Posted on 8/16/125 by Bob Magee
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
**********
– 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