The SmackDown Live Report
THE ONLY BLVD!
It’s Friday night so it’s SmackDown tonight! We’re live from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. In tonight’s exciting episode, The Money in the Bank Triple Threat Qualifier Matches continue with Charlotte Flair vs Giulia vs Lash Legend squaring off on the women’s side, and on the men’s side it will be CM Punk vs Finn Bálor vs Gunther locking horns to punch their ticket. Also in action will be WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green, Tiffany Stratton and Paige joining forces to take on Women’s United States Champion Jacy Jayne and WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid in a turbulent Six-Woman Tag Team Match. And, just after a year since we’ve seen the steel cage on SmackDown, the steel structure will be lowered once again as Trick Williams will defend the white furred United States Championship against Baron Corbin in a steel cage match.
We’ve got a whole lot for an exciting night – So let’s get to the SLAM and light the lights!
We start things off with the typical superstars earlier entering the arena. Then, once we’re in the arena, the steel cage structure begins to lower as flames blast around the steel posts. We’re then treated to a vignette of the history between Trick Williams and Baron Corbin.
Now live, Willaims comes out first alongside Lil Yachty. Next comes Corbin on his white motorcycle. Corbin walks through the door to the cage as it’s closed.
Michael Cole is on play-by-play, Corey Graves is our analyst, Kathy Kelley reports backstage, and Mark Nash is the ring announcer.
Steel Cage Match:
Trick Williams (c) vs Baron Corbin
They start things off at the bell by punching each other back and forth util Williams gives a spin kick and takes control. But the steel cage veteran Corbin takes control by sending Williams to the cage wall. Baron is in full control with power moves and smashing Williams into the cage walls. Corbin tries to escape the cage, but Williams gets up and grabs Corbin, slamming him to the mat for a two-count.
After a bit, Williams decides to climb the cage. Corbin follows suit and they’re battling back and forth at the top. Willians gets the better half, and Corbin starts to fall back down to the top rope. As Williams tries to leave the cage Corbin grabs him in a Guillotine type choke hold to stop him, and pulls him back in. Corbin from the top rope as he sets Williams up for a Superplex from high and hits it on Williams. Corbin rolls on top of Williams for a close call. But Williams then rolls onto Corbin for a close call on Corbin.
Now Williams asks for the door as Corbin tries to climb to escape. But Corbin quickly sees this and runs to Williams to throw him back to the middle of the mat. Then Corbin slams the door onto Yachty. Corbin turns around into a Trick Kick for a two. Williams gets ready for a Trickshot but Corbin with a Chokeslam. Now Corbin heads to the door, but Yachty is waiting and slams the door on him. Trickshot by Willians to Corbin for a close call. Williams goes for another Trickshot but Corbin sends him into the steel wall. Deep six on Williams for a close call. Corbin tries for End Of Days, but Williams reverses it to send Corbin to the cage. Two Bookends and a third for good measure gets Williams the win.
WINNER: Trick Williams
Now backstage, Cathy Kelley interviews the Irresistible Forces. She mentions the last time Lash Legend was in a ladder match was at SummerSlam where she lost. Nia Jax responds that’s ancient history and this is now. Legend compliments her MitB competitors, but she’s Lash Legend. She’s more talented, dominant, and gorgeous. She asks Jax to interview her as she says she will become miss MitB and bring home the WWE Women’s Championship.
We’re then shown footage of the finish from last week’s match between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. KO thwarted an attack by Johnny Gargano with the title. Punk arrives and tattoos KO with the title. Then Zayn hits the Helluva Kick for the win (They completely edited out Zayn’s controversial cover that happened immediately after KO got his clock potentially cleaned legitimately by Punk and caused KO to have a controversial kickout before Zayn went for the Helluva Kick). Then Punk returns in the ring to beat up both contenders.
Now backstage, Punk is getting ready for his MitB match when SmackDown GM Nick Aldis asks him into his office. Punk asks if he’s in trouble, but Aldis says no. Ominous foreshadowing?
Back from break, Aldis brings Punk to his office with KO waiting. Aldis says this has to end, not ruin each other’s careers. He says after what happened these past two weeks, he cannot have this bleed over into the MitB qualifying match. Punk says if KO stays out of his way, Punk gladly stay out of his. KO just walks away bumping into Punk’s shoulder.
Elsewhere backstage, Tiffany Stratton and Paige are trying to comfort Women’s Champion Chelsea Green. Stratton and Paige walked away to get ready for their match against Fatal Influence, when Nikki Bella confronted Green and said no one would stop her from taking the Women’s Championship. Paige and Stratton returned and stepped between them, prompting Nikki to back away. Poor Green said to never meet your heroes.
Now live in the arena, Charlotte Flair comes out for the women’s MitB triple threat qualifier. After a break, Guilia is in the ring. Next comes out Lash Legend.
Women’s Money in the Bank Triple Threat Qualifier Match:
Charlotte Flair vs Giulia vs Lash Legend
Things start off with Giulia and Legend shoving each otherwhile Flair watches on. Giulia with a slap on Legend, but Legend responds with a Clothesline. Now Flair pushes Legend to the corner as her and Giulia duke it out with punches and Flair chops. Legend from out of the corner for a Double Clothesline. Legend throws Giulia to the corner as she now goes after Flair, but Flair dodges a charge. Giulia latches onto Flair’s back and Flair gets distracted for Legend to give her a big boot.
Now it’s Legend vs Giulia while Legend tries for a big move. But Giulia puts Legend in the Guillotine. She almost makes Legend tap, but Legend was powerful enough to give Giulia a Suplex to get out of it.
The finish begins when Flair took Giulia, who was up top, and used her as a missile to knock Legend down. Flair goes up top and hit a moonsault onto both opponents at the same time. Flair hits Natural Selection on Giulia. Legend went for the Lash Extension, but Flair countered it into the Figure Eight submission. Giulia broke it up and hit a running knee and a Northern Lights Bomb on Flair. But as Giulia was going for the cover Legend hit Lash Extension on Giulia for the win.
WINNER: Lash Legend
Legend joins Sol Ruca, Roxanne Perez, Jacy Jayne, and Lola Vice in the Women’s MitB Match.
Cole then shows us footage of what happened just after last week’s interview with Cody Rhodes went off the air. Shaking hands with Cole, Rhodes said if it happens again he’s going to kick Orton’s **** head off. Then, today just before SmackDown went on the air, Randy Orton comes up to the announce desk in front of Cole and says he demands Cole interview him, and Cole doesn’t have a choice. We’re then shown backstage now where Orton is in his seat waiting for Cole to arrive after the break.
After the commercial, somewhere backstage is Giulia walking and hurting after her loss in her MitB match. Blake Monroe confronted her and says for her to go back to where she came from; obscurity. Giulia slaps Monroe as officials hold her back while Monroe gets some offense in while officials hold Monroe back. SmackDown GM Aldis comes in and makes a match for next week of Giulia vs Monroe.
Now backstage in the interview room we have Cole interviewing Orton. Cole had trouble starting the interview, so Orton said let’s start with reminding him what Rhodes said in his interview last week. Cole said Rhodes told him he was going to kick Orton’s head off. Orton said Rhodes waited until the cameras stopped because he didn’t want the world to know he has been compromised (even though it was posted all over socials). Everyone thinks Rhodes is a good guy. He isn’t the same he was about 20 years ago as he changes. Orton doesn’t change as he’s always been him. He’s done despicable things. He says he has 14 world titles, and he’s going to get another one by being him. Orton claimed if Rhodes kicks him, then he is compromised. And if he doesn’t, then he has peaked. Orton asked Cole if he thinks he’s going to do it. Orton said that Rhodes is like Cole’s best friend, so Orton got up and wanted Cole to answer if he thinks Rhodes would kick Orton in the head. Cole said no. Orton said he thinks Cole is right about that. Orton said that the interview is over and told Cole to have a great rest of the show.
Elsewhere backstage, Kathy Kelley interviews Sami Zayn. Zayn said of course Orton and a lot of people want to be the champion. There’s also a lot of people who don’t want him to be the champ. He mentions GM Aldis and what he tried to do to him. But whatever they throw at him he will prevail. And why? Because he’s the only one doing things for the right reasons. You can do things the right way and still be the Last Real Good Guy.
Enter Finn Balor. Balor says Zayn has it all backwards. The reason they’re coming after him is because he chose to screw all of them. He’s here to tell Zayn to his face that he’s coming for him. Balor doesn’t care If he wins the briefcase, he’s coming for the title. And then we’ll see that justice really looks like.
As Balor leaves, Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae walk in. Zayn says he helped him again, so where’s his title match? Zayn says he deserves a title match. But Aldis said no. But he got Gargano and Candice each qualifier matches for MitB. Gargano asks is that how he gets his match against Zayn. Zayn said yes. Zayn has his back if Gargano has his. Gargano says, “Ride Or Die.” Zayn looks excited at first, but as they leave he’s nervous.
Back live in the arena, the WWE Women’s Champ Chelsea Green comes out for her 6-woman tag team match, Back from an entrance break, Tiffany Stratton comes out with Paige already in the ring. Out comes Fatal Influence with the rest of the women’s gold.
Six-Women Tag Team Match:
Women’s Champion Chelsea Green & Tiffany Stratton & Paige vs Women’s United States Champion Jacy Jayne & WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions (Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid)
Paige and Henley start things off with Paige getting the offense early. Henley gets kicked into her own corner where her tag title partner Reed tags in. Running Dropkick sends Reed to the apron as Paige beats her. Multiple tags all around. Reed gets beat on by Green, then Stratton gets to do the same. They happily bounce around until Jayne tries to run in but Paige is the legal woman nailing Jayne with a kick. The babyfaces hug it out before the mid-match-‘mercial.
Back from break the tide turns to the heel team as they isolate Stratton. Stratton and Henley collide pulling hairs, so Reid and Green get the hot tags as the crowd goes nuts. Two Japanese Arm Drags, and after some interference Green goes up top but misses and Reid gives her a Superkick. Reid tried for a move, but Green slipped out the back door, shoved Reid, and got another hot tag to Paige. Jayne and Paige are now legal as Paige hits multiple Suplexes and the Page Turner and the cover, but Henley breaks it up.
Fatal Influence drags Green out to the floor and threatens her, but Stratton with a dive takes them out. Jayne leaps and bowls over the faces as they were celebrating. Paige was about to do a dive over the top rope, but Nikki Bella suddenly appears from under the ring and pulls her legs while the ref was distracted. Rolling Encore by Jayne for the win.
WINNERS: Fatal Influence
After the match, Nikki leaves through the crowd while Paige and the rest watch.
We’re now going to a vid that was shown on WWE socials earlier this week where R-Truth was at the Performance Center complaining about Damian Priest. Whatever change Priest wanted they could’ve made it together. From behind comes Priest attacking Truth. He keeps asking Truth if he understands him now and if Truth still thinks it’s funny. Priest says he should be a champion instead of wasting his time with Truth.
Now backstage, Kelley interviews Gunther and asks him about his opportunity in the MitB qualifier match tonight. Gunther says it’s a disgrace that he has to participate in a qualifier. He says Balor got one on him last week and still has a solid right hook. But Balor doesn’t have his emotions in check and Gunther will find out who he’s dealing with.
In walks Danhausen. He calls him “Guner” and says for him to climb that ladder, grab the “Human Monies in the Briefcase”, take the cash and split it. He then thinks Gunther isn’t going to share the human monies at all so he tries to curse him. But Gunther grabs Danhausen mid-curse and tells him to say away from him.
Next we’re shown CM Punk at a Chicago Cubs ball game throwing the ceremonial first pitch and leading the crowd in “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.”
Now live, Cody Rhodes comes out for a promo in the ring. He asks Indianapolis “Whadda ya wanna talk about?” At SummerSlam, he had Punk defeated and was about to win the Undisputed WWE Championship. That didn’t happen because of Orton’s interference. He talks about Orton mentioning his changes and that if he punts Orton it’s somehow a good thing or a bad thing. He’s been asked by his boss (The Rock) to give him his soul, he had to defeat John Cena during Cena’s retirement tour. His entire first reign as WWE Champ was against beloved and deeply connected WWE Superstars, and he is the king of unwinnable positions. The position Orton will be in is the same one where Rhodes hesitated. But he says this time, he will kick Orton’s head off his shoulders. But he can’t promise he’ll be the only one.
As Rhodes steps out of the ring, Punk is already coming out for the main event MitB triple threat qualifier. They have a stare-down up the ramp. Back from break, Balor is already in the ring. Then comes Gunther.
Men’s Money in the Bank Triple Threat Qualifier Match:
CM Punk vs Finn Balor vs Gunther
At the bell Gunter goes right after Balor in the corner. Punk walks up behind Gunther and now Gunther and Punk go at it. Gunther gets the better of both men with his power and chops. Once Punk and Balor get up the both team up against Gunther with chops. Then Punk tries a GTS on Balor, but Punk is kicked by Gunther in the middle of it and Punk falls on top of Balor for a two-count. Gunther puts Punk in a Boston Crab submission. Balor comes in and breaks it up. Balor gets chopped for his trouble. Gunther throws Balor to the rope s, Balor ducks a Clothesline, then Gunther tried for a move, and it looked like Balor was going to reverse it. But Punk kicks them both down. Punk goes for the GTS again on Balor, but Balor reverses it into a DDT position. Gunther charges but Balor kicks him and grabs Gunther, too, for a DDT. Double DDT on Both men by Balor. Balor Clotheslined Punk to the outside. Balor tried for a dive, but Gunter intercepted him into a sleeper. Balor hit the ropes anyways, sending Gunther to the outside. Balor successfully dives onto both men on the outside.
It’s crazy back and forth so we’ll skip ahead to where everyone got to hit their finishers, starting with Balor hitting the Coup De Grace, but Gunther pulled him out in the middle of the ref’s count. Balor comes back In for a Slingblade on Gunther. Gunther with a Sleeper Hold on Balor. Balor slips out but gets a GTS from Punk. Powerbomb on Punk, but it’s a near fall. Gunther puts Punk in the Sleeper Hold and cinches it in on the mat with his back exposed. Balor from the top with a Coup De Grace on Gunther. Punk rolls Gunther over for a pin and the win.
WINNER: CM Punk
Punk joins Trick Williams, Bron Breakker, Je’Von Evans, and Penta with one more spot to come next week on SmackDown.
After the match, Gunther is on the outside yelling at both Punk and Balor who are staring at the briefcase and then at each other. Punk and Bakor then shake hands as Balor left.
Roll credits and Fin.
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