Posted on 10/25/125 by Bob Magee
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
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.
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.
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.
Drew McIntyre def. 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.