Tag: smackdown news

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.

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– 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: Drew McIntyre addresses attack on Cody Rhodes

Posted on by Marc Quill

Following last week’s SmackDown main event, Drew McIntyre sent a message to WWE Champion Cody Rhodes by attacking him and hitting a Claymore kick through the side of the commentary table.

McIntyre will appear on tonight’s SmackDown to address his attack and perhaps stake his claim for a future title shot ahead of Clash in Paris.

Alexa Bliss takes on Piper Niven of the Secret Hervice after Bliss’s partner and co-Women’s Tag Team Champion Charlotte Flair defeated Chelsea Green last week.

“Melo Don’t Miz” will reunite tonight in tag team action as Carmelo Hayes and The Miz take on Fraxiom. Last week, Hayes was seeking a singles championship, but got roped into a tag match by Miz who had supposedly spoken to SmackDown GM Nick Aldis about it.

The Street Profits & DIY will renew their rivalry when they face off. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa have blamed the former WWE Tag Team Champions for letting the SmackDown tag division fall into chaos after losing their titles to the Wyatt Sicks.

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

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– Following the WWE signature and flyover over Boston’s skyline, we got shots of Drew McIntyre arriving at the arena, as well as a recap of the damage caused by the surly Scotsman after he hit a nasty Claymore kick on Cody Rhodes through the side of the commentary table last week.

Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s open SmackDown

The United States Champion and his “family tree” arrived on the scene to open our show. Once Sikoa and his group entered the ring, he said that the M.F.T.s. were in the building to remind everyone that he and his group ran SmackDown. And if anyone didn’t like that? Too bad.

Last week, Sami Zayn came out and tried to show up on SmackDown, and that forced Sikoa and the M.F.T.s to show up on Raw to, in his words, “stomp his ass out”. Sikoa declared that Zayn was stomped out, alongside Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu. He once again challenged anyone to come out from the back to face him, but the music of Sami Zayn cut Sikoa off, and out came the man himself. Zayn walked to the ring alone and stopped on the apron, with mic in hand.

Zayn said that he was just out here to talk. He asked Sikoa if he could just talk with him. The U.S. Champion told his M.F.T.s to back off as he stood face to face with Zayn. The Montreal native said that this past Monday, if he had beaten Rusev, there was a possibility he could’ve been fighting for the World Title at Clash in Paris, and now that wasn’t going to happen thanks to Sikoa’s group. He noted how he felt furious, but after some long thoughts, Zayn noted that he was finally liberated. Zayn had been so focused on chasing the World Title that he hadn’t had time to focus on other things in WWE, and for that he wanted to actually “thank” Sikoa.

Zayn said that there was one title that he hadn’t held in WWE aside from the World Title, and that was the United States Championship. Sikoa taunted Zayn that he would never win the U.S. Title and yelled at him to get out of “his show” as he didn’t want to see him ever again. In actuality, it turned out, Zayn was now officially a member of the SmackDown roster. Sikoa took something away from Zayn, and now the Canadian was going to take the U.S. Title away from Sikoa.

As Sikoa tried to strike at Zayn, we had ourselves a skirmish. The M.F.T.s stepped in and delivered a numbers game-enhanced beatdown until Jimmy Uso ran in for the save. The M.F.T.s’ advantage was still too much until Jacob Fatu made the save. As the M.F.T.’s forces were sent to a retreat, Talla Tonga saw himself sent outside by a triple superkick from Zayn, Uso, and Fatu.

Nick Aldis stepped in and made it official that our main event tonight would be Zayn, Fatu, and Uso versus any three of the M.F.T.s in a six-man tag match.

Moving Sami Zayn to SmackDown was a good lateral move, even though it pulls him into the so-called “Bloodline Vortex” once again. That said, I think I’m ready for him to be the next U.S. Champion.

**********

– Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett welcomed us to the show as they tossed things over to Byron Saxton, who was standing by with Chelsea Green and her Secret Hervice. Green was asked, in her words, how we got here. Green claimed she could’ve been severely injured after getting a faceful of cake last week, as Piper Niven and Alba Fyre promised to “confiscate” Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss of their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.

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

The ring and ringside LED displays were adorned with a King of the Hill logo, to promote the recently-released reboot of the beloved animated series.

Bliss asked for a moment prior to the match as she put her Lilly doll aside. Niven pounced on the attack with stomps on Bliss as she pointed at Lilly. Green tried to take it from outside the ring, but Charlotte backed her off. In the ring, Bliss jumped on the back of Niven and tried to apply a sleeper hold to ground her larger foe. Niven used her power to break the hold successfully as she had the physical advantage on Bliss at this point in the match. She floored Bliss with a textbook Black Hole Slam as we headed to a commercial break.

SmackDown returned with Bliss taking advantage after she avoided a Niven cannonball during the commercial break. She hit Niven with repeated running moonsaults, but those weren’t enough to secure the three count. Niven regained momentum with a headbutt, which finally allowed her to hit Bliss with the corner cannonball. Bliss avoided possible calamity by dodging the Viper Bomb. As Bliss tried to head up top, Green got on the apron to provide a distraction, but Flair stopped her. Fyre then got on the apron, but got kicked away by Bliss. In the end, Bliss got the rollup victory on Niven.

After the match, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions found themselves on the wrong end of a three-on-two attack from Green and the Secret Hervice.

Alexa Bliss def. Piper Niven via pinfall

Kind of a nothing match, if we’re being honest. But, it’s at least nice to see Green and her stable actually look credible for once with their post-match beatdown.

**********

– Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill were arguing backstage as Nick Aldis tried to bring some peace to the situation. Nia Jax soon appeared, and was told by the WWE Women’s Champion to simply “bring it” if she wanted another shot at her.

Melo Don’t Miz (Carmelo Hayes & The Miz) vs. Fraxiom (Axiom & Nathan Frazer)

Axiom & Hayes started us off in this match until Miz tagged himself in, much to his partner’s annoyance. Joe Gacy of the Wyatt Sicks was shown standing in the crowd, which got Axiom’s attention. Gacy’s tag team partner Dexter Lumis was shown lurking in the crowd as well.

Axiom and Miz got themselves into a battle of flipping attacks until the former NXT Tag Champion used his speed to escape, as Frazer entered the match. Miz was flummoxed by Frazer’s speed as he decided to let Hayes handle him. Frazer flipped across the ring and caught Hayes with an enzuiguiri. Fraxiom used their high-flying double team attack to rattle Melo Don’t Miz with an all-out dive assault. We went to a break at this point.

SmackDown returned with Hayes having a resthold applied on Axiom, as he then hit a superkick on him. Axiom countered an attempted powerbomb with a hurricanrana that got a near fall. Hayes finally connected with that powerbomb, but could not put Axiom away. Hayes tried to get at Frazer, who avoided the attack. Axiom took advantage and hit a kick to the face of Hayes. Frazer got the hot tag as he made off with supersonic speed to floor Miz with a moonsault.

Frazer looked for the Phoenix Splash, but Miz rolled out of the away as he hit Frazer with a big knee. Hayes tagged in and tried for a springboard attack, but Frazer met him at the rope and hit an inverted Spanish Fly instead. Hayes somehow kicked out at two. On the top rope, Hayes tried to head up top, but Axiom stunned him with a kick. This opened Hayes up for the Spanish Fly/Phoenix Splash combo from Fraxiom. Miz broke up the count by stepping onto the back of Frazer, followed by a DDT afterwards.

On the top rope, Frazer hit Hayes with a jumping kick and looked for a jumping Spanish Fly with Axiom. However, Miz stopped Axiom with a DDT on the apron. Back on the top rope, Hayes countered Frazer with an amazing top rope cutter. As Hayes was looking for Nothin’ But Net, Miz selfishly tagged himself in and stole the win with a Skull-Crushing Finale, much to Hayes’ chagrin.

The crowd was hot for this match, and the story of Miz trying to steal the glory of Hayes is at least interesting, and presuming that this leads to a tag title match with the Wyatt Sicks, the supernatural faction will surely take advantage of Miz’s duplicity to defend their tag team gold.

Melo Don’t Miz def. Fraxiom via pinfall

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– Tiffany Stratton was approached by Kiana James, who offered her services of being a client of hers, which included benefits such as a custom pink World Championship. Stratton refused James’ services as she walked off. Michin then appeared and stated that she had Giulia next. James said that this was “under advisement”.

Drew McIntyre addresses his attack on Cody Rhodes

The Scotsman stepped into the ring and talked about people asking why he did what he did last week to the Undisputed WWE Championship. He asked for the clip to be played again, which brought a smile to a face. McIntyre asked us to listen closely, as he said that apparently did “not” attack Cody Rhodes. He then accosted Joe Tessitore about a medical update on Rhodes. He ranted about how that management was hiding Rhodes’ medical condition.

McIntyre said that he wasn’t mad at Rhodes, that he instead felt sorry for him because of how much he put the weight of the fans and the WWE management on his shoulders. McIntyre noted that he was once in Rhodes’ position, but he moved on afterwards. He noted that Rhodes was nothing without “his story”, as he boasted that McIntyre didn’t attack Rhodes… he was attacked instead.

McIntyre walked us through what happened and put his own spin of the events that transpired last week. He noted that he defended himself, and that while Rhodes was good at pissing people off, McIntyre said he was good at taking people out. He declared himself the “real nightmare” as he walked off.

Uninterrupted McIntyre segment here, which presumably will lead to a Clash in Paris title match, and likely to give Cody Rhodes a break while filming his Street Fighter role, or at least prepare for it.

**********

– The Street Profits were confronted by Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s just before their match against #DIY. As the Profits left, Sikoa asked Talla Tonga what he was looking at, as something in the distance caught the big man’s attention. We got a glimpse of who exactly Talla was looking at after the M.F.T.s walked off, and it was a faraway Erick Rowan lurking menacingly.

#DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) (w/ Candice LeRae) vs. The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) (w/ B-Fab)

As the bell rang, Ford caught Ciampa with a dropkick, but found himself hit with a boot that sent him to the #DIY corner not long after. Gargano & Ciampa blasted Ford with a tandem of running boots into the corner.

Ford avoided a chop block from Ciampa as he then tagged Dawkins. The titanic Dawkins used his strength and speed to keep the #DIY duo cornered. Outside the ring, LeRae got herself in the way of Dawkins, which allowed Ciampa to hit him with a kick. Gargano, Ciampa, and LeRae sat on the apron and did their happy clap, which took us to the break.

The action picked up from commercial with Gargano and Dawkins down on the mat after a slam from the latter. Both men tagged in their respective partners as Ford soared with a high crossbody from the top rope on Ciampa. He countered Gargano with a Famouser, followed by a jumping neckbreaker on Ciampa. Ford leapt up with a splash on Ciampa for the near-fall.

The Profits showed great teamwork with an assisted double team back suplex on Ciampa. As Ford headed up top for the Blockbuster, B-Fab was sent to the steps by LeRae outside the ring. This created a distraction and allowed #DIY to hit their superkick-into-Fairy Tale Ending. Dawkins slid in the last second to break up the count. Ford avoided a superkick from Gargano as he sent him into Ciampa instead. While Ford was on the apron, LeRae took him out with a leaping hurricanrana, In the ring, Gargano hit Ford with his slingshot DDT, and the action turned to chaos. Outside the ring, LeRae got smashed with a knee from B-Fab, and in the end, the Profits secured victory after a high-flying frog splash from Ford on Ciampa and the three.

The Street Profits def. #DIY via pinfall

Just a fun tag match. The Street Profits are always reliable for fast-paced tag action, and pitting them against #DIY is a recipe for some exciting tag team action.

**********

– Carmelo Hayes tried to ask Nick Aldis for a singles shot at the United States Championship when the Miz once again tried to speak for his partner’s behalf. Chris Sabin of the Motor City Machine Guns taunted Hayes by asking if he was “Him” or if he was “His” (as in belonging to Miz). This led to Aldis scheduling the MCMGs versus Melo Don’t Miz for next week’s show.

– We got a recap of John Cena and Logan Paul’s encounter from last week’s show, which led to a match between the two to be booked for Clash in Paris.

– R-Truth was asked about John Cena’s recent “attitude adjustment”, to which he seemed overjoyed about. Before he could get further, Aleister Black confronted him. He wanted to know which Truth he was getting, as Truth got serious and stepped up to Black. “There he is, Mr. Killings,” said Black as he told Truth to see him next week.

– Backstage, Sami Zayn wondered if Jacob Fatu was going to be cool with them teaming up together in our main event. Fatu told Zayn to stay out of his way, as he walked off with a “yaddamean”, which confused Zayn.

Next Week on SmackDown

  • John Cena returns
  • R-Truth vs. Aleister Black
  • Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. Melo Don’t Miz (Carmelo Hayes & The Miz)

The M.F.T.s (Solo Sikoa, Tanga Loa, J.C. Mateo) (w/ Talla Tonga) vs. Sami Zayn, Jimmy Uso, Jacob Fatu

We got things going with Mateo and Uso as our legal men. Mateo backed Uso into the corner and clubbed him with strikes. Uso escaped and stunned Mateo as Zayn tagged in and tried his best to maintain momentum. Mateo used his strength to run Zayn into his corner, as Tanga Loa entered the match with a tag. Tanga threw Zayn outside and caused a distraction for Talla Tonga to kick Zayn with a big boot, which took us to the final break of the evening.

SmackDown’s main event returned from commercial with Sikoa pummeling Zayn near the M.F.T. corner. The feisty Quebecer tried to fight back, but Sikoa asserted control and brought Mateo into the match. Zayn avoided a running splash in the corner from Mateo, and looked for a tag. Sikoa punched Uso away and taunted Fatu as he continued to attack Zayn.

As Zayn was on the top rope, he roared back and hit a tornado DDT on Sikoa, which created some much-needed separation for him. Finally, Jacob Fatu was tagged in as he unleashed his wrath on Tanga Loa. Fatu struck Tanga with repeated headbutts, followed by the running hip attack. Mateo got sent over the top rope with a clothesline by Fatu, as a flying dive from Uso to the outside left him out cold. In the ring, pop-up Samoan Drop by Fatu was not enough to end the match as Tanga kicked out.

Fatu headed to the top rope as Sikoa stopped him long enough for Tanga to get the knees up on the moonsault. Sikoa tagged in and hit a diving splash on Fatu. One, two… not yet! Fatu and Sikoa traded superkicks until a double-down clothesline from the two took one another out. Zayn entered the match with a tag and a Blue Thunder Powerbomb on Sikoa. Mateo broke up the count and ate a superkick from Uso as result. Fatu superkicked Tanga before he sent Talla Tonga over the announce table with a suicide dive to the outside.

In the ring, Sikoa’s Samoan Spike was reversed into an Exploder Suplex by Zayn, followed by the Helluva Kick for the one, two, three in our SmackDown main event.

As SmackDown ended, Fatu finally showed respect to Zayn as the two embraced and celebrated with Jimmy Uso to end the night.

Sami Zayn, Jacob Fatu, and Jimmy Uso def. The M.F.T.s via pinfall

**********

A solid TV main event match that did its job of establishing Sami Zayn as a credible threat to Sikoa’s U.S. Title as well as solidify him as a top face along side Jacob Fatu. It was also rather nice to get a clean finish to the match after the last two episodes of Raw & SmackDown gave us inconclusive DQ finishes and beatdown segments to end them.

All in all, a fairly decent episode of SmackDown that did its best to fill two hours without stars like John Cena or Cody Rhodes to carry the bulk of the show. If there is a downside, I think it’s with how the WWE Women’s Championship feels kind of shuffled off to the side, as champion Tiffany Stratton only had two backstage segments and the fact that Nia Jax & Jade Cargill are being teased as challengers again does highlight how small the main event scene of the SmackDown women’s division is. Hopefully that’s something that’s to be addressed in the near future, and Bianca Belair’s return, whenever that is, should help alleviate that somewhat.