WWE SmackDown live results: Night of Champions go-home show
Editor’s Note: This is a live post for the international airing of WWE SmackDown on Netflix. If you do not want to be spoiled before the U.S. airing at 8 PM Eastern, you have been warned.
The final WWE SmackDown before Night of Champions takes place tonight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with three title matches and an appearance by John Cena ahead of his WWE title defense Saturday against CM Punk.
Tiffany Stratton renews her rivalry with Nia Jax when she defends her WWE Women’s Championship in a Last Woman Standing match.
The Street Profits will look to retain their WWE Tag Team Championships when they take on the Wyatt Sicks’ Joe Gacy & Dexter Lumis.
Women’s U.S. Champion Zelina Vega will defend against Giulia who is looking for her first title run.
Plus, the King and Queen of the Ring finalists (Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Jade Cargill and Asuka) will look to make a final impression before their matches Saturday.
Join us for our live coverage at 1 PM Eastern.
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– Over a live shot of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Michael Cole welcomed us to tonight’s show. We then got an elaborate pyro display inside the Kingdom Arena to kick off the night.
– Tiffany Stratton, Nia Jax, the Street Profits, Zelina Vega, Giulia, Jade Cargill, and Asuka were all shown arriving in the arena.
Cody Rhodes kicks off SmackDown
“The American Nightmare” arrived to a great ovation from the Riyadh crowd as he headed down to the ring to open up SmackDown. The King of the Ring crown was on a podium in the middle of the ring.
Before Rhodes could say a single word, his King of the Ring opponent, Randy Orton interrupted as the fans sang along to his theme song. Orton got himself a microphone and asked the fans if they watched Raw this past Monday and if they saw Cody Rhodes face Jey Uso. He put over the match as a potential Slammy Award candidate for “Match of the Year”. Orton then told Rhodes that he needed to be the King of the Ring, because the crown stood for redemption because he made it to the KOTR finals last year but lost to Gunther.
On the USA Network broadcast of SmackDown, a disclaimer ran stating that the Orton/Rhodes segment experienced technical issues during the initial live broadcast of this episode. The segment, as aired on USA, appeared to be shot with the ringside cameras for the portions that didn’t air on the live broadcast in the afternoon.
Orton said that the crown also stood for retribution against John Cena because what the Undisputed WWE Champion did to him in Backlash in front of his family and friends. He needed to right that wrong as well. Orton told Rhodes that everyone knew how much they respected one another, but he couldn’t let his personal feelings about Cody get in the way in the gold. He said that he would do anything and everything to make sure he’d leave Riyadh as King of the Ring.
Rhodes responded by saying he was thankful for everything that a student could want to hear from his teacher, referring to the kind remarks that Orton said about him a couple of months ago. He said he knew Orton needed to win it, but whether it’s John Cena or CM Punk, he needed to win King of the Ring more. Rhodes concluded by saying that tomorrow, “RKO” will still be the most dangerous three letters in WWE, but Orton wouldn’t be King of the Ring after all was said and done. That’s because, as Rhodes said, he’d win.
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– Solo Sikoa and JC Mateo were backstage, as the former gave his ally an order to make Jimmy Uso remember what it feels like to have no backup with him in his match coming up now.
Jimmy Uso vs. JC Mateo (w/ Solo Sikoa)
Mateo used his strength to ram Uso into the corner before he blasted him with repeated strikes as the referee pulled him away. This gave Uso the time to mount a bit of a fightback, but Mateo grounded him right away. Uso kicked Mateo down to the outside and looked for a dive, but Solo Sikoa got in the way and stopped him from taking a dive as we got a break in the action.
We returned from break with Mateo catching Uso after a top rope dive and slamming him down to the math. Mateo impressed with a standing moonsault onto Uso for the near-fall. Mateo then continued to work over Uso’s back with a reverse bearhug submission. Uso escaped and took down Mateo with a corkscrew from the top rope, which created some much-needed separation for him.
Uso began his comeback with strikes a-plenty, but he couldn’t lift Mateo up for a Samoan Drop. Uso answered with a kick to the face instead, before crunching Mateo in the corner with a running hip strike. As Mateo retreated outside, he got blasted by a suicide dive from Uso. At ringside, Solo Sikoa grabbed at Uso’s leg to create a momentary distraction, which allowed Mateo to recover and put an end to things with the Tour of the Islands.
After the match, Sikoa talked with Uso and tried to curry favor with him. An offer for a hug was refused with a slap to Sikoa’s face. This led to Mateo and Sikoa beating down Uso until Jacob Fatu ran in for the save. The United States Champion caught Mateo with his pop-up Samoan Drop before he faced down Sikoa, who wisely backed out. This allowed Fatu to hit his jumping moonsault onto Mateo. Uso and Fatu faced down one another before Jimmy pushed Fatu out of the way to hit an attacking Sikoa with a superkick.
Match Result: JC Mateo def. Jimmy Uso via pinfall
All signs seem to point to Jacob Fatu losing his U.S. Championship tomorrow at Night of Champions, but the stuff with Fatu and Jimmy Uso as uneasy allies is a bit of an interesting story.
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– #DIY, the self-appointed leaders of the SmackDown Tag Team Division tried to rally the other teams to do something about the Wyatt Sicks. SmackDown GM Nick Aldis entered the scene and made a match for Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa against Andrade and a mystery partner.
– Giulia and Zelina Vega made separate remarks about their Women’s United States Championship match coming up next.
Women’s United States Championship Match: Zelina Vega (c) vs. Giulia
Vega tried to go for an early pinfall attempt but got met by some pinfall attempts from Giulia as a result. The two women exchanged kicks before Giulia took advantage with a suplex. Vega answered with a knee that sent Giulia to the outside, as she then flew off the top with a moonsault.
SmackDown returned with Vega caught in a submission by Giulia as she then got stomped onto the mat. As Vega rolled to the outside, Giullia looked to continue the punishment, but Vega threw her against the stairs and hit a running Meteora on to the prone Giulia. Inside the ring, Vega went on the attack, as she countered an attempt of the Northern Lights Bomb by Giulia. From the top rope, Vega caught Giulia with another Meteora for the near-fall.
As Vega tried to head to the top, Giulia intercepted and hit an amazing superplex. Vega recovered landed a Code Red, but Giulia rolled on the pin so that her feet touched the ropes. A missed moonsault led to consecutive Arrivederci Knees from Giulia, followed by the Northern Lights Bomb, which brought Giulia the Women’s United States Championship.
Match Result: Giulia def. Zelina Vega via pinfall to win the Women’s United States Championship
A good enough match that seemed rough in some spots, but we got the right winner in all of this as Giulia wins her first main-roster championship title. What comes next for Giulia as a champion on SmackDown should be fun to see.
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– The commentators made note of SmackDown heading to two hours last week before tossing to a recap of everything that went down between Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair last week.
Backstage, Charlotte was walking and met by Alexa Bliss, who proposed that they not necessarily be friends, but allies of mutual benefit.
Queen of the Ring Finals Interview
Wade Barrett was in the ring as he prepared to interview Jade Cargill and Asuka about their Queen of the Ring finals match taking place at Night of Champions tomorrow.
Once both women were in the ring, Barrett asked Cargill about what made her so confident that she’d be able to beat Asuka tomorrow. Cargill answered by saying that when she sees Asuka, she sees an opportunity to prove why she belongs here. She said that at Summerslam, she didn’t just plan on taking the title, but taking the whole damn throne.
Asuka replied by saying that Cargill may be strong, but power isn’t everything. She said that she has skills and experience. She said that nobody was ready for Asuka. Before Cargill could provide a rebuttal, Ms. Money in the Bank, Naomi interrupted.
Naomi said that while Asuka and Cargill are fighting for Queen of the Ring, she has all the power. Naomi teased that she could cash in during the Last Woman Standing match tonight or at Night of Champions tomorrow. She said that she had the power to ruin all of Cargill’s dreams just like that. As Naomi walked down to the ring, Cargill got frustrated and pushed past Asuka to go after her. This titled Asuka the wrong way as she laid out Cargil with a kick. Naomi got on the apron and taunted Cargill.
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– Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce were backstage talking about their plans for the Women’s Tag Team Championship when Aleister Black interrupted them. Ron Killings stormed into the scene and was still looking for John Cena after what happened last week. Aldis said that Cena was here for CM Punk, but Killings would have none of it, as he left in search of Cena. Black soon left as well, seemingly in pursuit of Killings.
– The cmmentators recapped Los Garza winning the AAA World Tag Titles at TripleMania Regia two weeks ago.
#DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) vs. Andrade & Rey Fenix
Andrade and Ciampa started things off in this match with a lockup exchange. Andrade backed Ciampa into his team’s corner as Fenix tagged in and the two launched a salvo of double team attacks. With both #DIY members draped across the middle ropes, they got rocked by tandem kicks from Fenix and Andrade. Up top, Fenix and Andrade soared and took down Gargano and Ciampa on the outside with stereo dives.
We returned from the break with #DIY looking to take advantage against Fenix, but the speedy luchadore avoided calamity to create some needed separation. Before Andrade could get tagged in, Gargano pulled him off the apron, which opened Fenix to get blasted with a running knee to the back of the head by Ciampa.
On the top rope, Fenix fended off Ciampa and walked across the top rope to kick him square in the face. Andrade finally got the hot tag as he was a house of fire against both Gargano and Ciampa. Andrade caught Gargano’s slingshot spear and hit him with an elbow, followed by a reverse tornado DDT. One, two… not quite #DIY caught Andrade with a Shatter Machine, but couldn’t get the match done as we got yet another break in the action.
We resumed with Andrade and Gargano once again in a standoff on the top rope. Gargano tried to do a rolling powerbomb, but Andrade blocked it and hit his running knees in the corner. Double stomp by Andrade on Gargano wasn’t enough. Fenix took Ciampa out of the equation with a dive to the outside, which left Gargano and Andrade to duke it out in the ring.
Fenix recovered and tagged himself in as he hit an incredible dive/rolling German suplex on Gargano for the close two-count. Fenix lifted Gargano up for a Muscle Buster as Andrade headed up top, but Andrade got pushed off. #DIY took advantage and hit their superkick/Fairy Tale Ending combo, but Fenix kicked out at two.
Wild chaos ensued with Ciampa missing out on the knee, as Fenix hit his Black Fire Driver, followed by Andrade sealing the deal for his team with The Message and the three.
Match Result: Andrade & Rey Fenix def. #DIY via pinfall
A hot tag team match from start to finish. I was thoroughly entertained by the performances from all four competitors. Simply put, just some great tag action here.
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– John Cena’s recent appearance on The Late Show was shown before we got a recap of Cena’s rivalry with CM Punk, which included a clumsy edit of Punk’s pipebomb to omit Vince McMahon’s name.
– After the Punk/Cena video was done, Ron Killings showed up at ringside and stated that he was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He once again called out John Cena for a fight. Aleister Black appeared behind him and he floored Killings with a Black Mass kick. “I guess in a way, we’re even now, Ron,” said Black.
– Backstage, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford were interviewed about their WWE Tag Title defense against the Wyatt Sicks coming up next.
– Aleister Black was confronted by Damian Priest backstage. Priest said that if Black was looking for payment from Ron Killings, that he do it face to face next time. Carmelo Hayes showed up and tried to warn Priest to keep his distance from Killings, but got told to back away.
WWE Tag Team Championships: Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) (c) vs. The Wyatt Sicks (Joe Gacy & Dexter Lumis)
Lumis and Ford started off in the ring, with the latter doing his creepy crawl, and being met with some fists from Ford in response. After an acrobatic dodge from Ford, Gacy tagged himself in and floored his foe with a running senton. Just then, the rest of the SmackDown tag team division appeared at ringside, as Gacy caught Ford with his somersault clothesline.
SmackDown returned with Ford and Lumis taking each other down with a double running splash. Both men managed to get the tag to their respective partners, with Dawkins using his surprising speed to get the momentary advantage. As Lumis ran across the ring, he got pulled away by Los Garza. #DIY attacked Dawkins at which caused a disqualification.
A mass brawl ensued with Erick Rowan entering the fray, but getting taken down by multiple superkicks from Fraxiom and the Motor City Machine Guns. Uncle Howdy entered and got Axiom with Sister Abigail. The Street Profits went wild with consecutive dives on the Wyatt Sicks and the SmackDown tag division. In the ring, Ford and Dawkins stared down Uncle Howdy, as it was clear that the Wyatt Sicks’ war with the SmackDown tag division was far from over.
Match Result: Street Profits vs. The Wyatt Sicks ended in a no contest
Honestly, not much to say about this match, as it ended in a schmozz before it could truly get going, but I did kind of enjoy the post-match chaos with all the tag teams brawling.
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– Jacob Fatu was confronted by Jimmy Uso, as the two talked about that their mutual assistance was just a matter of respect. Jimmy said that what Fatu did to Solo Sikoa was what he should’ve done a long time ago. The two seemed to part on somewhat of a common ground as Fatu left Jimmy alone.
WWE Women’s Championship (Last Woman Standing): Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Nia Jax
Jax went after Stratton right away after the ring announcer’s introductions. She took out a turnbuckle pad cover, which gave Stratton time to recover and fight back outside of the ring. Her attempts were stopped with a steel steps strike to the ribs by Jax. The announce table was cleared aside by Jax, as she then hit a Samoan Drop across the exposed table. Stratton struggled to get back up, as we went to a break.
SmackDown returned with Stratton dropping Jax with a crossbody from the top rope. She headed up the opposite corner and hit a Swanton Bomb. Jax got herself up briefly, but she got blasted with a two-footed dropkick. Jax was able to get back up as she lifted Stratton on her shoulders and dropped her onto the exposed turnbuckle.
Stratton got herself back up on the count of eight, but she was thrown out of the ring by Jax afterwards. While Stratton writhed on the floor, Jax kept her eyes on her championship foe, tossing her into the barricade. Jax placed Stratton on a table setup at ringside as she then headed to the apron. Jax absolutely splattered Stratton with a splash through the table, but the WWE Women’s Champion was able to get up at the count of nine.
Jax pulled out two more tables from underneath the ring while Stratton once again made it back to her feet. We took another break with the two tables being set up and Stratton armed with a kendo stick. During the “break”, Jax tried to run at Stratton on the top of the stage, but she crashed onto one of the screens instead, as the fight found its way back to the ring.
The action returned with Jax hitting Stratton repeatedly with a steel chair. Stratton was dragged across the ring as Jax came down on her with the Annihilator. With a chair draped across Stratton, Jax hit yet another Annihilator. With the referee counting her down, Stratton just made it at nine, but got hit with a kendo stick by Jax. One more table was set up in the ring as Jax hoisted Stratton on her shoulders and headed up the top. Stratton escaped the attempted Samoan Drop and instead hit a powerbomb on Jax through the table. As both women were down, the referee started his count. Both Jax and Stratton made it to the count of nine.
Naomi ran down and tried to cash in, but Stratton intercepted and hit her with the Money in the Bank briefcase. Stratton took advantage and also hit Jax with the briefcase, as she then followed with a Prettiest Moonsault Ever onto both Jax and Naomi. Jax miraculously got herself up at the count of nine.
Stratton fought out of a superplex attempt through the two tables, as she instead struck Jax with the MITB briefcase once, more which sent Jax through the two tables! Jax was left knocked out cold and unable to answer the count of ten, which gave Stratton the win and the successful WWE Women’s Championship defense.
Match Result: Tiffany Stratton def. Nia Jax to retain the WWE Women’s Championship
Kind of a middling match that somewhat picked up by the end with Naomi’s attempt at a cash in and the final table spot. Other than that, nothing much to write home about. But, at least, the feud between Stratton and Jax should be done and dusted now.
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John Cena and CM Punk face-to-face
“Get used to it, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this is what a winner looks like,” started off Cena. He said that CM Punk was a loser because he had been outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and outgunned, and there’s nothing that Punk can do about it.
Just then, Cena’s old “Basic Thuganomics” theme interrupted as CM Punk entered dressed as a parody of Cena, jorts, jersey, and all. “Yo, check it, this is Basic Punkanomics,” Punk talked about how he was stealing Word Life. Punk called Cena a “Temu Macklemore” with ‘Mackeless Rhythm” and that he’s buried more talent than the Undertaker.
Punk said if Cena never ate his vitamins or fixed his bald spot, he’d be a Boston mall cop. He called Cena a “fish belly white” Hulk Hogan but somehow more problematic. It should be noted that Punk was speaking this promo in rap. Punk said that in six months, Cena might be a superhero (washing his underwear for James Gunn), but he’ll always be The Marine to him.
“We all see you, and we’re looking at a washed-up bum,” said Punk, who then called Cena a leech, phony, and an ass kisser. Punk said that tomorrow, there was one more wish to make, because Cena was the Drake to Punk’s Kendrick. Punk did a mic dropped and the show ended abruptly (or at least appeared to because the producers’ credits and copyright bug never appeared on-screen).
Well, that was certainly an interesting way to end the final build for this title match, and given what Punk’s been up to since arriving in Saudi Arabia, I’m certain that this promo won’t convince his most ardent haters to start cheering for him, which is understandable. It’s honestly been hard for me to decouple any sort of past comments Punk might’ve made about Saudi Arabia’s government when it’s been kind of made a part of the story for this match based off of Cena’s previous promos. So, with that in mind, I kinda find it hard to get really invested in what was being done with this closing salvo from Punk.
Overall, a very strange SmackDown before Night of Champions, and the bizarre technical glitch that basically erased the opening Randy Orton/Cody Rhodes segment, followed by various other hangups on the production side as I watched the global Netflix feed kinda made things have a weird vibe to it.