WWE SmackDown Results, Highlights, And Grades For June 26, 2018

Credit: WWE.com

Due to Shinsuke Nakamura’s injury, Jeff Hardy will put his United States Championship on the line tonight on WWE SmackDown Live against a different opponent. Just how exciting will his adversary tonight be?

WWE SmackDown has been sensational over the past month, with last week’s episode being a huge highlight. Every segment was positive in some way, with the main event Gauntlet Match being a huge highlight. Rusev defeated The Miz to earn a WWE Championship match against AJ Styles at Extreme Rules, and we should get some build to that highly-anticipated bout tonight.

The Bludgeon Brothers costed Daniel Bryan in that Gauntlet Match last week, allowing Miz to pick up the scraps for a quick elimination. Harper and Rowan will join Miz TV tonight. Did The Miz pay them off to take Bryan out of the equation?

Jeff Hardy will issue a United States Championship open challenge tonight with Shinsuke Nakamura out due to injury. Will we see a surprise opponent for Hardy and another excellent TV match from the painted-up Charismatic Enigma?

The cast of GLOW will meet up with the woman who urges us to “Feel the Glow” each week on SmackDown Live. What message do they have for Naomi?

We’ve been waiting for Andrade “Cien” Almas to mercilessly destroy his former friend Sin Cara, and I wonder if we’ll finally get the match between them tonight.

The SmackDown Women’s Championship remains in Carmella’s hands, but Asuka seems bound to capture that title soon. We’re all wondering who her next challenger will be, with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair being the two most intriguing opponents (the former moreso than the latter, given that we’ve seen Charlotte vs. Asuka before at WrestleMania 34).

With all of this set to happen, tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown should be just as terrific as the rest of the Blue Brand’s episodes in June. Tune in here at 8 p.m. ET for live highlights, grades, and analysis.

Miz TV With The Bludgeon Brothers

The Miz puts over the Bludgeon Brothers as real-life, universe-ravaging dinosaurs/wooly-mammoth carnivores, or something like that, so how much do you want to bet they end up kicking The Miz’s ass by the time the segment is over?

Well, as you’d expect, Miz spent the entire time rambling about how Bryan has his “head in the clouds” and is an arrogant glory-hound who disrespected the SmackDown Tag Team Champions. He showed video footage of the Bludgeon Brothers staring down Bryan and then costing him the Gauntlet Match.

The Miz yells that Harper and Rowan deserve “Supporting” Mizzies for beating up Bryan last week, even teasing that they should try to be on “Ruff Ruff Ref” since he isn’t accepting applications for a new Miztourage.

Just as Harper and Rowan close in on Miz, Bryan’s music hits. Miz breathes a sigh of relief as the Bludgeon Brothers back off. He tries to turn it all on Bryan, stating that Bryan has come out to steal the Bludgeon Brothers’s thunder again.

Bryan says he isn’t afraid of the Bludgeon Brothers, despite their size, or The Miz, of course. He asks which one of them will fight Bryan first, because he sure as hell is ready to fight all of them. Just as Rowan steps forward, Harper says he’ll be the one to fight Bryan.

Harper vs. Bryan in 2018? THIS IS SO LIT.

Grade: B+, I’m so here for The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan, but I’m even more here for Harper vs. Bryan tonight. Great segment, and everyone came out of it looking better and moving forward.

Rusev vs. Xavier Woods

Although Rusev will have a battle against WWE Champion AJ Styles at Extreme Rules next month, he’ll have to face The New Day’s Xavier Woods just a week after becoming the No. 1 contender by winning a Gauntlet Match on SmackDown Live. This qualifies as yet another great Rusev Day gift!

Aiden English asked Xavier if he has a waffle because his pancakes are awful. I will never, ever get tired of him singing Rusev’s introductions.

By the way, I have an important announcement. Per a source close to Corey Graves, The New Day are in violation of a new Bulgarian edict. Thou shalt not eat pancakes on Rusev Day! (Sounds like yet another rule I’ll be breaking.)

Pop of the night goes to The New Day for the “Ouch!” bubble, as they turned a wrestling show into a comic book in one fell swoop. If the Young Bucks didn’t help pitch that idea, then they need to take notes!

Also, Woods’s rolling forearm remains quite the bad-ass transition move.

Second pop goes to Woods picking up Rusev on his back.

Rusev sat Woods on the top rope for a superplex attempt with Kofi Kingston and Big E watching, but Woods fought back and ended up getting Rusev shoulder-first into the ring post. He ascended the top rope for that  elbow drop, but Rusev got up.

He hit the Machka Kick, but it wasn’t over yet. Rusev trapped Woods into the Accolade, forcing Woods to tap out immediately.

Rusev says that tonight is about AJ Styles, not Booty O’s or pancakes. He remembers Styles punching Rusev last week, but he pauses to take in the Styles/Rusev chants. We’re all taking them in, and we’re all excited for Extreme Rules.

Grade: C+, this was a decent match, but it wasn’t their best bout. It was designed to give Rusev a tune-up win leading up to Extreme Rules next month.

Lana and Naomi

Lana told Naomi that she won their little dance-off, and she tried to get Naomi to believe that she was break-dancing. The cast of GLOW show up and everyone marks out. They try to get Naomi and Lana to work together. Naomi admits that Lana is a good dancer, and it seems like Lana and Naomi will start working together thanks to the efforts of the GLOW cast.

Grade: B, please let them be a tag team!

Jeff Hardy vs. Eric Young

We got another strange Jeff Hardy promo before the match. “I’m ready to take flight and fight.” Because, you know, adrenaline.  I popped for him bringing up adrenaline binding to “membrane receptors”. Shoutout to the GPCRs! (If you get that, you are in the top 1% of cool people who read this blog, and tell EC3 I said that.)

Sanity’s music hits, so who will it be? Eric Young (most likely)? Alexander Wolfe? Killian Dain? Regardless, this a sweet surprise and the perfect fill-in tonight for Shinsuke Nakamura, who is unable to compete for the United States Championship due to an injury.

No surprise, it’s Young. And it’ll be even less of a surprise if this ends up being a great match. These are two of the better wrestlers in WWE.

I love how twisted Young was in this match as he was whipping Hardy’s head around, and Wolfe was just laughing like crazy at ringside while Dain roamed around. Young just kept attacking Hardy’s neck, handling the United States Champion in his first main roster singles match.

This match was slow with Young mostly controlling Hardy with holds, but the crowd was 100% behind Jeff as he fought back from Young’s direct offense. After a while, Hardy started hitting his signature moves to change the momentum of the match.

All of a sudden, the crowd rose to its feet, and Wolfe and Dain pointed off to a distance. The Usos came out to attack Sanity after being ambushed last week. Jey Uso ran into the ring to beat up Eric Young, causing a disqualification.

Hardy and The Usos won the battle against Sanity, but Sanity is ready to take things to the next level against The Usos next week. I’m sure of it.

Grade: B, the match between Young and Hardy was average, but the finish was great, even if it was a DQ. It got me excited for The Usos vs. Sanity, and it was a great way of turning Nakamura’s injury into something that focuses attention on the tag team scene.

The Usos And Jeff Hardy vs. Sanity

Paige wasn’t happy with the way the match ended in disqualification when The Usos came after Eric Young, so she restarted the match as a six-man tag. This is further evidence that Paige is the greatest GM in all the land.

Wolfe started attacking Jey Uso outside the ring, making good usage of the apron before tagging in Eric Young, who could not put Jey away with a move off the ropes. Young once again started locking in on the neck, putting Jey in another chinlock.

Killian Dain tagged in and started doing more damage on Jey, slamming him to the canvas with a thunderous vertical suplex. Like Young, Dain locked in on Jey’s head with a chinlock, as Jimmy and Jeff Hardy tried to get the crowd into it for the hot tag.

Jey desperately tried to reach out for a tag, but he ate a big uppercut from Dain instead. Dain tagged in Young after isolating Jey into the corner.

He tried to tag in Hardy after shoving Young outside the ring, but Young pulled Hardy off the ring apron to show off his tag team wrestling brilliance. However, Jey side-stepped Young and Dain, tagging in Jimmy, who went up against Alexander Wolfe, who had to kick out of a crossbody not long after Jimmy tagged in.

Just as it seemed like Jimmy had it won, Young broke up the pin, and then everyone started hitting big moves. It took two superkicks and THEN a double superkick to get Dain out of the ring.

Wolfe tried to steal a win, but he ended up getting superkicked. Hardy hit a Swanton Bomb on Wolfe, allowing the babyfaces to snag a win.

Grade: B-, Should Sanity have lost here, even to the United States Champion? Then again, Hardy is losing to Nakamura soon (I assume), so I can’t complain about watching a good six-man tag match on television.

Becky Lynch vs. Sonya Deville

After picking up a win over Billie Kay last week, Becky Lynch will try to continue her post-Money in the Bank momentum by defeating Sonya Deville. Becky once avenged a surprise loss to Sonya’s Absolution partner Mandy Rose, but can she beat the more formidable Deville without suffering a blemish to her record first? All I can say is this: We’re in for a great match.

The early exchanges were awesome, with Sonya smiling after Becky was too quick for her. Lynch avoided all of Deville’s strike attempts before grounding Deville, who was pushed to her limits as a grappler.

Becky was feeling it and started to “shimmy”, but Deville quickly got the upper hand after this with some amateur-style takedowns of the Lass Kicker.

After the break, Sonya takes control with a bevy of stiff kicks, as she slammed Becky into the barricade before to gain the upper hand. Becky escaped a hold by putting Sonya in a pinning predicament, but Sonya kicked out and smashed her with a sick double-leg takedown.

Lynch hit a Bexploder after her comeback, but Sonya kicked out with Rose looking concerned at ringside. Sonya responded with a big knee, but Becky kicked out and then kicked out of another quick pin from a flustered Deville.

Mandy interfered when Becky tried to ascend the top rope, allowing Sonya to go for yet another pin. But Becky kicked out. Lynch then outsmarted the two, causing Sonya to knock Mandy off balance at ringside. Becky capitalized, slapping the Dis-Arm-Her on Sonya for the W.

Grade: B+, This was another solid Becky Lynch match with a stellar finish. I loved the story-telling, and I loved the fact that Becky got another win even more. Also, Sonya’s strikes and mat game are always on point.

James Ellsworth Speaks

James Ellsworth returned at the Money in the Bank Pay Per View to help Carmella retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Asuka, as he dressed up as the Empress of Tomorrow to confuse Asuka. Ellsworth appeared last week to help Carmella get the upper hand against Asuka, who was distracted when she kicked Ellsworth in the gut.

So Ellsworth came out and gave another spiel where he talks down to a woman, Asuka, and says it’s a “man’s world”. He tries to say he “loves” and “respects” women, but we all know that ain’t true.

SmackDown Live GM Paige’s music hits. She comes out and calls Ellsworth a coward, noting that he conveniently came out to diss Asuka on the mic when she’s on vacation, knowing full well she can’t beat up Ellsworth.

Apparently Ellsworth thinks that Paige came out to ask him on a date. Paige plays this off and says, “Yes,” asking if he is available for a date next week. She turns the tables and says that he will go out on a “date” with someone else next week. But, well, it isn’t actually a “date”. You see, it’s a “match” against Asuka.

RIP Ellsworth. This date will be even worse than George Costanza’s dates.

Grade: B-, Ellsworth is hilarious, and Paige is a great GM. This was always going to be a fun segment.

Harper vs. Daniel Bryan

Who else is super pumped to watch one of the most underrated wrestlers on the planet in Harper take on one of the best wrestlers of all-time in Daniel Bryan? Let’s see Bryan’s heart on display against one-half of the behemoth SmackDown Tag Team Champions as he looks to avenge what happened in last week’s Gauntlet Match.

I always forget how athletic Harper is, but when I watch him move…it’s like YO.

Bryan tried to hit Harper with a suicide dive on the outside, but this was a very bad idea. Because Harper caught him, dropped him, and then smashed him with a Big Boot by the barricade.

It seemed like Harper snuffed out all of Bryan’s comebacks, countering them into huge moves that punished Bryan greatly. Of course, Bryan kicked out of everything that Harper threw at him, but you could see the wear and tear starting to build up on the four-time champ.

Did anyone else pop for the Harper dropkick? Damn, this guy is great.

Bryan tried to match Harper’s strikes, but Harper’s strength was just too much for Bryan to deal with. And yes, Bryan’s chest looked like mincemeat again.

Harper tried to hit a superplex, but Bryan countered out of it and started reigning blows on Harper’s head to the “YES!” chants of the crowd. With a big DDT, it seemed like Bryan finally turned the tide of the match. The “YES!” kicks came next, but Harper countered the last one.

Although it seemed like Bryan had the match won with the “YES!” Lock, Rowan came in to break up the submission. Harper and Rowan started to beat up Bryan, just like they did last week.

And guess who came back to save Bryan?

YES! TEAM HELL NO IS BACK!

Kane marched to the ring to confront the Bludgeon Brothers. While he slugged it out with Harper and Rowan, Bryan hit the Bludgeon Brothers with a missile dropkick. He dropped Rowan with a knee, and Kane responded by hitting Harper with a chokeslam.

When Bryan lay there with Kane standing and Bryan slowly moved away from Kane’s stare, the crowd started chanting “YES!” and “Team Hell No!”

Bryan slowly rose to his feet, frightened by Kane’s power and unpredictability. But Kane stood there calmly, walked towards Bryan, and motioned for them to hug it out. After initially shaking his head, Bryan decided to hug Kane when the crowd chanted “YES!”

Next: What's Next For Samoa Joe?

Paige announces that Team Hell No will face the Bludgeon Brothers in a match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at Extreme Rules.

Grade: A+, this was an incredible way to cap off the show. Watch it!