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Credit: WWE.com
The march to SummerSlam for WWE’s SmackDown brand begins Friday night on Fox with an episode led by the culmination of Jeff Hardy’s feud with Sheamus and what may be a renewed boost for Naomi.
Beyond the Bar Fight announced between Charismatic Enigma and The Celtic Warrior and Naomi’s stop on The Dirt Sheet with John Morrison and The Miz, the show featured the aftermath of an explosive Extreme Rules pay-per-view that saw the return of The Fiend during Wyatt’s swamp fight.
Was Hardy able to exorcise the demon that was Sheamus? What would Naomi say after the huge amount of social media support after last week’s show?
Would there be consequences for King Corbin’s attack on Matt Riddle at the end of last week’s broadcast?
We found the answers to those questions and more Friday nights in the July 24 episode of the Blue Mark.
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Those announced for the FOX network broadcast on Friday are:
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Bar fight: Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus
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Naomi Joins The Dirt Sheet with John Morrison and The Miz
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Bayley and Sasha Banks tackle the current championship landscape
It seems like Friday’s broadcast may be lighter on in-ring content than more recent episodes. It’s always possible for the talk show and promo segments to combine to create a match that engages participants, especially given WWE’s reserve formula in recent years.
However, as it stands now, the card is somewhat of a mystery as fans set their sights on SummerSlam and a potential lineup for the annual big show.
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Credit: WWE
Bayley and Sasha Banks kicked off the show this week, prepared to tackle the current title situation within WWE. The Golden Role Models celebrated with the Raw, SmackDown, and Tag Team Championships when Michael Cole and Corey Graves summed up the events of The Horror Show at Extreme Rules.
The braggadocios heels ushered in “the age of greatness … The era of Sasha and Bayley!”
This brought up Nikki Cross. The deranged competitor demanded another championship opportunity after being ruined in her match with Bayley on Sunday.
The champion accepted a match … but only if Cross could beat her best friend Alexa Bliss.
Driven by her championship aspirations, Cross pushed Bliss to the ground and hit the ring before the break.
Degree
B +
Analysis
Bayley manipulating Cross, turning her against her best friend after Cross and Bliss tried to do the same to her and Banks not too long ago, it was a nice twist.
We have seen intense tensions in recent weeks between Bliss and Cross and this match should be the emphasis for the next chapter in their history.
A solid start to the evening’s broadcast that ushered in a new game at a time when the product could seriously use it.
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Credit: WWE
For the women’s team champions, Bliss and Cross participated in some early counterattacks and reversals, neither of them gained a sustained advantage.
Cross lit up at one point and unleashed a dropkick, a clothesline, and a running bulldog. Bliss kicked at two. Ahead of the break, Bliss and Cross brought out The Golden Role Models in the comment position.
Little Miss Bliss controlled the match by breaking out of the downtime, wearing down Bliss and working on her teammate’s established rib injury. She delivered her double knees to the midsection, but Cross left the sanctuary on the floor, avoiding the standing moon.
A sharp kick to the back continued Cross’s torment.
Cross struggled to return to the game, using his frantic pace to his advantage as he shook Bliss. Alexa broke a Code Red for two. Cross later threw herself off the ropes for a cross block but failed, causing more damage to her ribs.
When Bliss expressed concern for her partner, Cross rolled her for victory to win another shot at Bayley.
Outcome
Cross defeated Bliss
Degree
yes
Analysis
This was a surprisingly good match between two women who have not worked together as opponents in the past few months. The psychology was great, with Bliss aiming for the injury and Cross starring as he fought from below.
What really worked was the way Cross won the match and the look on Bliss’s face after the referee’s three counts.
The former tag team champions are on the road to a breakup that will hopefully reintroduce the WWE Universe to wicked and vengeful bliss.
Even while congratulating Cross in the backstage, the hint of dissent was clearly there.
As for Banks and Bayley, they were unpleasantly good in the comments and are really growing in these more prominent roles on Raw and SmackDown.
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Credit: WWE
Moments after Bray Wyatt presented the latest edition of The Firefly Funhouse in which he revealed that now is the time for The Fiend, Matt Riddle made his way to the ring for some in-ring singles.
The original Bro battled former cruiserweight champion Tony Nese.
Riddle tossed Nese with a monkey wrench suplex, handed a saddle over his back and finished him off with Brother Derek.
After the game, Riddle grabbed a microphone. “I’m a little new here, so I’m going to give it a try. King Corbin … I’m calling you, brother.
The 2019 King of the Ring entered a booing chorus and immediately made an exception to Riddle who called him. “You just aren’t ready,” he said. “You don’t belong in a professional environment like SmackDown.” Finally, he said, “Maybe you should go to 205 Live. You’d probably be a good guy there.
Riddle said he is not a helpless member of the kingdom, but Corbin is the next special guest on The Bro Show. He eliminated a charging Nese with a kick and stood up to close the segment.
Outcome
Riddle defeated Nese
Degree
yes
Analysis
The game itself was a glorified pumpkin, as it should have been, and the post-game promotional work was good enough for what it was.
You can probably argue that Corbin is a mediocre fight for Riddle, if only because the styles don’t seem to fit well on the surface, but the king is a bona fide heel. He is just as good in that role as anyone else on the villainous side of things in this company right now and someone that fans really want to see kicked in the ass.
Allowing him to annoy the hell of the new SmackDown star, only to provoke the wrath of the typically laid-back Riddle is a great way to introduce Bro to the audience.
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Credit: WWE
Before the next game, Kofi Kingston revealed that he suffered injuries during the Tables Match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match. From there, he told Big E that it’s all about him now; It is your time. They hugged each other to close the vignette behind the scenes.
Intercontinental champion AJ Styles joined Michael Cole and Corey Graves in a commentary for a Fatal 4-Way, No. 1 Contender Match between Golden Lynx, Gran Metalik, Drew Gulak, and Shorty G with the goal of determining the next challenger for The Phenomenal One.
Shorty G scored a rollup in Gulak when Styles placed him as the game’s most impressive competitor. The action continued, each competitor showing off before Shorty G was unloaded into the competition. The 2012 Olympian rocked the opposition with his arsenal of substitutes.
Gulak looked for the Gulock, but the Shorty G countered it.
Dorado exploded again in the match, almost scoring a pin in G. The action reached the top rope, where Dorado sent Gulak to the ground. Shorty G delivered a super German Suplex to Dorado and Gran Metalik came out of nowhere to claim victory.
Styles greeted Metalik in the ring after the match and the two exchanged slaps, as a sign of disrespect between the challenger and the champion.
Outcome
Metalik defeated Gulak, Dorado and Shorty G
Degree
B +
Analysis
Winning Metalik was a good change of pace for a company that tends to come back to the same pot over and over, too often. In the few opportunities that he and Dorado have had to shine this year, they have gone further.
It was only last March in Elimination Chamber that Lucha House Party stole the show in the titular bout, and now Metalik has a chance to reverse his and his partner’s fortune if he can meet one of the WWE standard-bearers.
Shorty G was his typically great and underrated self here. As always, he is just a major victory away from being a rising star for this company.
If there was anything negative, it was the pace, which was so frantic that it gave way to more than one place that was dangerously close to ending in disaster.
Speaking of opportunity, Big E has a chance to race as a singles competitor and achieve the kind of success that someone with his looks, personality, and forceful, power-based style should have been long overdue.
Hopefully, he makes the most of it because a WWE with or near Big E at the forefront is a company I can reinvest in.
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Credit: WWE
The months-long feud between Jeff Hardy and Sheamus peaked Friday in a bar fight, a match that promised a “potentially triggering atmosphere” for The Charismatic Enigma, according to Michael Cole.
Sheamus arrived at the bar first, followed shortly after by Hardy. “My brother had to eliminate his WWE career. Tonight, I have to get mine back, ”he said. Sheamus reiterated his claims that Hardy is weak, pathetic, and that no one cares.
When the fight finally started, it assumed the form of a fight.
Sheamus stepped forward, but Hardy crossed the bar and annihilated him. The fight spread to the bathroom, where the Irishman humiliated his opponent by pushing him head-on into a chamber pot. A vengeful Hardy soared into the air … and straight into the waiting arms of Sheamus, who slammed him against the wall.
Hardy changed the course of the break and knocked Sheamus down with a twist of fate. He put up the ladder he had produced earlier in the game and started to climb it when the waiter interrupted him. Hardy put it on a table, allowing Sheamus to recover.
He punched Hardy and placed his hat on his rival’s face before taking a drink. When he retrieved the hat, Hardy’s face was painted and his pupils white. The augmented version of himself climbed the stairs and came out with a Swanton bomb.
The referee counted the pin and awarded the bar fight to Hardy.
Outcome
Hardy defeated Sheamus
Degree
YES-
Analysis
This really needed more time, and less hitting and kicking, to be fully effective.
As it was, this was the fight you hoped it would be. Sheamus was insufferable, a great antagonistic heel, while Hardy was the babyface in charge of fighting from below if he expected to win.
Jeff Hardy’s transformation into his late Brother Nero character was a nice touch that suggested there is a darker, more focused and possessed being within the ready-to-explode competitor.
Fortunately, Hardy’s victory here frees him up and allows him to do something else because this is a dispute that has absolutely run its course.
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