– A video recapping last week’s Bloodline/Cody/Randy Orton
drama opened the show.

– Corey Graves welcomed everyone into the show inside the
arena. Cody’s music hit and off we went with the first
segment.

The Cody Rhodes segment

Basic stuff. Hard as they try – and it’d be unfair to say
that WWE hasn’t at least somewhat heated up the SummerSlam
main event between Sikoa and Cody – but the match still
doesn’t feel like a Big Show title match and we’re two weeks
and one day away from it. So, it’s tough to buy into Cody
firing up over Sikoa or the Bloodline as long as Roman
Reigns or The Rock isn’t around, and as such, these kinds of
promos always feel lacking. Meanwhile, Theory & Waller are
great foils and they played their parts well here, but can
we get to their split already? At this point, it feels
overdue.



Cody walked out not in a suit and instead in one of his
American Nightmare shirts with the sleeves cut off. Boxer
Terence Crawford was shown sitting in the front row and Cody
walked over to him for a fist-bump before hopping into the
proceedings. The crowd started loud “Cody!” chants. Cody
opened by saying he wants to talk about Randy Orton. Cody
said before Orton was a friend, he was a mentor and he
wouldn’t be standing there as Undisputed WWE Champion
without Randy Orton. A “Randy!” chant began and Cody paused.

Cody talked about feeling guilt that the Bloodline put Orton
through a table last week. Cody called Orton family and his
brother. Cody said Orton wouldn’t want Cody to talk about
guilt and shame and instead, Cody said he wanted to talk to
the camera and the man responsible for the attack: Solo
Sikoa. Cody remembered how he told Sikoa that Sikoa wasn’t
ready before WrestleMania 39. Sikoa paid Cody back by
costing Cody the title at that ‘Mania. Cody said “The
Enforcer” was a cute nickname, and somewhere Arn Anderson
smiled. As Cody kept going on, A-Town Down Under’s music hit
and Austin Theory, alongside Grayson Waller, walked out.


Theory noted how Jacob Fatu attacked Theory last week
because of Cody. Theory said his cheek was swollen and Cody
said that was because Waller kneed Theory in the face.
Waller and Theory got on the apron as Waller told Cody he
wouldn’t have won his title without Orton and stepped into
the ring … but Cody attacked Theory and Waller quickly. The
tag team worked the numbers advantage and threw Cody to the
outside, oddly enough, near where Crawford was and Crawford
gave Cody a chair. Cody took care of Theory and Waller with
the chair and Cody’s music hit to end the segment.

**********

– Carmelo Hayes was shown getting his hair worked on in a
dressing room. The video was stylized and Hayes spoke to the
camera saying he’d beat Andrade.


– Cody was walking backstage and ran into Nick Aldis. Cody
asked Aldis if he could take on Waller & Theory in a
handicap match later. Aldis responded by saying Cody has
until the end of the night to find a partner.

Andrade defeated Carmelo Hates [9:45]

For something that felt sort of thrown together, this was
one of the better undercard SmackDown matches in recent
memory. Both guys came to prove a point and they did just
that. Good stuff. Not really having a feel for who might win
added to it, too, because both guys haven’t been lighting
the world on fire since hitting the SmackDown roster, so the
stakes here felt weirdly higher than I expected. My only
complaint was that we lost a couple minutes of it to a
commercial break, but SmackDown is going to SmackDown. We
can always rely on that.


The action was fast early as the two traded a series of
takedowns and pin attempts. Both guys cut each other off
repeatedly, but Hayes ultimately took control with a
backwards draping springboard leg drop onto Andrade, who was
hanging from the second rope. The show then went to a
commercial break with Hayes having the advantage.

The show returned and a replay of a Spanish Fly aired as
Hayes worked Andrade’s arm. The two ran the ropes and
Andrade landed a tough clothesline to reset the match. On
their feet, the two traded strikes until Andrade hit a pair
of dragon-screw leg-whips. Andrade pumped up the crowd (and
the crowd complied) before hitting a running double-knees on
Hayes. Before long, Hayes came back with a tilt-a-whirl
face-buster.


Hayes and Andrade battled on the top rope and Andrade
executed his missed monsault into a standing moonsault
sequence that the crowd really seemed to love for a nice
near-fall. The two traded more strikes until Andrade got in
his spinning back-elbow for another good near-fall. Andrade
went to the top and jumped into a First 48, but Andrade
kicked out at 2.8. Hayes went to the top and missed Nothing
But Net and from there, Andrade hit The Message for the win.

**********

The Bayley/Nia Jax segment

The two were shown on a split screen. Jax cut off Corey
Graves, who tried to ask a question. Jax said everyone
should start feeling bad for Bayley because Jax is going to
put Bayley down at SummerSlam. Bayley said Jax hasn’t
changed after all these years. Jax demanded to be called the
Queen of the Ring. Bayley said Jax walks around like she
owns the place and Bayley recalled how Jax took Bayley out
of her SummerSlam match in 2017. Bayley called Jax “big,
clumsy and reckless.”


Jax stewed and got silent for a second. Jax said she’s
coming for the title because she wants to take it off
Bayley. Bayley responded by saying she has bad news for Jax:
Bayley said she has changed after all these years herself
and she will walk out of SummerSlam with the WWE Women’s
Championship. Jax was flustered, tore the mic off her shirt
and stormed out of the frame to end things.

**********

– Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair were shown walking
backstage and they ran into Chelsea Green and Piper Niven,
the latter of whom called Cargill and Belair losers. Both
teams wanted to talk to Nick Aldis and stood outside of
Aldis’s office. Belair challenged Green to a match and just
like that, we went to the ring.

Bianca Belair defeated Chelsea Green [0:56]

The match wasn’t even a minute. That’s all.

Green started the match by slapping Belair in the face and
Belair returned the favor. Belair followed that up with a
German Suplex. Soon after that, Belair set up for a KOD, but
Green worked out of it to roll Belair up … only to have
Belair roll Green up for the win. Cargill celebrated with
Belair in the ring and Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn popped up on
the video screen. The champs said “we’ll see” about a tag
title rematch.

**********

The LA Knight/Logan Paul contract signing

This was good and surprisingly stiff. The match had some
heat already, but these two pulled no punches in this verbal
exchange. I wasn’t able to grab all the one-liners in real
time so if you can go back to watch the segment, I’d suggest
doing it because it’s worth it. The story that Knight has
given his life to wrestling while Paul could take it or
leave it is compelling because it’s probably not all that
far from the truth. Calling Knight by his real name actually
packed a tiny punch in this situation, too, which doesn’t
happen much anymore because it happens too much across all
companies. I liked this a lot. Both guys were very good.


Nick Aldis stood in the ring and introduced LA Knight. The
crowd, still, even after all this time, was very much into
LA Knight. Paul then made his entrance and the crowd boo’ed
the hell out of him. “LA Knight!” chants broke out. Paul
lobbed a lot of insults at Knight and asked the crowd why he
should give Knight a shot at the U.S. title. Knight got a
microphone said maybe Paul was right and maybe Paul should
take a walk … but then Knight recounted how he walked down
the aisle a year ago and told Paul where he could stick his
bottles of Prime.

In the meantime, Knight pointed out, Paul became U.S.
champion. Knight called Paul the man as long as he holds the
U.S. title. Knight said he thought he’d ask for a shot at it
and Paul said no. Knight said he took things into his own
hands and showed up at Paul’s house. Knight said none of it
led to Knight getting what he wanted, which was the U.S.
title. Paul cut Knight off and called him by his government
name, “Shaun” (from Hagerstown, Maryland, as a matter of
fact). Paul said Knight’s existence is defined by what
Knight does in the ring but that’s not the case for Paul. He
followed that up by saying the last name “Paul” is in the
zeitgeist.


Paul said Knight doesn’t move like Paul and Knight is not
“him” and for someone who defines himself by what happens in
the ring, he hasn’t done anything noteworthy in the last 20
years. Paul made the comment that Knight isn’t The Rock,
which at this point, felt dated. Knight said Paul was a
fraud and said Paul’s brother would jump in the ring with
Mike Tyson, but Logan doesn’t have the balls to step in the
ring with Knight. That fired up Logan up and Logan signed
the contract. Logan said after SummerSlam, he’ll take
everything from Knight and Logan did the “Yeah!”
catchphrase. Paul threw the contract at Knight and Aldis had
to separate Knight and Paul.


Paul went to leave the ring and Knight picked up the
contract. Knight turned his back and Paul ran back into the
ring to attack Knight. The two battled and Knight nearly hit
the BFT, but Paul got out of it and left the ring. Knight’s
music hit to end the segment.

**********

– A Tiffany Stratton “Pink Bubblegum” video aired.

– Knight was shown walking backstage and ran into Santos
Escobar, who reminded Knight that he was in the match at MSG
a few weeks ago and Escobar did not get pinned. Knight said
he has some free time and if Escobar wants to get in touch
with Knight, Escobar’s mom has his number. Escobar kind
of/sort of set up a match between he and Knight for next
week.

Michin defeated Tiffany Stratton [8:05]

Michin is in this weird place in WWE Land. She never really
gets a credible win – as in, on her own – but she does
benefit from getting important victories, to the point where
she even got a world title shot against IYO SKY some months
ago. That said, it was nice to see her get a win here, but
the story was Bayley and Jax, as that’s the place to which
we are building in two weeks at SummerSlam. I’d be shocked
if the Stratton/Jax story doesn’t take a major turn that
night in Cleveland. But we’ll see.

Michin had control early and landed a a Cannonball for a one
count. Stratton rolled to the outside and Michin ran after
Stratton until Michin ran into Jax, who stopped Michin.
Stratton took advantage of that and hit her cartwheel into
an Alabama Slam on the outside. The show then went to a
commercial break. The show returned and Stratton had control
inside the ring. Stratton hit a double knees for a near-
fall. Stratton followed that up with a back elbow and a
makeshift pop-up powerbomb. Stratton tried the Alabama Slam
again, but Michin fought out of it and hit a back elbow.

Michin fired up and landed a series of kicks, ending the
fury with a neck-breaker. Michin then hit a Tornado DDT for
a two-count. Stratton came back with a running kick to
Michin’s chest and got a two-count out of it. Stratton put
Michin on the top turnbuckle, but Michin countered with a
shotgun dropkick off the top. Stratton rolled to the outside
and Michin ran the ropes … until she was cut off by Jax.
Stratton took advantage of that with a rolling Senton.
Bayley appeared out of nowhere and threw Jax into the
timekeeper’s area.

Bayley hit Jax with the MITB briefcase. Bayley then broke
the briefcase open and beat the hell out of the briefcase
for some reason. The result of all of this was Michin
rolling Stratton up for the win. After the match, Bayley
rolled the beat up briefcase back into the ring. Bayley and
Michin celebrated outside the ring.

**********

– The Bloodline were shown in a dark room. Solo Sikoa said
life is so good when you are the Tribal Chief. Sikoa said
life is also busy because of that because he doesn’t have a
moment to himself. Sikoa wondered who would step up and be
Cody’s partner later, which, by proxy, would disrespect the
Bloodline. Sikoa said if you are on Cody’s side, you are
against the Bloodline. Sikoa said tonight better a handicap
match or someone will pay the price.

– Next week, a six-team No. 1 contender match will happen
for the WWE tag titles. Bayley & Michin will take on Jax and
Stratton. Plus, there will be Knight vs. Escobar.

– Cody was shown walking backstage and Kevin Owens walked
into the frame. Owens said he’d see Cody out there and we
got the camera shot following Owens to the ring as Owens’s
music hit.

Cody Rhodes & Kevin Owens defeated A-Town Down Under (Austin
Theory & Grayson Waller) [11:59]

Different week, same story, when it comes to inserting Kevin
Owens into the Randy Orton role from last week. I said this
earlier, but I’ll say it again: I understand and appreciate
WWE’s attempt at building the new Bloodline (Wolfpack 2.0,
as I like to call them) as menaces and Sikoa has certainly
gained some things by being put in this role. But … it just
doesn’t feel SummerSlam main event worthy to me yet. It
might never get there, actually. In the meantime, I do think
these angles are doing some good for Sikoa, Loa, Tonga and
Fatu (especially Fatu, who looks every bit the star we all
thought he’d look if he ever made it here). I just don’t
think it’s Undisputed WWE World Champ Match Worthy. On the
other side of things, it’s too bad for Theory and Waller.
They’re good at being the Guys To Always Lose, but come on,
WWE. Let’s break these two up and start another story by
now. Please?

The action spilled outside early and Theory grabbed Owens by
the beard at one point. Waller held Cody before long and
Theory pounded on Cody. Waller was the legal man and Waller
worked over Cody until Cody fired up and got the first hot
tag to Owens. Owens came in and stomped a mud hole in
Waller. Everyone went back outside the ring and Owens landed
clotheslines on Waller and Theory. Back inside the ring,
Owens hit a Cannonball on Waller. Owens then went to the top
and went for a Swanton, but Waller got the knees up and
tagged in Theory, who hit a rolling dropkick on Owens.

Waller tagged in and landed an elbow on Owens for a two-
count. The show then went to its final commercial break.
When the show came back, Waller and Owens battled on the top
rope until Owens hit Waller off the top and followed that up
with a Swanton. Cody then received the hot tag and started
beating the hell out of Theory. Waller got a blind tag, but
Cody hit a DDT on Theory. Waller ran in and landed a rolling
Facebuster for a two-count.

Theory tagged in and Waller nearly hit Theory, but Owens
landed a Stunner on Waller and Cody hit the CrossRhodes on
Theory for the win. Cody and KO celebrated until the
Bloodline’s music hit and out came the Bloodline. Owens and
Cody battled with the Bloodline outside the ring. The two
set up to put Sikoa through a table but Jacob Fatu cut
everything off and took out Owens while Cody watched the
Bloodline work over Owens, which included multiple hip
attacks from Fatu.

As Tonga and Loa held Cody, Fatu hit a flying headbutt on
Owens. The Bloodline lifted Cody and they triple-powerbombed
Cody through the announce table. Tonga put a chair around
Owens’s neck and ran Owens into a ring post. The Bloodline
posed with their fingers in the air over Cody as the show
went off the air and the crowd chanted “We want Roman!”

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