WWE SmackDown Results, Highlights, And Grades For June 19, 2018

Two days ago, AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship and Carmella retained the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship at Money in the Bank. Tonight, a Gauntlet Match will decide Styles’s next challenger.

WWE SmackDown has consistently been the “A” show ever since it was announced that FOX purchased the rights to air the “Blue Brand” on a five-year deal worth about $1 billion. With AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Charlotte Flair, Asuka, Becky Lynch, Paige, The New Day, The Usos, The Bar, The Miz, Rusev, Jeff Hardy, and Andrade “Cien” Almas on the show, it’s quite clear that SmackDown is the most loaded it has ever been.

Although Monday Night Raw turned in a strong episode this week that was complete with solid work from Braun Strowman, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Ronda Rousey, and Roman Reigns, SmackDown Live should once again have the best showing.

Not only will Becky take on Billie Kay in what should be an entertaining bout in the SmackDown Women’s Division, but we’ll also be getting an insane Gauntlet Match that will almost certainly main event the show. Rusev, Big E, Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan, and The Miz will compete tonight, and the winner will face Styles for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules. All of those wrestlers, with the exception of Bryan, failed to grab the Money in the Bank briefcase on Sunday with Strowman in the match.

Raw’s No. 1 contender’s match for Universal Champion Brock Lesnar will take at Extreme Rules, so SmackDown is clearly giving us a PPV-worthy match for free tonight.

Elsewhere, Sanity will make their highly anticipated debut, and they’ll take on the finest tag team that WWE has to offer in The Usos. This should be an awesome introduction to the four members of Sanity, as Nikki Cross’s NXT Women’s Championship loss at TakeOver: Chicago II on Saturday made this debut possible.

The Bludgeon Brothers retained their titles on the Money in the Bank pre-show, so the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Division is totally up for grabs. Can Sanity take those titles from the unstoppable Bludgeon Brothers at SummerSlam?

Carmella barely survived another match, but now she can say that she defeated Charlotte Flair twice and Asuka once. But Asuka probably isn’t done pursuing the SmackDown Women’s Championship, because her loss at Money in the Bank came under extremely dubious circumstances. A year after James Ellsworth tried to hand her the briefcase, he allowed Carmella to successfully retain the title against Asuka. We should see some more movement with this storyline tonight.

Andrade “Cien” Almas and Sin Cara were supposed to face off on SmackDown Live last week, but the match was removed from the show. Will WWE give the fans this match tonight, or are they saving it for later (or never)?

Tune in tonight on the USA Network at 8 p.m. ET to watch WWE SmackDown – otherwise known as the “A” show. And check back here for live results, highlights, grades, and analysis.

After Paige starts the show to announce that there will be a five-man Gauntlet Match to determine AJ Styles’s challenger at Extreme Rules, Carmella comes out after successfully retaining the SmackDown Women’s Championship at Money in the Bank against Asuka.

Carmella starts her speech by stating that she had self-confidence issues when she was younger, but she squashed those by recognizing the talent inside of her and becoming champion. She then urged all the young fans watching to take a look in the mirror and repeat these words: Mella is Money!

WOW. On top of that, Carmella stated that she never had self-confidence issues and was just trolling everyone. Because of course. Mella said that everyone can work twice as hard, and they still won’t be on her level. Is she wrong, though?

Anyway, Carmella started rattling off some bunk about how she won all on her own at Money in the Bank. And then Asuka’s music hit. Will James Ellsworth follow?

YUP. Because as it turns out, that wasn’t Asuka who came out to her music. It was Ellsworth, who was once again dressed up as Asuka.

Of course, Ellsworth stroked Carmella’s ego by stating that she’s better than Trish Stratus, Lita, Mother Theresa, Beyonce, and Ronda Rousey.

And then the real Asuka came out. She started yelling at Ellsworth and kicked him in the gut, but this allowed Carmella to come in and nail Asuka with a superkick before both heels escaped.

Carmella once again got major heat from the audience, proving why she is $$$. Ellsworth’s interference is even more powerful than Sunil Singh’s, and it’s going to take something special from Asuka to take down SmackDown Live’s OTHER iconic duo.

Grade: B, this was a good segment, and I’m always a fan of Ellsworth and Carmella teaming up together. Their comedic timing is on point.

Becky Lynch vs. Billie Kay

Result: Becky Lynch taps out Billie Kay

I have a feeling Becky Lynch and the IIconics will become VERY familiar opponents this year. The commentary team hyped up how agonizingly close Lynch came to grabbing the Money in the Bank briefcase on Sunday, and this is her chance to get some momentum back by defeating Kay, who will likely receive some major help from Peyton Royce.

Royce and Kay do their little impersonation bit, with Royce pretending to be Becky. She makes fun of Becky’s “I AM” speech, calling Becky a loser. Royce says that Becky will never amount to anything and that she is so much better off as Charlotte Flair’s troll of a sidekick.

When Becky comes out, she starts wailing on Kay with right hands. She ain’t playing around after hearing the trash talk. Becky hit a Bexploder early, but, of course, Kay got the upper hand over the break.

At one point, Royce hit Becky in the face with a shin to try and pull out a victory, but Becky kicked out at two. Not long after, Becky started to hit her comeback, but Kay kicked out of the Bexploder. Royce tried to interfere again, however, Becky snuffed the attempt out, and she took out Royce on the outside when she tried to interfere again.

One Dis-Arm-Her later, and Becky picked up a sweet and expected victory.

Grade: B, the promo from the IIconics before was great, but Becky’s win was even better. It’s always sweet to see her outsmart and outwork the heels in a match. She was ask crisp as always in the ring, too.

Jeff Hardy’s Challenge

Jeff Hardy falling victim to Shinsuke Nakamura’s Kinsasha last week has “opened” his eyes. The United States Champion is out for revenge on Nakamura, but can Nakamura win his first title in WWE? More importantly, did you notice Hardy’s face paint? The Charismatic Enigma is back! Congrats, Nakamura, you’ve woken a monster.

Daniel Bryan Promo

Daniel Bryan says that he won’t just survive during tonight’s Gauntlet Match. He says he’s going to win. Bryan adds that at Money in the Bank, he proved that size doesn’t matter. He even dissed the Miz, stating that he will have to face three of the best superstars in WWE tonight in Big E, Rusev, and Samoa Joe. Renee Young asked, “What about the Miz”. And Bryan’s response? “I said three of the best.”

The Usos vs. Sanity

The Chaos has arrived! And I couldn’t be more pumped!

All three male members of Sanity come out, but Nikki Cross is nowhere to be found. Will she come in later to interfere and help Sanity get the win? Sanity doesn’t wait to start destroying the Usos, as they brutalize them before the bell even rings.

There’s no match. Jimmy and Jey Uso get beaten up with all three members of Sanity standing tall, and this is an awesome introduction to these three men. Now, I just want to see Cross out there with them, too.

Nakamura Promo

Renee Young interviews Shinsuke Nakamura following his loss at Money in the Bank. He says that the only reason AJ Styles is still WWE Champion because the referee didn’t count in Japanese. Furthermore, when asked about Jeff Hardy, Nakamura says that if Hardy crosses him, he’ll “close” Hardy’s “open” eyes.

The Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs. Gallows And Anderson For The SmackDown Tag Team Championships

On the Money in the Bank pre-show, Harper and Rowan disposed of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson with ease in their SmackDown Tag Team Championship matchup. However, just hours before SmackDown Live started, GM Paige announced that the Good Brothers would get another opportunity at the titles tonight.

Rowan and Harper dominated early, using their power to control Gallows and Anderson without too much trouble. Gallows was literally placed on the top rope by Rowan, who hit him with a few right hands before setting up for a superplex. Now, Gallows fought valiantly to get out of it, but Rowan hit him with the superplex before Anderson saved the match. His reward? Getting slammed on the apron by the Bludgeon Brothers.

Then, Harper and Rowan moved back into the ring, with Rowan splashing Gallows, who kicked out at two.Worse yet for Gallows, Rowan started digging his fists into his skull. Gallows did fight back with some fists, but Rowan just smashed him to the ground. What is it going to take to beat the Bludgeon Brothers in a title match?

Finally, Gallows started to come back, hitting Rowan with a Big Boot out of the ring and kicking Harper in the face. He sought to tag in to Anderson, who re-emerged on the ring apron . Anderson received a huge pop on his hot tag for hitting Harper with a spinebuster.

Rowan drove Gallows over the barricade, and Anderson tried to take advantage by rolling up Harper. But instead, he ended up getting hit with the Bludgeon Brothers’s devastating finisher. So who’s next for Harper and Rowan?

Grade: B, this was another good match. Expected result, but Gallows and Anderson did well enough to make it interesting. 

Gauntlet Match, Winner Faces AJ Styles At Extreme Rules For The WWE Championship

Rusev vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Big E vs. The Miz vs. Samoa Joe

As expected, Daniel Bryan enters the match first, and he has a staredown with the Bludgeon Brothers. The crowd chants “Leave him alone!” at Harper and Rowan, and they decide to spare Bryan tonight.

Big E and Daniel Bryan started things off, and after technical exchanges that greatly favored Bryan, E started to use his power to gain a big advantage.

Following the break, E nearly pinned Bryan after he missed with the diving headbutt. He nearly won after countering a third dropkick in the corner by turning Bryan inside out with a clothesline. His backbreaker on Bryan got a 2 count. E put Bryan in a submission which Bryan countered into the Yes! Lock. Although E prevented Bryan from locking it in, Bryan went for the triangle. E picked him up, but E slipped out going for a heel hook. This was countered, and Bryan went for another heel hook, which was also countered.

But the best part of the match to this point? Big E’s spear to the outside! All I can say is that Big E definitely looks like a main eventer here! He lost via “The Knee!”, but, man, he was awesome!

Daniel Bryan pins Big E with THE KNEE (A-)

Samoa Joe comes out to face Daniel Bryan

Joe starts giving Bryan some hellish chops in the corner, turning his chest into a deep shade of red. Bryan took a powerslam from Joe head-first on the apron, and everyone, including the announcers, cringed hard. That was an extremely scary moment that took us all out of the match.

After another break, Bryan and Joe started trading chops, but Joe had enough. He tried to put Bryan in the Coquina Clutch, but Bryan threw Joe out of the ring to get out of it. Better yet, Bryan eliminated Joe by outsmarting him, getting him counted out after being placed in the Coquina Clutch on the outside.

Daniel Bryan eliminated Samoa Joe by count-out

However, Harper and Rowan came back in to stand over Bryan, and Harper powerbombed him. Like WHAT! I don’t even know if this is laziness, but I’m not even mad. Because guess who eliminated him with the Skull Crushing Finale? The Miz. The same guy Daniel Bryan dissed in a promo earlier this evening.

The Miz eliminates Daniel Bryan with the SCF

Rusev comes out to face off against The Miz, and these are the final two.

The Miz put Rusev in a lot of holds, trying to ground Rusev Day to wear him out. Rusev even had to use a rope break to get out of one of those holds. The two started trading shots, and Rusev hit Miz with a Machka kick. But Miz kicked out!

Miz started going after Rusev outside the ring, hitting his head on the apron and driving him face-first into the steel steps.. However, it was Rusev’s turn to kick out at two.

It got great when Miz started using Bryan’s “Yes!” chant in the corner. He ended up getting hit with a Machka kick, slapped in the Accolade, and he tapped out.

So happy Rusev Day! We’re getting Rusev vs. AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules! What a time to be alive!

Next: 3 Major Surprises From MITB

Grade: A, Big E was awesome, Rusev winning was even better, and The Miz ostensibly paying off the Bludgeon Brothers to eliminate Daniel Bryan was also fantastic.