Sheamus VS Rey Mysterio VS Cameron Grimes VS LA Knight: United States Championship Invitational
Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with the second Fatal 4-Way match in the United States Championship Invitational as Sheamus, Rey Mysterio, Cameron Grimes, and LA Knight all fought for the right to face Santos Escobar in the finals next week. I thought this was a solid opening contest and this was arguably better than last week’s Fatal 4-Way. Rey Mysterio and Sheamus are both icons in this industry, Cameron Grimes continues to prove his worth whilst LA Knight is still one of the most over wrestlers in the world. Near the end of the match, Rey thought he’d won before United States Champion Austin Theory pulled him out of the ring and threw the Hall of Famer into the steel steps. Mysterio’s LWO buddy Santos Escobar then arrived to take out the Champion before, back in the ring, Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick on the Megastar before Grimes hit a mid-air Cave In. However, Rey Mysterio got back into the ring and delivered a cool-looking move to the former NXT North American Champion to pick up the victory. Rey wouldn’t have been the person that I would’ve picked to win this match, but it’s a cool idea to have him face Escobar next week.
Grade: C+
Charlotte Flair VS Iyo Sky, Austin Theory VS Santos Escobar, Dominik Mysterio VS Butch: NXT North American Championship
Jey also was walking backstage as he passed both the D’Angelo Family and the Creed Brothers. I liked this and there were a bunch of other NXT stars in the crowd as well including NXT Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton. Austin Theory then found Adam Pearce and demanded a match with Santos Escobar. However, Theory refused to put his United States Championship on the line. Charlotte Flair then arrived as she was about to go one-on-one with Miss Money in the Bank, Iyo Sky. Bayley was on commentary and she’s always entertaining and I thought the might was fine. It got a good amount of time, there wasn’t anything bad about it, but I can’t help but feel it could’ve been better. Both Charlotte Flair and Iyo Sky are excellent professional wrestlers so it just didn’t feel as good as what it could’ve been. Anyway, Shotzi appeared on the screen which really spooked Bayley resulting in the Role Model leaving ringside before the Queen was finally able to pick up the victory with Natural Selection. Quickly after the match, Asuka arrived and the WWE Women’s Champion beat down one of her Summerslam opponents. I’m genuinely worried for Asuka as I can’t see her keeping her belt post-Summerslam.
Grade: C+
We got a recap video showcasing the shocking ending of this week’s NXT before Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley arrived alongside the brand-new NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio. Butch quickly came in asking for a Championship match, but Dom rejected it as there was no one from NXT to make it official. Shawn Michaels then just randomly walked in and said he was going to make the match official. Utterly bizarre. We then saw Roman Reigns in his locker room before Bayley was telling Iyo Sky to get their stuff so they could go. I’m intrigued to see where this goes next. United States Champion Austin Theory then made his way down to the ring as his requested match with Santos Escobar was next. I enjoyed this match, I thought Theory and Escobar both brought it and it was definitely the best match of the night. Austin Theory is really, really good and it’s great when he gets to show it, but I was more happy about getting to see Santos Escobar do the things that made him into one of the most popular superstars in NXT. Santos is so fast-paced with his offense and it caught out the young Champion a few times, but Theory was able to get back into the contest with some smart manoeuvres. However, in the end, Santos Escobar delivered the Phantom Driver to arguably pick up the biggest win of his main roster career. My only concern about all of this is this probably means that the Emperor of Lucha Libre isn’t winning against his fellow LWO member Rey Mysterio next week.
Grade: B-
Bobby Lashley was on the phone backstage before he was approached by Trick Williams and the NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes. All I can say about this is it’s clear that WWE has big plans for Melo (and potentially Trick Willy) in the future. It was then time for Dominik Mysterio to put his NXT North American Championship on the line for the first time as he faced the Brawling Brutes’ Butch. Early on, Ridge Holland ran out to stop Dominik from using a steel chain that was given to him by Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley before Pretty Deadly arrived. The best part about all of this was Kit Wilson was pushing Elton Prince who was in a wheelchair due to a separated shoulder! It then got even better as when Butch and Ridge Holland went to attack Prince, Elton ran off as luckily for him, he’d made a miraculous recovery! Back in the ring, a distraction from Rhea Ripley allowed Dominik to pick up the victory and retain his NA title in the process. This was all utterly bizarre. The action in the ring wasn’t that important and that was all mainly due to the brilliance of Pretty Deadly who manage to be the best at whatever they do. The one thing I will say about the match is it was cool to see the NXT North American Championship being defended on SmackDown. However, Wes Lee had already been shown in the crowd earlier in the night, so I have no idea why he didn’t get in the ring after the match.
Grade: B- (all down to Pretty Deadly)
Roman Reigns' "Rules of Engagement"
The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns arrived to sort out the “Rules of Engagement” with his cousin, Main Event Jey Uso. Roman quickly signed the contract for a match at Summerslam after Jey told him he needs to have this match before Uso shockingly tore it up. He then said that it’s going to be a “Tribal Combat” match which was something that was suggested by the elders. Roman then seemingly put his title and hit role as Tribal Chief on the line before Solo Sikoa went to attack his older brother. Reigns then stopped him which allowed Jey to deliver a Superkick to the Enforcer. This was good, but it wasn’t as good as some of the other segments we’ve seen involving The Bloodline. However, that’s not the end of the world and one thing I loved about this is whilst Roman Reigns was sitting at the literal Head of the Table, Jey Uso was on his left-hand side, not his right. That feels pretty significant and little things like that make Roman Reigns’ title reign way better than anyone else’s.
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