San Antonio was the host city for this week’s episode of “WWE SmackDown,” which served as a major building block as the promotion heads toward its next marquee show the first two-night SummerSlam in WWE history. Let’s jump right in!
The WWE’s biggest teased event closed the show, with a contract signing between Cody Rhodes and John Cena taking place and you just knew there were going to be shenanigans.
Very early in the night, Rhodes asked to see the contract to review it presumably to ensure some kind of stipulation was added without Cena knowing. As the show entered its final stages, Rhodes made his way to the ring, signed the contract and cut a very strong promo. All standard fare for “The American Nightmare.”
Once it was Cena’s turn to sign, the 17-time champion claimed he would not be competing at SummerSlam because he has a film obligation and is just emotionally drained. It was the most Cena that Cena has sounded in a WWE ring since his heel turn earlier this year, a subtle, but brilliant move to make you wonder if there was any truth to his excuse.
As he rambled, Rhodes grew angry and unloaded on Cena, hitting him with the championship belt and then driving him through a table with a frog splash. Rhodes then signed the contract for Cena and revealed it would also be a street fight.
I’m no lawyer, but if Cena wanted to mount a kayfabe legal defense, the added street fight stipulation and signing the contract under duress would more than likely allow for it to be thrown out. I’m not saying WWE should explore this angle, but it would be pretty fun and get some more heat on Cena as he tries to duck Rhodes.
Either way, there are a two key takeaways here. First, Rhodes showed with his promo and by using the title to incapacitate Cena that he has overcome one of the flaws that cost him at WrestleMania 41. Second, making this a street fight significantly ups the ante from their aforementioned clash at WrestleMania.
This segment worked very well and should be the last we see of these two together until SummerSlam in two weeks.
WWE has struck gold with the Alexa Bliss/Charlotte Flair pairing and, in turn, is rejuvenating the women’s tag-team division. The first in-ring action of the night came in the form of a Flair match against Raquel Rodriguez, which we learned beforehand would serve as a precursor for a championship match set for SummerSlam. Bliss and Roxanne Perez will flip things for a singles match next week.
The promo before the match worked, the shared Flair/Bliss entrance worked with Bliss even coming close to breaking Flair in the ring and there’s a clear path forward for these titles and the division for the first time in a long time.
Make no mistake, Bliss and Flair need to walk out of MetLife Stadium next month as champions and WWE should let these two run together as a team for an extended period. Could you imagine how funny it would be for these polar opposites to do things like testing out each other’s entrances? Think about Charlotte Flair with her own version of Lilly. Wrestling is supposed to be fun and creative that’s what this is.
OK, Riggs usually uses this for a high-impact clash in the ring, but “SmackDown” actually opened at the scene of a car crash involving the MFT and a mystery driver. It was implied later in the night that Jacob Fatu was behind the incident and he was taken away by aspiring pro wrestlers ahem, police.
All of this was to set up a segment later in the night where Solo Sikoa and the MFT cut a promo on Fatu, only to see him exonerated and then take out the whole group with the help of Jimmy Uso. After all of this transpired, Adam Pearce made a United States Championship match official for SummerSlam, pitting Fatu and Sikoa against one another in a steel cage.
As good as that match will likely be, I can’t help but wonder why we needed some contrived car crash segment to get to our destination. Fatu has a legitimate reason to be heated when it comes to Sikoa and MFT, and him going after the group completely outnumbered works well with his character this should not be overlooked, because it doesn’t apply to everyone. Considering the star power and relative (pun intended) stakes in this ongoing feud, I also wonder how much this feud really needs a championship attached to it. (More on this later.)
The best match of the night was the Fatal 4-Way tag match between Fraxiom, DIY, Motor City Machine Guns and Andrade and Rey Fenix. Same as the San Antonio audience chanted during the match, this was awesome and showcased the depth and intensity of the “SmackDown” tag-team division. If you watch one thing from Friday’s show, it should be this contest.
So, why didn’t this get the coveted Uncrowned Gem of the Night? Because it doesn’t really matter, does it?
Riggs has alluded to this in previous “SmackDown” recaps WWE has booked itself into a corner with the Wyatt Sicks, especially as tag-team champions. Andrade and Fenix were the winners on Friday and will get a title shot next week a title shot there’s realistically no chance they win because it would bury the Wyatt Sicks.
I understand the hype and the desire for the Wyatt Sicks to be this big thing Bray Wyatt’s legacy deserves to continue but this just doesn’t work and feels forced, especially in the “SmackDown” tag division.
Carmelo Hayes and Damian Priest put on an excellent TV match. When is the last time Priest has put on a bad match? I can’t remember, with the point being he’s as consistent of a performer as WWE has on its roster and he is able to mesh with a variety of archetypes, from Hayes to Gunther and everyone in between.
Now, if you remember a little earlier in our recap, I hinted that the Fatu vs. Sikoa feud might not need the United States Championship. The reason for my belief there is firmly rooted in matches like this one and what we’re going to inevitably see between Priest and Aleister Black.
Black’s turn continued on Friday as he attacked Priest during his match against Hayes. We’re very clearly building to something bigger here. I just can’t help but wonder how much more impactful all of this would be with some gold attached to it.
1. Stephanie Vaquer squashed Alba Fyre, maybe continuing a push toward a tag match alongside Nikki Bella at SummerSlam. With Vaquer locked into a championship opportunity after winning the battle royal at Evolution, this is a fine, brief detour for a few weeks.
2. We got a video package promoting Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill’s WWE Women’s Championship match at SummerSlam. It was a solid way to start an abbreviated build toward their showdown. Both women have such momentum behind them that this might be the hardest match for us would-be bookers to plan for August.
The good certainly outweighed the bad as it’s now full steam ahead toward SummerSlam. I give this show a Crown score of: 7/10.