Smackdown Review 06/19/2020
Smackdown Review 06/19/2020
Hello! Welcome back to this weeks Smackdown review. Tonight’s show coming to us from the WWE performance center is the fallout from Backlash! Who will go after WWE Universal champion next after his victory on Sunday? What will the new intercontinental champion, AJ Styles have to say during his championship celebration? Also, what will happen when Mandy Rose joins Miz TV? Also, the return of Bray Wyatt! All that and more, so, let’s get into it!
Live from the WWE Performance Center
AJ Styles Championship Celebration
Superstars are all around the ring as Renee Young introduces AJ Styles for his Championship celebration. Styles says he wanted everyone at ringside because that is the closest they will ever get to the championship. AJ Styles hypes himself up, but then tells Renee that he doesn’t have her to present her the championship. He wants Daniel Bryan to present him with the championship. Daniel gets in the ring as the crowd chants “No!”. AJ says he trusts Daniel to not do anything stupid. AJ tells him that if he doesn’t do it, he is a coward. Daniel then puts the title around his waist. But, that wasn’t good enough. Styles tells him to congratulate him. Bryan does, and says he respects AJ’s ability in the ring and was the better man last week. Bryan says AJ could be the greatest intercontinental champion of all time. But, only if he defends the title every week against people on the roster who deserve it. He lists off Shorty G, Metalik & Big E. AJ Styles then cuts him off and says no. They have to earn it. Bryan tells him if that is the case, give Drew Gulak a shot since he beat him a few weeks ago. AJ says no. He says he will not give hand outs. He says if someone wants it, they have to be the official number one contender. He says if anyone steps up, they’ll be shot down. Matt Riddle interrupts, making his debut. Riddle introduces himself, but AJ cuts him off and says all he see’s is the talk of the town looking for a handout. Riddle says he doesn’t want a handout. He busted wanted to tell the face that runs the place, that he is the bro that runs the show. A furious AJ attacked him and a brawl broke out with Riddle clearing the ring of AJ. Visibly furious, AJ calls for a referee. He wants a match.
Before the match, AJ says that this will not be a title match. No shoes, no shirt, no Championship. This is essentially a lumberjack match, because all the superstars are still around the ring,
AJ Styles vs Matt Riddle
Right out of the gate, Riddle hits Styles with a Suplex. He then took control of AJ and continued to beat him down, catching him way off guard in the early going. AJ started to fight back, and suddenly Riddle spills out onto the apron. He dropped down and tried to pull AJ out of the ring, but when styles kicked Riddle off of him, he flew back into King Corbin. Suddenly, Corbin and Matt started getting in a verbal battle as we head to a commercial break. We come back to both men back in the ring. AJ Styles was in control at this point, beating down Riddle. Even mocking Daniel Bryan with the Yes Kicks to his opponent. He followed up with a Suplex on the bro, then continued to work him over on the mat. When Matt Riddle tried to fight back, AJ took out his leg with a dragon screw. Styles continued to work out the left leg of Riddle with kicks and stomps, even a chop block. But, when AJ tried for another dragon screw, Riddle jumped up with a nasty high knee to the face of the champion. Slowly but surely, the tide started to turn. The king of Bros was wearing down AJ Styles before taking full control, and even locked in the Bromission, which was broken out of. Matt tried for the the Bro-To-Sleep, but it was reversed into the calf crusher, which Matt eventually broke the hold. Some good back and forth here between both men. AJ then got irritated at Daniel Bryan cheering for Riddle, so he got out of the ring and shoved Daniel, telling him to hit him. After arguing with Bryan, Styles got up on the apron for the phenomenal forearm, but Riddle recovered, picked off Styles and hit him with the Broderick for the win. Everyone around ringside celebrates with Matt Riddle after his win.
My Thoughts
Solid match here, I enjoyed it. And with Riddle beating AJ clean, what a great debut for him. Will this lead to him being the #1 contender for the championship? We will see soon, I guess!
⁃ Jeff Hardy is backstage getting mic’d up for a sit down interview with Renee Young
⁃ We see highlights from Sheamus’ win over Jeff Hardy at Backlash.
Jeff Hardy Interview
Renee Young sits down with Jeff Hardy and asks how he is doing. He says everything has been a rollercoaster these last few weeks. He says things have been good, but bad times keep coming back to haunt him. Every time he thinks things are going good, something else happens. Renee asks how he’s been dealing with his loss to Sheamus. He says the actual loss isn’t bad, but the fact that Sheamus is a constant reminder of bad things he’s been through. He says it makes him doubt himself, and all the negative thoughts come back to him. But, the truth is that he is a junkie. An adrenaline junkie. And Sheamus is just insecure with himself, so he targets Jeff. Sheamus is just a bump in the road.
⁃ Kayla interviews Shorty G backstage. She asks him about his opponent, MoJo Rawley, who’s bigger, taller and stronger than him. Shorty G says that none of that matters because he is just better. He says that they don’t know what it’s like to have eyes in the back of their head. He then turns around and punches MoJo in the face, who was standing behind him the whole time.
Shorty G vs. MoJo Rawley
A furious MoJo kicks off the match by spearing Gable into the corner and over powering him. Shorty G fought back and hit a nice Suplex, but with the snap of a finger, MoJo was back in control. MoJo continued to just beat down Shorty G. That was until Shorty G broke free, and made his way to the top rope. He tried for a cross body, but MoJo caught him. When Rawley went for a slam, Shorty G cradled him up for a pin and gets the upset win.
My Thoughts
Short match, nothing special, good to see some different guys get TV time though.
– Miz and Morrison are backstage getting ready for MizTV.
MizTV w/ Mandy Rose
Miz and Morrison make their way out to the ring for Miz TV. Miz says they need to address the elephant in the room. Backlash. The fact that they changed the rules last minute, and they couldn’t be co-champion. They blame management, and they blame Otis because they had to keep looking over their shoulder for him to come out. Speaking of Otis, they introduce their guest, Mandy Rose. When Mandy enters the ring, Miz asks her about her best friend, the one who is better than her, beat her twice, and is a better friend. Mandy says she is leaving because she isn’t here to be insulted. Miz stops her and says they have a surprise for her. The surprise is Sonya, who comes out to the ring. Mandy tells Sonya isn’t she done yet? Why can’t she let this go? Sonya says because after all of Mandy’s loses, every time she squanders the spotlight, and she still gets chances, but Sonya gets nothing. Mandy says that Sonya can hurt her physically and emotionally, but she is still standing because she has people in her corner, unlike her. She says Otis has always had her back. And all Sonya has is loneliness. Sonya says she isn’t mad at her anymore, she just wants to know how to get the Mandy Rose treatment. She says she wants to know how Mandy gets the spotlight when Sonya is way better than her. She says she is done with everything, and now she is going to rip her apart until her outsides are as ugly as her insides. Suddenly they start breaking, but the brawl is broken up by Miz and Morrison. Sonya leaves and Mandy slaps Miz to end the segment.
⁃ We see a highlight package of Sasha & Bayleys recent championship wins.
⁃ Bayley and Sasha join commentary for the next match.
New Day vs. Lucha House Party
Kofi and Lince kick off the match with some good quality chain wrestling, with no man getting the upper hand at the moment. The tide changed when Lince made a sneaky tag to Metalik. Kofi didn’t see it coming and caught a nice kick to the face. Metalik came in on fire but after Kofi was whipped off the ropes, Big E made a blind tag. He came in strong, but Lince and Metalik double teamed him and sent him flying out of the ring, followed by a nice dive from Lince as we head to commercial. We come back to see Big E and Lince Dorado struggling back and forth, both taking each other down. They both crawl their way to make tags, sending Metalik and Kofi into the ring in a flurry. Metalik gets the better of Kofi, as a tag is made again, Metalik hits his finisher, followed by Dorado hitting his. They go for a pin, but Big E breaks it up. Things slowly start to break down, ending with Kofi getting the better of Lince, making the tag to Big E to set up the midnight hour. New Day get the win.
Right as the bell rings, Cesaro and Nakamura run in the ring, attacking everyone, they lay out Kofi and Big E, standing tall over them.
Cesaro gets out of the ring and tells commentary that they’re sick of being treated bad, they beat new day clean, and they want the tag titles. Cesaro says he has been treated wrong for 8 years. But no more.
My Thoughts
Great match here, i really enjoyed it a lot. And the aftermath was great also. The tag division is slowly heating up on Smackdown!
⁃ Alexa, Tamina, Naomi, Lacey & are all backstage arguing over who should be next in line for Bayley’s championship.
⁃ Kayla is backstage with Sheamus. She asks his thoughts on Hardy’s interview earlier. He says Jeff called him a bully, and he is. And he is happy that he kicked Jeff’s face in, but he wishes he would’ve kicked in his voice box so we didn’t have to hear him talk. Sheamus says if Jeff Hardy can’t lift himself up, he will do it for him. He says next week he will toast to Jeff Hardy.
⁃ Sasha and Bayley are leaving commentary now, but they get attacked by Nikki Cross. Alexa runs out to separate them. Nikki challenges Sasha to a match. Bayley accepts for her.
Nikki Cross vs. Sasha Banks
They start off in an absolute brawling fashion, with Sasha getting the best of Nikki. But, it didn’t last long. Nikki has Sasha all caught up in the apron, which turned this match her way. Sasha tried to fight back, and was on the offensive end for a small bit of time before Nikki once again gained control. She started to fire up and hit a nasty top rope DDT on Sasha for a near fall. Nikki tried for a sunset flip pin, but it was reversed into a standing meteora from Sasha, who then got the pin off of it and won.
My Thoughts
Another quick match that wasn’t anything special but not bad. Smackdown’s Women’s division is lacking so hard so hopefully it picks up steam soon.
⁃ Braun Strowman is backstage looking at the screen, waiting for Bray.
⁃ AJ Styles defends the intercontinental championship against Drew Gulak next week.
Firefly Funhouse Returns
Bray Wyatt is here with his FireFly FunHouse. He says he joined a book club and even wrestled some alligators while he was gone, but, rambling rabbit interrupts and says that was a lie. He just sulked over his loss to Braun. Bray says he is right. But he realizes now that he lost, that… suddenly he is cut off by Braun making his way to the ring. Braun gets in the ring and tells Bray that the games are over. Their story is over. Bray says their chapter is over, but the story is just getting started. He says he wasn’t lying about resurrecting the dead. Suddenly, he turns into the old Bray Wyatt with the hat and Hawaiian shirt. He cuts a creepy promo saying that we must go back to where it all began. He created Braun and now he must destroy him. He says he knows where to find him, all he has to do is follow the buzzards. Bray blows the lamp out and says “RUN!” To end the show.
My Thoughts
Amazing.
My Overall Thoughts
Smackdown wasn’t the best tonight. Riddle made his debut in a good match beating AJ, but then next week they give the title match to Gulak. I understand Gulak beat AJ before, but weird decision. New Day & LuchaHouse party had the best match, i really enjoyed it. But, everything else felt so filler. I was excited about Bray Wyatt’s return, and he didn’t disappoint. That was my favorite moment of the night and I’m looking forward to see where this old Bray fits in with the new Bray and Braun. I hope that next week is better, like i said we know AJ will defend against Gulak, but nothing else was really hyped up. But, we shall see. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next week!
