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Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE SmackDown on July 12.
Two people may have won briefcases at Money in the Bank, but only one was wise enough to hold onto it past the end of the show. Since she is still in possession of the case, Tiffany Stratton celebrated her victory.
Here is a look at what WWE advertised before the show:
- Solo Sikoa continues his reign of dominance
- Nia Jax vs. Mia Yim
- Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews vs. Angel and Berto
- Stratton celebrates her MITB win
Let's take a look at everything that happened on Friday's show.
Mia Yim vs. Nia Jax
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SmackDown opened with Stratton coming out to celebrate winning Money in the Bank, but she only got to say a few sentences before being interrupted by Bayley. They traded some insults before Nia Jax joined them and promised to win the title at SummerSlam.
Predictably, Jax and Tiffy attacked Bayley but were quickly driven off by Michin wielding a kendo stick. This led right into the first match when we returned from a break.
Yim went right at Jax when the bell rang, but the powerhouse wasn't going to go down easily. She shrugged off a lot of Yim's offense and hit her so hard that one of her fake eyelashes flew off.
This wasn't one-sided, but it was a pretty dominant performance from the Queen of the Ring. Michin would make small comeback every couple of minutes, but Jax would put her back on defense almost immediately every time.
Jax won with the Annihilator but Bayley saved Yim from suffering a second. Jax and Tiffany beat the champion down but Ms. MITB toyed with cashing in her briefcase until Jax gave her a mean look.
This was a decent but highly predictable first half-hour of SmackDown. The promo from Tiffany was too short to be anything memorable before she was interrupted, and sadly, it felt as if she was outshined during her own celebration by everyone else who got involved.
Result: Jax defeated Yim
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Tiffy looked unusually shiny but not in the way wrestlers usually do with baby oil or dumping a bottle of water on their heads.
- Chelsea Green was shown wearing a diamond-studded neck brace backstage to sell her big bump at MITB.
- Yim is the most underused talent on the main roster and has been for years. She makes everyone she works with look good.
Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews vs. Angel and Berto
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Corbin is in the midst of his first babyface run in WWE, so he was looking to make a positive impression on fans when he teamed up with Crews to take on the resident tag team of Legado Del Fantasma.
They brawled for a second before the ref could call for the bell and start the match. Surprisingly, Corbin took out both men with a big dive over the top rope as the show cut to a break.
While the match was nothing to write home about, seeing Corbin adjust his style to be a babyface was interesting. He's a big, athletic guy, so he is capable of more than he's been allowed to show for a long time.
Pairing him with Crews was a good call because they each bring a completely different kind of power game to the table. It will be interesting to see if this was a one-time deal or if they become a regular tag team.
Elektra Lopez distracted the ref so Santos Escobar could interfere and help Angel get the pin on Crews.
Result: Legado Del Fantasma defeated Corbin and Crews
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- It was so weird seeing Corbin high-fiving fans after so many years as a heel.
- Crews desperately needs new entrance music. His current song is so generic.
- Berto took the brunt of Corbin's dive over the top rope.
Blair davenport vs. Naomi
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LA Knight came out and revealed he has been given a shot at the U.S. title by Nick Aldis that just needs Logan Paul's signature to make it official.
Next up was a singles match between Naomi and Blair Davenport that was preceded by a quick promo from Davenport.
The Queen of Glow took control and hit a couple of big moves to get a two-count. Once Davenport recovered, she hit an impressive double stomp from the top rope to take control.
Naomi made a comeback and ended up getting the win, which was somewhat unexpected since Davenport is still trying to establish herself. They had a few good spots but you could also see a lack of chemistry in some places that kept this from being as good as it could have been.
Result: Naomi defeated Davenport
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
- It feels like WWE has been trying to introduce Davenport for several weeks because management doesn't quite know what to do with her yet.
- Naomi's entrance is always cool. Her gear was extra bright this week, too.
- Naomi was a split second late hitting a mule kick and it made the moment Davenport waited for it a bit awkward.
DIY vs. A-Town Down Under (Tag Titles)
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Austin Theory and Grayson Waller were looking to regain the tag titles when they took on Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa in a rematch from last week's SmackDown.
Ciampa chased Waller around the ring and back in before all four men got into a brawl. Theory saved Waller and managed to take out Gargano at the same time.
We returned from a break to see Johnny Wrestling get the hot tag and go on a rampage. Both teams had several close calls, but a couple of miscommunications between Waller and Theory led to them losing once again.
This was a good bout but fell short of their first title match in a few ways. However, this was done with the post-match segment in mind. Jacob Fatu came out and decimated everyone except Waller, who made a quick escape when his partner was taken out.
Result: DIY defeated A-Town Down Under
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Before the show, Ciampa was shown wearing Dunkin Donuts merch from head to toe.
- Davenport was shown offering Naomi a handshake backstage but ended up attacking her a moment later.
- Waller tried to do something to Ciampa on the top turnbuckle but whatever it was didn't work out. It's a good thing the camera was more focused on Theory at the time.
- The way Waller rolled into the ring to break up a pin looked great.
Bloodline Segment and the Final Word
The rest of The Bloodline joined Fatu in the ring for the final segment. Sikoa spoke about getting rid of everyone in The Bloodline who refused to acknowledge him.
Cody Rhodes came out and said he is more than willing to defend the title against Solo at SummerSlam. The Bloodline surrounded him, but Rhodes took the first shot.
Randy Orton ran down to help The American Nightmare. He did a lot of damage before he was taken down, too. The Bloodline spent several minutes destroying Rhodes and Orton.
Solo forced Rhodes to watch The Viper take a triple powerbomb through the announce table before they posed to end the show.
This week's SmackDown didn't feel much like a PPV fallout show. Everything was business as usual in both good and bad ways. On the plus side, WWE hit the ground running to set up SummerSlam in three weeks. We already know of at least four title matches that will take place, so that is a great start.
Grade: C+
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