Smackdown Review 7/3/20
Smackdown Review 07/03/2020
Hello! Welcome back to this weeks Smackdown review. Tonight’s show coming to us from the WWE performance center is back to normal, as we proceed with our regularly scheduled programming. Tonight, Sheamus will give a toast to Jeff Hardy, Matt Riddle will have an exclusive interview with Michael Cole & AJ Styles will defend his Intercontinental championship against Drew Gulak! All that and more, so, let’s get into it!
Live from the WWE Performance Center
Matt Riddle
Michael Cole kicks off the show in the ring introducing Matt Riddle. We see a look at Matt’s Smackdown debut, defeated AJ Styles. Michael Cole asks Matt what that moment meant to him. He says that being called up is awesome. He says he respects AJ, but he believes he likes AJ, more than AJ likes him. He says his victory and celebration was so good, he could get used to it, Bro. Michael Cole then asks him why he wrestles bare foot. Riddle explains that when he was a child, he got frost bite on his feet and now if he wears shoes, he gets a burning sensation on his feet. And he cannot feel his feet. I have no clue if that’s true, but if so, helluva story. Baron Corbin interrupts and calls Matt an idiot. He then criticized Michael Cole and says he should be ashamed of himself for interviewing Riddle, then he kicks Cole out of the ring. Corbin then turns his attention back to Riddle, and tells him that he disrespected him last week and he should bow down to the king. He tells Matt Riddle that no one likes him and no one wants him here, so he will make sure he will pay every time he is in the ring. He says someone will teach Matt respect and put him in his place. Riddle says lets go, he wants a match. But Corbin says he won’t fight him tonight. Instead, John Morrison will. Morrison makes his way to the ring with Miz. We have a match, next!
Matt Riddle vs John Morrison
We start off with Matt kicking his sandals off right at Corbin, who is on commentary. As the match begins, it’s a grappling fest from the start. That continued with both men locking in their respective holds. That was until Morrison slapped the living hell out of Matt Riddle. Then, things got interesting. The slap fired riddle up, but maybe too much because John Morrison got the upper hand off of Riddles frustration and dominated him with ease at this point. Springboard kicks, Alabama slams, strikes and dives, John Morrison was all over Matt. With all this though, Riddle wouldn’t stay down. After a bit more domination, Morrison made a mistake by poking Matt in the eye, then gloating about it. This caused Riddle to fire up and hit a nasty brain buster on John. Both men are down. As they both get up to their feet, Riddle is sent out to the apron, where both men punched each other at the same time, Morrison dropping in the ring and Riddle dropping out to the floor. As they struggled to get up, Matt grabbed his sandal and launched it at Corbin’s head, then slid in the ring before Corbin could catch him. King Corbin argues with the referee as we head to commercial break. Upon return, Riddle hits Morrison with a barrage of strikes in the corner, followed by a overhead toss, a senton & a Bro-To-Sleep. He then tries for his top rope, floating bro, but Morrison got his knees up. John Morrison now pulling out all the stops on Riddle, but to no success. Both men end up on the top rope, battling for position, which ends in Morrison hitting a Spanish fly off the top, but Riddle still kicked out! Riddle then hit the rip cord knee, then a powerbomb/running knee combo, but Morrison wouldn’t stay down. Just an absolute incredible back and forth Battle here. Suddenly, as Morrison tried to get the upper hand, Riddle rolls him up and gets the victory! Riddle quickly scurries up the ramp to avoid Corbin and Miz, but, he is attacked from behind by AJ Styles. Drew Gulak makes the save, security pulls them apart to end the post-match segment.
My Thoughts:
A absolutely incredible match here to start off smackdown. I really really enjoyed that. John Morrison is better than ever right now, and Matt Riddle was the perfect opponent for that. Seems like Riddle vs Styles is being built up, possibly for extreme rules? That is if he can get passed Gulak tonight!
⁃ Corbin, Miz & Morrison are backstage. They say that they’ll make sure the legs are cut off of Riddles career.
AJ Styles vs. Drew Gulak
Intercontinental Championship Match
The bell rings to AJ attacking Gulak, stomping him into the corner and tossing him out of the ring. AJ is visibly furious and is throwing Gulak all around the outside area. As they head back into the ring, Gulak tries to fight back, but the aggressiveness of AJ Styles keeps him in control. Daniel Bryan is zoomed called from commentary, no, I’m not joking. They ask what he thinks of Gulak in this match. He gives Gulak props and says that he can for sure surprise AJ and come out on top. We will hear more from Daniel throughout the match. AJ continuously beating down Gulak in the corner with strikes and kicks. Daniel comes back, they ask him if he thinks AJ has any holes in his game. Bryan says no, but, if Gulak cab counter AJ Styles’ flying attacks, he will be on the right track. But, thus far, this match is all AJ Styles. Styles tries for the calf crusher, but finally, Gulak reverses it AJ’s gets AJ in a Arn submission and takes control. Styles rolls out of the ring to catch a breather, but Gulak fires at him with a baseball slide drop kick, knocking down the champion as we head to commercial break. We come back to see Gulak shoulder striking AJ in the corner, but, Styles reverses him and sends Gulak shoulder first into the corner, followed by a brain buster. Daniel Bryan is back. They ask why he picked Gulak as his coach, to which he says it’s because he never found anyone more technically sound than himself, until he met Gulak. It’s really weird to watch a match and interview throughout at the same time, but, the action still rolls on. Gulak is battling back once again against AJ Styles, but failed. AJ overtakes his comeback and gets back in control. Bryan is back, they ask him if he is counting Drew out at this point, to which he says no, he will never count Gulak out because he could win at any moment just like last time. And with those words, Gulak smashes AJ’s face into the corner, hits him with a drop kick followed by a michinoku driver for a near fall. Gulak set AJ up on the top rope, making looking for a Suplex, but AJ reserved it and knocked him off the top. He follows it up with a powerbomb, then a styles clash. But, he doesn’t go for the pin. He loads up for the phenomenal forearm, and nails it. AJ Styles picks up the win.
My Thoughts:
Another really good match here, and with that it makes me wonder now since he got passed Gulak, is Riddle next? I guess we will find out hopefully sooner rather than later.
⁃ Bayley and Sasha are backstage. Up next they will present a tribute to Sasha and Bayley.
Sasha & Bayley
Sasha and Bayley are here. They say that no one around here has any respect for them, except one person. The undertaker. Bayley says that Undertaker called her last week and said that they paid respects to him last week, but really they should pay respects to Boss Hug. She said that Undertaker hopes that they both win at extreme rules. And so tonight, they’re going to grant Undertakers wish and pay tribute to Sasha and Bayley tonight. They play a tribute video for themselves. After the video, Alexa and Nikki Cross interrupt. They list off a ton of accomplishments that they had, like driving across Antarctica in a go-kart, and other crazy accomplishments. They say that to show Sasha and Bayley how ridiculous they sound. Nikki Cross then says she will be the next Smackdown women’s champion. Bayley starts laughing and Alexa slaps her. Sasha steps in front of Bayley and tells Alexa that Bayley will fight her right now. Alexa accepts, the match is made. Bayley looks frustrated, seeing as she is in street clothes. But, we have a match.
Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss
Alexa is in the drivers seat from the beginning of the match. Every time Bayley seemed to start to change the tide of the match, Alexa would take control back her way. But, one critical mistake from Alexa gave Bayley the upper hand in this match. Bayley worked over the right arm of Alexa with various holds and even stomped her arm into the mat and slammed it into the apron. Alexa is heavily favoriting the arm as Bayley is just all over her. She hits a running bulldog on Bliss, then taunts and mocks Nikki afterwards. Nikki tried to get in the ring, distracting the ref for Sasha to get involved. Then, Cross attacked Sasha and Bayley, causing a DQ as all hell broke loose. Nikki Cross lost it, but Bayley and Sasha get away.
My Thoughts:
Nothing special here, just a match to build up the Nikki/Bayley match at extreme rules and they did a decent job at doing so. So, success.
⁃ We see a promo of Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman’s history together.
Kofi Kingston vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
This is off to a hot start FAST. Kofi flying everywhere. Cross bodies off the ropes and drop kicks to the outside, Kofi was all over Nakamura. He then smashed Nakamura’s face into the plexiglass after ringside, but, when Cesaro provides a distraction, Nakamura kicks Kofi Kingston in the face and takes control. Cesaro threw a cheap shot at Kofi, causing Big E to attack Cesaro. Both men brawl at ringside before the ref kicks them out and sends them to the back. Meanwhile Kofi and Nakamura going back and forth, pulling out all the stops on each other, seemingly every big move they have except for their finishers to try to keep each other down. But, when Kofi went for the trouble in paradise, Nakamura reverses it into a choke, and rakes Kofi’s eyes, making him drop to his knees, when he does, Nakamura hits a running knee to the back of the head for the victory. Cesaro returns and stands tall with Nakamura. But, Cesaro then gets out of the ring and introduces a table into the mix. Big E then runs back out and sends Nakamura and Cesaro running.
My Thoughts:
Yet another great match here. Post match was interesting, seemingly setting up for a tag title tables match at extreme rules? We will see.
⁃ They then announce that next week we will Re-watch Braun vs Bray from money in the bank, Alexa and Nikki vs Sasha and Bayley as well as New Day vs Cesaro and Nakamura for the tag titles. So, I guess my theory on the extreme rules match is possibly debunked.
Toast to Jeff Hardy Hosted by Sheamus
Jeff Hardy is out to the ring. The ring is filled with tables covered in bottles of alcohol. Sheamus comes up on the screen from home. He tells Jeff Hardy that he has a problem, and it isn’t drugs and alcohol. His problem is that he’s always looking for validation from the fans. He says that we’ve seen Jeff say he will show up and not be a disappointment, but he is a disappointment every time. He tells Jeff that there is one solution for his problems and it’s in one of those bottles. Sheamus gives Jeff a toast and takes a drink. Jeff Hardy tells Sheamus that he is the sickest person he’s ever met for making fun of peoples struggles. He asks if it’s funny to him, rubbing his families nose in past pain. Sheamus says that Jeff has it all wrong. He’s not here to hurt him. He’s here to help him, and that’s why he sent his own personal bartender out to help Jeff. The bartender tried to give Jeff a drink, but Jeff takes it and pours it on his head, then smashes the glass over his head. Jeff then swanton’s the waiter and stares down Sheamus as the show ends.
My Overall Thoughts:
Hallelujah! I really enjoyed Smackdown all the way through tonight. Every segment and match had a purpose and set things up for the future and I really liked that. My only downside is ties into next week. We are once again seeing BlissCross vs BossHug for the 100th time. I really miss the other women on the Smackdown brand and wish so badly that they would use them. Where are Mandy and Sonya? Why is their feud being thrown to the side? Not even a promo tonight? We didn’t even see Otis. That is the biggest gripe I continuously have for smackdown. They have so much Women and rarely use then other than Sasha, Bayley, Nikki & Bliss. Also, why is New Day vs Cesaro and Nakamura not saved for Extreme Rules? Maybe something will happen to set up the extreme rules match, so I’ll wait on that, but for now, not a good look. Besides that, Smackdown was great and hopefully next week ends up being good too. Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
