– The show opened with a video recapping last week’s
developments between Cody, Kevin Owens and The Bloodline.


– Nick Aldis was shown backstage with The Bloodline. Aldis
told them they’d have to forfeit their spot in the tag team
gauntlet match due to an eye injury to Tonga Loa. Solo Sikoa
said Jacob Fatu could step in for Loa and Aldis agreed.
Sikoa told Fatu to bring the tag titles “home.”

– LA Knight was shown walking backstage and Knight spoke to
a camera walking with him. Knight said he was going to teach
Santos Escobar some history and did his “LA Knight” gimmick
before walking through the curtain for the first match.

LA Knight defeated Santos Escobar [9:40]

A standard match. On one hand, it’s refreshing to see
SmackDown open with a match instead of a promo. On the
other, the match was just sort of there. The Paul attack
felt inevitable, so at least it was short lived. What’s
happening with Escobar? He’s kind of faded into midcard
purgatory since his feud with the LWO finished up. I know
he’s carrying the Legado Del Fantasma flag, but for that
matter, what’s happening with Legado Del Fantasma? Maybe
they get a reset after SummerSlam.


Escobar ran at Knight to start the match, but Knight moved
and eventually took control by working Escobar’s arm. With
Escobar in a corner, Knight worked a series of punches until
Escobar pulled Knight down, onto the top turnbuckle. Now
with control, Escobar hit some chops and a snap suplex.
Escobar worked a weird offshoot Sharpshooter briefly and
before long, Knight was draped over the second rope, where
Elektra Lopez slapped Knight. Escobar followed that up with
a 619 on Knight. The show then went to its first commercial
break of the night.

When the show returned, Escobar landed a double knees for a
two-count. Knight tried for a comeback with a swinging neck-
breaker, but Escobar got right back on the offensive and
toyed with Knight, hitting a series of strikes on Knight.
Escobar walked into an elbow from Knight and Knight
proceeded to stomp away on Escobar. Knight followed that up
with a running knee and a DDT. Knight hit a powerslam and
both wrestlers were down. Lopez stood on the apron and Logan
Paul ran down, only to receive a clothesline from Knight.
Knight then telegraphed a Phantom Driver attempt and hit the
BFT for the win.


After the match, Paul attacked Knight until Knight fought
back and stomped on Paul repeatedly. Escobar then hit Knight
with a knee and shook hands with Paul. The heels worked over
Knight and Paul hit a frog splash on Knight to close the
segment.

**********

– A video recapping Blair Davenport attacking Naomi aired.
From there, Byron Saxton interviewed Naomi backstage. Naomi
said she didn’t know what Davenport’s issue was with Naomi.
Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair walked into the frame and
told Naomi that Davenport would get what’s coming to her.
Cargill and Belair walked toward the ring.

– Paul was shown walking backstage and ran into Saxton. Paul
said he gave Knight a taste of what he’s going to do at
SummerSlam. Paul then said he got a phone call earlier and
on that phone call, Paul learned he’s going to receive a
surprise at SummerSlam. Paul ended by saying Knight will
face “the pride of Cleveland” at SummerSlam and mocked the
“Yeah!”


The Cargill/Belair segment

Belair spoke first and said she was going to cut to the
chase: She wanted to know where Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn
were. Cargill started to talk and Fyre & Dawn’s music hit.
The tag champs attacked Cargill and Belair from behind
instead of coming down the entrance way. Before long, the
babyfaces took control and Cargill slammed Fyre onto Dawn.
Cargill and Belair posed and celebrated to end the segment.

**********

– The Street Profits were shown backstage and Terence
Crawford showed up. Crawford said he’d be watching later
when the Profits compete in the gauntlet match.

– Tiffany Stratton and Nia Jax were shown talking in the
locker room. Jax said she’d get Stratton a new briefcase.
Stratton hugged the briefcase Bayley beat up on last week’s
episode.


The Bloodline (Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga) defeated Baron
Corbin & Apollo Crews, The Street Profits (Montez Ford &
Angelo Dawkins), Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince),
The O.C. (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) and Legado Del
Fantasma (Berto & Angel) to become the No. 1 contenders for
the WWE Tag Team Championship (38:40)

Once Fatu was inserted into the match, replacing Loa, you
had to know it was going to be The Bloodline getting the
win. That’s OK. You have to think they’ll dethrone #DIY at
some point next weekend, be it on SmackDown or at
SummerSlam, and that feels like the right call, if only
because it might help elevate those tag titles – tag titles
that have lost a whole lot of prestige in recent months. As
for this match, it played out how one might think it would.
The Profits get the most shine/time, but ultimately come up
short. The other teams were just kind of there. And The
Bloodline goes over. There was some good action shoehorned
in there, but nothing really notable. As an aside, that back
suplex Crews took early on was nuts. He seemed to be OK
coming out of it, but man. That was scary.


LDF and Borbin & Crews started the gauntlet. Angel and
Corbin started the match after LDF jumpstarted the match.
Corbin had control until Angel tagged in Berto and the
action spilled outside. Berto landed a Tope on Corbin and
the show went to a commercial break. Back from that
commercial, Berto lifted Corbin, but Corbin fought his way
out of it, eventually hip-tossing Berto into the
turnbuckles. Crews and Angel tagged in and fired up,
complete with a series of German Suplexes on Angel.

Crews hit a splash on Angel and went to the top, but leapt
into a knee from Angel. Angel landed a backbreaker for a
two-count. Corbin and Berto fought outside while Angel hit a
running knee on Crews. Corbin ultimately tagged in and
landed End Of Days on Angel to eliminate LDF.


Legado Del Fantasma (Angel & Berto) were eliminated at 6:01.

The Street Profits made their entrance as the next team in
the match. Ford and Crews began and Crews took Ford down
with a dropkick. Ford came back with a nasty back suplex
that could have killed Crews. Dawkins tagged in, but Ford
and Corbin tagged in soon after. Corbin punched Ford to the
outside of the ring and Crews threw Corbin over the top onto
the outside, where Ford and Dawkins took the brunt of
Corbin’s splash. The show then went to another commercial
break.

The show returned and Ford jumped from the top only to run
into a boot from Corbin. Both guys ended up down and Dawkins
received the hot tag. Crews tagged in as well. The two
traded enziguris and Dawkins went for a cover after a
suplex. Things broke down and Crews and Ford hit stereo
suicide dives on their opponents on the outside. Back in the
ring, Crews went to the top, but Dawkins moved when Crews
tried a frog-splash. Ford tagged in and the Profits hit
their finisher on Crews to eliminate Crews and Corbin.


Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews were eliminated at 14:11.

Pretty Deadly was the next team out and they went for quick
cover attempts on Dawkins. Ford tagged in and Prince got a
blind tag. Prince then chop-blocked Ford to give Pretty
Deadly control. Wilson tagged in and the two worked over
Ford’s knee. Ford tried to fight his way out of the Pretty
Deadly corner, but Prince cut Ford off and the heels went
back to work on Ford’s knee. Dawkins received the hot tag
eventually and hit an enziguri on Prince, which led to a
two-count.

Wilson tagged in and Dawkins ran into a DDT from Wilson for
a near-fall. Prince then tagged in and Pretty Deadly took
turns hitting back elbows on Dawkins. The two landed a gut
buster on Dawkins, but Ford broke up a pin attempt. Dawkins
then lifted Prince and tagged in Ford, who hit a Blockbuster
from the top to eliminate Pretty Deadly.


Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince & Kit Wilson were eliminated at
20:42.

The O.C. walked out as the next team and the show went to
another commercial break. When the show got back, Anderson
had control over Ford. Gallows tagged in and slammed Ford.
Anderson tagged in and slammed Ford and got a two-count for
his efforts. Gallows tagged in and worked a chin lock.
Before long, Anderson and Gallows were on the outside after
Anderson slipped off the apron. Dawkins tagged in and hit a
dive onto both heels, nearly running into the commentary
table. Quickly, Anderson hit a spine-buster on Dawkins and
tagged in Gallows. Anderson went to run at Dawkins, but Ford
grabbed his leg and Dawkins rolled up Anderson to eliminate
The O.C.


The O.C. (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) were eliminated at
28:32.

The Bloodline’s music hit and they walked to the ring as the
final team to enter the match. The show went to a commercial
break and when it got back, The Bloodline were dominating
Dawkins. At one point, Dawkins was draped over the second
rope and Solo Sikoa choked Dawkins. Fatu tagged in and went
to work on Dawkins, complete with a finger-chewing moment.
Fatu went for a dive at Dawkins and Dawkins moved so Fatu
ran into the ring post.

Ford received the hot tag and Tonga tagged in. Ford hit a
spinebuster on Tonga and a super-kick to Fatu. Ford went to
the top and landed a splash on Tonga for a good near-fall.
Tonga came back with a super-plex from the second rope. The
action broke down and Ford jumped over the corner ring post
to take out everyone on the outside. Back in the ring, Ford
went to the top, but missed a frog-splash. Fatu tagged in
and it looked like some miscommunication happened between he
and Ford. After a few seconds, Fatu hit his pop-up Samoan
Drop. Fatu then landed a moonsault from the top and got the
win.


**********

– The Commentary team was talking and Grayson Waller &
Austin Theory showed up through the crowd. Waller called out
Terence Crawford for costing them the match against Cody and
KO last week. Theory demanded Crawford come to the ring.
Crawford came out through the walkway. Waller said last
week, Crawford disrespect he and Theory and as such,
Crawford owed Waller and Theory an apology. Waller said
Theory would knock Crawford out. Theory walked toward
Crawford and Crawford knocked Theory out. Waller exited the
ring and Crawford posed for the live crowd.

The Cody Rhodes segment

Cody reflected on winning his title at WrestleMania. Cody
called the Bloodline a bunch of wild animals and because of
them, Cody is sitting alone because The Bloodline took out
his friends, Kevin Owens and Randy Orton. Cody said he will
head into SummerSlam a champion and he will have to bring
his fire and passion to make sure the title doesn’t slip
back into the hands of The Bloodline. Cody said Solo Sikoa
will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Cody said he
used to think Solo wasn’t ready, but he’s not sure about
that anymore. Cody challenged Sikoa to meet him in the ring
next week and go face-to-face.

**********

– Next week, Fyre & Dawn will take on Belair and Cargill for
the Women’s Tag Team Championship. The Bloodline get their
shot at #DIY for the WWE Tag Team Championship. There will
also be a Logan Paul homecoming segment.

– Andrade was interviewed backstage and Carmelo Hayes walked
into the frame. Hayes said just because Andrade won last
week, it isn’t over. Hayes said it won’t be over until Hayes
wins. Andrade offered one more match and Hayes walked away.

Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton defeated Bayley & Michin [12:44]

They tried. They really did, with the Michin injury angle
and the comeback and the glorified handicap match. But there
really wasn’t much to this. What makes the Jax/Bayley match
interesting, of course, is Jax’s relationship with Stratton,
but there was no tease for anything between Jax and Stratton
here and instead, we got a lot of rest holds and 12-plus
minutes of heel dominance. I’ll tell you this: We all expect
Roman Reigns to make some type of return at SummerSlam next
weekend, and at this point, it can’t go unnoticed that
without him regularly popping up on SmackDown, this show has
quickly – and I mean quickly – declined in quality. It needs
him. Raw is not only the better television show; it’s the
better wrestling show, and it doesn’t feel like it was all
that long ago when Fridays felt like the biggest day of the
week for WWE. Here’s hoping that can change because this was
just the latest in a series of below lackluster SmackDowns.

Michin was making her entrance and Jax and Stratton ran out
and attacked Michin. Bayley’s must then hit and Bayley ran
to the ring with a kendo stick. Michin sold arm pain outside
the ring and it looked like the tag match was about to turn
into a handicap match. Bayley attacked Stratton to
officially start the match, but Stratton came back with a
head-lock. Eventually, Bayley got Stratton on the mat and
hit a series of strikes. Before long, Stratton ran Bayley
into a corner and regained control. Meanwhile, Michin stayed
on the outside, selling her arm.

Stratton threw Bayley into a corner, but Bayley went threw
the ropes and came back at Stratton with a neck-breaker.
Michin hopped back on the apron, but Jax got Michin off the
apron and hit a Samoan Drop on Michin on the outside. Inside
the ring, Stratton hit a double stomp on Bayley for a two-
count. The show then went to its final commercial break of
the evening. Back to the show and Stratton worked a stink
face on Bayley.

Stratton whipped Bayley into a corner and the camera showed
Michin selling more pain on the outside of the ring.
Meanwhile, Bayley was the recipient of a back elbow and
splash from both Jax and Stratton. Jax was the legal woman
in the ring and toyed with Bayley. Stratton tagged in and
worked a chin-lock on Bayley. Stratton planted Bayley and
Jax tagged in to hit an elbow and come up with a two-count.
Jax then worked a modified chin-lock. Stratton tagged back
in and went for her back handspring splash in a corner, but
Bayley caught Stratton and hit a belly-to-back suplex.

Michin hopped back up on the apron and Jax tagged in to cut
Bayley off. Stratton tagged in, but Bayley kicked Stratton
away and got the hot tag to Michin, who fired up against
Stratton, complete with a Tornado DDT and a suicide dive
onto Jax, who was on the outside. Michin went for a shotgun
dropkick, but Stratton moved and tagged in Jax, who missed a
splash on Michin. Bayley tagged in and hit a running knee on
Jax. Bayley went to the top and connected with an elbow from
the top for a good near-fall. With the referee distracted,
Stratton hit Bayley with the MITB briefcase. From there, Jax
his her finish and pinned Bayley for the win.

After the match, the show cut to another Bloodline video.
Sikoa said the Tongans will bring the tag titles back to the
Bloodline and Sikoa will bring back the world title back to
the Bloodline. Sikoa said if Roman Reigns has a problem with
that, he knows where to find him (SummerSlam, probably).
Sikoa said “Acknowledge me” and the group held up their
fingers to end the show.

• F4wonline