By Jake Barnett
WWE Smackdown on USA Network
Aired live from Rochester, New York at Blue Cross Arena
A video package aired that hyped up the women’s brawl from last week that led to the first Women’s Money in the Bank match being made. After the video, Shane McMahon made his way to the ring. Tom Phillips, JBL, and Byron Saxton were on commentary. The competitors for the Women’s Money in the Bank match were in the ring. Shane welcomed everyone to Smackdown Live and gave a shout out to Rochester, NY. He said it was his privilege to introduce the competitors for the Women’s Money in the Bank Match. He gave Tamina, Nattie, Carmella, Becky and Charlotte brief ring introductions. Becky and Charlotte got the biggest reactions.
Shane asked for a drumroll and a briefcase lowered that looked like it was covered by a towel or something. He revealed a white briefcase with some gold accents and green Money in the Bank lettering. The women reacted in a big way to the reveal and Shane hyped up the opportunity of the briefcase and that the odds favored the briefcase holder eventually holding the championship.
James Ellsworth piped up and said that he didn’t need to mansplain what Money in the Bank is. There was no question who the winner would be, the Staten Island Princess Carmella. She grabbed the mic and said she would be the last one on the ladder. Charlotte told her to pipe down when the Queen has something to see. She thanked Shane for giving the other four a chance to brush up against greatness. Nattie screamed that it wasn’t always about her, and told her it was her moment because she’s the best there…
Becky Lynch interrupted and said that Nattie is the best at ripping off her Uncle Bret, and the only thing she rips off is arms. She said after she’s collected all the arms in the match she’ll climb the ladder and become the first Miss Money in the Bank. That was Naomi’s queue, and she entered and said she wished she could be in the match because it was going to be lit. Lana then made a surprise appearance, and walked out wearing a blue dress that got a nice crowd reaction. Shane told her that this wasn’t working for him right now. She replied that whatever works for her, she could make work for him.
She asked to enter the Money in the Bank match, which prompted some audible snickering from the other women in the ring. Naomi told her she didn’t belong in the match, and asked her who she’s beaten. She said she’d wait for Lana to name someone. Lana said she could beat her, but Shane stopped any physicality from happening. He told Lana she needed to earn her opportunities, and she stammered a bit in response before walking off frustrated. The crowd chanted for her as she walked off. Shane said the six woman tag between the women in the ring is next…[c]
My Take: Well, Lana’s entrance was lame. Maybe they figured out she couldn’t dance based on the subpar vignettes. The male fans were excited to see her in a form fitting dress, but there’s really no other reason for the cheering here. I think Becky might have had the best lines here and the most vocal crowd reaction, which is surprising considering that Charlotte normally gets the big reactions.
1. Charlotte, Becky, and Naomi vs. The Welcoming Committee: Charlotte and Nattie started the match. There was some awkward rope running early on with some missed communication on a leapfrog spot, but they recovered nicely and moved on. Becky and Carmella tagged in and the crowd chanted for Becky straight away. Becky grabbed a body scissors and rolled Carmella around the ring for a while. She then hit a flying forearm and sent Carmella into the corner. Becky attempted a springboard kick, but got sent outside by Carmella and hit by a Natalya Discus Clothesline…[c]
Becky struggled to make a tag, but was contained to the heel half of the ring. Tamina grabbed a chinlock and threw some punches. Nattie tagged in did some jaw jacking, which nearly got her rolled up. She kicked Becky in the ribs and hit a sit out bodyslam for a two count. Becky hit an enziguri to make an opening, and tagged in Naomi for a hot tag. She hit a jawbreaker on Carmella and some kicks to Tamina. She then hit a springboard crossbody for a near fall that was broken up by Carmella. Naomi and Charlotte brawled with Tamina and Nattie when Lana walked out.
She waited for an opening and pulled Naomi’s leg out from under her on the apron. Tamina then hit a superkick and covered her for the win.
The Welcoming Committee defeated Charlotte, Becky and Naomi at 11:23.
Backstage, Shane McMahon wandered up to the Andre the Giant trophy. Mojo Rawley wasn’t far behind, and said that he thought winning the Battle Royal would jumpstart his career, but he’s been on the bench for two months. He asked Shane for an opportunity, and reminded him that he was the only person to defeat WWE Champion Jinder Mahal since he came to Smackdown. Shane said he understood his situation, and was going to offer him an opportunity. He said he could earn his way into the Money in the Bank Match by defeating his opponent Jinder Mahal later tonight. The announce team plugged Nakamura vs. Owens for later, and a Styles vs. Ziggler rematch next…[c]
My Take: Nothing especially thrilling about the tag match. The Lana interference was tipped off earlier and it seemed to be the entire purpose for the encounter. There wasn’t much of a reason for it otherwise. They’d be better off going with singles matches to set up individual tensions ahead of MITB otherwise. I can’t say I’m excited about Mojo vs. Jinder, but I hope they exceed expectations.
AJ Styles made his entrance, followed by Dolph Ziggler. Video was shown during Dolph’s entrance of his win last week.
2. Dolph Ziggler vs. AJ Styles: They went to a stalemate mat wrestling early on. The announce team made a big deal of Ziggler beating Styles in his home town like it was a major insult, but it felt like a bit of historical revisionism because they didn’t make the same claims last week after the victory. Styles walked into a nice looking dropkick from Ziggler…[c]
Styles hit a jawbreaker and a big right hand on Ziggler, followed by both men trading haymakers. Ziggler went for a fameasser, but Styles avoided it and hit a big clothesline to take control. Styles backed Ziggler into the ropes, but he pulled a double leg and tried a pinfall using rope leverage as a reversal. The ref caught it and warned Ziggler, who quickly hit a fameasser and covered for a near fall. Ziggler hit mounted punches in the corner, but AJ escaped and tossed Ziggler to the mat.
Styles set up for a Phenomenal Forearm, but Ziggler prevented it by rushing him. Styles avoided damage and hit a sunset flip back into the ring. He then pulled Ziggler up into a Styles clash and got a pinfall for a measure of revenge for last week.
AJ Styles defeated Dolph Ziggler in 9:31.
After the match, we got a fashion files episode. They had a joke that went on way too long about Colons and Cologne. The Usos then walked up with their ice cream cart that was moving on it’s own for some reason. They offered the Fashion Police a case, but they responded in narration that New Day couldn’t hear, so it was just awkward silence. The New Day offered them rompers, which Fandango objected to as a bribe, but Breeze put it on and he liked it so they let it slide. They accepted the case, but handed New Day banker boxes full of stuff in return. The New Day walked off as The Fashion Police did a New Day chant in their Narrator voices that New Day couldn’t hear.
My Take: Fashion Files must be for people who find really cringey and awkward things really funny. It’s growing on me a bit, but most of the bits are still a little off. Like some of them are left to breathe for way too long, and others are moved on from almost immediately. Styles vs. Ziggler was a bit clunky for my taste, but I was glad to see Styles get his win back. Last week made no sense.
Mojo Rawley was already in the ring. The Singh Brothers walked out and made an introduction for Jinder Mahal. He had some updated music.
3. Mojo Rawley vs. Jinder Mahal: Mojo hit some punches and a hip toss to gain an early advantage. He followed up with a big shoulder block that sent Jinder to ringside. Mahal crawled back into the ring and Mojo hit a pounce. He tried to follow up with his running haymaker, but one of the Singh brothers prevented it.
Mahal hit a side kick and then grabbed a chinlock to regroup. Mojo managed to suplex out of the hold and hit two shoulder blocks and a clothesline. He then hit a stinger splash. He picked Mahal up in a fireman’s carry, but he raked Mojo’s eyes when the ref was behind them, and then tossed him into the corner post. He then hit his Cobra Clutch Slam for the win.
Jinder Mahal defeated Mojo Rawley at 4:52.
Mahal grabbed a mic and called for silence while he was speaking. He reminded the crowd that he was champion while they chanted USA. He said he dismantled the dreams of Mojo Rawley, just like he will to Randy Orton in his hometown of St. Louis. He then said Randy Orton is sick, and so are the people who support him. Jinder called himself an antidote, and said he would cure the WWE at Money in the Bank, after which everyone will have to call him the Modern Day Maharaja. He then spoke briefly in Punjabi before celebrating. We then saw a video package on Shinsuke Nakamura that focused on his artistry. New Day was shown heading to the ring…[c]
My Take: I’m curious how long WWE will persist with this Jinder Mahal experiment. It’s almost baffling in its mediocrity. It’s almost exactly what you’d expect from putting a journeyman wrestler without any transcendent qualities in charge of carrying a show. Almost all the interesting stuff on Smackdown is happening around him rather than because of him.
Backstage, Randy Orton was interviewed about Jinder Mahal. He said he had the honor of getting a call from some legends like Ric Flair and Harley Race. He said they all told him the same thing, that he should let Jinder do all the talking, and he should do his in the ring. He said he would let his work in St. Louis speak for itself. In the building New Day entered and tossed some items into the crowd and poured some Booty-O’s on people. The Colons were already in the ring.
4. New Day vs. The Colons: Xavier Woods hit a headscissors takeover on Primo, and then a drop toe hold into the second rope. Epico tagged in and ate a kick, after which Big E tagged in. E hit a shoulder tackle and then grabbed an abdominal stretch. Primo entered and Xavier grabbed one of his own. They both started a New Day Rocks chant and slapped the beat on the Colons….[c]
Primo threw Woods into the corner and hit a running clothesline. He put Woods on the tope rope and went for a superplex, but Woods tossed him off and hit a missile dropkick. Big E got a got tag and hit Epico with some suplexes. He then hit a running splash, and Woods hit a tope on to Primo on the floor. Woods got a tag and they hit the Midnight Hour and got the win.
New Day defeated The Colons at 6:43.
After the match, the Usos made their entrance to talk trash about New Day. The ripped Kofi for wearing a crop top with pig tails, and said he needed a tutu. They asked Big E if that was his name or his bra size, and said his chest is hanging out of his singlet. Jey told Xavier to look up up and then down down, and asked him “What are those?” in reference to his iron sheik boots. They then went into their shtick about “It’s not paranoia, it’s the Usos”.
My Take: A predictable match, but the promo was solid and the New Day/Usos feud shows a lot of promise. This is the first time I felt like the Usos needed some better material. A lot of it felt recycled.
Sami Zayn was interviewed backstage, and was asked how he’s been preparing for Money in the Bank. He said he’s been watching tape of all his opponents, and it’s helped him figure out all of their tendencies. He said the one guy he can’t figure out is Shinsuke Nakamura, and that’s why he’s going to be on commentary for his match tonight. Sami went on about the opportunity at Money in the Bank, when Baron Corbin walked up. He waited for Dasha Fuentes to walk away and then sucker punched Sami and clobbering him with several conveniently placed ladders.
Elsewhere, Naomi walked up to Shane and asked for a match with Lana at Money in the Bank. She said she says she can beat her, and she wanted to see what she’s got. Shane made a title match, and Naomi said that she would snatch her bald. Kevin Owens made his entrance in the arena…
My Take: No surprises anywhere here. I was actually happy to have Corbin interrupt Zayn, because the tone he’s been taking in promos recently has been really grating. The Naomi and Lana thing makes sense given how few matches they had booked for MITB.
Shinsuke Nakamura made his ring entrance. Baron Corbin joined on commentary.
5. Kevin Owens vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: Owens grabbed an arm twist and Nakamura reversed out. Nakamura taunted Owens and hit a hick that forced Owens to roll out and regroup…[c]
Owens is in control with a chinlock. Footage was shown from the break of Owens tossing Nakamura into the barricade. Nakamura fought to his feet and traded blows. He hit a single leg drop kick and a running knee in the corner. He followed up with another knee strike after placing Owens across the top turnbuckle. Nakamura went for a suplex, but Owens blocked and hit a headbutt and a clothesline.
He placed Nakamura on the top turnbuckle, and climbed up for a superplex. Nakamura punched him away, but Owens recovered to pull him down onto the mat and hit his cannonball. Nakamura recovered and hit a wheel kick and a reverse exploder. He followed up with Kinshasa and got the victory.
Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kevin Owens at 12:11.
After the match, Corbin ran in and hit End of Days on Nakamura and got booed heavily. He then celebrated up the ramp while Nakamura was laid out. The announce team said Corbin would be extremely dangerous with the briefcase.
My Take: Corbin and Nakamura are the two favorites for Money in the Bank, in my opinion. John Cena returns on the July 4th edition of Raw, which makes me think he’ll be returning to feud with Jinder Mahal and be the big over the top American Hero to put down the dastardly foreigner. The Nakamura and Owens match didn’t really move the needle for me. I’ve yet to see a genuinely exciting Nakamura match on the main roster, which is disconcerting to a degree. Hopefully he can find a way to work more of his Japanese style into his TV matches, or at least push the pace a little bit more. The was a real lack of creativity and suspense in the finish to the main event that was particularly disappointing. They are both capable of so much better. Maybe I expect too much from low stakes TV encounters.
“Well, Lana’s entrance was lame. Maybe they figured out she couldn’t dance based on the subpar vignettes.”
She was a legitimate ballet dancer as a teen and majored in Dance at FSU.
Here’s some info from her wiki:
“A girlfriend of mine in college referred me to the man that was putting the group together. I honestly was so scared to sing and I didn’t even know a song to sing at the audition so I sang “Jesus Loves Me”. I remember them saying “we can work with her tone because she has the right look and she is a model that break dances”. I am so thankful to this day for that experience because I do not think I would have ever gotten the role in Pitch Perfect if I hadn’t overcome my fear to open my mouth and sing.[7]
Perry went on to work as a backup dancer for performers such as Keri Hilson, Nelly, Pink, Usher, Akon, and Rich Boy.”
Yeah, but she can’t dance because WWE did a terrible job editing a video.