Smackdown Review – 07.17.26

Wheels on the bus. AAA | Raw | NXT | Evolve | Main Event | Impact | NXT 2.0

Smackdown is ON THE AIR LIVE on USA and Netflix from The MVP Arena in Albany, NY. There’s a Saturday Night’s Main Event tomorrow evening from Madison Square Garden with four matches scheduled, so perhaps we’ll have another one added this evening. WHO CAN TELL WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN. Anyway, our announcing team for tonight’s broadcast is Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett on match calls and analysis, Mark Nash on ring intros, and Jackie Redmond on interviews and news segments. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Then, Now, Forever…..TOGETHER

Here’s some highlights from last week. Brand new Undisputed Champion CM Punk and Cody Rhodes agreed to meet at Summerslam, which set off a chain of events that saw GUNTHER attack Smackdown GM Nick Aldis to end the show. Aldis had denied GUNTHER’s request to be inserted in the Punk-Rhodes match and paid the price.

Here’s GUNTHER out to a chorus of boos and a “you suck!” chant. Very perceptive crowd in Albany. GUNTHER says that he prides himself on being a professional, but he’s been mistreated since he’s joined Smackdown. GUNTHER mentions that everyone knows he should be champion and the only reason he isn’t is Nick Aldis. GUNTHER calls Sami Zayn a bum who’s beneath him and this position as Zayn’s tag partner at SNME is unacceptable. Here’s Raw GM Adam Pearce out to tell GUNTHER the only thing he should be saying is THANK YOU to Nick Aldis because Aldis has apparently saved GUNTHER’s job as Pearce would have fired him in the same circumstances. Pearce says that GUNTHER didn’t give Aldis a chance to tell him that if Zayn and him are victorious in the Garden at SNME they will be added to the championship match at Summerslam as participants.

Here’s “Kingdom” blaring over the PA to bring out Cody Raheem Rhodes. Rhodes tosses his jacket to the crowd and he immediately attacks GUNTHER. Rhodes pops GUNTHER with a bunch of rights that send him to the floor. Rhodes says since GUNTHER kicked him in the head with a car door, it was always going to be “on sight” when he saw GUNTHER again. Rhodes wants GUNTHER one on one tonight and IT IS OFFICIAL, says Pearce.

Tessitore calls Rhodes-GUNTHER a “PLE main event level match” (Yeah, Tess, it actually is which makes me wonder why it wasn’t advertised ahead of time when the announcement of Cody wrestling on television MIGHT have drawn in some more eyes.) Tessitore also then throws to a pre-tape from Adam Pearce where he talks about Women’s Undisputed Champion Rhea Ripley being unable to compete due to injury and with an uncertain timetable for her return, there will be a five way ladder match to determine an interim champion at Summerslam. Pearce says there will be qualifiers for this match over the next two weeks. Here’s Jade Cargill backstage with B-Fab and Michin as Cargill will be facing Nia Jax in a qualifier tonight. Jax arrives with Lash Legend. Here’s WWE Women’s US Champion Tiffany Stratton entering and she’ll be facing Jacy Jayne in a qualifier, who arrives with Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid by her side.

Finn Balor makes an entrance as we go to commercials.

Talla Tonga vs Finn Balor

Tama Tonga is out with Talla after losing to Balor last week. Talla tries to trap Balor in a corner but he escapes. Balor chops away and ducks a Talla charge, but he gets trucked off a rope run and Talla takes over with kicks. Balor gets rammed into a corner before eating a big right. Talla chokes Balor over the second rope. Balor fires up briefly and dumps Talla to the floor when he charges. Talla climbs back on the apron to battle Balor before slamming him into a top turnbuckle. Talla clotheslines Balor down and we go to commercials.

Talla clobbers Balor with a clothesline and then yanks him up for a running powerslam that gets two. Talla misses a charge and Balor fires off some kicks and punches. Balor dropkicks Talla’s knee and then drops him with an implant driver. Balor walks into a Talla Samoan Drop. Balor goes to the apron and blasts Talla with an enziguri. Balor ascends but Talla goozles him and Balor pulls him into a DDT. Balor wipes out Tama Tonga off the apron and walks right into a Talla high boot that gets two. Talla drapes Balor over the top rope and headbutts him. Talla misses a charge and gets caught on the ropes, so Balor crotches him and then nails a charging Tama with a sling blade. Balor hits a shotgun dropkick and ascends for the Coup de Grace on Talla. Balor goes up again and hits a second one and that finishes things.

I feel like Hunter has maybe re-thought his plan to bring in New Japan guys at this point. Balor goes two for two against the Tongans in singles, and I don’t know where this leaves them. I guess we’ll see. This picked up in the second act and Balor remains awesome in this role so let’s hope he starts getting higher profile stuff than this. 2.75*

Winner – Finn Balor (Coup de Grace x 2)

Here’s Adam Pearce ending a phone call to chat with WWE Men’s Undisputed Champion CM Punk who wants to clarify the SNME stipulation. Pearce says he doesn’t like it anymore than Punk does but the decision was made at levels above him. Punk also points out that GUNTHER doesn’t care about winning the main event tonight, he just wants to hurt Rhodes prior to SNME. Punk says he’s going to talk to Rhodes, and turns to meet WWE Men’s Tag Team Champion Damian Priest. Priest thanks Punk for the shout-out last week during Punk’s opening address as champion but reminds Punk that he’ll be waiting for him on the other side of Summerslam. Punk jokes about him and Cody Rhodes coming after Priest and Truth’s tag titles and Priest agrees that it sounds fair. Here’s WWE Men’s Tag Team Champion R-Truth in to startle Priest after Punk exits.

Here’s Jade Cargill in a pre-tape to talk about the women’s locker room and Nia Jax before promising to bring home the title. Here’s Nia Jax to rebut while saying that her third world title is coming at Summerslam. Here’s Jacy Jayne to say that people are too comfortable around Fatal Influence right now and they will be holding a lot of gold very soon. Here’s Tiffany Stratton to say that “Tiffy Two-Belts” has a nice ring to it.

Stratton makes an entrance as we go to commercials.

There’s a promo for UNREAL where Cody Rhodes walks around in the WWE warehouse and I’ll be honest, that looks COOL AS HELL. There’s like forty coffins in there! Rhodes finds all sorts of cool stuff and I bet it actually was pretty cool for him to be able to look at all that memorabilia. UNREAL debuts on Netflix this coming Tuesday.

WWE Women’s Interim Championship Ladder Match Qualifier: Jacy Jayne vs WWE Women’s US Champion Tiffany Stratton

Reid and Henley are out with Jayne as usual. There’s a Fatal confab and then Reid and Henley attack Stratton prior to the bell. Here’s WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Brie Bella and Paige out to take out Henley and Reid. Those four battle up the aisle to the back, and Jayne watches as the referee checks on Stratton. Stratton indicates she’s good to go, the bell sounds, and Jayne turns right into some right hands from Stratton. Stratton pounds away along the ropes and then rams Jayne’s head into a top turnbuckle. Jayne fires up and smashes Stratton into a corner. Stratton fires up and wants a back body drop but Jayne gathers herself and blasts Stratton with a kick. Stratton trips Jayne up onto the second rope and then mashes her with a Hip Attack and a running shotgun dropkick for two. We go to commercials.

Jayne grabs a cover for two when the show returns. Jayne mocks the Tiffy Time taunt and yanks Stratton up to drop elbows on her shoulder. Stratton slips a senton attempt and they crash together mid-ring with cross-body attempts. They finally rise and start slugging it out before Jayne wins the skirmish with some kicks. Stratton fires up with a couple lariats and a big back elbow. Stratton pulls Jayne into an Alabama Slam before pulling her into position. Stratton ascends but Jayne rises to drop her on a top turnbuckle. Jayne fires off some rights and then yanks Stratton into a draping neckbreaker that gets two. Stratton shakes that off and wallops a charging Jayne with a handspring stunner. Stratton hits a rolling senton and the Prettiest Moonsault Ever finishes things.

WHY? Stratton already has a title and a range of opponents to go along with it. Jayne could have really used the ladder match to stand out at Summerslam while not having to win just yet, while Stratton doesn’t need the rub. I don’t know, I guess I’m seeing an overall trend where the NXT call ups, other than Oba Femi (and he has taken an L from Brock Lesnar, obviously), are being humbled on the main with losses to more established talents. Now I’m not advocating for the call-ups to ALL get a rocket push of some kind, because I try to take all of this in in context, but this one is just dumb. Stratton could have her own match at Summerslam for the US title and let Jayne have a spot in the ladder match to help her perception, but NOPE. Not a fan of this booking at all. 2.5*

Winner – Tiffany Stratton (Prettiest Moonsault Ever)

Tessitore and Barrett talk about the ladder match to kill some time before talking about the SHOCKING RETURN of Baron Corbin. Corbin has a pre-tape promo where he talks about how he’s the real deal and everyone knows it. Corbin wants Trick Williams and mentions that Carmelo Hayes was collateral damage. Corbin tells Trick to smile while he can and enjoy what he has, because Corbin is coming for EVERYTHING.

Here’s Jackie Redmond with WWE Men’s US Champion Trick Williams who is fired up about Baron Corbin’s promo. Trick calls Corbin a “big, bald-headed bitch” and reminds Corbin that his new title belt has more hair on it than Corbin has. Here’s Carmelo Hayes in to call out Trick’s loophole of not defending his title against Hayes. They insult each other, put on shades, and exit the scene as we go to commercials.

Tessitore tosses to a highlights package around the Oba Femi-Brock Lesnar saga that has lead to Hell in a Cell at Summerslam. Femi destroying a bunch of geeks in cop uniforms while screaming there’s nowhere for Lesnar to run in the Cell was a hell of a visual.

Matthew Rhys of The Americans is at ringside! I would never have guessed he would be at a WWE show but his son is with him, so there’s the explanation. Nia Jax doesn’t get an entrance? Okay.

WWE Women’s Interim Championship Ladder Match Qualifier: Jade Cargill vs Nia Jax

Michin and B-Fab are out with Cargill, and highlights are shown of Cargill destroying Alexa Bliss’s elbow last week. Jax hoists Cargill up at the bell and nails her with a Samoan Drop. Jax drops a leg and gets two. Jax yanks Cargill to a corner and ascends. Jax misses a second rope legdrop and Cargill crushes her with a spinebuster. Here’s Charlotte Flair from OUTTA NOWHERE to attack B-Fab and Michin before eyeing up Cargill. Flair jumps in the ring and ducks a Cargill pump kick before landing one of her own. The ref calls for the DQ.

So let’s sum things up so far in Smackdown-land thus far – they announced one match for this show (Balor-Tonga) prior to coming to air, didn’t bother to pre-hype a Cody-GUNTHER main event that will surely involve Punk and Zayn, announced this half-assed interim women’s title ladder thing while knowing that Ripley could be back just after Summerslam, and then have an already-belt-holding Stratton win a match over a more-deserving-of-the-spot Jacy Jayne, and now this shit. I have to tell you, there are times when “the company is the draw” are more true than ever because WOW at all of this so far. I’ve never done this before so take notes, guys. DUD

Winner by DQ – Jade Cargill

Flair grabs a chair post-match and puts Cargill’s arm into it. Michin and B-Fab save Cargill before Flair can stomp on Cargill’s arm. A furious Nia Jax blasts Flair from behind and then stalks away. Cargill and her crew re-enter and Cargill pulls Flair up for Jaded. Cargill stands over Flair to put the stink-mouth on her before they leave.

Here’s Jackie Redmond with GUNTHER who says that Golden Boy has forced himself into GUNTHER’s business yet again. GUNTHER says he still doesn’t care about Zayn but he’s going to go to SNME to compete….and here’s Sad John Wrestling being wheeled in by Candice LeRae. LeRae tells GUNTHER to not do anything stupid tonight because “we” need this win tomorrow night. GUNTHER tells LeRae to make sure everyone stays out of his way before leaving. Here’s Blake Monroe OUTTA NOWHERE to attack LeRae for some reason. Monroe wrecks LeRae and then drops down to introduce herself. Monroe tells Gargano that he needs a haircut and then exits.

Here’s a fuming Nia Jax along with Lash Legend as they berate a helpless Adam Pearce. Pearce is giving Jax another shot at qualifying with a match against Charlotte Flair on Smackdown next week. (Jesus wept, they don’t even have ten women to throw into these qualifiers. COME ON GUYS.)

FrAxiom (Axiom and Nathan Frazer) vs AAA World Tag Team Champions The War Raiders (Erik and Ivar)

Erik smashes Frazer around to start as Barrett grumbles about England crashing out of the World Cup while being jealous of Spain playing in the final. Frazer hits some acrobatics and manages to roll Erik up for two. Erik wallops him with a forearm and Ivar tags in. Ivar and Erik crush Frazer before Ivar drives in a bunch of elbows. Erik tags back in and Frazer’s flurry gets cut off with a knee lift. Erik gets caught by an enziguri and Axiom tags in. He and Frazer hit some double-team stuff that sees Erik and Ivar end up on the floor. Frazer tries a tope but he gets caught, so Axiom flies up for a moonsault and lands on everyone. We go to commercials.

Frazer is ascending when the show returns. Erik slips the Phoenix splash attempt as Ivar gets a blind tag. Erik smashes Frazer back to his corner where Axiom tags in. Ivar hits a Tour of the Islands slam on Axiom and then crushes Frazer with a standing seated senton. Ivar stacks Axiom on top of Frazer and ascends. Ivar misses a moonsault and Axiom takes over with a Shining Wizard on Ivar as Erik gets dumped to the floor. Frazer ascends for a 450 splash on Ivar and gets two. Ivar smashes Frazer down and catches Axiom coming off the top rope. Ivar smashes Axiom down and Erik tags in. Erik yanks up Ivar and smashes him on top of Axiom. Erik hits a one-armed powerslam and Frazer breaks up the cover at two. Ivar tags in and Axiom fights off both guys. Frazer tags in and sort of side-swipes Erik with a tope suicida. (Frazer legit went head-first into the announce desk on this and is lucky he didn’t hurt himself severely, but he’ll never ever slow down so here we are.) Axiom actually hits a tope on Ivar and then he and Frazer run Ivar back in. Frazer hits a tope con hilo on Erik but Ivar mashes Axiom with a kick in the ring. Axiom springs up and he and Frazer go up to hit a superplex on Ivar. Frazer ascends and hits the Phoenix splash but Erik breaks up the cover at two with a huge running knee. Erik and Axiom get tags and slug it out mid-ring. Ivar gets a blind tag as Erik yanks Axiom into a knee-lift backbreaker. The Raiders combine to crush Frazer with a lofted powerslam, and then hit Ragnarok on Axiom to finish things.

Match of the night so far, but that’s not exactly Everest this evening. I thought this was solid for what it was, but Nathan Frazer drives me nuts. He’s very lucky, and I mean VERY LUCKY, that he didn’t severely injure himself on that tope attempt. The Raiders are the hotter team right now and they had teased title-for-title with Priest and Truth, so maybe that’s still in the works? Who can tell. Anyway, this was decent for the most part, so we’ll all just move on. 3*

Winners – The War Raiders (Ragnarok on Axiom)

Here’s highlights of Los Angeles Knight promo-ing at Fanatics Fest while surrounded by Royce Keys and Solo Sikoa. Knight promises to whoop the Bloodline at Summerslam. Fanatics Fest had a lot of WWE presence and Tom Brady slapped Logan Paul after mentioning he thinks he’s got one match in him. The WORLD CHAMPION New York Knicks were all over the place as was noted WWE fan Tyrese Haliburton. (That was for GARTH.)

Here’s CM Punk telling Cody Rhodes he’ll have his back tonight in the main event despite how bad an idea this match is. Rhodes tells Punk to watch on a monitor, and Punk seems to want to come out with him. OH YOU WACKY GUYS. Commercials ensue.

Here’s a look at the Roman Reigns-Seth Rollins saga. Reigns will be at SNME tomorrow night to hang out with Jalen Brunson of the WORLD CHAMPION New York Knicks (HI GARTH!)

Tessitore and Barrett kill some more time by running down the SNME card and some Summerslam matches. We had bloated three hour shows and can’t fill two hours.

Here’s Jackie Redmond with Danhausen who doesn’t seem to know who JD McDonagh actually is. Danhausen promises he has a secret weapon for SNME that’s a stuffed cat in a cage. A machine starts going off and Danhausen tells Redmond to run while taking his cat with him. (I highly doubt this but if that’s somehow a reference to the world’s most famous wrestling stuffed cat Darryl, I might actually die tomorrow night from laughing so hard. Seriously, if Hiromu showed up on SNME with Darryl….man oh man. Anyway.)

GUNTHER is making his entrance when Cody Rhodes attacks him from behind. Rhodes pounds away and drives GUNTHER’s head into stuff at ringside. GUNTHER gets run into the barricade and then into the announce table. Rhodes runs GUNTHER in and the bell sounds.

GUNTHER vs Cody Rhodes

Rhodes assumes top mount and goes to ground and pound. GUNTHER flips Rhodes over and then pushes him out to the floor when Rhodes wants his cutter. We go to commercials.

GUNTHER is in control when the show returns. GUNTHER drives knees into Rhodes gut and then smashes him down with a slap to the chest. GUNTHER indicates he wants the belt before yanking Rhodes up. Rhodes snaps off a Cody Cutter that mostly misses, and then smashes GUNTHER with a scoop powerslam. Rhodes hits a springboard Disaster Kick and another Cody Cutter that hits this time. GUNTHER fires up with some chops and a kick to Rhodes hamstring. GUNTHER waffles Rhodes with another kick and then drags him to a corner. GUNTHER pulls Rhodes towards a ringpost and mashes his knee into it. Here’s CM Punk out stand at ringside. GUNTHER calls for the sleeper but instead he pulls Rhodes onto his shoulders. Rhodes slips off and they wallop each other with lariats before we go to more commercials.

GUNTHER hits a powerbomb for two and then pulls Rhodes into a half-crab when the show returns. GUNTHER barks at Punk as Rhodes tries for the ropes. Rhodes kicks his way out of the crab and GUNTHER misses a charge. Rhodes blasts GUNTHER’s leg with kicks and then mashes him with a Dragon Screw leg whip. Rhodes puts on the Figure Four and here’s Sami Zayn out of the crowd to start pounding on Punk. Zayn sends Punk over the announce desk and then turns to eye up Rhodes. GUNTHER puts on a sleeper but Rhodes slips out and nails Zayn with a tope suicida. Zayn drives Rhodes into a ring post and the ref calls for the DQ.

Man, these finishes tonight. Just….not good. I know why this ended this way, I don’t need it explained to me, but this overbooking just to get heat for these other matches, like…if I’m in the crowd for this I might be a bit pissed. Two shitty DQ overbooked finishes and whatever that decision was with Stratton going over, woof. Not Hunter’s best night here. Anyway, this was feeling like about 3* or so before that finish.

No winner announced – Zayn interference caused DQ

Post-match sees GUNTHER pull Rhodes in before Punk flies over the announce desk. Everyone fights at ringside as the locker room empties of refs and suits to try to break things up. The credits roll as people get pulled off of each other while continuing to fight.

Okay, so you might have been able to tell that things went south for me with the Stratton-Jayne match and never really recovered. You’ll have nights like this and I guess the blessings here are that it’s only two hours and there was definite heat put on tomorrow night’s big tag match. We went a long way to get there though. The women’s ladder match thing is just so lazy and contrived so that there’s content for this show, and whomever wins this interim version of the title will be thought of as being “in waiting” for Ripley’s return, it’s just how it works. I’m sure some of you will tell me how all of this was better than I thought it was, and that’s your prerogative, but when the highlight of SNME is looking like it might be Danhausen-JD McDonagh, I’m having trouble mustering up the will to call this anything but subpar in terms of tonight.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Enjoy your weekend, and enjoy SNME if you watch. (Don’t forget that AAA airs right after SNME tomorrow night as well!)