:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/64875305/20190726_SD_Jerry_Trish__c8fe148a36aed3fcca96eeab82110fd2.0.jpg)
WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (July 30, 2019) from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for next month in Toronto.
Advertised for tonight: Jerry Lawler brings back King’s Court for the return of Trish Stratus, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR JULY 30
Another red letter day, so the pound has dropped and the children are creating. The other half ran away, taking all the cash and leaving you with the lumber. Got a pain in the chest, doctors on strike, what you need is a rest. It’s not easy, love, but you’ve got friends you can trust, and me, I’m gonna liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you.
The show opens with a cellphone video from Shane McMahon.
He says he’s not going to be on the show tonight, and that’s entirely Kevin Owens’ fault. But KO gets exactly what he wants, a match at SummerSlam, and that made Shane feel very peaceful, like he had his aura back, and he’s going to end Kevin’s career.
Commentary hypes up tonight’s show.
Speak of the devil, Kevin Owens makes his entrance.
He gets on the mic and says Shane isn’t here tonight but we’re all gonna get through it together and stay strong to make it through the night in a mock emotional tone. He continues and says he wants to reassure McMahon that him not being here is great news because tonight maybe SmackDown can be about what it should be about, the talent and not his stupid face.
Shane may be at peace with whatever crap his life coach is feeding him, but Owens vows not to quit at SummerSlam. He’s going to beat McMahon so bad that every time he looks in the mirror he’ll know he doesn’t belong in this ring with people like KO. Nobody can stop Shane from showing up, but Kev can make sure that every time he does he’ll know that this isn’t his ring or his show, this is the Kevin Owens Show.
Enter Drew McIntyre.
He tells Owens he talks too much and informs him that they have a match against each other tonight. And another thing-- he clocks KO with the mic and drags him out of the ring! Into the post and over the announce table! Drew gets on the mic again to tell him he best dust himself off, because their match is now!
Or, well... after the break.
Drew McIntyre vs. Kevin Owens
Owens rushes in, right hands, clubbing away, McIntyre shoves him away but runs into a boot, a lariat follows, off the ropes, duck one, shoulder block wipes Kev out. Drew capitalizes with grounded punches, right hands in the corner, snap suplex, KO fighting back with chops but McIntyre gets an overhead arm drag for two and follows it up with a kneeling armbar.
Owens to his feet, right hands, off the ropes but he runs into a backhand that knocks him right down. Stomps to the head, McIntyre pressing the attack, dragging him up with a handful of beard and laying him out with another big chop. More stomps, standing keylock applied but again KO breaks free into right hands. Trading strikes, sidestep the charge, Drew takes the post hard and Kev has him lined up... CANNONBALL!
Jockeying for position in the turnbuckles, a headbutt knocks McIntyre down... FROG SPLASH! Slow to capitalize... only a nearfall and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Owens again knocks McIntyre down from the top with a headbutt, senton atomico this time... STILL NO! Kick to the gut, Stunner blocked, Drew with the headbutt, Bossman Slam... NOT ENOUGH! Mounted punches, McIntyre stumbles back and lies in wait... AND RUNS INTO A SUPERKICK! Another superkick, off the ropes, pop-up powerbomb blocked on the first try, it connects on the second... BUT DREW MCINTYRE WILL NOT STAY DOWN!
Headed up top, Drew cuts him off and climbs to join him... AVALANCHE AIR RAID CRASH CAN’T FINISH KEVIN OWENS OFF! Fighting to the floor... STUNNER ON THE ANNOUNCE TABLE! Back inside, superkick sends McIntyre off the ropes, kick to the gut...
Kevin Owens wins by pinfall with the Stunner.
Backstage, Dolph Ziggler is interviewed.
He says if you’ve got a problem with what he’s doing he’s got two words for you-- too bad. He talks about Mick Foley getting decimated by the Fiend and Goldberg’s last match and says Shawn Michaels made the biggest mistake of his life putting hands on him. At SummerSlam he’s going one on one with the Miz, and he then claims to be the best thing going today.
In the women’s locker room, Ember Moon is stretching when Bayley rolls up to remind her that she wouldn’t be challenging her at SummerSlam if she hadn’t chosen her as her opponent. Tonight they’ll team together and get through it, but if she even thinks about Eclipsing her again, she’ll regret it.
With the promise that their tag team match is next, we go to break.
Back from commercial, Aleister Black talks about the blood of his soul and how his salvation lies within strife and he’s stuck in his purgatory waiting a little less patiently for somebody to knock on his door again.
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley & Ember Moon
Moon and Bliss to start, Ember with a wristlock, arm wringer, whip reversed, hip toss, she lands on her feet and nails Alexa with an enzuigiri. Tag to Bayley, Bliss rams her into the corner, flapjack into the turnbuckles, action to the floor, dropkick through the corner and the Hugger ends up jawing with Cross until Moon wipes her out with a dive!
Throwing Alexa into the barricade, Bayley and Ember confer on the floor and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Cross is getting Bayley trapped in the ring skirt to hammer her with repeated forearms! Back inside, Bliss legal, cover for two, quick tags, the Hugger able to stay alert, up and over, crawl through, tag made and Moon comes in hot! Forearm, kick combo, she catches Cross into a fallaway slam and kips up! Stacked up in the corner, charging back elbow!
Up top, Eclipse takes Nikki out but Alexa makes the save, up top herself...
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross win by pinfall with Twisted Bliss from Bliss on Ember Moon.
Post-match... BAYLEY-TO-BELLY ON MOON!
Backstage, Sami Zayn is interviewed.
He says he’s just doing what any good competitor would do and scoping out the competition, but all he sees is a bunch of people feeling sorry for themselves. He starts running Aleister Black down for sitting in a dark room and begging for a fight, but he sees a man begging for help, with all this hype he can’t live up to. So he stays in the shadows because he knows if he stepped into the light the whole illusion would come crumbling down.
Commentary hypes up the show again and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get some hype for Big Show’s The Big Show Show on Netflix.
Daniel Bryan is interviewed backstage about his big announcement and chooses to just walk off instead.
Jerry “the King” Lawler is in the ring for tonight’s edition of the King’s Court and introduces his guest Trish Stratus.
She talks about how great it is to come back and hang with your colleagues and be with the WWE Universe, and then the King asks her directly about the idea of having one last match. She says you know WWE is in her blood, heart and soul, and she doesn’t think there’ll ever be a time without that itch, but she’s kind of a mom now and has to take care of--
Enter Charlotte Flair.
She mocks all their “sappy reminiscing” but says she gets it, Trish is a mom, congratulations! She makes Lawler hold the ropes open for her and says lots of WWE Superstars are parents and uses that as a segue to challenge Stratus directly! When she doesn’t get a response she says she expected more but since WWE has evolved and they’re not models shaking their asses anymore, she knows what it is-- Trish doesn’t think she can hang with the Queen.
Flair orders Stratus out of her ring, into her minivan, and back to changing diapers, which finally gets a response out of Trish. She says she respects Charlotte, but right now she’s just being a bitch. She reminds her that there’d be no trail to blaze without her and Lita and Jacqueline and Ivory and Beth Phoenix, and Flair should know better than anyone that to be the woman, you have to beat the woman.
Trish accepts, the match is on!
The OCs are backstage talking themselves up now that they’re all champions and AJ Styles says that Kofi Kingston is about to find out why SmackDown is the House That AJ Styles Built.
Firefly Fun House time.
Rambling Rabbit leads the show off talking about how excited he is for SummerSlam and how Finn Balor has made a mistake because the Fiend is unleashed before Bray Wyatt rolls up and he runs off. Wyatt laughs a nervous manic laugh at the camera and gets real serious before telling us to let him in and closing the show to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap of what happened between Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins last night and a non-update update on Seth’s medical status.
Finn Balor makes his entrance, he’ll be in action after the break.
Back from commercial and the match is in progress.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Finn Balor
Balor with the basement dropkick out of the sunset flip, getting back into it, back elbow up in the corner, double boots, running elbows, whip reversed, flying forearm! Another whip reversed and then again, up and over, Ziggler with a forearm but Finn gets a gamengiri and sets him up for the inverted headlock elbow drop... NOPE! Sling Blade denied, Fameasser blocked on the first pass but Dolph gets it on the second... only two!
Tuning up the band, Balor in with Sling Blade, double leg into the double stomp, clothesline, Finn’s fired up but the lights go out one by one... THE FIEND IS HERE! The lights come back, a stunned Balor turns around...
Dolph Ziggler wins by pinfall with a superkick.
Commentary hypes up a look inside Randy Orton’s mind and we cut to Shinsuke Nakamura walking backstage to send us to break.
Mustafa Ali vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Ali charging in with a dropkick, Nakamura to the floor, suicide dive connects! Back inside, up top, the urgency from Mustafa, diving crossbody... NOPE! Upkick fends Ali off and when he charges back in he gets put face-first into the turnbuckles and stomped. Drawing him back, inverted exploder, Mustafa lands on his feet, duck the charge, gamengiri from the apron, rolling thunder X-Factor lands true!
Up top, Shinsuke cuts him off, inverted exploder suplex hits this time, running in for Kinshasa... CUT OFF WITH A SUPERKICK! Nobody home on the 450 splash, but Ali avoids the knee anyway! Nakamura with a DDT, another evasion...
Mustafa Ali wins by pinfall with a back folding press.
Our Randy Orton video package follows, wherein he talks about how all he had to do was be himself but Kofi Kingston put on a character to try and get over.
Backstage, New Day are interviewed and they up up tonight’s Styles/Kingston match. At one point Xavier Woods suggests that AJ Styles should be thrown out of a window.
We go to break with the knowledge that that main event is next.
AJ Styles vs. Kofi Kingston
Circling, collar and elbow, side headlock, shot off, Styles explodes off the ropes with a lariat! Kingston game, fired up, go-behind into a waistlock, wristlock, front chancery, taking AJ to the mat, float over but Styles gets a foot on the ropes. Side headlock, AJ hits the takeover, Kofi gets out, back elbow, whip reversed, springboard dropkick, Trouble in Paradise ducked but Kingston hits a clothesline to the floor!
Off the ropes, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in the way of the dive so the rest of New Day confront them. Kofi dives, nobody home, Styles with a knee off the apron! Brawling around the floor sends us to break.
Back from commercial, Styles hits a mat slam and referee Ryan Tran warns him to stay off of Kingston’s hair. Dragging Kofi to his feet, putting him in the corner for a chop, running backbreaker gets AJ a two count! Rear chinlock applied, Kingston out with back elbows but Styles shoves him hard into the corner and follows it up with a kick.
In the turnbuckles, jockeying for position, Kofi with a tornado DDT! Double chops, a dropkick, off the ropes, Superman Lariat! Boom Drop connects, AJ sidesteps a charge but eats the pop-up double stomp for two! Trouble in Paradise blocked, Ushigoroshi blocked, SOS connects... NOPE! Suplex denied, enzuigiri from Styles, he ends up on the floor, the factions bicker, Kofi gets cut off by Styles but cuts him off with a boot over the ropes in return.
AJ attacks Big E, we got a brawl, Kofi with the trust fall senton over the top! Back inside, off the top, Styles catches him into the Ushigoroshi! Up and over to the apron, forearm, lying in wait... PHENOMENAL FOREARM COUNTERED WITH TROUBLE IN PARADISE! IT’S OVER!
Kofi Kingston wins by pinfall, countering the Phenomenal Forearm with Trouble in Paradise.
Roman Reigns is walking backstage into an interview to announce his opponent for SummerSlam when a scaffold is tipped over on him and all hell breaks loose! Agents and medics swarm and pull the Big Dog out, he seems dazed but he’s able to get to his feet under his own power.
Roman walks off, no announcement.
That’s the show, folks.