WWE SmackDown Results, Highlights, And Grades For July 3, 2018

Credit: WWE.com

Tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown will feature a match between Asuka and James Ellsworth, as well as two matches involving champions.

In the main event of WWE SmackDown last week, Daniel Bryan and Kane reunited to form “Team Hell No” again, as Kane saved Bryan from another beatdown at the hands of the Bludgeon Brothers. SmackDown Live GM Paige took advantage of the reunion, scheduling a match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at Extreme Rules between the Bludgeon Brothers and Team Hell No.

I’d expect to see Kane and Bryan in action tonight, as WWE will look to take advantage of the momentum that these two legends have together. Team Hell No is one of the most beloved tag teams in the history of pro wrestling, and the reactions from the fanbase last week were tremendous.

Tonight’s episode will also feature a second Open Challenge from United States Champion Jeff Hardy, whose days as champion may be numbered with the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe potentially closing in on a title for the first time in WWE.

Although Hardy’s opponent isn’t announced, the WWE Champion, AJ Styles, will take on Aiden English ahead of his match against Rusev at Extreme Rules. Styles is the clear favorite here, but could Rusev interfere to cost The Phenomenal One from scoring an expected victory?

Becky Lynch is on a winning streak, and while she was scheduled to face Peyton Royce last week after defeating the other member of the IIconics, Billie Kay, the previous week, she faced Sonya Deville instead. That victory over Sonya has put Becky on a roll, as she also recently beat Charlotte Flair, who was the SmackDown Women’s Champion earlier this year. Lynch will finally take on Royce tonight, and nothing less than a big win for Becky is expected. But that could be WWE’s way of giving us a disheartening swerve.

James Ellsworth has a “date” with Asuka tonight, and it will be a treat to watch him get his ass handed to him by the Empress of Tomorrow.

But if you want a segment that has show-stealing potential, look no further than the New Day’s pancake-eating contest. I can’t choose a winner among Big E, Xavier Woods, and Kofi Kingston (just kidding, it’s obviously Big E), but I’m not even sure we’ll have a winner anyway. The Miz has been busy hating on the beloved pancake, though he isn’t the only person in the SmackDown Live locker room who could interrupt the trio.

Lana and Naomi could form a “Ravishing Glow” tag team after their interaction last week, so I wonder if we’ll see them in a segment together tonight. As for Andrade “Cien” Almas, I wonder what the plan is for him.

Tune in to the USA Network at 8 p.m. ET for SmackDown Live, and check back here for live highlights, grades, and analysis on the show.

Team Hell No With Renee Young

Last week in the main event of SmackDown Live, Daniel Bryan and Kane reformed Team Hell No, when Kane shockingly saved Bryan from the wrath of the Bludgeon Brothers. The show started with a heart-warming vignette about Team Hell No, and Renee Young announced both Bryan and Kane to the ring for an interview segment.

Bryan says that the beauty of his relationship with Kane is that sometimes they fight and hug outside the ring, but inside the ring, they always deliver. He calls his alliance with Kane “unstoppable”. Kane recalls their Anger Management classes, joking that they “graduated with honors”, as well as their battle at TLC with the Shield.

Young asks why Kane returned, and he reasoned that he felt the need to help Bryan out. But Bryan disputes that Kane always watches over him, noting that the last time they were in the ring together came when they were opponents. Kane says that they’ve always been friends, but Bryan tells Kane that he tried to end his career.

Of course, Kane tells Bryan that he can’t dwell on the past, because if they want to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, they have to focus on the Bludgeon Brothers. Bryan reminds Kane that he tried to abduct his wife, and the two have an awesome “Yes!” and “No!” back and forth for another heated argument. The Usos interrupt Team Hell No before this and start putting Kane and Bryan over, reminding the audience of their arguments.

But The Usos say that they are still the best and welcome Bryan and Kane to the Uso Penitentiary, and they feel insulted that Paige gave them a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match at Extreme Rules for no reason.

Bryan challenges the Usos to a fight, though it seemed like Kane didn’t want to fight. The paranoia (it’s because the Usos are there) in Bryan leads him to wonder if Kane believes he’s the “weak link”. Before they can start arguing again, Paige announces that The Usos and Team Hell No will square off in the main event of tonight’s show. If The Usos win, they join the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match at Extreme Rules.

Grade: A-, more great stuff from Team Hell No, and to throw in the Usos with them? Absolutely brilliant. 

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1014302537451597824

Jeff Hardy vs. The Miz For The United States Championship

Jeff Hardy has a United States Championship Open Challenge match tonight, and he’s commemorating Independence Day with red, white, and blue face paint. He also started talking about the American bald eagle and what it symbolizes. As always, Hardy’s promo was a trip, and I’m sure his US Title match will be another exciting battle.

Last week, Sanity’s Eric Young answered the Open Challenge. Tonight? An even more exciting opponent and a bit of a shock. The Miz’s music hit, and the A-Lister, who has earned a WWE Championship reign in 2018, is going after the United States Championship again.

The Miz mocked the “DELETE” chant at one point, but he ended up getting his head smashed on all four of the turnbuckles. Now THAT’S how you get deleted!

Hardy went after The Miz on the outside, but Miz sidestepped him and slammed Hardy gut-first into the barricade. Miz tried to steal a win by rolling Hardy up with his feet on the ropes, but Charles Robinson spotted it! Miz argued with the ref and threw a tantrum, but it obviously costed him. Hardy hit the Twist of Fate and a Swanton Bomb to retain the title.

Grade: B-, this was a solid match with an expected result. Miz coming out was an AWESOME surprise. These two can always put on a good match with each other.

James Ellsworth Promo

James Ellsworth is ready to take on Asuka tonight, and I have no idea why WWE decided to call this match the “Battle of the Sexes”. But whatever. Ellsworth is going to get his ass kicked SO badly for talking all that trash, especially with his sexist drivel about being “all man” and being “exquisite” with his bigger brains and muscles. This dude absolutely kills me.

Pancake Eating Contest

The New Day are coming out for their “annual” (???) pancake-eating contest, and everyone’s money is on Big E. Or The Bar (or someone else) getting smashed with pancakes to their faces. Rusev is another possibility, since he’ll be at ringside for Aiden English’s match against AJ Styles at some point tonight.

Soon after the contest starts, the screen goes dark, and Sanity’s music hits. And yes, Big E was winning before Sanity interfered, because he was stuffing like 20 pancakes (mild exaggeration perhaps) into his mouth at the same time.

Sanity attacked The New Day from behind, with Killian Dain showing off his strength and athleticism by taking everyone on New Day out. Eric Young, Killian Dain, and Alexander Wolfe isolated Xavier Woods with a table in the ring, and you know a crazy bump was about to happen.

Young hit him with an elbow drop through the table.

This feud is a license to print money and will lead to some of the best six-man tags in recent memory in WWE.

Grade: B, this was a fun segment, and I am so psyched for Sanity vs. New Day. This has the potential to be the best tag team feud in 2018.

Asuka vs. James Ellsworth

Carmella, the SmackDown Women’s Champion, has come out to help James Ellsworth against Asuka, complete with shoes that match her title. However, no amount of help is going to help Ellsworth against Asuka.

It didn’t even take a second for Ellsworth to get shoved out of the ring. He tried to psych himself up by taking his shirt off when Carmella ordered him back into the ring. Asuka twirled him around in the air, and it seemed like he might throw up before eating a huge slap in the face.

Ellsworth knew he was beat, so he ran out of the ring into the crowd. Asuka finally tracked him down, but not before they were both counted out. Which was ridiculous, but at least I was laughing my ass  off.

Just when Asuka caught up to Ellsworth, Carmella pushed the challenger to the side, once again standing tall and saving Ellsworth’s butt. Something’s gotta give, though, because it felt weird to not see Ellsworth tapping out to the Asuka Lock.

Grade: C, I’m not sure how I feel about this, but it was pretty funny. So I’ll leave it at that.

Kane and Daniel Bryan Promo

Daniel Bryan made a list of all the things Kane has done to wrong him in the past, but Kane gave him a fiery speech to leave all that stuff in the past. It was a wise move from Kane, and the segment ended with the duo on the same page and Bryan chanting “YES!” It looks like they’re more than ready for the Usos tonight.

AJ Styles vs. Aiden English

At Extreme Rules, AJ Styles will defend the WWE Championship against Rusev, but he must first defeat Rusev’s good buddy Aiden English tonight to build momentum for that match. Styles is easily the favorite here, but could Rusev help English pull off the upset to get into Styles’s head?

Before Styles can even speak, we get some more fire “AJ Styles!” and “Rusev Day!” chants. I honestly can’t wait until Extreme Rules just to watch this match!

Rusev says he wants to evict Styles from the house that he’s built, and he gets some boos from the crowd for it. (Genius.) English says that he and Rusev are “moving in” on Rusev Day.

Once again, Rusev proves he’s a genius by distracting Styles right when the bell rings. He yelled, “AJ, I forgot to tell you…” and then said “Never mind…” when English started attacking Styles.

Styles got English in the calf crusher to pick up a rather quick victory, as Rusev only interfered at the beginning. But Rusev decided to get his own momentum by attacking Styles after the match, pulling The Phenomenal One’s foot out of the ring. Rusev smashed Styles into the ring post and hit him with a Machka Kick on the outside. Even though his music briefly hit, he wasn’t done, strapping Styles into the Accolade for a hot minute before letting go (note that AJ never tapped).

Grade: B-, Easy win for Styles and not much happened, but I’m still pumped so much for this match at Extreme Rules.

Becky Lynch vs. Peyton Royce

Two weeks ago Becky Lynch defeated Billie Kay, and although she was supposed to face Kay’s #LifePartner Royce last week, she ended up tapping out Sonya Deville instead. Becky is fully expected to bag the win against Royce tonight, but you never know what could happen when the IIconics start getting especially desperate for a win. They seemed super focused in their promo before the match, with Kay reiterating that Lynch is just a sidekick who deserves to be kicked to the side.

Paige announces that Ellsworth will have a rematch against Asuka next week, except it will be a Lumberjack match. Yeah, I wonder how that’s going to go…

Royce started the match determined, and she was driving Becky into the turnbuckle to start the match. Becky quickly turned the tables, as she tried to get Royce into an early roll-up.

This match didn’t last very long either, because Becky transitioned into the Dis-Arm-Her for a few minutes and that was all she wrote. Lynch is racking up win after win, and she’s tapping out her opponents with ease. This was another huge win for Becky, and I really hope this ends up going somewhere.

Grade: B-, the minimum grade for every Becky Lynch win at this point. I’m glad they didn’t have the heels gain the upper hand in any way here.

Team Hell No vs. The Usos

Now this is the match we all came to see, even though it wasn’t announced until early in the night when Paige stated that The Usos and Team Hell No would face off in the main event. If Jimmy and Jey can bag a victory here against Daniel Bryan and Kane, then they will join the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match at Extreme Rules.

Kane and Daniel Bryan were rolling in the early going, and it was as if they had never been arguing or separated for years as a tag team. Kane even used Bryan as an Irish Whip. There were frequent tags and great team work from all four men in this match, which was as good as advertised in the early going.

At one point, Kane went for a double chokeslam, but instead The Usos were thrown outside the ring. They pulled Kane out and started clubbing him. The Usos hit suicide dives on Kane to ground him on the outside, taking the momentum prior to the break.

Bryan was isolated by the Usos and desperately tried to tag in Kane, but Jimmy and Jey were tagging each other in and out quickly to ensure that Bryan wouldn’t be able to squirm free easily.

Kane finally tagged in and started snuffing out the Usos dives this time. He motioned for the chokeslam, but it was countered by Jey. Jimmy tagged in, a double superkick took place on both Bryan and Kane. However, Kane kicked out at two to keep Team Hell No in it.

The best part happened when Kane caught both Usos on the double splash, and Kane picked up the win with a chokeslam. For now, at least, the Usos will not be added to Extreme Rules.

Next: WWE Raw 5 Takeaways

When Kane and Bryan hugged, the Bludgeon Brothers came out to stare down their future opponents for the tag titles.

Grade: B+, this was a fabulous match. Kane’s “YES!” chant at the end was brilliant, too.