Cody Rhodes Addresses SummerSlam
Cody Rhodes came out and asked what the crowd wanted to talk
about. He called the WWE title the “North Star of our
industry” and he has been thinking about who he would like
to face at Bash in Berlin. Before he could say anything
else, Solo Sikoa came out with Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa.
Sikoa said he didn’t care about what everyone wanted to talk
about, he wanted to talk about SummerSlam. He demanded
Rhodes give him a rematch. Rhodes said let’s talk about
SummerSlam, where he couldn’t do it on his own and allowed
Jacob Fatu to get injured, where Roman Reigns attacked him
for cosplaying him, and where he beat Sikoa. He called Sikoa
delusional for wanting a rematch.
The three Bloodline members started to circle Rhodes when
Owens came out with steel chairs. The Bloodline backed off
as Sikoa said he was going to find Roman Reigns. Rhodes said
he’d be right here waiting for him.
Rhodes turned his attention to Owens and said he didn’t want
this to be awkward, but wanted to talk to him about
something. Rhodes said he’s likely to say no to this, but
mentioned earlier about who he’d like to face at Bash in
Berlin, saying he’d like to face Owens. Owens said he
appreciated that, but he needed to earn a title match,
saying he wasn’t the guy. Rhodes pointed out that the crowd
saying he deserves it, and every time he needed someone in
the trenches, Owens was in there with him. Rhodes said that
Owens can say no all he wants, but he is going to Nick Aldis
and will explain all the reasons why Owens deserves a title
match. Rhodes said he’d see Owens at Bash in Berlin as Owens
shook his head.
**********
WWE Tag Team Championship Contender’s Match: The Street
Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) (w/ B-Fab) defeated
A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory & Grayson Waller)
Before the Street Profits made their entrance, they were
interviewed in the Gorilla Position. Montez Ford and Angelo
Dawkins said that ever since the real Tribal Chief in Roman
Reigns returned, the Bloodline has been shaking in their
boots. They wrapped up by saying that they wanted the smoke
and A-Town Down Under was in the way.
Dawkins and Theory started off in the ring, as the latter
got the advantage after Waller distracted Dawkins in the
corner. A-Town Down Under exchanged tags as Waller threw
Ford into the barricade at ringside. Dawkins’ attempt at
momentum was stalled when he got sent into the ring post.
Waller continued the attack at ringside before he and Theory
taunted B-Fab. This allowed Ford to hit A-Town Down Under
with a plancha as SmackDown headed to a commercial break.
SmackDown resumed with Theory hitting a dropkick on Dawkins
as he tagged in Waller. Their attempt at a double team was
foiled by Dawkins, who managed to get the hot tag from Ford.
Ford dazzled with his impressive offense as he took it to
both Theory and Waller. After a near-fall, Ford tried for
his frog splash, but Waller escaped as he and Theory hit a
double rolling elbow on Ford.
At ringside, Dawkins pounced Waller into the timekeepers’
area, which left Theory alone with the Street Profits. Ford
and Dawkins got the pin and win after a double-team super
Blockbuster on Theory.
A hot opener, with the crowd rightfully excited for the
Profits’ high-flying offense. They’ll face the winner of DIY
versus Pretty Deadly later tonight.
**********
– Backstage, Cody Rhodes was discussing with Nick Aldis
about giving Kevin Owens an Undisputed WWE World Title
match. Owens entered the room and continued to protest until
Aldis brought up that he was discussing potentially giving
the title shot to Roman Reigns. Owens pointed out that the
rematch clause hadn’t been enforced in years and that there
were other people in the locker room that deserved a title
match over Roman.
This led to Aldis making it official for Bash in Berlin:
Cody Rhodes versus Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE World
Title.
– We got a recap of Roman Reigns’ return at SummerSlam, with
headlines being shown ahead of his comeback to SmackDown
later tonight.
– A recap of Nia Jax winning the WWE Women’s Championship
from Bayley at SummerSlam was shown. This was followed by
Tiffany Stratton talking with a production member about
making everything perfect for Jax’s World Title celebration.
Pretty Deadly popped up and offered to unveil their musical
during the celebration. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven then
appeared as they said that pink wasn’t Jax’s favorite color.
Green made fun of Stratton’s outfit, calling it “tacky
time”. Green and Niven then suggested that Stratton might be
wanting to cash in Money in the Bank on Jax. Stratton blew
the two off with a “toodles” as she walked off.
– The Progressive Match Flo recapped the Women’s Tag Team
Championship match between Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair
versus Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn, as well as Blair Davenport’s
appearance to help the Women’s Tag Champs.
**********
Jade Cargill (w/ Bianca Belair) defeated Alba Fyre (w/ Isla
Dawn)
Fyre started by trying to lift up Cargill, but to no avail.
Cargill used her strength to lift Fyre by her arm before
starting her offense. Fyre stayed on top of things by
hitting a tornado DDT on Cargill for the two count. Fyre
then paid tribute to AJ Lee with a Black Widow submission,
but Cargill fought out of it right away with a superkick.
She finished things with Jaded on Fyre for the one, two,
three.
Blair Davenport blindsided Cargill after the match as Fyre
and Isla Dawn joined in on the attack. Naomi ran in to even
the odds, as Cargill and Belair recovered and helped her
clear the ring of the heels.
The match was a bit too short, but Cargill and Fyre did get
their stuff in given the limited time they had to work with.
The post-match with Davenport and Naomi nicely sets up a
potential six-woman tag match.
**********
– WWE took a victory lap regarding Roman Reigns’ return,
boasting that it did 104 million views across all social
medias, making it the most viewed SummerSlam moment of all
time. We then got a recap of LA Knight’s SummerSlam U.S.
Title victory.
LA Knight’s U.S. Championship Celebration
Knight entered to the ring to a fantastic ovation from the
Tulsa crowd and a brand-new entrance theme. Lou Ferrigno was
shown in the crowd watching SmackDown this evening.
Knight started off with a “let me talk to ya,” as he said
that it must’ve felt extra sweet to defeat the former
champion in his hometown. Knight said that the champion
deserved to get stomped out, and that not long ago, he once
said that we’d be calling him champion, and now that’s come
true. He knows that holding the U.S. Title makes him a
marked man and that he’s ready to move on to the next, “hit
it and quit it”. Before he could continue, he was
interrupted by Santos Escobar and Legado del Fantasma.
Escobar congratulated Knight on the win, before he said that
the crowd sucked. He said it was time to get real, because
this “LA Knight as a Champion” thing was nothing more but a
fleeting moment, nothing more but an opening act to
Escobar’s own U.S. Title reign. Escobar declared that he was
the one who deserved to be United States Champion, with
everyone saying “Es… Co… Bar… Si!”
Knight responded by saying that Escobar deserved to get the
brakes beat off of him again, but he’d have to qualify first
against his upcoming opponent. That didn’t matter to Knight
though, because he said that whoever he’d end up facing for
the U.S. Title, they’d end up knowing what everyone else
knows: that it’s LA Knight’s game (yeah).
– A vignette for Giovanni Vinci was shown, promising that he
was coming to the SmackDown roster soon.
**********
United States Championship No. 1 Contender’s Match: Santos
Escobar (w/ Angel & Berto) defeated Andrade
The match started during the commercial break, as we
returned with Andrade flooring Escobar with a clothesline.
He followed that up by vaulting over the top rope onto a
recovering Escobar at ringside. Angel and Berto got involved
while the referee was tending to Andrade. Baron Corbin and
Apollo Crews appeared to even the odds by going after Angel
and Berto.
Andrade tried to go to the top rope, but Escobar knocked him
from his perch to the ringside floor below. Back in the
ring, Escobar slammed Andrade with a tilt-a-whirl
backbreaker and worked over his arm with an armbar.
Andrade’s attempt to regain momentum was stalled when
Escobar met him at the top rope. The two were in a dogfight,
but Andrade got the better of Escobar with a sunset flip
powerbomb, as SmackDown weirdly took a commercial break at
this point in the contest.
We returned to the action with Andrade fighting out of an
Escobar resthold as he began his offensive comeback. With
Escobar trapped in the corner, Andrade attempted an attack.
Escobar escaped to ringside, but he got taken down with an
apron moonsault from Andrade.
The subsequent crossbody from Andrade only got a two-count.
Andrade then did his own homage to Eddie Guerrero with the
Three Amigos suplexes. That again got a near-fall.
Escobar rolled out to the apron to avoid an attempted diving
move from Andrade as we got anoterh fight between the two.
Escobar stunned Andrade long enough to hit an amazing poison
rana for the two-count. Escobar and Andrade exchanged a
superkick and a dropkick, before Andrade hit a moonsault.
Andrade looked to have the match won, but Carmelo Hayes
provided a distraction. However, Andrade managed to hit his
elbow for the two-count. Elektra Lopez had the referee
distracted, which allowed Hayes to pull Escobar out of
danger. This gave Escobar the right opportunity to roll
Andrade up with a handful of tights for the pin.
Fantastic match between these two talented competitors, as
we got continued set up for Escobar’s U.S. Title match
against LA Knight, as well as Andrade’s feud with Carmelo
Hayes.
**********
– The duo of Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa addressed
losing the WWE Tag Titles last week to the Bloodline, as
they promised to do whatever it took to regain their gold.
– A touching video tribute to Kevin Sullivan, who passed
away today, was aired just before SmackDown went to break.
– Next week on SmackDown: Naomi vs. Blair Davenport, and Nia
Jax’s Womens’ Championship Celebration.
– A-Town Down Under entered Nick Aldis’ office to complain
about their recent fortunes, as Grayson Waller versus Keivn
Owens was booked for next week by Aldis after the SmackDown
GM took Austin Theory’s blurting out a potential match with
KO as an idea. A flustered Waller was left alone by both
Aldis and Theory.
WWE Tag Team Championship Contender’s Match: #DIY (Johnny
Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) defeated Pretty Deadly (Elton
Prince & Kit Wilson)
Gargano and Wilson started off for their respective teams,
but we soon got a standoff between #DIY & Pretty Deadly in
the middle of the ring. Gargano and Ciampa gained the upper
hand as they sent Wilson to the outside onto his own
partner.
Wilson and Prince stopped #DIY’s attempts at a dive with
stereo upper cuts, but they couldn’t avoid a second dive
from Gargano and Ciampa. SmackDown went to break on DIY
doing their signature clapping on the apron.
We returned with Gargano getting the tag on Ciampa, who
proceeded to clean house on both Prince and Wilson by
himself. Ciampa and Gargano hit a nice double team powerbomb
on Prince for the near-fall.
Things broke down in the ring, which led to Pretty Deadly
hitting a double-team chickenwing slam, but that wasn’t
enough as Gargano broke up the count. Prince and Wilson
tried for another double team move, but Gargano stopped them
with a spear. The Shatter Machine, followed by Meet in the
Middle on Prince from Gargano and Ciampa, and that’s it,
over. #DIY will face off against the Street Profits for a
shot at the WWE Tag Team Championship.
Short but sweet. It’s always nice to see Pretty Deadly get a
match, and I do enjoy Gargano and Ciampa as a team. Their
match with the Street Profits for a shot at the Bloodline
should be fun to see.
**********
– At the gorilla position, Solo Sikoa was awaiting to make
his entrance, as Tonga Loa and Tama Tonga informed him that
Roman Reigns hadn’t arrived yet. Sikoa said that Reigns
would be here soon. The Bloodline then made their way down
the ring.
Roman Reigns Returns to SmackDown
– With the ula fala necklace around his neck, Sikoa demanded
the Tulsa crowd to acknowledge him, but got loudly booed
instead. He said that he was the Tribal Chief now, and that
if Roman Reigns called himself the Tribal Chief, and if he
wanted the ula fala back, he should come and get it from
him.
The moment had finally arrived as Roman Reigns entered to a
massive ovation from the crowd. Sikoa told Tonga Loa and
Tama Tonga to confront Reigns, but they got beaten down in
short order. Reigns used the steel steps to batter both Loa
and Tonga down, which left Sikoa all alone in the ring.
Reigns entered the ring and faced off with Sikoa as the fans
chanted for him. Reigns and Sikoa didn’t waste any time as
they went after one another. Reigns floored Sikoa with a
Superman Punch and had him in position for the Spear. Tonga
and Loa pulled Sikoa before he could get hit with the Spear.
Reigns looked at the ula fala and was about to put it on,
but Loa and Tonga attacked from behind, which allowed Sikoa
to recover the ula fala. Loa and Tonga’s beatdown of Reigns
didn’t last long, as he managed to fight back, hitting a
Superman Punch on Tonga. He sized up Loa in the middle of
the ring for a Spear, before he headed out of the ring and
hit a Spear on a dazed Tonga through the barricade.
The crowd cheered as Reigns grabbed a steel chair and
attacked Loa again and again with it. While Sikoa taunted
from the stage, Roman stood tall in the ring to end
SmackDown, the crowd’s “O.T.C.” chants playing us off for
the week.
