WWE SmackDown Results and Grades: The greatest tribute ever

Sasha Banks and Bayley threw a GOAT-tier tribute on WWE SmackDown.

This week’s episode of WWE SmackDown featured a hyped-up Intercontinental Championship match between the new champion, AJ Styles, and Drew Gulak, who has been in the IC Title picture consistently since working with Daniel Bryan.

It also featured Sheamus’ special “toast” to Jeff Hardy. You can imagine how that went…

Here are the full results and grades for SmackDown.

Matt Riddle Interview

Grade: C, This advanced the feud between Riddle and Corbin, but it felt more like a giant waste of time.

Matt Riddle kicked off the show for his exclusive interview with Michael Cole, which had been announced before the show.

Cole congratulated Riddle for beating AJ Styles in a singles match, pulling off an upset of the current IC Champion. The King of Bros spoke about how awesome it is to be on WWE SmackDown, dubbing it a “love child” of “a lot of work and a lot of dreams”.

And then Cole asked him why he wrestles in bare feet. Because of course he did. Riddle’s answer? When he was a child, he went on a vacation to Wisconsin in the winter, so he would play in the snow and then in the pool. He got frostbite doing this and nearly had to get his feet amputated. So that’s why he never wears shoes; he still feels a burning sensation when he wears them.

Of course, it didn’t take long for King Corbin, who is the King of Bro’s newest rival, to interrupt Riddle’s interview segment. Corbin insulted Riddle’s story and then turned his attention to Cole, kicking him out of the ring.

He then promised that because nobody wants Riddle on SmackDown, he’ll promise to make every second of Riddle’s on the Blue Brand miserable.

John Morrison vs. Matt Riddle

Result: Matt Riddle rolls up John Morrison

Grade: A-, The actual wrestling in this match was incredible, mostly from John Morrison. This is the best he’s looked yet. 

King Corbin warned Matt Riddle that as part of making his life miserable on WWE SmackDown, he would have to be ready for a match at a moment’s notice. He made it seem like he would be the one to get in the ring with Riddle, but, of course, he had someone else in mind, John Morrison.

And guess who was on commentary? King Corbin. At least it brought up the continuity moment where Michael Cole brought up that he almost ran Raw into the ground. Corey Graves came to Corbin’s defense for Cole’s “verbal assault”, and, yes, it was another ridiculous moment.

The in-ring action was quite smooth to start with. It’s so easy to forget how good John Morrison is, especially when he has a competent dance partner.

Morrison’s strikes and agility were on display, and he showed great power to get out of some dangerous submission from the King of Bros. But Riddle showed his own power, too.

Then, Morrison went for a kick, and Riddle expertly countered it into a nasty ankle lock. But Morrison created some breathing room with a springboard kick.

Morrison continued to hit some killer moves, even a corkscrew crossbody! Then again, I’d prefer him to lose so I don’t have to hear Graves call him “Johnny Drip Drip” every other minute on commentary.

Riddle and Corbin’s rivalry continued as well, with Riddle suddenly throwing his flip-flop at the King on commentary.

Morrison’s kicks and fakeouts were devastating, and he hit another big power move for a two count, with Riddle continuing to do everything he can to kick out. Riddle quickly put in the Bromission, but Morrison was able to use his strength and somehow climbed to the middle rope with Riddle on his back. Riddle’s kick out and sell from the standing spanish fly was even better! And both The Miz and Corbin sold it with their reactions as well! You could hear Corbin yelling, “How is he doing this!”

It looked like Riddle had the win after a wonderful counter and a vicious knee strike, but Morrison showed his own resiliency with a huge kickout. But Riddle did end up picking up the “upset” win, via an even more devastating move. The roll-up.

Ahead of IC Title match, AJ Styles tried to get some revenge on Riddle for beating him in the past, and a brawl broke out when his challenger tonight, Drew Gulak, got some shots in on Styles.

AJ Styles vs. Drew Gulak

Result: AJ Styles wins after hitting everything

Grade: A-, A strong match between two of WWE SmackDown’s best wrestlers, with a great finish that teases Styles facing Bryan in a big match down the road. 

Although Drew Gulak and AJ Styles are two technicians, their Intercontinental Championship match did not begin with any catch wrestling. No, after brawling on the outside post-John Morrison vs. Matt Riddle, Styles and Gulak continued the fight in the ring.

Well, until Styles drove Gulak out of the ring, brutally beating Gulak and using the ring apron to his advantage. Styles was menacing, making it into a fight to avoid playing into Gulak’s strengths by testing Daniel Bryan’s workout partner’s technical prowess.

A nice touch occurred when Daniel Bryan was speaking on Zoom about Drew Gulak’s match. Bryan is at home protecting his family during the pandemic, and we hope they are all safe!

On Zoom, Bryan spoke about one thing Gulak can take advantage of with Styles, even though he admits Styles has few weaknesses, is countering in the air. Bryan brought up how good Gulak was at countering aerial attacks on 205 Live, and that’s the one way they can get a leg up on Styles.

But Styles showed that his strategizing and technical work are also to be reckoned with, as he did a good job of targeting the leg and grounding Gulak. He went for the Calf Crusher, but then Gulak found a way to put in a devastating submission on Styles in the center of the ring.

Gulak’s baseball slide before the commercial was one of the most vicious recently.  After the break, though, Styles slammed him into the ring post, and you could feel the momentum shifting again in the Phenomenal One’s favor.

A flurry of dropkicks came at one point, with Gulak looking fired up and poised to get the win. But Styles kicked out at 2.9 after being hit with a modified Michinoku Driver. But Styles caught Gulak in a powerbomb position, powerbombed him, and then seamlessly hit the Styles Clash. But instead of pinning him immediately, Styles shook his head, got up, and walked around. He picked up Gulak, propped him up on the ropes, and then hit a Phenomenal Forearm for the win.

He was clearly sending a message to someone, presumably Gulak’s friend Daniel Bryan, but when will Bryan wrestle again?

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1279218267870187522

Sasha Banks and Bayley tribute to themselves

Grade: A, The segment went a little downhill after Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss cut a nonsensical promo, but Bayley and Sasha Banks were brilliant again. That video package was well-done, and they continue their excellent heel work. 

Sasha Banks and Bayley are the best part of WWE right now, and The Boss is coming off a huge main event match with Io Shirai in NXT.

Bayley brought up Banks pinning The Empress of Yesterday on Raw, and just as she was about to bring up what happened at NXT, Banks told her not to. She then came up with some more nicknames for them, “Bayley Three Brands” and “Sasha Three Shows”. Perfect!

The WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion said that The Undertaker has respect for Bayley and Banks, stating that Taker called Bayley on the phone. Per Bayley, Taker said that she is redefining what it means to be a champion and cannot wait until she and Banks hold all the titles in WWE. The Phenom apparently wanted Banks and Bayley to have their own tribute from WWE, too.

Then the video package tribute was rolling for The Golden Role Models. We saw Banks pin Alexa Bliss to win the Women’s Tag Titles and the music kicked in.

It was awesome hearing Sasha Banks and Bayley talk about each other’s accomplishments, and the line of the video package goes to Banks for saying that the other wrestlers in the locker room can only get a Grand Slam if they go to Denny’s. (Way to help the sponsors!)

And then Alexa Bliss’ music hit to stop the party, as she and tag partner Nikki Cross walked down the ramp with mics in their hands. Cross and Bliss had their own lists of accomplishments. One of them? That Cross is the Queen of Scotland and 325th in the line to the throne in England.  And then the list of made-up accomplishments followed…

After the argument was done and Alexa escalated things by slapping Bayley, it was time for Sasha Banks to book her tag team partner in a match. Alexa vs. Bayley would be next!

Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley

Result: Bayley wins by DQ

Grade: B, A decent match with great heel work from Bayley, and it furthered the Bayley and Nikki Cross feud. As expected, WWE protected Alexa from getting pinned. Also, Bayley is SUCH a great heel.

Familiar foes, Alexa Bliss and Bayley started the match without any ceremony, with Bliss immediately sending Bayley to the canvas multiple times. Alexa was taking advantage of Bayley still reeling from the slap before Sasha Banks booked her best friend into a match.

As you’d expect, Alexa poked Bayley in the nose and slapped her AGAIN, getting a nearfall. Michael Cole briefly promoted Alexa’s upcoming podcast “Uncool”, which should be an interesting addition to WWE’s growing podcast library. (And then Corey Graves had to plug his own podcast…)

Bayley spent too long trash-talking to the crowd, but then Alexa spent too long trash-talking Sasha Banks at ringside. The Role Model started smashing Alexa’s right hand, doing so to soften it up for some submissions.

Despite the harm done to the right hand, Bliss still got in one vicious right-hand on Bayley, which caused Sasha’s jaw to drop, knowing Bliss had created a huge opportunity to inch one step closer towards beating the WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion.

Nikki Cross tried to pump up Alexa by smashing the announce desk, but it ended up firing up Bayley, much to Cross’ annoyance. Bayley taunted Cross again by clapping her hands as Bliss was grounded, and in the end, Cross’ frustration boiled over. She attacked and caused a disqualification, meaning Bayley technically beat Bliss.

Remember, the big match is Cross vs. Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Title at Extreme Rules in a few weeks.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1279229572559638530

Kofi Kingston vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Result: Shinsuke Nakamura gets the pinfall victory

Grade: A-, This rivalry is tremendous and is carrying the men’s tag division on Friday nights. And this match is worth checking out.

Kofi Kingston and Shinsuke Nakamura are two of the best wrestlers in the world and future Hall of Famers, so this looked like another treat on WWE SmackDown as a surprise match. The New Day are the tag team champions, while Nakamura and Cesaro are on the rise and looking poised to be tag champs in their won right. Cesaro’s always been so good in tag teams, whether with Sheamus or Tyson Kidd, but there’s something extra special about the pure wrestling ability between Nakamura and Cesaro.

The match began with Kingston wasting no time, hitting Nakamura with a dropkick and putting Nakamura in the corner. As Corey Graves brought up on commentary, Kingston knew he couldn’t afford give Nakamura any time to get the first shot in. You don’t want a striker like Nakamura to throw the first kick or knee.

Nakamura hit Bad Vibrations on the ropes, and while the ref was preoccupied, Cesaro gave Kingston a smack in the face. And when Big E tried to get retribution on Cesaro, Nakamura tied up Kingston in the ropes and was bought even more time when the ref threw out both E and Cesaro.

With Cesaro and E out of the picture, Nakamura vs. Kingston became more focused on the wrestling, and it was a treat. The precision and selling from both men, especially from Kingston as the babyface, were wonderful to watch.

Kingston went to the top rope, Nakamura tried to catch him in a pin, and Kingston countered. But Nakamura still kicked out at two! Both men were getting more desperate to pick up the winning pin. Kofi hit the SOS and was SO close to getting three!

Kofi was setting up for Trouble in Paradise, but Nakamura baited him in. And after he dodged Kofi’s finisher, he hit a running knee for the win. A huge singles victory that helped Nakamura and Cesaro earn a tag title shot against The New Day next week on SmackDown.

But Cesaro and Nakamura weren’t done there. Cesaro came out to “celebrate”, but really he was there to bring out a table. Big E, though, made the save for Kingston, sending Cesaro and Nakamura out of the ring to protect Kofi.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1279232925037453318

Sheamus has a toast to Jeff Hardy

Grade: F, Save yourself the embarrassment of watching this segment, which is part of a disgusting storyline that WWE should not be running. There may be a way to present a storyline about addiction in wrestling, but this definitely isn’t it. Who is this for?

Jeff Hardy came out first and called out Sheamus to come out, saying he’s ready and doesn’t see what Sheamus can do to embarrass or break him.

Sheamus comes up on the titantron, welcoming Hardy to his bar. He told Hardy that he needed the space anyway and then praised Hardy for coming to the Undertaker’s defense, getting praised by his colleagues. And the insults about Hardy’s struggles with addiction came…

The worst part of all this was that Hardy was in the ring with a bunch of bottles of alcohol (hopefully they weren’t real bottles) around him in the ring on tables. Sheamus gave Hardy a “proper toast” with a horrible poem about Hardy’s struggles, and they do not bear repeating.

Hardy spoke about how disgusting it was for Sheamus to insult his family and to make the very real struggles of addiction a joke. Sheamus responded by saying that he’s there to help Hardy by getting Hardy to become addicted again, and he kept encouraging Hardy to take the drink in the ring from his personal bartender.

So then Hardy took the drink, told Sheamus he would drink it, pretended to drink it, and then poured the drink out on the bartender before breaking the glass over him. He closed it off with a Swanton Bomb.