Posted on 7/25/126 by Bob Magee
– After the signature intro, we got the requisite wrestler
arrivals to kick off the show. We then saw that Nick Aldis
and Adam Pearce were in the ring with a table setup as we
got a recap of the simmering Aldis/Gunther situation that
led to a match between the two to be made at SummerSlam.
Nick Aldis vs. Gunther Contract Signing
Pearce welcomed everyone to the show before he discussed the
terms and stipulations that need to be adhered to ahead of
this match. With that in mind, Pearce introduced Gunther to
the ring for this contract signing to be started.
As Gunther got into the ring, Pearce mentioned that there
are certain stipulations to be made. For instance, once
Aldis signs on to this match, he will no longer serve as the
SmackDown GM. Pearce stated that there is an agreement that
Aldis will not hold WWE responsible for what happens in the
ring.
Aldis responded by stating that he was ready to accept the
consequences of his actions, even if it meant temporarily
relinquishing his responsibilities as SmackDown GM. Gunther
spoke, but his microphone kept cutting out. Gunther said
that this would be the greatest match and moment in Aldis’s
career, but he’s wasting his time with this instead of
chasing the title because he believed that Aldis didn’t know
how to do his job.
Gunther said that Aldis was jealous, even though he was a
former NWA Champion. He noted how Aldis was dreaming of
something bigger in WWE, but instead he had to watch as
Gunther walked in and win all the titles, earn all the
records, and make all the money. Gunther talked about how he
was about to fulfill his dream by signing the SummerSlam
contract, by making him join a list of legends that were
stupid enough to step into the ring with the Ring General by
chasing one more moment.
After Gunther threw his mic at Aldis, the now-former
SmackDown GM said that the reason Gunther kept saying all of
this to him was that Gunther thought it would all come easy
to him. Aldis declared that Gunther didn’t want any of this,
because he was the one who put his career in jeopardy. Aldis
said that he had nothing to lose and that at SummerSlam,
Gunther would end up becoming the man who got made to look
like a bitch by his boss.
Cue the brawl between the two as Gunther got the advantage
with a lowblow and a powerbomb through the table. Again, the
elite team of referees and road agents were very much late
in stopping the chaos as this segment ended.
This was admittedly a solid segment. And much can be made
about how Gunther is wasting his time fighting non-wrestlers
again, but they did a good job establishing thus far that
Aldis is a serious threat, which should make this a lot
better than the Pat McAfee feud from last year.
************
– Cathy Kelley’s live hit was interrupted by an incensed
Sami Zayn. He ranted about how he won the Undisputed WWE
Championship, but got screwed in his eyes immediately
because he was forced to defend the championship on a show
he wasn’t even on. Zayn was enraged that he was going to
ride the bench at SummerSlam as he confronted Adam Pearce to
make things right. Zayn whined that he got screwed out of a
WWE Championship Match and that he demanded to be added to
the Cody Rhodes vs. CM Punk match as a Triple Threat.
Pearce told him to shut up as he was told that tonight,
there’d be a fatal fatal-four way match: Damian Priest,
Royce Keys, Finn Balor, and Trick Williams, with the winner
facing Zayn at SummerSlam for the contendership. Zayn
reluctantly agreed.
Brie Bella (w/ Paige) vs. Lainey Reid (w/ Jacy Jayne &
Fallon Henley)
Before the match started, we heard from the Fatal Influence
trio, who stated that they had just gotten here and took out
two legends. Jayne lamented how it could’ve been all perfect
if she had a chance to be WWE Women’s Champion, if Paige and
Brie hadn’t meddled in their match last week. Jayne then
called her shot for Tiffany Stratton’s Women’s U.S.
Championship. As for tonight, Lainey was going to put Brie
out of her misery once and for all.
Before the bell could even ring, Brie and Lainey brawled
outside the ring as the match officially got underway with
both women now inside.
Brie cracked Lainey with a knee to the face as she got
thrown to the turnbuckle in response. Lainey took advantage
by slamming Brie’s face on the turnbuckle, followed by the
leaping cutter as we took a strangely-timed commercial break
not even a minute after the opening bell.
Back from commercial as Brie just wrapped with hitting the
Bryan Danielson kicks on Lainey, followed by the running
Brie Mode knees to the jaw of her foe for the near-fall.
Lainey tried to get back into the groove, but a bulldog from
Brie put her to the ground. Fallon Henley tried to get
involved as Brie headed up top, but she got kicked down.
That, however, gave Lainey enough time to get Brie in
position for a superplex. Jacy Jayne attempted to get
involved, but Paige pushed her aside. Lainey tried to get
the rope-assisted pin, but the referee stopped the count.
Brie turned that into a pinning combination for the win.
After the match, Fatal Influence tried to attack Brie and
Paige, but Nikki Bella made her return from injury to even
the odds. Nikki then took the mic and said that she, Brie,
and Paige would take on Fatal Influence in a six-woman tag
match at SummerSlam.
Brie Bella def. Lainey Reid via pinfall
This was okay. A lot of the match seemed to be fought during
the commercial break, so it made it seem like it was a lot
shorter than it appeared to be. The six-woman tag match at
SummerSlam was an alright addition, though it’s clear that
Fatal Influence should get the win there.
************
– Finn Balor addressed the fatal four-way match later
tonight, but Gunther interrupted and talked trash to his
face, stating that he’d be next in line for the WWE
Championship.
– We got a Panda Express-sponsored recap of the Bloodline-
adjacent shenanigans during Raw’s main event this past
Monday. Following that diversion, we went backstage, as Keys
was being hyped up by Solo Sikoa about their six-man tag
match at SummerSlam. Keys talked about how he was locked in
tonight to become the new #1 Contender with his friends and
family watching tonight. LA Knight stepped in that Keys
needed to worry about the Bloodline, always. Keys pointed
out that he could handle himself. Sikoa humorously tried to
hype himself and his teammates up and stated that he had
their backs.
– Elsewhere, Chelsea Green and Tiffany Stratton were
chatting, as the former was getting ready for her qualifying
match. After Green left, Stratton was met by Blake Monroe.
The newly-debuted star talked about how Stratton should
worry about her Women’s U.S. Title and less about Chelsea
Green. That’s because, according to Blake, the higher she
climbs, the more people will be gunning for her.
Interim WWE Women’s Championship Ladder Match Qualifier:
Chelsea Green vs. Kiana James
We got underway with James missing on the clothesline into
the corner. Green responded with a slap to the face, before
she threw her over the top rope. A dropkick by Green sent
James to the ground, but her attempted suicide dive was
stopped by a punch to the face. James delivered a hard knee
to the gut of Green, followed by a superkick while Green was
draped over the timekeeper’s barrier. As the action got back
into the ring, Green tried to fight back with some strikes
and avoided an elbow drop from James. Green slammed James
down to the ground, as she followed that with a pair of
armdrags and a Russian legsweep.
Rough Ryder by Green on James nearly had the match won. Un-
Pretty-Her attempted by Green, but James escaped and hit her
with a superkick. Falcon Arrow from James wasn’t enough as
Green kicked out at two. James missed with the big boot, but
she got all of the codebreaker. Green escaped James’ grasp
and connected with the Un-Pretty-Her for the three and the
big win.
Chelsea Green def. Kiana James via pinfall (Qualifies for
Interim WWE Women’s Championship Ladder Match at SummerSlam)
This was a decent match, but it was nice to see Chelsea get
the clean win and the entry into the SummerSlam ladder
match. We should be in for some fun high spots from Chelsea
next week with her involvement in this match.
************
– R-Truth and Damian Priest were having a chat as Cody
Rhodes entered the scene. Priest pointed out bluntly that
“the boys” were sick of seeing the same people being the
face of the brand, and that he’d beat whoever came out on
top between Rhodes and CM Punk. Rhodes responded and said
that he liked that attitude from Priest.
Cody Rhodes addresses CM Punk
CM Punk’s SummerSlam opponent made his way down to the ring,
ready to talk about the events of the past week, like being
“accidentally” hit with Punk’s Undisputed WWE Championship
on Saturday Night’s Main Event last week.
Rhodes entered the ring to a very mixed reaction from the
Oakland crowd. “What do you want to talk about,” started
Rhodes. He got right to it and introduced CM Punk to the
ring. In contrast to Rhodes, Punk made his way to a more
positive reception from the fans.
Punk removed his jacket and Undisputed WWE Title belt and
got into Rhodes’ face after a dropped mic. Punk took another
microphone said that it’s sad that this is where it’s at
between him and Rhodes because it feels like his friend was
acting paranoid. Punk talked about how he didn’t want the
Undisputed WWE Title to come between him & Rhodes as he
asked him what reason it was he wanted this title.
Rhodes said that it can be true that he respected Punk, it
can be also true that he didn’t like Punk. He talked about
Punk’s 2011 Pipebomb, something that Rhodes himself followed
to a “Tee”, declaring that he dropped a nuke on the
business. He said that the fans were wishing that it was
Punk up there instead of Rhodes.
Rhodes said that he went from the one that knocks, to the
one they knock for, and it was a list of one. He talked
about how he stood in the ring with the best of the roster,
and that he didn’t sweat any of them except from Punk.
Rhodes talked about that for this story to have the proper
ending, he had to beat Punk at SummerSlam.
“You don’t like me, or is it that you don’t like that I’m
the champion,” Punk asked Rhodes. Punk talked about how
Rhodes was smart enough to pay attention about the things he
did, but the question of whether Rhodes did it better than
Punk was for the fans and history book to decide. In 2022,
Punk was on the outside looking in, but Rhodes showed him a
way to go back.
Punk said Rhodes was lying to himself by saying that he
didn’t like it. Punk said that Rhodes couldn’t handle the
pressure of taking the title from someone he loved as a
friend, and that he had to constantly make himself the
victim because of it. Punk told Rhodes he was going to stab
him in the front at SummerSlam as his friend. Punk declared
that he was going to break Rhodes’ heart in Minneapolis.
Rhodes discussed how he and Punk were going to be teaming up
on the house show loop up until Thursday, and that he was
going to give him a gift then. Punk responded that he was
going to give him his own gift at SummerSlam, the
disappointment of a loss, which was fitting for “Dusty’s
Kid”. Just as Punk was leaving, Rhodes stopped him and had
his theme play as that’s what we’d hear next week when he
beat Punk.
I’m sure the match at SummerSlam will be good, but this
segment felt like a whole lot of nothing being said between
the two. Bless their heart for trying to add some heat to
this face vs. face feud, though. I just found it a bit on
the “meh” side. Rhodes’ big closer comeback to the “Dusty’s
Kid” remark being “play my song” seemed a bit silly.
************
Interim WWE Women’s Championship Ladder Match Qualifier:
Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax
Collar-and-elbow tieup broken up by a kick to the gut of
Flair by Jax. In the corner, Jax drove her shoulder to pin
Flair into the corner. Flair recovered and hit the
hurricanarana from the top rope as she delivered some
shoulder strikes to her own on Jax. Hard chop by Flair as
she headed up top for the crossbody. Sitout powerbomb by Jax
only got a two-count as we took a weirdly placed ad-break.
Back from commercial as Flair stepped over Jax and looked
for a high-risk move. Jax recovered and pulled her down. She
then headed up top for the big leg drop, but Flair kicked
out at two. Jax looked for the Annihilator, but Flair got up
and countered to deliver a powerful powerbomb. One, two….
NO! Flair got up and looked for the big moonsault again, but
Jade Cargill and The Baddies ran in to interfere. Flair was
thrown out of the ring by Jax as she got into an argument
with Cargill. Meanwhile, Flair took out B-Fab and Michin at
ringside as she hit Cargill with a punch. That got her a
punch in the face as Cargill struck her to cause a DQ.
After the match, like a bad rerun, we got another Baddies
beat down of Flair as the ring announcer said that Flair had
won the match.
Charlotte Flair def Nia Jax via disqualification (Qualifies
for Interim WWE Women’s Championship Ladder Match at
SummerSlam)
This match was whatever, but the post-match stuff of Cargill
and her crew beating up Charlotte feels like a microcosm of
the core problem with WWE’s booking as a whole right now: it
just feels like the same song, different verse every week.
And like hearing the same song on the radio one hour after
you heard it before, it just gets boring.
************
Damian Priest vs. Trick Williams vs. Royce Keys vs. Finn
Balor
Keys hit Balor and Priest with a clothesline to start off as
he went off with back suplexes and fallaway slams a-plenty
for the other three men as we took another commercial break
that was timed awkwardly during the first thirty seconds of
the match.
Back to our main event as Balor countered Keys into a final
cut neckbreaker. Priest stepped into the ring and hit Balor
with the big boot, as he then dropped Williams with the
Flatliner. Big splash by Priest into the corner to Keys.
Williams got up and hit a huge flapjack on Balor, but not
before a jumping neckbreaker on Priest. Williams put his
lemon-peppa steppas to good use with stomps to the prone
Balor and Keys, but Priest interrupted. Everyonebut Balor
deposited over the top rope as Balor jumped onto all of them
with a big over-the-top rope splash. Solo Sikoa made his way
down to the ring as, you guessed it, we took another
commercial break.
Back to our main event as Williams hit his Book End on Keys.
The cover, but Sikoa put Keys’ foot on the rope. This
prompted The Usos to show up and brawl it out with Sikoa. LA
Knight ran in and snuck up on Jimmy and Jey as Sikoa joined
the brawl. Back in the ring, Priest scaled the ropes and hit
a big crossbody on the brawling Usos, Knight, and Sikoa.
Williams threw him out as Balor got him with the dropkick.
Balor missed the Coup de Grace, with Williams hitting him
with the kick. Trick Shot knee intercepted by Priest as he
lifted Williams up for South of Heaven. Priest’s cover was
interrupted by Keys who slammed him down for the Ultimate
Spinebuster. The cover, but Jacob Fatu pulled him out of the
ring and assaulted him. Keys was crushed by a running hip
attack from Fatu.
Meanwhile in the ring, Balor got Priest with the Shotgun
Dropkick and the Coup de Grace. The pin, and it’s a win for
Finn in our main event.
Finn Balor def. Damian Priest, Trick Williams, and Jacob
Fatu via pinfall (will face Sami Zayn at SummerSlam)
************
That was a good main event to an otherwise dreadful edition
of SmackDown that started out kind of promising with the
Aldis/Gunther segment. What followed that was kind of a sad
excuse of a wrestling show, and I don’t mean that lightly.
The pacing felt weirdly off, and the volume of commercial
breaks that were placed within the start of matches on
tonight’s show gave it the feeling of one long commercial
break that just happened to be interrupted by wrestling
matches.
SummerSlam is in eight days, but aside from a couple of
matches, it doesn’t feel like the excitement is there, and
the weak demand for tickets to next week’s show highlights
the bind that WWE finds itself in now with its creative
direction. It’s a bind that’s apparently gotten the notice
of JP Morgan analysts, who noted the sagging interest in WWE
at the moment to be a bit of a risk ahead of parent company
TKO’s earnings report on August 3rd.
Point is, tonight’s episode of SmackDown really drives home
the fact that this is not a good show to watch from start to
finish, especially with the slippery pacing we saw tonight.
And the reality is that there’s probably no hurry to improve
the product on the TKO side of things, not as long as the
company is making money hand over fist.