One of the main storylines on WWE programming for the last few months has been the life and times of Sami Zayn. After losing the United States Championship to Trick Williams at WrestleMania, the Last Real Good Guy has found himself in the orbit of the WWE Championship and the main event scene in the months that followed. While his complaining has grated on the nerves of many as he relies on his ride-or-die fans to stay in his corner, a lot of the grievances that Sami airs from week-to-week are really
hard to argue.
Nine days after winning the WWE Championship at Night of Champions by pinning Cody Rhodes cleanly in a triple threat match, Zayn was forced to defend the title against a returning CM Punk in Chicago, of all places. Punk, of course, won the title that night, and things have gone from bad to worse for Sami ever since. After weeks of complaining to anybody who would listen, Zayn finally seemed to be on the verge of another opportunity when he was signed for a #1 contender’s match with Finn Balor at SummerSlam. Just one win away from another crack at the WWE Title, Sami’s dreams came crashing down when Nick Aldis added both Gunther and a returning Kevin Owens to the match, making the #1 contender’s match a Fatal 4 Way. Owens would win, leaving Zayn feeling slighted once again.
On tonight’s SmackDown, Sami would find himself with yet another opportunity to get back into the WWE Title picture and, once again, have his championship hopes dashed, this time by an unlikely culprit.
Randy Orton.
The Viper strikes, Sami loses out
With Cody on the hunt for Randy Orton, Nick Aldis had to tell him to pump the brakes because he hadn’t seen The Viper in the building yet. Instead, the SmackDown GM threw out the idea of signing a match between Orton and Rhodes at Saturday Sunday Night’s Main Event on Labor Day weekend if he could get Randy to agree to it. Just as Cody reluctantly agreed to wait that long to face Orton, Sami Zayn strolled up.
Zayn went right in on Cody, repeating previous claims that Rhodes is the Golden Boy and can pretty much get whatever he wants, whenever he wants it. Sami reminded Cody that he’s just about the only one who’s beaten him clean in years, which prompted a confident Cody to challenge him to do it again tonight!
Sami, still sporting a brace on his wrist due to a broken bone in his hand, let Aldis know that he can’t compete tonight. Aldis, not necessarily buying the severity of Sami’s injury, said he’d sweeten the deal by making Zayn next in line to either Punk or KO if he could beat Cody tonight. Sami was still hesitant, but the match was made official a short while later.
Rhodes and Zayn made their entrances with less than 10 minutes left on the show, making it pretty obvious that their match wasn’t going to go off the way that everyone had planned. As Cody waited for Sami to head to the ring, Randy Orton slid in behind him and attacked. Rhodes and Orton fought through the crowd, while Sami watched in shock as he was being screwed out of yet another opportunity. Cody and Randy would eventually make their way back to the ringside area, and we got a callback to Randy’s heel turn before WrestleMania, as Cody ended up with his head lying on the propped-up steel ring steps.
This time, though, as Randy wound up to nail Cody with a steel chair, Rhodes hit Orton with a low blow, completely turning the tide. Cody then looked to prove that the gloves were off and that he didn’t have to be the good guy anymore by lining up to hit Randy with the chair himself, but was hilariously stopped by Daivari and Jason Jordan, who were among the officials who had congregated at ringside. The show went off the air with Cody breaking free and looking to attack Randy Orton again.
Reaction: Decent way to end the show, but it’s kinda funny that they had to cut off the final segment because the show’s only two hours now. Like, can we make up our minds a bit here? The story, to me, is Sami Zayn once again being screwed out of an opportunity, and I’m starting to convince myself that the endgame here is him finally winning the WWE Championship again at SaudiMania next year. As for Cody and Randy, a WrestleMania rematch (hopefully sans Pat McAfee) seems to be on the docket for Sunday Night’s Main Event in a little over three weeks, and this segment did fine to advance that story. Hopefully, Cody continues to be aggressive and lash out more so he can move further away from the buttoned-up version we’ve seen over the last few years.
Punk & Owens – Round 2
After shocking the world with his return at SummerSlam and setting himself up to face CM Punk for the WWE Championship, Kevin Owens got his first chance to meet his long-time enemy face-to-face last week. Champion and challenger both fired their opening salvos in a verbal battle and turned up the heat for their title match next week in Toronto.
Owens and Punk reconvened again tonight on Smackdown and didn’t really say much new. They filled in some more of the blanks in their story by adding details about why they hate each other, including Owens recalling a time when Punk berated him in a locker room full of their peers 20 years ago. KO admitted that everyone else looks up to Punk now, but he is the one holdout, and always will be, because Phil is a performative phony.
When Owens bragged about his WrestleMania main event against Stone Cold Steve Austin, Punk questioned whether KO would’ve gotten opportunities like that if Punk had been around. Owens tried to goad Punk into calling him a fat indie slob again, but Punk pulled some reverse psychology and questioned whether KO was just projecting. He gave Owens props for speaking two languages, which means KO’s probably smarter than him, but then called Owens a dumb bum for avoiding hard work and squandering opportunities.
Punk then called back to KO’s Universal Title run and said Owens might’ve been able to avoid the Goldberg spear if he had put in the work, and Owens rightly pointed out that Punk couldn’t avoid Roman’s spear just this past April at WrestleMania. The name-calling and insults went on for another minute or two, but the two left the ring in Boston without laying a finger on each other.
Reaction: If you hadn’t seen last week’s promo segment, tonight’s would probably hit a lot harder. There wasn’t much new said, and like Claire mentioned in our Cageside “offices” tonight, Punk and Owens both talking about Ring of Honor and the Young Bucks without referring to them directly really took the wind out of the sails of this segment. The match next week should be good, and Punk and Owens on the mic on their worst nights is still better than most on their best, but this back-and-forth didn’t really add much to their showdown next week that wasn’t there already.
Corbin beats Melo, gets attacked by Trick & Yachty
Baron Corbin, who returned to WWE earlier this summer, immediately found himself in a United States Title match at SummerSlam, while Carmelo Hayes, who had a solid run with the same title earlier this year, sat on the sidelines. Corbin would shockingly beat Trick Williams in Minneapolis, then win their rematch last week on SmackDown, before being signed for a match with Melo in Hayes’ hometown of Boston tonight.
The match itself was nothing to write home about. Melo looked like he was nearing a win after hitting The First 48 twice (The First 96?), but Corbin knocked him off the top rope as he went for the Nothing But Net. The US Champ brought Hayes back in and hit an End of Days to retain the United States Championship.
After the match, former champ Trick Williams joined the festivities. As Trick spun on his turntable, a returning Lil’ Yachty got in the ring behind Corbin and nailed him with the Trick Stick. Yachty is no Dustin Pedroia, so Corbin was able to shrug the blow off and chase Yachty out of the ring. This allowed Trick to slide in and hit a Trick Kick, leaving Baron retreating, furry title belt in tow.
Reaction: Gah. While Carmelo winning tonight never seemed likely, I was at least hoping for a dirty finish so that Hayes could get another shot down the line. This was a pretty definitive win for Corbin, though, and putting Melo in another title match might be a tough sell for a while. As for Trick Willy, two quick back-to-back losses with non-clean finishes felt like a good way to shift gears and move him up the card a bit, but it’s clear he and Corbin are headed towards another showdown. If that happens in the coming weeks, putting the US Title back on Trick probably has to be the play, as 3 straight losses to Corbin isn’t a great way to kick off a run as a main eventer.
Chelsea keeps her title, gets her husband & bestie beaten up
SmackDown kicked off tonight with new-old SmackDown GM Nick Aldis regretfully trying to strip Chelsea Green of the Interim WWE Women’s Championship. Chelsea left her comedic chops in the back and cut a passionate promo about her journey and how much her win at SummerSlam meant to her. Perhaps after realizing that his path and Chelsea’s were not all that different, Aldis reversed course and decided to let Chelsea keep the gold, provided she can get medically cleared within the next 30 days.
With the Boston crowd fired up and “Yes!”-ing, it was Gunther who interrupted.
Der Ring General made his way to the ring, looking for an explanation as to why Aldis added Owens to his #1 Contender’s match on SummerSlam Sunday. Aldis made it clear that Gunther was added to Owens’ match, not the other way around, before trying to turn his attention back to Chelsea. But Gunther couldn’t just let it be and aimed some of his ire and frustration at the Interim Women’s Champion. Before long, Matt Cardona had made his way down to defend his wife’s honor, leading to a brawl, and an impromptu match between the two.
The match went just as you would expect it to, with Cardona getting a bit of offense in before Gunther took control. As Gunther taunted Chelsea at ringside, Cardona took advantage of the ref being distracted by hitting a low blow and a Rough Ryder, but was only able to keep Gunther down for a 2-count. Cardona went for another Rough Ryder, but Gunther caught him and reversed it into the first of two powerbombs before locking in the Boston Crab (in Boston no less!) to pick up the win.
After the match, as Chelsea checked on her fallen husband, Nia Jax and Lash Legend arrived. Nia made it clear that she was next in line for Green’s Women’s Title, and the Irresistible Forces got in the ring, looking to strike. Before they could, Tiffany Stratton came to Chelsea’s rescue, but quickly fell victim to a 2-on-1 attack for her troubles.
Reaction: I loved the fire that Chelsea showed in her conversation with Aldis, and it was clear the crowd, at least those in Boston, has pledged their allegiance to her. It’s been less than two weeks, but showing a more serious side to Chelsea’s persona and shifting away from the comedy is a good sign that she may have staying power as Women’s Champion. Nia Jax as champion is just not intriguing right now, but she could make a good first foil for the head Patri-Hot. This could also be planting a seed of resentment between Tiffany and Chelsea, with Stratton taking a beatdown just an hour or so before her own title defense. Speaking of Tiffy’s title defense…
Jacy Jayne brings more gold to Fatal Influence
In exchange for a shot at Fatal Influence’s WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles last week, Tiffany Stratton agreed to defend her United States Title against Jacy Jayne this week. As a confident, fighting champion, that didn’t sound like a bad idea last week.
But after coming to Chelsea’s rescue earlier and falling victim to an attack by Lash and Nia, Tiffany sold the damage done to her ribs throughout her match with Jacy. Lainey and Fallon were, of course, at ringside, and Chelsea eventually made her way out too, despite Tiffany saying she was going to handle her business by herself just a few minutes earlier. Late in the match, Jacy blocked a Prettiest Moonsault Ever by getting her knees up, and hit a Rolling Encore shortly after to become the NEW Women’s United States Champion!
Reaction: This almost felt like a foregone conclusion after Tiffany’s run-in with Nia and Lash earlier, but that doesn’t make it the wrong decision. The current iteration of Tiffy Time seems to have run its course, and adding some tension between Stratton and Green could lead to some interesting stories in the SmackDown women’s division. As for Jacy, it would’ve been nice if they had found a way to keep the heat that Fatal Influence had when they first debuted on SmackDown, but this still felt like the right move. With all of the babyfaces on the blue brand occupied with other things, I’ll be curious to see who steps up to Jacy first. Jordynne Grace? Lola Vice? Blake Monroe? Giulia?
Quick Hits
- After her return last week, Alexa Bliss caught up with Charlotte backstage tonight, and the Allies of Convenience discussed Tatum Paxley’s debut last week. Alexa thanked Charlotte for being so nice to Tatum, but Charlotte made it clear she was just being nice in the moment. After pleading for Flair to give Tatum a chance, Alexa told Charlotte that Paxley had a surprise for them. Bliss opened a door to reveal Tatum, who had transformed a janitor’s closet into a locker room for the three of them, decked out with a photo collage and candles. The trio embraced each other as the door closed behind them.
- Finn Balor returned to SmackDown tonight and had his conversation with Nick Aldis interrupted by Gunther. The Ring General said he only saw a shadow of Finn Balor, and Finn responded by calling Gunther a condescending prick! Balor then made it clear that he is willing to do whatever it takes to earn another title shot, including beating Gunther’s ass!
- Ever since the legendary Haku returned to WWE programming a few weeks ago, it felt like Tama and Talla Tonga winning tag team gold was inevitable. Tonight’s triple threat match felt like a pretty opportune time for that change, and that’s exactly what happened. In what was a pretty disjointed match, after the War Raiders drove Priest through the barricade with a Viking Experience, Tama and Talla pinned R-Truth after their tandem powerbomb, which Joe Tess emphatically called My Brother’s Keeper. The Tongans are now WWE Tag Team Champions and are likely headed for a feud with Shinsuke Nakamura and whoever he’s bringing in. As for the rest of the field, the War Raiders are still AAA Tag Team Champions, and a title defense against Priest and Truth (maybe at TripleMania next month?) feels like it might be in the cards.
- Cathy Kelley caught up with Jade Cargill, B-Fab, and Michin and asked how Tatum Paxley being on SmackDown will change their approach to their feud with Charlotte and Alexa. Jade and company pretty much laughed it off and said they looked forward to personally welcoming Tatum Paxley to their show.
Final Thoughts
Decent show tonight, although I feel like they took a bit of a step back from last week’s episode. The Sami Zayn story continues to be one of the most interesting ones in the entire company, with Chelsea rapidly becoming a close second. The two title changes could serve to shake things up a bit, and the main event scene on SmackDown continues to be loaded, even though the Punk/Owens story wasn’t advanced much tonight.
Star of the Night: Chelsea Green
The (Interim?) WWE Women’s Champion showed a layer of her personality that she hasn’t gotten to show much on WWE programming during her in-ring segment to kick off the show. She got one of the best crowd reactions of the night and continues to show why she truly is a unicorn in the wrestling business.
Grade: B
Match Results
- Gunther def. Matt Cardona
- Baron Corbin def. Carmelo Hayes to retain the United States Championship
- Tama & Talla Tonga def. War Raiders and Priest & Truth to become NEW WWE Tag Team Champions
- Jacy Jayne def. Tiffany Stratton to become NEW United States Champion
Now it’s your turn, Cagesiders! Did Chelsea prove tonight that she should be taken seriously as champion? What is the endgame to this Sami Zayn story? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
