to say something to his face that he bring out his punk-ass to the ring right now. Rhodes obliged Fatu’s challenge and ran straight into the ring. The two began to brawl as a gaggle of security, as well as SmackDown GM Nick Aldis entered to separate the two. Rhodes broke free and jumped right into Fatu as we abruptly went into another commercial break, as if it were the TNA on AMC premiere. We learned after the break that we’d see Rhodes vs. Fatu at Saturday Night’s Main Event next week.

#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Solo Sikoa (w/ The M.F.T.s) vs. Damian Priest

Sikoa locked Priest in a headlock but was forced out with a shove. Sikoa headbutted his opponent and punched him in the face. Priest responded with a jumping kick, followed by a superkick that sent Sikoa out of the ring. Priest attempted to hit a running attack, but was stopped by the human wall created by the M.F.T.s. This allowed Sikoa to get a bit of a breather. With the ref distracted, Tama Tonga shelled Priest with a diving clothesline from the steel steps, which took us into the mid-match break spot.

This match resumed from commercial as Sikoa crushed Priest with the running hip attack into the corner. Sikoa tried again with the hip attack, but Priest rose from the corner and knocked him loopy with a spinning kick. Both men got up to their feet and traded blows. It turned into an exchange of kicks as Priest got the better of Sikoa with a running lariat. Sikoa attempted another Samoan Drop, but got countered as Priest hit a flatliner for the near-fall.

Priest headed up top as Sikoa was being checked up on the referee. Talla Tonga tripped Priest up, but he was ejected by the referee despite his best efforts. Priest recovered and hit Sikoa with the Razor’s Edge for yet another near-fall. As Priest had Sikoa in sight for South of Heaven, the M.F.T.s provided a distraction. This allowed Sikoa to connect with the Spinning Solo. Dive from the top by Sikoa, but Priest managed to kick out. The Wyatt Sicks’ video glitches hit, which heralded the arrival of the group in the darkness, with Erick Rowan notably absent. The Wyatts brawled with the M.F.T.s at ringside as Uncle Howdy eyed the lantern. Sikoa threw Howdy into the steel steps and had the lantern in his hands. In the ring, Priest caught Sikoa with the South of Heaven chokeslam for the win to advance to the SNME Fatal Four-Way.

After the match, Howdy took the lantern in the ring, but got ambushed from behind by Talla Tonga, who struck Howdy with a big boot. Talla took the lantern and extracted Sikoa from the ring.

Damian Priest def. Solo Sikoa via pinfall

The Priest vs. Sikoa match was fine, but the greater M.F.T.s/Wyatt Sicks feud remains a heatless one for me, personally. It just hasn’t clicked for me at all since it started and I’m not sure what can be done to make it interesting.

**********

– Backstage, Sami Zayn was confronted by Drew McIntyre, who taunted him for betting on Cody Rhodes next week. Zayn told McIntyre that he was going to beat Ilja Dragunov tonight, and then win it in his hometown before heading into the Royal Rumble. McIntyre reminded Zayn of his losing record against him, stating that he’s beaten Zayn 11 times and it wouldn’t change if they got a chance to face each other again.

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Leon Slater

The TNA X-Division Champion was revealed to be Hayes’ Open Challenge opponent, and was addressed as such in his entrance.

We started this match hot with fast and furious chain wrestling between Slater and Hayes. In the corner, Slater avoided Hayes acrobatically, but got hit with the springboard clothesline afterwards. Hayes was on the offensive with chops in the corner, as Slater answered with a hard chop of his own. The fast start to this match remained as Hayes got hit with a nice enzuigiri by Slater. The X-Division Champion kept the momentum with a handspring back elbow to Hayes, followed by an athletic dive to the outside. High crossbody by Slater nearly got the win as Hayes had to kick out at two there, and we went to a commercial break at that point.

This U.S. Title match resumed from commercial as we saw both Hayes and Slater down after a springboard Spanish Fly by the latter during the break. Eventually, both men got back to their feet and exchanged strikes and chops. Hayes avoided a sweeping kick from Slater as he connected with La Mistica, followed by a lifting suplex cutter. One… two, not quite! Hayes attempted a First 48, but Slater countered that into a serious single-leg crab. However, Hayes escaped that maneuver, so Slater got him with a side kick for the near-fall.

Slater and Hayes fought on the apron, as the challenger hit an amazing leaping legdrop across the neck., With both men back in the ring, they got into a duel of pins before Slater hit a hurricanrana for another close near-fall. Hayes got sent over the apron as he favored his hurt knee. This allowed Slater to hit an incredible diving leg drop over the ringpost and onto Hayes outside the ring.

Back in the ring, Slater headed up top and looked to finish Hayes off with the 450 Swanton, but the U.S. Champion avoided disaster and instead got Slater with the First 48. One, two…. 2.99999999!!!!!!!!! Hayes tried to go up top, but Slater met him at the pass and looked like he was going to hit a superplex from the top. Hayes recovered and turned that into an avalanche cutter for the victory and the successful U.S. Title defense.

Carmelo Hayes def. Leon Slater via pinfall to retain the U.S. Championship

This was a fantastic match, as all these U.S. Title challenge matches have been every week. I’ve made no secret of how much I love these matches and this one with TNA’s X-Divsion champion was no exception. However, I do want to address the fact that Leon Slater, was stated to have been pulled from the TNA Impact on AMC premiere last night due to travel issues, which doesn’t seem to be a promising sign when it comes to TNA’s seeming autonomy in this partnership with WWE moving forward.

**********

– Shinsuke Nakamura was seen watching the match we just saw before Tama Tonga confronted him. Tama said that Nakamura had his chance, and it was his time to take the U.S. Title for the M.F.T.s. He warned Nakamura to stay out of his way as he brought up their past in New Japan. Nakamura responded, seemingly not afraid of Tama’s threat.

– Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae discussed amongst themselves about their brilliant ploy against Fraxiom. He was confronted by Axiom, before another person in an Axiom mask appeared. Gargano got waylaid by the second person in Axiom’s mask, who revealed himself to be Nathan Frazer. We found out that Frazer went to Nick Aldis earlier and got himself a match booked against Gargano for next week.

Chelsea Green (w/ Alba Fyre) vs. Jordynne Grace

Jade Cargill was at ringside to watch this match.

Grace showed off her power by pushing Green down fiercely. Grace connected with a powerful spinebuster on one half of the AAA Mixed Tag Champions before she hit a nice stalling suplex. Green got momentum on her side by pulling at Grace’s hair and shoving her into the corner. While the referee was distracted, Alba Fyre hit Grace with a superkick, as Green then slammed her face down.

Green’s momentum was all too fleeting as she was slammed across the turnbuckle multiple times by Grace. A barrage of clotheslines from Grace kept her advantage, as did the suplex. Grace finally got the win with the Direct Effect — a cartwheel/Death Valley Driver hybrid maneuver — and the three.

After the match, Grace addressed Cargill as she said that she was glad the champ was glad at ringside to watch her. Grace challenged Cargill to step into the ring right here and right now. Cargill got on the apron and faced off with Grace. Meanwhile, Green attempted to run at Grace, but whiffed badly as she barreled into Cargill instead. The WWE Women’s Title clattered onto the mat, as Grace picked it up in her hands and taunted Cargill with it before throwing it out of the ring.

Jordynne Grace def. Chelsea Green via pinfall

A short contest meant to showcase Grace’s strengths, and I think they did an admirable job with that. This feud with Jade Cargill should help add much needed variety to SmackDown’s women’s division, which has been lagging at the top as of late. I’m looking forward to it.

**********

– Trick Williams was interviewed about advancing to the SNME Fatal Four-Way as Damian Priest then appeared and seemingly issued a challenge to face him one-on-one next week.

Next Week on SmackDown

  • Women’s Tag Title #1 Contenders’ Triple Threat Match: Giulia & Kiana James vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax & Lash Legend
  • WWE Tag Team Championship: The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy) vs. The M.F.T.s
  • Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest

#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Sami Zayn vs. Ilja Dragunov

Zayn and Dragunov didn’t waste time and started right away with dueling strikes. After he withstood a strike to his knee from Dragunov, Zayn cracked his foe with a clothesline. In the corner, Dragunov beckoned Zayn to hit him harder, to which the Canadian obliged. Dragunov answered with a hard boot to the face before he took voer with a chop in the corner to Zayn, followed by the running boot to the side of Zayn.

Dragunov dropped the knee from the top rope to the sternum of Zayn. Another attempt at the diving knee was avoided by Zayn, who countered with a suplex for a near-fall. Zayn slowed the pace of the match down as he punched at Dragunov for a bit. Both men traded German suplexes through a struggle of standing switches. Dragunov got the better of Zayn with one last German suplex in this exchange as he headed up top. Zayn got up and intercepted Dragunov at the top. Through a long struggle, Zayn hit the superplex as both men were left down and we were left with one final break in the action.

SmackDown’s main event continued as Zayn again tried to go to the top rope. Dragunov, who was busted open by a particularly hard shot from Zayn during the break, met him at the pass. Zayn got the better of Dragunov and hit a sunset flip powerbomb, but that wasn’t enough to get the win. Not yet. Dragunov countered a Blue Thunder Powerbomb from Zayn and turned it around into a Constantine Special. Dragunov headed to the top and hit the missile dropkick on Zayn for the near-fall.

With Zayn down and out, Dragunov had him in sight for the H-Bomb. A last-second boot saved Zayn as he looked for the corner exploder suplex. Dragunov shelled him with a kick, as he followed it with a pair of running clotheslines into the corner. Zayn recovered and tried to follow Dragunov with the Helluva Kick, but he missed badly on that. Both men fought on the apron, as Dragunov landed Torpedo Moscow and they both came crashing down onto the mat outside the ring.

As Zayn and Dragunov entered the ring, the latter hit the powerbomb on his opponent and headed to the top once more. Dragunov’s senton attempt was met by a knee from Zayn that hit the back of his neck. Zayn capitalized with the exploder suplex into the corner, followed by the Helluva Kick and the three. This rounded out our Fatal Four Way for Saturday Night’s Main Event.

After the match, Trick Williams attacked Zayn from behind with a cheap shot. He took Zayn out with the Trick Shot knee as the Levesque & Fitting producer credits saw us out on this week’s SmackDown.

Sami Zayn def. Ilja Dragunov via pinfall

Saturday Night’s Main Event in Montreal card so far

  • Undisputed WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Fatal Four-Way: Randy Orton vs. Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest vs. Sami Zayn
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu

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The outcome of that main event was a bit of a formality given Saturday Night’s Main Event being in Zayn’s hometown, but it didn’t make it any less enjoyable. It’s always a treat seeing Dragunov and Zayn get into a hard-hitting battle, and we got plenty of hard hits in that main event.

As for the rest of the show, it’s actually astonishing how watchable these three-hour SmackDowns have been. They’ve been far from the terribly middling shows I’ve recapped for the latter half of 2025, and it’s honestly made things a bit more enjoyable. I mentioned Ryan Ward last week now reportedly overseeing creative on SmackDown and I have to say he’s done a good job.

The U.S. Title scene is far and away the shining star of SmackDown, but things like Drew McIntyre as undisputed WWE Champion throwing a wrench into rumored WrestleMania 42 plans, Trick Williams getting a big spotlight, and steadily improving women’s division have been nice to see. The otherwise dull M.F.T.s/Wyatt Sicks feud — and the side-effect of it holding the tag titles hostage — is about the only thing I generally hate about SmackDown since the move to three hours.

So, yes, it’s 3-for-3 in terms of the three-hour SmackDown shows being watchable, and let’s hope that they can keep it up.

WWE SmackDown live results: Three Stages of Hell stipulation reveal

Posted on by Marc Quill

The first WWE SmackDown of 2026 from Buffalo, New York is also the first of the year to be in a three-hour format.

The show will be headlined by the reveal of the stipulations for the upcoming Three Stages of Hell match between WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre.

There will also be a rare ambulance match between bitter rivals Damian Priest and Aleister Black where the winner must send their opponent packing in an ambulance.

A star-studded eight woman bout is on tap when Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss take on The Kabuki Warriors, Nia Jax & Lash Legend. The match will be a preview for the WWE Women’s Tag Team title match between Asuka & Kairi Sane against Ripley & SKY on Raw this Monday.

The WWE Women’s United States Championship will be on the line as Chelsea Green defends against former titleholder Giulia.

Our live coverage kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern.

**********

– Over a live shot of the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY, Michael Cole welcomed us to the first SmackDown of 2025. Cole then tossed to a recap of last week’s events involving Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, which included the Three Stages of Hell match coming next week being set up.

– Shots of the aforementioned Rhodes, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, plus the Kabuki Warriors and the team of Lash Legend & Nia Jax arriving to the arena were shown. Inside the SmackDown arena, we saw an Ambulance situated next to the stage for the Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black match later tonight.

– As Cole and Corey Graves were talking, they were interrupted by The Miz, who angrily said that we weren’t moving on to 2026 until he aired his grievances for 2025.

The Miz’s 2025 Grievances

Miz started off by stating that he should’ve been the one to make John Cena tap out because of their shared history. He said that while Cena was out riding off into the sunset, he was stuck in Buffalo instead. Grievance #2: Young superstars who didn’t heed his advice and that everybody didn’t respect him enough. Grievance #3: He was passed over for Timothee Chalamet for Marty Supreme. Grievance #5: Miz said that He (in reference to Joe Hendry) ruined his final SmackDown of 2025 and that Hendry bringing back a very “untrue” nickname (“Tiny Balls”) hurt him. Miz said that we would not bring that nickname back, as he called himself the new face of WWE after John Cena left. Miz made a cheap local sports team heat reference by stating that unlike Buffalo’s sports teams, he won championships as he boasted his accolades, which in Miz’s eyes, made him the locker room leader.

Before Miz could continue on, the long-awaited sounds of “Voices” hit, which signaled the return of one Randall Keith Orton to SmackDown. Orton got a great ovation from the Buffalo crowd, as they serenaded him with a singalong of his entrance theme. As Orton got into the ring, he made Miz flinch by pretending to go after him before he posed on the turnbuckle. After a good while of posing for the crowd and the crowd chanting for him. Miz tried to hype himself and Orton as the gatekeepers of the locker room and the faces of the WWE, as he suggested “Miz-KO” as a name for them.

Orton’s response to this idea? An RKO out of nowhere to the hapless Miz. The crowd chanted for Orton to do it one more time. And with a “Happy New Year, Miz!” Orton obliged the crowd’s request with one more RKO.

I think this was an effective way to bring Randy Orton back into WWE, though I am curious about what’s in store for him, especially with previous teases of him eyeing the Undisputed WWE Title. Will the long-awaited feud with Cody Rhodes finally happen at some point? Only time will tell.

**********

– Lash Legend & Nia Jax talked with the Kabuki Warriors and said that they were owed a Women’s Tag Title shot after their team-up tonight. Asuka and Kairi Sane brushed off the idea as they got ready for the big eight-woman tag match coming up next.

– After the break, Randy Orton met up with Cody Rhodes and explicitly stated to the Undisputed WWE Champion that he is gunning for the title once Rhodes dealt with Drew McIntyre next week. Nick Aldis warned Rhodes about the “no-touch” stipulation when McIntyre shows up later tonight to lay out the Three Stages of Hell stipulations. Rhodes said that he’d get a handle of it.

Eight-Woman Tag Match: Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss vs. Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane), Nia Jax, Lash Legend

The bell rang with the heel women attacking their foes as Ripley was left to face Asuka off to start this match. Asuka stomped away on Ripley, but had her last kick blocked. Asuka got sent to the outside by Ripley, as did Sane. Tag to Alexa Bliss, who barreled into the Kabuki Warriors with a dive from the apron as we took the first of (surely many) commercial breaks for tonight.

We returned from the break as Jax and Legend were double teaming Bliss, to no avail. Legend got thrown out of the ring as Bliss then flattened Jax with a tornado DDT. Bliss got the tag to Flair, who hit both Legend and Jax with the crossbody. Flair teed off on both her opponents with chops as Legend got dropped by the somersault clothesline. Flair connected with Natural Selection on Jax as she then headed to the top rope and made no mistake with the moonsault. However, Jax managed to kick out at two.

On the apron, Flair hit Legend with a boot, but failed to connect with a slingshot spear as Jax blocked that maneuver. Asuka got the tag but immediately got stacked up for the pin by Flair, who then applied the Figure Eight submission. However, Sane got on the top rope and hit an Insane Elbow on Flair. Sane got thrown out of the ring by Bliss, while SKY was tagged into the match and unleashed her wrath on both Kabuki Warriors. Double missile dropkick on both Asuka and Sane by SKY, as Ripley was pulled down from the apron just as she was set for the tag.

In the ring, SKY was taken out by a powerful boot from Legend, but that wasn’t enough to put this one away as we got a sports-style replay of said boot before we took another break in the action.

The match continued from commercial as SKY created some needed separation between her and Sane, but Asuka knocked Bliss off the apron. SKY dumped Asuka as Ripley entered the match for the hot tag. Ripley was on fire as she used an unorthodox offensive move by using Sane as a weapon to knock Asuka down. Things began to break down when Jax attacked Ripley and we got all the women in the ring taking one another out. Sane was caught by Ripley after a failed high-risk maneuver and got hgit with Riptide. SKY got the tag and hit the Over The Moonsault to pick up the win for her team.

IYO SKY, Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss def. The Kabuki Warriors & Nia Jax and Lash Legend via pinfall

A fun eight-man tag match to kick us off officially in 2026 as all eight women in this match can really go. Was certainly a good call to have SKY and Ripley pick up the win for their team as a mean to set up match against the Kabuki Warriors on Raw next week.

**********

– Backstage, Nick Aldis was talking with NXT’s Jordynne Grace, who was informed by Aldis that SmackDown’s 2026 could involve her. Chelsea Green appeared and tried to beg off of facing Giulia for the Women’s U.S. Championship. Mr. Aldis wasn’t buying it and threatened to “impeach” Green by stripping her of the Women’s U.S. Title.

– Several Buffalo Bills players (sans Josh Allen) were shown in the crowd enjoying the show.

Kit Wilson vs. Matt Cardona

Before the match, Wilson introduced himself as redefining masculinity as he took shots at the Bills Mafia and called them the “most toxic sports fans” in America. He was interrupted by the music of Matt Cardona (nee Zack Ryder), who was Wilson’s opponent.

The match kicked off with Wilson attacking Cardona as we were informed that the latter was officially part of SmackDown’s roster. Cardona fought back and stomped away on Wilson in the corner, as he then dropped him with a face-first flapjack. Cardona clotheslined Wilson out of the ring and hit him with a sliding dropkick. Wilson regained momentum with a kick to the back of Cardona’s head in the corner. Wilson targeted Cardona’s head with punches to the face as he then placed him in the top turnbuckle and looked like he had something big planned. Cardona countered with a dropkick from the top rope as he followed that up with a facebuster.

Cardona stunned Wilson and blasted him with the Broski Boot, followed by a double-underhook powerbomb for the near-fall. Wilson sent Cardona face-first to the turnbuckle and connected with the Tourniquet, but Cardona kicked out at two. Cardona got the victory with the move called the Rough Ryder.

Matt Cardona def. Kit Wilson via pinfall

That was decent, and I will say Cardona coming into WWE under his real name and the commentary acknowledging that was a bit interesting. Not sure where Cardona will fit in, as far as his placement on the card, though.

**********

– Damian Priest was interviewed about his Ambulance Match against Aleister Black later tonight, as he said that he was put through hell for six months by Black. Priest promised that his foe would be the one who would fade to black when all is said and done.

– The Wyatt Sicks had a video promo about Solo Sikoa and what the “meaning” of family was. Bo Dallas said that SIkoa didn’t comprehend the force that he is up against as he said that the Wyatts’ family was filled with millions of fireflies of around the world that will always remember. Dallas said that it was time to chop down Sikoa’s family tree, as he said that when the dust settles, they’d be the ones.

Sami Zayn returns to SmackDown

The former United States Champion made his return to SmackDown for the first time in quite some time, as he said that the last time we saw him, he got a chance to see John Cena’s last match with his son. Zayn said that Cena’s last match really hit him in some way as his son asked him why they called Cena “The Never Seen 17”. Zayn talked about how his son then asked how many times his dad has won it, as he recounted how it doesn’t make sense to that son has been wrestling all these champions and why that World Championship was missing.

Zayn said that it made him sick that he had to talk about being a World Champion last year, so he wants to do something about it as 2026 would be the year he’d be coming for the WWE Championship. The theme of Trick Williams interrupted Zayn, which brought the former two-time NXT Champion and former TNA World Champion to the scene.

Williams said that the “sexiest and most entertaining superstar” had finally arrived as he introduced himself to Zayn. He said that he was here for one reason: Nick Aldis called “1800-WHOOP-THAT” as SmackDown needed someone of his caliber. Williams said that Aldis needed someone on SmackDown who looks like a champion and that he was here to be World Champion. Williams said he wasn’t like Zayn, that he wasn’t someone who can almost get the job done like Zayn.

Zayn said that he had been watching Williams and that Aldis might’ve been right on the assessments made about him, but he told Williams that he hadn’t been humbled yet. Zayn declared that if Williams had no problem about interrupting him, Zayn said he’d have no problem with teaching him about what it means to be humbled.

Trick Williams joining the SmackDown roster and right away entering a feud with Sami Zayn is actually an interesting one for sure, and I think it’ll lead to a good match out of these two down the line. The story of “veteran wants to humble cocky rookie” is a simple, but effective one.

**********

– Carmelo Hayes was walking backstage when Ilja Dragunov approached him. The former U.S. Champion said taht he wanted to fight the best, and that Hayes gave him that for sure. Dragunov said that he believed it wouldn’t be the last time they’d face. Dragunov asked Hayes if he’d keep the U.S. Open Challenge going, to which Hayes said that he’d continue it once he dealt with Johnny Gargano.

– Rey Fenix was sharing a chat with Nick Aldis as Trick Williams complained about what Sami Zayn did moments ago. Aldis said that maybe Williams needed to be taught a lesson as he booked his debut for next week against Rey Fenix.

United States Championship: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Johnny Gargano

Hayes went on the attack right away as he avoided a cheapshot from Gargano and threw him out before the match could get underway. Once the bell finally rang, Hayes met Gargano with a dropkick as he continued the attack in the corner. Hayes hit a nice leg drop on a downed Gargano and didn’t seem like he was going to lose momentum until a rolling kicked stopped the roll the U.S. Champion was on. Gargano’s advantage was fleeting as Hayes knocked him out with a knee to the face. On the outside, Gargano used Candice LeRae as a shield to avoid a dive as he nailed the U.S. Champ with a slingshot spear. A dive to the outside by Gargano on Hayes sent us to a break in the action.

Our match continued from the break with Gargano maintained his aggressive attack on Hayes, but a blocked boot allowed Hayes to hit his springboard lariat with authority. Hayes followed that up with his version of La Mistica for the near-fall as he hyped himself up. In the corner, Hayes hit Gargano with a kick to the back of the head as he hit the Fadeaway legdrop on his prone foe. On the top rope, Hayes connected with a frog splash, but Gargano kicked out again at two.

Hayes knocked Gargano down with a clothesline as he headed up top. Gargano intercepted him and struck hard, which left Hayes stunned. At the top, Hayes avoided an avalanche Air Raid Crash and attempted a superplex. However, Gargano reversed that into a final cut suplex as the sports-style replay tossed us to another break in this match.

We returned from the break as Hayes blocked Gargano’s springboard attempt from the apron with a cutter using the top rope, followed by a DDT onto the apron itself. In the ring, Gargano countered a facebuster attempt into a tornado DDT as Hayes just managed to kick out at two. Hayes stopped Gargano’s slingshot spear with a boot as he headed to the top rope. Candice LeRae created a distraction long enough for Gargano to finally hit the avalanche Air Rade Crash on Hayes. One, two… NO!

Gargano and Hayes got into a pinning exchange, but the former connected with First 48, followed by Nothin’ But Net and the three for the successful first U.S. Title defense.

Carmelo Hayes def. Johnny Gargano via pinfall to retain the U.S. Championship

A solid first defense for Hayes as the U.S. Title scene on SmackDown maintains its hot streak that kept it the most entertaining part of the show nearly every week. I’m glad that Hayes is also continuing the Open Challenge as mentioned before this match, because covering these U.S. Title matches always manages to be a highlight for me.

**********

– Tama Tonga was seen watching the match we just saw as Shinsuke Nakamura confronted him. With some history between these two former NJPW stars, Nakamura taunted Tama before he left. Solo Sikoa talked to Tama about how next week, it’d be the M.F.T.s & Wyatt Sicks in a four-on-four match, and that once their issues were settled with the Wyatts, they’d be gunning for those WWE Tag Titles.

– Jade Cargill was interviewed about what happened to Michin during a live show as she suffered a real injury during it. Cargill said that she deserved what happened as Jordynne Grace appeared and had some words for the WWE Women’s Champion. Grace turned Cargill’s words of being called “a bitch” back towards her, stating, “I’m Jordynne Grace, but you’re definitely one of those (i.e. “a bitch”).

– Elsewhere, Cody Rhodes asked Sami Zayn about Drew McIntyre’s whereabouts, and seemed a bit taken aback about Zayn’s championship ambitions. Before the conversation could linger on further, Nick Aldis appeared and was asked by Rhodes about McIntyre. With no clear answer, Rhodes said he’d be heading to the ring soon to see what’s what.

– We got another Oba Femi teaser, presumably again hinting his arrival to the SmackDown roster.

Cody Rhodes has some words for Drew McIntyre

The Undisputed WWE Champion made his way down to the ring, as promised. He entered the ring and immediately took of his suit and grabbed a microphone.

Rhodes rhetorically asked how one obtains the richest prize in sports entertainment, and that it was his mentality when approaching anyone in a WWE ring that led him to championship glory. That mentality being that he gets to the arena early with the belt in tow, because he wants the people to see him. Rhodes said that Drew McIntyre reeked of envy, but he was grateful for it, as he was just a mountain that he couldn’t wait to climb.

Rhodes said that while he was backstage, he was “playing dumb” and that he saw Drew McIntyre as nothing more but “lunch”. That’s because he’s the one who calls himself The Champ, and it won’t change in Berlin.

McIntyre interrupted from the Titantron and said Rhodes was as vanilla as it gets, as he said he thought hard to determine what the three stages of hell would be. McIntyre said the first Stage would be a traditional wrestling match, the second being Falls Count Anywhere. McIntyre declared that the third fall, if the match got that far, it would come down to a steel cage. He promised to break Rhodes physically next week, but he wanted to get ahead of things as he talked about how he ransacked Rhodes’ bus. McIntyre said that he got one item that meant so much to Cody, that being a photo of him and father Dusty Rhodes.

McIntyre mocked Rhodes and said that it would get real chilly down in hell, as McIntyre stomped on the photo. Rhodes angrily ran to the back and was stopped by security as McIntyre soon appeared in the ring and tried to goad Rhodes to come get him. “Happy New Year, Cody” McIntyre said as he took a lighter to the picture of Rhodes and his father and set it on fire.

An… interesting and good way to garner heat, I’ll admit. It just hurts that McIntyre will be taking yet another three-second tan next week in Berlin, and all this fantastic heel work as of late will be certainly going to waste. I know a lot of people will probably disagree with me on this front, but this feud with Rhodes has honestly soured me on McIntyre’s current character with the way he’s lost repeatedly and remained stuck in place. Feels like reliving Groundhog Day, if you ask me. A refresh of sorts for McIntyre is needed after this match, but I’ll happilly eat crow if somehow, he wins the title next week, even for a short while.

**********

Next Week on SmackDown – Berlin, Germany

  • Three Stages of Hell for the Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
  • Rey Fenix vs. Trick Williams
  • The Wyatt Sicks vs. The M.F.T.s

Women’s U.S. Championship: Chelsea Green (c) vs. Giulia

The challenger was aggressive from the get-go as she struck against Green in the corner with fierce stomps. Giulia grabbed Green by her hair and threw her across the ring. Another big boot by Giulia sent Green to the outside as Alba Fyre checked up on her ally. At ringside, Giulia maintained her ruthless attack on Green, but Fyre created a distraction at ringside, which allowed Green to get ahead with a dive from inside the ring. With Giulia down and out for the moment, we took a break.

We returned from commercial as Giulia had Green in a sleeper hold, but the Women’s U.S. Champ managed to escape that hold. The two then began trading strikes in the middle of the ring, as Green got the best of her foe with a set of clotheslines, followed by a kick. With Giulia stunned across the middle rope, Green connected with double knees to the back of her head.

In the middle of the ring, Green attempted the Un-Pretty-Her, but couldn’t capitalized. Green hit the Rough Ryder, but Kiana James got on the apron to distract the referee. Alba Fyre pulled James off the apron. Back with the match, Giulia intercepted Green on the top rope and hit an avalanche underhook DDT and rolled through for the Northern Lights Bomb on Green for the three to win the Women’s U.S. Championship.

Giulia def. Chelsea Green to win the Women’s United States Championship

It’s nice to see Giulia win gold once more, but disappointing that her victory barely got a reaction whatsoever, though that’s largely on the booking with regards to the SmackDown’s women’s division being kind of a mess, and it’s hurt the standing of stars like Giulia as a result. Hopefully, Giulia getting back the Women’s U.S. Title — and hopefully getting away from fighting Chelsea Green and company — means things are starting to change.

**********

– Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY spoke about becoming how they’d be the Women’s Tag Team Champions again on Raw this Monday. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss stated that they were next in line if Ripley & SKY win on Monday. However, Bliss stated that she wanted to wish SKY and Ripley the best of luck for Monday.

– Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae were licking their wounds after the former’s loss to Carmelo Hayes as Fraxiom confronted the two. Axiom said that he was going to talk to Nick Aldis to make a match between him and Gargano, and that he’d take back his mask once he beat Gargano.

The Ambulance backed onto the stage as the rules of this main event was explained just before the entrances.

Ambulance Match: Aleister Black vs. Damian Priest

Black attacked Priest from behind before he could even take off his entrance robe, which got this match underway. Priest eventually battled back and threw Black out of the ring as the action spilled to the outside. Black responded with a boot to the face as the battle made its way to the stage area and the ambulance. The doors were opened while Black tried to put Priest inside the vehicle. Priest pulled out a stretcher from the ambulance and pushed it onto the ribs of Black, as it was followed by a throw onto the base of the stretcher. We took a picture-in-picture break at this point of the match.

We returned to full-screen action with the action back inside the ring as Black and Priest traded kicks to one another. During the break, we saw footage of Black sending Priest through the table with a Meteora. Back to live action as Priest nailed Black with a lariat. As Black was stunned in the corner, Priest barreled into him with a splash. Outside the ring, Priest sent Black over the commentary table with a running pounce while Zelina looked on in concern.

Black shoved Priest into the ringpost as he grabbed a chair and hit his opponent in the spine with it. Black put Priest’s face across the seated portion of the chair and kicked it to cause more pain. As Black teed up another chair shot to Priest, he was grabbed by the neck and chokeslammed across the hardest part of the ring.

Inside the ring, Priest kicked Black as he was sat on the top rope, and hit a massive hurricanrana from the top rope. Black responded with a spinning kick as both men were down for the count and we headed to another picture-in-picture break.

The SmackDown main event returned with Priest and Black brawling it out on the stage. Black got the best of Priest with a throw to the LED screen as Black told Zelina to open the ambulance doors. As the doors opened, Rhea Ripley was awaiting Zelina and chased her to the ring. Inside the ring, Ripley took Zelina out of the equation with a Riptide. Back on the stage, Black battered Priest with stomps and tried to drag him into the ambulance, to no certain avail. After a struggle, Black managed to put Priest in the ambulance, but couldn’t get both doors closed.

With a crutch in hand, Priest struck it across the back of Black, as he then drove the handle portion right onto the chest. Priest was pushed into the ambulance door with Black following that up with a knee to the face. Priest managed to prevent further calamity with a fire extinguisher shot to the face of Black. This was followed up by Priest throwing a fireball in Black’s face, which left the Dutchman writhing in pain. Priest closed the ambulance doors and pulled out an equipment table from the stage as he grabbed Black and looked like he was going to hit the Razor’s Edge. Black escaped that fate and hit Priest with another knee to the face.

Black attempted to throw Priest onto the side of the ambulance, but found himself thrown there instead. Priest was stunned by a knee from Black. An equipment case was pulled by Black, but Priest countered and hoisted him up for a Razor’s Edge onto the windshield of the ambulance. Priest took Black’s lifeless body and put himself on top of the ambulance. With both men on the top, Priest held Black and threw him through the equipment table that was setup beside the rear ambulance doors.

With Black unable to fight back, Priest dragged him to the ambulance doors and threw him inside. Priest then shut the doors to put an end to this match and pick up the win.

Damian Priest def. Aleister Black via pinfall

**********

As a feud-ender (hopefully), that match seemed rather lifeless and didn’t feel like it was worthy of being the main event for this three-hour SmackDown. Things really didn’t pick up until Rhea Ripley’s cameo and the table spots by the ambulance near the end. I’ve been on record with saying that this Priest vs. Black feud has been a drag to follow since June of last year, and I just feel relief that things are seemingly over now and the two can finally move on to other things.

As far as the rest of the first three-hour SmackDown was concerned, it was a mostly entertaining show and not as terrible as I had feared it to be. The U.S. Title scene once again stole the show and picked up right where they left off, and the Rhodes/McIntyre title match is at least getting some good head ahead of next week — even if I feel that McIntyre can stand to do better. Plus, debuts like Trick Williams and Jordynne Grace helped tease exciting developments ahead.

Whether or not SmackDown being okay in a three-hour format is sustainable remains anyone guess, but I will admit that tonight was not a bad start at all on that front.

WWE SmackDown live results: Drew McIntyre returns

Posted on by Marc Quill

On the final SmackDown of 2025 — and the final two-hour edition before a return to three hours starting next week — Drew McIntyre makes his return to SmackDown to address being granted another WWE Championship shot against Cody Rhodes. We’ll find out more information about that upcoming title bout tonight.

Joe Hendry makes his official SmackDown debut tonight when he faces The Miz in one-on-one action. Miz took exception to Hendry and R-Truth attacking him at Saturday Night’s Main Event and is looking to spoil the debut of Hendry.

The United States Championship open challenge continues on as Ilja Dragunov is set to take on a mystery foe after he and Carmelo Hayes dispatched #DIY in short order last week.

Tonight’s show was taped last Friday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Full spoilers can be found here.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

– Previously on SmackDown: Cody Rhodes addressed the Drew McIntyre situation and declared himself “the law”, much to the chagrin of Nick Aldis.

– Following that, we saw Rhodes being confronted by Nick Aldis, who reminded him if McIntyre issued the apology to referee Dan Engler and paid the fine, Rhodes cannot touch him or he’d be stripped of his Undisputed WWE Title. After Rhodes left, The Miz angrily demanded that Joe Hendry’s music not be played. However, just as Aldis said his name, the ever-infectious music of Mr. Hendry hit and we cut to the ring.

Joe Hendry arrives on SmackDown

In the ring, Hendry was with people dressed as Santa (which included Alpha Academy’s Akira Tozawa and Otis) and the Easter Bunny. Hendry then proceeded to sing a song about how Miz supposedly has “tiny balls” in the style of Jingle Bells. The Miz himself interrupted in anger as he marched down to the ring. Hendry said that he knows the reason why Miz was upset, it was because he wasn’t here to sing the song with everyone. Hendry then continued his song as Miz raised his hand to shut everyone up.

Miz said that he was chasing a legacy earned with pain, while Hendry was chasing choruses. And now with John Cena retired, Miz claimed he earned the right to be the locker room leader to lead WWE in the future. Miz then challenged Hendry to a match right now. GM Aldis interjected and said that this Miz vs. Hendry match would be a Miracle on 34th Street Fight.

This segment was a decent primer on who Joe Hendry is, but not sure if I approve of the whole “tiny balls Miz” bit continuing to be a thing. Honestly, just not my kind of humor.

**********

Miracle on 34th Street Fight: Joe Hendry vs. The Miz

The ringside area was surrouned by Christmas-themed decorations, as well as Santa Otis, Tozawa, and the Easter Bunny.

As the bell rang, Hendry went for a side headlock takeover and escaped a hold by Miz. In response, Miz kicked Hendry in the gut, but got dropped by a shoulder block. Hendry lifted Miz for a long stalling suplex, which sent his opponent rolling out of the ring. As Hendry headed out of the ring, he opened a gift and found a guitar inside it. Meanwhile, Miz pulled out a ukelele, and then a pair of small ornaments — because he supposedly has tiny balls, you see.

Hendry hip tosssed Miz into a Christmas tree as he pulled out the Slim Jim-branded table from underneath the ring, which then set up inside the ring. Miz snuck up on Hendry and tried for a roll-up pin, to no avail. Skull-Crushing Finale was countered by Hendry, who then attempted a Standing Ovation on his opponent. Miz managed to escape that move. An incensed Miz began to elbow drop a gift thrown in the ring by the Easter Bunny as we took a break in the action.

The match returned from commercial as Hendry and Miz willed themselves to get back on their feet. Hendry was first as he nailed a clothesline on the Miz before he requested Santa Otis and Tozawa to hand him the Christmas tree from ringside. With tree in hand, Hendry struck Miz as he then delivered a fallaway slam on him. Hendry then took the tree and did a fallaway slam on it that sent the tree towards Miz.

Hendry got himself hyped as he went for another Standing Ovation, Miz countered and escaped the ring as he kicked Tozawa. He took a candy cane kendo stick and struck the Easter Bunny with it before Santa Otis blocked the shot from the weapon. This opened Miz up for a kendo stick strike from Hendry. Santa Otis, Tozawa and the Easter Bunny entered the ring with Hendry as they surrounded Miz. Hendry delivered another fallaway slam as Santa Otis then hit a very festive Caterpillar on Miz. Tozawa hit the senton from the top rope on Miz following that. The Easter Bunny then unmasked to reveal it was R-Truth underneath all along. “Happy Easter!” shouted Truth as he did the Five-Knuckle Shuffle. Hendry hit Miz from behind with the guitar as he then hit Standing Ovation through the table for the victory in this match.

Joe Hendry def. The Miz via pinfall

Just a fun little match, and a perfect way to integrate Hendry into the SmackDown roster. These holiday-themed street fights are always entertaining.

**********

– Backstage, Carmelo Hayes was talking with Fraxiom before Ilja Dragunov interrupted and asked to speak with Hayes. Dragunov said that he enjoyed teaming up against #DIY with Hayes last week, but it eats him alive that his U.S. Title match against Hayes went the way it did a few weeks back. Dragunov said that the Open Challenge was closed because it’d be him against Hayes for the U.S. Championship. Hayes shook Dragunov’s hand as the match was set for tonight.

– Drew McIntyre was shown arriving and immediately asked about what stipulation he’d choose for his match against Cody Rhodes. McIntyre said he was tired from the flight for Scotland, but he promised that tonight, we’d have all the answers as it related for this match.

– We got another promo from Aleister Black as he talked about a talented man named Damian Priest, as he and Zelina discussed that they were there to remind him about what he buried, and that they made him supposedly honest. Black said that this would end when he says it ends, and that he would end what he created. We learned that these two would face off on next week’s SmackDown.

– Byron Saxton interviewed WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill about her fight with Michin, as she challenged her to a fight. Elsewhere, Michin & B-Fab discussed how things would get bad real quick because of the current situation. Michin said that nobody respected Cargill in the locker room and that she needed to be humbled. And that lesson in humbling would come next week, according to Michin.

Lash Legend (w/ Nia Jax) vs. Charlotte Flair (w/ Alexa Bliss)

Flair sized up her massive foe as the bell rang before the two got into a test of strength. Legend showed her strength as she had the advantage on Flair early on. Legend dropped Flair with a scoop slam as she got chopped in the chest in response. Legend fought back with a hard clothesline that left Flair reeling as she then slammed her opponent’s face on three separate turnbuckles. Flair avoided calamity in the corner, but could not avoid the big roaring uppercut by Legend for the near-fall.

Legend missed with a running boot in the corner and got kicked on the side of her head by Flair. However, she slowed down her foe with a pop-up powerbomb as we took a break in the action.

SmackDown continued from the break with Legend hoisting Flair and repeateadly dropping her up and down across the middle and bottom ropes before she hit a scoop slam. Legend then applied a resthold on Flair that was promptly broken out of. Flair showed some fire with a rally of strikes, followed by her signature turnbuckle dodge and a big boot to Legend. Flair headed up top and connected with the crossbody, which fired her up.

Flair chopped away at Legend as only she could as she tried for her somersault clothesline. Legend countered that with a hard big boot for a cover that Flair kicked out of. Legend lifted Flair up for a powerbomb, but got turned into a sunset flip pin for a two-count of her own. Legend attempted the Lash Extension, but Flair reversed it into a DDT instead. Flair climbed to the top rope and connected with a moonsault for another near-fall.

Flair targeted Legend’s leg as Nia Jax got on the apron to cause a successful distraction. Outside the ring, Alexa Bliss attacked Jax for a bit. Back in the ring, Flair got the victory with a quick roll-up pin from the corner.

Charlotte Flair def. Nia Jax via pinfall

A good little match and Legend did manage to keep pace with a veteran like Flair. 2025 has been a fantastic revitalization for Charlotte Flair, which is nice to see. This run with Bliss has been one of the few highlights in WWE in an otherwise dull year.

**********

– In Nick Aldis’s office, Trick Williams from NXT was here to meet with Aldis, stating that he was expecting a huge offer from Raw to sign with them, so he wanted Aldis to hurry up on a deal of his own. Cody Rhodes appeared and had a brief staredown with Williams, who left. Rhodes asked if Drew McIntyre has apologized to Dan Engler and paid the fine yet. Aldis said that Rhodes needed to control his emotions. Williams returned and said he wasn’t done and told Rhodes to hold onto that Undisputed WWE Title real tight.

– Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s addressed the Wyatt Sicks, stating that his group doesn’t run from fear, they crave fear. Sikoa said that the fireflies were fading away and concluded by again mockingly singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”.’

United States Championship: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes

The match started fast with both Dragunov and Hayes striking one another as things turned into hard-hitting violence right away. Dragunov hit Hayes with repeated knee strikes as he then stunned him with an enzuigiri. The U.S. Champion then connected with his German Suplexes on Hayes, that the challenger valiantly tried to escape. On the third attempt, Hayes tried to escape, but got battered by hard elbows to the back of the head from Dragunov.

Dragunov threw Hayes overhead with a modified back suplex, as he then hit him hard with a chop. In the corner, a big boot from Dragunov sent Hayes crashing into the floor as we took a break in the action.

As this U.S. Title match resumed from commercial, Dragunov still had the momentum with strikes in the corner on Hayes, who was barely surviving the onslaught. Hayes blocked a big boot from Dragunov and hit him with a slap across the face. Hayes was on the offensive as he hit a hard clothesline on the U.S. Champion. Hayes ducked a strike from Dragunov and leapt from the second rope for a springboard clothesline. Dragunov blocked an attempted hurricanrana from Hayes and then hit him with a running knee to the face. Dragunov headed up to the top rope and missed with the senton as Hayes dodged at the last second. This allowed Hayes to hit his own version of La Mistica for the near-fall.

Hayes kicked at Dragunov’s head repeatedly as he then chopped away at his chest. Dragunov beckoned him to hit harder as he then responded with a strike. Dragunov teed up Hayes for the H-Bomb, but was met by a kick instead. Hayes leapt again from the second rope and hit an incredible look-from behind DDT on the U.S. Champion. That, however, was still not enough to clinch the victory. Hayes headed up top and looked like he was going to go for Nothin’ But Net, but Dragunov caught him. Constantine Special from Dragunov managed to hit its target successfully as he had equal success on the senton. One, two… Hayes just kicked out at two! We took another break in the action in this fantastic match.

As we returned to the action, both Hayes and Dragunov were struggling to get themselves back up, but the champion was up first as he exposed his left knee. He demanded Hayes to get back up and fight, to which the challenger obliged with a superkick. Dragunov caught Hayes’ attempt at First 48 and placed him on the top turnbuckle. Dragunov was met with a punch and headbutt from Hayes that sent him down on the mat. Hayes again went for Nothin’ But Net, but he was intercepted by a kick from Dragunov. The champion fought with his challenger on the apron and lifted him up for a superplex.

Hayes blocked the H-Bomb with a knee, but got rocked by a big boot stomp. Standing uranage from Dragunov, but that was somehow not enough as Hayes kicked out at two. In the corner again, Hayes and Dragunov dueled on the top turnbuckle. Dragunov looked like he had a superplex all set, but Hayes countered it into a cutter! One, two… Dragunov kicked out at 2.9999999!!!!!!! On the apron, Dragunov lifted Hayes on his shoulders, but couldn’t capitalize on whatever move he was going to hit. The two men battered one another until Dragunov got the best of him and hit a Death Valley Driver on the hardest part of the ring.

Dragunov headed for the top rope and appeared to have Hayes right where he wanted him lying on against the bottom corner. Coast-to-Coast…. NO! Hayes intercepted with a First 48 on the U.S. Champion as he headed up top right away and connected with Nothin’ But Net. One… two… THREE! Ladies and gentlemen,. we have a new U.S. Champion.

After the match, Dragunov took the U.S. Championship belt and respectfully crowned Hayes as our new U.S. Champion.

Carmelo Hayes def. Ilja Dragunov to win the United States Championship

An incredible match from start to finish, and could be in conversation for best WWE weekly TV match of the year. As far as a finale for Dragunov’s fantastic run as United States Championship, this was as good as ending as you could hope for. The way that Dragunov and Hayes had the crowd invested in this battle was just excellent. I critique a lot of what goes on every Friday on SmackDown, but the U.S. Title scene has remained one of the consistent highlights of the blue show ever since Sami Zayn won the title back in September. I’m optimistic that the trend will continue with Carmelo Hayes as champion.

**********

– Backstage, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss talked strategy about regaining their WWE Women’s Tag Titles back while we saw Nick Aldis talking with Dan Engler in the background. Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY appeared and talked about how they’d become the next WWE Women’s Tag Champions. Just then, Lash Legend and Nia Jax, as well as the Kabuki Warriors confronted both teams as we got a yelling contest between everyone. Aldis then announced that we’d see an eight-woman tag match between everyone present in this altercation on the first SmackDown of 2026.

– Carmelo Hayes was interviewed about his U.S. Title victory. He talked about how the jerseys were going up the rafters and he was ready to elevate his game before Johnny Gargano ambushed him from behind and declared that Hayes ruined everything. Gargano declared that he’d take the U.S. Champioship.

Chelsea Green & Alba Fyre vs. Giulia & Kiana James

Green and James got things going in this tag match with a lock-up in the middle. Green complained that James was pulling her hair as she then attempted a flash roll-up to no avail. James targeted Green’s arm as Giulia made the tag. Green retreated to her corner and tagged Fyre into the match. An angered Giulia yelled at Green to stop hiding as James found herself back in the match.

Fyre attempted a tornado DDT, but James blocked it successfully and attacked Fyre in the corner. On the second go-around, Fyre connected with the springboard-off-the-ropes DDT for a near-fall. Green tagged in and hit James with a sliding clothesline as she applied a resthold on her opponent. Green threw James out and saluted the crowd, which allowed James to enter the ring and tag Giulia into the match. Giulia threw Green across the ring Biel-style before she hit a snap suplex. On the top rope, Giulia dropped Green with a missile dropkick. Fyre got involved and found herself thrown out of the ring by Giulia. This left the Women’s U.S. Champion at the mercy of Giulia’s Northern Lights Bomb for the three.

Giulia & Kiana James def. Chelsea Green & Alba Fyre via pinfall

Giulia’s main roster booking confounds me, if we’re being honest. She had a strong run on NXT, but hasn’t been really used to the best of her abilities, and it’s resulted in crowds not really caring about her and her feuds. I hope it’s something that can be rectified in the new year, and it starts by just elevating her into the barebones-as-it-is WWE Women’s Title scene.

**********

– In Nick Aldis’s office, Kit Wilson was discussing his “crusade” against toxic masculinity and wanted an opportunity to continue that. Aldis said that there’d be a new opportunity for Wilson next week on SmackDown. Cody Rhodes entered Aldis’s office and asked Dan Engler if he had been apologized to yet. Engler said no, as Rhodes said it was the end of the night and ready to do something as Drew McIntyre’s theme music hit. Aldis asked for Rhodes to control his emotions as he went to go deal with McIntyre.

– We got a vignette for Oba Femi, presumably heralding his arrival on either Raw or SmackDown.

Next Week on SmackDown (1/2/26)

  • Eight-Woman Tag Match: Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, and IYO SKY vs. Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Asuka, and Kairi Sane
  • Jade Cargill vs. Michin
  • Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black

Drew McIntyre’s apology?

Nick Aldis was in the ring with Dan Engler as the two stood in front of Drew McIntyre. Aldis said things were getting way out of hand between McIntyre and Cody Rhodes, but that things really got off the rail when McIntyre attacked Engler. Aldis said that it was McIntyre’s chance to be a man of his word, so that he can finally focus on his title match.

McIntyre said he was indeed a man of his word as he gave Aldis the fine. He then turned his attention to Engler and said he was “genuinely” sorry for hitting a Claymore kick on him. He claims that he should’ve never attacked a WWE official and asked Engler to accept his humble apology. McIntyre continued as he said that he apologized that it was Engler’s dream to become a wrestler and that he wasn’t good enough so he had to be a referee. McIntyre said that he apologized to Engler’s wife Melissa for having to watch him kick her husband in the face and that she supposedly wished that she had a husband like Drew who stood on his convictions. McIntyre railed on as he called Engler a corporate stooge and dared him to hit back.

Cody Rhodes emerged from the ramp and looked like he was going to fight McIntyre, despite Aldis’s protestations. McIntyre tried to goad Rhodes into hitting him so that he could be stripped of the Undisputed WWE Title. McIntyre said that he wished Rhodes’ children and wife could see a real man looks like. McIntyre said that we would see this title match in Germany in a Three Stages of Hell match. Rhodes accepted the challenge as McIntyre said that there was one more thing. When it was time for McIntyre to send Rhodes to hell, to say hi to his dad for him. This allowed McIntyre to hit a sneaky Claymore kick on the champion. McIntyre took the Undisputed WWE Title

**********

I know this Three Stages of Hell match will be good and McIntyre had some good lines in his promo, but I cannot begin to tell you how tired I am of seeing this guy bottling it at every turn and seemingly being stuck in a perpetual cycle of his “Twitter hater” bit and beating up Cody Rhodes, only to get beaten soundly and we do it all over again. I think he deserves better than this and hopefully 2026 is the beginning of getting him away from that road (or Rhodes, if you prefer…)

That said, this episode of SmackDown was mostly enjoyable and hard-carried by that excellent U.S. Title match. I loved Hayes vs. Dragunov quite a bit and it was a fantastic match, as I stated a few paragraphs above. With the third hour of SmackDown coming next week, hopefully everything else is elevated and doesn’t feel like a chore to watch through, despite the length. Will Executive Producer Paul Levesque and company manage that feat? We shall see.

Lastly, on a more positive note, I just want to wrap up by wishing you a Merry Christmas on behalf of myself, Steve Khan, Jeff Moss, Corey Michaels, Ryan Howard, and everyone here at WON/F4W. Thank you for your continued support this year. Stay frosty, everyone.

WWE SmackDown live results: Last stop before Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Marc Quill

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania is the last stop before Saturday Night’s Main Event.

John Cena himself is not scheduled to appear on SmackDown, but on the eve of his last match ever, WWE will take a special look back at the 17-time World Champion’s career.

WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is set to take on NXT Champion Oba Femi tomorrow night at Saturday Night’s Main Event in an exhibition showdown. Tonight, Rhodes addresses that upcoming bout.

Tommaso Ciampa finally gets a shot at the United States Championship tonight after an incensed Ilja Dragunov took exception to Ciampa’s unwanted interference during his open challenge defense last week against Carmelo Hayes.

And Damian Priest reunites with his fellow Terror Twin Rhea Ripley as they face Aleister Black and Zelina Vega in mixed tag team action. Black has continued to be a thorn in Priest’s side, enlisting the aid of his wife Vega to help. This has led to Priest calling on Ripley to even the odds.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

– The show opened with a recap of the Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre situation that opened up last week’s SmackDown, including Rhodes’ attack on McIntyre and demanding that he be reinstated so he can exact some revenge on him.

– Corey Graves & Michael Cole welcomed us to the show as they discussed a post on social media that SmackDown GM Nick Aldis posted earlier regarding an invitation he sent out to McIntyre. Backstage, Cody Rhodes is confronted by Mr. Aldis, who has a letter from McIntyre’s attorneys claiming an unsafe working environment is why he will not be at SmackDown tonight. Rhodes took the paper and crushed it up before he walked down to the ring for our opening segment.

Cody Rhodes opens SmackDown

As Rhodes made his way to address the crowd, the commentators discussed his match tomorrow night at Saturday Night’s Main Event against NXT Champion Oba Femi and the possibility that the McIntyre business could become a distraction for Rhodes.

“What do you want to talk about,” started Rhodes as he turned the subject immediately to the aforementioned McIntyre and the claims that SmackDown is an “unsafe work environment”. Rhodes said that there’s a reason McIntyre is kicking officials and not mingling with the crowd and the reason why he’s not WWE Champion is because he’s “half in”. Rhodes noted that if he were McIntyre’s boss, he’d fire him, but he can’t, so that’s why he’ll just kick his ass instead.

Before Rhodes could go on further, he was interrupted by the NXT Champion himself, Oba Femi. Without missing a beat, Femi marched to the ring and stood face to face with the Undisputed WWE Champion.

Femi opened his piece by saying he liked Rhodes’ passion, but he was worried about the wrong man because McIntyre wasn’t here, when he should be worrying about the man standing before him. Femi introduced himself to Rhodes, stating he was “the mountain that you cannot conquer”. Femi claimed that the future isn’t some far away thing, and the future was here and now — it was him. Femi then quoted Cena’s entrance music, declaring that Rhodes’ time was up, and that his time was now.

Rhodes responded that it was admirable Femi quoted Cena, but he said that he was the man that beat John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Title. As Rhodes tried to leave, Femi stopped him and raised his NXT Championship over his head. Rhodes then raised his WWE Championship in response as the two men faced off to end the segment.

A great segment to sell us on this Rhodes/Femi match for tomorrow night. It’s probably the one match I am looking forward to. And if I’m being honest, it’d be amazing if Femi pulled off the upset on Rhodes to get the win tomorrow.

**********

– Ilja Dragunov was met by Fraxiom, who offered to help him even the odds against Tommaso Ciampa if Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae got involved. Dragunov respectfully declined the offer, stating that he was going to follow John Cena’s example and bring the fight to Ciampa and #DIY if they wanted it so badly.

United States Championship: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Ciampa backed Dragunov into the corner right away and teed off with strikes and chops to the champ. The two then got into an exchange of hard-hitting attacks against one another, but Dragunov got the best of the exchange with a hard boot to the jaw of Ciampa. The challenger took advantage by hitting the injured knee of Dragunov, as he followed that with a running knee.

Dragunov forced Ciampa into the corner and struck him with a hard running boot to the face. Outside the ring, Ciampa barely avoided a running charge from Dragunov, who couldn’t stop his forward momentum and ended up crashing into the steel steps. Ciampa took over with a suplex that caused Dragunov’s hurt knee to impact against the side of the steps as we took a break in the action.

This U.S. Title match returned from commercial as Dragunov fought out of a rest hold from Ciampa. He attempted the Constantine Special, but his bum knee buckled at the last second, rendering him unable to hit his bread & butter. Dragunov, however, did manage to ground Ciampa with a nice jumping enzuigiri to the side of the head of his foe. The U.S. Champion struck with his interlocking German suplexes on Ciampa, connecting with two of them as he then struck him with hard elbows. Dragunov tried to lift Ciampa up, but he couldn’t do it due to the knee. With some effort, Dragunov finally lifted up Ciampa with his standing uranage for the near-fall.

Dragunov had to hobble his way up to the top rope, which gave Ciampa enough of an opening to kick him aside onto the apron. Ciampa then hoised Dragunov and hit an Air Raid Crash on the hardest part of the ring, but that still wasn’t enough to put Dragunov away. In another top-rope skirmish, Dragunov got the better in a duel with Ciampa, as he then took off with a missile dropkick to the side of the challenger’s head. We then went to a picture-in-picture break with both men down.

We returned to full-screen action with Dragunov attacking Ciampa, who was left stunned seated on the top rope. A hard chop left Ciampa in a bad way as Dragunov got on the top rope. The challenger targeted Dragunov’s knee, which allowed him to hit with an avalanche Air Raid Crash. One, two…. NO! In the preceding skirmish, Dragunov had his nose busted open as it dripped with blood.

Both men faced off in the middle of the ring and got into it again with a battle of brutal strikes, as Ciampa targeted Dragunov’s knee with a dragon screw. Dragunov countered a German suplex by Ciampa and hit the Torpedo Moscow. At this point, Johnny Gargano ran in and distracted the referee, while Candice LeRae attacked Dragunov. This opened Dragunov up for a running knee from Ciampa. However, that wasn’t enough to put the determined U.S. Champion away. Dragunov finished this match off as he countered Ciampa’s Fairytale Ending into a pinning combination to retain the U.S. Title.

After the match, Gargano and Ciampa attacked Dragunov until Carmelo Hayes made the save, much to the delight of the Wilkes-Barre crowd. As #DIY beat a hasty retreat, Hayes helped Dragunov back up to his feet as the two shared a moment of respect.

Ilja Dragunov def. Tommaso Ciampa via pinfall to retain the U.S. Championship

Another amazing entry in the U.S. Title match lineage — even if it wasn’t officially part of the Open Challenge. Ciampa and Dragunov beat the absolute hell out of each other and these U.S. Title matches continue to be one of the few reliable shining lights of SmackDown. The way Dragunov wrestles and how he sells really added a lot to this match and it really looked like we were going to see a new U.S. Champion. That’s how good this was.

**********

– Cathy Kelley was with Je’von Evans, who was asked about his big match tomorrow teaming up with TNA’s Leon Slater against AJ Styles & Dragon Lee. The Miz interrupted and complained about how he wasn’t booked tomorrow for John Cena’s final show. This led to Evans challenging Miz to a match for later tonight. We got a Wyatt Sicks VHS interruption thing that declared that they were here.

The Wyatt Sicks issue a challenge

The group led by Uncle Howdy made their way down to the ring in their usual manner. Once the group was assembled in the ring, Howdy talked about Solo Sikoa’s attempts to discredit his family as of late, stating that Sikoa might not have the power to within to look himself, but Howdy did. He said that Sikoa’s real family (the original Bloodline) turned their back on him because he used and abused those he claimed to love. Howdy called Sikoa delusional for claiming that the M.F.T.s ran SmackDown, because as long as the Wyatt Sicks had the WWE Tag Team Titles, the M.F.T.s run nothing. Howdy then issued a challenge to Sikoa and the M.F.Ts that if they wanted the tag titles, they should come and get them.

Solo Sikoa’s entrance music played, but he and his M.F.T.s appeared on the titantron. Sikoa said that the Sicks didn’t call the shots, he did. He said that they were going to do things his way, as the Wyatts had better prepare for war. Sikoa threatened the Sicks by telling them to give the tag titles to the M.F.T.s, as he ended his promo by invoking Bray Wyatt as he told the Sicks to “run”.

Interesting segment, and the attempts to by Solo to use Bray Wyatt’s words as a way to get into the head of Uncle Howdy/Bo Dallas is at least something that adds some needed heat to an otherwise dull feud.

**********

– Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss were in their locker room as the former tried to get the latter hyped up for their match with Lash Legend coming up next. Rhea Ripley appeared and wished Bliss luck on her match that was coming up after the break.

– Clips of celebrities and sports heroes like Eli and Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Snoop Dogg, Jelly Roll, among others congratulating John Cena on his career were shown. In the crowd, Bayley and Sol Ruca were shown ahead of their one-on-one match tomorrow night in Washington, D.C.

Alexa Bliss (w/ Charlotte Flair) vs. Lash Legend (w/ Nia Jax)

Bliss avoided a jumping kick from Legend early as she then got on her massive opponent’s shoulders. Bliss then sent Legend out of the ring with a hurricanrana. As Bliss tried to leap from the apron, she was caught by Legend, who then threw Bliss rib-first onto the top of the timekeeper’s barricade.

Back in the ring, Legend targeted Bliss’s left arm as she then lifted her high before dropping her for a hard clothesline to the face. Legend leapt up for a massive splash on Bliss for a near fall. Legend again used her strength to catch a leaping Bliss, but she got felled when Bliss countered her move into an armdrag. Legend weathered Bliss’s offensive onslaught and caught her with a forearm referred to as “The Lash Minute”. On the apron, Jax tripped up Bliss as Flair got involved and took her down. Legend then headed outside and hit Flair with a boot to take her out of the equation. In the ring, Legend finished off Bliss with her impressive-looking Lash Extension finisher.

Lash Legend def. Alexa Bliss via pinfall

Hard to say much about a match that didn’t really have enough time to cook, but credit to Bliss for selling the heck out of Legend’s impressive offense, so I suppose the job of making Legend look like a threat was accomplished.

**********

The Miz vs. Je’von Evans

Miz got the advantage early with a shoulder block on Evans as he taunted the crowd. The Young OG got himself back up after being shoved by Miz and hit him with an athletic dropkick, followed by a springboard hurricanrana that sent Miz out of the ring. As Evans tried to go for a high-risk move, Miz got ahead of him and hit a knee on Evas. That advantage was fleeting as Evans leapt on the apron and floored Miz with a standing moonsault.

The veteran took over the match as he sent Evans into the ring post, as he then targeted the arm, which led to a break in the action.

We returned from break as Miz had Evans trapped in a crossface submission, but the rookie turned that into a pin attempt to escape theh old. Evans mounted a comeback with a leaping punch, followed by his rebound enzuigiri kick on Miz, but that was only enough for a two-count. Evans headed to the top and looked for a moonsault, but Miz got out of the way and dropped his foe instead. Miz then connected with the Faux-Knuckle Shuffle before he tried his own take on the Attitude Adjustment. Evans landed on his feet and sent Miz to the outside before he soared over the top rope with a high-flying dive.

Miz tried to counter the OG Cutter into a Skull-Crushing Finale, but got rolled up into a pin. After a sneaky cheap pin attempt on Evans by Miz, this match came to its end with Evans finally connecting with the OG Cutter to pick up the victory.

Je’von Evans def. The Miz via pinfall

A good showcase for Evans and his high-flying offense, but I think we’ll hav e a much better chance to see him show out especially as he teams up with Leon Slater against AJ Styles & Dragon Lee.

**********

– Rhea Ripley was confronted by Nia Jax and Lash Legend, who threatened to do what they did to Alexa Bliss to her. Ripley was unmoored by the threat as she told them that she and IYO SKY were gunning for the Women’s Tag Titles. Afterwards, Ripley was met by WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill.

– Just as Michin was walking down for her match with Jade Cargill, she was attacked by the WWE Women’s Champion in the Gorilla Position, which put her out of commission. Cargill then walked out to the ring, the apparent match she was going to have now cancelled.

In the ring, Cargill said that what happened to Michin was what was going to happen to those who’d mess with her, because she was that bitch. A battered and bruised Michin emerged from the back with a kendo stick as she struck the champion repeatedly. Cargill recovered and hit a big boot, as she then put a table away. In the ring, she chokeslammed Michin and stood tall over her.

If we’re being honest, I’m not sure what this accomplishes with regards to Cargill’s title run. It’s probably the biggest casualty of how barebones the SmackDown women’s division is, and I’m not certain if even adding a third hour to the show starting January 2nd, 2026 will be a cure for that.

**********

Saturday Night’s Main Event: John Cena’s Final Match card

  • The Last Match: John Cena vs. Gunther
  • Showcase Match: AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs. Je’von Evans & Leon Slater
  • Champion vs. Champion: Cody Rhodes vs. Oba Femi
  • Showcase Match: Bayley vs. Sol Ruca

Mixed-Tag Match: The Terror Twins (Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley) vs. Aleister Black & Zelina

Black attacked Priest as he was posing on the top rope to start us off, but he soon found himself shelled by a clothesline from Priest that sent him out of the ring. Priest pointed towards Ripley and made the tag even as Zelina leapt on his shoulders. Back in the ring, Ripley blasted Zelina with clotheslines followed by a knee to the face, and then one more clothesline as we took a picture-in-picture break.

SmackDown’s main event continued as Zelina targeted Ripley’s arm with a submission over the corner, followed by the Meteora from the top rope for a near-fall. Zelina went after Ripley’s knee and whiffed on some sort of leg scissors move that she tried for. Zelina opted to connect with a DDT instead. Ripley caught Zelina and threw her down as she got the hot tag for Priest.

Priest took on legal man Black and dropped him with a suplex that got a near-fall. He had Priest targeted for a clothesline, but Zelina provided a good enough distraction, which allowed Black to hit Priest with a discus knee strike, then a bridging German suplex for the near-fall. As Ripley tagged in, things began to break down with Black and Zelina nailing stereo moonsaults on their respective foes on the outside.

Zelina tried to go for a crossbody, but she was caught by Ripley and had her set for Riptide. Zelina escaped and hit a rough looking Code Red before hitting a proper one for a near-fall. Ripley recovered and lifted up Zelina before she slammed her to the ground. Black broke up the subsequent pin attempt by pulling at Ripley’s leg.

Ripley and Priest had Zelina and Black at their mercy as they hit dual Razor’s Edges on them. This match then came to an end with Ripley getting the win from Riptide on Vega. The show simply ended with the Terror Twins celebrating their victory.

The Terror Twins def. Zelina & Aleister Black via pinfall

**********

An okay main event marred by some rather sloppy spots on the part of Zelina, especially with how rough the landing was on those spots for both her and Ripley. Fortunately, things didn’t turn out for the worse on those spots.

Other than that, this week’s episode was actually decent, and the focus on future stars like Oba Femi, Lash Legend, Je’von Evans, and Ilja Dragunov was a nice tie-in and lead-up to tomorrow’s Saturday Night’s Main Event show. The U.S. Title scene continues to be the one thing that’s doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of carrying SmackDown, in spite of how poorly booked it can be at times under the purview of Brian “Road Dogg” James. Those matches are reliably entertaining and often end up being the highlight of a given episode, something that has been very consistent since late August.

WWE SmackDown live results: Last Time is Now first round concludes

Posted on by Marc Quill

The Last Time is Now tournament to find John Cena’s final opponent rolls on as part of tonight’s WWE SmackDown from Denver, Colorado.

In the final two first-round bouts, Carmelo Hayes battles The Vision’s Bronson Reed while Penta takes on Finn Balor. The winner of Hayes vs. Reed will move on to face Gunther on this Monday’s Raw while Solo Sikoa awaits the winner of Penta vs. Balor at a date to be announced.

We’ll also find out how WWE plans to move forward with Sheamus having to withdraw from the tournament due to injury.

On their website, WWE is hyping fallout from this past Monday’s show-ending brawl on Raw that included Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, CM Punk and the other combatants for the men’s WarGames match at Survivor Series.

The final members for the women’s WarGames match at next weekend’s Survivor Series will also be confirmed tonight.

After weeks of back and forth conflict, DIY and Fraxiom finally get to settle their score in tag team action.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.

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– Over a live shot of the University of Colorado stadium and the school’s football mascot posing, we’re welcomed to the show by the voice of Michael Cole. We then see the requisite shots of Penta, Finn Balor, as well as Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair arriving. This then segued into a recap of the goings-on in the men’s WarGames and the new additions to the match happening next week.

The Vision open SmackDown

After the recap, we saw the three members of The Vision’s WarGames team: Logan Paul, Bronson Reed, and Bron Breakker. They were accompanied by Paul Heyman, who started with his usual opening spiel. He then said that at WarGames, five of the crowd’s heroes would be locked inside a double cage where Breakker would “take a bite out of every one of their asses”. They’d be also locked in a double cage where they’d be Tsunami’d over and over again by the “Original Tribal Thief”, Bronson Reed. These five superstars would learn that you’d need an evil and violent strategy to win WarGames, which led to Heyman giving the mic to Logan Paul.

Before Paul could get far, he was interrupted by The Usos, Jimmy and Jey. With a mic in hand, Jey said that nobody wanted to hear what Paul wanted to say. Heyman interjected by saying that Jey pissed off Logan, as well as stating that he created The Bloodline was to make sure that nobody would have to live on the streets. Heyman also pointed out that the one thing he taught them in The Bloodline was the numbers game as he counted the Vision members in the ring.

Jimmy noted that they weren’t showing up to this fight alone, as the sounds of Cody Rhodes’ theme heralded the seeming arrival of the Undisputed WWE Champion. However, he never showed up as the Titantron cut to Drew McIntyre emerging from Rhodes’ bus, leaving behind the champion beaten down. The Usos ran down to check on him.

An okay start to the show, with the McIntyre bus attack on Rhodes, but I’m thinking that this feud is getting a bit stale seeing as while McIntyre gets the upper hand in the attacks, he just ends up losing when it matters, which doesn’t help his standing at all. It kinda feels like they’re going through the motions.

**********

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. J.D. McDonagh

Dragunov and McDonagh locked up to kick off the match as their standoff reached the corner. After McDonagh chopped at Dragunov, he was met with a hard boot to the face by the U.S. Champion. Dragunov knocked McDonagh loopy with an enzuigiri to the head but couldn’t connect with a suplex as he was chopped in the chest against the ropes. McDonagh gained the upper hand by throwing the champion hard into the middle rope, which sent him outside as we took a break at this early juncture of the match.

Live action resumed as McDonagh pummeled away at Dragunov with hard strikes to the face, as well as the Kawada-styled kicks. Dragunov answered with chops to McDanagh, followed by the Constantine Special, as both men struggled to get themselves back up. Once McDonagh and Dragunov got back up, they traded strikes until the U.S. Champion connected with a set of German suplexes that kept McDonagh down and out. Dragunov smashed the back of McDonagh’s head with repeated elbow strikes as he then nailed a nice suplex.

As Dragunov tried for another Constantine Special, McDonagh turned that into a standing Spanish Fly for the near-fall. McDonagh escaped a suplex as he then sent himself and Dragunov out of the ring with a nasty-looking suplex as the match headed into its second commercial break.

The match continued from the break as Dragunov nailed a superplex on McDonagh. Upon impact, McDonagh grabbed at Dragunov’s hair and countered into a brainbuster for an incredibly close near-fall. McDonagh headed to the top rope and missed on a moonsault, which opened him up to a big boot from Dragunov, followed by the standing uranage. Dragunov’s attempt at Torpedo Moscow was intercepted by a running knee from the Irishman, and the challenger took advantage with an incredible moonsault. One, two…. NO!

As both men got themselves up, Dragunov connected with the Torpedo Moscow after absorbing a headbutt from McDonagh. One powerbomb and H-Bomb later, and Dragunov picked up the victory in this hard-fought battle.

Ilja Dragunov def. J.D. McDonagh via pinfall to retain the United States Championship

These U.S. Title Open Challenge matches have remained the highlight of SmackDown for consecutive weeks now and this one was no exception. McDonagh and Dragunov battered the heck out of each other and we got a fantastic match out of it. Incredible way to kick things off in terms of in-ring action.

**********

– After a recap of Charlotte Flair deciding to join the WarGames skirmish on Raw, we saw Flair and Alexa Bliss walking to an unmarked door. The door opened to reveal Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY inside as Bliss left Flair to have a chat with Ripley to work out whatever issues they may have. SKY left soon after as Ripley and Flair stared down one another, presumably getting ready to have that chat.

– Nick Aldis wasn’t able to give an update on Cody Rhodes after what happened as he confronted The Vision about it. Mr. Aldis told Paul Heyman that Drew McIntyre was still persona non grata even after being named to The Vision’s WarGames team. Heyman said that he’d respect Aldis’s request as McIntyre was apparently not at the building after what happened earlier.

– We got more clips of the University of Colorado’s football team as it was mentioned that Bill Goldberg’s son, Gage Goldberg, was a player for the Buffaloes.

– Backstage, Ilja Dragunov was walking, licking his wounds after his U.S. Title match as Tama Tonga silently stared him down before walking off. Tommasso Ciampa then confronted Dragunov and told the champion that he was lucky that he and Johnny Gargano were busy with Fraxiom, because he’d be holding the title instead. Dragunov rebutted by calling Ciampa a “jackass”.

Last Time Is Now Tournament First Round Qualifier: Carmelo Hayes (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Bronson Reed

Michael Cole gave his condolences to legendary commentator Bob Caudle at the start of the match.

In the ring, Reed easily took down Hayes with a fierce running chop, as he continued the attack in the corner. Reed taunted Hayes, followed by another hard running chop and a headbutt on his downed foe. Reed attempted a powerbomb, but Hayes turned that into a powerbomb for a two-count. Hayes maintained the attack with a springboard DDT, followed by a dropkick to the outside. The Vision’s Logan Paul and Bron Breakker ran out from the back as we took a break in the action.

We returned from the break as Reed applied a resthold on Hayes, having gained the upper hand during the commercial break. Hayes fought out of the hold, but got dropped with a back suplex by Reed for the two-count. Reed tried for another back suplex, but Hayes landed on his feet. As Breakker created a distraction, Paul pulled at Hayes’ feet to give his fellow Vision member an assist. Hayes avoided a senton from Reed and rolled him up for the near-fall.

Hayes stunned Reed with a running knee, followed by the flying clothesline. With Reed trapped in between the middle rope, he was blasted by a leg drop by Hayes. A DDT on to the hardest part of the ring by Hayes was followed by a frog splash on the gargantuan Reed for a near-fall. Hayes’ First 48 was countered into a World’s Strongest Slam, followed by the senton. Reed headed up top for the Tsunami, but Hayes rolled out at the last minute to avoid calamity.

Hayes hit Reed with the First 48 as he then leapt at the three members of The Vision at ringside. Back in the ring, Hayes leapt from the top rope and hit a nice DDT, but that wasn’t enough to pick up the victory. Hayes went up top once again, but missed Nothin’ But Net, as he instead was cracked with a hard lariat by Reed.

Outside the ring, Breakker was setting up Hayes for the super spear, but the Usos interrupted and fought with Breakker and Paul. With the referee still distracted, Cody Rhodes emerged from the crowd and hit Reed with a Cross Rhodes that left him out cold. The referee began his count as Reed struggled to get himself back up. Reed was ultimately unable to reach the ring by the count of ten, which gave Hayes the victory.

After the match, Rhodes took the microphone and said that he no longer wants to be done with Drew McIntyre because of what he did. Rhodes called out each member of The Vision, as he then turned his attention to Paul Heyman, stating that he’ll beat his guys (“you build them and I’ll beat them!”) Rhodes then said that WarGames was his birthright and that he’d see Heyman at San Diego.

Carmelo Hayes def. Bronson Reed via countout

This was an good match and a good showing for Hayes. The inevitable WarGames-adjacent events helped keep things exciting, and did their job of setting up Hayes vs. Gunther on Raw this coming Monday.

**********

– Chelsea Green was fretting about her championship celebration, as she confided with Alba Fyre that maybe she shouldn’t be holding this celebration. As Green called herself the “Greatest Women’s Champion Ever”, Jade Cargill confronted her and took exception to that bold claim.

– Sami Zayn was with Rey Fenix, The Motor City Machine Guns, and Shinsuke Nakamura and had remarks ahead of the big five-man elimination tag match against The M.F.T.s next week on SmackDown. Zayn said that his team was an international assembly of the best wrestlers as he put Fenix, the MCMGs, and Nakamura over.

#DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommasso Ciampa) vs. Fraxiom (Nathan Frazer & Axiom)

Fraxiom started off fast as they stunned both Gargano and Ciampa with their fast-paced tandem offense. At ringside, both #DIY members were left shelled by consecutive dives to the outside by Fraxiom. Back in the ring, Frazer hit a splash on Ciampa, but Gargano broke up the pin as he then took out Axiom of the equation. Gargano was now the legal man and continued the attack on Frazer, who countered a back suplex by landing on his feet. Ciampa pulled Frazer out and threw him against the steps, as he and Gargano did their self-pats on the back. We took a break at this point in time.

The match returned from break as Frazer sped things up as only he could with a running moonsault on Gargano for the near-fall. Frazer made the climb to the top rope with Gargano stunned, but he missed on the splash. This opened him up to a Shatter Machine from #DIY for an incredibly close near-fall. Frazer had his knees clipped by Ciampa, but he was able to make the tag to Axiom. A dive from the top from the masked star was met by a hard knee to the face from Ciampa, as #DIY connected with a nice double team move. Frazer managed to break the pin up with a splash.

On the top rope, Axiom connected with an avalanche Spanish Fly, while Frazer flew from the top to take out Ciampa. In the ensuing fracas, Candice LeRae got on the apron and took off Axiom’s mask, which allowed Gargano to get in a sneaky victory for #DIY.

#DIY def. Fraxiom via pinfall

Some solid tag team action to keep up the excellent in-ring action we’ve had so far tonight. If there’s one good thing about the rumored return to three hours for SmackDown, it should be the added focus on the tag division to fill the time, and they deserve that bigger spotlight.

**********

– We got a video of Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley’s conversation, where it simply boiled down to the two acknowledging that they could trust one another for WarGames.

Last Time Is Now Tournament First Round Qualifier: Finn Balor vs. Penta

Balor tried to attack Penta as he was still posturing in the ring, but was cut off at the pass instead as the match got underway here. Balor attacked Penta in the corner, but was met with a hurricanrana, followed by the elevated dropkick in the corner by the fearless masked man.

Penta slammed Balor with a slingblade, as he hit a nice dive over the top rope on his foe to take us into the commercial break.

After the break, we returned on Penta landing a crossbody on Balor as both men tried to get themselves back up on their feet. Balor got to his feet first and teed away on Penta in the corner with a series of punches. However, Penta started to gained some steam with repeated clotheslines, then the superkick on a prone Balor against the middle turnbuckle. Penta tried to hit the Penta Driver, but Balor turned that into a Final Cut for the two-count.

Balor kicked away at Penta, but got a pair of hard chops for his troubles. Penta then hit a modified Muscle Buster on Balor for the close two. Penta pulled at Balor’s arm with his signature armbreaker, but he got rolled up for the near fall. Balor hit the Slingblade, then the shotgun dropkick, which was the final setup for the Coup de Grace. Penta escaped and connected with a variation on his Penta Driver. One, two…. NO!

Balor pushed Penta into the corner, but he found himself in the crosshairs for the Mexican Destroyer as Penta picked up the victory to advance in the Last Time is Now Tournament.

Penta def. Finn Balor via pinfall

A great match to cap off the in-ring action on tonight’s SmackDown, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the matches on tonight’s show. Penta and Balor work together so well, which made this match a fun one.

**********

– Cole and Graves ran down the remaining spots for the Last Time is Now tournament as they mentioned Sheamus’s shoulder injury, which forced him out of the tournament, revealing that a mystery opponent will face LA Knight in the LTiN quarterfinals in place of the injured Sheamus.

Women’s WarGames Match face off

The team of Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, IYO SKY, and Rhea Ripley were out as a united front ahead of next week’s Survivor Series: WarGames.

Ripley had the microphone first and said that she could hear what the Denver crowd was chanting for. She said at MSG, the Kabuki Warriors, Nia Jax, and Lash Legend didn’t realize how united they were at that moment in time, and when going into war, she wanted to make sure she’d be going to war with the right people. Ripley pointed out her best friend IYO SKY, someone who would keep fighting even if they went down swinging. Ripley then turned her attention to Bliss and Flair, people who weren’t the best of friends with her, but they could trust people. However, that was only four people, as she introduced the fifth member of their WarGames teams: AJ Lee.

As AJ made her entrance, the heel women attacked Rhea’s team in the ring. Becky Lynch ambushed AJ as she was making her way to the ring. The battle was heating up in the ring, as the heel WarGames team had the upper hand in the ensuing skirmish. The Levesque & Fitting producer credits were up as the heel WarGames team stood tall.

**********

Kind of a standard WarGames setup ending for a surprisingly great SmackDown, but I suppose they had to get that out of the way, even if the setup of adding Lynch and AJ into the mix seemed a bit forced. Even with that, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the in-ring action was this week, which carried a lot of the show this week.

The U.S. Open Challenge, as usual, stood out the most, but the other matches on the night were enjoyable in their own right, which helped make this episode a lot better than previous weeks. However, the big downside that does put a damper on things was how the SmackDown women’s division seemed to be sidelined, especially in favor of the WarGames build.

Jade Cargill, the current Women’s Champion, only got a fifteen-second cameo, and the planned Chelsea Green segment (which likely would’ve involved Giulia crashing the party) got bumped off the show altogether. On top of all that, there was no women’s match on the show. That is a huge disappointment and does not shake off the notion of how poorly booked the SmackDown women’s division is as a whole. This is an issue that’s been a nagging one and something that the women’s WarGames build cannot hide.

WWE SmackDown live results: The Last Time is Now tournament continues

Posted on by Marc Quill

The Last Time is Now tournament continues tonight on WWE SmackDown from MVP Arena in Albany, New York.

The show will feature two first-round matchups, including one between two former World Champions Jey Uso and The Miz. The other pits LA Knight against a yet-to-be-revealed mystery opponent.

The winners will progress further in the bracketless tournament that will determine John Cena’s last-ever opponent for next month’s December 13 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event.

After a confrontation, new WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill will take on B-Fab in a non-title bout.

Sami Zayn will also be on the show as he has a message for Solo Sikoa after last week — when he attempted to get at Sikoa and the MFTs but was unable to. In storyline, Zayn was not medically cleared in storyline. We’ll see if tonight’s message has something to do with a Zayn return.

Plus, Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY are in the house as the WarGames build continues.

Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.

**********

– We opened SmackDown on a recap of what happened last week with Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, along with the Kabuki Warriors and the new alliance of Nia Jax and Lash Legend. The chaos involving these groups led to WarGames being declared by IYO SKY and the returning Rhea Ripley.

Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY kick off SmackDown

The dynamic tandem made their way to the ring to the loud ovation from the fans in Albany. Once the two got into the ring, Rhea Ripley addressed how things have devolved into chaos since she was gone due to her broken nose. Ripley mentioned that the Kabuki Warriors think they’re untouchable because they’re the Women’s Tag Team Champions, and that Lash Legend & Nia Jax similarly though they were untouchable because of their added numbers. Ripley said that the numbers game meant that Jax & Legend were also making a lot of enemies, as SKY mentioned that there’d be nowhere to hide in WarGames. Ripley then introduced their two partners for the Match Beyond in two weeks: Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss.

Bliss started that if Jax & Legend wanted to get dirty, that was fine by her. If the Kabuki Warriors wanted a fight, they’re on, too. Flair interrupted by saying that she couldn’t pretend to do this anymore, as she told Ripley that she couldn’t trust her as she was a “snake”. It’s something that she couldn’t look past even with a common enemy. Flair called Bliss her friend, but she couldn’t go through with this WarGames match, as she walked out.

Interesting start, which is definitely meant to give the babyface team at Survivor Series a bit of adversity heading into next week.

**********

– Michael Cole and Corey Graves teed up the action ahead for tonight, including WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill vs. B-Fab, plus LA Knight vs. a mystery opponent in the Last Time is Now tournament.

The Last Time is Now Tournament First-Round Match: Jey Uso vs. The Miz

Miz and Uso locked horns to start us off before the latter struck with a clubbing blow to the back of his foe. Uso answered back with strikes to the face, but found himself down on the mat with a knee driven to the gut by Miz. In the corner, Miz went for his signature clothesline, but Uso countered that into a backslide pin for a two-count.

Uso escaped an early Skull-Crushing Finale attempt as he then clotheslined Miz to the outside. He then took off with a suicide dive, wich was the cue for a break in the action.

As we returned from commercial, Miz had the advantage as he dropped Uso face first on his knees from the corner, followed by a spike DDT that wasn’t enough to pick up the win. Miz then kicked repeatedly at Uso’s chest, but failed to hit the last kick as the former World Champion turned that into a neckbreaker for a near-fall. As Miz scurried into the corner, he avoided a running hip strike from Uso. He then decided to do a spoof of John Cena’s shoulder charges, Protoplex and the Five-Knuckle Shuffle.

Uso recovered and superkicked Miz, as he then tried to lift him up on his shoulders. Miz wriggled free and delivered the Skull-Crushing Finale. One, two…. NO! Miz lifted Uso up on the top turnbuckle as he tried for an avalanche Skull-Crushing Finale. Uso escaped and hit some sort of drop from the top instead. This led into the Spear, and the Uso Splash for the three and the victory.

Jey Uso def. The Miz via pinfall to advance in The Last Time is Now Tournament

A decent match, though I was surprised this went down cleanly without any sort of WarGames-adjacent shenanigans. It was certainly better than Uso’s last singles match at Saturday Night’s Main Event a few weeks back.

**********

– As Nick Aldis was meeting with Ilja Dragunov, they were interrupted by an incensed Tommasso Ciampa, who stood with Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae. Ciampa was upset at being snubbed by Dragunov once again. The U.S. Champion explained that he only gives opportunities to those who are honorable and deserve a shot at the title, and he’s found one such individual. Mr. Aldis left this scene and was met by Paul Heyman and Bronson Reed of The Vision, who wanted to chat wit him.

– We got a video of John Cena talking about how he became a wrestler. This was a tease for an interview with Cena conducted by Tom Rinaldi that will be released soon.

– Back with Nick Aldis, who requested for security to come to his office. Paul Heyman mentioned that he had an agreement regarding WarGames, stating that he was free to pick anyone across all brands. Aldis reiterated that as he asked Heyman and Reed to leave. Cody Rhodes showed up and explained that he showed up because his friends were held to the fire by The Vision and that he’d be willing to put himself through the fire next. This led to a major match being made tonight: Cody Rhodes vs. Bronson Reed for the WWE Championship.

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Axiom

We started hot right away as Dragunov and Axiom were engaged in a chain wrestling duel. The U.S. Champion missed on a chop as Axiom rolled underneath, which seemed to impress Dragunov a fair bit. Axiom followed with a headlock takeover, but was felled by a running shoulder block from Dragunov afterwards. Dragunov went for a back elbow, but Axiom dodged it and hit a dropkick that sent him out of the ring.

As Axiom tried to go to the top rope, Dragunov intercepted him and left him sat on the top rope. After a brief skirmish, Dragunov headbutted Axiom down to the mat, as he then followed that with a senton for the near-fall. We then went to a picture-in-picture break at this point.

SmackDown returned to full-screen action as Dragunov connected with a German suplex. Axiom escaped and caught his championship foe with a release Northern Lights suplex. As both men got themselves back up, Axiom blasted Dragunov in the face with a strike, as he then leapt from the top rope with a shotgun missile dropkick for the two-count. Axiom took shots at the chest of Dragunov, who responded with a hard boot to the face.

Dragunov’s attempt at a Constantine Special was reversed into an armbar by Axiom. The U.S. Champion used his strength to break free of the hold with a deadlift powerbomb. Axiom got ahead of an attempted H-Bomb and turned that into an incredible leaping springboard DDT for the close near-fall. With Dragunov stunned in the corner, Axiom lifted him up the top rope and was looking for an avalanche Spanish Fly. Dragunov tried to fight back, but could not prevent the Spanish Fly from the top.

Axiom had Dragunov locked for the Golden Ratio, but he was intercepted by a fierce Torpedo Moscow. An H-Bomb from the U.S. Champion put an end to this Open Challenge and brought victory for Ilja Dragunov.

After the match, Dragunov showed respect for Axiom’s effort in this one as he shook the challenger’s hand.

Ilja Dragunov def. Axiom via pinfall to retain the United States Championship

Another solid U.S. Title Open Challenge match. Dragunov has been just on a tear since his return with fantastic matches one after the other, and this week’s match was no exception. Axiom was a perfect challenger for Dragunov and looked great even in defeat.

**********

– During the commercial break, we saw Tommasso Ciampa brutally attacking Axiom before Nathan Frazer chased him off.

Sami Zayn addresses The M.F.T.s

The former U.S. Champion was out as he made his way to the ring and began by greeting the Albany crowd.

Zayn said that since he came to SmackDown, there were some extremely high highs and extremely low lows. He talked about how he beat Solo Sikoa for the U.S. Title and that he did some incredible things, like facing John Cena in his last-ever SmackDown ever. Zayn mentioned that the last four weeks have been incredibly rough on him as he wasn’t medically cleared yet. He was forced to watch Sikoa and the M.F.T.s attack his friends and people that he respected. And now, that will end tonight, as Zayn challenged Sikoa to face him right now.

On cue, Sikoa walked to the ring, surrounded by his motley crew. Sikoa talked about how he knew the real Sami Zayn: someone who was a pathetic, a liar, and selfish. He claimed that Zayn didn’t care about the people in the back or the people in Albany. That was in contrast to Sikoa, who said that he cared about his “family” and their loyalty to him. Sikoa told Zayn that he knew nothing about loyalty or love of his family. Sikoa threatned to do harm Zayn as he was “still wounded”. He motioned for the M.F.T.s to approach Zayn in the ring.

Sikoa stopped them from going on the attack as he wanted Zayn to be 100% and medically cleared, because he was coming for him. Zayn answered that he was medically cleared and that if Sikoa wanted to do something about it, he’d do something about it right now. Zayn then burst Sikoa’s balloon by stating that he wasn’t here alone. Just then, Shinsuke Nakamura, the Motor City Machine Guns, and Rey Fenix evened the odds as they helped Zayn clear the ring of the M.F.T.s.

Bless Zayn for trying to generate interest into this feud, but it’s still kind of doing nothing for me even with that. This Bloodline retread just is not clicking for me at all, I’m sorry to say.

**********

– Cody Rhodes was approached by Jey Uso, who wished him luck for his Undisputed WWE Title match later on tonight. Jimmy Uso then showed up and told both Rhodes and brother Jey that he spoke with CM Punk, who officially put Jimmy on their WarGames team for Survivor Series.

– Backstage, Nick Aldis declared that in two weeks we’d see the M.F.T.s take on the team of Sami Zayn, the Motor City Machine Guns, Rey Fenix, and Shinsuke Nakamura in a 5-on-5 Traditional Survivor Series match. The Wyatt Sicks’ VHS glitches were shown as Solo Sikoa and Mr. Aldis left.

The Last Time is Now Tournament First-Round Match: LA Knight vs. Zack Ryder

Ryder was revealed as Knight’s mystery opponent moments before this match got underway. He got a great reaction from the crowd.

As the bell rang, Ryder went for an early school boy roll-up pin, but that was clearly not enough this early into the match. Knight countered a Rough Ryder attempt, but was sent out of the ring, which was the cue to take us into the commercial break.

We resumed the match from the break with Knight getting sent hard into the corner by Ryder. This was met in kind with a nice back body drop from Knight shortly after. Knight avoided a clothesline from Ryder, as he then unleahsed a flurry of punches, followed by the neckbreaker for the near-fall. Knight continued on the offensive, but a reversal on a scoop slam led to Ryder picking up some momentum. As Knight was left down and out in the corner, this left him open to Ryder’s Broski Boot for a close near-fall.

Knight countered an attempt at an Unprettier from Ryder into a reverse DDT. The elbow from the top was avoided by Ryder, who turned that into the Rough Ryder on his foe. One, two… Knight was able to kick out at two. Knight’s BFT was countered into a roll-up pin, by Ryder, as he headed up to the top rope. Ryder’s attempt at a standing legdrop was turned into a powerbomb by Knight, who then soundly finished off Ryder with the BFT for the three.

LA Knight def. Zack Ryder via pinfall to advance in The Last Time is Now Tournament

Zack Ryder was a nice surprise, and it was at least nice to see LA Knight back in the winning column here for this match.

**********

– As Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, and Alexa Bliss were discussing what to do with Charlotte Flair walking ou on them, they were ambushed by the Kabuki Warriors, Nia Jax, and Lash Legend. The Jamie Noble-led vanguard of security officials got them to back off after the ambush.

Jade Cargill vs. B-Fab

B-Fab escaped an early chokeslam attempt by Cargill, as she then hit her with a dropkick and repeated elbows in the corner. B-Fab’s attempt at a pump kick was met by a fierce elbow to the face from Cargill, who followed that up with a fallaway slam. Cargill managed to connect with the chokeslam on B-Fab. This was followed by the powerbomb on her foe. Not satisfied with just one powerbomb, Cargill then dropped her with one more powerbomb, then the Jaded for the dominant victory.

After the match, Michin ran in to check up on B-Fab, which caught Cargill’s attention. The WWE Women’s Champion shoved her down afterwards.

Jade Cargill def. B-Fab via pinfall

Just kind of there in terms of being a match, and with how barebones the SmackDown’s women’s division is, that’s not a good sign. Not saying that B-Fab should be having competitive matches with the WWE Women’s World Champion, but sub-three minute matches are not the way to do it.

**********

– Nick Aldis revealed two more The Last Time is Now tournament matchups: Carmelo Hayes vs. Bronson Reed and Penta vs. Finn Balor, with these match set for next week’s SmackDown.

Next Week on SmackDown:

  • The Last Time is Now Tournament: Carmelo Hayes vs. Bronson Reed
  • The Last Time is Now Tournament: Penta vs. Finn Balor
  • Fraxiom (Axiom & Nathan Frazer) vs. #DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommasso Ciampa)

– We got remarks from Aleister Black, with Damian Priest once again being the subject of discussion for him. Black said that they forced Priest to break his code, and now he had greater things in mind, namely those who hold championships on SmackDown.

Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Bronson Reed (w/ Paul Heyman)

The main event started off fast and furious as Rhodes went on the attack against Reed. A running thump from the Aussie put an end to that flurry as he maintained the assault on ringside with another running thump.

Our main event returned from the break as Rhodes nailed Reed with the Disaster Kick. This fired up the Undisputed WWE Champion as he attempted to blast Reed with the Dusty elbow strikes. Reed countered that into Jagged Edge, but he missed on the Tsunami. This left Reed open for a Cody Cutter for the close near-fall. As Reed scurried outside to the ring, Rhodes went for a suicide dive, but Reed intercepted him with an elbow.

Outside the ring, Reed had Rhodes in sight for an avalanche run, but he was met at the pass by the Undisputed WWE Champion. Things broke down once Bron Breakker and Logan Paul ran in to attack Rhodes as this match ended in a DQ.

The Usos ran in for the save as they cleared the ring of Paul and Breakker. Jimmy and Jey dropped Paul with a 1D, as they then grabbed a table from underneath the ring. Drew McIntyre showed up, despite being suspended. Nick Aldis confronted Paul Heyman about this outside the ring, as the heels got the upper hand in the ring. The Levesque & Fitting credits saw us off once more with The Vision standing united in the ring.

Cody Rhodes def. Bronson Reed via DQ to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship

**********

An okay ending to an otherwise better-than-average SmackDown once again carried hard by the U.S. Open Challenge. WarGames is at least setting up quite nicely, and presumably Roman Reigns will fill out the babyface team in the coming weeks. Perhaps, even John Cena.

Other than that, when I say that this show was decent, it is, of course, in comparison to the previous weeks of rather milquetoast episodes. The M.F.T.s storyline continues to just be kind of there, but I am enjoying everything surrounding the U.S. Title and the Ciampa/Dragunov feud that’s been building in the background of it. At the end of the day, a decent show is certainly better than a forgettably bad one.

WWE SmackDown live results: Saturday Night’s Main Event fallout

Posted on by Marc Quill

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown will emanate live from Greenville, South Carolina.

WWE Champion Cody Rhodes retained his title over Drew McIntyre at last weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event after using the title belt as a weapon. The answer as to what is next for Rhodes will be answered tonight.

Jade Cargill will celebrate on tonight’s show after she defeated Tiffany Stratton last Saturday to capture the WWE Women’s Championship.

Chelsea Green will get a chance to protect her record as the longest-reigning WWE Women’s United States Champion tonight as she challenges current champion Giulia for the title.

Men’s United States Champion Ilya Dragunov will host another open challenge as his young title run continues.

In a clash of former Women’s Champions, Charlotte Flair will battle Nia Jax, who fell to Flair’s tag team partner Alexa Bliss last Friday.

After a backstage skirmish, Rey Fenix goes one-on-one with Talla Tonga.

Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.

**********

– Our show kicked off with a recap of last week’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, specifically as it pertained to Cody Rhodes retaining his Undisputed WWE Championship over Drew McIntyre. This segued right into our opening segment with the aforementioned Rhodes.

Cody Rhodes kicks off SmackDown

The champion arrived in his usual grand manner, pyrotechnics and all, to the cheers of the crowd in Greenville. As Rhodes entered the ring and took a microphone, he opened by asking what the crowd wanted to talk about. He said that we could talk about what happened at SNME last week, stating that Drew McIntyre was the one who introduced the Undisputed WWE Title as a weapon during the match. Rhodes responded that his reluctance to pull the trigger has cost him time to time, something that McIntyre obviously had no issue with. That said, Rhodes called McIntyre the most “self-sabotaging athlete” in this business, which meant that the Scotsman was now fully well behind him.

Rhodes said that he wanted to do something different tonight, with that something different being sitting in the crowd with the fans to decide who’d be next for the Undisputed WWE Championship. That’s when the music of Aleister Black interrupted. Black arrived to the ring with Zelina (nee Vega) and had something to say.

Black talked about how he set Damian Priest on fire as he confronted Rhodes in the ring, showing the issue being the “size” of the Undisputed WWE Title. As Rhodes tried to step up to Black, Zelina slapped him in the face. This brought out Nick Aldis to make it official for tonight: Cody Rhodes vs. Aleister Black as the main event on SmackDown.

This is something thankfully different to kick off SmackDown, and a Black vs. Cody main event is something that is a bit fresh, so I’m at least interested to see where this goes.

**********

– Michael Cole and Corey Graves teed up the rest of tonight’s show as we saw Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, as well as new WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill arriving to the arena. We then cut to U.S. Champion Ilja Dragunov making his entrance, but not before he was confronted by Tama Tonga of the M.F.T.s.

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Johnny Gargano

As Dragunov’s challenger stepped out, Tommasso Ciampa walked out and was indignant about being rejected last week and being called a “jackass” by the U.S. Championship last week. He demanded that the bell be rung on this match. Once Ciampa entered the ring, Dragunov said that he accepted the challenge… but from Johnny Gargano.

The match kicked off as Ciampa provided a bit of a distraction to Dragunov, which allowed Gargano to strike early against the champion. Gargano attempted a superkick, but Dragunov caught it and hit a set of German suplexes consecutively. Dragunov then battered the back of Gargano’s neck with elbow strikes before he delivered a suplex as we headed to a break in the action here.

Our match returned from commercial as Dragunov blasted Gargano with an uppercut to the face. The challenger matched the effort with an uppercut of his own, but the Constantine Special by Dragunov connected right on the button. With Gargano stunned in the corner, he was open for a big boot from Dragunov, followed by a diving knee for the near-fall.

Gargano used the ropes to get himself back to his feet as he stopped Dragunov’s dive from the top with a kick to the gut. Another kick by Gargano was then immediately followed by a Poison Rana for a near-fall for the challenger. Gargano lifted Dragunov up to the top rope, but the U.S. Champion lit his chest up with chops, followed by an elevated headbutt. Dragunov leapt off the top rope with a senton, but that wasn’t enough to put Gargano away.

With Gargano dazed in the middle of the ring, Dragunov attempted the H-Bomb, but was countered with a boot to the face. Gargano, however, couldn’t escape Dragunov’s standing uranage. Another attempt at a Constantine Special was thwarted by Candice LeRae at ringside as the referee was distracted. This opened Dragunov up for a tornado DDT to the outside by Gargano, followed by One Final Beat. Dragunov somehow kicked out of that at two.

Gargano tried for a dive from the apron, but was stopped by a kick from Dragunov. The U.S. Champion lifted him up from the middle rope for a superplex, as one final H-Bomb put an end to this 19th U.S. Title defense in Dragunov’s favour.

Ilja Dragunov def. Johnny Gargano via pinfall to retain the United States Championship

Another fantastic U.S. Title match that felt somewhat short, especially compared to other Open Challenge matches we’ve had before. That said, Dragunov continues to be a highlight of these shows since his return and he certainly brought out the best in Gargano, who got a chance to dig into some of that NXT magic for this one.

**********

– As Nick Aldis was discussing something with a referee, Sami Zayn once again tried to ask to have Rey Fenix’s back against Talla Tonga later tonight. Aldis rejected Zayn’s request, as he was not medically cleared. Zayn warned that he wasn’t able to watch for longer as the M.F.T.s ran roughshod over everyone. Once Zayn left, R-Truth appeared and asked Aldis if he could be in the tournament for John Cena’s final opponent. In Truth’s words, he said he was putting “his balls” in Aldis’ hands. After the SmackDown GM told Truth he was already in the Cena tournament, Truth said that he didn’t want his balls in Aldis’ hands anyway.

– We got a recap of Jade Cargill’s Saturday Night’s Main Event victory over Tiffany Stratton, which made her the new WWE Women’s Champion.

– Backstage, a defeated Johnny Gargano talked about his loss to Tommasso Ciampa. The Fraxiom duo of Nathan Frazer & Axiom showed up to rub a little salt in the wounds, particularly towards Ciampa for being rejected two weeks in a row by Dragunov.

Jade Cargill celebrates her WWE Women’s Title win

Once Cargill got into the ring, she made it short and sweet. What happened to Tiffany Stratton would happen to anyone else in the SmackDown’s women’s locker room. That’s because Cargill was “that bitch”.

As Cargill left and made her way to the ramp, she was interrupted by Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, who were entering for our next match. Cargill took time to taunt Flair briefly, which got enough of Flair’s attention that she tried to confront Cargill. Bliss got her tag partner to focus herself on her upcoming match against Nia Jax before anything physical could happen, however.

Pretty much just a short promo from Cargill that didn’t really need to go on for long, which does neatly help get around any sort of perceived limitations promo-wise from Cargill.

**********

– Backstage, Chelsea Green was getting herself hyped up for her Women’s U.S. Championship match against Giulia later tonight. That’s when Michin & B-Fab showed up to talk trash to her. As Green was boasting about being the greatest women’s champion on SmackDown, Jade Cargill appeared behind her. Green backed off and took her leave. B-Fab had a confrontation with the new WWE Women’s Champion afterwards, which led to a match between the two to be set for next week.

Nia Jax vs. Charlotte Flair (w/ Alexa Bliss)

The match got underway as Flair and Jax locked up in the middle of the ring. Jax used her strength to push Flair aside, as she then weathered a shoulder tackle from her foe. Jax facewashed Flair with a hand, but got taken down with a Lou Thesz Press. Jax shrugged that off and pushed Flair into the corner. Flair answered with a dropkick, followed by a headscissors takedown as she played to the crowd afterwards.

Back in the corner, Flair chopped at Jax, but got thrown into the corner, which led to her getting crushed and an ad break halfway through this one.

We returned from commercial as Flair attempted to fight back with a boot from the apron. She then went up to for the diving crossbody that landed on Jax. Flair fired away with chops to the chest of Jax, then the running clothesline to ground her gargantuan foe. Flair headed to the top rope and connected with the moonsault. One, two… no! Flair attempted to lock in the Figure-Eight, but Jax responded with a sitdown powerbomb that wasn’t enough to put this one away.

Jax dragged Flair near the corner as she looked for the Annihilator. Flair escaped, but found herself on Jax’s shoulders for a move of some kind. That, however, was countered as Jax fell victim to a diving elbow from the apron. Jax’s attempt at a Samoan Drop was countered into a Tornado DDT for the near-fall. Outside the ring, Lash Legend attacked Alexa Bliss and put her in a sleeper hold. This caused enough of a distraction as Jax won this with the Annhilator.

Post-match, it was clear that Legend was now aligned with Jax.

Nia Jax def. Charlotte Flair via pinfall

The match was not my cup of tea, but the partnership between Lash Legend & Nia Jax is at least somewhat interesting to partially freshen up SmackDown’s women’s division. Hopefully something’s cooking on that front.

**********

– A video package for the tournament to decide John Cena’s final opponent at the December 13th Saturday Night’s Main Event aired, narrated by the man himself. Afterwards, a video from Nick Aldis revealed the two matches that have been drawn so far: The Miz vs. Jey Uso and LA Knight vs. a surprise opponent.

– Backstage, Nia Jax and Lash Legend were interviewed about their new partnership. Jax called Lash her friend, something that she knew from their encounters on NXT. Lash said that this was only the beginning.

Women’s United States Championship: Giulia (c) (w/ Kiana James) vs. Chelsea Green (w/ Alba Fyre)

Green’s AAA Mixed Tag Team Champion partner, Ethan Page, was in the crowd and congratulated her as she made her way to the ringside area.

Green started off with a hard slap to Giulia’s face. She got a headbutt for her troubles, followed by a vertical suplex. Giulia caught Green with a knee to the face, but that wasn’t enough for the victory. Green got Biel thrown into the corner by Giulia, as she then found herself trapped across the ropes, and a knee to the face.

Kiana James got involved with a slap to the face to the stunned Green, which got her a superkick to the face by Alba Fyre. In the midst of this chaos, Green snuck in a roll-up pin with feet on the ropes to pick up the win and the Women’s U.S. Championship.

Chelsea Green def. Giulia via pinfall to win the Women’s United States Championship

This was not good, sorry to say. While I’m glad Chelsea got the win, and the result was certainly shocking, this certainly needed a bit more time to cook, and I’m not sure if people will be up for Giulia losing her title in only her third defense in the manner that she did here. It does highlight that there are underlying problems with how weak SmackDown’s women’s division is even with the new champions we’ve got, something that needs to be fixed.

**********

– The M.F.T.s plotted backstage ahead of Talla Tonga’s match with Rey Fenix. Solo Sikoa wanted to see Talla crush Fenix in their match. As the M.F.T.s left, we saw the Wyatt Sicks emerge from the shadows, as they kept a watchful eye on Sikoa’s group.

– As Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss were recovering from their tough night, Asuka — disguised as a doctor — spat her blue mist in both their faces before she and Kairi Sane made their escape.

Talla Tonga (w/ The M.F.T.s) vs. Rey Fenix

The Motor City Machine Guns & Shinsuke Nakamura snuck up behind the M.F.T.s and attacked them, which evened the odds for Fenix.

Once the match started, Fenix hit a feint between the ropes as he went after Talla’s legs with kicks to the back of his legs. Talla fought back by throwing Fenix down with a standing flapjack. With Fenix on the apron, Talla kicked him down, which sent Fenix crashing into the apron. Outside the ring, Talla threw Fenix into the barricade as we got a break in the action.

We returned from commercial as Fenix’s attempt at a springboard was met by Talla easily pushing him aside, to the amusement of Solo Sikoa at ringside. Talla clotheslined Fenix and began to pummel him in the corner with hard elbow strikes. Fenix created some separatation by avoiding a running attack from Talla, which allowed him to hit a feint kick to the big man’s face.

Fenix’s attempt at a sunset flip was stopped by Talla, who nailed his foe with a huge uppercut. As Fenix recovered on the apron, he avoided the big boot from Talla. He hit the Goodbye, Amigo kick on a stunned Tallaw as he then took off from the top rope with a crossbody for the near-fall. Fenix blasted Talla with a superkick to his kneeling foe. He tried to go for a dive, but Talla caught him for a chokeslam for the victory.

After the match, Sikoa tried to get Talla to chokeslam Fenix again, but Sami Zayn ran down with a chair in hand. Sikoa and Talla backed off.

Talla Tonga def. Rey Fenix

I honestly did not enjoy this match, but that might be largely due to me not really vibing this whole rebooted M.F.T.s. storyline, but I did somewhat appreciate the David vs. Goliath story that was attempted here. Other than that, not really much to write home about.

Next Week on SmackDown

  • Jade Cargill vs. B-Fab
  • Last Time is Now Tournament Rd. 1: The Miz vs. Jey Uso
  • Last Time is Now Tournament Rd. 1: LA Knight vs. ???

– The Miz was interviewed about his match with Jey Uso last week, as well as what he did to Carmelo Hayes last week. In Miz’s eyes, that was a reminder of what he was capable of. He said that he made Hayes relevant and that once he beats Jey Uso next week, he will be the one to end John Cena’s career.

Cody Rhodes vs. Aleister Black (w/ Zelina)

The two sized one another up and got into a chain wrestling battle to start off, with neither Black nor Rhodes having the upper hand early on. Shortly after, Rhodes lifted Black up for a standing suplex throw. He attempted his signature dropdown uppercut, but Black caught him with an armbar. Rhodes went for the Disaster Kick, but was met by a kick from Black instead, which took us to the final break of the evening.

SmackDown’s main event returned as Rhodes avoided a kick from Black and attempted the roll-up pin. Black responded with a boot to the face and another quick cover. In the corner, Black attacked Rhodes with chops and a kick to the chest, as he then hit him with the knee in the gut. Rhodes fought back with a running clothesline, followed by a successful Disaster Kick and the near-fall. Rhodes sized up Black for the Cross Rhodes, but Black countered and hit a fierce kick to the face for the two-count.

Black attempted a back suplex, but had that countered by Rhodes, who answered right back with the Cody Cutter for yet another near-fall. As Black got himself up, Rhodes tried for the Dusty-style strikes, but was met with a knee and a jackknife suplex from his foe. Black went for the Black Mass, but tried for the Cross Rhodes. That attempt was reversed as the two traded kicks that took each other out. Just as Black and Rhodes were recovering, Drew McIntyre appeared and hit the referee with a Claymore Kick.

Things descended into chaos as Black and McIntyre tried attack Rhodes with a two-on-one assault. Damian Priest ran down as a brawl broke out between everyone. Nick Aldis appeared after all this and announced that McIntyre was suspended indefinitely. The Levesque & Fitting producer credits appeared as McIntyre shouted repeatedly at Aldis that, quote, “his back was against the wall”.

Cody Rhodes vs. Aleister Black went to a No Contest

**********

It was an alright main event, and I suspect McIntyre’s “suspension” is to cover for him filming the Highlander reboot. That said, it does leave a hole in SmackDown’s world title scene, especially as it relates to who could Cody Rhodes face next while McIntyre is off TV.

The show itself, however, was not something I enjoyed watching. If 2025 has shown us anything, it’s just how much the bloom is off the rose with regards to Triple H’s booking post-Vince. SmackDown as a weekly show is a prime example of that. I enjoy the U.S. Title Open Challenges, yes, but everything else is either just there or not at all entertaining, sorry to say.

WWE SmackDown live results: Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre conflict continues

Posted on by Marc Quill

After last week’s impromptu match, WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre will both be in the building for tonight’s SmackDown from Tempe, Arizona.

McIntyre won last week’s title match by DQ after he hit Rhodes with the title belt. With their rematch at November 1’s Saturday Night’s Main Event now official, both men will advance their storyline tonight.

In a non-title match, WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton will look to return to her winning ways when she takes on Kiana James. The business associate to Women’s U.S. Champion Giulia found herself in this match after having some choice words for Stratton last Friday.

Ilja Dragunov became the new United States Champion last week by defeating Sami Zayn in an open challenge. Dragunov has vowed to continue the open challenge series and make his first title defense tonight.

A grudge match between Fraxiom and DIY was originally made for tonight but isn’t listed on the official WWE.com preview for the show. We’ll see if that bout is still on.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.

**********

– Over a live shot of the Mullett Arena in Tempe, AZ, we were taken to a recap of last week’s chaos with Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and an injured Jacob Fatu.

– After the recap, Rhodes was shown arriving backstage as Jimmy Uso welcomed him. Jimmy thanked Rhodes for sticking up for Fatu last week.

Cody Rhodes opens SmackDown

The Undisputed WWE Champion headed out to the ring to address the challenge of Drew McIntyre at Saturday Night’s Main Event next week.

”So, Tempe, Arizona, what do you wanna talk about?” asked Rhodes before he turned attention to what he did to McIntyre last week, something he described as being “uncharacteristic of him”.

Before Rhodes could continue, Drew McIntyre himself interrupted and remained incredulous that the crowd would cheer for Rhodes over him. McIntyre ranted about the crowd cheering for Rhodes no matter what he did, even with the title belt strike last week. McIntyre said that this had now become about him finishing the story, and he’d do it next week.

McIntyre again deflected blame for the Jacob Fatu attack, trying to insinuate Jimmy Uso as the culprit. Rhodes angrily interrupted and challlenged the Scotsman to a fight. As McIntyre and Rhodes got ready for a fight, Jimmy Uso leapt from the barricade and went on the attack. Security poured in to break up the skirmish but not before Uso got in a dive between the ropes on McIntyre.

With order being attempted to be restored, Solo Sikoa and The M.F.T.s made their way to the ring for our opening contest, which was coming up next.

A wild and chaotic opening buoyed by Jimmy Uso’s anger-filled attack on McIntyre, which will undoubtedly set up our main event for tonight.

**********

– Backstage, McIntyre yelled at Nick Aldis to do something, but Jimmy Uso again attacked as security stopped the chaos once more.

The MFTs (JC Mateo & Tama Tonga) (w/ Solo Sikoa & Rey Fenix)

Nakamura and Tama started off this match. Tama went on the attack against Nakamura with a series of strikes, but he found himself downed by a knee to the gut. Fenix and Mateo tagged in and had their turn of the action.

Fenix launched himself from the rope with an elevated armdrag as Nakamura entered the match with a tag. The two showed impressive teamwork in the corner at Mateo’s expense, which forced the M.F.T.s to retreat to ringside as we took a commercial break.

Our match returned as Tama stopped Fenix’s atrempts to reach his corner with a fierce lariat. Mateo re-entered the match and slammed Fenix with a bomb as the M.F.T.s continued the momentum. Fenix created some needed separation with an enzuigiri as Nakamura got the hot tag.

Nakamura atrempted to lift Mateo, but to no avail. Mateo answered with a twisting back suplex that kept Nakamura grounded. As Tama tagged in, Fenix made his presence known with a springboard on Tama. He followed that up with the Goodbye, Amigo tightrope kick. Things broke down further, which led to Fenix leaping onto Tama and Mateo on the outside.

As Fenix tried to go up top, Solo Sikoa created a distraction, as Talla Tonga chokeslammed Fenix onto the apron. This weakened Fenix for Tama’s Hidden Blade-style running elbow for the three and the win for the M.F.T.s

Match Result: The M.F.T.s def. Rey Fenix & Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall

Not a bad first outing for the “Bloodline with a new hat”. A decent tag opener for sure.

**********

– Backstage, Jimmy Uso spoke with Nick Aldis and through all this, we learned that our main event tonight would be Jimmy taking on Drew McIntyre in a No Disqualification match.

Tiffany Stratton vs. Kiana James (w/ Giulia)

Stratton wrenched James’s arm to start us off, as the two got into a bit of a stalemate afterwards, owing to both women’s gymnastics backgrounds. Stratton connected with consecutive armdrags on James before she again went after the arm with a submission. James attempted to fight back with a forearm strike, but she found herself taken down by a dropkick. A running hip strike against a stunned James across the middle ropes sent her to the outside. Stratton continued the punishment with a right hand strike. Giulia provided a distraction by stepping up to Stratton, which allowed James to throw the WWE Women’s Champion into the barricade, as we took a break in the action.

We returned to our match as James flattened Stratton with a running big boot to the face, but couldn’t put her foe away. James punched at Stratton, who responded with a jawbreaker that took her and Giulia’s business manager down out. Both women struggled to get up as they then battered away at one another with strikes to one another. Stratton got the better of James and nailed the handspring elbow into the corner, followed by her signature Alabama Slam. Stratton connected with the Rolling Senton, but couldn’t capitalize with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever.

James responded with a Falcon Arrow but again only got a near-fall in the process. In the corner, James placed Stratton on the top rope, but couldn’t get the Superplex as she was shoved aside to the canvas. Stratton soared with a Swanton Bomb, as she followed that up with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever for the victory.

After the match, Stratton’s victory was cut short as Giulia attacked with the Arrivederci Knee. Before Giulia could dole out more damage, Jade Cargill ran in and sent Giulia scurrying with a pump kick. As Giulia and James backed off, Cargill offered a hand to Stratton, who accepted the help of her former foe. However, that seemed to be an all-too-fleeting moment as Cargill abruptly smashed Stratton with a clothesline. The embittered Cargill refused to let up with her attack on Stratton, throwing her around at ringside into the steel steps and ring post.

With Stratton unable to defend herself, Cargill stomped away on her behind the announce table as referees and officials led by Jamie Noble tried and failed to stop the assault. As Stratton’s leg was planted along one of the steel steps, Cargill stomped on it before she walked off.

Match Result: Tiffany Stratton def. Kiana James via pinfall

A good match, but the real story was Jade Cargill’s heel turn, which was much needed for her as she was feeling kind of stale as a face. Could be what’s needed to refresh SmackDown’s flagging women’s division.

**********

– Sami Zayn congratulated Ilja Dragunov on his U.S. Title victory last week, as he passed on the U.S. Championship Open Challenge onto the new champion. In Zayn’s mind, Dragunov was the right guy to carry on the legacy of these Open Challenges as he hyped up the champ.

– Jade Cargill was asked about her actions as she said that this world does not reward patience and she was ready to take what was hers: the WWE Women’s Championship.

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Aleister Black (w/ Zelina Vega)

Before the match, Dragunov addressed the crowd, stating that he missed the fans after being out for so long. He thought he’d never see the light at the end of the tunnel, but he said that he’d never give up. Dragunov declared that he’d defend the title with all his obsession and proudly continue the U.S. Open Challenge. “Tonight, pain shall entertain you,” Dragunov said.

Black and Dragunov locked up to begin the match before the challenger attempted to take control with his fierce kicks. Black countered the Constantin Special with a kick before Zelina Vega threw Dragunov into the barricade with a hurricanrana. Black absolutely pasted Dragunov with a running kick to the face from the apron to send us to the break.

We returned from commercial with Black and Dragunov exchanging fierce blows, as the U.S. Champ connected with an enzuigiri. Dragunov followed that with a running strike to the corner on a stunned Black. Dragunov then threw Black around with repeated German suplexes followers by a unique rotating suplex for the near-fall.

As Dragunov headed to the top rope, Vega created a distraction, which allowed Black to stop Dragunov’s attack. From the top, a Black Meteora stunned Dragunov. Suplex attempt was turned into a rollup by Dragunov for the two. Black once again drove a knee to the back of Dragunov, but couldn’t get the three. Black failed to connect with some sort of springboard attack, as Dragunov struck with the Constantin Special and this match went to a second break in the action.

The match returned with Dragunov taking off from the top rope with a dropkick on a prone Black. He then flew from the top with a sentin for a two. Dragunov had Black targeted for the Torpedo Moscow, but was met with a knee to the face. One, two… not quite!

Black had Dragunov in his sights for the Black Mass, but he missed and fell victim to a Torpedo Moscow instead. Dragunov got up and attempted to finish this off with an H-Bomb, but Zelina Vega pulled at his leg. This earned Vega an ejection from the match. At that moment, Damian Priest marched down to the ring, with eyes on revenge on Black. Priest removed his sunglasses to reveal a burn mark as Black was distracted long enough for a Torpedo Moscow from Dragunov and the the three.

Post-match, an irate Priest attacked Black as he got two chairs and cleared away the commentary table as he looked to dish out some ultimate damage. Zelina Vega leapt onto Priest’s back and scratched at the burnt eye, which allowed Black to escape a most grisly fate.

Match Result: Ilja Dragunov def. Aleister Black via pinfall to retain the United States Championship

A fantastic Open Challenge match. I’m glad Dragunov is continuing it. However, I’m not too hot on the Aleister Black vs. Damian Priest feud continuing longer than it needs to.

**********

– Carmelo Hayes was interviewed about his attack on The Miz last week. Hayes said that everyone was expecting him to say he was happy to attack the Miz, but he wasn’t going to do that because revenge was a double-edged sword. Hayes noted that he was ready to get his career back on track with thanks to the support of the people and he owes it to get back to being “HIM”. Kit Wilson interrupted and trashed Hayes for being a proponent of “toxic masculinity”, and found himself set for a match against Hayes on next week’s SmackDown.

– Ilja Dragunov met with Fraxiom and said that the Open Challenge would continue. #DIY taunted Fraxiom, who called Gargano and Ciampa a scared duo. Tama Tonga then appeared and mocked Fraxiom as he did his signature “yeah yeah yeah” taunt.

– Nia Jax appeared to question Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss’s friendship, which led to a match between Bliss and Jax to be made for next week.

No Disqualification Match: Jimmy Uso vs. Drew McIntyre

Things got going right away as Uso and McIntyre brawled at ringside for a bit before the action spilled into the ring. McIntyre pummeled Uso in the corner with strikes, before he found himself lit up with chops to the chest. McIntyre struck Uso with a hard kick to the chest, as he then continued the punishment with a clubbing blow to the back. Uso fought back and clotheslined McIntyre to the outside. He then followed this up with an attempted suicide dive that was met with a forearm from the surly Scotsman.

At ringside, Uso slammed McIntyre’s face across the steel steps, which sent McIntyre retreating into the crowd. Uso followed suit and the fight continued into the stands. McIntyre attempted a DDT onto the floor, but got countered into a suplex by Uso. McIntyre was thrown back over the barricade into the ringside area afterwards. Uso obliged the crowd’s demand for tables by pulling one out from underneath the ring, which was suitable enough for our final commercial break of the evening.

We returned to SmackDown’s main ewvent with McIntyre lifting Uso onto his shoulders, but instead getting blasted with a kick to the head. Outside the ring, Uso tightrope walked across the barricade in the hopes of nailing a splash, but he got caught by McIntyre, who threw him for a belly to belly suplex onto the floor.

McIntyre grabbed a steel chair from the timekeepers area and immediately struck Uso in the ribs before whacking his foe across the back with it. McIntyre unfolded the chair and smashed Uso’s face on the seated portion. He set Uso up for a Claymore, but a drop toehold instead sent the Scotsman face first onto the chair. Uso fired himself up and hit a Whisper in the Wind onto McIntyre for the two-count.

Uso grabbed the chair and went to town on the fallen McIntyre with repeated strikes before he set up the Slim Jim-branded table. As Uso tried to grab at McIntyre, he was caught by surprise with a Future Shock DDT for yet another near-fall. McIntyre tried to go for another Claymore, but he was intercepted with a Samoan Drop onto the table that broke it on impact. Uso tried to go up top for an Uso Splash, but McIntyre threw a chair in his face to counter it. This allowed McIntyre to finish things off with a Claymore Kick for the pin and win in our main event.

After the match, McIntyre placed Uso’s neck across a chair and pressed on it, which led to officials running down in the hopes of breaking it up. Just then, Cody Rhodes ran down and mixed it up with McIntyre, as he thrw him over the timekeeper’s area. McIntyre recovered and took out Rhodes with a Claymore as the Levesque & Fitting producer credits signalled the end of the show.

Match Result: Drew McIntyre defeated Jimmy Uso via pinfall

**********

Standard SmackDown main event followed by standard post-match shenanigans to top of a moderately good show. This Rhodes/McIntyre feud is at least a hot one, but I’m feeling a bit cold on it, if we’re being honest.

Other than that, tonight’s show had some decent-to-great in-ring action that buoyed everything else, and I dare say that SmackDown has been better than above-average as of late. Ilja Dragunov’s U.S. Title Open Challenge and a needed heel turn for Jade Cargill were the standouts of tonight’s show, in my view.

WWE SmackDown live results: Women’s title triple threat

Posted on by Marc Quill

Tiffany Stratton defends her WWE Women’s Championship against both Nia Jax and Jade Cargill in a triple threat match as part of tonight’s WWE SmackDown from the Kia Center in Orlando, Florida.

Stratton last defended her title two weeks ago in a no contest against Cargill due to a Jax attack. An altercation between the three last week led to Nick Aldis making this match for tonight. It will determine who heads to Crown Jewel: Perth to face Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer.

After defending his WWE title at Wrestlepalooza against Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes will appear on tonight’s show to address his upcoming Crown Jewel match against World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins.

United States Champion Sami Zayn will hold another open challenge after successfully retaining against Carmelo Hayes last week.

The card is rounded out by Michin & B-Fab joining forces to take on Women’s United States Champion Giulia & Kiana James in tag team action.

The show began with the updated WWE signature open introduced this week. We then got shots of Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill, Nia Jax, and Sami Zayn arriving to the Kia Center.

Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern.

**********

– Michael Cole welcomed us to tonight’s show as Booker T was introduced as his partner on commentary for tonight. Cole then tossed to a recap of what happened at last Saturday’s Wrestlepalooza.

Paul Heyman opens SmackDown

After the Wrestlepalooza recap ended, we returned to the arena with Paul Heyman in the ring. He did his usual “ladies and gentlemen” introduction as he said he’d paraphrase a pseudo-de facto secondary champion, “So, Orlando, what do you want to talk about?” Heyman asked if we’d like to talk about the World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins as the fans chanted “O.T.C.” at him.

Heyman said he’d love to talk about to Roman Reigns, but it’s disrespectful to speak of the injured after he got stretchered out of Paris following Bronson Reed’s attack. He then asked if we should talk about the man who will main event WrestleMania into the 2030s and 2040s, Bron Breakker. Heyman then turned his attention to the conspiracy theories and rumors about Brock Lesnar. Before Heyman could go on further, the theme of Cody Rhodes cut him off.

The Undisputed WWE Champion made his way down to the ring as the Orlando crowd cheered him on. Once Rhodes got into the ring, he took a mic and asked if we all got a chance to watch the Wrestlepalooza recap. He said that he made a mistake last week in calling Paul Heyman a “goon”. Rhodes called Heyman the most smartest man that he knows as he said that he’d go ahead and ask the question: tell him more about Brock Lesnar. Rhodes then had a still from Wrestlepalooza of Heyman introducing Lesnar before the match.

Rhodes said that the face on Heyman last Saturday, that it wasn’t the face of a guy treating it as a one-night thing. He asked Heyman if he was talking to the Oracle, to the Wiseman, or the Advocate? Heyman responded by saying that Rhodes was talking to the GOAT and that he respected him for confronting him about Brock Lesnar. He said that when Lesnar is around, everyone will be in danger. Heyman mentioned that Lesnar is not here, but the bad news for Rhodes, he’s got others here instead as Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed appeared.

As Breakker and Reed faced down the Undisputed WWE Champion, Rhodes tried to give the two advice as he asked “who is Paul Heyman loyal to?” Rhodes said he didn’t know for sure, but he said that it ain’t to the Brons. This then led to Rhodes attempting to fight the Vision’s deadly duo, but the numbers game got the better of him. Randy Orton made the save as he took the fight to Breakker and Reed. Orton delivered an RKO on Reed, while Rhodes clotheslined Breakker out of the ring.

An interesting open to this week’s show, and again, I’m left cold at the idea of seeing another Brock Lesnar match, as they teased a potential title match with him against Cody Rhodes. As for the now, it seems we’ll likely get Rhodes and Randy Orton fighting The Vision soon.

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WWE Tag Team Title No. 1 Contenders Match: The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) vs. Melo Don’t Miz (Carmelo Hayes & The Miz)

The match got underway with Ford and Miz as the legal men. As Ford tried to get at Hayes on the apron, Miz attempted to get an early rollup pin, to no avail. Hayes tagged in and tried to keep things going for his team, but he ate a high knee to the face from Ford. Dawkins entered the match as Miz tried to get involved. Miz got thrown onto a downed Hayes for his troubles. At ringside, Dawkins tried for a running attack, but was met by a dropkick by Hayes, as the action went to a break.

We returned to the action as Miz drilled Ford with a kneeling DDT for the near-fall. The cohesive unit of Hayes and Miz continued to work over Ford as they grounded him with an assisted double-team clothesline in their corner. With Ford struggling to get himself back up, Miz taunted Dawkins in the corner, but paid for it with a kick to the face from Ford.

Hayes got the tag as he delivered a cheap shot to Dawkins on the Street Profits corner. Meanwhile, Ford attempted to fight his way out of enemy territory and managed to do so after sending Miz out of the ring. Ford tried to tag Dawkins, but Miz pulled Dawkins from the outside. This allowed Hayes to hit Ford with the First 48. Hayes headed up top and looked for Nothin’ But Net, but Miz once again selfishly tagged himself in. This gave Ford the opening to get the tag on Hayes.

The Street Profits took command as Dawkins rocked Miz with his corkscrew elbow followed by a spinning neckbreaker. With Ford as the legal man, he took to the skies with his From the Heavens frog splash. As Ford pinned Miz, Hayes didn’t seem to be in a hurry to break up the pin as the Street Profits became No. 1 contenders for The Wyatt Sicks’ WWE Tag Titles.

After the match, The Wyatt Sicks appeared in front of the commentary table and simply stared down the victorious duo of Ford and Dawkins.

The Street Profits def. Melo Don’t Miz via pinfall

That was a decent match to start off the in-ring action tonight, and it seems we’re getting forward movement with the Miz/Hayes breakup if that finish is any indication, so it’s a win all around.

**********

– As Jade Cargill was interviewed ahead of her triple threat match for the WWE Women’s Championship, the Women’s World Heavyweight Champion, Stephanie Vaquer confronted her. Cargill said that storm would be coming Vaquer’s way at Crown Jewel. Vaquer responded by saying that she’d be ready.

Giulia & Kiana James vs. Michin & B-Fab

B-Fab opened the match by blasting James with some strikes, before she got taken down by a clothesline from the business associate of Giulia. B-Fab responded with a dropkick to James as she tagged Michin in. James managed to get the drop on Michin, which allowed Giulia to be tagged in. The Women’s U.S. Champion struck Michin with a kick, but was met with a hurricanrana by her hated rival. The tag was made to B-Fab, who kept Giulia grounded with a double team move.

Outside the ring, Giulia rolled out for the retreat and things broke down with the Women’s U.S. Champion getting waylaid by a dropkick from the commentary table by Michin, which took us into the commercial break halfway through this one.

SmackDown returned with B-Fab in trouble as James and Giulia teed off with a big boot, followed by a missile dropkick. James re-entered the match and maintained the upper hand on B-Fab with a punch. A missed elbow dropped allowed B-Fab to create some separation as she desperately tried to go for a tag to Michin. One final side kick from B-Fab finally got the hot tag from Michin.

Michin dropped James with a DDT, using Giulia as a base. As things broke down, Michin hit James with Eat Defeat, but that sent her to Giulia’s corner, which allowed the Women’s U.S. Champion to make the tag. Giulia flattened Michin with the Arrivederci Knee, followed by a Northern Lights Bomb with some added sauce for the pin and win.

Giulia & Kiana James def. Michin & B-Fab via pinfall

A fine enough tag match, but I’m kind of tired of the very limited Women’s U.S. Title picture where it seems like it’s just Michin as a frequent challenger to whoever is the champion. I think this is where some NXT call ups to bolster SmackDown’s women’s roster would do the most good. Giulia certainly deserves better than fighting the same two people every so often.

**********

– Backstage, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair were confronted by Zaria and Sol Ruca, who wanted to call their shot for the WWE Women’s Tag Titles. Bliss told the two that they needed to prove themselves as she told Zaria and Ruca to get in line. After the NXT duo left, Flair expressed joy in seeing Bliss telling off Zaria and Ruca the way she did.

– A preview for Crown Jewel was shown highlight the matches we’d be seeing, including Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins for the Men’s Crown Jewel Champion, plus John Cena vs. AJ Styles.

Drew McIntyre on his Wrestlepalooza defeat

McIntyre appeared with a walking boot following his loss at Wrestlepalooza.

McIntyre said that Orlando held a special place in him, as he talked about making his WWE return here, winning his 2nd WWE Championship in front of a bunch of screen. He then talked about how he should’ve been here as the new WWE Champion as he proceeded to got mad about the referee getting in the way at Wrestlepalooza. McIntyre claimed that the referee was being paid off by Cody Rhodes as Nick Aldis soon interrupted him.

Aldis said that McIntyre was making too many excuses, and that to acknowledge that people won some and lose some. As McIntyre continued to complain about the WWE medical team being supposedly on the Cody Rhodes payroll, Aldis said that he was done and left the surly Scotsman to his own devices. Before McIntyre could continue on, the returning Jacob Fatu interrupted him unexpectedly. Fatu marched his way down to the ring and confronted McIntyre face to face.

Fatu snatched the microphone from McIntyre and told him to “shut his ass up” and to “stop bitching”. He said that McIntyre came out every week to cry, complain and blame everyone else for his wrong doing. Fatu told him to sit his peg-leg ass down. McIntyre had his turn yelled at him for trying to put him out. As Fatu was doing his usual “all gas and no brakes” spiel, McIntyre surprised him with a headbutt. Fatu answered with a superkick to the face of McIntyre before he ripped the walking boot off of the Scotsman’s foot. Fatu then kayoed McIntyre with the boot as he left him laying.

This Fatu/McIntyre feud has the potential to be very interesting, so this has my full, undivided attention for when this match goes down.

**********

– While Tiffany Stratton was getting ready for the main event triple threat match, Stephanie Vaquer sized up her potential Crown Jewel challenger, like she did with Jade Cargill earlier.

– Sami Zayn was chatting with Fenix as he prepared for his U.S. Title Open Challenge match up next. He said he didn’t know who he’d be facing, as it could be anyone from Raw or SmackDown, or even NXT, as they’re in Orlando. Shinsuke Nakamura was briefly seen in the background watching Zayn in the shadows.

– We got another vignette for Solo Sikoa’s M.F.T. that focused on J.C. Mateo. Sikoa said that Mateo was loyal to him and that he’d be rewarded as long as he was part of the Family Tree.

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Je’von Evans

Zayn’s challenger in the Open Challenge was revealed to be Je’von Evans from NXT. Evans’ opponent at NXT No Mercy tomorrow, Josh Briggs, was seen in the crowd watching.

The two combatants locked up to start as Evans dodged Zayn acrobatically before he got thrown around by arm drags from the U.S. Champion. In the corner, Zayn lifted Evans back up as the chain wrestling battle continued between the two. In the corner, Evans delivered a chop to the chest of Zayn and backed off. In response, Zayn got in some chops of his own on Evans. The NXT young gun answered with a high-flying springboard clothesline, folowed by a leaping rana off the top rope. Evans sent Zayn to the outside and looked like he was about to take flight. Zayn put a stop to that with a hard lariat that took us into the commercial break.

We returned with Zayn literally having Evans on the ropes with a chop. The challenger fought out and threw Zayn outside of the ring before he finally connected with a soaring dive over the top rope on the U.S. Champion. In the ring, Evans countered a Blue Thunder Bomb attempt and answered with a springboard enzuigiri that took Zayn out. On the top rope, Zayn and Evans had a skirmish, with the former winning out by sending the latter.

Zayn tried to go for a diving move off the top, but Evans ran up and delivered an avalanche hurricanrana that nearly won him the U.S. Title. In the corner, Evans tried to run at Zayn, but got caught with the Exploder Suplex. A Helluva Kick attempt was intercepted by a dropkick on the button by Evans. Another attempt at the Helluva Kick was once again countered by Evans, who dodged at the last second. This left Zayn stunned as Evans connected with the OG Cutter. One, two… NO!

Evans headed to apron for a springboard, but miscalculated, as he ended up in the corner as a result following a rollthrough. Zayn made him pay with a Helluva Kick, followed by the Blue Thunder Bomb for the one, two, three.

After the match, Zayn congratulated Evans on his effort and got the fans to cheer for the NXT upstart.

Sami Zayn def. Je’von Evans to retain the United States Championship

For the fourth week running, Sami Zayn’s U.S. Title Open Challenge is the highlight of the show. The matches have been fantastic since Zayn began the Open Challenge, and this week was no exception. Je’von Evans is my favorite of NXT’s prospects, and he had a great showing here in this one. Certainly match of the night, for sure.

**********

– Nia Jax was walking backstage on her way for our main event when Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre attempted to recruit her into the Secret Hervice to fill in for the injured Piper Niven. Jax emphatically rejected the offer by ripping up the flyer that Green gave her. She was then confronted by Stephanie Vaquer, who made it clear that whoever one between Jax, Tiffany Stratton, or Jade Cargill, she’d be ready for them at Crown Jewel.

– Damian Priest was accosted by Kit Wilson, who called him the “personification of toxic masculinity”. Wilson got a bit too pushy in calling Priest toxic, but ended up running into oxygen tanks. Priest turned around and got a Black Mass kick from Aleister Black. With Priest yet again left down and out, Black mockingly wished him a happy birthday before he left.

WWE Women’s Championship Triple Threat Match: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Nia Jax vs. Jade Cargill

The match started off right away as Jax threw Stratton right into Cargill. She then slammed Stratton onto a fallen Cargill. The WWE Women’s Champion struck back with a double dropkick on Cargill and Jax as we took an oddly-placed commercial break just a minute into this main event bout.

We returned to SmackDown’s main event as Stratton flew into Jax with a suicide dive that she did not get all of. Jax recovered and pushed Cargill into the steel steps before she reentered the ring and took aim at Stratton in the corner with running charges. Cargill intercepted Jax with a shove as she then hit a modified pumphandle facebuster on Stratton. Cargill’s pin attempt was broken up by Jax. With Jax in the top rope, Stratton shoved Cargill and attempted a rollup pin. Cargill turned that into a submission hold as Stratton escaped the hold. Stratton tried for the pin, but got out of the way as Jax took off with a legdrop that ended up hitting Cargill instead.

Stratton headed to the top rope and hit a Swanton Bomb on Jax, but got put down with a superkick by Cargill which ended up actually making her fall onto the out-of-it Jax for the pin attempt. As Jax kicked out, we took one more commercial break as the action continued in picture-in-picture on the USA Network feed.

The main event returned from the break as Cargill and Stratton unexpectedly teamed up to deliver a double superplex onto Jax. With Jax still recovering, Stratton took Cargill down with the rolling senton as she then connected with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on the still-knocked out Jax. Cargill easily broke up the pin after avoiding Stratton’s moonsault. In the middle of the ring, Stratton countered Cargill’s powerbomb into a hurricanrana. As Stratton ran towards Cargill in the corner, she was caught and promptly dropped into a modified Jaded. One, two… Nia Jax saved the match by pulling the referee out at the last possible second.

Outside the ring, Cargill cleared the commentary table, but got thrown into the steel steps by Jax. The top half of the steps was cleared as Jax attempted some sort of elevated suplex from the steps. Cargill countered that into a samoan drop onto the base of the steel steps. Cargill was shown to have suffered a cut to her upper eyebrow in the midst of this.

In the ring, Jax got dropped by an Eye of the Storm from Cargill. Stratton broke up the count and tried a pin, which led to a “phantom kickout” from Jax and some miscommunication, as it appeared to be a botched pin. The true finish came when Stratton ended things with a Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Jax, as she retained her WWE Women’s Championship in the SmackDown main event.

After the match, Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer made her way down to the ring to get a better look at her opponent at Crown Jewel in two weeks. We ended the night on the two raising their respective titles and jawjacking at one another.

Tiffany Stratton def. Nia Jax & Jade Cargill to retain the WWE Women’s Championship

**********

That was a fine main event that seemed to pick up steam a bit as the match neared its conclusion, though the botched finish with the phantom kickout did kind of put a damper on things.

That being said, I liked this week’s SmackDown a lot more than previous weeks, and after a rather mediocre Wrestlepalooza show, that is a miracle in of itself. The in-ring action was mostly great, especially the continuing success of Sami Zayn’s U.S. Title Open Challenge and we got some set ups of interesting matchups to come in the near future. All in all, a better edition of WWE’s Friday night show than what we’ve seen recently.

WWE SmackDown live results: Brock Lesnar appears

Posted on by Marc Quill

At the end of another newsworthy week in WWE, tonight’s SmackDown airs live from Norfolk, Virginia — as Wrestlepalooza approaches next weekend.

Ahead of his match against John Cena at the new PLE, Brock Lesnar will appear on tonight’s show. Lesnar issued the challenge last Friday in Chicago after attacking Cena during his United States title match with Sami Zayn.

Zayn will be in action again, defending the title in another open challenge.

In a meeting of former champions, Randy Orton will finally get a chance to face Drew McIntyre in singles action after weeks of targeting his hated rival. The two met in a tag team bout at SummerSlam and last squared off one-on-one at July’s Saturday Night’s Main Event.

In a rematch from SummerSlam, WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton will defend against Jade Cargill. Stratton has held the gold for 250+ days.

Our live coverage kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

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– As Vic Joseph introduced us to tonight’s show, shots of Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, Tiffany Stratton, and Jade Cargill arriving to the Scope Arena were shown. We then went to inside the arena, where Joseph was joined by his NXT color commentary partner Booker T. to call tonight’s action.

– A recap of last week’s John Cena vs. Sami Zayn match being crashed by Brock Lesnar was shown.

Brock Lesnar opens SmackDown

Lesnar arrived to the arena, cowboy hat and all, as the crowd was a mix of cheers and boos for his arrival.

With mic in hand, the fans chanted “you suck” at Lesnar before he could speak, and he was soon interrupted by R-Truth, who rapped his way to the ring. Once Truth entered the ring, he asked the Norfolk crowd to make some noise before Lesnar told him to shut up.

Truth responded by saying he was going to be the first WWE superstar to say to Lesnar, “welcome back”. He said that he used to be scared of Lesnar, but not anymore. Lesnar answered by saying that he didn’t know who Truth was and he wanted him to get to the point.

Truth said that Lesnar was disrespecting John Cena, his hero and older brother for the past twenty-five years. Lesnar said he was here to look for John Cena tonight as he asked Truth for his whereabouts. Truth said he didn’t know where Cena was, but he was here to defend the honor of his “older brother”. Truth then told Lesnar that his name was “Ron Cena”.

Lesnar asked again where Cena was, as Truth again answered that he didn’t know. Truth warned Lesnar that “Super Cena” was coming for Lesnar, as he wouldn’t be running from The Beast, he’d be feeding on him. Lesnar had enough and picked Truth up for an F5, which somehow ripped his pants.

Not a very good segment to start the show, but it was mercifully short. The necessity of reverting R-Truth to his pre-Cena heel turn character randomly has hurt his standing and the build (or lack thereof due to Cena’s absence this week) towards Wrestlepalooza’s scheduled main event just isn’t grabbing my attention at all.

**********

– Backstage, Sami Zayn was talking with someone as he was happy to continue the U.S. Open Title Challenge, as he and his opponent would give the crowd a hell of a show tonight. We found out he was talking to Rey Fenix, and their match would be up next.

– We were shown shots of various WWE and AAA officials arriving to the arena in Las Vegas for Worlds Collide, which airs after SmackDown.

– A vignette from Solo Sikoa was shown, where he expressed anger about having lost his Bloodline, Ula Fala, and the United States Champonship. He vowed to take back what he lost, as it was time for others to live in the shadows of his Family Tree.

U.S. Title Open Challenge: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Rey Fenix

We started off fast with Zayn rocking Fenix with repeated arm drags. Fenix responded with an acrobatic arm drag, followed by an attempted dive to the outside. Zayn dodged out of the way, as Fenix feinted between the ropes at the last second to stop himself. We went to a break at this early point in the match.

SmackDown returned with Zayn having the upperhand as he delivered a pitch-perfect tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Fenix for the near-fall. Zayn continued to target Fenix’s shoulders with a submission, but found himself taken out by a kick on the apron. With Zayn stunned outside the ring, Fenix soared above the ropes with a tope con hilo that took the U.S. Champion out.

Back in the ring, Fenix took off from the top rope with a frog splash on Zayn, but couldn’t get the three out of it. Zayn attempted a Blue Thunder Bomb, but Fenix countered him twice in two attempts. Fenix blasted Zayn with a superkick after another feint between the ropes. One, two… not quite. Fenix headed up top, but couldn’t connect with the moonsault, as Zayn dodged.

Zayn had Fenix in position for the Helluva Kick, but the masked star avoided and countered with a DDT, that once again wasn’t able to get him the victory. We got a second break in the action with both men down in the ring.

Our match returned from the break with Fenix once more heading up to the top rope, looking for a high-risk maneuver. Zayn cut him off at the pass and put Fenix on his shoulders. However, Fenix countered and hit an incredible double stomp from the top rope onto a seated Zayn.

Fenix leapt up for his signature moonsault and connected, but Zayn kicked out at the nick of time. In the middle of the ring, both men tried to hit a suplex, but couldn’t. Fenix was first to escape as he bounced off the ropes for a kick, but Zayn caught him for the Blue Thunder Bomb. One, two… 2.9999999!!!!!!!!

Zayn managed to catch Fenix with his Exploder Suplex in the corner and had him targeted for the Helluva Kick. Fenix recovered and hit a hurricanrana instead, but only got a near-fall out of it. Fenix continued the momentum with the Goodbye Amigo kick. He attempted his spin kick in the corner, but Zayn reversed it into another Exploder Suplex. One Helluva Kick later, and it was a succcesful title defense for Sami Zayn.

Sami Zayn def. Rey Fenix via pinfall to retain the United States Championship

That was one heck of a match to kick things off. Both Zayn and Fenix were at the top of their game and I quite enjoyed this from start to finish.

**********

– We got Earlier Today footage of B-Fab being confronted by Giulia and Kiana James. B-Fab said that she might’ve been busy as of late with the Street Profits’ drama, but she wasn’t busy now. This led to a match being made between the two, which was up next.

– A video from the Wyatt Sicks was shown, with Bo Dallas wondering where the Street Profits would go from here. He said that the Profits have failed at every turn, as Erik Rowan said that people never truly appreciate things until it’s gone. Dallas said that the Sicks weren’t the ones who sowed the seeds that sprouted horns, as he told us to follow the buzzards.

Giulia (w/ Kiana James) vs. B-Fab

As B-Fab entered the ring, James got in her face, and paid the price for it. Giulia took exception and kicked B-Fab to the outside, as she threw her around outside the ring. In the ring, James stomped away on B-Fab and teed her up for Giulia’s Arrivederci Knee. They looked like they were going to do further damage to B-Fab until Michin ran in, armed with a kendo stick. Michin struck James with the kendo stick, as she sent Giulia to a retreat.

Giulia vs. B-Fab never happened

**********

– We got remarks from Aleister Black about his win over Damian Priest on last week’s SmackDown. He said that Priest could keep fighting and he could die by that code, and that violence begat violence.

WWE Women’s Championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Jade Cargill

Cargill immediately went for a pump kick, but Stratton avoided it soundly. The challenger tried to lift up Stratton, but got met with a high dropkick. Cargill eventually got the advantage with a powerslam on Stratton, as she then followed that up with an attempted suplex. Stratton countered the suplex attempt and went for a rollup to little success. With Cargill out of the ring, Stratton vaulted over the top rope with a dive, as we went to a break in the action.

Our WWE Women’s Title match returned with Cargill hitting a fallaway slam on Stratton. She tried to go for a corner attack, but Stratton countered and eventually hit a spinebuster on Cargill. Stratton tried for a hurricanrana, but Cargill caught her and looked for a powerbomb. Stratton turned that around into a hurricanrana as she then hit a double-footed dropkick on her opponent.

Stratton headed up top and connected with the Swanton Bomb for a near-fall. Cargill recovered and hit a superkick on Stratton that sent her outside. In the ensuing mixup, Stratton attempted a baseball slide, but she got caught by Cargill, who slammed her against the apron. Back in the ring, Cargill failed to connect with a pump kick, but managed to avoid the Prettiest Moonsault Ever. She had Stratton on her shoulders and hit a modified Blue Thunder Bomb for a close near-fall.

Stratton hit a nice rollthrough into an Alabama Slam, as she looked for another Prettiest Moonsault Ever. Cargill avoided calamity and hit the Pump Kick as both women were down in the ring. Cargill and Stratton eventually recovered and mixed it up on the apron with an exchange of strikes. Cargill looked for a Spear, but Stratton dodged, which caused the challenger to hit the ringpost instead.

Stratton missed with the diving moonsault to the outside, as Cargill speared her opponent through the barricade. The match was then ruled a draw due to a double countout.

After the match, Nia Jax attacked both Cargill and Stratton and left both women laying.

Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill ended in a Double Countout

A decent match that was undercut by the draw ending and Nia Jax showing up once again, really highlighting how bare the cupboard is, when it comes to the top of the SmackDown women’s division. It’s honestly felt like the same set of players in the title picture and it’s really hurt the main event scene as it pertains for the women of SmackDown.

**********

– As Nick Aldis walked out of his office, he was accosted by Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre, who demanded a Women’s Tag Title match. Aldis proposed that the two would face the winners of Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss’s title defense on Tuesday’s NXT Homecoming.

– We got a video package ahead of Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena at Wrestlepalooza that focused on both men’s beginnings in wrestling.

– Over in Las Vegas, Rey Mysterio was interviewed about Worlds Collide, before his son Dominik rolled up and said he’d become the AAA Mega Campeon after tonight’s main event. Rey said he’d put the AAA Mega Campeon belt around Dominik’s waist if he won tonight.

– Back in Norfolk, Sami Zayn was interviewed after his successful U.S. Title defense as Carmelo Hayes called his shot to be Zayn’s next challenger. After Zayn left, The Miz showed up too late and was upset about Hayes taking up Zayn’s U.S. Open Challenge, having been seemingly outsmarted by his Melo Don’t Miz partner.

Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre

Both men locked up in the middle of the ring to start before McIntyre went on the attack in the corner. Orton roared back with a clothesline as he got in some shots of his own on the Scotsman with punches in the corner. He then sent McIntyre crashing to the outside with another clothesline over the rope as our main event headed to a break.

SmackDown’s main event came back from the break with McIntyre seemingly having Orton at his mercy, but he fell victim to a suplex instead. With McIntyre down in the ring, Orton targeted him with some stomps to the legs, followed by a knee drop to the face. McIntyre took a shot at Orton’s knee with a clip, followed by a stretch in the corner.

McIntyre maintained the pressure on Orton’s injured knee with a figure-four leglock cinched in tight in the middle of the ring. Orton struggled hard, but managed to turn it over to reverse the pressure of the leglock on McIntyre. In the middle of the ring, Orton dropped his foe with a belly-to-back suplex that sent McIntyre scurrying back out of the ring.

Orton slammed McIntyre against the commentary table, but got raked in the eyes, as he found himself dropped across the table with a back suplex. McIntyre once again clipped at Orton’s knees as our main event headed to one final break in the action.

We returned from the break as McIntyre slammed Orton down to the mat, with the bum knee making contact with the top rope as a result. Orton poked McIntyre in the eye to regain momentum, as he then bashed his opponent’s head across all four corners. McIntyre tried for another figure four, but Orton kicked him aside into the ring post, which sent the Scotsman out of the ring once more.

As McIntyre got himself back in the ring, Orton tried to generate momentum with a signature powerslam to fell his foe. Orton looked like he was going to hit the apron DDT, but McIntyre scurried to the announce table. This opened him up to consecutive back suplexes across the commentary table. Back in the ring, McIntyre connected with the Claymore Kick, but couldn’t capitalize. This gave Orton the opportunity to land an RKO out of nowhere. Out of the ring, McIntyre shoved Orton against the apron.

McIntyre tried to get back into the ring, but he fell victim to the apron DDT from Orton. McIntyre was in position for getting punted by Orton, but the referee got in the way. In the ensuing chaos, this gave McIntyre an opening to hit one final Claymore Kick to get the victory in our main event.

After the match, McIntyre looked like he was going to finish Orton off good with a Claymore against the commentary table, but Cody Rhodes ran in for the save, going after McIntyre right away with a flurry of offense. Rhodes hit a Cody Cutter on McIntyre as he asked for a microphone after the fighting was done. Rhodes said that the champ was back and that he’d face McIntyre at Wrestlepalooza.

**********

An okay main event for an otherwise okay episode of SmackDown. Obviously it was a nice star power-filled match and it did its job of bringing Cody Rhodes back into the mix after a month or so of filming the Street Fighter movie, setting up another Wrestlepalooza match.

The dismal opening segment got things off on a shaky note, but I did enjoy the in-ring action this week, especially with Zayn vs. Fenix in the opening bout. That made for some okay viewing for the rest of the night on this week’s SmackDown.

WWE SmackDown live results: John Cena makes his final Chicago appearance

Posted on by Marc Quill

A huge episode of SmackDown takes place in the Chicago area tonight at Allstate Arena.

With his December retirement approaching, John Cena will appear on SmackDown for the final time. It will also be the last Chicago appearance for Cena, who is coming off a victory against Logan Paul at Clash in Paris and heading toward an expected clash with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza.

A hometown appearance by CM Punk — and possibly the return of his wife AJ Lee — have been teased. The two are reportedly set to face Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch in a mixed tag match at the upcoming Wrestlepalooza PLE.

Following his United States title victory, Sami Zayn will appear tonight. Zayn has said he’s looking to start his reign off with a bang.

There will be a Women’s United States Championship match with Giulia defending her gold against Michin. Plus, rivals Damian Priest and Aleister Black meet in a singles match.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

– Over shots of Chicago, we were welcomed to the show by Michael Cole. Shots of Damian Priest, Aleister Black, Michin, Giulia (with Kiana James), as well as hometown hero CM Punk arriving to the Allstate Arena were shown.

– Inside the arena, Cole (who’ll be on SmackDown for the next two months in the place of Joe Tessitore) and Corey Graves tossed to a recap of Clash in Paris last Sunday.

John Cena kicks off SmackDown

To a loud reaction from the Chicago faithful, John Cena made his way down to the ring to open the evening. Once Cena entered the ring, he took the mic and began to address the crowd, but was interrupted by “thank you, Cena” chants. He acknowledged the chants because it meant something special to him that it came from the Chicago crowd.

Cena talked about how people told him at the start of the retirement tour to enjoy it while it lasted, but he was focused on getting his mojo back and give his absolute best. However, tonight, Cena said he was just here to take it all in. He said that tonight is what makes Chicago special, and that the crowd’s reactions were apparently enough to bring people back into WWE. The crowd chanted “AJ Lee” in response to that.

Cena said that this was the last time for him in Chicago, and the last time he’d ever be on SmackDown as he recounted his debut 23 years ago on this very show. Cena talked about the moments he had in Allstate Arena, like fighting Triple H at WrestleMania 22 or facing CM Punk at Money in the Bank 2011. Cena noted that there’s always been talk about who the greatest crowd was, but in his eyes, there was no question. The Chicago crowd let Cena experience humility, failure, and above all else, joy. He went on to thank the crowd and told them to enjoy a hell of a night tonight.

Before Cena could exit, the music of the new U.S. Champion Sami Zayn interrupted. In the ring, Zayn said that he didn’t want to interrupt Cena’s moment as the crowd booed him unexpectedly. He wanted to thank Cena on behalf of everyone in the back for what he did for us. Zayn wanted to bring things full circle, as he remembered how he debuted against Cena as the U.S. Champion. And as such, he was going to debut the Sami Zayn U.S. Open Challenge with Cena’s permission. The former U.S. Champion approved of Zayn’s proposal and tried to leave again. Zayn stopped Cena and said he wanted to pay it forward to Cena and give Cena a shot at the U.S. Championship, much like he did a decade ago.

Zayn didn’t want to do it in a month, or next week, but rather right now. “If you want some, come get some!” Zayn challenged Cena. Naturally, Cena accepted the challenge.

A solid opening segment as Cena and the Chicago crowd really got things going here, and Zayn’s appearance sets up a huge opening bout.

United States Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. John Cena

The match was already in progress heading out of the commercial break as Cena and Zayn locked up in the middle of the ring. Zayn threw Cena with an arm drag before he applied an arm submission for a moment. Cena responded with an arm drag of his own as he had Zayn in a headlock. Zayn attempted a springboard leapfrog, but couldn’t quite get all of it, but that gave him the upper hand on Cena. Zayn delivered a suplex on Cena and looked for another one. Cena, however, countered with a suplex on Zayn.

Zayn whipped Cena hard into the corner, which didn’t seem to please the very pro-Cena crowd in Chicago. Cena threw Zayn with a particularly hard Irish whip that sent the U.S. Champion flying into the corner. We took a break with both men down in the ring.

Our match returned with Zayn being hoisted up by Cena for an AA attempt that the U.S. Champion just barely escaped. Cena turned Zayn’s attempt at a springboard move into a successful Attitude Adjustment, but could not pick up the three. As Cena recovered, Zayn tried to hit the Exploder Suplex, but that got turned around into a Kevin Owens-style pop-up powerbomb by Cena.

Both men struggled to get up on opposite corners as Cena charged at Zayn, but missed and ended up hitting the corner. Zayn missed on a Helluva Kick and fell victim to an Angle Slam courtesy of Cena. One, two…. NO! As both men got themselves up in the middle of the ring, they began to trade strikes until they took one another down with clotheslines, which took us to a second commercial break.

During the break, Cena once again paid tribute to Kurt Angle with an Ankle Lock on Zayn, who responded with an Attitude Adjustment on Cena. Once we returned we got a replay of what happened during the break, which was interrupted by Zayn hitting the Helluva Kick on Cena. One, two… Cena kicked out at 2.9999999!!!! Zayn dragged Cena to the middle of the ring before he headed to the top rope. Cena got up and hoisted Zayn up for a GTS, but that still wasn’t enough to earn him the U.S. Championship.

In the corner, Cena sized up Zayn and beckoned him to get up, as he hit an Edge-styled Spear on his foe. Zayn still kicked out of it. Cena attempted an RKO, but Zayn countered that. He then immediately put Zayn on the top rope and looked for an avalanche AA, which he connected with. As both men were left down and out after that, the music of Brock Lesnar interrupted.

Lesnar pulled the referee out before he hit an F5 on Zayn as he entered the ring. He then put Cena on his shoulders and delivered an F5 to him. He then grabbed Cena and hit one more F5 to his foe.

Sami Zayn vs. John Cena went to a No Contest

That was a fantastic match that was unfortunately ruined by a non-finish meant to build towards a match that honestly does nothing for me at all.

**********

– We learned that John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar will happen at Wrestlepalooza, as Nick Aldis was looking to address what was going on. Carmelo Hayes walked up to Aldis and wanted a U.S. Title match, but the Miz butted in and tried to get a WWE Tag Title Match for him against the Wyatt Sicks. Aldis said he’d take it under advisement as he walked off. Hayes seemed unhappy with Miz speaking on his behalf again, as Becky Lynch was seen arriving to the arena.

Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black

Black attacked Priest as he was making his entrance as things turned into a brawl at ringside. Black struck Priest with a knee to the face that drove him over the barricade.

As we returned to SmackDown, Priest walked his way back into the ring, but got kicked in the head by Black for his troubles. Now with both men in the ring, the match began proper. After Priest missed a punch, Black took over with another kick to the noggin. Priest recovered with a surprise headbutt to Black, who answered with a modified crucifix submission.

Black took Priest down with a top-rope Meteora for the two-count, as we took an oddly-timed commercial break just a couple of minutes into this one.

The action resumed as Priest had Black stunned on the top rope and hoisted high for a Razor’s Edge. Black escaped and got the spinning elbow, followed by a running knee on Priest for a near-fall. Priest struck Black from the corner with a pair of elbows of his own, followed by a fierce clothesline. Priest maintained momentum with a barrage of elbows that left the Dutchman reeling. Old School crossbody by Priest managed to send Black rolling to the outside.

Black was then slammed with a Flatliner on the apron as Priest set aside the announcer table covering. Priest lifted Black above him and threw him with a Razor’s Edge onto the table. In the ring, Black tried to beg off Priest, but was lifted for South of Heaven, but Black created a distraction via referee, which gave him the opening for Black Mass on Priest and the victory.

Aleister Black def. Damian Priest

That was a fairly decent, hard-hitting match, and the right guy did certainly get the win in this case. This Priest vs. Black feud has been good and I honestly want to see more of it.

**********

– We got a Twisted Tea-sponsored video promo where Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton exchanged words about one another ahead of their match on next week’s SmackDown. We also learned that Brock Lesnar will be on next week’s show, and that Tiffany Stratton will defend here WWE Women’s Championship versus Jade Cargill in a SummerSlam rematch.

– Jade Cargill was shown studying tape of that aforementioned first match as Nia Jax rolled up and talked trash to her.

– Becky Lynch was told by SmackDown GM Nick Aldis that there could not be anymore issues even as he knew that CM Punk was in the building.

Women’s U.S. Championship: Giulia (c) (w/ Kiana James) vs. Michin

Giulia and Michin didn’t waste anytime as they traded quick blows to start off. Michin seemed to get the better of Giulia in the exchange, with momentum maintained in the ring by way of a well-placed dropkick. The Women’s U.S. Champion stopped that cold as she caught Michin’s baseball slide attempted and turned that into an elevated neckbreaker to the outside.

We returned from the break with Giulia battering Michin with headbutts, but was met with a pair of German Suplexes by the challenger. Michin had Giulia stunned in the corner with a running cannonball as she set up Eat Defeat. Giulia escaped and delivered the sitout driver, but she couldn’t put this one away. Michin fought back with a sitdown powerbomb for the two. Kiana James got involved on the apron and found herself flattened by a legdrop from Michin. Unfortunately for the challenger, this left her open to Giulia’s Arrivederci knee for the three and the successful title defense.

Giulia def. Michin via pinfall to retain the Women’s U.S. Championship

An alright match, but I feel there wasn’t really enough time to let this cook, so to speak.

**********

– Charlottle Flair was lamenting about her knee injury at the hands of the Secret Hervice, when Alexa Bliss and “Dr. Lilly” showed up to assure her that the “power of friendship” will heal Flair’s pain.

Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch close out SmackDown

Seth Rollins made an unannounced arrival to the Allstate Arena, as he appeared in the crowd with a microphone in his hand. Rollins said that tonight we would be all witnesses to history, because the “legend” of Chicago’s hometown hero CM Punk would die for good tonight. And to do the honors with him, Rollins introduced his “sexy, brilliant, incredible Irish wife” Becky Lynch.

Lynch stood in the ring while Rollins remained in the crowd, and the “AJ Lee” chants grew louder and louder. “How dare you chant another person’s name while I’m standing in this ring!?” admonished Lynch, who boasted about being the greatest women’s wrestler of all time, and it wasn’t just her saying it. Lynch took some digs at Chicago’s sports teams for being terrible, just like CM Punk was.

Punk himself entered to a massive reaction from his hometown crowd, which he took all in as he made his way down to the ring. Punk said to Lynch that this wasn’t about her, but rather the cowardly husband that was hiding in a skybox. Lynch remained defiant as ever, as she asked how Punk’s pride was feeling after what happened on Raw this past Monday. Punk told Lynch that she would let the crowd chant AJ Lee’s name because we were in Chicago. Punk said that he could call in a favor to Bayley or Rhea Ripley to deal with Lynch, who once again antagonized Punk with slaps to the face and mockery.

“You’re an embarrassment to the city of Chicago, and that’s saying a lot,” said Lynch. Punk answered that this was a situation that he expressedly wanted to avoid because he never put his hands on a lady. Thankfully, though, there was someone he knew that would. AJ Lee’s music played as she made her entrance to a loud, loud reaction from the hometown crowd.

AJ skipped around in her usual manner before she entered the ring to confront Lynch. AJ went after Lynch with strikes off a Lou Thesz Press. Lynch tried to escape, but got a hard slap for her troubles from AJ. Punk challenged Rollins to face him before he entered the ring and gave his wife a hug.

The championship couple of Rollins and Lynch were left retreating as SmackDown faded to black with Punk and AJ standing tall.

**********

I will say ending SmackDown with the hometown heroes getting the upper hand and a big return for AJ Lee was the right call to make. Other than that, this show fell off a bit of a cliff for me after the disappointing non-finish to Cena vs. Zayn. That isn’t to say the show was terrible, just that nothing really stood out for me after getting robbed out of a good finish in that opening contest.

WWE SmackDown live results: John Cena returns to Dublin

Posted on by Marc Quill

Editor’s note: This is a live post for the international airing of WWE SmackDown on Netflix. If you do not want to be spoiled before the U.S. airing at 8 p.m. Eastern, you have been warned.

WWE goes global on the road to Clash in Paris as SmackDown heads to Dublin, Ireland’s 3Arena for tonight’s episode.

Ahead of his match with Logan Paul at the August 31 PLE, John Cena will be in the house for his final Dublin appearance as an active wrestler.

The feud between WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss and Chelsea Green’s Secret Hervice continues as Flair battles Piper Niven in a singles match.

After a backstage skirmish last week, the Motor City Machine Guns go heads-up against Melo Don’t Miz (Carmelo Hayes & The Miz).

In more tag team action, The Street Profits take on two members of The MFTs.

The announced lineup is rounded out by Aleister Black vs. R-Truth.

**********

– The voice of lead commentator Joe Tessitore set up the night ahead from the Three Arena, as Logan Paul, the Street Profits, Solo Sikoa’s M.F.T.s, Charlotte Flair, and the Secret Hervice were shown arriving at the arena.

– From inside the arena, we saw Tessitore and Wade Barrett discuss the night before they announced that they were starting off SmackDown with a hometown superstar. That hometown superstar was, of course, current Women’s Intercontinental Champion, Becky Lynch.

Becky Lynch’s Irish Homecoming

Lynch entered the ring to a massive reception from the hometown Dublin crowd, who chanted her name and cheered her on.

“Look at us, lads! We’re on the telly!” Lynch started off as she talked about how this was the first-ever live televised WWE event from Dublin, Ireland. The crowd chanted “we deserve it” in response. Lynch said that she remembered coming here as a fan and how Randy Orton made eye contact with her at one of these events. She noted how that experience made her life and always dreamed of being here. Lynch said that now that this was happening, she noted that the crowd did not deserve it at all. She claimed that she petitioned to get this show cancelled.

The crowd loudly chanted for Lyra Valkyria, but Lynch protested because that since Valkyria lost against her, she’ll no longer get a chance at her Women’s Intercontinental Title. Lynch complained about the lack of media coverage she received in Ireland, because she was the hero of the Irish people. She talked about how she was immensely let down by the Dublin crowd because of their lack of appreciation as she put over her accomplishments like winning the first women’s main event of WrestleMania and being a New York Times best-selling author, and having a “very hot American husband” (Seth Rollins, to be exact). Lynch mocked the crowd’s “CM Punk” chants towards her, stating that “nobody wanted to see that old ass”.

Lynch continued to complain about getting off her jet, and Irish heroes like Katie Taylor, Barry Keoghan, and Bono. Before she could continue her tirade, the WWE Women’s Champion, Tiffany Stratton, interrupted to loud cheers from the crowd.

Stratton said that she couldn’t understand how Lynch could be ungrateful to Dublin, Ireland, and how she was on the wrong show. She talked about how Dublin understood that it was “Tiffy Time” before she told Lynch that she could either leave, or she’d make her leave.

Stratton’s old rival, Nia Jax, decided to interrupt at this time. Jax asked Stratton why she had to worry about Becky so much before she ran down the Dublin crowd. She declared that Stratton had bigger problems right now, and she was standing in front of her. Jax attacked Stratton, as Lynch joined along until Jade Cargill made the save. Cargill took out Jax with a pump kick as Lynch attempted to sneak up for an attack. Jax tried to get into the ring, but was met by a dropkick from Stratton that sent her to the outside.

Nick Aldis appeared on the ramp and announced that it’d be Lynch & Jax versus Stratton & Cargill in our main event tonight.

A hot opening segment to set up our main event match tonight, and Becky heeling it up on her hometown crowd was kind of funny.

**********

– Carmelo Hayes was walking backstage when Fraxiom talked to him. Nathan Frazer and Axiom gave credit to his efforts last week, but they noted how the Miz tried to steal his thunder last week. The Miz himself appeared and tried to stir up trouble, but Hayes seemingly had nothing but kind words for his partner as the two headed off for their match.

Melo Don’t Miz (The Miz & Carmelo Hayes) vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley)

Miz and Hayes argued a bit about who’d start off until the former WWE Champion took charge. That was until Hayes tagged himself in and ended up being the one to get this going against Sabin.

Sabin and Hayes got it going with a series of lockups until Sabin took over with a pair of armdrags. Hayes dodged acrobatically over Sabin as Miz blind tagged himself into the match. The MCMGs showed great tag team acumen as they took both Hayes and Miz out to the ring. Stereo baseball slides were followed by a suicide dive by Sabin that knocked both Hayes and Miz down as we headed to a break in the action.

We resuumed with Shelley as the legal man trying to get to his corner and doing so as he tagged Sabin back into the match. The tag veteran went to work on Miz with a diving tornado DDT that only got a count of two. Sabin sized Miz up in his team’s corner as the Machine Guns rattled Miz with a modified Magic Killer. Hayes dove in at the last minute to save the match for his team.

Sabin and Shelley dropped Hayes with a double team drop kick as they looked for the Skull and Bones. Miz escaped and looked to have the Skull Crushing Finale, but Sabin reversed it. Hayes tagged in and had Sabin dead to rights for Nothin’ But Net, but Miz once again tagged in. Hayes took out Sabin with the Lungblower, but got clotheslined by Shelley to the outside.

A vulturous Miz snuck in and got the pin on Sabin for the win.

Melo Don’t Miz def. Motor City Machine Guns via pinfall

Kind of a sloppy tag match to start the show, but this story of Miz stealing Carmelo Hayes’ glory for himself and stringing him along with it is at least interesting.

**********

– Jimmy Uso was interviewed backstage about the announcement his wife Naomi made on Raw this past Monday. Sami Zayn congratulated the soon-to-be parents as he hugged Jimmy. Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s rolled up and said that Jimmy and Naomi’s newborn will have plenty of new family members to welcome them into the world. Jimmy gave an emphatic “no yeet” to that. Zayn then told Sikoa that he wouldn’t be facing “the underdog”, but rather, “WrestleMania main eventer” Sami Zayn when it came time for the U.S. Title to be defended.

Piper Niven (w/ Chelsea Green & Alba Fyre) vs. Charlotte Flair

Flair entered to the match without tag partner Alexa Bliss to the match, who was stated to have been not cleared to appear due to the attack from the Secret Hervice last week.

Niven slammed Flair down to the match and whipped her across to the corner. Flair got herself onto the apron and warded Niven with a boot as she then headed up top with a diving crossbody. As Flair tried to head up to the top rope again, Chelsea Green got on the apron to cause a distraction. This gave Niven the opening to hit an Abyss-style Black Hole Slam to gain the upper hand as we headed to the break.

SmackDown returned as Niven crushed Flair in the corner with a running hip attack, but couldn’t get the fall on her foe. Niven ascended to the top and looked for a Viper Bomb, but Flair dodged at the last second. The former WWE Women’s Champion then teed off on Niven with repeated chops, a clothesline, and a big boot. Flair taunted Green as she headed to the top and connected with the moonsault. One, two… not quite.

Niven escaped Flair’s Figure Eight attempt, but got felled by a Spear. That wasn’t enough for the win, however. As Flair locked in the Figure Eight, Alba Fyre created a distraction, which allowed Green to rake Flair in the eyes. In the end, Niven got the upset win on Flair with a Michinoku Driver for the duke.

Piper Niven def. Charlotte Flair via pinfall

Chelsea Green and the Secret Hervice getting the upper hand two weeks straight on the Women’s Tag Champs is a nice change of pace from them being the usual punching bags, so that’s at least nice to see.

**********

– Kiana James and Giulia were discussing business until Michin interrupted and called her shot. James said that Michin had to go through her before she could get a shot at Giulia’s Women’s United States Championship. Michin was more than happy to oblige her on that challenge.

John Cena returns to SmackDown

The star of Peacemaker made his way to the ring to a loud ovation from the Dublin crowd, who proudly sang his entrance theme. Cena ran down in his usual manner and looked like he had a spring in his step once he finally got into the ring. We got the “Never Seen 17” introduction for Cena from ring announcer Mark Nash before Cena got right down to business.

However, before Cena could even utter a word, Logan Paul interrupted and sauntered his way down to the ring. The fans chanted “f*** you Logan”, which prompted Paul to tell the crowd mockingly that they were getting muted on TV. Paul taunted the crowd and threatened to spit in each and everyone of their faces. He put himself over as allegedly “the person we came to pay to see”. Paul called Cena an “actor who knew how to wrestle”. As the crowd once again chanted “shut the f*** up”, Paul complained that their chanting would get the sound muted on TV with their cussing.

Paul put himself over as a guy who works harder than everyone at the back, and told Cena he was a corporate pawn who’d do everything he was told to do. Paul kept rambling as he asked to play a game called “Who’s the Imposter?” He asked whether the guy who stayed to be himself or the guy who went away to pretend to be someone else was the imposter. Paul yelled that this was “his house” now.

When Cena finally spoke, he called Paul an undeniable presence, tremendous athlete, and a future WWE Champion. He said those things that he believed to be true, and that it made him upset. He said that there was one term that was stuck on Paul for years: “Outsider” (or as the Dublin crowd said instead, “wanker”.) Cena called Paul a “disappointment” instead. He said that Paul was using WWE as a branding opportunity to buy another Pokemon card, as he tipped over the PRIME bottle display at ringside.

Cena blasted Paul for claiming that he “put his life on the line” for a total of 23 matches, which he found insulting. Cena talked about how he did the same, but for a total of 23 years through a multitude of live and televised events, including matches against Sheamus in 2010 in Dublin. Every time Cena stepped in the ring, whether he had 100 moves or 5 moves or 1 move, he said that he only had one question to himself: “what could he give to this business”. In Paul’s case, that question, according to Cena, was “what could he take?”

Cena then said that Logan Paul wasn’t an outsider, but he was a parasite. Cena put over deserving stars that he could’ve been facing like Dominik Mysterio, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, The Usos, and Jacob Fatu, just to name them all. Cena said he was wasting his time entertaining Paul’s challenge, but he was a man of his word and Paul got lucky by being first in line. Cena told Paul knew about hustle, but nothing about respect.

“As for your co-habitation agreement, I read the news, homey, you’ve got plenty of legal trouble,” said Cena. The 17-time World Champion then told Paul that he’d either understand what it meant to give yourself up for this business at Clash in Paris, or Paul would get the ever-loving shite beaten out of him.

Thing’s got physical when Paul shoved at Cena, which led to him getting dropped with an Attitude Adjustment.

Cena was in his element with this promo tonight, as he certainly brought down the hammer on Paul as only he could with a classic “fine speech” takedown promo.

**********

– Jade Cargill and Tiffany Stratton discussed strategy backstage as they looked to be on a united front against Becky Lynch and Nia Jax.

– An angry Logan Paul was confronted by Drew McIntyre, who bluntly told him that he was scared of the mystique of John Cena. He said that Paul was going to make this right tonight, whatever it took.

The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) (w/ B-Fab) vs. Tonga Loa & J.C. Mateo (w/ The M.F.T.s)

It is said that the winners of this match would face Melo Don’t Miz next week on SmackDown for a shot at the Wyatt Sicks’ WWE Tag Team Championships.

The Profits had the upper hand early on as Ford dropped Loa with a standing moonsault. Mateo entered the match and took over with strikes on Ford in the corner for a bit. Ford recovered and hit the Famouser on Mateo and looked to have a dive from the apron locked and loaded. However, Loa tripped Ford up and sent him right into the outside ringpost shoulder-first, which led to a break.

Our match returned from the break with Mateo hitting Ford with a clothesline, followed by a standing moonsault of his own. Ford dodged out of the way of Mateo’s running strike as Loa got himself into the match with a tag. Ford managed to throw Loa out of the ring as Dawkins got the hot tag. The big man of the Street Profits went to work with a running shoulder block on Mateo, followed by a flapjack on Loa.

Dawkins lifted up Mateo on his shoulders, but couldn’t get the Electric Chair drop down. Loa broke up the pin after a Street Profits double team move. Ford, now the legal man, wanted to head up top for a move, but Solo Sikoa’s distraction allowed Talla Tonga to intervene. This let Mateo deliver the Tour of the Islands on Ford. That wasn’t enough to secure the win for the M.F.T.s, however.

Jimmy Uso ran up and hit Talla with a chair as they began to brawl in the crowd. While Sikoa was up on the commentary table, Sami Zayn tripped him up and hit a modified Helluva Kick. The finish saw Mateo get pinned after a a Montez Ford frog splash.

The Street Profits def. The M.F.T.s via pinfall

A decent tag match, and the crowd did come alive for Sami Zayn and Jimmy Uso running in to take out the M.F.T.s members at ringside.

**********

Aleister Black vs. R-Truth

R-Truth appeared and said that he wasn’t going to be able to make it tonight, stating that he wouldn’t make it because he ended up in Dublin, Georgia instead. However, Truth said he’d made a call to one of his good friends.

Out came Damian Priest, who was looking to get some revenge after having his jaw broken by Black three weeks ago. After a short skirmish, a vanguard of referees and security ran in to break things up. After some effort, the fight was broken up.

Aleister Black vs. R-Truth never happened

**********

Drew McIntyre demands answers regarding Cody Rhodes

While the commentary discussed Cody Rhodes’ condition, Drew McIntyre appeared and once again angrily asked about a medical update on Rhodes. McIntyre said that he had an update of his own: “Cody Rhodes is a little bitch”. He said that he did Rhodes a favor and gave him more than enough time with the Undisputed WWE Championship. While McIntyre continued to talk, Randy Orton snuck up behind him and hit an RKO out of nowhere on McIntyre.

Randy Orton’s return is certainly going to be used to set up a match with McIntyre at Clash in Paris while the title match between McIntyre and Cody Rhodes will be likely taking place at Wrestlepalooza next month.

**********

Next Week on SmackDown

  • United States Championship: Solo Sikoa (c) vs. Sami Zayn
  • Tag Team Contender’s Match: Melo Don’t Miz vs. The Street Profits
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. The Secret Hervice

Becky Lynch & Nia Jax vs. Tiffany Stratton & Jade Cargill

Lynch and Stratton started off with strikes in the ring before she took down Jax and Lynch with a dive to the outside. While Stratton tried to get into the ring, she was being held by the leg by Lynch as Jax hit a leg drop on her. We then went to the final break of the evening.

When SmackDown returned, Cargill and Lynch re-entered the match and faced off. Cargill unleashed a flurry of strikes on Lynch, followed by a spinebuster. Lynch tried to go up top, but was caught by Cargill, who hit a Fallaway Slam on her foe. A stunned Lynch was blasted with a superkick from Cargill, followed by a tilt-a-whirl sitout powerbomb. Lynch managed to kick out at two. Jax got the tag as she snuck up on Cargill while Lynch ran off.

Cargill avoided the Annihilator, as she turned it into a powerbomb instead. Stratton and Cargill ended up getting the victory in our main event after hitting a combination of moonsaults on the fallen Jax.

Tiffany Stratton & Jade Cargill def. Nia Jax & Becky Lynch via pinfall

– Before we ended our night truly, John Cena was seen walking out of the arena, as SmackDown GM Nick Aldis told him he had just heard from Brock Lesnar. Before we could hear what that was, Logan Paul hit Cena with his punch and ran off.

**********

A weirdly paced main event that felt very much a victim of things getting rushed. In fact, a lot of the evening felt like things were strangely timed, as if a segment might’ve ran too long. That ended up affecting the majority of the show.

All in all, a nothing-to-write-home edition of SmackDown, other than the great John Cena verbal takedown of Logan Paul, Becky Lynch’s opening promo, and Randy Orton’s return. Just nothing really stood out to me from what we got tonight.

WWE SmackDown live results: SummerSlam fallout

Posted on by Marc Quill

At SummerSlam, Cody Rhodes reclaimed the WWE Championship in a hard-fought street fight against “the real” John Cena that saw the two men show tremendous respect for one another following the match. Rhodes is scheduled to appear tonight in Montreal’s Bell Centre to address his championship victory and potentially find out who his first title defense will be against.

Meanwhile, Cena will kick off SmackDown to not only discuss his defeat at SummerSlam, but also being attacked post-match by a returning Brock Lesnar.

Motor City Machine Guns will face Talla Tonga and JC Mateo of the MFTs in tag team action. The team of Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley were one of five teams who came up short in dethroning the Wyatt Sicks in a hotly contested TLC match at SummerSlam.

The MFTs are coming off a mixed night at SummerSlam where Solo Sikoa retained the United States title against Jacob Fatu inside a steel cage — but Fatu and Jimmy Uso left Mateo and Tonga Loa laying after.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

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– SmackDown opened with a recap of the SummerSlam Sunday main event between Cody Rhodes and John Cena, as well as the Brock Lesnar return after the match.

John Cena opens SmackDown

We didn’t waste any time as John Cena opened SmackDown, with his usual babyface entrance back in full force after SummerSlam. The Montreal crowd responded with a loud cheer for Cena as he addressed the camera, telling Stu the Cameraman “let’s go to work” before he ran down to the ring, full of vigour.

Ring announcer Mark Nash did the introduction for Cena, but added that the “Last Real Champion” was here to celebrate with all the fans.

“Man, we have come a long way,” began Cena. He said for the longest time, WWE was afraid to come to Montreal because they thought the audience would hijack the show. Cena said that he wasn’t afraid of that possibility because he knew that the audience was the show. If we watched at home, we could see the crowd go and wish we were there. Cena noted that the Montreal crowd was so loud that he could barely hear himself talk.

For the crew in the back, Cena said that it could get scary if the crowd started singing. “Some performers might get scared,” but Cena said that he might’ve been afraid, but the crowd helped him through it by letting him embrace and enjoy every single second. He said that it didn’t last forever, unfortunately, as the crowd chanted “Thank you, Cena”.

He said that he’s been coming here for over two decades, and that he had shared many valuable moments in this ring, and that all he had to say was: thank you. Cena reminded the crowd that after tonight, he has 11 dates left before retirement. Cena admitted that every time a day goes by, he gets more and more afraid, and he thanked everyone for that.

Cena said that no matter how much he gave to the crowd in the little amount of time left, that it wouldn’t be enough. Cena continued by saying that he was also afraid that after he was gone and WWE moved on without him, he’d be forgotten as a result. Cena finally addressed Brock Lesnar, stating that there’d be no universe ever that he’d back down against Lesnar’s challenge.

Cena said that he’s afraid that Brock Lesnar has just gotten a “John Cena problem”, and that everyone in the locker room has also got themselves a “John Cena problem”. Cena declared that he was ready to go down guns blazing, because the last time was now. “If you want some, come get some!” challenged Cena.

The music of Logan Paul heralded the arrival of the so-called YouTube influencer to the ring. As the crowd booed, Paul said that this version of John Cena made him sick. Paul noted how he once respected Cena, but no longer as he “switched up” in his eyes.

As Paul entered the ring, Cena told him that he might’ve made the biggest mistake of his life. Paul claimed that the people didn’t know who John Cena was, and that he did WWE better than any professional wrestler. Cena responded by calling Paul the “biggest dumbass he had ever seen in his life”.

Paul called Cena a liar as he wanted to face him in a match, if Cena was in the mood for giving matches. Paul said that we would see this match in a beautiful French-speaking country… Paris, France. As Paul rambled on, Drew McIntyre snuck up on Cena and helped Paul ambush him. Cody Rhodes ran in to make the save to help Cena clear the ring of Paul and McIntyre.

Cena accepted Paul’s challenge for Clash in Paris, but it was clear that Paul and McIntyre wanted a fight. He then threw down the challenge for Paul and McIntyre to take him on and Rhodes for a tag match tonight. “The Champ is Here!” declared Cena, referring to our new Undisputed WWE Champion in the form of Cody Rhodes.

A rather interesting opening segment that seemed more centered on Cena’s final goodbye than directly addressing the Brock Lesnar/SummerSlam fallout, as well as giving us a match for Clash in Paris with Cena vs. Paul. The promo itself was back to a usual Cena babyface one, and it’s honestly good to hear it again, because Cena is a natural at these types of promos as opposed to the ones we got during his recently-wrapped heel run.

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– The Motor City Machine Gunes were asked backstage about their chances against Talla Tonga and J.C. Mateo of the M.F.T.s. They said that their road to the top began with this match.

– Rhodes/Cena vs. Paul/McIntyre was made official for later tonight.

The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. Talla Tonga & J.C. Mateo (w/ Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga)

Mateo and Shelley opened the match as the two traded offense until Shelley and Sabin used a double team attack to floor Mateo and send him to the outside. Sabin took down Mateo with a five-hole suicide dive as the MCMGs did a number on Talla Tonga.

Tama Tonga got on the apron, which caused a distraction and gave Talla the time to pick Sabin off the apron and throw him into the barricade, which sent us to a break in the action.

We returned to the match as Talla had Shelley locked in a bearhug before he slammed the tag veteran to the mat. Shelley found a way to create separation as he elbowed Mateo before he got the tag on Sabin.

Sabin attempted to take down Mateo, but had to hit multiple superkicks before he did the job with a springboard DDT for a near-fall. The Machine Guns then attempted a double team on Mateo as they took Talla down from the apron. This gave Mateo time to recover and slam down Sabin. The cover, but Shelley broke it up.

A double superkick from Sabin and Shelley stunned Mateo, but Talla got involved and prevented the Skull and Bones with a boot to Shelley on the top rope. He then chokeslammed Sabin to pick up the victory for the M.F.T.s.

Talla Tonga & J.C. Mateo def. Motor City Machine Guns via pinfall

An okay match. Nothing really much to say, but does seem to set up Talla and J.C. as challengers for the Wyatt Sicks. Not sure what that will look like, but it’s at least worth keeping an eye on.

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After the match, Solo Sikoa got on the microphone and declared that he and his M.F.T.s were what greatness looked like. He said that we were looking at the soon-to-be WWE Tag Team Champions and the most dominant United States Champion. Sikoa said he was feeling good and ready for a fight, but the problem is that nobody was wanted to fight him. He said that this was the last place that he wanted to fight so he was ready to celebrate.

SmackDown GM Nick Aldis interrupted him and that he found someone who was also ready for a fight. That someone being a person that Sikoa knew all too well and one that Montreal knew well. Sami Zayn then entered to a raucous ovation from the hometown crowd.

Solo Sikoa vs. Sami Zayn

The match officially kicked off after a commercial break as Zayn and Sikoa stared down one another across the ring. The crowd broke out in an “ole ole ole” singalong as this was happening. Zayn and Sikoa finally locked horns in the middle of the ring as the latter forced his opponent into the corner. Sikoa tried to beg off Zayn by throwing up the Bloodline ones, but got a slap in the face for his troubles.

Zayn responded with punches in the corner before Sikoa regained control with a running shoulder block. The United States Champion chopped at Zayn in the corner before he struck with some punches of his own. Zayn escaped and once again hammered away at Sikoa in the corner. Zayn sent Sikoa to the outside with a clothesline and sized him up for a dive. He soared over the top rope with a dive that took down Sikoa, but soon found himself surrounded by the M.F.T.s by the commentary table.

In the ring, Sikoa provided a distraction, which allowed Tama Tonga to hit Zayn with a clothesline from the apron, which took us to a break in the action.

We came back from the break with Zayn connecting on a sunset flip powerbomb to Sikoa from the top rope for a close near-fall. Zayn followed that up by attempting to lift Sikoa up, but to no avail. An attempted Blue Thunder Bomb was met by a Spinning Solo from the United States Champion. One, two… Zayn just managed to kick out.

Sikoa sized Zayn up for a Samoan Spike, but Zayn got a boot up and threw him in the corner for an Exploder Suplex. Zayn locked in and looked like he was about to hit a Helluva Kick, but Tama Tonga provided the distraction. Another Exploder was followed by an attempted Helluva Kick, but J.C. Mateo this time provided a distraction. Talla Tonga got up on the apron and faced off with a defiant Zayn, but this opened him up for a superkick from Sikoa. The U.S. Champion looked to have this won with a Samoan Spike, but Zayn turned that around and got the surprise rollup pinfall win to a huge ovation from the hometown crowd. Zayn immediately rolled out of the ring to avoid an M.F.T. beatdown as Sikoa looked stunned at losing in such shocking fashion.

Sami Zayn def. Solo Sikoa via pinfall

This was a nice little match, and Sami getting the hometown hero win was a good change of pace.

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– We got a promo from the Wyatt Sicks. Uncle Howdy said that the Sicks would never lead us astray, and that when they spoke, they only spoke the truth. The Sicks said they woke the SmackDown tag division up to their true reality. This was clear that this was about something bigger than the Tag Titles, and that there were more lessons to be learned.

– Backstage, the Street Profits and #DIY got into an argument, with Tommasso Ciampa calling the Profits a bunch of “motherkillers” for what happened to Candice LeRae. The bickering continued until Nick Aldis interrupted. He said that the TLC match didn’t keep everyone in check, but that would start next week with #DIY vs. the Profits next week on SmackDown.

Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair’s Championship Celebration

The new WWE Women’s Tag Champions had themselves a Championship Celebration, which happened to fall on Bliss’s birthday. In the ring, was a cake that said “Congratulations Charlotte! – Alexa”, which Flair tried to pass off as a birthday gift to Bliss.

Flair said that if Bliss and her were tag partners, then Lilly the doll needed a tag partner of her own. Flair then unveiled “Charlie”, a doll that looked quite similar to Lilly. Bliss thanked Flair for the appreciation, but it wasn’t enough. Flair said that she needed something and Montreal needed something. And that something was a hug. Bliss said she didn’t know if that was necessary, but Flair beckoned her partner to give her a hug.

Chelsea Green and the Secret Hervice interrupted before we got a hug. Green said that while she was a proud Canadian, seeing the Montreal crowd cheer for Bliss and Flair made her want to turn her passport in. She dissed the Montreal Canadiens and then said that the we should be celebrating her homecoming instead.

Flair said that she had one more gift for Bliss: kicking Chelsea Green’s ass tonight. As Green tried to back away, Nick Aldis appeared with a referee who wore a bowtie. The referee was apparently a “birthday gift” for Bliss as Aldis then made Flair vs. Green official, and we’d see that match after the break.

– Backstage, Carmelo Hayes tried to pay a visit to Nick Aldis, but was met by The Miz instead. Hayes was upset that Miz ignored him for two months and he wanted to get a shot at the United Staes Championship. Miz said that he supposedly got a tag team match for him and Hayes next week. Hayes tentatively agreed and left. Nick Aldis appeared and it was clear that Miz had not spoken to to the SmackDown GM about this supposed tag match.

Charlotte Flair vs. Chelsea Green

Flair had the advantage early on as she forced Green out of the ring for the time being. Green got the upper hand in the ring with a boot to the face. Green then slammed Flair’s face on the turnbuckle, but got countered and hit with a chop to the face.

On the apron, Flair fended off Alba Fyre and Piper Niven before she took the top rope and hit a diving crossbody for the near-fall. The Secret Hervice provided a momentary distraction, that didn’t provide any sort of advantage for Green. A rollup attempt by Flair was turned into a moment of opportunity for Green as she pushed her into the middle turnbuckle. That took us into an oddly-placed ad break.

We returned to the match and we found out that the birthday cake from the birthday celebration for Bliss was placed outside the ring while the match was in progress.

Flair blased Green with chops followed by a walkover clothesline and a high-angle German suplex on the Canadian. Flair then connected with Natural Selection, but Green kicked out at two. As Flair tried to run at Green, she was met with a big boot. Flair quickly recovered and tried to head up top. Green stunned Flair and landed a superplex for the close near-fall. A flustered Green motioned to the Secret Hervice to bring the birthday cake to her, as Fyre and Niven slid it into the ring.

On the outside, Bliss took out both members of the Secret Hervice with a dive. In the ring, Green set Flair up for a Un-Pretty-Her on the cake, but Flair reversed it and delivered an Un-Pretty-Her of her own on Green instead. In the end, Flair made Green submit to the Figure Eight for the win.

Charlotte Flair def. Chelsea Green via submission

A fun little segment and an entertaining match afterwards with a funny finish to the proceedings.

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– Tiffany Stratton was interviewed about what was next for her. She said that she’d just keep on doing what she had been doing for the past 216 days. Jade Cargill interrupted and promised that it’d be different next time she and Stratton faced off. Stratton said that it’d be a different story, but with the same ending: her winning out. As Stratton left, Cargill was confronted by Kiana James and Giulia. Cargill said that she’d go after Giulia’s Women’s U.S. Title on her own time. Finally, Michin showed up and offered to help Cargill out against Giulia and Kiana.

– We got a video from Aleister Black, where he said that he was granted the power to use violence to stop a greater violence being committed. Black said that he is an eye for an limb and and an eye for a life kind of guy. Black took credit for giving Damian Priest a hairline fraction in his jaw following his attack on last week’s SmackDown.

– John Cena was walking backstage and was met by Ron Killings/R-Truth, who seemed happy that the “real” Cena was back. Cena played along and acted like Truth had turned heel for the past five months and only since turned back face. Cena gave Truth an appreciative pat before he walked off for our main event up next.

Cody Rhodes & John Cena vs. Logan Paul & Drew McIntyre

Rhodes and Paul started off our main event with a tie up in the middle of the ring, as Rhodes took him down with a running shoulder block. Paul responded with a standing headlock that he failed to keep on as Rhodes fought back with his signature drop down slap to the face. After a suplex, Rhodes tried to tag Cena, but Paul rolled him up and dragged the Undisputed WWE Champion back to the his corner as McIntyre tagged into the match.

McIntyre failed to get any momentum as Rhodes slammed him with a running powerslam. Meanwhile, Paul ran a distraction, which gave McIntyre the chance to blast Rhodes with the Glasgow Kiss headbutt. In the ring, McIntyre provided a distraction of his own as Paul hit Rhodes with a clothesline at ringside, which took us to the final ad break of the night with about 7 minutes to 10:00pm.

We returned to our main event with McIntyre attempting to prevent Rhodes from making the tag to Cena. Rhodes managed to create some needed separation as he avoided a shoulder charge from McIntyre, which sent the Scotsman crashing into the corner. This allowed Cena to get the hot tag as he unleashed his Five Moves of Doom on legal man Paul. The Montreal crowd was on fire as Cena delivered the Five Knuckle Shuffle, followed by the Attitude Adjustment. McIntyre made the save by breaking up the pin. McIntyre tried to target Cena for a Claymore Kick, but Rhodes intervened.

In the ring, Cena was hit by a low blow from Paul to cause the DQ finish. After the match, Paul and Cena brawled to the back while Rhodes and McIntyre continued to mix it up at ringside. The fight took a turn as McIntyre smacked Rhodes across the face with the Undisputed WWE Championship. With the Champion prone next to the edge of the commentary table, McIntyre delivered a particularly vicious Claymore Kick that managed to break the bottom of the commentary table entirely to end our night.

Cody Rhodes & John Cena def. Logan Paul & Drew McIntyre via Disqualification

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Kind of a hard reset of sorts, particularly with the past five months for John Cena as he abruptly turned back face. Main event was fine, and the post-match extracurriculars set up the already-announced Cena vs. Paul match and a presumed Undisputed WWE Championship match (and presumably writing Cody Rhodes off until Clash in Paris so he can film Street Fighter).

All in all, an average SmackDown at best.

WWE SmackDown live results: SummerSlam go-home show

Posted on by Marc Quill

The final WWE SmackDown before this weekend’s two-night SummerSlam goes down tonight in Newark, New Jersey. A pair of title matches are scheduled for the episode, as well as a confrontation between SummerSlam opponents John Cena and Cody Rhodes.

Cena and Rhodes will meet in a street fight this Sunday for the Undisputed WWE Championship. The last time both men were in the same ring, Rhodes laid out Cena and forced him to sign the contract for their title bout.

Last week, Rhodes challenged Cena to bring “the real” version of himself at SummerSlam for the street fight. Cena will undoubtedly bring his response to that challenge tonight.

Also set for this evening is Giulia defending her Women’s United States title against former champ Zelina Vega in her first title defense. Giulia’s new “business partner” in Kiana James could factor into how this match plays out.

Damian Priest finally gets his chance to take down Aleister Black in singles action after weeks of being vexed by his new rival. Black took exception to Priest sticking up for Ron Killings and has taken out his frustrations on the former World Champion.

Los Garza will also defend their AAA Tag Team titles on tonight’s show in an open challenge. Plus, Jimmy Uso faces off against the debuting Talla Tonga.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

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– Over shots of Newark, New Jersey and the Prudential Center, Joe Tessitore welcomed us to the shwo. He pointed out the steel cage hanging above the ring. Jimmy Uso, The M.F.T.s, Aleister Black, and Damian Priest were shown arriving at the arena.

John Cena and Cody Rhodes face off before SummerSlam

The Undisputed WWE Champion arrived to the ring in his usual, understated manner, dressed in New York Jets-themed “The Last Time is Now” gear. The crowd serenaded Cena with “Let’s Go Cena / Cena Sucks” chants before he instructed ring announcer Mark Nash to give him an appropriately bombastic intro.

Before Cena could even say a single word, the entrance theme of his SummerSlam foe, Cody Rhodes, interrupted. The American Nightmare made his way down to the ring to address Cena face to face.

The crowd filled the air with an eclectic mix of chants as the SummerSlam opponents stood in the ring. Cena started by saying that he told Rhodes that he was exhausted, and that a match at SummerSlam would be too difficult for him. He said that Rhodes forced him into one of the most dangerous matches in WWE. He only had one thing to say to Rhodes “Thank you”, because that was the boot in the ass he needed. Cena said that for 25 years, he had forged a legacy of respect and hard work. And that five months ago, he flushed that into the toilet for “shock TV”. He said that the people on his team (The Rock and Travis Scott) left him alone in the aftermath, which made him try to pretend something he was not. Cena said that he wanted to take the WWE Championship home not to ruin wrestling, but so that the fans wouldn’t forget about him.

Cena said he was so hung up about how we all saw him tomorrow, that it made him blind to how stupid he was acting today. Cena said that Rhodes did what a good friend should do, by forcing him to face it and forcing him into a fight. Cena said that the Street Fight at SummerSlam was going to get him back to who he really was. According to the Undisputed WWE Champion, August 1st, 2025, was the day that John Cena truly came back to WWE.

Cena said that he didn’t know who’d leave SummerSlam with the title, but the fans would leave as the winners, because we’d finally see John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes in a battle between the best. He told Rhodes that if he wanted some, to come get some. He said that on Sunday, the only platinum rapper showing up to whip Cody’s ass was him. “The Champ is Here!” Cena concluded.

Rhodes asked for two cans of beer to be given to him before he simply told Cena “welcome back”. The two men popped open the cold ones and shared a toast. Rhodes left Cena in the ring, so that the Champ could take in the cheers from the crowd as this segment ended.

Well, this was certainly an interesting segment, to say the least. But, this seemed like a hard reset for Cena to be a face for the latter half of his retirement run. It also seemed like they brushed aside whatever partnership with Travis Scott was developing. Whether or not it leads to a Cody Rhodes heel turn as a result remains to be seen, but it does adds intrigue to the SummerSlam main event, assuming we don’t get swerved one more time to end the night.

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– Tessitore and Wade Barrett tossed to footage of a Jelly Roll training session earlier today where Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre made their presence clear by attacking Jelly.

– PJ Byrne, the lead actor from the new USA Network series The Rainmaker (which, sadly, has nothing to do with Kazuchika Okada) was shown in the crowd.

Women’s United States Championship Match: Giulia (c) (w/ Kiana James) vs. Zelina Vega

Vega and Giulia began with a tie-up before coming at a stalemate and a faceoff. The two attempted to trade strikes, but Giulia won out with a one-handed STO slam for an early pinfall attempt. Giulia continued the punishment on Vega with a mix of elbow strikes and chops, followed by a stalling suplex. Vega managed to kick out at two afterwards as she then left Giulia on the apron with a flip. She sent the Women’s United States Champion to the outside, as she then connected with a diving Meteora to the outside, which took us to a commercial break halfway through.

We returned to action with Giulia slamming Vega down face first with a wheelbarrow faceplant. She then locked in some sort of modfied Camel Clutch on Vega, who then countered it into a roll-up pin that Giulia kicked out of. Giulla regained momentum with a vicious stomp, but couldn’t capitalize after getting kicked in the corner by Vega.

Vega launched into her comeback as she delivered a saito suplex on the champion, followed by the running Meteora to the corner. Giulia avoided a dropkick and lifted Vega onto the top turnbuckle. Giulia looked to deliver a superplex, but Vega wriggled herself free and delivered an avalanche German suplex onto the Women’s U.S. Champion instead. One, two… Giulia managed to kick out at two.

Once again, Giulia put Vega up on the top turnbuckle and hit a series of headbutts to stun her foe. With Vega dazed, Giulia hit an avalanche butterfly suplex, followed by the Arrivederci Knee, and the Northern Lights Bomb. Vega somehow kicked out at 2.99999999 to somehow survive that salvo of Giulia’s signature moves.

Giulia looked for another Northern Lights Bomb, but Vega rolled her up for a close near-fall. Backstabber by Vega gave the challenger an opening she needed. Vega ascended to the top for the moonsault, but Giulia blocked it and pulled up Vega to finish this title defense with an emphatic Northern Lights Bomb.

A solid opener and a great title defense for Giulia. What’s not great, is that this was Giulia’s first match in over a month. She is a great talent who certainly deserves to be showcased more and I will say that tonight’s match was a good start. Now it falls on WWE to book Giulia more consistently so that she gets a chance to show up and show out like she did tonight.

Giulia def. Zelina Vega via pinfall to retain the Women’s United States Championship

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– Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s were interviewed, where we learned that he apparently asked for the steel cage to be above the ring tonight. Sikoa denied those claims as he talked about Talla Tonga’s debut tonight against Jimmy Uso and how it was about sending a message.

AAA Tag Team Championships: Los Garza (Angel & Berto) (c) vs. Mr. Iguana & Psycho Clown

Before the match, Santos Escobar addressed the crowd as he demanded the crowd to show respect to the AAA World Tag Team Champions, Los Garza. He chatised the crowd for not showing the respect deserved, as he then challenged any tag team in the back to face Angel and Berto for the AAA Titles.

Mr. Iguana (alongside La Yesca) and Psycho Clown were revealed to be the mystery opponents for Los Garza.

Psycho Clown and Angel started things off for their respective teams. Angel fell victim to a hurricanrana from Psycho, followed by a springboard crossbody. The masked clown looked good as he handled both Garzas easily early on. He ripped off his mask to reveal another one underneath, as he hit a popup forearm on Angel.

Berto got the blind tag, which allowed him to take advantage by tripping up Psycho as he tried for a springboard move. The AAA World Tag Champions began to work over on Psycho in their corner as the fans chanted for Mr. Iguana. Angel and Berto hit a double team kick on a prone Psycho as the former locked in a resthold to keep his foe grounded.

Psycho fought back with a kick to the face of Angel, which gave him some separation and time to get the tag to Mr. Iguana. The eclectic lizard floored Berto with a helicopter spin as he introduced La Yesca into proceedings. He delivered the Iguanarana on Berto as he then slammede Angel with a crucifix pin for the near fall. Angel and Berto caught Mr. Iguana as he tried for a dive to the outside and sent him right into Psycho Clown. Mr. Iguana was brought back into the ring and left at the mercy of Los Garza on the top rope. They dropped him with a super MTY from the top rope. Iguana managed to kick out at two as he tagged in Psycho Clown.

Psycho tried for a crossbody but got blocked, as they then landed the MTY to retain their AAA World Tag Team gold.

Los Garza def. Psycho Clown & Mr. Iguana via pinfall to retain the AAA World Tag Team Championships

It was an entertaining tag match, yes, but having the AAA-aligned talent lose on their WWE TV debut will certainly not help shake the notions that the WWE/AAA deal is a one-sided partnership more than anything else.

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– Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre were asked backstage about their attack on Jelly Roll earlier today, but the two said they’d explain why they did what they did later tonight.

– A video package setting the stage for the massive six-team TLC Match for the WWE Tag Team Titles at SummerSlam was shown.

Aleister Black vs. Damian Priest

Priest and Black locked horns in the middle of the ring to start as the latter took advantage with an attempted hammerlock. Priest escaped and withstood a kick to the thigh from Black. The Dutch brawler tried for another kick, but he got met with Priest’s own onslaught of kicks, which sent him to the outside. Priest leapt off the steel stepst to drop Black with a clothesline. On the apron, Priest tried for a kick, but he missed and got jettisoned to ringside, as Black then took off with a dive over the ropes. With Black in the driver’s seat, we took a break in the action.

SmackDown returned as Priest attempted to fight back, but he got felled by a knee to the face from Black. The cover from Black, but Priest kicked out. Black taunted Priest, who hyped himself back up and roared back with elbow strikes, a slam, and an Old School crossbody. Priest sized up Black and rocked him with a running clothesline as Black managed to kick out at two.

Priest tried for the Razor’s Edge, but Black escaped the attempt. A kick from Priest sent Black to the ringside area. Priest had a full head of steam and ran for a charging attack, but he was intercepted with a knee to the face from Black. As Black headed up top for a moonsault, Priest avoided calamity and pounced him over the announce table. Priest cleared away the commentary table, but got a faceful of chair from Black, which ended this match in a disqualification.

After the match, Black was far from done as he smashed the chair over the back of Priest. He then struck Priest in the face with the chair, which left him stunned against the steel steps. Black slammed Priest’s head against the steel steps repeatedly as he delivered one Black Mass kick to leave his rival down and out.

Damian Priest def. Aleister Black via disqualification

That match was shaping up to be a good one until the DQ finish, but I will say it was a decent way to get some heat on Black with the post-match attack. That said, it does feel odd that despite being the catalyst for Black’s heel turn, Ron Killings/R-Truth has essentially become persona non grata as it relates to this story, which raises the question of whether or not Truth feels any important at all after being brought back.

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– Backstage, Tiffany Stratton was confronted by her SummerSlam opponent, Jade Cargill. The two traded barbs ahead of their match tomorrow, as Cargill promised to finish what she started now that there’d be no distractions or cash-ins to worry about.

Talla Tonga (w/ Solo Sikoa) vs. Jimmy Uso

Uso started right way by trying to chop down Talla in the corner. On the top rope, Uso tried for a dive, but he got dropped by a punch from Talla, who took over the match with a hard clothesline that felled his opponent. Talla delivered a leg drop with those massive tree trunk legs of his onto Uso, as Sikoa trash talked Uso from the outside. Talla had the clear upper hand on Uso, up until he got sent over the top rope and onto the apron. Uso flew through the ropes and temporarily stunned Talla with a suicide dive, which took us to the break.

We returned with Talla in the driver’s seat as he attacked Uso in the corner. Talla took pleasure in mocking Uso for a bit before Jimmy tried to get momentum back. Talla withstood the storm and once again had Uso at his mercy in the corner with strikes. Uso avoided a running charge from Talla and left him momentarily dazed with a kick. An attempted Samoan drop from Uso failed as Talla was too strong for it. Uso headed up top and got grabbed by the throat by Talla. Chokeslam attempt was reversed by Uso, as he nailed a series of superkicks. Solo Sikoa got on the apron and got a kick for his troubles as Uso then delivered a spear on to Talla.

Uso headed up top and looked for the splash, but Talla caught him and hit a chokeslam for the one, two, three and the victory in his debut match.

After the match, Sikoa summoned J.C. Mateo and Tama Tonga to continue the punishment on Jimmy Uso as the United States Champion called for the steel cage to be lowered. Jacob Fatu ran down and entered the ring before the cage lowered completely. Sikoa made a run for it, as did Talla Tonga. This left Mateo and Tama to be picked apart, pillar to post, coast to coast by Fatu. With Mateo and Tama prone on opposite corners, Fatu laid them out with running hip charges and leaping moonsaults.

Talla Tonga def. Jimmy Uso

I can say that Talla Tonga did not look bad in his debut, and Jimmy Uso tried his best to make him look good for his debut. The post-match extracurriculars with Jacob Fatu laying waste to two-fourths of the M.F.T.s was a fun bit of business.

**********

SummerSlam Saturday Card

  • Gunther vs. CM Punk (World Heavyweight Championship)
  • Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez vs. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss (Women’s Tag Team Championship)
  • Roman Reigns & Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
  • Randy Orton & Jelly Roll vs. Logan Paul & Drew McIntyre
  • Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill (WWE Women’s Championship)
  • Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross

SummerSlam Sunday Card

  • Street Fight: John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes (Undisputed WWE Champipnship)
  • Dominik Mysterio vs. AJ Styles (Intercontinental Championship)
  • Steel Cage Match: Solo Sikoa vs. Jacob Fatu (United States Championship)
  • No DQ, No Countout: Becky Lynch vs. Lyra Valkyria (Women’s Intercontinental Championship)
  • Triple Threat: Naomi vs. IYO SKY vs. Rhea Ripley (Women’s World Heavyweight Championship)
  • Tables Ladders & Chairs Match: The Wyatt Sicks (c) vs. #DIY vs. Fenix/Andrade vs. Motor CIty Machine Guns vs. Fraxiom vs. The Street Profits (WWE Tag Team Championships)

– Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair were interviewed about their tag match tomorrow. Flair said that Bliss has had her back and been there for her, even if she’s been annoying. The two traded barbs with one another before they walked off.

Logan Paul & Drew McIntyre close out SmackDown

The two men who will face Randy Orton and Jelly Roll tomorrow night at SummerSlam made their way down to the ring to deliver some final remarks before their match.

Paul said that he and McIntyre were trying their best to defend WWE from outsiders, and that we didn’t understand what it took to compete at SummerSlam, which according to Paul, Jelly Roll thought was a “hotdog eating contest”. Paul said that he was tired of outsiders thinking they could step into WWE and compete, which Jelly Roll was in his eyes. He called Jelly a “country star, not a superstar”, and that he does not belong in WWE.

McIntyre said that whatever happens tomorrow will be on Randy Orton’s conscience. He said that he had God on speed dial, because when Drew McIntyre prays, bad things happened. Before Paul and McIntyre could continue, Jelly Roll arrived to the arena , and he wasn’t alone… as Randy Orton accompanied him. The two made their way down to the ring as Nick Aldis tried to stop the two from getting to the ring, but to no avail.

Once Orton and Jelly got to the ring, they began throwing hands with Paul and McIntyre. A vanguard of security officials ran down to the ring to get this fight to stop, to little success. McIntyre and Paul were sent outside as more officials got everybody finally separated. In the ring, Orton calmed himself down, as he turned to Jelly and hyped him up. Orton delivered an RKO on two of the security officials as the last of the trio got dropped by a Jelly Roll chokeslam. Orton and Jelly stood tall in the ring and jawjacked with Paul and McIntyre as we closed out the final SmackDown before SummerSlam.

**********

That was a decent way to end the night with the Jelly/Orton vs. Paul/McIntyre stuff, but I probably would’ve prefered if Cena and Cody’s segment from the beginning was the final one to send us home before SummerSlam, since the hook of whether or not Cena’s change of heart was legit would’ve at least made an interesting cliffhanger to leave us on before Sunday.

All in all, this was an okay go-home SmackDown before SummerSlam. The matches we got ranged from good (Priest vs. Black) to great (Giulia vs. Vega), and it did an admirable job to sell fans on the two-night event that’s coming this weekend.

WWE SmackDown live results: Hulk Hogan tribute

Posted on by Marc Quill

With SummerSlam fast approaching, Cody Rhodes will appear tonight on WWE SmackDown inside Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. He’ll continue the build to his upcoming Undisputed WWE Championship street fight against John Cena ahead of the August 2-3 PLE.

Rhodes made the match official during a contract signing last week after it turned into a brawl with Cena, who tried to back out of the SummerSlam match until Rhodes retaliated and put Cena through a table to send a message.

The Wyatt Sicks’ Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy will have their first defense of the WWE Tag Team titles against Andrade and Rey Fenix, who won a fatal four-way bout on last week’s SmackDown to earn a shot on tonight’s show.

Alexa Bliss will be in action to take on Roxanne Perez, ahead of her and Charlotte Flair teaming up to take on Perez and Raquel Rodriguez for the Women’s Tag Team titles at SummerSlam. Last week, Bliss helped her partner Flair pick up the win against Rodriguez in singles action.

Randy Orton, Jelly Roll, Drew McIntyre, and Logan Paul are all scheduled for tonight’s show in advance of their tag match at SummerSlam.

WWE has also announced that tonight’s SmackDown will pay tribute to the late Hulk Hogan, who passed away yesterday at the age of 71. Several legends are expected to be in attendance.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

Following the WWE signature open, we went inside to the Rocket Arena to see the entire SmackDown locker room stood on the stage, with a memorial graphic for Hulk Hogan. Paul “Triple H ” Levesque talked about Hogan’s legacy as he then asked for a ten-bell salute in Hogan’s memory. We then got a video tribute for Hogan’s career.

– Once we got back from the break, Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett briefly talked about Hogan some more before being interrupted by Logan Paul.

Logan Paul hosts live edition of Impaulsive TV

The so-called “Maverick” opened things with his Impaulsive TV set inside the ring. He asked why the Cleveland fans weren’t chanting for their hometown hero. Paul said that Cleveland did raise him, but it didn’t make him. In fact, he supposedly “made” Cleveland. Paul said that he and the crowd inside the Rocket Arena had nothing in common, because while he made it out, he didn’t. Paul talked about how tonight was about giving back to the community, by way of holding a special live edition of his Impaulsive TV show. Paul disparaged Jelly Roll for a bit before the man himself interrupted him.

Jelly said that the only thing Paul inspired was “little asshole kids filming themselves to be assholes”. He noted that Cleveland did not like Paul at all, as the Impaulsive TV host got him to shut up. Paul put himself and Drew McIntyre over as two of the most impressive stars in WWE right now. He asked Jelly Roll just who the hell he thinks he is. Jelly responded that he was the guy that was going to put Paul in a bodybag and ship him back to West Lake.

Jelly called Paul a “silver spoon kid” as he said that he was getting in the ring not just for himself, but for those who had been ever picked on by high school jocks. Jelly talked about how he was a WWE fan for his entire life, and how the company represented him and “every single one of us”. Jelly discussed how his story has inspired millions of millions of people as he called Paul “soft as Charmin” and a “Prime-peddling punk-ass bitch.”

Drew McIntyre entered the ring as he and Paul outnumbered Jelly Roll. At this point, Jelly said that he didn’t come alone as Randy Orton walked down the ramp to even the odds. Once Orton entered the ring, we got a fight right off the bat. McIntyre got the upper hand on Orton with a rake to the eye as he went after Jelly Roll. In the ring, McIntyre asked Paul to go after Jelly. Orton pulled McIntyre out of the ring, which allowed Jelly to fight back with elbows and a shoulder block.

Paul kicked Jelly in the midsection as he loaded up his fist for his signature punch. Jelly recovered and delivered a Black Hole Slam, which sent Paul scurrying.

I’ve been clear in the past about how how this feud wasn’t working for me at all, but I have to give some credit to Jelly Roll, as his work at the Performance Center has seemingly paid off. Other than that, the tag match at SummerSlam is still something I’m not looking forward to very much.

**********

– We got a video from Andrade & Rey Fenix discussing their chances against The Wyatt Sicks in their WWE Tag Team Championship match tonight.

Alexa Bliss (w/ Charlotte Flair) vs. Roxanne Perez (w/ Raquel Rodriguez)

Bliss went for consecutive early roll-ups on Perez,, to no avail. Perez slammed Bliss’s head down on the mat to gain a momentary advantage as she then slapped Bliss in the face. That seemed to anger Bliss, who threw Perez in the corner as the action spilled outside. Bliss dove onto Perez on the outside, as Charlotte Flair and Raquel Rodriguez stared one another down to take us to the break.

We returned with Bliss mounting a comeback on Perez as she unleashed her flurry of offense, topped off by a dropkick on the button. She blasted Perez with her flipping neckbreaker and lined up for the Sister Abigail DDT. Perez raked Bliss in the eye, which allowed Rodriguez to interfere with a strike to Bliss. Perez headed up top for the moonsault and connected. The cover, but Bliss kicked out as Flair threw Rodriguez over the timekeepers’ area.

Rodriguez recovered and kicked Flair in the face outside the ring. Bliss had Perez dead to rights with the Twisted Bliss, but she leapt outside to take out Rodriguez instead. As Bliss tried to enter the ring, Perez rolled her up and did the classic heel trick of holding the ropes for leverage to pick up the sneaky win.

Roxanne Perez def. Alexa Bliss via pinfall

A fine match and the cheating victory by Roxanne does make the “series” even between the SummerSlam opponents in singles action ahead of next week’s Women’s Tag Team Championship match.

**********

– After Cathy Kelley interviewed Jade Cargill, Chelsea Green appeared and talked trash about Cargill. Unbeknownst to Green, Cargill was behind her and attacked her as she dragged her to the ring and we got an impromptu match.

Jade Cargill vs. Chelsea Green

The match began before the break with Cargill hitting her pump kick on Green. As we resumed SmackDown, Cargill continued her dominance with splashes in the corner, followed by a one-handed chokeslam. On the apron, Alba Fyre provided a momentary distraction, which allowed Green to hit a jumping neckbreaker for a near-fall.

Green tried to deliver the Un-Pretty-Her, but Cargill reversed and finished this short match off with Jaded.

After the match, the Secret Her-vice pounced with the attack on Cargill until WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton ran in to make the save. The two SummerSlam opponents cleared the ring of Alba Fyre and Piper Niven in short order. We then got a tense staredown between Cargill and Stratton, as the latter held the WWE Women’s Title in her hands momentarily.

A short one, and likely meant to set up a tag match for Cargill and Stratton versus the Secret Her-vice next week on the go-home-to-SummerSlam edition of SmackDown.

Jade Cargill def. Chelsea Green via pinfall

**********

– Backstage, Charlotte Flair attempted to give words of encouragement to Alexa Bliss after her match. She stated that they could become true friends if they won the WWE Women’s Tag Titles at SummerSlam.

Cody Rhodes addresses SummerSlam and John Cena

With a new track jacket and the crowd’s cheers, Cody Rhodes walked down to the ring. He started by talking about how Hulk Hogan’s death elicited complicated emotions, but that his contributions to WWE and sports entertainment could not be ignored.

Rhodes shifted gears by discussing the violence that was to come at the Street Fight at SummerSlam. He said that doing the right thing sometimes don’t look like the right think and that what he did to John Cena last week was just a taste of what’s to come. Rhodes said that he didn’t want to the John Cena who is counting the days before he left, but he wanted to fight the “real” John Cena. That’s because Rhodes wanted to fight the very best to prove that he can be the very best. He dared Cena to come to his last SummerSlam like it is his first. Rhodes wanted all the “hustle, loyalty, and respect” so he and Cena could beat it out of each other.

The reason Rhodes wanted to fight against the “real” John Cena was because he wanted to know if that story that he was on was real, and that the only person who had the answer to that question was Cena himself. “I’ll see you next week,” said Rhodes to conclude his promo.

Just your standard Cody Rhodes promo to sell the SummerSlam match against John Cena, but he at least delivers these promos well and it helps build excitement ahead of next week.

**********

– Jacob Fatu addressed last week’s events that involved Solo Sikoa’s attempted frame-up of him. Fatu warned Sikoa that he was going to dogwalk his ass at SummerSlam inside the steel cage. The Miz walked up behind Fatu and claimed that he was the “main character” and he got himself a match against Fatu cleared tonight. Miz brazenly slapped Fatu across the face before he walked off.

– Aleister Black and Damian Priest traded barbs about one another in a video promo ahead of their showdown on next week’s SmackDown.

The Miz vs. Jacob Fatu

Fatu rocked Miz with his running spinning elbow as he lived up to his boast prior to this match and began to indeed “dogwalk” Miz early on. Miz avoided a running hip charge from Fatu, but couldn’t avoid a strike that left him stunned in the corner. Before Fatu could continue his charge, Solo Sikoa and his M.F.T.s walked down in unison, which allowed Miz to take charge with a blow to Fatu’s knees. Miz then jettisoned Fatu into the ring post, which sent him outside the ring. The M.F.T.s looked on at their fallen rival as we headed to a break in the action.

SmackDown returned from the break with Fatu fighting back against Miz, flooring him with a clothesline followed by the running senton. In the corner, Fatu teed off on Miz with repeated headbutts. Fatu knocked Miz out with the hip attack as the M.F.T.s pulled Miz out of the ring. This prompted Fatu to respond with a dive to the outside, which took out nearly the entire group.

In the ring, Fatu finished Miz off with the pop-up Samoan Drop. However, the Samoan Werewolf did not have any time for a celebration, as he got immediately ambushed by the M.F.T.s. Jimmy Uso evened the odds as he emerged with a steel chair. He cleared past Tama Tonga and J.C. Mateo with the chair. However, Tala Tonga withstood Uso’s attack and took him down. Fatu recovered and managed to fend off the M.F.T.s one by one, which left Sikoa alone in the ring and prone in the corner.

Fatu trapped Sikoa with a chair wrapped around his neck and looked to deliver a vicious hip attack, but Tala Tonga entered the fray and floored Fatu with a clothesline. Chokeslam by Tonga, was soon followed by Sikoa delivering the Samoan Spike to Fatu. The M.F.T.s stood tall in the ring as the United States Champion trashtalked his SummerSlam foe.

It was nice to see the Miz back in action for this match, and I think it was imperative for Sikoa and the M.F.T.s. to get their heat back since last week, they were the ones on the receiving end of the humiliation from Fatu and Jimmy Uso.

Jacob Fatu def. The Miz

**********

– The Street Profits and #DIY had a disagreement backstage, as Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa said they had a plan for the Wyatt Sicks later on in our main event.

– Backstage, Zelina Vega confronted Giulia until Kiana James appeared as the Women’s United States Champion’s “official representation”. We learned that Giulia would be defending her U.S. Championship next week against Vega.

SummerSlam Saturday Card

  • Gunther vs. CM Punk (World Heavyweight Championship)
  • Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez vs. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss (Women’s Tag Team Championship)
  • Roman Reigns & Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
  • Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill (WWE Women’s Championship)
  • Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross

SummerSlam Sunday Card

  • Street Fight: John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes (Undisputed WWE Champipnship)
  • Dominik Mysterio vs. AJ Styles (Intercontinental Championship)
  • Steel Cage Match: Solo Sikoa vs. Jacob Fatu (United States Championship)
  • No DQ, No Countout: Becky Lynch vs. Lyra Valkyria (Women’s Intercontinental Championship)
  • Triple Threat: Naomi vs. IYO SKY vs. Rhea Ripley (Women’s World Heavyweight Championship)

WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The Wyatt Sicks (Joe Gacy & Dexter Lumis) vs. Andrade & Rey Fenix

Fenix started off on the offense against Gacy as he and Andrade looked to be in chemistry early on. The two had Gacy and Lumis draped across the middle rope as they hit the double team kick barrage on the champs.

Andrade went right away for the Three Amigos, as things picked up immensely with Lumis pulling Fenix off the top rope. This allowed Gacy to hit his signature handspring-into-lariat against Fenix, which took us to the final commercial break of the evening.

We returned to our main event with Fenix connecting on a superkick against Lumis, who was the legal man for the Wyatt Sicks. Andrade got the hot tag as he was a house of fire against both Lumis and Gacy. He nailed Gacy in the corner with the running Meteora, but that only got the two. Andrade looked for The Message, but Gacy reversed, as Lumis tagged in and got his helping of a double team attack on Andrade. Fenix tried to interject, but he got thrown aside.

Andrade countered the assisted powerbomb of the Wyatt Sicks with double knees. Fenix leapt to the outside to eliminate Lumis at ringside. This allowed Andrade to deliver The Message on Gacy. One, two…. Nikki Cross pulled the referee out of the ring to cause the disqualification.

Erick Rowan entered the ring and began to lay waste to Andrade. Fraxiom and The Motor City Machine Guns tried to interject, but also got waylaid by the massive Rowan. The two teams recovered as the fight continued to break down,. The Street Profits joined the fray and took out Rowan. #DIY walked down the ramp with SmackDown GM Nick Aldis in tow.

In the ring, the Street Profits took turns in taking flight to eliminate everyone outside the ring.

Nick Aldis addressed the situation as he declared that at SummerSlam, the entire SmackDown tag team division will compete in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. We ended the night in total bedlam with everyone brawling in and out of the ring as referees and security officials failed to contain the chaos caused by SmackDown’s tag division.

Rey Fenix & Andrade def. The Wyatt Sicks via Disqualification

**********

A wild, wild ending to our main event for the night, with an equally-chaotic match being set up for SummerSlam in the process. The SmackDown tag division shined with their TLC match on an episode of SmackDown a few months back, so them getting PLE time to run it back (with the added element of the Wyatt Sicks thrown in) should make for an entertaining bout.

Overall, a strange SmackDown that seemed to be more about setting the stage for the go-home show next week than anything else, on top of the Hulk Hogan tribute at the beginning that made for an unusual night of wrestling action.