WWE SmackDown Results And Grades: Finally Some Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas

Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev

Rusev will face AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules, while Jeff Hardy will defend his United States Championship against Jeff Hardy on Sunday. Because all four of them were brawling in the last segment, Paige channeled her inner Teddy Long to set up this tag match on the go-home show of SmackDown Live.

The two WWE Championship opponents on Sunday, Rusev and Styles, started things off with some grappling to preview their title bout. A fresher Rusev took advantage early on, using his strength to continue to wear down Styles, who had warred for a good ten minutes with Nakamura, gaining the upper hand against his familiar foe. Rusev trapped him in a bear hug, with Hardy clapping to encourage Styles to fight out of it.

Hardy came in for Styles and looked quite good against Rusev, using his quickness and savvy to take control of the match. He hit Whisper in the Wind on the worn-down Rusev, but Nakamura broke up the pin.

Rusev nailed Styles with a Machka Kick, but Hardy followed up with a Twist of Fate. He ascended the top rope for a Swanton Bomb, but Nakamura yanked him off the top rope. And Rusev hit a Machka Kick on Hardy for a surprise win, as it looked like Hardy had the match in the back before Nakamura’s second interference. Since Nakamura got the upper hand on Hardy, fans will speculate that Hardy could retain the United States Championship on Sunday in spite of most predictions tabbing Nakamura as the winner.

Grade: C, This match was OK, but it felt kind of there. It wasn’t a bad way of hyping up both title matches at Extreme Rules in one segment, but I’m not giving it high marks due to the lack of creativity.