Posted on 8/23/125 by Bob Magee
– From inside the arena, we saw Tessitore and Wade Barrett
discuss the night before they announced that they were
starting off SmackDown with a hometown superstar. That
hometown superstar was, of course, current Women’s
Intercontinental Champion, Becky Lynch.
Becky Lynch’s Irish Homecoming
Lynch entered the ring to a massive reception from the
hometown Dublin crowd, who chanted her name and cheered her
on.
“Look at us, lads! We’re on the telly!” Lynch started off as
she talked about how this was the first-ever live televised
WWE event from Dublin, Ireland. The crowd chanted “we
deserve it” in response. Lynch said that she remembered
coming here as a fan and how Randy Orton made eye contact
with her at one of these events. She noted how that
experience made her life and always dreamed of being here.
Lynch said that now that this was happening, she noted that
the crowd did not deserve it at all. She claimed that she
petitioned to get this show cancelled.
The crowd loudly chanted for Lyra Valkyria, but Lynch
protested because that since Valkyria lost against her,
she’ll no longer get a chance at her Women’s
Intercontinental Title. Lynch complained about the lack of
media coverage she received in Ireland, because she was the
hero of the Irish people. She talked about how she was
immensely let down by the Dublin crowd because of their lack
of appreciation as she put over her accomplishments like
winning the first women’s main event of WrestleMania and
being a New York Times best-selling author, and having a
“very hot American husband” (Seth Rollins, to be exact).
Lynch mocked the crowd’s “CM Punk” chants towards her,
stating that “nobody wanted to see that old ass”.
Lynch continued to complain about getting off her jet, and
Irish heroes like Katie Taylor, Barry Keoghan, and Bono.
Before she could continue her tirade, the WWE Women’s
Champion, Tiffany Stratton, interrupted to loud cheers from
the crowd.
Stratton said that she couldn’t understand how Lynch could
be ungrateful to Dublin, Ireland, and how she was on the
wrong show. She talked about how Dublin understood that it
was “Tiffy Time” before she told Lynch that she could either
leave, or she’d make her leave.
Stratton’s old rival, Nia Jax, decided to interrupt at this
time. Jax asked Stratton why she had to worry about Becky so
much before she ran down the Dublin crowd. She declared that
Stratton had bigger problems right now, and she was standing
in front of her. Jax attacked Stratton, as Lynch joined
along until Jade Cargill made the save. Cargill took out Jax
with a pump kick as Lynch attempted to sneak up for an
attack. Jax tried to get into the ring, but was met by a
dropkick from Stratton that sent her to the outside.
Nick Aldis appeared on the ramp and announced that it’d be
Lynch & Jax versus Stratton & Cargill in our main event
tonight.
A hot opening segment to set up our main event match
tonight, and Becky heeling it up on her hometown crowd was
kind of funny.
**********
– Carmelo Hayes was walking backstage when Fraxiom talked to
him. Nathan Frazer and Axiom gave credit to his efforts last
week, but they noted how the Miz tried to steal his thunder
last week. The Miz himself appeared and tried to stir up
trouble, but Hayes seemingly had nothing but kind words for
his partner as the two headed off for their match.
Melo Don’t Miz (The Miz & Carmelo Hayes) vs. Motor City
Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley)
Miz and Hayes argued a bit about who’d start off until the
former WWE Champion took charge. That was until Hayes tagged
himself in and ended up being the one to get this going
against Sabin.
Sabin and Hayes got it going with a series of lockups until
Sabin took over with a pair of armdrags. Hayes dodged
acrobatically over Sabin as Miz blind tagged himself into
the match. The MCMGs showed great tag team acumen as they
took both Hayes and Miz out to the ring. Stereo baseball
slides were followed by a suicide dive by Sabin that knocked
both Hayes and Miz down as we headed to a break in the
action.
We resuumed with Shelley as the legal man trying to get to
his corner and doing so as he tagged Sabin back into the
match. The tag veteran went to work on Miz with a diving
tornado DDT that only got a count of two. Sabin sized Miz up
in his team’s corner as the Machine Guns rattled Miz with a
modified Magic Killer. Hayes dove in at the last minute to
save the match for his team.
Sabin and Shelley dropped Hayes with a double team drop kick
as they looked for the Skull and Bones. Miz escaped and
looked to have the Skull Crushing Finale, but Sabin reversed
it. Hayes tagged in and had Sabin dead to rights for Nothin’
But Net, but Miz once again tagged in. Hayes took out Sabin
with the Lungblower, but got clotheslined by Shelley to the
outside.
A vulturous Miz snuck in and got the pin on Sabin for the
win.
Melo Don’t Miz def. Motor City Machine Guns via pinfall
Kind of a sloppy tag match to start the show, but this story
of Miz stealing Carmelo Hayes’ glory for himself and
stringing him along with it is at least interesting.
**********
– Jimmy Uso was interviewed backstage about the announcement
his wife Naomi made on Raw this past Monday. Sami Zayn
congratulated the soon-to-be parents as he hugged Jimmy.
Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s rolled up and said that Jimmy and
Naomi’s newborn will have plenty of new family members to
welcome them into the world. Jimmy gave an emphatic “no
yeet” to that. Zayn then told Sikoa that he wouldn’t be
facing “the underdog”, but rather, “WrestleMania main
eventer” Sami Zayn when it came time for the U.S. Title to
be defended.
Piper Niven (w/ Chelsea Green & Alba Fyre) vs. Charlotte
Flair
Flair entered to the match without tag partner Alexa Bliss
to the match, who was stated to have been not cleared to
appear due to the attack from the Secret Hervice last week.
Niven slammed Flair down to the match and whipped her across
to the corner. Flair got herself onto the apron and warded
Niven with a boot as she then headed up top with a diving
crossbody. As Flair tried to head up to the top rope again,
Chelsea Green got on the apron to cause a distraction. This
gave Niven the opening to hit an Abyss-style Black Hole Slam
to gain the upper hand as we headed to the break.
SmackDown returned as Niven crushed Flair in the corner with
a running hip attack, but couldn’t get the fall on her foe.
Niven ascended to the top and looked for a Viper Bomb, but
Flair dodged at the last second. The former WWE Women’s
Champion then teed off on Niven with repeated chops, a
clothesline, and a big boot. Flair taunted Green as she
headed to the top and connected with the moonsault. One,
two… not quite.
Niven escaped Flair’s Figure Eight attempt, but got felled
by a Spear. That wasn’t enough for the win, however. As
Flair locked in the Figure Eight, Alba Fyre created a
distraction, which allowed Green to rake Flair in the eyes.
In the end, Niven got the upset win on Flair with a
Michinoku Driver for the duke.
Piper Niven def. Charlotte Flair via pinfall
Chelsea Green and the Secret Hervice getting the upper hand
two weeks straight on the Women’s Tag Champs is a nice
change of pace from them being the usual punching bags, so
that’s at least nice to see.
**********
– Kiana James and Giulia were discussing business until
Michin interrupted and called her shot. James said that
Michin had to go through her before she could get a shot at
Giulia’s Women’s United States Championship. Michin was more
than happy to oblige her on that challenge.
John Cena returns to SmackDown
The star of Peacemaker made his way to the ring to a loud
ovation from the Dublin crowd, who proudly sang his entrance
theme. Cena ran down in his usual manner and looked like he
had a spring in his step once he finally got into the ring.
We got the “Never Seen 17” introduction for Cena from ring
announcer Mark Nash before Cena got right down to business.
However, before Cena could even utter a word, Logan Paul
interrupted and sauntered his way down to the ring. The fans
chanted “f*** you Logan”, which prompted Paul to tell the
crowd mockingly that they were getting muted on TV. Paul
taunted the crowd and threatened to spit in each and
everyone of their faces. He put himself over as allegedly
“the person we came to pay to see”. Paul called Cena an
“actor who knew how to wrestle”. As the crowd once again
chanted “shut the f*** up”, Paul complained that their
chanting would get the sound muted on TV with their cussing.
Paul put himself over as a guy who works harder than
everyone at the back, and told Cena he was a corporate pawn
who’d do everything he was told to do. Paul kept rambling as
he asked to play a game called “Who’s the Imposter?” He
asked whether the guy who stayed to be himself or the guy
who went away to pretend to be someone else was the
imposter. Paul yelled that this was “his house” now.
When Cena finally spoke, he called Paul an undeniable
presence, tremendous athlete, and a future WWE Champion. He
said those things that he believed to be true, and that it
made him upset. He said that there was one term that was
stuck on Paul for years: “Outsider” (or as the Dublin crowd
said instead, “wanker”.) Cena called Paul a “disappointment”
instead. He said that Paul was using WWE as a branding
opportunity to buy another Pokemon card, as he tipped over
the PRIME bottle display at ringside.
Cena blasted Paul for claiming that he “put his life on the
line” for a total of 23 matches, which he found insulting.
Cena talked about how he did the same, but for a total of 23
years through a multitude of live and televised events,
including matches against Sheamus in 2010 in Dublin. Every
time Cena stepped in the ring, whether he had 100 moves or 5
moves or 1 move, he said that he only had one question to
himself: “what could he give to this business”. In Paul’s
case, that question, according to Cena, was “what could he
take?”
Cena then said that Logan Paul wasn’t an outsider, but he
was a parasite. Cena put over deserving stars that he
could’ve been facing like Dominik Mysterio, Seth Rollins, AJ
Styles, The Usos, and Jacob Fatu, just to name them all.
Cena said he was wasting his time entertaining Paul’s
challenge, but he was a man of his word and Paul got lucky
by being first in line. Cena told Paul knew about hustle,
but nothing about respect.
“As for your co-habitation agreement, I read the news,
homey, you’ve got plenty of legal trouble,” said Cena. The
17-time World Champion then told Paul that he’d either
understand what it meant to give yourself up for this
business at Clash in Paris, or Paul would get the ever-
loving shite beaten out of him.
Thing’s got physical when Paul shoved at Cena, which led to
him getting dropped with an Attitude Adjustment.
Cena was in his element with this promo tonight, as he
certainly brought down the hammer on Paul as only he could
with a classic “fine speech” takedown promo.
**********
– Jade Cargill and Tiffany Stratton discussed strategy
backstage as they looked to be on a united front against
Becky Lynch and Nia Jax.
– An angry Logan Paul was confronted by Drew McIntyre, who
bluntly told him that he was scared of the mystique of John
Cena. He said that Paul was going to make this right
tonight, whatever it took.
The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) (w/ B-Fab)
vs. Tonga Loa & J.C. Mateo (w/ The M.F.T.s)
It is said that the winners of this match would face Melo
Don’t Miz next week on SmackDown for a shot at the Wyatt
Sicks’ WWE Tag Team Championships.
The Profits had the upper hand early on as Ford dropped Loa
with a standing moonsault. Mateo entered the match and took
over with strikes on Ford in the corner for a bit. Ford
recovered and hit the Famouser on Mateo and looked to have a
dive from the apron locked and loaded. However, Loa tripped
Ford up and sent him right into the outside ringpost
shoulder-first, which led to a break.
Our match returned from the break with Mateo hitting Ford
with a clothesline, followed by a standing moonsault of his
own. Ford dodged out of the way of Mateo’s running strike as
Loa got himself into the match with a tag. Ford managed to
throw Loa out of the ring as Dawkins got the hot tag. The
big man of the Street Profits went to work with a running
shoulder block on Mateo, followed by a flapjack on Loa.
Dawkins lifted up Mateo on his shoulders, but couldn’t get
the Electric Chair drop down. Loa broke up the pin after a
Street Profits double team move. Ford, now the legal man,
wanted to head up top for a move, but Solo Sikoa’s
distraction allowed Talla Tonga to intervene. This let Mateo
deliver the Tour of the Islands on Ford. That wasn’t enough
to secure the win for the M.F.T.s, however.
Jimmy Uso ran up and hit Talla with a chair as they began to
brawl in the crowd. While Sikoa was up on the commentary
table, Sami Zayn tripped him up and hit a modified Helluva
Kick. The finish saw Mateo get pinned after a a Montez Ford
frog splash.
The Street Profits def. The M.F.T.s via pinfall
A decent tag match, and the crowd did come alive for Sami
Zayn and Jimmy Uso running in to take out the M.F.T.s
members at ringside.
**********
Aleister Black vs. R-Truth
R-Truth appeared and said that he wasn’t going to be able to
make it tonight, stating that he wouldn’t make it because he
ended up in Dublin, Georgia instead. However, Truth said
he’d made a call to one of his good friends.
Out came Damian Priest, who was looking to get some revenge
after having his jaw broken by Black three weeks ago. After
a short skirmish, a vanguard of referees and security ran in
to break things up. After some effort, the fight was broken
up.
Aleister Black vs. R-Truth never happened
**********
Drew McIntyre demands answers regarding Cody Rhodes
While the commentary discussed Cody Rhodes’ condition, Drew
McIntyre appeared and once again angrily asked about a
medical update on Rhodes. McIntyre said that he had an
update of his own: “Cody Rhodes is a little bitch”. He said
that he did Rhodes a favor and gave him more than enough
time with the Undisputed WWE Championship. While McIntyre
continued to talk, Randy Orton snuck up behind him and hit
an RKO out of nowhere on McIntyre.
Randy Orton’s return is certainly going to be used to set up
a match with McIntyre at Clash in Paris while the title
match between McIntyre and Cody Rhodes will be likely taking
place at Wrestlepalooza next month.
**********
Next Week on SmackDown
United States Championship: Solo Sikoa (c) vs. Sami Zayn
Tag Team Contender’s Match: Melo Don’t Miz vs. The Street
Profits
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Charlotte Flair & Alexa
Bliss vs. The Secret Hervice
Becky Lynch & Nia Jax vs. Tiffany Stratton & Jade Cargill
Lynch and Stratton started off with strikes in the ring
before she took down Jax and Lynch with a dive to the
outside. While Stratton tried to get into the ring, she was
being held by the leg by Lynch as Jax hit a leg drop on her.
We then went to the final break of the evening.
When SmackDown returned, Cargill and Lynch re-entered the
match and faced off. Cargill unleashed a flurry of strikes
on Lynch, followed by a spinebuster. Lynch tried to go up
top, but was caught by Cargill, who hit a Fallaway Slam on
her foe. A stunned Lynch was blasted with a superkick from
Cargill, followed by a tilt-a-whirl sitout powerbomb. Lynch
managed to kick out at two. Jax got the tag as she snuck up
on Cargill while Lynch ran off.
Cargill avoided the Annihilator, as she turned it into a
powerbomb instead. Stratton and Cargill ended up getting the
victory in our main event after hitting a combination of
moonsaults on the fallen Jax.
Tiffany Stratton & Jade Cargill def. Nia Jax & Becky Lynch
via pinfall
– Before we ended our night truly, John Cena was seen
walking out of the arena, as SmackDown GM Nick Aldis told
him he had just heard from Brock Lesnar. Before we could
hear what that was, Logan Paul hit Cena with his punch and
ran off.
**********
A weirdly paced main event that felt very much a victim of
things getting rushed. In fact, a lot of the evening felt
like things were strangely timed, as if a segment might’ve
ran too long. That ended up affecting the majority of the
show.
All in all, a nothing-to-write-home edition of SmackDown,
other than the great John Cena verbal takedown of Logan
Paul, Becky Lynch’s opening promo, and Randy Orton’s return.
Just nothing really stood out to me from what we got
tonight.