Posted on 7/19/125 by Bob Magee
– Following the WWE signature, we abruptly went right to the
parking lot as we saw a car accident involving the members
of the M.F.T., as Adam Pearce and law enforcement officials
tried to sort out what was what. Cody Rhodes walked by and
conferred with Pearce about the contract signing he’ll be
having with John Cena later tonight for their SummerSlam
match. After Rhodes left, we saw Solo Sikoa and his group
trying to figure out what the heck just happened.
– Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett discussed Alexa Bliss and
Charlotte Flair’s situation post-Evolution, as we found out
that Bliss and Flair will have a Women’s Tag Team
Championship match against current champions Raquel
Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez. Bliss agreed to be in Flair’s
corner for her match against Rodriguez, which kicked off
tonight’s action.
Charlotte Flair (w/ Alexa Bliss) vs. Raquel Rodriguez (w/
Roxanne Perez)
As the bell rang, Flair and Rodriguez locked up in the
middle of the ring before the two exchanged standing
switches with no clear advantage for either woman. Rodriguez
soon gained momentum with consecutive shoulder blocks, but
Flair responded with a rough-looking hurricanrana, followed
by a clothesline and a crossbody to the outside. In the
background, Kiana James was seen talking with Giulia.
At ringside, Roxanne Perez tried to sneak up on Flair, but
Alexa Bliss warded her off. This allowed Rodriguez to take
advantage as she tossed Flair onto the ringpost, which sent
us to our first break of the evening.
We resumed with Rodriguez lifting up Flair in a modified
torture rack submission, but eventually got countered.
Rodriguez maintained her advantage with a series of stomps
and strikes onto the downed Flair, followed by a twisting
Vader Bomb. Flair recovered and began to light up
Rodriguez’s chest with her signature chops, followed by a
somersault clothesline. Flair delivered a German suplex as
she headed up to the top and connected with a crossbody.
Rodriguez rolled right through and turned it into a tornado
powerslam of her own for the near-fall.
Rodriguez attempted to lift Flair up for the Tejano Bomb,
but Flair countered and hit a big boot. Roxanne Perez tried
to create a distraction, but this allowed Alexa Bliss to
take advantage as she struck Rodriguez with one of her
pompoms, as Flair rolled her up for the pin and win.
Charlotte Flair def. Raquel Rodriguez
A decent match to start the show, but the bigger story is
how well-received Flair and Bliss’s “Allies of Convenience”
tag team has been with fans. Perhaps Flair’s excellent
Players’ Tribune article from last week has helped gain her
new fans, but in any case, I’m enjoying this storyline so
far.
**********
– Adam Pearce was confronted by three police officers, who
were seeking Jacob Fatu as a “person of interest”. The cops
found Fatu in another area and walked off with him to get
some answers from him regarding the hit and run from the
start of the broadcast.
– A video package showing Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill
talking about their impending WWE Women’s Championship Match
at SummerSlam was shown.
– The commentators discussed the ongoing situation with Ron
Killings, Aleister Black, and Damian Priest, including
Black’s attack on Priest last week. We then went to Earlier
Today footage of Priest looking for Black, and being
confronted by Carmelo Hayes. Priest said that he didn’t know
why he was trying to play peacemaker, because he’s the man
who goes into the ring and gets business done. This led to
Hayes challenging Priest to a match for tonight.
– We got a vignette for the new Naked Gun movie that focused
on Cody Rhodes’ cameo in the film, which releases on August
1st.
Carmelo Hayes vs. Damian Priest
Hayes got things started with a sneak attack as Priest was
playing to the crowd on the top rope. Priest soon recovered
with a big boot to the fast, which allowed him to finally
take off his entrance jacket. In the corner, Priest worked
over Hayes with repeated strikes, as he then sent him out to
the ring with an elbow to the face. Outside the ring, Hayes
slipped free from Priest’s grasp and dropkicked him against
the ringpost, which took us to the break.
Our show continued with Hayes having the advantage over
Priest as he trash-talked him. Priest got himself hyped up
and took advantage of Hayes’ hubris and struck him with a
flurry of offense. Priest targeted Hayes for his
clothesline, but got suckered in with an arm guillotine
across the top rope. Hayes took over with a springboard
clothesline as he tuned up the band for some Sweet Chin
Music in Shawn Michaels’ hometown. Priest countered, but
Hayes delivered his own version of La Mistica and escaped a
Razor’s Edge attempt from his foe.
On the top rope, Hayes couldn’t connect with dive, as he
escaped another South of Heaven attempt from Priest. Hayes
headed up top once again and hit a frog splash on Priest for
the two count. The battle spilled outside as Priest slammed
Hayes across the commentary table. Priest tried to go for
Old School, but Aleister Black appeared on the apron and
tripped him up to cause the disqualification.
Black laid out Priest with the Black Mass kick as Hayes
backed out of the ring wisely.
Damian Priest def. Carmelo Hayes via Disqualification
This match was really picking up steam up until the
disqualification, but the Black vs. Priest feud should be
interesting. Of course, Ron Killings, after his big return
at Money in the Bank, seems kind of like an afterthought
once he left John Cena’s orbit, which is odd, given how he’s
a central figure of this feud.
**********
– We got a creepy video of the Wyatt Sicks where they talked
about their plans for the SmackDown tag team division and
their quest to strip the division of their vanities and
desires one by one.
Solo Sikoa and The M.F.T.s’ frame-up revealed
The United States Champion and his faction headed to the
ring to discuss the accident that had happened to them at
the start of tonight’s SmackDown.
“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight is the perfect example of who
Jacob Fatu really is,” started off Sikoa. According to
Sikoa, without his guidance, Fatu is reckless, doesn’t care
about anybody, and all he cares about is himself. Sikoa took
credit for giving everything to Fatu, bringing him to WWE,
and making him a champion. He said that Fatu didn’t deserve
any of this because he was so selfish for betraying his
family. “Once a criminal, always a criminal,” said Sikoa.
Backstage, we saw Jacob Fatu arriving at the arena as he was
apparently not the person of interest that the police were
looking for. Incensed, Fatu headed down to the ring and was
ready for a fight with Sikoa and the M.F.T.s. As Fatu was
making his way down to the ring, Jimmy Uso got the drop on
the group with an ambush. Fatu and Uso laid waste to the
M.F.T.s until Tala Tonga pulled Uso out and looked like he
was about to chokeslam Uso through the commentary table.
Fatu took Tala out with a dive to the outside.
Tala recovered and emerged from the commentary table. He
eventually got taken down by a double team superkick party
from Uso and Fatu. A Fatu-assisted crossbody by Uso took
Tala out over the timekeepers area. Fatu attacked Sikoa
inside the ring and was about to hit a hip attack with a
chair draped over Sikoa’s neck. J.C. Mateo intercepted Fatu,
which gave Sikoa enough time to escape. This was a bad move,
as Fatu and Uso proceeded to take out their frustrations on
Mateo and Tanga Loa.
The voice of Adam Pearce interrupted, as he announced for
SummerSlam that Sikoa will defend his United States
Championship against Fatu in a steel cage match. He then
called for the cops to arrest Sikoa for framing Fatu for the
“accident” earlier. As Sikoa and the M.F.T.s were being
taken away by the cops, Fatu and Uso stood tall in the ring.
This was a pretty fun segment, I must say, and the alliance
between Jacob Fatu and Jimmy Uso is one I didn’t expect to
end up enjoying like I did here tonight.
**********
– We got a recap of a brawl that broke out on Jimmy Kimmel
Live as Jelly Roll and Randy Orton got into it with Logan
Paul and Drew McIntyre, including Jelly Roll chokeslamming
Paul through a table.
Stephanie Vaquer vs. Alba Fyre (w/ Piper Niven)
Fyre and Vaquer traded offense early on in the match as
things kicked off fast and furious. Vaquer headbutted Fyre
and looked to hit a dive from the apron, but she was
intercepted by a kick from Fyre. Vaquer then got rocked by a
dive to the outside by Fyre. In the ring, Vaquer recovered
with a kick of her own as she then delivered the Devil’s
Kiss to the delight of everyone.
Fyre attempted for a Gory Special, but Vaquer countered and
finished things off with the SVB for the victory.
After the match, Piper Niven attacked Vaquer and looked to
hit the Viper Bomb, but Vaquer escaped and managed to fend
off Niven with a superkick.
Stephanie Vaquer def. Piper Niven
This was honestly tragically short. I think Vaquer and Niven
could’ve gone on a bit longer than what they had to work
with here, which is a shame because both women are talented
and can certainly go in a match that lasts longer than three
minutes or so.
**********
– The Street Profits were asked about their loss to the
Wyatt Sicks last week. They said that the Wyatts as the WWE
Tag Champions is not a reality they want to face, and that
they’ll be coming for the tag titles again. #DIY confronted
the Profits and mocked them for losing last week as they
headed down for the tag team fatal four-way coming up next.
Fatal Four-Way Tag Match: #DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso
Ciampa) vs. Rey Fenix & Andrade vs. Fraxiom (Axiom & Nathan
Frazer) vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex
Shelley)
We kicked off with Sabin and Frazer starting off the action
as the two traded acrobatics with one another until #DIY
snuck in and attacked both men. This prompted Andrade and
Rey Fenix to enter the fray as things broke down. Fraxiom
intercepted the two with superkicks as they tried for a dive
of their own. The Machine Guns pulled Frazer and Axiom out
of the ring and ended up getting their dives in on Gargano
and Ciampa to the outside, as we took a break in the action.
SmackDown returned with Shelley and Sabin fending off the
#DIY duo, as Axiom tagged himself into the match. The masked
Axiom and Frazer proceeded to get their moments in with a
bonanza of dives on all their opponents. A modified Total
Elimination nearly brought Fraxiom the win, but Andrade
interrupted and got himself into the match with a tag.
Andrade and Fenix united with amazing chemistry as Fenix
nailed Axiom with the spinning kick in the corner, followed
by the Three Amigos on Frazer. A frog splash by Fenix saw
the pin get interrupted by the Machine Guns. Things broke
down briefly between all four teams as they brawled it out
in the ring. It turned into total chaos as Andrade and Fenix
took advantage of the situation.
#DIY tagged themselves in and took out Fenix and Andrade as
a Project Ciampa from Tommaso Ciampa on Axiom was unable to
put this one in the books. We got another break at this
point of the match.
Our main event match trucked along with Sabin and Shelley on
a roll and having Axiom at their mercy for Skull and Bones.
Andrade and Fenix broke things up as the former headed up
top. Axiom stopped Andrade’s advance and hit the Spanish Fly
to the top rope followed by Frazer’s Phoenix Splash. #DIY
attempted to steal the victory, but Andrade and Fenix
intervened in the nick of time. In the ensuing chaos, only
Andrade and Ciampa were left as Candice LeRae tried to draw
the distraction. Ciampa tried to roll up Andrade, but
couldn’t get the win.
Gargano and Ciampa attempted a double team, but a
malfunction at the junction between the #DIY duo led to the
finish, as Fenix took Gargano out with a dive to the
outside, which left Ciampa at the mercy of Andrade’s Message
and the three.
Andrade & Rey Fenix def. #DIY, Fraxiom, and Motor City
Machine Guns via Pinfall
That was a fast and frenetic tag match that I really
enjoyed. Just some tremendous action from these four teams
from start to finish.
**********
Next Week on SmackDown
WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The Wyatt Sicks’ Joe Gacy &
Dexter Lumis vs. Andrade & Rey Fenix
Alexa Bliss vs. Roxanne Perez
Jelly Roll, Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, and Logan Paul
appear live
Cody Rhodes & John Cena contract signing
Raw GM Adam Pearce — who was filling in for Nick Aldis
tonight — was in the ring as he introduced both Cody Rhodes
and John Cena for the contract signing for their Undisputed
Men’s WWE World Championship match at SummerSlam.
Rhodes entered first and didn’t waste time in signing the
match contract before he asked San Antonio what they wanted
to talk about. He talked appreciation about being made to
feel like a Texan, because his father and brother were
Texans. Rhodes talked about a post that was overanalyzed but
the message was clear: do not flinch and thanks for coming
along for the ride. He discussed about how he didn’t flinch
for his return, fighting with a torn pec, fighting his best
friend, and when the Final Boss came for his spot. However,
as Rhodes said, he flinched at WrestleMania when he lost to
John Cena. Rhodes said it was an unenviable task to be the
one to take it away from one of the most beloved wrestlers
in our game, but this was important for him.
At this point, Cena made his way down to the ring. Once
inside the ring, Cena said that he had some bad news for
Rhodes, that he wasn’t going to be at SummerSlam. This was
supposedly because he was filming a movie for Netflix in New
York, and advised to not take part in anything physical as a
result. Cena claimed that this was a decision only made
tonight, and one that was a “tough decision” because it was
best for business.
Cena said that the crowd didn’t know how hard it was for him
to be here tonight, and that right now, physically and
emotionally, just being here is all he can give the crowd.
Cena thanked the crowd for his patience and understanding in
this matter. Cena walked out of the ring as Rhodes took off
his jacket and started to fight on the ramp.
The fight broke down as Cena got the upper hand. He
retrieved the WWE Championship and looked like he was going
to blast Rhodes with it, but Cody intercepted him with a
kick. The title belt ended up in Rhodes’ hands as he smashed
it across Cena’s face. WIth Cena stunned on the table,
Rhodes headed up top and crushed Cena with a diving splash.
Afterwards, Rhodes used Cena’s hand to sign the contract as
he revealed that it was going to be a Street Fight at
SummerSlam for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
SmackDown ended with Rhodes holding the WWE Title and
standing tall over Cena in the process.
**********
Cena using his Hollywood position for heel heat to beg off
defending his title was a nice heel move and a nice twist on
the old contract signing trope, and the Street Fight
stipulation does add some sauce to the WWE Title rematch at
SummerSlam. Hopefully, Travis Scott doesn’t decide to amble
back into the proceedings once again.
This was actually a good edition of SmackDown featuring a
fantastic tag match and some entertaining in-ring segments
with the M.F.T.s/Fatu & Uso stuff, plus the contract signing
angle to cap off the show. It was certainly better than last
week’s effort, that’s for sure.