The main storyline running during Friday’s SmackDown was the WWE Producer – and former star independent wrestler – Adam Purse by Vince McMahon vs. Bry Wyatt vs. Brian Stormman. The agreement for the Roman Reigns was further signed by all parties. Sunday’s pay-back led to a major turning point at the end of the trip, with the recently-returned rulers deciding to change careers.
It was impossible for Pierce to find a majority in the reigns, but as soon as the show ended, it was revealed that Rains was now working with Paul Heyman. Hayman has been away from WWE TV since WrestleMania while his client, Brock Lesnar, has lost the WWE Championship. Both have long been at odds with parties with a long history of Lesnar and Raines, but now “The Big Dog” seems to have put his career in the hands of one of the greatest wrestling minds.
CBS Sports was with you all night on Friday, bringing you results, highlights and retrieval of all actions. Read on to see what happened at the Go-Home show before Sunday’s payback event.
WWE SmackDown Recap, Grade
Vince McMahon sends Adam Pierce on a mission: Adam Pierce’s “Combustible Night.” The show has seemed a bit unfocused in recent episodes. He then went into the room with Vince McMahon, who gave him the responsibility of getting the contract signed before the night was over. McMahon suggested Pierce with “The Find,” or Bray Wyatt – the easiest to find. This sent Pierce on a voyage where he appeared as a post-fire pier on the latest version of Wyatt’s “Firefly Fun House”, had to make a match between Strowman and Drew Gulak (see below) and repeatedly knocked on Rains’ locker room door without result.
Intercontinental Championship – Jeff Hardy (C) Def. Pinf fall to retain the Shinsuke Nakamura title by: Hardick was just starting a promo where he was going to say that he is ready to defend his Intercontinental Championship when AJ Style is interrupted. Stykes ran down Hardy and said he was a liar and a cheater for hitting with his knee brace to win the title last week on SmackDown. Styles said he had clearly won the match before Hardick landed on the shot and then blamed Hardik for not making it clear to D-Cutter to wrestle this week, but Hardick said he was openly challenging anyone today except Styles. After the two almost came to blows, the show went on commercial. After the professional, Nakamura was in the ring to challenge Hardy. Complaints were made without showing Cesaro during the match Really There are complaints that Nakamura took the match. After a noisy wrestling match, which involved Hardy throwing Nakamura on the announcement table in styles, Hardy got on his knees with the help of his ankles, allowing him to twist Fate Fate and hit Sventon for the win. To win, using heel tricks using knee strain is a little bad for Hardick. And there was no point in adding stress to Cesaro and Nakamura’s team, but the match was ok. Grade: B-
Sammy Zane makes a surprise comeback, attacking Jeff Hardy: Walking towards the hearty entrance ramp, glowing with AJ style, Zen’s music hit and he emerged with an intercontinental championship that he never lost in the ring. Zen, calling Hardy a hoax and claiming to be the original champion, hit a cheap shot at Hardy on Hardy and walked away before arguing a bit more between Hardy and Style. Later in the show, as Cicero and Nakamura discussed the situation late at night, when Nakamura challenged Jeff Hardy, Zen enthusiastically met his former clients and claimed that his absence was part of a plan to bring Caesar and Nakamura closer. And because they won the tag title – it worked. Zayn tried to fasten his Intercontinental Championship belt with the title, but Cicero and Nakamura said they were having a conversation and asked him to leave. Zen’s return is more than welcome and his interactions with Cesaro and Nakamura will be an interesting secondary story to follow.
Matt Riddle Def. Shorty G by Pinf fall: Ridley cut an in-ring promo calling King Corbin for the match. Riddle was attacked by Short G as soon as Corbin arrived at the ring. Corbyn then accepted the match on behalf of Shorty G. After a bit of quick action, Ridley hit Bro Derek for the win over Shiddle G. Corbyn tried to attack Riddle, but Riddle was running out of it. Corbyn later in the show said he would face Riddle in the padback. Riddle and Shorty G could obviously make a fantastic match, but we didn’t really get much of a chance to drill into it because all of this was to meet Riddle vs. Corbin. Grade: C +
Bailey and Sasha Banks cut in-ring promo: Billy continued to dig “inadvisable” at banks, firing on women with the title of “raw women”, claiming that the loss of the banks was all his fault because he did not allow her to challenge him as he had historically been unable to defend his demise. Should be. Title. Bailey slammed Banks, saying banks always say the tag title represents their friendship, and on Sundays, they can’t lose. Banks said Belle’s luck is still his best friend before the couple was interrupted on Tron by Nia Jacques and Shayna Basler. Jacques and Bazzler talked about hating each other, but Bailey and Banks hate it more. Banks ended the segment by saying that it would still leave Pebek holding the “she” tag team championship.
Braun Strowman Def. Pinf fall by string snail: Adam Pierce was looking for a storm backstage, he ran to Gualik, who later tried to take revenge on Strowman by hitting him with a steel chair. Stormman was not upset and told Pierce the only way he would sign the contract was if Pierre got into the Gulak ring. He got his wish and Strawman quickly decapitated Gulak, ending up with a PowerSlam running for three counts. After the victory, Pierce met Strawman on the entrance ramp to get the signature. Grade: c
Cesaro Def. Callisto by Pinfall: Before the match, Callisto told Gran Na Metallic and Lins Dorado to stay in the back and see how it happens, but the choice was taken from their hands after Metallic and Dorado were attacked backstage by Sisaro and Nakamura. Callisto looked good, he stopped Caesar from keeping track with his fast-paced offense, but Metallic and Dorado rushed to try to get revenge on Nakamura, a mess that allowed Caesar to make a rollup for the win. After the match, there was another argument between Callisto and Dorado before anything else seemed to happen. Fun little match but no more, and I’m not sure what the Lucha House Party will do or what’s going on in the long run. Grade: B-
Alexa Bliss showed some of the effects with The Find: While Bliss was showing up with her hair in her old school pigtails, Nikki Cross and Temina were discussing Bliss to be worried about. Cross then noticed that Bliss had a braid in her hair which she said reminded her of “The Friend”, which caused Bliss to go into space briefly. Bliss later said she thought she had given up the cross earlier and had been friends by breaking the cup before the storm broke out.
Heavy Machinery and Big E Def. By Miz, John Morrison and Shamus Pinf fall: The action of the six men was fairly standard, but at one point, Shimus went into the area of the timekeeper and rang the bell to disturb and break the pin. Shemus passed the match without tagging before throwing the fit, yelling at Miz and Morrison while Miz begged him to stay. Shimus missed, though. Otis tried to hit the double caterpillars but Meez got out of the way before hitting the scull-crushing finale. However, Big E was a legitimate man, and he slipped into the ring and finished the meze with Big Ending. Fine enough match, but supernatural stuff with shims. Grade: B-
Roman rulers make a list of advocates: At the end of the show, Pierce was finally able to enter Raines’ locker room, where Reigs took the time to review the contract. The rulers then promised Pierce that he would be on payback in a triple-threat match. In the end, Reinz said winning back the universal title was not a prediction, he was a spoiler. Paul Hayman, who recently used one of his trademark lines to show off sitting next to Raines, was not on camera as the show went on air. The trip to sign Pierce’s contract was an entertaining part of the show, but the revelation that Raines and Heyman were partnering was a shocking way for the show and added a wild twist to Raines’ return. Grade: a
