The go-home episode of SmackDown before SummerSlam kicked off at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with Finn Bálor. As much as I enjoy hearing his old WWE theme again, the Irish star wasn’t the story of the night. Instead, that honor goes to Haku.
Just kidding…sort of. The appearance of the legendary tough guy Haku was without a doubt an unexpected and welcome surprise — and we’ll get to him and Finn later — but the story of the night was, as expected, Undisputed WWE Champion CM Punk coming
face to face with Cody Rhodes one last time before their SumerSlam match on Saturday night.
After Punk interrupted what was sure to be a prolonged crowd singalong to Rhodes’ entrance music by rushing past The American Nightmare as the far superior “Cult of Personality” kicked in, the two men squared off in the ring.
They then spent a lot of time (too much) discussing whether or not they are still friends or will continue to be so after SummerSlam. Honestly, I couldn’t care less about the state of their friendship, but I enjoyed the fiery verbal volleys.
For business purposes
The segment really took off when Punk said he wanted to know who the better wrestler is “for business purposes.” Cody replied by calling the line “CM Punk double talk” before saying they both know that holding the belt is personal because it shows who is the best in the world.
“What do you want to do about it tonight?” Cody eventually asked.
“Say when,” Punk said as he removed a bomber jacket from his seemingly endless supply of jackets. He also threw in a beeped out f-bomb for good measure.
They then traded punches before going outside of the ring to fight on the announce table while security tried to break up the scuffle. The credits soon rolled with neither man getting the upper hand, which honestly seemed like an appropriate ending given that the entire show felt rushed.
Before getting to the rest of the show, I encourage readers to check out Claire Elizabeth’s excellent live blog.
Finn and Sami argue over who is more underappreciated
Going back to the start of the night, Bálor didn’t get far into his promo before he was interrupted by an irate Sami Zayn. As he is wont to do, Sami griped about not being in the main event of SummerSlam. A highlight of this segment was Finn telling Sami to ”grow some balls” and get in the ring.
Their match this weekend will probably be good, but I’m not sure the two men detailing their short world title reigns did much to build excitement.
However, excitement for another match was suddenly built when GUNTHER snuck into the ring (looking quite dapper) to attack Sami and Finn. A momentary showdown with Raw General Manager Adam Pearce had me kind of pining for a GUNTHER vs. Scrap Daddy match at Survivor Series.
The segment swerved further with Nick Aldis appearing and getting physical with the Austrian Career Killer. Their upcoming SummerSlam match is still a baffling choice, but I’d be lying if I said I’m not looking forward to it now. But I’m more looking forward to WWE finding a better direction for The Ring General afterwards.
I began the night thinking tighter segments like this was one of the big positives about a two-hour runtime, but several other decisions soon changed my mind on that.
Give Chelsea Green a world title run now
I’ve been on the record before about how Chelsea Green is one of the best talents on the entire WWE roster, and she sold like the pro she is in a match in which she teamed with Tiffany Stratton against the Baddies. Green wasn’t the only highlight here, as Michin remains one of the best workers around, and B-Fab continues to improve.
While I’m throwing around compliments, I’ll say Tiffany has got some of her mojo back perhaps due to Chelsea’s magic dust, but she did have some awkward sequences here.
Green eating the pin after a B.T.A. from the Baddies seemed like a strange choice, but not as strange as the leather ensemble Charlotte Flair wore when she turned up to confront Jade Cargill. The Queen took out Jade in a too-brief altercation, continuing the never-ending build to their eventual battle.
While I usually add my “quick hits” at the end of these recaps, I’m going to place it earlier in this story. Blame Haku.
Quick hits
- In a backstage segment, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh jabbered with Rey Fenix and Fraxiom about something or another before the scene cut to Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga. Seemingly out of nowhere, Haku (!!!) showed up to pump up his sons.
- CM Punk spoke with Cathy Kelley backstage to emphasize that he’s not friends with Cody right now, in case you were wondering. Trick Williams popped in to say he’ll eventually come for Punk’s title, which The Second City Saint said he’ll welcome.
- A video package highlighted Nick Aldis’ wrestling career for WWE fans who never watched TNA. I just want to leave this here: Aldis is only 39.
- Trick Williams’ audience-assisted theme song never gets old, and his dropping of a Rugrats reference by calling Baron Corbin “Tommy Pickles” was gold. Look, I respect Baron and all, but WWE can’t make me think he’s a legit threat to Trick. They could have cut this verbal showdown in favor of making an actual match longer.
- WWE excels at video packages, and tonight’s feature on the Oba Femi/Brock Lesnar rivalry was great. Everybody is already excited for this match, though, so (again) maybe run shorter videos so we get more live in-ring action.
- We also got a video package of Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, which really felt unnecessary given the amount of talking time on TV these two have received lately.
Title-for-title ends with a whimper
Naturally, R-Truth came to the ring wearing a cheesehead hat and Packers jersey before he joined his partner and fellow WWE World Tag Team Champion Damien Priest in taking on the AAA Tag Team Champions The War Raiders in a title-for-title match.
Erik and Ivar have been more aggressive and more believable as a dominant team as of late. Is it from reverting back to The War Raiders name or from spending more time in Mexico? Whatever it is, it’s a welcome change.
Priest also looked strong in this match, and the four men all seemed primed to deliver highly physical performances, but a DQ finish after referee Charles Robinson was shoved by members of both teams was a huge letdown.
In the ensuing brawl afterwards, R-Truth pulled out a nice high dive off a barricade before Tama and Talla Tonga appeared to take out both teams. More importantly, they were joined by Haku, who I really hope becomes their full-time manager.
Rey Fenix and JD MacDonagh make a case for WWE pushing cruiserweights
AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix defended his belt against The Judgment Day’s JD McDonagh in the best match of the night. The two men had a really nice back-and-forth throughout the encounter, trading high-flying moves and executing impressive sequences. (Does anyone make better use of the ring ropes than Fenix?) Dirty Dom got also involved, of course, which got heat from the crowd.
JD will likely never get the push that his fellow Judgment Day members get due solely to his size, which really just makes a strong case for a true cruiserweight division in WWE.
Near the end, lots of Hausens (Danhausen and his Minihausen friends) showed up, because we can’t have a single WWE program without Mr. Very Evil, Very Nice. In the ensuing chaos, Fenix nailed a Mexican Muscle Buster on McDonagh for the win.
Justice for Giulia
What are we doing here, WWE? Lash legend seems like she will be one of the top female stars in the company someday, but Giulia is already an international sensation. Why sign her to misuse her like this?
What there was of a match saw Giulia with only a couple flourishes of offense, before Legend squashed her in shockingly quick fashion.. Thank the Video Package Team for this.
Really, though, the end of this match was representative of a show where all the matches and promos felt rushed, including the fisticuffs between Punk and Rhodes at the end. But, hey, can we complain when we got Haku?
Grade: C-
Give us your grade in the comments, Cagesiders, and let us know what you think did or didn’t work on tonight’s show.
