WWE SmackDown live results: Last Time is Now tournament finals
The Last Time is Now tournament reaches its conclusion on tonight’s WWE SmackDown when LA Knight and Gunther square off with the winner to be John Cena’s final opponent next Saturday in Washington, DC.
Knight defeated Jey Uso on Raw this past Monday while Gunther got the win over Solo Sikoa that same night to earn a spot in the finals.
WWE Champion Cody Rhodes will make an appearance and outline what’s next for him after the WarGames match at Survivor Series.
WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill will be in action against Alba Fyre of The Secret Hervice while Alexa Bliss faces Kairi Sane.
Ilja Dragunov will continue his WWE United States Championship open challenge series.
A Solo Sikoa appearance to address last Friday’s SmackDown will round out the broadcast which kicks off at 8 PM Eastern.
**********
– The show opened up with a recap of Survivor Series: WarGames from last Saturday and everything that unfolded on that night. Following that, we got the requisite shots of Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair, the Kabuki Warriors, LA Knight, Gunther arriving at the arena.
– Drew McIntyre was shown arriving at the arena as Nick Aldis confronted him for still being suspended despite Survivor Series. After a tense argument, McIntyre was about to leave before he got jumped in his car by an irate Cody Rhodes. Security pulled him away as McIntyre got away in his car. Rhodes then stormed towards the Gorilla position.
Cody Rhodes kicks off SmackDown
The Undisputed WWE Champion didn’t waste any time getting himself in the ring as he asked Mr. Aldis to reinstate Drew McIntyre as the Scotsman broke an unwritten rule by invading his tour bus a couple of weeks back. Rhodes called McIntyre WWE’s “resident cockroach” as he talked about how he was going to go after McIntyre as he might’ve not been able to beat him, but he might’ve broken him. Rhodes said that at the end of it all, he was going to do what everyone wants to do to a cockroach: stomp him out.
A very fiery start to SmackDown. Cody Rhodes’ anger-filled promos are always a highlight, but hopefully, if we do get another title match between he and McIntyre, things take a twist and we have Drew actually winning the title.
**********
– #DIY were discussing amongst themselves about their plans as Carmelo Hayes walked past them and told Tommaso Ciampa that he had next.
WWE SmackDown recapper. Former NXT PLE/WWE Saturday Night's Main Event/fill-in recapper.