Coverage
Mitchell’s NJPW New Beginning Hiroshima Results & Report! (2/10/21)
NJPW begins in Hiroshima!
Another New Beginning begins, but who will reign?
The New Beginnings are continuing, and NJPW returns to Hiroshima! Will Hiromu Takahashi still be IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion against Sho?
NOTE: NJPW no longer wants to feed AXS TV now that it is with Anthem and Impact Wrestling. But never fear, I will cover NJPW in the spirit of AXS in providing the most important matches of the show.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
- Master Wato VS BUSHI; Bushi wins.
- 10 Man Tag: Chaos VS Bullet Club; Chaos wins.
- Kota Ibushi & Tomoaki Honma VS SANADA & Tetsuya Naito; Sanada & Naito win.
- IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Guerrillas of Destiny VS Dangerous Tekkers; GoD wins by disqualification and retain the titles.
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi VS SHO; Hiromu wins and retains the title.
PLAY BY PLAY
Master Wato w/ Hiroyoshi Tenzan VS BUSHI!
The rivalry is on! The Way of the Grandmaster wants to show he belongs, and that he can beat the Death Mask! Will he prove it tonight? Or will Bushi shut Wato down?
Wato poses on the corner, to missile dropkick Bushi down! Fans fire up as the bell rings and Wato builds speed to FLY! Tornillo takes down Bushi and Wato fires up! Wato brings Bushi up and puts him in the ring to then stomp away. Wato pulls at the mask, the ref reprimands and Bushi gets away to the outside. Wato pursues to stomp Bushi then rip his shirt away! Wato brings Bushi up, Bushi hits back but Wato clubs Bushi. Wato whips, Bushi reverses and Wato gets railing! Fans rally up as both men are down on the outside. The ref checks on them both, Bushi rises first and he brings Wato along. Bushi wraps Wato’s leg on railing and BOOTS it!
Wato hobbles and falls, Bushi stomps him down, and a ring count begins. The count is already 10 of 20 as Bushi puts Wato in, and fans cheer as this continues in the ring. Bushi brings Wato up, bumps him off buckles and CHOPS him! And CHOPS, and CHOPS! Wato throws forearms but Bushi CHOPS then double CHOPS! Bushi brings Wato up, wraps his leg on the ropes and dropkicks the leg! Wato falls over, fans rally, but Bushi drags Wato up. Bushi has the leg, and hits a SHIN BREAKER! Bushi keeps on the leg and has a deathlock! Wato endures, fans rally, and Wato drags himself and Bushi over to get the ropebreak! The ref counts, Bushi pulls Wato’s hair but still lets go at 4.
Bushi keeps the leg hooked but the ref counts again so Bushi gets away at 3. Bushi stands Wato up, snapmares and KICKS him! And KICKS, then gives toying kicks. Wato gets annoyed, Bushi boots him but Wato boots back! Wato kicks but Bushi blocks to elbow the knee! Bushi runs, but into Wato’s jumping kick! Fans rally as both men are down again. Wato gets up, brings Bushi around and whips him to ropes. Bushi ducks but Wato back elbows, back hands and sobats! Fans fire up as Bushi goes to a corner. Wato runs in but is put on the apron. Wato kicks Bushi back, springboards, but Bushi avoids the leap! Bushi kicks low then runs, but into a tilt-o-whirl BACKBREAKER! Cover, TWO!
Wato grows annoyed but he gets the bad leg moving and drags Bushi up. Fans rally as Wato kicks away from all sides, then spins Bushi into a ZIGZAG! Cover, TWO! Bushi survives but Wato drags him up and around. Wato wrenches, reels Bushi in, but Bushi fights the Mouse Trap! Bushi runs but into a back kick! Wato runs but into an enziguri! Bushi hoists Wato up and hangs him out to dry. Bushi goes to a corner, climbs, but Wato avoids the guillotine to shoulder in! Wato springboards and hits the FLYING UPPERCUT! Bushi bails out, fans fire up with Wato and Wato builds speed again, only for Bushi to get in and BOOT!
Bushi whips, Wato reverses but Bushi huricanranas Wato out! Bushi builds speed and DIVES! Direct hit and Wato hits railing hard! The ref checks on Wato as commentary fixes their Plexiglas! Wato is okay to continue but he flounders around. Fans rally up and Bushi gets up. The ring count returns, Bushi puts Wato back in at 10 of 20 and fans fire up. Bushi drags Wato up, dropkicks the leg then hits a DDT! Bushi goes to a corner and fans rally up. Wato slowly rises and Bushi runs in, but no Code Breaker! Wato kicks but Bushi dodges to dropkick the legs again! Bushi reels Wato in to wrench and hook up, but Wato fights off the lift! Wato reels Bushi in, MOUSE TRAP DRIVER! Cover, TWO!
Bushi survives and fans fire up as Wato rises again. Wato drags Bushi up, kicks but Bushi blocks! Bushi dropkicks the legs again, reels Wato back in, but no Fisherman Screw! SCREW HIGH KICK! Wato fires up, fans rally and Wato drags Bushi up to scoop, T T D!! But the Tenzan Tombstone Driver isn’t enough, Wato goes up top! RPP FLOPS!! Bushi avoids the twist at the last moment! Wato rolls to the opposite corner now and fans fire up more! Bushi and Wato both stagger up to their feet, but Wato runs in corner to corner. Bushi dodges, runs back in but Wato boots him. Wato kicks, kicks and KICK-
No, Bushi catches it and puts the leg in the ropes! DRAPING CODE BREAKER! Bushi drags himself up, Wato is in the target zone, but Wato avoids MX to come around and tilt-o-whirl, school boy, but Bushi avoids the buzzsaw! Bushi kicks, Wato blocks, Wato ducks the enziguri but not the rewind mule kick! Bushi wrenches and reels Wato in, TERRIBLÉ! Cover, TWO!?! Wato survives but Bushi won’t lose focus! Bushi staggers to the corner and climbs up. Wato slowly gets back up, Bushi leaps, M X!! Cover, Bushi wins!
Winner: Bushi, by pinfall
The ending wasn’t Terriblè but it was still successful for Bushi! Surprisingly, Bushi helps Wato up onto his feet. But then he throws Wato out! And dumps an ice pack out on Wato’s head! Will it sink in for Wato that he is not the Grandmaster yet?
10 Man Tag: Chaos VS Bullet Club!
The Rainmaker, the provisional Mr. KOPW 2021 and the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions are taking on The King of Darkness, the Switchblade, Tokyo Pimp, Bone Soldier and the man with the most powerful boot in NJPW! Will Kazuchika Okada lead his team to victory? Or will Darkness Fall on the New Beginnings?
Teams don’t bother sorting out, it turns into a HUGE brawl before Okada even gets in the ring! Bullet Club’s Jay White wants revenge on Tomohiro Ishii and Bullet Club wants those Six Man Tag titles, but they’re the ones getting beat down! Chaos isolates White for the Six Man champions to stomp away on! The bell rings as Okada clubs and RAMS Evil and Yano keeps the other Bullet Club members busy. Goto and Hashi dig boots into White, then drag him back into the ring. Ishii helps stomp White, then they whip White to ropes. White holds ropes, and tags out to Ishimori! Ishii is after White while Goto and Hashi kick and whip and run Ishimori over! Hip toss senton!
ELP gets in but he gets kicks, and hammering fists! Goto drags Ishimori back up, and now Ishimori gets hammered! Gedo protests but Ishii throws him in! The Six Man champs hammer away on Gedo! White is furious, Gedo insults Chaos as he bails out, but Hashi elbows Ishimori down. Hashi CHOPS Ishimori, runs, but ELP gets a cheap shot in! Ishimori claws Hashi’s back while Evil runs in to sucker punch Goto and Okada! Tag to ELP and the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions give Hashi a super BACK RAKE! Evil RAMS Okada into the timekeeper! White fires off on Ishii! Goto helps Ishii against White while everyone else is trying to help Abe-san!
Ishimori and ELP keep on Hashi with another super BACK RAKE! ELP gives Hashi noogies but the ref reprimands. White tags in and he drags Hashi up to give back those hammering fists! And more, and more! White drags Hashi up for a neckbreaker, then covers, TWO! Bullet Club complains about the count but White drags Hashi up. White EuroUppers Hashi, tags Yujiro in, but Hashi hits back! Hashi hits everyone in the Bullet Club corner but White anchors a foot for Yujiro to mug Hashi! The ref reprimands as Yujiro digs his boots in but Yujiro tags to Evil. Evil drags Hashi up as fans rally, and Evil puts Hashi in a cobra twist!
Chaos protests because they see the human chain already forming! And with extra links this time! The ref finally sees that, counts, and all of Bullet Club lets go at 4. Evil taunts Chaos, then tags in ELP. ELP tags Ishimori, and the Junior Heavyweight Tag champs whip Hashi to a corner. ELP whips Ishimori in but Hashi dodges! Ishimori hits buckles, Hashi dropkicks ELP’s legs out! Ishimori blocks the superkick to KNEE Hashi! Ishimori suplexes but Hashi slips out to hit a BUNKER BUSTER! Hashi and Ishimori crawl, hot tag to Evil! Evil drags Hashi away but Hashi spinning mule kicks! Hot tag to Okada! The Rainmaker fires off on Evil, whips but Evil reverses.
Okada elbows Evil down, hits ELP down but Yujiro kicks and runs, into a flapjack! Okada whips Evil corner to corner, runs in and back elbows! Kick and DDT! Cover, TWO! Okada watches Bullet Club and gets fans rallying with clap clap clap stomp. Evil blocks the Alabama lift, pulls hair, but Okada fires forearms! Evil rakes Okada’s eyes, the ref reprimands but the damage is done. Okada boots Evil back, goes out and up the corner, but Evil distracts the ref and Dick Togo shoves Okada down! Evil hits a FISHERMAN BUSTER! Cover, TWO! Evil hits everyone on the Chaos corner and then stands on Okada’s head. White and Bullet Club mock the clapping as Evil fireman’s carries.
Okada fights out and boots, only for Evil to block and elbow the leg. Evil mule kicks, runs but into a BOOT! Both men are down and fans fire up! Okada and Evil crawl, hot tags to White and Ishii! The Pitbull dodges, the Switchblade dodges, repeat! Ishii spins and suplexes but White fights out to wrench. Ishii swings but White throws knee after knee and then some EuroUPpers. White whips corner to corner, Ishii reverses and runs in but into boots. White runs to fire forearms but Ishii ROCKS White with one! Ishii whips, White reverses but Ishii comes back to run him over! ELP and Ishimori hit Ishii, whip him, but Ishii holds ropes.
Yano and Goto throw ELP and Ishimori into corners, then whip them at each other! Bullet Club reverses, Goto and Yano collide, then Ishimori dropkicks Yano down! ELP rakes Goto’s eyes, then he and Ishimori whip him. Goto double cltoheslines them down! White gets in to throw Goto by his hair! White runs at Ishii but misses, but then dodges! White gets Ishii up but no suplex. Ishii wrenches, White reels him in but Ishii slips off the fireman’s carry! White swings, Ishii swings, but White waistlocks. Ishii elbows, but into a SNAP SAIDO! Ishii rises right up! And he ROCKS White with a forearm! Ishii suplexes but White counters to BLADE BUSTER!
White flounders about, drags Ishii up, but Ishii fires up. White SLAPS Ishii, then dodges the clotheslines to hit a DDT! Both men are down, fans fire up, and White tags to Yujiro. Yujiro runs and boots Ishii! Yujiro fisherman but Ishii reverses to a suplex! Now Yujiro is down with Ishii! Fans fire up, Ishii sees Yano and tags him in! The Producer says he’s going for buckles! Yano unties a corner, Dick is there, but Yano dares him to take the pad. Dick refuses, and Yujiro CLUBS Yano on the back! Yujiro whips Yano, Yano reverses, Yujiro stops himself from hitting buckles but Yano unties the other pad! Yujiro runs in, but almost falls for the trap! Yano runs in but gets bare buckles!
Yujiro whips, Yano reverses, but Yujiro reverses and Yano hits buckles again! Yujiro BOOTS Yano down, then drags him back up. Fans fire up, Yujiro whips but Yano holds ropes. Dick is there to trap Yano! The ref reprimands, Yujiro fires off on Yano, but Yano hits Dick and atomic drops Yujiro! Dick gets a sucker punch, Yujiro atomic drops! ELP and Ishimori hit Chaos, Yujiro runs to LARIAT! Cover, TWO!! Yano survives and Yujiro can’t believe it! Yujiro drags Yano up while Bullet Club takes care of Chaos. But Goto gets in to CLOBBER Yujiro! ELP SUPERKICKS Goto, Hashi SUPERKICKS ELP! Ishimori springboard seated sentons Hashi! Yano BUCKLE SMACKS Ishimori!
Dick is there, Yano throws the pad at him! The ref argues with Dick, Yujiro sneaks up on Yano but gets a low blow mule kick! Yano shoves Yujiro into Dick, then rolls Yujiro up, CHAOS WINS!
Winners: Chaos, by pinfall
Well that ending was fitting of the faction name! Yano thwarts the Tokyo Pimp but he might still have to worry about the Crown Jewel going after his KOPW trophy! And then the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships are on the line tomorrow! Will the Switchblade and GOD add more gold to the Bullet Club treasury?
Meanwhile, Okada wants after Evil and he dares Evil to give him a fight! Evil considers it, slides into the ring but then slides right back out. Okada gives chase and attacks Evil at the ramp! Okada throws Evil into the ring but Young Lions keep this from going down! Evil gets away, grabs a chair, and he takes a seat. Now Evil acts like the ball is in Okada’s court. The Young Lions stay near and Okada says Evil is only brave because of that. Evil and Okada are heading on a collision course, but when and where will it happen?
Kota Ibushi & Tomoaki Honma VS SANADA & Tetsuya Naito!
Before defending his Double Championships against the Cold Skull, the Golden God of NJPW teams with the Innovator of Light Tube Death Matches to take on Sanada and the Uncontrollable Charisma! Who goes into the massive championship match with momentum?
The teams sort out and Ibushi starts against Sanada in a preview of tomorrow’s main event! Fans rally up, “I-BU-SHI!” “SA-NA-DA!” They circle, feel out the grapple, tie up and Ibushi wrenches to a wristlock. Sanada spins through, wrenches back and hammerlocks. Ibushi drop toeholds, floats to a chinlock but Sanada slips out to the hammerlock. Ibushi fights up, spins through to hammerlock back, then goes back to a headlock for a takeover. Sanada tries to kip out but Ibushi holds tight. Sanada rolls to a cover, ONE! Ibushi hits another headlock takeover but Sanada headscissors. Ibushi kips out and fans cheer as the two stand off.
Sanada and Ibushi circle, tie up, and Sanada headlocks. Ibushi endures the grind, fights up and powers out, but Sanada runs him over. Ibushi kips right up and things speed up. Ibushi drops then dropkicks Sanada! Fans fire up and Ibushi encourages it. Ibushi stomps Sanada, tags in Honma, and Honma kicks Sanada. Honma throws forearms then runs, but Sanada kicks low and runs. Honma dodges but Naito is there! Sanada clubs Honma from behind but Honma knees back. Honma whips, Sanada reverses and Naito trips Honma up! Sanada basement dropkicks Honma then hits Ibushi down! The ref reprimands but Naito drags Honma out.
Sanada goes after Ibushi while Naito whips Honma into railing! Sanada whips Ibushi into railing on the other side! Naito puts Honma in the ring, Sanada leaves Ibushi alone and drags Honma to a cover. TWO, Sanada keeps his cool and tags in Naito. Naito stomps Honma over and over and over, and over and over, and fans rally with him. Naito drags Honma up for a neckbreaker! Cover, TWO! Naito tags Sanada, fans rally again, perhaps it’s “L I J!” Sanada brings Honma up but Honma throws forearms. Naito clubs away on Honma, the ref reprimands and Naito stops. Sanada brings Honma up, LIJ double whip him corner to corner and then Sanada runs in.
Honma dodges Sanada, has Naito then catches Sanada, DDT COMPLETE SHOT COMBO! Honma hurries and hot tags Ibushi! Ibushi springboards and hits Sanada with the missile dropkick! Fans fire up, Ibushi aims and slingshots to PLANCHA Sanada down! Ibushi gets fans back on the “I-BU-SHI!” claps, then he drags Sanada up. Ibushi puts Sanada in the ring, drags him up, but Sanada swings on Ibushi. Ibushi fires off a strike fest, but Sanada catches the leg! Sanada trips Ibushi up but Ibushi fights off Paradise! Ibushi trips Sanada to go after Sanada, and he’s figuring out Paradise! Sanada kicks Ibushi away before he’s trapped, but Ibushi sunset flips!
Sanada rolls through, and ties up Ibushi in Paradise! Fans cheer and Sanada encourages them to get louder. The fans get louder and Sanada dropkicks Ibushi out of Paradise! Cover, TWO! Sanada keeps his cool and fireman’s carries. Ibushi fights out but Sanada kicks low. Sanada whips but Ibushi reverses. Sanada tumbles up and out and springboards in but Ibushi dodges! Sanada rolls, Ibushi runs in but Sanada ducks the roundhouse. Ibushi fights off the suplex but swings into MAGIC SCREW! Both men are down and fans fire up! Ibushi and Sanada crawl, hot tags to Naito and Honma! Honma runs into a kick, but he elbows Naito at ropes!
Honma runs but Naito gets around to waistlock. Honma swings, facelocks, but Naito wrenches. Honma kicks low and runs, but into Naito’s back elbow! Naito runs to add a basement dropkick! Naito drags Honma up, BACKBREAKER to PLUMA BLANCA! Fans rally as Honma endures, and Naito mocks Honma’s raspy voice. Honma kicks around, reaches out, and gets a ropebreak with a foot! Naito holds on until the ref counts, and the ref helps him undo the hold. Naito mocks Honma’s voice more, stomps Honma, then whips him to a corner. Naito runs in, rocket kick! But Honma stays up to CLOBBER Naito! Ibushi runs in to DECK Sanada!
Ibushi helps Honma whip Naito corner to corner, Honma runs in and elbows! Honma feeds Naito to Ibushi’s POWERSLAM! Ibushi and Honma both pat their heads, and run for DOUBLE FALLING HEADBUTTS! Cover, TWO! Fans fire up as Honma resets and drags Naito up. Honma scoops but Naito fights it. Sanada rams Ibushi into railing, Naito escapes the scoop to throw forearms. Honma roars, dodges an elbow and HEADBUTTS! Honma runs, but Sanada dropkicks the legs out! Sanada catches Ibushi as he comes in, fireman’s carry to a dragon sleeper! But Ibushi Shiranuis out! Ibushi runs but Sanada dumps him to the apron!
Sanada dropkicks Ibushi down, boots Honma and feeds him to Naito’s atomic drop! Sanada kicks, Naito enziguris, and Naito whips Honma. Honma reverses but Naito hits the flying forearms! Naito wrenches and tilt-o-whirls, DESTINO! Cover, LIJ wins!
Winners: SANADA & Tetsuya Naito, by pinfall
The champion and challenger were left out of the decision, but surely LIJ winning will mean something! Ibushi and Sanada stare down as Ibushi has the titles. Ibushi asks fans how they think it’ll turn out. Fans clap but the beat is as much “I-BU-SHI” as it is “SA-NA-DA!” Sanada gets back in the ring, and he fist bumps with Ibushi. Will it be a very different story from the G1 Climax when Ibushi and Sanada face off tomorrow?
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Guerrillas of Destiny VS Dangerous Tekkers!
Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa took these titles from Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. to start 2021, but things can change! Will the Sliest Wrestler and the Submission Master make even GOD #JustTapOut?
Naturally, Douki is ringside to counteract Jado, though that didn’t really help things last time these teams battled. “Santa Tama” has a bag and it seems to be Taichi’s bag of tricks. Tama tosses the bag to Taichi, but Taichi doesn’t take kindly to that. Taichi still checks the bag, maybe his things are in there. But then it’s a brawl! GOD clobbers Suzuki-Gun, and wait, Jado and Douki are left in the ring! Douki blocks Jado’s kendo stick attack to hit back with his pipe! GOD and Tekkers brawl outside, Douki jams Jado again and then he drags Jado out. Loa stomps ZSJ, Taichi whips Tama into railing! The bell rings so this is at least on record as ZSJ ankle locks Loa.
Douki chokes Jado to the ramp and they go away from ringside. Now things will be even as ZSJ stomps Loa. Taichi opens the “gifts” from Tama, and he brings out… a loaf of bread! And… a boxing glove! Tama CLOBBERS Taichi and stomps him down! Tama scoop slams Taichi, and grins as he picks up the other bags. Tama asks “Taichi-chan” what’s wrong. And then he tells fans to shut up. Taichi kicks back, rakes eyes, but lets off as the ref counts. Taichi snapmares Tama to KICK him in the back! Taichi sees the remaining gift bags and opens one up. Taichi brings out… a plush doll. Tama laughs but Taichi stomps him before opening another bag. This one is… A ping-pong paddle!
Taichi rakes Tama’s eyes, then opens yet another bag. Not the iron finger, and Tama attacks Taichi again! Is the last bag the one? Tama keeps Taichi from getting the bag and gets away! Taichi pursues, CLUBS Tama on the back and kicks him low. Loa goes after Taichi but ZSJ goes after Loa! ZSJ drags Loa down and CRANKS the neck! Taichi hits Tama and has the last bag, but Tama RAMS Taichi into the railing! THe bag goes to Yoshinobu Kanemaru at commentary as the ring count climbs. The count is 15 of 20, Tama can use Champion’s Advantage! They both get in at 19.5!! Kanemaru says he has the bag! Kanemaru opens it up while Taichi holds Tama back!
The last bag has… A BRA?! Tama laughs again but Taichi CHOKES him! Loa attacks Tama, and gives him a BLUE THUNDER BOMB! Loa DECKS ZSJ, Tama laughs his head off as he fetches Taichi. Tama drags Taichi up and RAMS him into railing! Loa hits ZSJ around, he bumps ZJS off apron, and Tama stomps Taichi down. Tama chokes Taichi, the ref counts, and Tama lets off. Loa chokes ZSJ now, and Tama grabs some of the bags to throw them at Taichi. Tama clubs away with crossface forearms but the ref is counting. The ring count is 10 of 20 and climbing but Tama and Loa take their time on the outside. Tama gets in at 16, Taichi gets in at 18!
Tama is after Taichi with haymakers, then drags him up for a snap suplex! Cover, TWO! Taichi survives but Tama digs a knee into his throat. Tag to Loa and Loa slingshot sentons! Tama adds his own slingshot senton, Loa covers, TWO! Taichi is still in this and fans rally up. Loa covers again, TWO! Loa wraps Taichi up in a chinlock, Taichi endures and tries to grab hair but Loa cranks harder on the hold. Taichi gets a ropebreak, the ref counts and Loa lets off fast. Loa drags Taichi around to drop elbows on him over and over! Cover, TWO! Loa stalks Taichi, drags him up, and throws a big forearm! Taichi staggers into the GOD corner, Tama keeps him down and Loa digs his boots in.
The ref counts, Loa and Tama let off, but Tama CLUBS Taichi down! The ref is busy with ZSJ and Tama hotshots Taichi! Loa fires off on ZSJ and DECKS him! ZSJ flops out of the ring hard, and Loa goes back to Taichi. Taichi kicks at Tama but Loa rakes Taichi’s eyes. Fans rally, Loa tags Tama and they drag Taichi up. Loa holds Taichi up for Tama to dropkick down! Cover, TWO! Tama grows annoyed as he looms over Taichi. Tama rains down fists but Taichi glares defiantly. Taichi gets up as Tama hits him more, and Taichi eggs Tama on! Tama throws more haymakers, but Taichi roars and KICKS away on Tama’s legs! Tama ENZIGURIS Taichi down!
Tama drags Taichi over, tags in Loa, and Loa drags Taichi around. The ref asks Taichi is he wants to continue and Taichi refuses to quit. Loa drags Taichi up to headbutt him to a corner! Loa talks trash on Taichi and whips him corner to corner. Loa runs in but Taichi elbows back! Taichi boots Loa, Loa growls and runs in again but is sent into buckles! GAMANGIRI! Both men are down and fans fire up! Loa and Taichi crawl, hot tag to ZSJ! Tama runs in but ZSJ CLOBBERS him! ZSJ runs at Loa to EuroUpper! Loa fires up but ZSJ throws more EuroUppers on him! Loa DECKS ZSJ with another forearm! ZSJ is right up to EuroUpper over and over!
Loa ROCKS ZSJ, ZSJ staggers about, but Loa runs into a BOOT! PELE to arm! Wrench, spin, keylock and STOMP! ZSJ is after that arm, hammerlock CRANK! Loa clutches the arm, ZSJ is after it again, then he pushes Loa down with forearms. ZSJ is after fingers, but Loa resists so ZSJ digs more forearms in. ZSJ uses his knee for leverage and pulls way back, but Tama drags ZSJ off the arm! Tama fireman’s carries but ZSJ slips off to snapmare and NECK CRANK! Fans fire up for ZSJ and ZSJ goes after Loa at the ropes. ZSJ kicks Loa over and over, toying with him and the bad arm. Loa is furious, he shoves ZSJ away but ZSJ comes back to go after a leg!
ZSJ trips Loa, gets the arm and he is after the wrist! ZSJ bends the arm again and STOMPS it! The ref reprimands but ZSJ doesn’t care. Loa gets pissed, ZSJ eggs him on. ZSJ is after the arm, wrenches through, twists the shoulder and the wrist and the elbow. Another wrench, another wrench, another wrench, but Loa ROCKS ZSJ with a forearm! ZSJ still holds on, and he keeps Loa from tagging Tama in. ZSJ wrenches again, and again, and uses his forehead as a point of pressure! Loa breaks free and ROCKS ZSJ again! ZSJ BOOTS Loa, but Loa stays up to run into another BOOT! ZSJ runs, into Loa’s SPEAR! Fans fire up as both men are down! Tama gets in to throw hands on ZSJ!
The ref reprimands, Loa staggers up, and GOD drags ZSJ up. Tama whips ZSJ to ropes, body shots, Loa uppercuts and Tama leaping NECKBREAKER! Taichi runs in to get the same, body shot to a leaping neckbreaker! GOD focuses back on ZSJ, drags him up, and Loa sends ZSJ into Tama’s lift. ZSJ fights off the Magic Killer, PELES Tama’s arm, but Loa RAMS ZSJ to a corner! Tama runs in for a HUGE splash! ZSJ flops down and GOD regroups. Fans rally up, GOD drags ZSJ up, and they double whip. Back drop to a catch, but ZSJ GUILLOTINES! Taichi gets Tama into Seiteijyujiryou! GOD endures dual submissions!
Loa gets the ropebreak, so Taichi lets Tama free, and ZSJ reluctantly lets Loa go. The Tekkers regroup now and they go after Loa. The Tekkers double whip Loa corner to corner, Taichi runs in to clothesline! ZSJ runs in to EuroUpper! Taichi KICKS Loa down, sits him up, ZSJ PENALTY KICKS! Cover, TWO!! The Tekkers keep their focus, fans rally up, and ZSJ drags Loa back up. ZSJ scoops but Loa fights it off. Loa clubs ZSJ, scoops ZSJ but ZSJ slips off. ZSJ runs, tilt-o-whirls and gets the Guillotine! But Loa powers out to a JACKHAMMER! But Loa can’t cover, both men are down and fans rally up! Loa and ZSJ stir, crawl, and hot tag Taichi and Tama!
Taichi catches Tama to a choke grip! Tama breaks free, kicks low and whips, but Taichi reverses to choke with both hands! The ref counts, Taichi lets go very close to 5, and Taichi whips. Tama reverses, Taichi comes back with AX BOMBER! Fans fire up with Taichi! Taichi kicks at Tama, gives Kowata Kicks even, but Tama staggers up, into another kick. Taichi gives more Kowata Kicks, then drags Tama up. Taichi reels Tama in but Tama fights off the saido! Tama spins Taichi around to TONGA TWIST! Tama can’t cover, though, he and Taichi are also down. Tama slithers around and watches Taichi. Taichi slowly rises, Tama leaps but NO Gun Stun!
Tama blocks the buzzsaw but Taichi still denies the Gun Stun to hit DANGEROUS SAIDO! Cover, TWO!?! Tama survives but Taichi keeps his cool. Fans rally up, Taichi stands and takes off the pants! Tama sits up but Loa CLOBBERS Taichi! Loa scoops Taichi for a POWERSLAM! ZSJ leaps on Loa for a sleeper hold! Tama clubs ZSJ off Loa, they hit GUERRILA WARFARE! Fans are thunderous as GOD regroups and have Taichi all alone. Loa drags Taichi up, back suplex to Tama’s neckbreaker! Cover, TWO!! Taichi barely survives and Tama can’t believe it! Tama and Loa decide on Super Bomb, and Tama drags Taichi up.
Loa goes up top, Tama drags Taichi up, but Taichi suplexes first! Loa gets Taichi, but ZSJ bails Taichi out of the scoop! Taichi KICKS, ZSJ sweeps the legs! BUZZSAW! Fans fire up again as Tekkers regroup. Tama staggers up, ZSJ brings him around to EuroUpper! Taichi BOOTS Tama, ZSJ EuroUppers, Taichi DECKS Tama with a fight! The Tekkers drag Tama back up and Alabama lift, ZACK MEPHISTO!! Cover, Loa drags the ref out HARD! The ref hits railings and he is down! ZSJ runs at Loa but Loa trips him up on the apron! ZSJ flops down, Loa gets in but Taichi BOOTS him! Loa throws a forearm, Taichi just scowls.
Fans rally up, double clotheslines collide but no one falls! Another collision, no one falls! Loa says he’s loving this! Taichi powers up, but Loa ROCKS Taichi with the clothesline! Loa drags Taichi up, POINT-BLANK LARIAT! Fans rally as Loa drags Taichi up and scoops him. Taichi slips out ot ROUNDHOUSE! Loa fires up but Taichi’s GAMANGIRI shuts him down! Everyone is down, even the ref, but wait, is that Jado!? Jado has the IRON FINGERS! Jado shouts to Tama and Loa to get up. Jado gives Tama the iron fingers! Tama puts the fingers on, but Douki returns! Douki enziguris Tama down! Fans fire up as Douki coaches Taichi up.
Tama rises, IRON FINGER SHOT to Douki!! Tama is feeling the power and he aims at Taichi now. Tama runs but Taichi BOOTS the fingers away! Taichi mule kicks, and he sees the fingers! Taichi picks them up and puts them on! But Loa CLOBBERS Taichi from behind! Loa runs but Taichi dumps him out! Tama snatches the iron fingers back, but ZSJ puts on a sleeper hold! Tama flails, Taichi hurries over, and he puts the iron fingers back on! Taichi powers up, but the ref is awake now! The ref won’t let Taichi use the fingers! Taichi shoves the ref down, Loa runs in, IRON FINGER SHOT!! Jado SMACKS ZSJ with the kendo stick!
Taichi is roaring, Jado SMACKS him! Taichi doesn’t flinch! Taichi IRON FINGER SHOTS Jado!! Taichi aims at Tama and fans are thunderous! The ref revives, Tama begs for mercy, Taichi… IRON FINGER SHOT!! But the ref calls for the bell!!
Winners: Guerrillas of Destiny, by disqualification (still IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions)
Taichi is in such a rage, he doesn’t even care! He wants to hit Tama again but the ref pulls him away, so Taichi IRON FINGER SHOTS the ref!! Young Lions get in, they get IRON FINGER SHOTS! Taichi still goes after Tama! Kanemaru gets in, but Taichi wants to hit even him!! Kanemaru dodges, ZSJ gets in and holds Taichi down! The rage of Izuka is possessing Taichi!! They get the fingers off of Taichi’s hand but Taichi just faints! ZSJ tells Kanemaru to keep them away! Will Suzuki-Gun consider the Iron Fingers far too dangerous to keep around? But the bottomline is that GOD retain the titles! Will the Tekkers ever get another shot?
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi VS SHO!
The Ticking Timebomb is the Best of the Super Junior 27 winner, he bested the Super J-Cup winner and then took the title from Taiji Ishimori at WrestleKingdom! But High Voltage has been able to pull off shockers before, can he do it again here?
Sho and Hiromu rush each other, collide with shoulders then fire off forearms! Fans rally up as they go faster and faster and faster! Neither backs down, but Hiromu is slowly pushing Sho towards ropes. Sho ROCKS Hiromu, Hiromu fires off another, but Sho forearms again! Hiromu steadies himself, throws another forearm, but Sho hits again. They go back and forth over and over, Hiromu ROCKS Sho now, but Sho throws another forearm! Hiromu ROCKS Sho again, Sho hits back but Hiromu backs him down to a corner. Sho grinds foreheads with Hiromu then throws more forearms! Hiromu eggs Sho on, ROCKS him with another forearm, then throws more forearms!
Sho turns things around to fire off forearms again! Hiromu turns things back around to give even more forearms, but then Sho does the same! Hiromu shoves Sho, they grind foreheads, then the forearms start flying again! Sho ROCKS Hiromu, but Hiromu hits back! Sho hits again, Hiromu hits back. Hiromu eggs Sho on, Sho ROCKS Hiromu again! Sho eggs Hiromu on, Hiromu hits Sho again. They go back and forth again, then Sho gets the edge to hit Hiromu over and over! Hiromu ROCKS Sho back! But then Hiromu staggers away and the two rest on ropes. Fans rally up as both men rise.
Sho and Hiromu egg each other on, the forearms fly yet again, faster and faster once more, and fans continue to rally with them. Hiromu throws Sho out hard, and whips him into railing! But Sho comes back with a forearm! Sho whips Hiromu into railing, but then Hiromu comes back to hit Sho! The forearms keep flying back and forth, right in front of commentary! Sho staggers, flounders, a ring count begins but Sho comes back to hit Hiromu again. Hiromu hits Sho, but he also staggers. The count is 13 of 20, the brawl keeps going, but now it’s 16! And 18! They both go in at 19.5! Hiromu drags Sho right out to RAM him into railing!
Hiromu throws forearms on Sho, right in front of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Milano and Jushin Thunder Liger! The ring count climbs again, Hiromu DECKS Sho as it passes 10! Hiromu drags Sho up, ROCKS him, then puts him in at 16. Fans cheer as this continues in the ring. Hiromu rains down forearms on Sho, and then mockingly asks what’s wrong. Fans cheer as Hiromu lets off to stand over Sho. Sho glares up at Hiromu as he tries to sit up. Sho stands but Hiromu DECKS him! Hiromu ROCKS Sho to ropes, puts him in a corner and throws more forearms. Hiromu again mockingly asks what’s wrong but Sho gets up, only for Hiromu to ROCK him again!
Hiromu keeps throwing forearms but Sho hits back! Hiromu ROCKS Sho, whips him corner to corner, then runs in to clothesline! Hiromu rolls Sho, Sho dodges but the spear is blocked! Hiromu suplexes, Sho slips out but Hiromu elbows him away. Things speed up, Sho goes the other way and SPEARS Hiromu down! Fans fire up, Sho fires himself up, and Sho drags Hiromu up. Sho wrenches, kicks away on Hiromu and then KICKS him down! Sho takes aim as Hiromu slowly sits back up. Sho KICKS Hiromu down, Hiromu sits up so Sho KICKS him again! Cover, TWO! Fans cheer but Sho keeps his focus. Sho drags Hiromu up in a dead lift waistlock, but Hiromu fights!
Hiromu tries to swing around but Sho blocks the shot. Hiromu elbows free, but Sho blocks the superkick to ROCK Hiromu! Sho runs, but into a wheelbarrow COMPLETE SHOT! Both men are down and fans fire up! Sho rolls towards a corner while Hiromu sits up. Hiromu runs in, hits a clothesline, but Sho tries to follow. Hiromu anticipates that, whips Sho but Sho reverses, only for Hiromu to reverse and clothesline again! Hiromu runs corner to corner, Sho still follows, but Hiromu OVERHEAD SUPLEXES Sho into buckles! Fans fire up as both men are down! Hiromu brings Sho up, fireman’s carries, but Sho fights it off.
Sho waistlocks, Hiromu switches and shoves Sho to the ropes to clothesline him! Hiromu whips, Sho reverses but Hiromu holds ropes. Sho runs over, Hiromu dumps him out and runs, but SHo ROCKS Hiromu to avoid the sunset! But Sho gets an idea and drags Hiromu up! Sho suplexes but Hiromu blocks! Sho still drags Hiromu up an dover to join him on the apron, but Hiromu holds ropes for dear life. Sho tries but Hiromu fights out to SUPERKICK! Fans rally, Hiromu brings Sho up and reels him in, but Sho resists! Sho powers up to back drop but Hiromu uses that to SUNSET BOMB! Both men are down, Red Shoes goes out to check on them, but they’re both okay to continue.
Fans rally up, Sho and Hiromu stir but the ring count begins. The count is 10 of 20 as Hiromu slowly gets up. Hiromu stands at 13, shakes out the cobwebs and goes in at 15. Sho slowly gets up and Hiromu goes out to stop the count. Hiromu climbs but Sho is after him with forearms! Sho goes around, and brings Hiromu off the corner for an APRON BOMB! Both men flop back down to the floor as fans fire up! Red Shoes checks again, Hiromu and Sho are still okay to continue, and the ring count begins again. The count returns to 10 of 20 before Sho gets up. Sho crawls around the way, Hiromu slowly sits up, and Sho gets in at 15. Hiromu fights his way up to get in at 19!
Fans cheer as Sho drags Hiromu up into a waistlock. Sho dead lifts and GERMAN SUPLEXES! Sho holds on, drags Hiromu back up, for another GERMAN! Sho won’t stop there, he drags Hiromu up a third time, to pop Hiromu into the ARMBAR! Hiromu blocks, rolls over, but Sho pulls the hands apart! Hiromu scrambles to get the ropebreak! Sho lets go, he stalks Hiromu and drags him back up. Hiromu throws elbows to fight the waistlock but Sho still holds on! Hiromu reaches for ropes, throws more elbows, but Sho hits another GERMAN! Fans fire up as Sho powers up and runs, but Hiromu side-steps to REBOUND GERMAN! Sho stands back up!?
Hiromu runs at Sho, LARIATS collide but no one falls! They collide again, and still no one falls! Hiromu leans on ropes, Sho stands him up to throw forearms from all sides! Red Shoes wants Sho to stop but Sho shoves him away! Sho fires off more shots, then CLUBS Hiromu against the ropes with point-blank clotheslines! Sho runs, but Hiromu BOOTS back! Hiromu gets Sho in hanging headscissors! Red Shoes counts, but Sho shifts around to try and bring Hiromu up! Hiromu resists, Sho gets Hiromu up and over the rope to POWERBOMB him down! Both men are down, fans fire up and Sho rises first. Sho crawls over, drags Hiromu back up, reels Hiromu in and tucks the arms.
Hiromu resists the lift, lifts Sho and back drops him away! Fans rally up as both men are down again. Sho crawls over to Hiromu and drags him up. Hiromu throws a forearm, Sho staggers about, and Hiromu hits him again. Sho comes back but Hiromu hits him again! Sho smirks?! Hiromu and Sho go back to trading forearms back and forth! Sho staggers but he comes back for more, so Hiromu gives him more! The fans rally with every hit, and both men take a moment to catch their breath. Sho comes back with forearms from all sides, then ROCKS Hiromu! Sho brings Hiromu up but Hiromu gives forearms from all sides now! Sho roars, Hiromu dodges and ROCKS Sho! And again!
Hiromu whips corner to corner, runs in and forearms Sho, into another whip! Sho reverses and hits a forearm smash! Things speed up, Hiromu CLOBBERS Sho, cover, ONE! Sho runs and CLOBBERS Hiromu! Cover, ONE! Hiromu DECKS Sho, covers, ONE!! Sho DECKS Hiromu, covers, ONE!! Fans are thunderous as both men run and Sho DECKS Hiromu! Sho can’t cover as he falls back the other way! Fans rally up as both men are down again! Sho and Hiromu slowly stir and Sho is up first. Fans keep rallying as Sho dares Hiromu to stand. Hiromu rises, Sho runs, but Hiromu swats the arm away! Hiromu spins Sho around to RANA, into Triangle Hold D!
But Sho dead lifts and BOMBS Hiromu! Hirom still holds on and squeezes tighter! Sho endures, moves around, reaches around, but Hiromu squeezes even tighter! Hiromu pulls on the hold, Sho is fading! Sho fights up, dead lifts again, but Hiromu slips out to underhook! Sho wrenches out to ROCK Hiromu, then he dodges to tilt-o-whirl! Hiromu tries to fight it but Sho has the double wristlock! Sho cranks on the hold, Hiromu moves around, and Hiromu fights out! Sho tilt-o-whirls again, drags Hiromu down, KIMURA! Hiromu endures as Sho cranks even harder! Hiromu grabs behind his back to clasp hands and resist the wrenching!
Sho keeps pulling, uses his legs in it, and he gets Hiromu to let go! Hiromu reaches for ropes, Sho gator rolls him away! But Hiromu uses that to fireman’s carry! Sho still pulls on the arm! Sho has a mounted Kimura again! Hiromu fights around, reaches again, but Sho is keeping him down! Hiromu is fading, but he gets a second wind! ROPEBREAK! Sho lets go and gets back up. Sho drags Hiromu up, reels him in, and hits POWER BREAKER! Cover, TWO!! Hiromu survives but Sho keeps his cool. Sho aims his bow and he drags Hiromu back up! Sho double pump handles but Hiromu slips out to HEADBUTT Sho down!
Fans fire up again as the two men are down, Hiromu on top of Sho’s back. Hiromu gets up, drags Sho up, and he says it’s not over yet! Fireman’s carry, but Sho fights out and reels Hiromu in! Double clotheslines collide but Sho gets moving, but Hiromu spins him! Sho dodges, Hiromu SUPERKICKS! Hiromu runs into a JUMPING KNEE! Fans fire up as both men stir. Sho is up first, and he drags Hiromu up. Sho reels him in, crosses the arms but Hiromu fights out! But Sho HEADBUTTS! Sho still has the arms, he brings Hiromu around and BACKSTABBERS! Sho runs and LARIATS, but Hiromu stays up! So Sho BLINDSIDE LARIATS, but Hiromu still stays up!
Sho runs, DOUBLE LARIATS collide! Both men stay up and fire up, to COLLIDE again! And again! They both wobble, Sho stays steadier, and he runs, dodges, and CLOBBERS Hiromu! Cover, TWO!! Sho keeps going, he brings Hiromu up and hooks the arms, CROSS ARM PILEDRIVER!! Cover, TWO!?!? Hiromu survives despite the neck being a weak spot! Fans are thunderous again as both men slowly rise. Sho fires up, aims his bow again and he drags Hiromu up again. Sho reels Hiromu in, pump handles, and lifts, but Hiromu fights it off! Sho adjusts, suplexes Hiromu up, but Hiromu turns it into a DDT! Both men are down but Hiromu is holding onto Sho’s head.
Fans fire up, Hiromu drags Sho up, VICTORIA!! Cover, TWO!!! Sho survives but Hiromu roars! Hiromu drags Sho up with a dragon sleeper, suplexes but Sho slips out! Hiromu SUPERKICKS but Sho stays up so Hiromu SUPERKICKS again! Sho is egging Hiromu on so Hiromu SUPERKICKS him again!! Sho still doesn’t fall, a FOURTH SUPERKICK!! Hiromu SUPERKICKS a fifth time!! How is Sho even up on one foot?! Hiromu runs, Sho KNEE- but Hiromu counters to a drop! Sho gets the arm to have a modified armbar! Hiromu holds that off as best he can, fans fire up as the two struggle, and Hiromu adjusts to dead lift!
Hiromu pops Sho up to a fireman’s carry, CORNER DEATH VALLEY! Fans are thunderous as Hiromu drags Sho back up! Fireman’s carry, swing and TIME BOMB!! Cover, TWO!?!? Sho still lives and the fans are electric! Sho shakes as he stirs and Hiromu is reaching a boiling point! Hiromu powers up as this match reaches a record length! Hiromu runs and CLOBBERS Sho! But that’s not the end, Hiromu drags Sho into the dragon sleeper, for TIME BOMB MK. II!! Cover, Hiromu wins!!
Winner: Hiromu Takahashi, by pinfall (still IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion)
Incredible! Sho put up a hell of a fight, but Hiromu could not be stopped! But then ELP jumps into the ring!! He shoves Red Shoes out and takes aim at Hiromu, but Bushi rushes in! Bushi tackles ELP to save Hiromu! But then Ishimori returns and he attacks Bushi! Ishimori keeps Bushi down and ELP drags Hiromu up! But Hiromu dodges the killer superkick to fire off on Bullet Club! Hiromu’s last gasp was enough to fight off his enemies! ELP demands a mic and he gets one. “I am sick and tired of you making me look like a fool! I am sick and tired of making him look like a fool!” ELP means Ishimori, of course.
And ELP is also sick of Hiromu having that Junior Heavyweight Championship on his shoulder! Hiromu didn’t earn the title, he was given that title by the BS NJPW pulls! ELP isn’t leaving Japan until he takes that title from Hiromu and puts it on his waist! “All it takes is one.” ELP drops the mic but now Hiromu gets it to respond. “Oi, Phantasmo. Why not? I’ll fight you with the title on the line. But on one condition!” ELP and Ishimori need to put their Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on the line first! Come on, get out of here. Go away. Hiromu won’t get ahead of himself so go away, go away, go away, GO AWAY! Fans clap, “GO A-WAY!” ELP and Ishimori settle for this, but when and where will we see the battle for the belts go down?
Hiromu continues to say, “URAAAA~! I’m not deeeead~!” He and Sho “just clashed like absolute morons! I’m still kicking and alive!” They get what he’s talking about, right? It’s not pro-wrestling that’s in trouble, it’s the whole world which is losing energy! Then why not they, the energetic, send out a message? “Does being pessimistic help anyone? Does it make anyone come alive?” SO until the world is back on its feet, Hiromu won’t stop screaming! And even though the fans can’t yell, Hiromu will scream for them! Energy, energy, energy, energy, ENERGY! More, more, more! Keep clapping for him until your hands fall off!
Fans clap and Hiormu says it’s not enough. More. More. More, more, more, more, more, more, more, MORE, MORE! “Let’s have more fun together~!” Will Hiromu have all the fun he possibly can by becoming the one, true BEST Super Junior?
My Thoughts:
A really good event, but not quite as high caliber as usual. I apologize for skipping the Young Lions match with Suzuki-Gun, but of course the Young Lions lost. As I skipped ahead, I think I saw Minoru Suzuki himself all but kill Uemura. Wato VS Bushi was good, a lot of blue in the match with Bushi’s gear matching Wato’s. Bushi should honestly make Terriblè his finisher, it is a much cooler move than MX, aka the flying Code Breaker. When he hit it, I almost thought it was a new finisher and that he was winning with it. But Bushi still wins to not only cap things off with Wato but apparently go in strong to what is Hiromu’s story now.
The 10 Man Tag was a lot of fun, and largely chaotic, and so as I said, it is fitting that Chaos wins it. Yano stays strong going into whatever KOPW match he’ll be having, the Six Man Tag Champions go strong into the seemingly “last minute” match with Jay White and GOD, and things are still fairly even with Okada and Evil. All of those things are going to be good but I’m surprised it’s GOD going with White for those belts. I would’ve thought they’d try to use story and make Yujiro Takahashi at least one of White’s partners.
Speaking of GOD, he and the Tekkers had a really good match and there was a lot of good story going into that match. The paper bag gag was rather unexpected but it really added to story. The fingers actually showing up was a great way to top this off, especially with how it put Taichi into a berserker rage. This is very unique for Suzuki-Gun to do something somewhat goofy, though there is footage of Suzuki in DDT Pro fighting a fake Shinsuke Nakamura so maybe this is just Suzuki-Gun loosening up in NJPW. I would love if there was some kind of Iron Finger on a Pole match, though.
And then the Junior Heavyweight Championship was an amazing match, it sets a record on time from bell to bell, and it had so much action and story in it. Hiromu retains because his reign has only been the two months since WrestleKingdom, but now things take an interesting turn. ELP wants the singles title, Hiromu and Bushi want the tag titles, and with Castle Attack as another two day event to end February, it’s pretty clear they’ll use Night one for the tag titles, night two for the singles title, and those could go any which way NJPW wants.
My Score: 9/10
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Could this be the biggEST and strongEST SmackDown of the year?
SmackDown in Knoxville sees the returns of Bianca Belair, Cody Rhodes and John Cena, along with some final Money in the Bank qualifiers!
OFFICIAL RESULTS
- Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match Qualifier Triple Threat: Jade Cargill VS Naomi VS Nia Jax; Naomi wins and advances to Money in the Bank.
- R-Truth VS JC Mateo w/ Solo Sikoa; Mateo wins.
- Rey Fenix & Je’Von Evans VS Los Garza w/ Santos Escobar; Los Garza win.
- Zelina Vega VS Alba Fyre w/ The Green Administration; Zelina wins.
- Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match Qualifier Triple Threat: Carmelo Hayes VS Andrade VS Jacob Fatu; Andrade wins and advances to Money in the Bank.
PLAY BY PLAY
Bianca Belair is here!
Knoxville fires up for their strongEST, fastEST, quickEST, toughEST, roughEST, and greatEST hometown hero as she struts out to the ring. Bianca high-fives and hugs fans along the ramp, as well as mom and dad at ringside. Bianca then grabs a mic to say, “Man, it feels good to be in Knoxville!” The fans cheer and chant for “EST! EST!” Bianca says she loves them so much. And she couldn’t come out here without singing Rocky Top! Y’all ready? The fans cheer, and the music plays! Bianca conducts the fans as they sing for the University of Tennessee. In fact, the Lady Vols softball team is playing in the Super Regionals right now!
Bianca smiles and says this city is so special to her. Not just because it is her hometown, but because it is her safe space. She has her love and support from mom ‘n’ dad, and has all the fans who show up and show out for her. With everything Bianca’s been going through, losing at Mania, getting injured, losing tag titles and friends along the way, she just wanted to come back home to her safe space. The fans cheer, and Bianca says she came home to heal. While she’s not 100%, she is doing everything she can to get back to the ring and continue to show us why she is the EST of Tennessee and of WWE! The fans cheer that!
Bianca says with all that said, Knoxville, welcome to Friday Night SmackDown! But wait, she’s interrupted by Naomi! The fans boo but Naomi says, “Oh my gosh~! Finally! B, I am so glad you finally here on SmackDown!” Bianca says now is not the time, Naomi. Naomi asks Bianca to please hear her out. It has been way too long. Not a day has gone by when Naomi doesn’t think about what happened to them. What is there to talk about? What could Naomi say? What could she want from Bianca? The fans chant “YOU SUCK!” at Naomi, and Naomi says she just wants forgiveness. She is begging for it!
Naomi knows things go toff the rails, but she is here because she wants to fix it, she is trying to fix it, but she alone can’t fix it. Months have gone by, and Naomi has tried to communicate, to say the past can be the past and that they can move forward. Bianca has not responded back to Naomi once. Naomi even visited Bianca’s parent’s house! But no one would answer! WHAT?! Mom ‘n’ Dad don’t know about that, but Naomi says no one was home, so she let herself in! Naomi looked through the photo albums, the one right on the front coffee table. And in those photos, Bianca looked so happy. It reminded Naomi of how they were as tag team champions.
Bianca stops Naomi there. Naomi, Bianca will make this perfectly clear. They were best friends, but Naomi betrayed Bianca’s trust. Naomi took their friend, Jade, and threw her onto a car, then lied about it for months! Bianca said she was done with Naomi, she meant that, and if Naomi ever comes near her family again, what Naomi did to Jade will be nothing compared to what Bianca does to Naomi. The fans fire up for that! Naomi gets emotional, but then she gets mad. “Y’know, Bianca, it wouldn’t be good for you and your mama to be in a wheelchair.” The fans boo as Naomi laughs maniacally. Naomi says she’d hate if something happened to Bianca here and now!
Naomi storms up on Bianca, but then JADE makes her way out here! Naomi is even angrier now, but this Storm starts throwing hands! The fans fire up as Jade BOOTS Naomi down! Bianca and Jade look to each other, neither really saying or doing anything. Naomi runs up but Jade TOSSES her out! Jade and Bianca look to each other again, but then here comes NIA! The Irresistible Force won’t be left out of this, especially when this is the Women’s Triple Threat Qualifier for the night! This match now opens the night, who earns SmackDown’s final golden ticket to the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match?
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match Qualifier Triple Threat: Jade Cargill VS Naomi VS Nia Jax!
SmackDown returns, this match is already going, and Naomi POSTS Nia! Naomi stalks Jade, rains down forearms, and the fans boo. Naomi stomps to BITE Jade’s hand! Jade still fights back, so Naomi has the arms to STOMP Jade down! Naomi flexes, the fans boo, and Naomi puts Jade in a corer. Naomi runs to DROPKICK Jade in the corner! Naomi SLAPS Jade, drags her into the drop zone, then goes up, up, and twerks! HIP DROP! Naomi covers, ROPEBREAK! Naomi is annoyed but she sits Jade up to stomp a mudhole in. But Nia runs up! Naomi dodges, the HIP ATTACK hits Jade! Naomi goes to the apron to ROUNDHOUES Nia!
Naomi reels Nia in for a HEATSEEKER! Nia flops to the floor, the fans rally for Jade, but Naomi kicks her around. Naomi goes up the corner, leaps, but Jade catches her! Jade FALL AWAY SLAMS Naomi, then kips up! Knoxville fires up with Jade and she runs up to LARIAT! And ELBOW! And SCRAPBUSTER! Cover, Nia breaks it! The fans boo but Nai huffs ‘n’ puffs and drags Naomi up. Nia whips Naomi, pops her up and HEADBUTTS her down! Then she SAMOAN DROPS Naomi! Nia soaks up heat, then lines the two up. Naomi grabs at Nia’s leg but Nia CLUBS her down! Nia stomps Jade for good measure, then drops a leg, brother!
Nia TOSSES Jade out, then goes up the corner. Nia SUPER LEG DROPS on Naomi!! Cover, TWO!!! Naomi survives and Nia is shocked! The fans rally while Nia stalks Naomi. Naomi clings to ropes as Nia pulls at her arm. Nia CLUBS Naomi, whips her to ropes, then SAMOAN DROP- NO, Naomi makes it a CRUCIFIX DRIVER! Ghost pin, TWO!! Nia survives the sudden turnaround, Naomi sees Jade crawling in, and Naomi goes after her as SmackDown goes picture in picture.
Naomi KICKS Nia while she’s down, then kicks her more. Naomi puts Nia in a corner, CHOKES her on the ropes, then clamps on with a SLEEPER! Nia THROWS Naomi away, then TOSSES her out. Nia soaks up heat, but Jade runs in and rolls Nia up! TWO! Nia stands, and she HEADBUTTS Jade down! Nia looms over Jade, drags her up, but Jade fires forearms! Jade backs Nia down, then runs, and she CLOBBERS Nia outta the ring! Jade fires up and has the fans with her. Jade drags Naomi up from the apron but Naomi fires hands. Nia is back to HIP ATTACK Jade against the POST! Nia soaks up more heat, then taunts Naomi.
Naomi stands on the apron, argues with Nia, but they apparently agree to mug Jade for both their benefit. They put Jade in the corner, Naomi digs her boot in, and then Nia sends Naomi in for a SPALSH! Nia adds a SPLASH of her own! Naomi snapmares Jade, runs, and SLIDING LARIATS! Jade sputters and Nia taunts her. Nia and Naomi soak up the heat together, but Jade fights back! Nia HEADBUTTS Jade down! Nia drags Jade up, and Naomi KICKS Jade low! They soak up more heat, talk trash on Jade, and SmackDown returns to single picture. Nia scoops and SIDEWALK SLAMS! Naomi runs to SPLIT LEG DROP! Cover, but Nia drags Naomi away!
Nia and Naomi argue again, and then Naomi rolls Nia up! ONE, and Nia grabs Naomi to shove her to a corner! Nia SPLASHES, then pushes Naomi down. Nia runs to SENTON! Nia grins while Naomi sputters and the fans rally up. Jade rises to fire forearms on Nia! Then she ELBOWS Naomi in a corner! She ELBOWS Nia, but then Nia follows Jade! Jade dodges so Nia SPLASHES Naomi! Jade then SUPERKICKS! Nia wobbles, Jade SUPERKICKS again! And SPINEBUSTERS! But Naomi METEORAS! Cover, TWO! Jade survives and the fans rally up. Naomi goes up, SPLIT- LEG MOONSAULT on Nia! But Jade has Naomi in the chicken wings!
Jade brings Naomi around, JADED!! Cover, Nia CLOBBERS them both! The fans rally while all three women are down! Nia climbs a corner, Jade is after her with forearms! Naomi joins in, drags Jade back, but now they trade shots! Nia DOUBLE CROSSBODIES! Cover on Jade, TWO! Cover on Naomi, TWO! Nia grows frustrated but the fans rally up again. Nia drag Naomi up, fireman’s carries, and she climbs the corner! The fans already anticipate what’s coming, SUPER SAMOAN DROP!! Cover, JADE FROG SPLASHES IN!! Cover, TWO!!! The fans fire up while all three women are down again! “This is Awesome!”
Jade rises, she clamps onto Nia, but Nia HEADBUTTs her! And HEADBUTTS Naomi! Jade BOOTS Nia down! Cover, TWO! Jade runs up on Naomi but Naomi BOOTS her! Naoim goes up top but Jade is right on her! They fight for control, but then Nia joins in! TOWER OF DOOM!! Nia double stacks her opponents, for a A-NIA-LATOR!! Naomi avoids it, Jade takes it all! Naomi ghost pins Nia, AND WINS!!
Winner: Naomi, by pinfall (advances to Money in the Bank)
Nia did a lot of the damage, but it is Naomi who wins out! Will everyone in the Women’s MITB Ladder Match now have to #ProceedWithCaution?
Solo Sikoa’s crew arrives.
Solo says they will win Money in the Bank together! Jacob Fatu, Solo Sikoa, whichever one wins MITB wins it fof the family! But then they hear R-Truth talking to… Lil’ Jimmy? Solo says Truth’s childhood hero beats him, and now he’s talking to ghosts. Truth taps Solo on the shoulder and asks if there’s something Solo wants to say. Solo says Truth is crazy touching him. JC Mateo steps up but Solo has him stand down. Truth says he wants to be honest. He’s never seen JC a day before in his life. Is this Solo’s son? He’s husky! Truth asks if he can teach Solo’s husky son a lesson in the ring. Solo says that sounds good to him.
Truth says he’ll go talk to Nick Aldis. “Boy, y’all big boneded!” Truth heads off, and Solo says don’t worry, they’ll take care of him. Let’s have fun. Fatu says keep it 100. They can have their fun, he’s got his own business to take care of. Yadada mean? The Imperial Unit against Truth, Samoan Werewolf in a qualifier, will everything go the family’s way?
Chelsea Green confronts Nick Aldis.
The Hot Mess hides behind a cardboard cutout of herself as she tells the SmackDown General Manager, “What happened on Saturday night was a deliberate-” Piper Niven has to direct Chelsea to point at Aldis, and Aldis says he can’t quite understand her from behind the cardboard mask. Piper holds the mask between Chelsea and camera, though we do get a glimpse of her fancy headgear. Chelsea repeats herself, but Aldis says she needs to be looking at him when they talk. Chelsea hides her face in shame, but she says it is still a deliberate hitjob put on by vicious Zelina Vega! Even her Secret Her-vice could not stop it!
Chelsea demands that Zelina be suspended, stripped of her title, and that Chelsea be reinstated as the champion! Chelsea, no need to be so ugly about this. Gasp! Aldis says what he means is, no suspensions, and we can talk a rematch down the road once Chelsea is medically cleared. Then he is doing nothing for what Zelina did to Chelsea?! Alba says if he won’t, then they will! Yeah, Zelina VS Alba! Tonight! Alba is a bit surprised, but Aldis says, “Chelsea knows best. Alba VS Zelina, I actually like the sound of that. I will make that official right now, if you do one thing for me. Please leave me alone.”
The Green Administration hurries away, but will Alba make sure Chelsea brand justice is served? Or will La Muneca just keep racking up the wins?
Backstage interview with Tiffany Stratton.
Byron Saxton is with the WWE Women’s Champion, and says that MITB is around the corner. Tiff successfully cashed in her own contract to become champion, but how is she handling the pressure of knowing the same thing could happen to her? Tiff says she can’t wait to see who wins MITB. Then she can handle the pressure by being prepared. Having this title makes her the top threat to the division, but let’s be fair. She’s always been the girl everyone has been obsessed with. So whoever wins, targeting her will be a big mistake. But then in steps Naomi.
Naomi says if Tiff thought Nia was a problem, then she ain’t seen nothing yet. Naomi vows to win MITB and cash in for Tiff’s title, wherever and whenever she wants. And in case Lil’ Miss Tiffy forgot, when Naomi was fighting for a championship, Tiff stayed in Naomi’s way. Wanna know what happens when people play with Naomi? Just ask Jade. Naomi heads out, and Alexa Bliss steps in. Alexa says she wouldn’t be so worried about Naomi. Be worried about Alexa. Alexa heads out now, Tiff clutches to the title a little bit tighter, who will be trying to run the clock out on Tiffy Time?
R-Truth VS JC Mateo w/ Solo Sikoa!
To Solo’s point, #RonCena could not make John Cena see the light at Saturday Night’s Main Event, and Truth might be relapsing if he’s talking to Lil’ Jimmy again. But will Truth relapse so far that we get the R-Truth that was once United States Champion? Or will a Tour of the Islands send Truth off the deep end?
SmackDown returns and JC makes his entrance, Solo backing him up. The bell rings and Truth runs up, only for JC to RAM him into a corner! JC RAMS Truth again and again, then lets off. JC whips corner to corner hard and Truth falls in a heap! JC whips corner to corner again just as hard, and Truth falls in a heap again. Solo talks trash but the fans rally behind Truth. JC runs up but Truth dodges! Truth SHOULDER TACKLES! JC stays up, so Truth runs and SHOULDER TACKLES! “What’s Up?” Truth runs, ducks ‘n’ dodges, and SHOULDER TACKLES! Then he hits the SPIN OUT- CROSSBODY! JC then gets up to GACHIMUCHI MOONSAULT!
JC smirks as he looms over Truth, and Solo says to finish this off now. JC runs to SENTON but Truth moves! Truth calls for it! “YOU CAN’T SEE ME!” FIVE KNUCKLE SHUFFLE! Truth fireman’s carries JC, but JC is too much! Truth falls over again! Solo laughs, JC whips, TOUR OF THE ISLANDS!! Cover, JC wins!
Winner: JC Mateo, by pinfall
Truth tried to be like John Cena of old, but it just wasn’t meant to be. JC beats up on Truth more, then stands him up for Solo! But here comes BIG Jim! Jimmy has a chair, he runs JC off, but Solo stands his ground. Solo says his brother wouldn’t hit him with that chair, would he? Jimmy steps to Solo so Solo steps out, but that lets JC CLOBBER Jimmy! But then Solo has JC stand down! They’re family! Solo and JC leave, leaving Jimmy wondering what this is about. Will Jimmy make it clear to Solo that Jimmy’s not the one who has to come to his senses?
The Street Profits are here!
The WWE Tag Team Champions walk through the smoke to be on stage and the fans cheer. Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford hold up the titles, walk to the ring, then step inside. The fans cheer as they hold up the belts again, then the Profits grab the mics. Ford says, “Knoxville, Tennessee, oh I love everything about you, and what I have, too. But lemme rap to y’all real fast. This tag team division that we’re a part of, the greatest tag team division on any brand, any promotion… It’s on fire right now.” Dawkins says, “Talk to ’em.” Ford says, “But just like how the gorilla fears us, make no mistake about it, let’s not forget who’s leading the charge right now: The Street Profits.”
The fans cheer, and Dawkins says hey, they got all the teams coming at ’em! DIY, Motor City Machine Guns, Fraxiom, and now… The Wyatts?! The fans cheer that, and Ford says that’s sick. But what big bro is saying, it don’t matter who it is, the Profits will defend against anybody. Well hold on, here comes Fraxiom! Nathan Frazer & Axiom go to the ring to stand with the Profits, and they have mics. Frazer says alright, since the Profits are talking about defending the titles, well, Frazer & Axiom didn’t exactly get a fair shake. Ford says, “Fraxiom, is it?” He congratulates them for being on a roll, but up until the Wyatt Sick6 got in the Profits’ business…
Yeah, the Profits had them beat. Wow, oh, okay. Sure, maybe… But maybe not. Thanks to the Wyatts, we’ll never know. And now that those shenanigans are behind us, it is fair to say that Fraxiom and the Profits need to run it back! The fans like the sound of that! But wait, here come the Machine Guns! Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin have mics, and Shelley says okay, hold on, sorry to interrupt. Fraxiom’s entire basis for a rematch is that the Profits never beat them. Well, last time Shelley checked, the Profits never beat MCMG! So if they’re handing out title matches, MCMG will take one. But naturally, here comes DIY!
Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, and Candice LeRae have their own mics, and the Poison Pixie says no no no no. She is pretty sure “you losers” have had a million chances, and “the nerds” just got here. Whoa, hold on? Just got here? Sounds like Candice just got back, so she should do us a favor and shut up. Gargano says you shut up, idiot! The reason DIY brought in Gargano’s beautiful wife is to even the odds against all of what this is! Everyone can see there is a conspiracy in the tag team division to hold down the BTTITW! And now with the Wyatts showing up- Ciampa has Gargano ixnay on the amily-fay.
Do not talk about you know who, scratch that, let’s get to business. All these teams have all KILLED the tag division that DIY built! Matter of fact, let us hold a moment of silence for the death of the SmackDown Tag Division. Everyone, stand up, bow your heads, and give a moment of silence… now. OH NO! The lights go out! All the teams panic, because when the lights turn on, UNCLE HOWDY is on the corner! Howdy laughs, because the rest of the Wyatts flank the ring! Erick Rowan drags MCMG out to DOUBLE LARIAT! Dexter Lumis is up top to CANNONBALL onto the Profits and Gargano! Joe Gacy is in, and he handsprings to bring Fraxiom to the UPSIDE-DOWN!!
Lumis then runs, POWERBOMB SENTON COMBO on Axiom! Ciampa freaks out, turns around, and Nikki Cross is there! CROSSBODY onto Candice! The fans fire up, and Howdy has Frazer for SISTER ABIGAIL! “We’re here!!” It is just as the Profits said, and now it is clear. Will some killer combination of the Wyatts go right after the gold?
Rey Fenix & Je’Von Evans VS Los Garza w/ Santos Escobar!
Worlds Collide is just over a week away, and all four of these men will be involved. The Immortal Firebird and the Young OG are going after the NXT North American Championship in a Fatal 4 Way while Legado Del Fantasma will be taking on AAA’s Pagano, Psycho Clown y El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. Who will be heading for Los Angeles with all the momentum behind them?
Speaking of that North American Championship, the champion is here! Ethan Page joins commentary and says what a year for him, to be honest. Wade says that title has never looked better than on Ethan’s shoulder. Fenix makes his entrance now, followed by Je’Von’s. The teams sort out and Fenix starts against Angel. Angel and Fenix circle, the fans rally up, and the two tie up. Angel fires a forearm, Fenix fires back, repeat! Fenix gets the edge but Angel shoves then drops down. Fenix cartwheels over the dropdown, then comes back, ducks ‘n’ dodges, and RANAS! Angel tumbles, the fans fire up, and Fenix somersaults, but into a fireman’s carry!
Fenix slips free, ripcords to ROUNDHOUSE, but Angel HEADBUTTS! Both men stagger back, tags to Berto and Je’Von! Je’Von dodges and springboards to BOUNCY~ roll-up! TWO, and Berto mule kicks! Berto CLUBS Je’Von, whips, but Je’Von reverses and slips around. Berto bucks the O’Conner, springboards and CROSSBODIES! Cover, TWO! Berto drags Je’Von up, but Je’Von kicks! Berto blocks, but the ENZIGIRI hits! Je’Von runs up, and BOUNCY~ RANAS! The fans fire up and Je’Von DROPKICKS! Berto bails out, Angel runs in, but Je’Von goes Matrix to dodge! Je’Von kips up, and STUNNERS! Angel flops back and the fans fire up!
Los Garza regroups, Je’Von tags Fenix, and they build speed, but have to dodge Angel first. Fenix SOBATS, Je’Von KICKS, and both men ENZIGIRI! Berto is up top, he leaps, but into DOUBLE SUPERKICKS! Cover, TWO! Fenix runs to basement CALF KICK! Cover, TWO! Berto stays in this for Los Garza while SmackDown goes picture in picture.
Fenix drags Berto up to RAM him into the corner. Tag to Je’Von and they mug Berto. Berto fires hands back on Je’Von, but Je’Von headlocks. Berto powers up and out and Angel tags in. Berto drop toeholds Je’Von into Angel’s KNEE at the ropes! Angel TEARS OFF HIS PANTS! Angel drapes those over Je’Von before he KICKS Je’Von in the side! Angel stalks Je’Von to the corner, tags Berto, and they shove Je’Von for a double hip toss, TU LO SABE! Then DOUBLE SUPERKICK! Berto covers, TWO! Berto argues the count but the ref defends it. Berto shoves Je’Von to ELBOW him down! Berto then DUMPS Je’Von down to be under the ropes.
Tag to Angel and Berto sits Je’Von up on the apron. Angel runs to KNEE Je’Von down! Santos joins in with Los Garza as they soak up the heat, and Angel drags Je’Von back in. Angel stands Je’Von up, hoists him to the top rope, then climbs up behind him. Angel CLUBS away on Je’Von, mocks the clapping, and he THROWS Je’Von down. Angel KICKS Je’Von in the arm and Je’Von clutches his hand. Angel drags Je’Von to the ropes, CHOKES him, and the ref reprimands. The ref counts, Angel steps off at 4, and Berto BOOTS Je’Von down. ANgel clamps onto Je’Von with an armlock and chinbar but Je’Von reaches for Fenix.
Angel keeps hold of Je’Von but Je’Von fires hands! SmackDown returns to single picture as Je’Von dodges the lariat, leaps, but Angel catches him! Angel puts Je’Von in a corner and through ropes. Angel pulls an arm and leg against the ropes, but stops as the ref counts. Angel runs to KNEE Je’Von in the ribs! Je’Von slumps to the apron, and Angel sucker punches Fenix! Angel goes back for Je’Von but Je’Von fires body shots! Angel blocks a kick, slips around and Gory Especials! Angel walks over, tags Berto, and Berto slingshots, GARZA ESPECIAL! Cover, TWO! The fans rally up for Je’Von but Berto clamps onto him with a chinlock.
Je’Von endures, even as Berto traps an arm. Je’Von fights up, pries the hold open, and he arm-drags Berto! Je’Von leaps but Berto grabs a leg! Ethan laughs from commentary, but Je’Von kicks free to SUPERKICK! Both men are down, Je’Von and Berto crawl, hot tags to Angel and Fenix! The fans fire up as Fenix rallies on Angel with forearms! Fenix then dodges a shot to springboard and FLYING ARM-DRAG, to a DOUBLE STOMP! Fenix fires off KICKS on Berto, then fires up with Knoxville! Fenix uses Berto to jump up and RANA Angel! Fenix then goes corner to corner to JUMP SOBAT! Fenix fires hands, shoves Angel aside, then goes up.
Fenix springboards to QUEBRADA! Cover, Berto breaks it! Berto whips Fenix, Fenix goes Spider-Man, and Je’Von tags in! Fenix says HASTA LA VISTA, BABY! Angel is up, he pops Fenix up to KICK him! But Je’Von springboards to FLYING LARIAT! The fans fire up, Berto springboards to FLYING CHUCK! All four men are down and the fans fire up again! “This is Awesome!” as Angel and Je’Von crawl. Angel CHOPS Je’Von, Je’Von CHOPS back, and the fans “WOO~!” Angel CHOPS again, so Je’Von CHOPS again! Angel fires a forearm, Je’Von fires back, and they go around with forearm after forearm! The fans fire up, Angel CHOPS, a
nd Je’Von SUPER PUNCHES!
Je’Von runs, BOUNCY- NO, Angel makes it a SIT OUT POWERBOMB!! Cover, TWO!! Ethan is surprised and the fans rally up. Angel hoists Je’Von up top, tags Berto in, and they hoist Je’Von up even higher! But Fenix SHORYUKENS Angel down! Je’Von fires hands on Berto and SHOVES him down! Fenix climbs up to join Je’Von now, and ADIOS AMIGO DOUBLE STOMPS for Angel! Je’Von adjusts, to SUPER DUPER SWANTON onto Los Garza! Ethan says don’t get closer, keep this in the ring! He taunts both his challengers, Fenix and Je’Von stand down to put Los Garza in the ring. The fans rally up, but then Ethan CLOBBERS Fenix & Je’Von!
Ethan TOSSES Fenix over the desk! But Je’Von SUPERKICKS Ethan down! The fans fire up, Je’Von hurries in, and he dodges Angel! But Berto rolls Je’Von up, TWO!! Je’Von dodges Berto, rebound and RED DOT!! Berto is down, Angel gets up, but Je’Von DECKS him! Je’Von goes up, up, but Santos distracts the ref! Ethan SHOVES Je’Von down! The fans boo but Berto tags Angel! Los Garza hoists Je’Von up for M T Y!! Cover, Los Garza win!
Winners: Los Garza, by pinfall
All Ego grins as he screws over two of his three challengers, and now Legado is rolling towards Worlds Collide. But will these rudos get everything they deserve in LA?
The Wyatts speak.
“We won’t stop. Not until we get what’s owed.” A simple yet ominous threat, are the tag titles only the beginning?
Zelina Vega VS Alba Fyre w/ The Green Administration!
La Muneca held onto the WWE Women’s US Championship by smacking The Hot Mess in the face with a foot, and obviously Chelsea is not happy with it. But will Alba get payback on behalf of her fearless leader? Or will things only get uglier for the Green Regime?
The bell rings and Piper distracts Zelina so Alba can CLOBBER her! Alba fires off hands, then bumps Zelina off buckles. Alba bumps Zelina off more buckles, then more buckles! And then the fourth corner! Chelsea says Zelina should’ve never messed with her! Alba fireman’s carries but Zelina fights free. Zelina KICKS Alba, KICKS again, then KICKS, but Alba CLUBS Zelina. Alba whips, scoops, and- NO, Zelina swings through to RANA! Cover, ONE! Zelina headlocks but Alba fights up and lifts Zelina. Zelina holds on but Alba powers up and out to RUN Zelina over! The fans boo but Chelsea cheers as Alba stalks Zelina.
Alba ROCKS Zelina, whips her to ropes, but Zelina wheelbarrows and arm-drags! Zelina then runs up on Alba in the corner and rains down fists! Alba shoves Zelina away at three, but Zelina comes right back to rain down more shots! Alba stops Zelina at four now, but Zelina wants another go! Alba stops Zelina at four again, and RAMS her into the corner! The fans boo but Alba grins. Zelina BOOTS Alba, goes up, and FLYING RANAS! Alba tumbles out, Piper helps her up, and Zelina goes to the apron. Alba trips Zelina up, spins and ROCKS Zelina, then gets her up. Gory Especial, but Zelina flips through to arm-drag Alba onto ropes!
The fans fire up as Zelina dials up, but Chelsea is on the apron! The ref argues with Chelsea while Zelina redials, but Piper trips her up! The fans boo but Alba SUPERKICKS Zelina! Alba salutes to Chelsea, and SmackDown goes to break.
SmackDown returns and Alba stands on Zelina’s hair while pulling Zelina’s arms! The ref reprimands, Alba steps off, and she drags Zelina up to suplex for the GOURD BUSTER! Cover, TWO! Zelina stays in this and Chelsea argues with the ref. The ref says the count is fair, so Alba clamps onto Zelina with a COBRA CLUTCH! Zelina endures, the fans rally, and Zelina fights up. Zelina fires body shots, Alba ripcords and wrenches to SUPERKICK! Zelina rebounds to SHINING WIZARD! Both women fall and the fans fire up! Piper coaches Zelina, the fans rally up, and both women rise up. Alba is on Zelina and brings her to a corner, but Zelina buckle bumps Alba first!
The fans rally as Alba stalks Zelina, but Zelina bumps her off buckles again! Alba tries again, but Zelina ELBOWS Alba away. Then BOOTS her away! Zelina fires forearms on Alba, backs her down, then whips. Alba reverses but Zelina dodges to LARIAT! The fans fire up as Zelina LARIATS again! Zelina blocks a kick, ELBOWS Alba, but Alba blocks the saido. But Zelina keeps Alba from running, SNAP SAIDO! The fans rally for Zelina as she runs corner to corner, METEORA! Zelina pushes Alba out and goes up top! The fans cheer for some Latina Heat, and METEORA! Cover, TWO! Alba survives and Chelsea is relieved.
Zelina grows frustrated, but she goes back for Alba. Zelina reels Alba in, suplexes, but Alba blocks! Alba knees low, suplexes, but Zelina hits STUN DOG MILLIONAIRE! Alba is down, Zelina goes up, MOONSAULT FLOPS! Alba goes up now, and she SWANTON BOMBS! Cover, TWO!?! Zelina survives and shocks Alba! Chelsea is upset again but Alba hurries to bring Zelina up. Alba KICKS Zelina out, and now Chelsea takes off her face mask?! She tells Piper to stand Zelina up! Piper does as told, and Chelsea takes a swing, but Zelina ducks! The face mask SMACKS Piper!! Chelsea is shocked, then furious, and then she chases after Zelina!
Zelina slips into the ring, Chelsea gets on the apron, but Zelina sends Alba at her! They almost collide, and then Zelina rolls Alba up! Zelina hops on, CODE RED!! Cover, Zelina wins!!
Winner: Zelina Vega, by pinfall
Chelsea tried so hard to screw Zelina over that she just screwed up her own team! Zelina survives again, will no one take down the Vega Administration?
The Miz pep talks Carmelo Hayes.
Melo looks good, and he just has to follow the plan. If Melo follows that plan, with no mistakes, they will win. Melo says he knows what he’s doing. Miz asks if he really does. Because Miz has taken Black Mass after Black Mass, sacrificing himself for Melo. Does Melo understand? Miz gave up this chance at MITB for Melo! Miz has already done it twice! If Melo wins this match tonight, Miz will guide Melo to make sure “we are Mr. MITB.” Wait, we? Miz says, “Who do you think got you in this position?” Melo says Melo did. Melo appreciates everything Miz has done for him, from sacrificing to taking hits for him, and helping him win the Andre the Giant Battle Royal.
But nobody told Miz to do that. Melo will run the play exactly as Miz designed it, but what brought Melo to the dance is Melo’s talent. Melo goes out there and does it better than anybody else. Melo puts up 40 points on a bad day, because he is H1M. And Miz just needs to let Melo be H1M. They good? Miz nods, and Melo says okay, let’s do the thing. They are Melo Don’t Miz and they are Awes-H1M. Miz still nods, but he doesn’t seem genuinely happy. Will Miz let Melo be Melo? Even if that means letting H1M fail?
Giulia speaks.
“Throughout my entire career, even back when I started in Japan, I had one goal… It’s not to be ‘the best.’ Everyone says that. It’s hollow and empty. My goal is to be indisputable. You can love me or hate me, admiration or disgust, it means nothing. But I’m impossible to deny. My opponent doesn’t matter, because I only view them as an opportunity to build my legacy. Evidence you cannot refute. SmackDown, you will see. I will hit harder, move faster, think sharper, and conquer everything, just like I’ve always done. The question isn’t, ‘Who’s going to let me?” It’s, ‘Who’s going to stop me?'” She adds in Japanese, “If you can stop it, stop it.”
Will SmackDown and all of the WWE soon succumb to The Beautiful Madness?
Zelina returns backstage.
She refreshes for a second, but Giulia is there! And Giulia says she sees Zelina, but she also sees that title more. Zelina scoffs and leaves. Could Giulia be aiming for everything once she becomes Ms. Money in the Bank?
Damian Priest is here!
Knoxville cheers as The Archer of Infamy heads to the ring, victorious from Saturday Night’s Main Event and that brutal Steel Cage match. Priest grabs a mic to tell Tennessee, “Ever since I beat Drew on Saturday, it’s like I’m breathing in fresh air. Y’know, there was a time when I lived on the street, if we were beefing with another street, that war could go for years. But in WWE, you have a beef with somebody, you have a match and it’s over. But with Drew and I, we went well over a year, and that’s not normal. But we took that beef into a cage. Now, I can feel it, you can se it on my face, we went to war.
“At the end of this war, at Saturday Night’s Main Event, I gave him a Con-Chair-To, I walked out the door, and I put his ass in the past.” The fans cheer that. Priest says now he knows Drew is somewhere recovering from his scrambled brains, but he knows Drew is watching, so this is for Drew. “I still can’t stand yo ass. But the Drew McIntyre that stepped in that cage wasn’t the guy that hides behind his phone on social media. That was the old Drew, the warrior, and I appreciate that.” The fans applaud, and Priest says he won’t ask what is next for himself, he’ll just tell us all. And it is the same thing he wanted when he came to SmackDown: Championships!
The fans cheer, and Priest says this war with Drew cost him an opportunity at being in MITB. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his eyes on a certain champion. Somebody who he has unfinished business with, and a champion he considers the most badass. The fans know that means Fatu, and he knows they know! Priest calls out Jacob Fatu! Priest respects Fatu. Priest knows where Fatu came from, what Fatu had to live through, how it feels to stand in this ring as a champion. Real talk, Priest is proud of Fatu, he congratulates Fatu, that’s real. But what Priest doesn’t respect is the crew that follows him around.
Wait, check that. What Priest doesn’t respect is the crew Fatu follows around. Priest knows at some point, they will get in this ring, handle business, but that’s for them. As for Fatu’s so-called family, if they wanna get involved, they can catch a fresh one, too. Priest won’t make it just a nickname or moniker, he wants this to be fact! Priest is and forever will be EL CAMPEON! The fans cheer that! But will the Archer soon take aim at the Samoan Werewolf? Well, speaking of, Fatu makes his way out here for tonight’s other Triple Threat Qualifier! Fatu nods to Priest, but if Fatu wins his way into the ladder match, will this showdown have to wait a little longer?
Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match Qualifier Triple Threat: Carmelo Hayes VS Andrade VS Jacob Fatu!
SmackDown returns and El Idolo makes his entrance, followed by H1M. The bell rings and Miz distracts Fatu and Melo attacks! Fatu ELBOWS Melo away, Andrade is on Melo with forearms, and then Fatu adds a LARIAT! Fatu looms mover Melo but then turns to stare down Andrade. The fans rally as these two step up. Andrade fires forearms but Fatu SHOVES him to a corner. Fatu runs up, Andrade dodges then whips. Fatu reverses, Andrade goes up and out to then ROCK Fatu! Andrade goes up, up, and CROSSBODIES! Cover, ONE! Melo CLUBS Andrade, TOSSES him out, and then CLUBS away on Fatu!
Miz says that’s the way! Melo HAMMERS and CHOPS, then whips, but Fatu blocks! Fatu whips Melo, Melo springboards, but into an UPPERCUT! The fans fire up and Fatu sees Melo go outside. Fatu builds speed, but Miz trips him up! The fans boo, the ref reprimands, but Fatu drags Miz into the ring! Melo goes to roll Fatu up but Fatu stays up! Fatu YANKS Melo up, scoops, but Melo slips free! Melo SUPERKICKS and Miz DUMPS Fatu out! The fans boo but Melo builds speed, only for Andrade to LARIAT! The fans cheer, and now Miz sees he is in trouble. Fatu snarls, but Andrade DIVES, into a HAYMAKER!
Fatu then SUPERKICKS Miz! Fatu THROWS Miz into barriers! The fans fire up and Fatu grins. Fatu runs in, HIP ATTACK against the barriers! The Samoan Werewolf has dominated three men at once and the fans fire up while SmackDown goes picture in picture.
Miz sputters and Fatu leaves him behind to go around the way. Melo is there to kick Fatu, RAM Fatu, but Fatu blocks another whip! Fatu ROCKS Melo and Melo staggers away. Fatu stalks Melo, Melo checks on Miz, but Fatu ROCKS Melo! Andrade goes after Fatu now, but Fatu THROWS Andrade into barriers! The fans cheer as Fatu lets Andrade go to the ring. Fatu brings Melo up, SMACKS him off the desk, then pushes him down. Fatu clears the desk off, but Melo CLUBS Fatu against the desk! Melo storms into the ring, brings Andrade up, but Andrade RAMS Melo into the corner! Andrade RAMS Melo, CHOPS Melo, then stalks Melo.
Andrade whips Melo, Melo reverses and Andrade hits buckles hard! Melo CHOPS Andrade down! Melo brings Andrade up, soaks up some heat, then makes it Latino Heat. But Andrade blocks the suplex to suplex Melo! Andrade hangs Melo out to dry, and Melo flops to the apron. Fatu is back but Andrade fires forearms first! Andrade whips, Fatu reverses, and Fatu BODY CHECKS Andrade! Fatu geeks out and the fans are with him while he stalks Andrade. Fatu drags Andrade up to HEADBUTT him into the corner. Fatu shoves Melo off the apron, then he HEADBUTTS Andrade again. Andrade sputters but Fatu is all fired up.
Fatu CHOPS Andrade, UPPERCUTS, and HEADBUTTS him again! Andrade CHOPS in return! SmackDown returns to single picture and Andrade CHOPS, CHOPS, CHOPS! Fatu UPPERCUTS and Andrade falls back! Melo stomps Andrade in the corner, then tells Fatu to come on in. Fatu runs up, but Andrade gets away! Hip attack hits buckles! Melo ENZIGIRIS Fatu, Andrade runs to dodge Melo and FLYING FOREARM! The fans fire up as Andrade kips up! Andrade has targets in the corners, and he rallies the fans with “SI! SI! SI!” CIEN KNEES for Fatu! CIEN- NO, Melo tilt-o-whirls and LA MYSTICA! Cover, TWO!
The fans rally, Melo runs to stomp away on Fatu, then he brings Andrade up. Fatu stands to CLOBBER Melo! Andrade SUPERKICKS Fatu! The fans rally, Melo brings Andrade up and springboards, but Andrade stops him at the ropes! SECOND ROPE SPANISH FLY! But Fatu SENTONS Andrade! The fans fire up as Fatu SENTONS Melo! Fatu drags Melo to a drop zone, then goes to the corner! The fans rally for Fatu as he goes up, up, but Andrade YANKS him down! Andrade goes up top, MOONSAULT DOUBLE!! Cover, Melo breaks it! The fans rally while all three are down! “This is Awesome!” as the three stir.
Melo brings Fatu and Andrade around, and he fires forearms on each of them. Andrade fires back on Melo, then Fatu UPPERCUTS! Andrade ROCKS Fatu, but Fatu UPPERCUTS Andrade! The fans rally as the three rise, and Melo springboards! DOUBLE FADE AWAY DDT!! Cover on Andrade, Fatu breaks it! Melo and Fatu stare down, and they run up! Melo dodges to hit the FIRST 48! Andrade adds a POISON-RANA! Melo slips around Andrade to KNEE and suplex, CUTTER! Cover, TWO!! Andrade survives and Melo grows frustrated. The fans rally for Fatu while Melo shakes his hands out. Andrade is on the apron but Melo rises.
Melo brings Andrade up but Andrade trips Melo! They go out to brawl, and Melo SUPERKICKS Andrade down! But Fatu SUPERKICKS Melo! The fans fire up for Fatu as he lines up a shot. Fatu gets the fans even more fired up, then he geeks out! Fatu runs in the full length, but Andrade & Melo move! HIP ATTACK through barriers!! The fans go nuts as Fatu crashes into the timekeeper’s area! Fatu sputters as SmackDown goes back to picture in picture.
Fatu stirs while Andrade and Melo go to the ring. They roll in, Melo grabs at Andrade and vice-versa. Melo fires a forearm, then goes back outside. Andrade goes to the opposite end while Melo looks under the ring. Melo makes Knoxville happy by bringing out a table! But then Melo makes them mad by dropping it! Melo goes after Andrade but Andrade ROCKS him first! Andrade brings out a chair! Andrade aims, but Melo dropkicks the legs out! Andrade crawls, Melo shakes his head, and he grabs the chair now. Melo aims, but Andrade kicks Melo low! Andrade and Melo go into the ring, and Andrade puts Melo in a drop zone.
Andrade goes up the corner, but Melo trips him up! Andrade is stuck up top and Melo hits the SLINGSHOT PLEX! Melo flexes, then decides to step through on the legs! Andrade cradles that, TWO! Melo and Andrade stand, DOUBLE LARIATS collide! Both men fall and the fans look for Fatu. SmackDown returns to single picture as the fans rally, Melo and Andrade sit up, and Melo CHOPS! Andrade ROCKS Melo, then rolls away. Melo hurries to clamp onto Andrade with a facelock, but Andrade RAMS him into a corner! Andrade puts Melo up top but Melo fires forearms. Andrade drops back, Melo aims, but Andrade GAMANGIRIS!
The fans still want tables but Andrade climbs up to get Melo. They’re on the very top, but Fatu is back! Fatu makes the SUPER SPANISH FLY part ROCKER LAUNCHER!! The fans are thunderous as Fatu goes up now! SWANTON BOMB onto Melo! Cover, Andrade breaks it!! The fans rally up again and still want tables. Fatu runs at Andrade to SPLASH! Then Fatu runs at Melo, but Melo BOOTS him! Melo runs up, but into a pop-up! Melo fights the Samoan Drop, and Andrade adds the SHADOW ELBOW! But Melo makes it a ghost pin! Andrade adds a stack, TWO!!! Fatu survives the double cover, but here come Solo & JC!
The fans boo as Solo is here to coach Fatu up. Melo and Andrade trade forearms, then Melo dodges to springboard, FLYING LARIAT! Cover, Fatu breaks it! Fatu snarls, drags Melo up, and he HEADBUTTS Melo! Fatu finally notices Solo & JC, but Fatu puts Melo up top. Fatu CHOPS Melo, then he fireman’s carries Andrade. Fatu adds Melo to this, but Melo slips free. SAMOAN DROP for Andrade, and then Fatu goes to the corner. Solo says Fatu’s got this now! BEST MOONSAULT EVER FLOPS and Melo hits NOTHING BUT NET!! Cover, ANDRADE BREAKS IT! Andrade underhooks Melo, THE MESS- NO, Melo RANAS through! Cover, TWO!!
Andrade has a cover, TWO! Melo has a cover, TWO! Andrade has it, TWO! Both men stand, SHADOW ELBOW! FIRST 48!! SHADOW ELBOW AGAIN!! All three men are down and the fans are thunderous! Fatu crawls, Melo rolls to a corner, and Andrade stirs. Fatu rises, he brings Andrade up, IMPALER DDT! Then Fatu has Melo to RAM him into a corner. Fatu runs and HIP ATTACKS Melo! Andrade is up, Fatu hits him with another IMPALER DDT! Fatu puts Andrade in the drop zone, and he hits the BEST MOONSAULT EVER!! Solo says yeah, do that again! The fans boo but Fatu glares at Solo. JC says do what Solo is saying, Fatu!
But wait! Jimmy YANKS JC down, and SUPERKICKS him! The fans fire up, and then Melo RAMS Fatu into Solo! Then FIRST 48! But Andrade rolls Melo into THE MESSAGE!! Cover, ANDRADE WINS!!
Winner: Andrade, by pinfall (advances to Money in the Bank)
Solo just screwed things up for Fatu! Solo does his best to keep the peace between Fatu and JC, but the point is: Andrade is headed to Los Angeles! Will he make this El Idolo in the Bank?
Backstage interview with LA Knight.
Byron Saxton segues from congratulating Andrade for qualifying to welcoming in someone who already has qualified, but The Mega Star says, “My gawd. What is it with punching tickets around here? Everybody talks about punching tickets. WWE Instagram, punched tickets. Commentary, punched tickets. You’re talking about punched tickets. I guess I punched my ticket to MITB, it’s only eight days away. A few other guys who punched tickets, who are they? You got Andrade, you got Penta, you got what’s his name, Seth Rollins. You got Solo Sikoa! They’re all in it! They all punched their tickets!
“And everybody’s gonna be climbing that ladder, trying to get up, put everything on the line that they can. Now, if this was a one-on-one match, I’d go ahead and call my shot, and I’d say I’m gonna run up there, grab the case, and cash it in. But you gotta understand, this is my third year in a row, so I understand what this is. You can call me the vet in this match. Some people say maybe that Seth is the vet in this, but they would be wrong. For three years in a row now, you’re talking about the most robust and the most recent experience, YEAH. And what that means is now it’s anybody’s game. Anybody can come out with it, and I understand that.
“But with or without the case, what you need to understand is that the WWE title, the world title, they’re all in my future. With the way I’ve been running, at this point, they should be in my past, maybe even my present. Why don’tcha go ahead and punch that ticket? While we’re talking about-” Knight stops himself when he spots someone walking in. It’s Aleister Black! And Aleister says that win was supposed to be his. But he tells Knight, “You’re welcome, though.” The Dark Father lets the Mega Star shine, if only for now. Will LA win big in LA when we finally reach MITB?
Fatu and Solo regroup backstage.
Solo wants Fatu to listen. He was just trying to help. Fatu tells Solo to listen. For the last time, Fatu does not need his help! Fatu storms off, JC steps in, but Solo has nothing else to say. Is the Samoan Werewolf going to break away from this dysfunctional “family?”
Cody Rhodes is here!
Knoxville fires up and sings along, “WHOA~ OH~!” Cody gets his pyro, high-fives fans along the ramp and the front row, and even signs autographs. Cody goes to the ring, grabs a mic, and he hears the fans chant his name. Cody fires the fans up more, then hears them sing, “Cody! Cody Rhooodes~! Cody! Cody Rhooodes~!” Cody says, “So, Knoxville! Whaddya wanna talk about?” The fans cheer, and Cody says, “I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that we could talk about the record crowd here this evening!” The fans cheer that, too! Cody says he loves them, too, thank you very much.
Cody says they could also talk about WrestleMania 41. The fans boo, but Cody says after WrestleMania 41, he went home, he drowned his sorrows, might’ve touched the “Tennessee Cough Syrup” a little bit, and he had a moment of doubt. He reached out to a friend. A friend who helps him prepare to wonderful audiences like this one here, or speaking to everyone at home. Cody asked him, “Was I a good champion?” The fans cheer for that, but Cody says the friend told him wasn’t quite as simple as yes or no.
The friend told him, “With everything that you faced here in the ring in front of all the fans, and with everything that you faced behind the scenes, being pulled in different directions, the waters that you had to navigate that no champion has ever had to navigate, yes, I feel that you were a good champion.” Cody says he felt good hearing that, it turned into a hopeful moment, the silver lining on a dark cloud. Cody looked back on his whole year. He thought about AJ Styles faking retirement to get the drop on him. Cody thought about his friend, Kevin Owens, sucker punching him against his bus while Cody’s family slept inside.
Cody thought about his boss, Triple H, who pushed Cody to the limit, and sees something in Cody that Cody doesn’t even see in himself. Cody even thought about The Final Boss, how he asked Cody for his soul, and the entire world wondering what that meant. As preposterous as that sounded, The Rock was 100% serious. No matter how many times Cody said no, the offer still stands. And Cody also thought about John Cena. The fans initially boo, but the “Let’s Go, Cena!” “CENA SUCKS!” starts up. Cody takes a moment, and then he says, “I thought about John Cena doing exactly what he said he was going to do. He forced me to make a choice, and I hesitated.
“I don’t know if John Cena is going to ‘ruin’ professional wrestling. But if he does, then I’m partially to blame. Now, I know, I’d love to say this to John Cena’s face. Not sure if he’s going to come out here right now, but if you are listening, if you are listening, Champ, I need you to know that I will never hesitate with you again!” The fans cheer that, and Cody says no matter how much Cena will tout the amount of days he has left, how much Cena will talk about what remains before he absconds with the WWE Championship and leaves all of us forever, that is NOT Cena’s expiration date! That is on the other side of Cody’s corneas, and it will burn Cena’s ass up!
The fans fire up for that, and Cody calms it down. Cody apologizes for that. This is his first night back on SmackDown, he is getting worked up. He thought so much about what he could do, what he could do for the fans. Hell, how about a surprise? The fans already “YEET! YEET! YEET!” so Cody says they’re hungry for it. Let’s yeet. Well, hold on, that’d be a very big surprise. That’d be the biggest surprise. That’d be Cody’s partner riding into battle for MITB, and hell YES he is here! Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the World Heavyweight Champion, MAIN EVENT JEY USO! The fans go wild as Jey makes his way in from the pavilion!
The fans sing along with Day One Ish and bounce for that YEET! Jey makes his way down through the crowd to ringside, one verse at a time, and SmackDown goes to break.
SmackDown returns and Jey joins Cody in the ring now, mic in hand. Cody and Jey hear the fans want an encore, so we get even more YEET! But then John Cena makes his entrance to ruin the fun! The fans sing “JOHN CENA SUUUCKS~!” even though he wears that University of Tennessee orange and white. Cena goes to the ring, towel draped over his head, then grabs a mic before he joins Cody and Jey in the ring. Cena hears the fans boo, and he says, “I’m upset, too. If it isn’t professional wrestling’s biggest wannabes!” Cena tells Cody he is nothing more than a Cena Wannabe, and that Jey is nothing more than a Cena Wannabe.
The fans boo but Cena says they both wanna be Cena so bad, it makes him sick! Cody wants Cena’s fame, Jey wants Cena’s money, but they will get neither because Cody is too desperate and Jey is too lazy! There is only ONE other human being in the WWE who embodies hustle, loyalty and respect, and he’s got the fortune, fame and followers to back that up! Surprise, losers! Cena’s partner is here, too! The fans boo already, because “EY YO~!” Logan Paul IS here! The Maverick swaggers his way out, and Cena gives him a proper introduction. “Oh, you mad? You’re mad because Logan Paul does WWE better than any professional wrestler?”
Cena says Logan doesn’t need to pay his dues, because he is paying Jey’s mortgage! Everybody in this building did NOT come to see Jey! They came to see John Cena and Logan Paul! Logan asks, “What the hell you crying about, Knoxville? Look! I could walk on water, and y’all would still find a way to tell me it’s because I can’t swim! John Cena speaks the language of Logan Paul, and that is the truth! The truth! It is right in front of you! You deny it all you want, but look around, you stupid, stupid, simple Tennessee people! This is a moment in history! All of you get to witness the moment that John Cena stood side-by-side in the ring with Logan Paul.
“And look, all of you will live long, pathetic, miserable lives. But at least you will get to say that you saw that.” The fans tell Logan to STFU, and Cena tells Logan to ignore it. Logan says yeah, yeah, they’re so ungrateful. They don’t know what’s good for them. There is one problem, though. This does seem too perfect. The problem is… Logan should be standing next to THE WWE Champion as THE World Heavyweight Champion! Logan should’ve been the one to leave Saturday Night’s Main Event with that title around his waist. But look at him, Jey. Jey got lucky. Jey got lucky! He knows it, Logan knows, it, the fans know it, CODY knows it!
Jey needed Cody to save him! When Cody interfered with the match cuz these two cheaters can’t do a single thing in this business without it being handed to them! “These two nepo babies were born on third, thinking they hit a triple.” Logan points to himself and says, “Self-made man!” He points to Cena and says, “Self-made man!” Five years ago, nobody every would’ve believed Logan Paul would be a WWE superstar. And they certainly never ever would’ve believed that he’d be teaming with the Greatest Of All Time! But look at Logan now. He’s not just a superstar, he is THE superstar! His time is now! Cena told us that his time is almost up!
Cena is the Last Real Champion, Logan is the inevitable face of the WWE! So Jey, Cody, at MITB, if you want some, come get some. Jey tells Logan they don’t gotta wait! They can handle this right now! UH UH, YEET!! The mics drop, Cena and Logan talk this out, and Logan wants to throw hands while Cena wants to leave. Cody asks what they’re arguing about. They gonna go to the back so Logan can polish Cena’s Peacemaker? Now it’s a fight! The fans fire up as the hands are flying! Logan TOSSES Jey, Cena picks Cody up! Cody slips free, Jey is back to SUPERKICK! Cody hits the DISASTER KICK! Cena bails out, Jey PLANCHAS out onto him!
Logan goes to the apron, slingshot and- NO, Cody dodges the “Snapshot” Lariat and Jey SUPERKICKS Logan! Then Jey sets Logan up for the CODE D!! The fans fire up as Cody picks up the WWE Championship! Will Cody and Jey make it through Logan and Cena to then clear a path for the American Nightmare’s redemption? Or will Cena & Logan ruin wrestling together?
My Thoughts:
A very good SmackDown, but maybe with some wheel-spinning. As fun as Chelsea Green continues to be, can’t we move on from her and Zelina? Or are we about to do that with tonight’s win over Alba and then Giulia confronting her? Ironically, that seems to give away Giulia isn’t winning MITB. Giulia had a good promo video right before but they undercut it by giving us that confrontation. That said, Giulia deserves to be all the champions, but I suppose starting with the Women’s US Championship would be a good route. Very good promo from Bianca and Naomi to not just have Bianca’s homecoming, but to keep the feud between them alive.
The Women’s Triple Threat had a slow start but it turned out to be a very good match. Great win for Naomi, and good promo from her, Tiffany and Alexa to tease potential MITB winners. Great stuff in the tag match to build Worlds Collide just a touch. We only got one moment of Berto being passive aggressive towards Santos, and then Ethan Page screwing the Faces over, but that was still enough for the North American Championship. Of course, it depends on how many fans watch not just Raw and SmackDown but also NXT so that the fans already understand the story. But as someone who does, I do appreciate they’re bringing NXT story onto SmackDown.
Good promo from Priest to give some shoot respect to Drew and Fatu, but Priest wanting after the US title kinda gave away what was happening with the Men’s Triple Threat. It was a great Triple Threat, but of course Solo & JC cost Fatu. That team is just one moment away from breaking up, and it might be at MITB when Solo just expects Fatu to help him win the briefcase and Fatu refuses. And Fatu VS Priest will still be awesome whenever it happens. Good promo from Knight, and a good bit from Aleister with him, which I suppose means that’s the next feud for them. Was kinda hoping for Aleister VS Nakamura but that really depends if Nakamura is sticking with WWE or going home to Japan via Pro-Wrestling NOAH as rumored.
R-Truth relapsing to talking to Lil’ Jimmy is certainly a choice. I kinda wish he’d keep up the “Ron Cena” stuff, or they’d let Jeff Cobb do his own John Cena bit from NJPW, but I guess some things in WWE still won’t change. And closing with a big promo segment was also certainly a choice. Cody still did a good job, and nice surprise to have Jey show up. Not sure they needed to take a commercial break for Jey’s entrance, especially when they were obviously going to let Jey do his YEET encore. And Cena really must be brainwashed to put Logan over as if Logan’s on par with peak Cena. But naturally a brawl happened and the Faces stood tall.
Don’t count this as go-home math yet, they could easily revisit this on Raw and even next week on SmackDown. Even then, I still feel like Jey and Cody should win at MITB to properly set up Cody VS Cena 2 at SummerSlam. Raw on June 9th is still the move for the World Heavyweight Championship, but there’s also Saturday Night’s Main Event in July, who knows if Jey makes it to SummerSlam as champion.
My Score: 8.7/10
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Coverage
Andrew’s TNA iMPACT! Results & Match Ratings: 5.29.25
Stuff happens, maybe it doesn’t, Dreamer and Delirious can’t book.
Well Trick Willie is the new TNA champ and this is the first iMPACT since his win…so let’s just hear him talk about it.
"TNA turned into TRICK-NA. Lets talk about it"@_trickwilliams #WWENXT
WATCH #TNAiMPACT on TNA+: https://t.co/GrBQpdX5g5 pic.twitter.com/StU4pmi3oy
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) May 30, 2025
Ratings:
- The Rascalz vs Fir$t Cla$$ vs Laredo vs The System: Rascalz win via Meteora – ***
- Raj Singh vs Mustafa Ali: Ali wins via…No Shit – Squash Garbage
- ASH by Elegance vs Lei Ying Lee: Lei wins via Spinning TKO – ** 3/4
- Mance Warner w/SDL vs Jobber: Mance wins via Hit the Pay Winda – Squash
- Santino Marella & Arianna Grace vs Robert Stone & Victoria Crawford w/Tessa: Team Robbie wins via shenanigans – **
- International Championship: Steve Maclin (c) vs Matt Cardona: Maclin retains via KIA – ***
Results:
The Rascalz vs Fir$t Cla$$ vs Laredo vs The System
Octagon got jumped by The System earlier so Laredo is fighting alone. Another backstage jumping is getting a little dumb.
Laredo and Trey start. Typical Indie start with Simultaneous awful Dropkick spot and bad counters, AJ blind tag runs the smaller guys over, tags out to KC and the Rascalz instantly get the moment. KC is rocked, tags in Laredo and Laredo takes out the System before Lish gets on the apron and grabs Laredo. The referee kicks out Lish and Rehwoldt on commentary points out it’s a No DQ match so that’s dumb.
KC gets tossed at AJ, he catches him, Rascalz Dive and do their taunt as we go to commercial. We come back, Tennessee Whiskey into a KC tag in for the near fall on Laredo. Corner combo, Snapmare into Flip Forward Neck Breaker, KC is on a roll. AJ tags Laredo and starts talking crap to KC, they swerve and go Finger Poke of Doom, but it’s not a legal pin. Suddenly tornado attacks, System and Rascalz go for broke, AJ hits the Senton to break the eventual pin, Laredo counters AJ’s Chokeslam attempt. Trey clears out The System, Wentz sends himself and KC over and out, Laredo with a Corkscrew Moonsault, which looked cool but it’s the pile of morons waiting to get hit spot.
AJ hits the Down Payment on Laredo, but Trey blind tagged AJ. Meteora on AJ, Trey pins Laredo and Rascalz win.
Raj Singh vs Mustafa Ali
Raj looks like shit in the gear he came down in…and he wrestles equivalently. I would rather anyone else comeback…give me Anarquia.
Ali murders Raj, Instant Dropkick, Rolling Neckbreaker, Corkscrew Standing Moonsault, it’s not close. Raj tries to counter things but Ali Bellclap, a little Duck the left, connect the right. Raj even does a terrible looking Punch Combo, he’s in bad shape, a bad looking Ushigoroshi, Raj with a sloppy looking something, 450 ends it.
Fire Raj as quickly as you brought him back. You don’t need a comedically pathetic job guy when the roster is like 4 guys getting pushed and everyone else sucks. Stop being stupid. Ali still hates women too.
This Injury Report is the dumbest segment in the history of wrestling. Stop treating fake shit as “serious business”.
ASH by Elegance vs Lei Ying Lee
ASH mocks karate stuff, Lei throws a few Rising Crane kicks as ASH bails and then things slow down a little. But a Pump Kick, Sliding Kick and Low Dropkick cause ASH to cower and claim her tooth broke. It’s a bait to pull Lei into the turnbuckles and them get in a few stomps. Ash keeps Lei in the corner, Suplexes her ankles into the buckles and then Ash throws a few Booty Shots/Hit Attacks then starts a grounded stretch, Lei Headscissors her down, still sells the hips and ankles, but dodges and fires, combination strikes into the 10 Count Down Strikes. T-bone Suplex, into the pinfall, for only two.
Cheapshot into Running Meteora from ASH for two. Ash goes for the Miz Yes Kicks and Lei No Sells and asks for more. Gorgeous Capture Suplex into Thunder Struck and TKO with flair. My baby has a better finish now! Yay!
Mance Warner w/SDL vs Jobber
Hannifan cursing and being pissed at Trick for not even showing but is more entertaining than a squash match. Not that Mance’s offense is bad, but 2 out of 3 job matches is stupid.
.@milanmiracle and @AriannaGraceWWE make history as the first father/daughter tag team in TNA!
WATCH #TNAiMPACT on TNA+: https://t.co/GrBQpdX5g5 pic.twitter.com/3s8OhtYFPv
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) May 30, 2025
Santino Marella & Arianna Grace vs Robert Stone & Victoria Crawford w/Tessa
Marella tries to tie up with Robbie, but he bails and tags out to Victoria so Arianna comes in and aside from Alicia Fox’s silliness, the tie up was decent with Arianna and Victoria. Tessa interferes and the Referee throws her out. Victoria comes back in and aside from a slight miscommunication with how Arianna does her punches, Alicia Fox is making her look…pretty good. Transition moves, okay brawling and Arianna looks amazing in her outfit.
Rob and Santino distract the referee and Victoria hits a Figure Four into her Northern Lights Suplex, only for 2. Arianna finally Back Body Drop to find the tag, Santino and Rob, Santino does his split dodge into the Standing Headbutt, Arianna Cross Body onto Victoria. Rob pulls out the ref, then shoves the ref into Santino, Santino into the steps and Arianna attack but Alicia and Lish, the fix is in, Arianna eats the pin.
International Championship: Steve Maclin (c) vs Matt Cardona
A few quick brawl moves, Shoulder Tackles, Strikes, Back Breakers, Cardona does get dumped out and eats a SCUD. Maclin bounces Cardona’s face off the apron and hits an Elbow off the apron to keep Cardona reeling, but a dodged tackle sends Maclin into the steps. Cardona tries to Piledriver Maclin on the ramp, but Back Drop counter, into commercial.
Formulaic commercial etiquette of Cardona still in control, throws Maclin into the ropes, Diving Shoulder Tackle lays both dudes out and they get up by 8. Fighting Spirit spot, Cardona hits ropes and gets hit by Maclin twice, Thesz Press, Ground and Pound, Back Elbow and Olympic Slam has Maclin rolling. Splash into Lariat for two. Maclin has been all gas no brakes. Cardona tries to take a few shortcuts that turns into a Straight Jacket Takedown. Cardona to the top, Maclin cuts him off, Superplex spot. 1-2-kick out!
Maclin goes topside for a Jar Headbutt, Cardona hits the ropes so Maclin crashes into the corner, 2 Reboots connect, the third gets caught, counter into Busaiku Knee, Jar Headbutt. In and out, Cardona uses the middle rope for the Low Blow, Killswitch from Cardona but Maclin kicks out. Cardona dodges and shoves Maclin towards the ref, he puts the brakes on, Radio Silence! 1-2-Kick out! Maclin catches a top rope move, Power Bomb, Corner Splash, Tree of Woe, Caught in the Crosshairs, KIA and Maclin retains!
Overall Score: 4.5/10
Boring paint by numbers show, no Trick, System has one move, Robert Stone is a scumbag, too long to introduce new girls, lots of throw away segments and Rosemary sets up YET ANOTHER Monster’s Ball match. These aren’t interesting when there’s one every 3 months. So we can have terrible Monster’s Ball matches quarterly, Barbed Wire Massacre and Clockwork Orange House of Fun…BUT NO LOCKDOWN!?
Go home TNA, you’re drunk.
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