Bayley and Banks Checkmate the Queen
Bayley’s night got off to an awkward start as she was cheered coming to the ring, then booed as she grabbed a microphone.
She admitted she was confused as she was trying to lift people up in the woman’s division, and asked what was so surprising about her turn on Becky Lynch. She explained how she was loyal to her best friend, Sasha Banks, for having her back all these years.
She went on to say she’d trying to give the Smackdown Women’s championship the same legitimacy as Lynch’s.
She then spoke ill of the queen by calling her the most selfish person in the WWE, and Charlotte Flair came out to surprising cheers. Could Flair be making the shift to babyface?
“I’m the queen of selfishness. But what you see is what you get. There’s no confusion. There’s no blindsiding, and there’s definitely no hugging.”
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Sasha Banks came out to interrupt Flair, and after hesitating, Flair took out Bayley, then went after Banks. As she was on Banks punching her, Bayley grabbed a chair and nailed Flair a couple of times before handing it over to Banks, who hit Flair a few more times before handing it back to Bayley for another strike.
The fans in attendance loved it as chants of “Bayley!” was the loudest it’s been in maybe forever.
Wrath of Rowan
Daniel Bryan came to the ring, emphasizing he had nothing to do with the attacks on Reigns and demanding an apology from Roman Reigns for calling him a liar.
As Reigns came out, Erick Rowan attacked Reigns from behind, then threw him into the ring post and apron. When Bryan tried to intercede, Rowan threw him aside, then drove Reigns into the post again.
In the ring, Rowen hit reigns with the Iron Claw, among chants of “Rowen!” followed by boos.
“Roman. Roman, the joke’s on you.” He then berated Bryan, calling him worse than everyone else for thinking he could control him. Then he challenged Bryan to get into the ring and slap him in the face again.
After tormenting Reigns some more, Rowan threw him out of the ring and hit him with the steel steps.
Bryan tired to intercede again, and in the middle of shouting at each other, he slapped Rowan again. Rowan then Iron Clawed Bryan through the announcer’s table, shouting, “No one tells me what to do! Never again! No one touches me!”
The Rest of Raw
King of the Ring Round 2: Elias beat Ali by
Elias displayed an increased aggression and dominated early on, but Ali adapted and turned the momentum, nearly earning a submission win with a crossface before Elias reached the ropes.
After exchanging submission opportunities, Elis hit with a Drift Away for the pin.
This was a pretty good match as both superstars got to show what they can do. Both have improved and gotten a good push lately.
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Fire and Desire Beat Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross by pinfall
A fun but short match, Deville and Rose won cleanly after Deville countered a Twisted Bliss with raised knees and tagged in Rose. They double teamed Bliss with a leg sweep and knee for the pin.
Orton Continues to Top Kingston
Randy Orton continued to challenge Kofi Kingston’s ability and played a recap of his RKOs over the last few weeks. It had he desired effect and Kingston came out to Orton’s challenge to “face me like a man.”
Kingston came with the Revival already attacking him. Kingston fought back, but Orton interceded with a clothesline. Orton then threw him into the ring and called him stupid between stomps.
After a brief flourish by Kingston, Orton hit with a Super RKO.
King of the Ring Round 2: Chad Gabble beat Andrade by pinfall
Zelina Vega started it off by saying “from one vertical challenged person to another” would with the KOTR if he didn’t have to face Andrade.
Wave the flag in from of the little bull, why don’t ya, right?
A fun match saw Gabble fight hard as he countered Andrade’s Three Amigos with two German suplexes of his own in the middle of Andrades, and then nearly scoring the pun following a moonsault.
Gabble then countered Andrade’s Hammerlock DDT into a sunset flip for the win.
Aleister Black beat Shelton Benjamin by pinfall
A visibly irritated and impatient Aleister Black announced he was heading to the ring to see if any superstars had the courage to pick a fight with him.
Another short but entertaining match was mostly one-sided in Black’s favor. Following a Black Mass, Black notched another win.
24/7 Championship: Bo Dallas beat Drake Maverick (c) by pinfall
Taking advantage of Maverick fighting off other superstars, Bo Dallas snuck up behind him and rolled him up for the pin. Dallas was then chased by the other superstars.
Shinsuke Nakamura beat Andrew Howard by pinfall
A squash match against local talent ended with a Kinshasa. The short match was narrated by Samir Zayn — who channeled his inner and very good Bobby Heenan — as a warmup for Nakamura’s Clash of Champions match with the Miz.
24/7 Championship: Drake Maverick beat Bo Dallas (c) by pinfall
After Nakamura’s win, Bo Dallas, with his partner, Curtis Axel, acting as a shield against the other superstars, entered the ring. While Axel fought them off, Maverick snuck up behind Dallasand rolled him up for the pin.
24/7 Championship: R-Truth beat Drake Maverick by pinfall
After avoiding the B-Team, Maverick was kneeling on the ramp celebrating when R-Truth, who had been hiding in the King of the Ring cloak, snuck up on Maverick and rolled him up for the pin.
Final Thoughts
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While an entertaining show overall, Smackdown’s matches haven’t quite been on par with Raw’s, but they’ve sought to balance that with storytelling and it’s been working more than not. It’s pretty cool seeing Charlotte Flair and Daniel Bryan possibly switching to babyfaces, as that’s a promising and fun change. It was cool hearing the fans different reactions on Bayley and Rowan. It seems like their pops were the loudest of the night. The brightest spot was the near closure of the Roman Reigns thread. It’s going to be fun watching Reigns and Rowan at Clash of Champions.
