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Add FightsATW on GoogleWWE Friday Night SmackDown was live from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, a venue with experience hosting WWE TV events, as the new WWE world champion CM Punk returns following his triumph over former titlist Sami Zayn. The RAW return was a surprise booking meant to pay off the hometown Punk crowd, but OKC showed up expecting to see the SummerSlam program launched between the champ and Cody Rhodes.
With Saturday Night’s Main Event just eight days away, tonight’s episodes could set up the final few spots on the card, though it is already booked with JD McDonagh and Danhausen facing off in singles action as well as the women’s tag champs defending their titles against Fatal Influence.
CM PUNK VS CODY RHODES SET FOR SUMMERSLAM—THE DREAM MATCH REALIZED
It was oddly unceremonious, especially when you consider the promo battle that launched Roman Reigns-Seth Rollins for the heavyweight title at SummerSlam, but following Punk’s tease at another round with Finn Balor (the first of two separate teases), Cody Rhodes came out to make things official.
Cody Rhodes was ‘owed’ a title match after he was taken out by Gunther on Monday just before he was to face the champion at the start of the show, Sami Zayn. That opened the door for Punk as a replacement and closed the door on Sami’s 9-day title reign. Aldis made the match official while in the ring—the SD GM explained at the opening of the show that he was reinstated to his duty after a bit of retconning.
There was nothing wrong with the way the program was launched, but it felt like something, or everything, was missing that element that could give this feud the same weight that Rollins and Reigns offered when their own program launched. Rollins and Reigns is a story that has been told, but never with the stakes of potentially being the last time—acknowledging the onslaught of new stars and upstarts carving their own success as the former Shield members are closer to the end of their respective careers.
Punk and Rhodes stared each other down, a little too close, and that was mostly that, though Punk remained busy for the remainder of the show. In fact, he ran into “Johnny Wrestling,” faceplanted on a roadie case like every single show since Tomaso Ciampa left for the ‘alternative.’
Punk was read the riot act as Candice LeRea admonished the veteran talent for coming back and taking away their ‘hope.’ She explained that Sami being the champ was ‘hope’ for “underdogs” like her and her husband Gargano—it was a funny bit the first week or two; now it feels like he is being punished because his friend left.
Punk delivered a rousing speech on who he remembered as “Johnny Wrestling” before telling LeRea to ditch the schtick. It was Punk, once again, speaking for the fans who have felt the same way about this running Gargano gag, but it comes at a weird time.
Like the Balor stuff, Punk is somehow coming out as the ‘voice’ of the voiceless on camera, while his backstage ‘politicking’ is being perceived as Hogan-esque. This is a fascinating line of storytelling because the direction suggests many possibilities.
GUNTHER BIG MAD, ALDIS BIG MATCH?
Gunther was still steaming after being left out of the title picture when it was announced that he was not getting any redemption for the blunder that cost him the championship at Clash in Italy. On RAW, Gunther was destructive, but tonight he took a calmer approach, giving GM Aldis an ultimatum with an old-school ‘end-of-show countdown’ like the one on the old-school Batman TV show.
He gave Aldis till the end of the show to ‘fix his mistake,’ but Aldis said his only mistake was not realizing that Gunther would be such a ‘huge pain in the butt’ when he signed him to SD. Aldis took the moment at the end of the show to humiliate Gunther in front of the crowd by reaffirming the SummerSlam championship match between Cody and Punk.
That is when Gunther took his shot at Aldis before the WWE staff came down to break things up, but they are inept. Gunther came back into the ring with more than a half-dozen officials trying to stop him, but instead, he locked in the chokehold that finished Cena’s career.
Aldis was out cold, and Gunther was not letting go, so Cody came out to break things up, only the show was abruptly cut just as Cody was to jump in the ring. It was bad timing for a great ending, as the Gunther vs. Aldis match has finally taken full shape.
JADE VS BLISS… THE FLAIR MATCH WILL BE EPIC
Alexa Bliss is an incredible performer and former world champion, but tonight she lost her match to Jade and took a post-match beating as Flair was forced to watch. The singles match between Jade and Bliss was pretty good, and Bliss was able to be the veteran in the ring that made Jade look even better than her physique suggests.
However, the big match is Jade VS Charlotte Flair—a match so big it does not need a title—and tonight’s booking was done to raise the stakes on the bigger picture. It was done very well, as B-Fab and Michin held Flair down while Jade used a chair to snap back the arm of her best friend, Bliss. The visuals were powerful, and the optics were emotional, and now the Jade versus Flair match feels like more than just a nifty way for WWE to sell some event merch. This feud means something to both women, and the fans know it; now is the time to strike on what will be the first chapter in this rivalry.
FINN BALOR A FUTURE WORLD CHAMPION??
Finn Balor defeated Tama Tonga after a couple weeks of backstage strife set the stage for these former Bullet Club OGs. Balor looked good even though Tama Tonga and the MFTs have been made to look so lame that a win over one of them means little at this point.
The bigger moment came as he ‘welcomed’ Punk to SmackDown later in the backstage area. Balor took a long look at Punk’s title, and no doubt he heard Punk mention his name earlier. We cannot look past Punk and Cody, but paying off the tremendous work that Balor and Punk have done together could help launch Balor into a new stratosphere of stardom.
And at the very least, these guys produce great matches together.
TRICK WILLIAMS GETS A LEGACY TITLE BELT/BARIN CORBIN RETURNS
It was John Cena that received his own version of the U.S. title over two decades ago when the ‘Doctor of Thuganomics’ won the strap for the third time. Tonight, Trick Williams received his own ‘furry’ version of the U.S. title as Lil Yachty went to the WWE brass to demand the custom belt.
He had a match against Carmelo Hayes, and it was a very fun affair that deserves to be run back because the round was never going to end cleanly. These two have been part of the U.S. title resurgence that Zayn helped usher back, so hopefully we get them to run it back for the finality of it.
Unfortunately, the match ended in a DQ when Baron Corbin returned to beat down on the champ. The crowd was pretty shocked to see him, though rumors of his return have been circulating for weeks now; the former ‘Happy/Sad Corbin’ has been working the indy circuit since being released from the company.
JIMMY VS KEYES… SOLO SPIDERWEB AND FATU FRUSTRATIONS
This was a mess of a segment in which Jacob Fatu and Royce Keyes went back and forth over whether their friendship was worth saving. We had been told just how friendly Fatu and Keyes have been over the past decade plus, but you can also argue that we have not seen that relationship play out on screen aside from a couple throwaway backstage spots.
Keyes came out to confront Jimmy and Jacob, who were looking for Solo all night. Keyes told the duo that their family business was starting to infect everyone else, and Jimmy told Keyes not to cross the line when it came to their family. That is when Royce, in the lamest move for his character to this point, mimed a line in the ring before stepping over it in a metaphorical misstep.
Jimmy warned Keyes, and Fatu told Uce that he was on his own in the least rational move to this point; it would get worse. Fatu eventually came back when Solo tried interfering in the match. Solo and Fatu had an awesome brawl in all red—the coolest optics of this segment.
However, after things had calmed down, Jacob hit Ryoce with a super kick unprovoked. It was baffling, and Fatu’s motives are starting to seem irrational and directionless.
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