Welcome to eWn’s coverage of Friday Night SmackDown! This is Tathya Sachdev, and I’ll be bringing you all the action live from Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Bloodline Saga continues tonight, while the WWE Women’s Championship will be on the line as Asuka defends against Bianca Belair. Also, hopefully, a little bit of LA Knight, if that’s not too much to ask.
Gimme a ‘YEEEAHHHH!!’ in the comments and stay tuned…
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Bianca Belair is out to kick off Friday Night SmackDown. She talks abiut how she has had to wait forever for something that was rightfully hers in the first place — an immediate rematch for her title. She vows to recapture the title tonight, before Charlotte Flair makes her way out to the ring.
Flair says that with all due respect to Asuka, she expects The EST to capture the title tonight. She will be waiting for the new WWE Women’s Champion at SummerSlam. Belair agrees.
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#1. Sheamus & Ridge Holland vs. Pretty Deadly – Winners: Pretty Deadly
Prince picked up the sneaky pinfall over Holland here.
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Backstage with Cathy Kelly, Grayson Waller addresses his performance against Edge last week, already being in hunt for a title after just his first match with the United States Championship Invitational later tonight, and then proceeded to mock The Rock following their social media back-and-forth last week.
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Cole & Barrett have a medical update about Jimmy Uso. They reveal that he suffered ruptured rib cartilige last week. Hey! “Cole & Barrett!” That’s a great name for a shady faux stock-trading firm!
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Backstage, Adam Pearce sees Charotte Flair with her suitcase leaving. Flair assures him there will be no interference in tonight’s main event. Bayley & Miss MITB Iyo Sky walk-in, teasing a cash-in tonight. Charlotte reappears and says that on second thought, she’ll hang around.
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#2. Zelina Vega vs. Bayley – Winner: Bayley
Bayley picked up a pinfall win following distraction from Iyo Sky.
Immediately afterward, we see a VTR featuring Shotzi, who issues a crazed warning to Bayley & Sky.
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Next up, Jey Uso is out in the arena. He talks about being the new Tribal Chief, ‘Main Event’ Jey Uso. He addresses Paul Heyman as the puppet master for his family for 40 years. That will soon change. Suddenly, we hear the all-too-familiar of a sneaky, conniving, manipulative, and admittedly wise snake-oil salesman, Paul Heyman, introducing himself.
Paul E. walks in with Solo Sikoa. He enters the ring and declares that Roman Reigns and Jey Uso will go face to face next week and discuss the rules of engagement. As for tonight, he’s just there to have a little conversation with Jey.
Heyman blames Jey for what happened to Jimmy last week. He says it’s pointless to talk to Jey. Paul E. addresses Jimmy by looking straight into the camera and says it’s Jey’s fault. He doesn’t know how Jimmy will ever forgive Jey. No one will forgive Jey. His father, his mother, Paul E. himself, the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, no one. Solo suddenly grabs the mic…
He says that what happened to Jimmy is on Jey. He too will never forgive Jey. That’s enough talking. A brawl breaks out and Jey takes out Solo at ringside. He stalks Heyman inside the ring, but Solo attacks him again. Jey retaliates, before taking out Heyman with a superkick. And then one for Solo. As Jey soaks it in, he looks gets a chair. Solo is back again as Heyman escapes, and Jey takes the steel chair to Solo for good measure.
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#3. AJ Styles vs. Santos Escobar vs. Butch vs. Grayson Waller (United States Championship Invitational) – Winner: Santos Escobar
AJ Styles looked poised to seal the win, but Karrion Kross suddenly appeared on the screen, choking out Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows. Styles ran backstage, allowing Grayson Waller to take advantage, but Escobar surprised him with a Frog Splash for the pinfall. Oh, and Theory was on commentary for the match.
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Back from commercial, AJ Styles checks in on Gallows & Anderson, and assures them that he and Kross ain’t done yet. That ain’t much of an assurance AJ!
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The Street Profits are walking backstage, and they approach a limo. Bobby Lashley invet them in, and they drive off.
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Rey Mysterio, Cameron Grimes and Sheamus deliver pre-taped promos ahead of Part 2 of the U.S. Championship Invitational. Out next on the stage, was the man with overwhelming kavorca, LA Knight (the fourth man in next week’s Fatal 4-Way), who does his thang, before declaring that soon enough, he’ll be calling himself champion… with everybody sayin’. “L.A. Knight! YEEAHHH!!”
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#4. Asuka vs. Bianca Belair (WWE Women’s Championship) – Winner: No Contest
Apparently, there were a lot of empty seats, ringside at that, tonight in Raleigh. Charlotte Flair, Bayley, and Iyo Sky all had tickets to the show for the main event! The finidh saw everybody interefere with everything, causing a no contest.
Flair seemingly inadvertently took out Belair, and as Sky was going for the cash-in, Asuka misted Bayley and escaped. SmackDown went off the air on that note.
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