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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (July 3, 2020) with a show at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. There won’t be any real fans in attendance, but we will see AJ Styles vs. Drew Gulak for the Intercontinental championship, Sheamus offering a toast to Jeff Hardy, and Michael Cole interviewing Matt Riddle.
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on Fox. 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 3
Cain here filling in for the evening.
SmackDown kicks off with Michael Cole introducing Matt Riddle for an interview in the ring. While he walks to the ring, we get a recap of Riddle’s win over AJ Styles from two weeks ago.
Matt says it’s awesome to be on SmackDown, and celebrating his win with the entire roster felt great. He says “Bro” a lot while explaining that feeling. Cole asks him about wrestling in bare feet. Riddle tells a story about playing in the snow when he was a child and how he had frostbite on his feet and almost had his toes amputated. Whenever he wears shoes, he gets that same burning sensation of frostbite, so that’s why he never wears shoes.
King Corbin interrupts and makes his way to the ring. Corbin calls him an idiot, then tells Cole to get out of the ring. Baron gets on Riddle’s case for attacking him with a bunch of other babyfaces at the end of last week’s episode. He says nobody wants Riddle on SmackDown, and Corbin will always be there to make him suffer. Someone needs to teach the new guy some respect, but Corbin is too important for that. Out comes John Morrison (with Miz) to take on Riddle in a singles match, after a break.
Matt Riddle vs. John Morrison
Riddle kicks off his flip-flops, and Corbin is on commentary.
Riddle and JoMo take each other down and roll around on the mat a bit. Back up to their feet, Morrison slaps Matt right in the face. Riddle recovers and hits a couple gutwrench suplexes. Riddle slaps on an ankle lock. He tries to turn it into a German suplex, but JoMo lands on his feet and comes back with a springboard kick to Riddle’s face.
Morrison lays the boots to Riddle and then knees him in the mid section. He controls Riddle down on the mat with a chinlock. John then punches Matt back into a corner buckle. Morrison gets a near fall after a corkscrew cross body splash. He follows up with knees to Riddle’s face, but Riddle won’t stay down for the three count.
Riddle has had enough and fires up, no selling some kicks to the abdomen, and daring JoMo for more. Riddle finally gets his hands on Morrison and takes him down with authority. Riddle rolls to the outside and hits Corbin with a flip flop. Corbin loses his mind, and we go to commercial.
Back from the break, Riddle throws Morrison around and is using his combo moves on Morrison. Riddle goes for a top rope splash but Morrison gets the knees up. Morrison hits Riddle with some crazy move that begins with a Razor’s Edge position and spins him down to the mat. What a maneuver! Riddle somehow locks in his submission hold on the mat. Morrison drags him over to the corner buckle and breaks the hold. Morrison lands a Spanish fly but Riddle kicks out before the three count.
They are exchanging blows in the middle of the ring. Riddle hits the ripcord knee, a powerbomb, and then another knee to the face. Morrison kicks out of the pin attempt. Miz jumps on the apron, as does Corbin. Riddle is distracted for a roll up, but he kicks out. He then gets a roll up of his own on JoMo, and it’s enough for the pin.
Matt Riddle defeats John Morrison
AJ Styles runs out and attacks Riddle during his celebration. Drew Gulak makes the save, and we go to break.
Corbin, Miz, and Morrison are furious backstage. Corbin promises to cut the legs out of Riddle’s career.
AJ Styles vs. Drew Gulak (Intercontinental championship match)
Styles is wrestling with his shirt on. They go to the outside, and Styles rakes Gulak’s face across the apron. Daniel Bryan shows up remotely picture-in-picture via Zoom to let us know that he thinks Gulak has what it takes to win the gold.
Styles is kicking Gulak down in the ring, raking his boot across his face. Gulak kicks out after being hit with a snap suplex. The commentators go back to talking to Daniel Bryan, which is really distracting from the match.
Gulak lands some strikes but misses a chop, and is then dragon whipped by AJ. Styles is working over his leg, knee, and ankle. Drew fights back but is limping around. Gulak rolls through a Calf Crusher attempt and locks in a modified cross face on Styles. Styles escapes and rolls outside the ring, frustrated. Gulak with a baseball slide. Styles is down, and we go to break.
During the commercial, Asuka vs. Bayley is promoted for Raw.
Back from break, Gulak runs his shoulder hard into the post. Styles grabs him for a brainbuster, and we go back to talking to Daniel Bryan. Bryan talks up how great Gulak is as a technical wrestler. Styles dominates Gulak, kicking him while he’s down. Then a running backbreaker, but Gulak kicks out at two. Drew finally gets the advantage and beats AJ down in the corner. Now it’s more talk with Daniel Bryan.
Styles grabs a chinlock in the middle of the ring. Gulak picks AJ up and hits something akin to a stun gun on the buckle, with AJ’s face smashing right into it. Four dropkicks from Gulak, and then a modified Michinoku Driver on the champ. Drew positions AJ up on the buckle. He’s looking for a superplex. AJ slips underneath and then powerbombs Gulak. He picks him up into a Styles Clash, but no pin attempt.
Gulak isn’t moving. AJ wants to make a statement. AJ drapes him over the rope and lands a Phenomenal forearm for the three count.
AJ Styles defeats Drew Gulak to retain the Intercontinental championship
Bayley and Sasha Banks will be out next with a tribute to themselves, after the break.
Bayley and Banks make their entrance, posing with their championship gold. Bayley calls Asuka the Empress of Yesterday. They should be called Sasha Three Shows and Bayley Three Brands, but nobody shows them respect.
They start to talk about the Undertaker, or Taker, as Bayley likes to call him. Bayley said that Taker called her on her cell phone and was embarrassed that everyone paid tribute to him last week, when Bayley is clearly the greatest champion in WWE history. At Extreme Rules, he can’t wait for them to win their matches and hold all the gold in WWE. He implored WWE to have a tribute to Bayley and Banks.
Bayley says with the Last Ride documentary over, thankfully Undertaker is finally finished, and now we can have a tribute to Sasha and Bayley. A video plays showing them winning a bunch of matches and talking about how great they are, particularly in comparison to legends like Trish Stratus and John Cena.
The video is finished, and out comes Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. They begin to read a list of their own accomplishments, such as how Nikki is 325th in line to the throne in England, and Bliss drove across Antarctica in a go-kart.
Bliss and Cross finish making their point about how ridiculous Banks and Bayley are being with their self-praise. Tensions escalate in the ring as they all get serious. Cross is going to win the SmackDown women’s championship at Extreme Rules. Bayley laughs in her face, and then takes a slap to the face. Banks is outraged and says Bayley won’t stand for that. Banks books Bayley into a match with Alexa Bliss right now, which Bayley doesn’t look happy about.
The match will take place after the break.
Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss (non-title match)
Bliss with a drop toe hold to take down the champ. Bliss pokes Bayley in the nose and then slaps her face. With Bayley down on the mat, Alexa hits the knees to the mid section and standing moonsault combo.
Bayley kicks Alexa’s fingertips and is working over her right arm. Bayley is now forcing Bliss to slap herself. Bayley obnoxiously taunts Cross, and almost gets rolled up for the three count.
Bliss punches Bayley in the face, but Bayley drags Bliss over to the apron and smashes Alexa’s weakened arm into it. She follows up with a running bulldog, but Bliss kicks out at two. Cross and Banks get into it on the outside, leading to Cross smashing Bayley right in the face for the disqualification.
Bayley defeats Alexa Bliss by disqualification
Cross attacks Bayley in the ring and sends her out. Bliss’ music plays while the babyfaces stand tall in the ring.
We’ll get a preview of the Wyatt swamp fight next, after the break.
We’re back with a video previewing the Wyatt swamp fight. The video is basically a compilation of recent promos from Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt, with occasional scary swamp images shown in between.
It looks like the pay-per-view name has been rearranged from “Extreme Rules: The Horror Show” to “The Horror Show at Extreme Rules”, for whatever that’s worth.
With that segment out of the way, out comes the New Day. Kofi Kingston will go one-on-one with Shinsuke Nakamura, after the break.
There’s a recap video of the recent issues between the New Day and Nakamura & Cesaro.
Cesaro accompanies Nakamura to the ring.
Kofi Kingston vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Kofi starts out with a dropkick, and then repeated kicks in the corner. He follows it up with another dropkick. Nakamura counters and knees Kofi in the gut a couple times. Kofi comes back with another dropkick, and Nakamura lands outside the ring.
Kingston goes after him and pays for it with a kick to the stomach. Kofi then rams Shinsuke into the plexiglass while Big E hysterically laughs. Nakamura is rolled back in the ring. Kofi is distracted by Cesaro, and Shinsuke takes advantage with a kick to the face. Cesaro lands a cheap shot on Kofi when the ref isn’t looking. Big E chases after Cesaro. The referee ejects Big E and Cesaro from ringside. Both men are pissed off, but they will presumably be gone when the match continues after the break.
Back from commercial, Nakamura lands a knee drop onto Kofi in the middle of the ring. He follows up by launching Kofi in the corner and landing more knee strikes. Kofi fights back with right hands to the face, but Shinsuke maintains his advantage with a back elbow.
Kingston takes Shinsuke down with a flying forearm smash, and follows up with a standing dropkick. Kofi goes up top and jumps off, but Nakamura catches him with knees on the landing. Nak takes him down with a spinning kick to the face. Nakamura goes for an exploder suplex, but Kofi lands on his feet and counters with an S.O.S. Nak won’t stay down for three.
Kofi goes for Trouble in Paradise but Nakamura catches him in a sleeper. He then gets Kofi set up for a Kinshasa and put this one away.
Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Kofi Kingston
Cesaro comes out to celebrate with his partner. He retrieves a table from under the ring and slides it inside. Big E runs down for the save and attacks both heels. The heels back off and leave, with Big E in the ring daring them to make a move.
It’s announced that next week on SmackDown we’ll get a tag team championship match between these two teams. We’ll also get a replay of Strowman vs. Wyatt from Money in the Bank 2020.
The ring is set up with a bunch of booze and a bartender for the main event segment. Jeff Hardy comes out so that Sheamus can offer him a toast.
Hardy calls out Sheamus. Sheamus appears on the big screen holding a drink in his hand. It looks like he’s inside his own home bar, and not at the Performance Center.
Sheamus says Jeff has a problem, and he’s not talking about alcohol and drugs. He’s talking about Jeff Hardy’s problem with facing reality. Hardy tried to get a quick pick me up last week by going after Corbin, and it’s just sad to watch Hardy lie to himself, thinking he has his problems left in the past. Sheamus has the solution to Hardy’s problem, and the answer is in those booze bottles in the ring. Sheamus toasts the junkie.
Hardy calls out Sheamus for being sick and finding humor in others’ struggles. Sheamus’ personal bartender in the ring offers Hardy a drink while Sheamus tells him to follow his instincts. Hardy says that Sheamus is right, what’s the worst that can happen? Hardy feigns taking the drink, and then pours it over the bartender’s head. Hardy then smashes the glass over the sap’s head too.
Hardy goes up top and finishes the bartender off with a Swanton Bomb.
Hardy’s music plays, Sheamus is disappointed, and that’s the end of the show.
Thanks for hanging out during SmackDown tonight, folks!