Cody Rhodes (WWE Champion), Austin Theory, And Grayson Waller Segment: We had the WWE Champion Cody Rhodes out to kick of this weeks edition of Smackdown. Rhodes talked about how last week, he had to watch Randy Orton, a brother, friend and mentor of his, get put through an announce table by Solo Sikoa and the Bloodline. Rhodes then talked about how Orton was at home with his wife and kids all injured, and the fact that the Bloodline was the reason Orton had to miss a year and a half of action from 2022-2023, and that they took him out again in 2024, does not sit right with Rhodes at all. Rhodes said to Solo that when he told him before Wrestlemania 39 that we was not ready to be in the main event, he responded by Samoan Spiking him against Roman Reigns, ultimately costing Rhodes the WWE title. Rhodes then looked into the hard camera and once again reiterated to Sikoa, that he still was not ready for the main event spotlight. This is when Grayson Waller and Austin Theory came down to the ring to blame Rhodes for Orton’s injuries. Rhodes responded to that by attacking both men, and even getting an assist from boxing star Terrence Crawford, who gave Rhodes a steel chair to attack Waller and Theory with. This set up our main event in which Waller and Theory would face Rhodes and a partner of his choosing.
Andrade Versus Carmelo Hayes: This match alone made up for that entire Smackdown episode last week. Andrade and Hayes both went out there and had a very good match. Hayes energized the audience with a superb opposite leg drop off the second rope, followed by a First 48 towards Andrade when Andrade was in the process of diving at Hayes. Andrade was overly driven to win, so he performed an amazing moon sault, which was not enough quite yet to secure the victory. Hayes went ahead and went for it all, but his effort at his signature Nothing But Net finishing move ffrom the top rope was reversed into a hammerlock DDT, allowing Andrade to win the match and potentially put himself in contention for the U.S. or WWE title.
WINNER: ANDRADE
Bayley (WWE Women’s Champion) And Nia Jax (QOTR) Segment: We had a via satellite segment between Bayley and Jax in which both superstars were talking to one another from separate rooms in the arena. Jax said that at SummerSlam, she is going to decimate Bayley, and become the new WWE Women’s Champion. Bayley told Jax that just because all of the prognosticators are saying that Jax is going to wipe the floor with her and win with little to no resistance, does not make it true. Bayley still holds a grudge with Jax for costing her a WWE Raw Women’s Championship against Alexa Bliss in 2017, in which she was replaced by her best friend Sasha Banks, better known nowadays as Mercedes Mone, who is the TBS Women’s Champion in AEW. Bayley said that the injury she sustained from Jax seven years ago, has been driving her ever since to gain success here in WWE, in which she has. And at SummerSlam, Bayley said that she will overcome Jax just like she has overcome everything else thrown at her throughout her career. Jax got fed up and left the conversation.
Bianca Belair Versus Chelsea Green: This match went relatively fast. Belair spent some time dominating Green, before Green rolled up Belair, in which Belair countered with a roll up of her own to pick up the win. Post match, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn told Belair and Jade Cargill that they will think about granting them a women’s tag team title match down the line. This is probably a match for SummerSlam, I am presuming.
WINNER: BIANCA BELAIR
Logan Paul (United States Champion) LA Knight, And Smackdown Gemeral Manager Nick Aldis Segment: We had Smackdown GM Nick Aldis in the ring to introduce the challenger for the United States title LA Knight, and the current United States title holder Logan Paul, to make their championship match at SummerSlam official. Both men did not hold back in regards of throwing verbal punches at one another. Paul called LA Knight a comedic body builder wanna be. Knight then called Paul a massive fraud, who has only had two title defenses since winning the title at Crown Jewel last November. Paul said that after he beats Knight at SummerSlam, he will have nothing left in his short career, and that he can take his dreams of becoming WWE Champion and stick it where the sun don’t shine. As Paul was leaving the ring, he quickly snuck back into the ring to attack Knight. Knight was almost able to land a BFT to Paul, before Paul escaped and got out of harms way.
Tiffany Stratton (Miss MITB) Versus Michin: This match was ok. It was more so here to set up other programs going on around it, most notably Bayley (WWE Women’s Champion) vs Nia Jax (QOTR). Michin had a rough start, as Jax served as a protective shield, allowing Stratton to deliver an Alabama Slam on the concrete floor. As Michin was looking as if she was about suffer another loss, Bayley showed up, thwarted Jax with a MITB briefcase shot, and then proceeded to destroy the MITB briefcase, which enabled Michin to roll up Stratton and land the surprising win. I would guess that because they let Michin pin Stratton here, that the MITB cash in is not too far away from happening.
WINNER: MICHIN
Cody Rhodes (WWE Champion) And Kevin Owens Versus Austin Theory And Grayson Waller: Kevin Owens was Cody Rhodes’ surprise partner for this match, which should be no surprise to anyone that has been watching Smackdown as of late. Rhodes and Owens went on to showcase their outstanding tag team chemistry, via conjunction offense to catch Waller and Theory essentially stumped. I mean, based on the amount of times Rhodes and Owens fought the Judgment Day on Raw in 2023 (which was an INSANE amount of times), and have fought the Bloodline alone or with each other throughout the years, Waller and Theory should have been better prepared. A-Town Down Under was able to rebound though, grounding Owens for a good while as Rhodes had to stand by on the apron. After Owens delivered a spectacular Swanton Bomb, Rhodes got the hot tag and was taking everybody out, before himself and KO hit a Stunner and a Cross Rhodes win here in the main event Following the match, Solo Sikoa and The Bloodline demolished Rhodes and Owens. Owens was damn near decapitated when he had a steel chair wrapped around his neck and drilled into the LED ringpost. For Rhodes, it was the same fate that met his mentor Randy Orton last week, a shield like triple powerbomb through the announce table. I hope that Rhodes one of the last two Smackdown episodes gets some payback on the Bloodline, because just having him get destroyed every week by them, even though he is most likely retaining his WWE title at SummerSlam, is not a good thing.
WINNERS: CODY RHODES (WWE CHAMPION) AND KEVIN OWENS
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