The July 25th edition of WWE SmackDown airs live on the USA Network from The Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia, featuring the fallout show from the Battleground pay-per-view (PPV) that went down this past Sunday night in Philadelphia.
Advertised for tonight: Time to see how the road to SummerSlam shapes up!
The show opens up with the newly crowned United States Champion Kevin Owens making his entrance to the ring.
We are welcomed to the show by Tom Philipps.
Kevin Owens gets on the mic and talks about regaining his title from that thief AJ Styles. Owens says now that he’s our United States Champion, he can go back to defending the title with the pride and the honor that it deserves. And so he’s reinstating the Kevin Owens United States Championship Open Challenge, and it begins next week.
The crowd boos and he asks if they’re mad, before making himself clear and saying there’s no way he’d ever defend his title in front of a bunch of hicks from Richmond, Virginia.
AJ Styles makes his way to the ring. Owens orders his music cut and says he better be out to congratulate him and admit that he’s the better man. Styles says nope. He came out here to get his rematch for that United States Championship. Owens sputters a bit and says he literally just said he’s not defending his title tonight against AJ or anyone.
The returning Chris Jericho makes his way to the ring. He gets on the mic and says it’s the return of Jericho, welcome back man. Owens sputters some more as Chris tells him to be quiet over and over, finally shutting him up. Owens tells Jericho to shut his mouth, this isn’t Montreal, it’s America, and he’s sick of hearing him yakking, since the last time he was on SmackDown he left on a stretcher thanks to Owens.
But after a few months of rehab, CrossFit, drinking a few beers, he’s back, and he’s back to get his rematch for the United States Championship right here, right now tonight. AJ tells Jericho that he’s happy he’s back and has his sense of humor, but a lot of things happened while he was out, and right now he’s the next guy in line for a title shot.
Jericho proceeds to put Styles on the List of Jericho, telling an anecdote about a guy who cut him in line at the grocery store and got punched in the face and put in the Walls of Jericho on him in aisle seven in front of the canned corn. Kevin Owens slinks away during this, as Jericho does the whole promo before putting Styles on the list.
Chris calls out Owens and tells him to get back in the ring.
Shane McMahon makes his way down the ring. He asks Owens to hang around a minute since this concerns him and the United States Championship. Shane polls the crowd and says both Jericho and Styles have legitimate rematches coming and they’ll both get their opportunities at the same time. As of right now, the US title will be defended in a triple threat match between Owens, Jericho, and Styles.
A main event match of that magnitude doesn’t happen at WrestleMania, nor at SummerSlam, it happens tonight, right here in Richmond, Virginia. Owens is really angry.
Shinsuke Nakamura and Baron Corbin are shown walking backstage, they’ll have a Battleground rematch after the break.
Shinsuke Nakamura def. Baron Corbin: The action spills out to ringside early where Corbin clotheslines Nakamura down to the floor. Back in the ring Corbin does his best to keep Nakamura grounded, but Nakamura fights his way up and drops Corbin with kicks. Corbin drops Nakamura again, and Nakamura fires up and delivers several kicks and knees to Corbin. The finish comes when Nakamura hits the Kinshasa for the three count after a short but competitive match.
After the match, Nakamura celebrates his victory, and commentary hypes up our US Championship main event, before telling us that Jinder Mahal is going to demand a new opponent for SummerSlam, and we go to a commercial break.
Back from commercial, Naomi is being interviewed backstage.
Naomi says that Natalya is tough as nails and she proved that on Sunday, but she won’t let Natalya disrespect her like she did by ditching the handshake. Natalya interrupts and says that Naomi has tarnished everything a WWE championship stands for, turning the title into a kid’s toy and having no respect for the legends that came before her.
So at SummerSlam, Natalya is going to take the title and restore honor to the women’s division. Naomi tells her she’s so stuck in the dirty dungeon of the past that she can’t see the now, and the women’s revolution is about the future. Naomi says she respects tradition, and she didn’t tarnish the title, she earned it and added some of herself to it, and at SummerSlam, Natalya’s going to be blinded by the glow.
Natalya leaves and Carmella shows up to remind Naomi that she and her Money in the Bank contract are looking to the future.
Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair make their entrances, they have a tag match after the break.
Charlotte & Becky Lynch def. Lana & Tamina: Lana starts off against Becky, but she quickly tags in Tamina. Becky drops Tamina with kicks, but Tamina comes back and drops Becky then tags in Lana. Lana puts the boots to Becky in the corner then puts her in a shoulder lock on the mat. Becky gets up to her feet and Lana takes her back down with a fist full of hair. The crowd chants “you can’t wrestle” at Lana as she tags in Tamina. Tamina works on Becky in the corner until Becky fights out with an elbow and a spinning kick to the head. Charlotte tags in and cleans house. Charlotte hits several chops to the chest of Tamina, then drops her and hits a knee drop for a two count. Tamina comes back with a superkick then Lana tags in. This leads to Charlotte knocking Tamina off the apron, then Charlotte turns around and hits a big boot on Lana for the win.
After the match, Lana looks confused, and Tamina is not happy with Lana and shouts at her before leaving.
Commentary hypes up Jinder’s demand for an opponent and we go to a commercial break.
Back from commercial we get a recap of the Punjabi Prison Match from Battleground.
Jinder Mahal makes his way down the ring, but the Singh Brothers are not with him. The Great Khali is not with him either. He gets on the mic and says he crushed the legacy of Randy Orton and the legend of the Modern-Day Maharaja was born on Sunday. He holds the title high and continues, saying Orton relied on hope, agreeing to face him on his terms, his match, his turf, hoping to beat him at his own game.
But just like the WWE Universe, Randy underestimated him, the WWE Champion. And he will stay WWE Champion as long as he desires, and now he demands to know his opponent for SummerSlam, to find out whose hopes he’ll crush. But first, silence while he speaks to his people in his language of Punjabi.
John Cena interrupts and makes his way down the ring. He goes to talk and Jinder cuts him off, saying he knows exactly what he’s gonna say, the he doesn’t deserve to represent the 1.3 billion people of India, that he needed all this help, and Cena tells him to stop, saying he’s a Maharaja but as a mind-reader he’s a piece of crap, and he wasn’t going to say any of those things.
In fact, Cena says that he’s the one guy who will congratulate him face-to-face. He may not like what happened, but he’s big on respect, and he respects that he is in the best shape of his life, and he respects that the WWE Championship means so much to him that he’ll do anything to keep it. It’s not some moral shakedown, it’s a congratulations and it’s a heads-up.
They’ve never been formally introduced, he may only know him from pistachio commercials, but he’s John Cena, and he doesn’t care how many allies he has, he’s giving him a heads-up that it ain’t gonna be enough, because at SummerSlam, he’s facing SuperCena, which means he’s walking out of SummerSlam a 17-time champion. Cena tells Mahal that it was nice to meet him, but he can’t see him.
Cena leaves, but Daniel Bryan makes his entrance. He says first of all he wants to congratulate both of them on their victories at Battleground. It’s clear that as far as John is concerned, he’s on a quest to make history, but he doesn’t make the matches, that’s Bryan and Shane’s job.
And here on SmackDown, opportunities are earned, even if your name is John Cena. So with that said, he performed brilliantly at Battleground, and next week he’ll face a man that performed beautifully earlier tonight, Shinsuke Nakamura. In a #1 contender’s match to determine who will face Jinder at SummerSlam.
Commentary hypes our main event again, but first, a tag match featuring Sami Zayn and Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English and Mike Kanellis, after the break.
Back from commercial, we go backstage where Shane McMahon is on the phone when Kevin Owens enters.
He says they don’t like each other and he needs to admit he put him in this triple threat because he doesn’t like him. He runs his opponents down and says the worst part is he can lose the title without being pinned, and that’s not right nor fair. McMahon brings up their rematches and admits that he doesn’t like Owens and doesn’t care who’s champ, as long as it’s defended on SmackDown.
But what Shane does care about is giving the best matches possible, and the triple threat is going to be amazing. Owens says he doesn’t give a damn about the audience and if Shane wasn’t commissioner he wouldn’t give a damn about him either.
We go to the ring where Aiden English is doing his usual singing.
Sami Zayn & Tye Dillinger def. Aiden English & Mike Kanellis: Maria is at ringside in Mike’s corner for this match. English gets the advantage over Zayn early on, then tags in Mike who stomps a mud hole in Sami. Mike hits a big boot on Sami then tags in English. Sami and English trade strikes until Sami dumps him outside then gets the hot tag to Tye. English slides back in the ring and Tye drops him, then Tye takes out Mike too. Zayn tags in and hits the Heluva Kick on Mike for the win.
Commentary hypes up our main event once again and we go backstage where the New Day are doing a photo shoot.
After the commercial break, they will be celebrating their title win.
Back from commercial break, The New Day does their usual promo over the PA system in the arena, but then we hear some commotion. We go to the stage where we see The Usos attacking The New Day from behind. The Usos beat down the New Day members all over the stage, and deliver multiple super-kicks to Big E. The Usos admire their work on the stage before heading backstage.
Commentary hypes up the Cena and Nakamura match for next week and we go backstage to where the King of Strong Style is being interviewed.
He thinks about it for a second and says next week, John Cena can’t see him, which means he’ll see Jinder at SummerSlam.
We get our entrances for the main event as we go to a commercial break.
AJ Styles def. Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho: Jericho and Styles team up on Owens right off the opening bell. Owens rolls outside then Jericho and Styles go at it. Owens comes back in and takes out Styles, leaving Owens alone with Jericho. Jericho unloads with offense on Owens then hits a missile dropkick off the middle rope. Styles comes back in and goes to work on Jericho as Owens rolls outside to recover. Styles dumps Jericho to the outside, then Owens drops Styles with a superkick and pummels him with right hands. Owens knocks Jericho off the apron, then he hits a senton drop on Styles, followed up by a leg drop. AJ fights back with punches and chops, but Owens shuts him down with an elbow to the face. Styles gets Owens in the Calf Crusher until Jericho breaks it up with a Lion-sault onto Styles. Jericho cleans house and delivers a series of chops to the chest on AJ.
Owens drops Jericho, then Styles throws Owens to the outside. Styles then hits a springboard 450 splash onto Jericho, but before he can pin Owens throws Styles outside and pins Jericho himself for a two count. Styles pulls Owens outside and slams him into the fan barricade. Back in the ring, Styles goes for the Styles Clash on Jericho, but Jericho escapes and puts Styles in the Walls of Jericho. Owens runs in but Jericho snatches him and throws him into AJ, knocking AJ out to ringside. Jericho drops Owens and puts him in the Walls of Jericho, but AJ runs in and breaks it up. Jericho hits AJ with the Codebreaker and pins for a two count. Jericho slaps AJ across the face, and AJ comes back with a flurry of strikes. Jericho drops AJ then goes for the Lion-sault, but Owens hits the ropes and Jericho wipes out.
Owens hits the cannonball splash on AJ then on Jericho. AJ hops up and elbows Owens, then Jericho kicks Styles, Owens super-kicks Jericho, then AJ hits the Pele Kick on Owens. AJ springboards up to the top rope but Jericho dropkicks AJ off and AJ falls down to ringside. Owens grabs Jericho and hits the Pop-Up Powerbomb for a near-fall. Owens goes up top an hits the frog-splash on Jericho, but AJ throws Owens outside before he can pin. AJ pins Jericho instead and scores the three count to win the U.S. Championship.
After the match, AJ is bleeding inside his mouth. Owens freaks out at ringside and throws stuff around as AJ makes his way to the back holding up the U.S. Title belt. Owens gets on the mic at ringside and says this wasn’t fair that Jericho was here and that McMahon made him defend his title in a triple threat match. Owens says AJ stole his victory, and says the fans dislike him because he’s better than they ever will be. Owens says he wants his rematch next week, one on one. AJ kisses the U.S. Title belt on the stage as SmackDown goes off the air.