Solo Sikoa Interrupts Cody Rhodes, Andrade VS Carmelo Hayes
The final SmackDown before Summerslam kicked off with Cody Rhodes, but he was very quickly interrupted by Solo Sikoa. The two had a good back-and-forth promo which saw them both take shots at one another before Solo challenged Cody to a Bloodline Rules Match! After the rest of The Bloodline arrived, Rhodes accepted, claiming he’s not scared of any of them, and that he’s definitely not afraid of facing the “fake” Head of the Table! This was good, probably the best thing Cody Rhodes has done since becoming the Undisputed WWE Champion!
Grade: B-
After Carmelo Hayes called his shot in a Barbershop (it wasn’t his unfortunately), it was time for the first match of the night as Carmelo Hayes once again clashed with Andrade. This was another really fun match between two talented competitors, and it makes me wonder why WWE didn’t just make this into a “Best of 3 (or 5)” series like we’ve seen in the past (most notably between Sheamus and Cesaro, and Axiom and Nathan Frazer). I think that would’ve made these matches feel more important, especially if a Championship shot was awarded to the winner, but that’s just my view. Surprisingly, it was Andrade who once again beat Hayes with a roll-up, and whilst Melo’s doing a good job on the Main Roster, he has to start winning matches soon!
Grade: B-
Apollo Crews VS Santos Escobar, Logan Paul’s Homecoming, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn VS Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill: WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
Santos Escobar made it very clear that he hasn’t been impressed with Legado Del Fantasma in recent weeks which nicely moved into The Emperor of Lucha Libre trying to turn around LDF’s fortunes as he went one-on-one with Apollo Crews. This was a totally fine match, but it was far too short, and it felt very basic. The wrestling we saw was decent, but it ended pretty quickly as after Angel and Berto took out Baron Corbin on the outside, Santos Escobar dropped Apollo with the Phantom Driver to pick up the relatively straightforward victory!
Grade: C
Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill annoyed me backstage as they talked about wanting the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships back as Blair Davenport watched on in the background! Nick Aldis was then in the ring with some of Cleveland’s “finest people” to welcome the return of “Hometown Hero”, Logan Paul! Logan was clearly delighted to be back in Cleveland, Ohio as he talked about how great he is and how rubbish LA Knight is. A celebratory banner was then revealed for The Maverick, but it had actually been tampered with the word “YEAH” on it as LA Knight appeared on the stage to trash-talk the United States Championship. The Megastar then headed to the back and bumped into Pretty Deadly in what was a great interaction (YEAH BOY!) before Knight just stole Logan Paul’s Prime Car and drove off as LP chased after him! Honestly, this was a lot of fun, and the appearance of Pretty Deadly made it so much better (even if they didn’t actually do much)!
Grade: B
Logan Paul was furious backstage as Nick Aldis couldn’t care less before Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn put their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against the team of Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. Belair and Cargill dominated this contest, showcasing their immense power whilst Alba and Isla barely got in anything. Fyre and Daw are a great Tag Team, but they’ve been booked so poorly on the Main Roster, even as reigning Tag Team Champions! I honestly don’t get it, and the ending was also odd as Blair Davenport arrived and attacked Jade Cargill to cause the DQ before the Heels ultimately stood tall! Like, I like the pairing of Davenport and The Unholy Union, it works, but it’s another fight where the Champs haven’t won, and that’s simply not good enough!
Grade: C
WWE Tag Team Championships: DIY VS The Bloodline
After Nia Jax gifted Tiffany Stratton an even cooler Pink Briefcase than I expected (this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen), Johnny Gargano cut a passionate hometown promo as it was Main Event time with DIY defending their WWE Tag Team Championships against The Bloodline. This was a decent Tag Match, it was fun, but it also felt like they weren’t given as much time to deliver as they could and really should have. DIY actually did a great job of isolating Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu, but a Samoan Spike from Solo Sikoa to Tommaso Ciampa wiped him out before Johnny Wrestling got a good run only to get destroyed by Jacob Fatu who hit about 3 finishers to score the win meaning Tag Team Gold is now back in The Bloodline! It’s very frustrating to be a DIY fan because their Tag Team Title run has been booked so poorly, but from a Bloodline perspective, them winning here made sense.
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