Posted on 9/06/125 by Bob Magee
– 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.