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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (July 2, 2021) with a show from the ThunderDome at Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for July 18 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Tonight’s episode includes a Last Man Standing match between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. The winner of the match qualifies for the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
WWE is also teasing that Roman Reigns will respond to Edge’s surprise return to SmackDown. Reigns is scheduled to defend the Universal championship against Edge at Money in the Bank.
Come right back here at 8 pm 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 2
Concentrate! I’m your contact, link across the great divide. Many voices in my ear, hold on I think there’s something coming through from the other side. It’s for all those who believe, but me? I’m just here to liveblog this pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with a recap of last week’s main event segment.
Edge makes his entrance.
He talks about how badly he wanted to win the title at WrestleMania, and what a great story it would have been... and how it didn’t. He didn’t see that coming, it wasn’t in his plans nor in his vision. It rocked him, so he took some time, but eventually in that time he started to roll the match back in his brain.
Roman likes to embroider the truth and he glossed over a lot of key points about the match, how Daniel Bryan’s presence cost him the win multiple times, about Jey Uso’s interference, and he could complain about these things and be justified in doing it. 2006 Edge would have, but in 2021 he knows there’s always excuses and obstacles and he’s spent his entire career knocking obstacles down.
He doesn’t stop, and here’s the thing. Now that he’s been in here with Roman one on one? He knows he can beat him. And more importantly, Reigns knows that he can beat him, they both felt it. He knows Roman will never admit it, but he’s got proof, and that’s the look on Roman’s face when he had the crossface locked in at WrestleMania.
That’s the look of fear, the fear of being in deeper water than you’ve ever been in before. When you make a man look at you in his hands like that, you live in his head for life. He’s going to beat Roman, it’s just a matter of when. He is inevitable, and he will be Universal Champion.
Backstage, Jimmy Uso rolls up on Paul Heyman to discuss Edge’s promo.
Jimmy says he’s gonna tell Roman Reigns that he has his back, and when he gets here tonight, they’re gonna put Edge down and stamp their flag right in his back.
Big E and Shinsuke Nakamura make their entrances to send us to break.
Apollo Crews & Baron Corbin vs. Big E & Shinsuke Nakamura
Nakamura and Crews to start, Shinsuke with an early lead, quick tags, working Apollo over while Rick Boogz solos at ringside. Big Cobra Twist, Big shoves him off, shoulder block for two. Corbin gets in and takes control and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Corbin in control and raining overhead elbows down on E. Big to his feet, body blows, off the ropes, back elbow lays him out and gets Baron a two-count. Crews in, whip reversed and he takes E off his feet with a dropkick! Another dropkick staggers Big into the corner, Baron tags in and puts him into the turnbuckles to keep the heat segment rolling.
World’s Strongest Slam, Nakamura breaks it up and the match breaks down as Crews comes in to countermand him. Boogz gets on the mic and tells Corbin that his car is being towed, and we get footage of it happening on the tron. E takes advantage of the distraction...
Big E & Shinsuke Nakamura win by pinfall with the Big Ending from E on Baron Corbin.
Post-match, commentary speculates that Baron’s car might be being repossessed, and I swear to god if you jerks don’t have Repo Man ready and cued up...
Bayley makes her entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Bayley gets in the ring and talks about beating Bianca Belair last week.
She says Bianca is mentally weak, and she’s nothing to her and never will be.
Enter Bianca Belair.
She gets on the mic and says what Bayley needs is a good crack in the mouth. She may want the title, but Bianca has it and keeps beating her over and over and over, and she thinks she’s in her head? Bayley lays our her case and Belair admits that she’s in her head and no matter how many times she wins there’ll always be another excuse.
So there’s only one way to end this, and that’s embarrassing Bayley to the point of no return. (How long?) So, if the officials allow it, she’ll put her title on the line at Money in the Bank in an “I Quit” Match! Bayley laughs it off before realizing Bianca is serious. She claims to never have quit anything in her life, and if Belair can make it happen, she’ll quit WWE entirely.
She says Bianca has no chance of winning and she accepts. Belair laughs at her and says she’s excited to hear her say “I Quit.”
Jimmy Uso has another backstage segment with Paul Heyman and he says he’s going to five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville to ask for time at the end of the show to beat Edge all around the arena.
Kevin Owens makes his entrance to send us to break.
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (Money in the Bank Qualifying Last Man Standing Match)
Owens right in with a takedown into punches, stomps in the corner, charging over, cannonball! Zayn spills to the floor, Kev follows after and throws him into the barricade hard! Beating him down on the floor, whip reversed and KO goes into the barricade this time! Owens regains control and takes Zayn down the LED boards, smashing him into the virtual fans of the ThunderDome!
SENTON ATOMICO OFF THE BARRICADE! Right hands put Sami onto the announce table, Kev up on the barricade but Zayn recovers... PRESS SLAM INTO AN UNYIELDING ANNOUNCE TABLE! AND SO WE GO TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Owens is absolutely hammering Zayn with shoulder thrusts in the corner! Kicking the rope into his throat, a big chop sends Sami cracking to the floor! KO follows out after him, picks him up and puts him into the post spine-first before atomic dropping him groin-first into the post!
Trading punches, Owens gets a table out and sets it up before setting a second table up right on top of it! Kev climbs up and draws him up, jockeying for position, knocked down, to the floor, off the ropes, Sami with the tope con giro! Back inside, crossface strikes turn into grounded punches, back to their feet and trading wild punches!
Zayn with the boots up, exploder suplex into the corner but both men are down and out! Back up top, Owens hits the avalanche fisherman buster! Hammering Sami with kicks in the corner, Zayn puts Kev off the top and through the tables on the floor! Referee Charles Robinson counts... KO UP AT NINE AND WE GO BACK TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, Zayn’s got another table set up and he throws the announce desk cover at Owens! Jockeying for position on the steel steps, up on the apron, Stunner blocked... APRON HALF & HALF SUPLEX! Kev makes the count and gets back inside! Charging in, Helluva Kick connects but Sami holds him up and puts him back in!
He tells Owens it’s karma before landing another Helluva Kick! But Owens rolls out at nine! Looking for the suicide dive tornado DDT but Owens cuts him off with a superkick! Back inside, pop-up powerbomb... NO GOOD! KICK TO THE GUT, STUNNER, ZAYN ROLLS TO THE FLOOR! POWERBOMBS THROUGH TABLES! APRON POWERBOMB! SAMI CAN’T GET UP!
Kevin Owens wins, qualifying for Money in the Bank!
I need to run to the bathroom with haste, so here’s my beautiful wife Josie to take you to the break.
Edge cuts a promo where he lets us know he’s wise to all of the Reignses sneaky tricksy traps and tricks. He’s a mastermind, a Jedi, a Walter White who can see three and four moves ahead. He’s Sherlock Holmes and the Reignses are the red-headed league.
Sonya comes out in a black suit and tie to reminds all the lesbians in the audience why they’re gay. Flashback to last week’s Carmella promo, achieving roughly the same result.
Back from commercial, Baron Corbin is walking when Rick Boogz runs and catches up to him.
He says Shinsuke and a lot of the boys want to invite him out with them, for chicken a la king, before wishing him sweet dreams in his king-sized bed, and then making a checkers joke that’s simply “king me.”
Corbin tells him to go screw himself and walks off.
Sonya Deville is in the ring to introduce the second woman from SmackDown in this year’s Money in the Bank match... ZELINA VEGA?!
Vega gets on the mic and talks about how she’s gonna win Money in the Bank and cash it in to become SmackDown Women’s Champion.
Enter Liv Morgan.
She says it’s bad enough Sonya just put Carmella in Money in the Bank without so much as a qualifier last week, but now she’s rewarding Zelina Vega with an opportunity? She worked really hard, huh? She hasn’t even competed on SmackDown all year, how is that fair?
Zelina says it’s fair because she’s been wrestling for years and is one of the most popular female competitors in WWE history and she can run circles around Morgan and expose her for the amateur she is. Liv hauls off and slaps her! She asks Sonya for a match, right now! Deville gives it to her!
But first, the break.
Liv Morgan vs. Zelina Vega
Back from commercial, the match is in progress and Vega has an octopus hold locked on! Tiger feint into a crucifix neck crank in the ropes, breaking at referee Jessika Carr’s command while Carmella watches on a monitor backstage! Trading pinfall attempts, Zelina has a handful of tights Carr sees it, Liv reverses...
Liv Morgan wins by pinfall with a schoolboy pin.
Backstage, Seth Rollins rolls up on five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville.
He formally introduces himself and they say they know who he is. He complains of being forgotten about because Edge got the Money in the Bank title shot and not him. They say Edge got priority because he never got a singles rematch for the title and offer Seth a Money in the Bank qualifier against Cesaro, next week.
Rollins laughs and leaves.
Alpha Academy make their entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial we get some hype for tomorrow’s episode of Talking Smack.
Angelo Dawkins vs. Otis Dozovic
Dawkins running hot at first and clearing Chad Gable off the apron but Otis lays him out! Hammerlock back body drop, up to the second... 747 SPLASH! Dragging Angelo back into position...
Otis Dozovic wins by pinfall with the Vader Bomb.
Jimmy Uso and Paul Heyman are in Gorilla and Jimmy’s ranting about Edge and how Roman Reigns needs to hear about it.
Paul tells him that Roman operates on his own time, and all Jimmy has to do is go out there and be Main Event Jimmy Uso.
Jim makes his entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Jimmy Uso is in the ring and he calls Edge out.
He says he doesn’t need Roman Reigns, he can handle Edge all by himself, and it seems to him that he’s not man enough to step face-to-face with Jimmy Uso.
Edge makes his entrance.
He says Roman is using Jim just like he used his entire family, and once he used Jey up, he moved onto Jimmy, and now he’s just another one of Roman’s bitches. Reigns set a perfect trap tonight, but it’s not a trap for him, it’s trap for Uso. Edge hits the ring and starts throwing Jimmy around, putting him face-first into the post viciously!
Steel steps in hand, Edge turns around into a superkick! Into the ring, Edge regains control and starts wailing on him with punches before locking an arm-trap sleeper hold in and making Jim tap! The Rated-R Superstar lies in wait... SPEAR!
Edge goes and gets a chair and stomps on one of the support struts to break it off. Shattered fragment of chair in hand he returns to the ring and applies an arm-trap crossface with the piece of chair! Jim taps to no avail while Edge talks about what he’s gonna do!
Edge lets go and gets in the camera, saying he doesn’t stop.
That’s the show, folks.