Posted on 11/15/125 by Bob Magee
– 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.