WWE SmackDown live results: John Cena makes his final Chicago appearance
A huge episode of SmackDown takes place in the Chicago area tonight at Allstate Arena.
With his December retirement approaching, John Cena will appear on SmackDown for the final time. It will also be the last Chicago appearance for Cena, who is coming off a victory against Logan Paul at Clash in Paris and heading toward an expected clash with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlepalooza.
A hometown appearance by CM Punk — and possibly the return of his wife AJ Lee — have been teased. The two are reportedly set to face Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch in a mixed tag match at the upcoming Wrestlepalooza PLE.
Following his United States title victory, Sami Zayn will appear tonight. Zayn has said he’s looking to start his reign off with a bang.
There will be a Women’s United States Championship match with Giulia defending her gold against Michin. Plus, rivals Damian Priest and Aleister Black meet in a singles match.
Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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– Over shots of Chicago, we were welcomed to the show by Michael Cole. Shots of Damian Priest, Aleister Black, Michin, Giulia (with Kiana James), as well as hometown hero CM Punk arriving to the Allstate Arena were shown.
– Inside the arena, Cole (who’ll be on SmackDown for the next two months in the place of Joe Tessitore) and Corey Graves tossed to a recap of Clash in Paris last Sunday.
John Cena kicks off SmackDown
To a loud reaction from the Chicago faithful, John Cena made his way down to the ring to open the evening. Once Cena entered the ring, he took the mic and began to address the crowd, but was interrupted by “thank you, Cena” chants. He acknowledged the chants because it meant something special to him that it came from the Chicago crowd.
Cena talked about how people told him at the start of the retirement tour to enjoy it while it lasted, but he was focused on getting his mojo back and give his absolute best. However, tonight, Cena said he was just here to take it all in. He said that tonight is what makes Chicago special, and that the crowd’s reactions were apparently enough to bring people back into WWE. The crowd chanted “AJ Lee” in response to that.
Cena said that this was the last time for him in Chicago, and the last time he’d ever be on SmackDown as he recounted his debut 23 years ago on this very show. Cena talked about the moments he had in Allstate Arena, like fighting Triple H at WrestleMania 22 or facing CM Punk at Money in the Bank 2011. Cena noted that there’s always been talk about who the greatest crowd was, but in his eyes, there was no question. The Chicago crowd let Cena experience humility, failure, and above all else, joy. He went on to thank the crowd and told them to enjoy a hell of a night tonight.
Before Cena could exit, the music of the new U.S. Champion Sami Zayn interrupted. In the ring, Zayn said that he didn’t want to interrupt Cena’s moment as the crowd booed him unexpectedly. He wanted to thank Cena on behalf of everyone in the back for what he did for us. Zayn wanted to bring things full circle, as he remembered how he debuted against Cena as the U.S. Champion. And as such, he was going to debut the Sami Zayn U.S. Open Challenge with Cena’s permission. The former U.S. Champion approved of Zayn’s proposal and tried to leave again. Zayn stopped Cena and said he wanted to pay it forward to Cena and give Cena a shot at the U.S. Championship, much like he did a decade ago.
Zayn didn’t want to do it in a month, or next week, but rather right now. “If you want some, come get some!” Zayn challenged Cena. Naturally, Cena accepted the challenge.
A solid opening segment as Cena and the Chicago crowd really got things going here, and Zayn’s appearance sets up a huge opening bout.
United States Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. John Cena
The match was already in progress heading out of the commercial break as Cena and Zayn locked up in the middle of the ring. Zayn threw Cena with an arm drag before he applied an arm submission for a moment. Cena responded with an arm drag of his own as he had Zayn in a headlock. Zayn attempted a springboard leapfrog, but couldn’t quite get all of it, but that gave him the upper hand on Cena. Zayn delivered a suplex on Cena and looked for another one. Cena, however, countered with a suplex on Zayn.
Zayn whipped Cena hard into the corner, which didn’t seem to please the very pro-Cena crowd in Chicago. Cena threw Zayn with a particularly hard Irish whip that sent the U.S. Champion flying into the corner. We took a break with both men down in the ring.
Our match returned with Zayn being hoisted up by Cena for an AA attempt that the U.S. Champion just barely escaped. Cena turned Zayn’s attempt at a springboard move into a successful Attitude Adjustment, but could not pick up the three. As Cena recovered, Zayn tried to hit the Exploder Suplex, but that got turned around into a Kevin Owens-style pop-up powerbomb by Cena.
Both men struggled to get up on opposite corners as Cena charged at Zayn, but missed and ended up hitting the corner. Zayn missed on a Helluva Kick and fell victim to an Angle Slam courtesy of Cena. One, two…. NO! As both men got themselves up in the middle of the ring, they began to trade strikes until they took one another down with clotheslines, which took us to a second commercial break.
During the break, Cena once again paid tribute to Kurt Angle with an Ankle Lock on Zayn, who responded with an Attitude Adjustment on Cena. Once we returned we got a replay of what happened during the break, which was interrupted by Zayn hitting the Helluva Kick on Cena. One, two… Cena kicked out at 2.9999999!!!! Zayn dragged Cena to the middle of the ring before he headed to the top rope. Cena got up and hoisted Zayn up for a GTS, but that still wasn’t enough to earn him the U.S. Championship.
In the corner, Cena sized up Zayn and beckoned him to get up, as he hit an Edge-styled Spear on his foe. Zayn still kicked out of it. Cena attempted an RKO, but Zayn countered that. He then immediately put Zayn on the top rope and looked for an avalanche AA, which he connected with. As both men were left down and out after that, the music of Brock Lesnar interrupted.
Lesnar pulled the referee out before he hit an F5 on Zayn as he entered the ring. He then put Cena on his shoulders and delivered an F5 to him. He then grabbed Cena and hit one more F5 to his foe.
Sami Zayn vs. John Cena went to a No Contest
That was a fantastic match that was unfortunately ruined by a non-finish meant to build towards a match that honestly does nothing for me at all.
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– We learned that John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar will happen at Wrestlepalooza, as Nick Aldis was looking to address what was going on. Carmelo Hayes walked up to Aldis and wanted a U.S. Title match, but the Miz butted in and tried to get a WWE Tag Title Match for him against the Wyatt Sicks. Aldis said he’d take it under advisement as he walked off. Hayes seemed unhappy with Miz speaking on his behalf again, as Becky Lynch was seen arriving to the arena.
Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black
Black attacked Priest as he was making his entrance as things turned into a brawl at ringside. Black struck Priest with a knee to the face that drove him over the barricade.
As we returned to SmackDown, Priest walked his way back into the ring, but got kicked in the head by Black for his troubles. Now with both men in the ring, the match began proper. After Priest missed a punch, Black took over with another kick to the noggin. Priest recovered with a surprise headbutt to Black, who answered with a modified crucifix submission.
Black took Priest down with a top-rope Meteora for the two-count, as we took an oddly-timed commercial break just a couple of minutes into this one.
The action resumed as Priest had Black stunned on the top rope and hoisted high for a Razor’s Edge. Black escaped and got the spinning elbow, followed by a running knee on Priest for a near-fall. Priest struck Black from the corner with a pair of elbows of his own, followed by a fierce clothesline. Priest maintained momentum with a barrage of elbows that left the Dutchman reeling. Old School crossbody by Priest managed to send Black rolling to the outside.
Black was then slammed with a Flatliner on the apron as Priest set aside the announcer table covering. Priest lifted Black above him and threw him with a Razor’s Edge onto the table. In the ring, Black tried to beg off Priest, but was lifted for South of Heaven, but Black created a distraction via referee, which gave him the opening for Black Mass on Priest and the victory.
Aleister Black def. Damian Priest
That was a fairly decent, hard-hitting match, and the right guy did certainly get the win in this case. This Priest vs. Black feud has been good and I honestly want to see more of it.
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– We got a Twisted Tea-sponsored video promo where Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton exchanged words about one another ahead of their match on next week’s SmackDown. We also learned that Brock Lesnar will be on next week’s show, and that Tiffany Stratton will defend here WWE Women’s Championship versus Jade Cargill in a SummerSlam rematch.
– Jade Cargill was shown studying tape of that aforementioned first match as Nia Jax rolled up and talked trash to her.
– Becky Lynch was told by SmackDown GM Nick Aldis that there could not be anymore issues even as he knew that CM Punk was in the building.
Women’s U.S. Championship: Giulia (c) (w/ Kiana James) vs. Michin
Giulia and Michin didn’t waste anytime as they traded quick blows to start off. Michin seemed to get the better of Giulia in the exchange, with momentum maintained in the ring by way of a well-placed dropkick. The Women’s U.S. Champion stopped that cold as she caught Michin’s baseball slide attempted and turned that into an elevated neckbreaker to the outside.
We returned from the break with Giulia battering Michin with headbutts, but was met with a pair of German Suplexes by the challenger. Michin had Giulia stunned in the corner with a running cannonball as she set up Eat Defeat. Giulia escaped and delivered the sitout driver, but she couldn’t put this one away. Michin fought back with a sitdown powerbomb for the two. Kiana James got involved on the apron and found herself flattened by a legdrop from Michin. Unfortunately for the challenger, this left her open to Giulia’s Arrivederci knee for the three and the successful title defense.
Giulia def. Michin via pinfall to retain the Women’s U.S. Championship
An alright match, but I feel there wasn’t really enough time to let this cook, so to speak.
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– Charlottle Flair was lamenting about her knee injury at the hands of the Secret Hervice, when Alexa Bliss and “Dr. Lilly” showed up to assure her that the “power of friendship” will heal Flair’s pain.
Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch close out SmackDown
Seth Rollins made an unannounced arrival to the Allstate Arena, as he appeared in the crowd with a microphone in his hand. Rollins said that tonight we would be all witnesses to history, because the “legend” of Chicago’s hometown hero CM Punk would die for good tonight. And to do the honors with him, Rollins introduced his “sexy, brilliant, incredible Irish wife” Becky Lynch.
Lynch stood in the ring while Rollins remained in the crowd, and the “AJ Lee” chants grew louder and louder. “How dare you chant another person’s name while I’m standing in this ring!?” admonished Lynch, who boasted about being the greatest women’s wrestler of all time, and it wasn’t just her saying it. Lynch took some digs at Chicago’s sports teams for being terrible, just like CM Punk was.
Punk himself entered to a massive reaction from his hometown crowd, which he took all in as he made his way down to the ring. Punk said to Lynch that this wasn’t about her, but rather the cowardly husband that was hiding in a skybox. Lynch remained defiant as ever, as she asked how Punk’s pride was feeling after what happened on Raw this past Monday. Punk told Lynch that she would let the crowd chant AJ Lee’s name because we were in Chicago. Punk said that he could call in a favor to Bayley or Rhea Ripley to deal with Lynch, who once again antagonized Punk with slaps to the face and mockery.
“You’re an embarrassment to the city of Chicago, and that’s saying a lot,” said Lynch. Punk answered that this was a situation that he expressedly wanted to avoid because he never put his hands on a lady. Thankfully, though, there was someone he knew that would. AJ Lee’s music played as she made her entrance to a loud, loud reaction from the hometown crowd.
AJ skipped around in her usual manner before she entered the ring to confront Lynch. AJ went after Lynch with strikes off a Lou Thesz Press. Lynch tried to escape, but got a hard slap for her troubles from AJ. Punk challenged Rollins to face him before he entered the ring and gave his wife a hug.
The championship couple of Rollins and Lynch were left retreating as SmackDown faded to black with Punk and AJ standing tall.
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I will say ending SmackDown with the hometown heroes getting the upper hand and a big return for AJ Lee was the right call to make. Other than that, this show fell off a bit of a cliff for me after the disappointing non-finish to Cena vs. Zayn. That isn’t to say the show was terrible, just that nothing really stood out for me after getting robbed out of a good finish in that opening contest.
