Opening Segment
Paige was backstage at the beginning of the show where she gave the AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura match at Backlash a No DQ stipulation.
Miz TV
The Miz and he was wearing quite a fashionable red leather jacket. I’m sure it wasn’t real leather though or Maryse would throw a fit. The first thing The Miz did was ban Daniel Bryan from Miz TV then he turned his attention to Seth Rollins. He wants that IC Title back at Backlash.
It is weird that The Miz was more over in Saudi Arabia than he was in Montreal. Then The A-Lister introduced Jeff Hardy.
The Miz asked Jeff if he was a better IC Champion than Rollins and Hardy asked if what was really why he brought him out there. Then Hardy proceeded to call him obnoxious and annoying. He also said if The Miz was so good then he would have won at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
The Miz brought up how Jeff bypassed Randy Orton on the Superstar Shake-Up episode to face Shelton Benjamin then he brought out Orton to see what he had to say about it. It turns out Randy and Jeff Hardy are cool.
The Miz proked The Viper saying he doesn’t play well with others and then he brought up the Top 10 List like it mattered and Orton said nobody cared about a SmackDown Top 10 List.
The A-Lister kept trying to provoke Orton into striking Jeff Hardy and Orton said he thinks that he forgot who he’s talking to. Randy said no matter if they’re cool or not, at Backlash he’s taking his title back.
“A mutual agreement?” The Miz said while suggesting that they hug next.
Then Shelton Benjamin came out saying Orton doesn’t deserve a damn thing and if anyone deserves a championship opportunity it’s him. It all broke into a melee and Shelton took a draping DDT from Orton while Jeff his a Whisper In The Wind on The Miz.
After the heels left, the babyfaces stayed in the ring with a mutual respect between them. Yay getting along. This might be a tag match later.
The Miz and Shelton Benjamin vs Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy
They had a nice back and forth contest and Jeff was working a lot. He jumped up on the top turnbuckle but The Miz shoved him off sending him tumbling to the floor.
Jeff was trying to get to Orton but Benjamin dragged him back in the ring to pummel him a little before tagging in The Miz who bounced himself off the ropes for speed to kick Jeff Hardy in the head.
The A-Lister kept the pressure on Hardy and didn’t let him get to his partner eventually slowing things down completely with a headlock. Shelton tagged himself in so he could continue beating Hardy down.
Randy Orton was the smart one in this match because it’s hard to get injured when all you have to do is look concerned while you stand on the apron looking concerned.
The Miz hit 2/3 of Daniel Byan’s running dropkicks while the announce team called attention to the fact it was D-Bry’s move. Then Orton got the tag and he took great job in beating The Miz out of the ring and suplexing him onto an announce table.
Then to put the cherry on top, Randy Orton hit Double Draping DDTs on Benjamin and The Miz before hitting Shelton with an RKO.
Then Hardy hit a swanton bomb and got the win.
The announcer declared Randy and Jeff the winners as Orton suddenly hit Hardy with an RKO outa nowhere.
Backstage Interview
The IIconics were there and Peyton got to insult Renee Young and Canada at the same time. Then Billie took the microphone from Renee Young and introduced Carmella who said she was happy to be teaming with them tonight.
Then Carmella said, “together we’re pretty much Invincible” then she moonwalked around while Billie and Peyton said they were IIconic. That was interesting and could be a stable built around Mella as champion.
The Bar and The New Day had a nice little back and forth where Cesaro and Sheamus ended up saying they always wanted to be on SmackDown Live.
Rusev and Aiden English were standing backstage and suddenly Lana was there. The crowd popped huge for this backstage segment. Lana began to speak and her accent was gone. She was wearing a cut up Rusev Day t-shirt and she said since Rusev Day is bigger than ever they needed to talk without Aiden English. Hmmm.
She said something is holding him back. “What do you mean? I have a holiday in my honor,” Rusev replied while showing off his Rusev Day t-shirt. He asked what could be holding him back while Aiden English came back in to get his jacket. Sad face.
Big Cass
Big Cass cut a promo on the crowd and it was drawing a good amount of heat. He talked up how he’s from NYC and that’s why he’s better. Then he started steamrolling through the chants against him as he said he’s better than everyone and he’s better than Daniel Bryan.
It would be fair to say he was giving his all on the microphone as he said a real WWE Superstar is 7-feet-tall and “might makes right” and Daniel Bryan is small and weak. Then he said we’re not getting a five-star match from him … we’re getting a five-second match which sounds better and much more believable.
Then he told Bryan to come out so he could kick his teeth down his throat right now. Bryan’s music hit and a little person in a wig and fake beard came out in Bryan’s gear doing Yes chants. He got the mannerisms down pretty well actually.
Cass made a bunch of jokes about the fact he’s in the ring with a little person and Daniel Bryan is shorter than him. Then lil D-Bry kicked Big Cass while he kept showering him with badly written puns. Good lord, it was really bad.
Big Cass introduced the little guy using his real name and told him to soak it in. Then he hurt him a lot. So that’s how you draw heat, by big booting a little person. Neat.
The crowd chanted assh-le at Big Cass and then he left as medical personnel flooded the ring to check on lil D-Bry.
AJ Styles Interview Segment
Renee Young was in the ring and invited Styles out. He was pretty confident that he was going to retain his championship against Shinsuke at Backlash. He called him a con artist and a cheap shot artist. But Shinsuke can play his games.
Styles said he should have left Nakamura in the Arabian desert and then he started listing all the bad things Nakamura has done to him. He called Shinsuke a coward who attacks him from behind and below the belt but this Sunday at Backlash is different.
AJ Styles said at Backlash he can break the rules too because it’s an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. After he’s done with Nakamura people will find pieces of him in different states.
Then Styles said if Shinsuke wants an apology he can… then Samoa Joe came out to a roar of “Joe” chants.
Joe said AJ has lost focus on all of the dangerous things around him. Joe said the match he should be focused on is his match against Roman Reigns where he will prove he’s a failure.
Then Samoa Joe said AJ needed to make peace with the destiny coming his way because he will come and beat whoever is champion down and take the WWE Championship. “Oh believe that!”
Suddenly Shinsuke Nakamura came in out of nowhere and punched AJ Styles in the nuts. Didn’t someone ever tell him that you just don’t go hitting a dude in the junk? Then he hit AJ with a Kinshasa after a massive amount of taunting.
Backstage Segment
Becky Lynch was feeling bad about costing Asuka her first match on SmackDown and The Empress Of Tomorrow told her to forget about it. Then Charlotte said that Mella, Peyton, and Billie think they’re “Invincible” which means that is going to be their name for sure now.
Xavier Woods vs Sheamus
Sheamus took control using his brute strength and Woods sold like a master while Big E and Kofi rooted on at ringside.
Sheamus ended up taking a shoulder to the post and Woods hit a corkscrew legdrop for a two count. Woods jumped over Sheamus but The Celtic Warrior went for a rollup pin and got kicked in the head in return.
When Woods scaled the top rope again the place mounted in antcipation but Cesaro got on the apron and ruined the spot. Big E was taken out on the other side of the ring and Kofi took a spot on the outside as well.
But when they returned to the ring, Woods rolled Sheamus up for the win.
Winner: Xavier Woods via pinfall
Backstage Segment
Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville walked into Paige’s office and they all hugged and Deville saluted her saying Absolution is reporting to duty.
Sonya asked Paige who’s it going to be and she said it was going to be Mandy who got excited thinking she got a SmackDown Women’s Title match and then Paige said she’ll be getting a match against Becky Lynch next week instead.
They asked her what about Absolution and Paige said Absolution is dead.
They aired a very nice selfie promo for Andrade Cien Almas and Zelina Vega who are on their way and it’s very exciting.
Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Asuka vs Carmella & The IIconics
Mella and Charlotte started out the match but Carmella tagged in Peyton Royce instead of facing The Queen. Becky Lynch wanted a piece of Peyton so she tagged in before Lynch won over control and tagged in Billie Kay who didn’t do too well either.
Asuka got the tag next and destroyed Billie Kay a little bit. After a little bit of back and forth, Flair hit a plancha on the IIconics on the outside to lay out the two Australian bombshells.
Peyton Royce eventually gained control over Lynch and took her down with a headlock but Becky fought out of it and tagged Charlotte while Mella got the tag.
Eventually, Mella caught Charlotte on the top rope while Billie distracted her and Mella pounded her face on the top turnbuckle on the way down. While Corey Graves made Mean Girls references, the heel team maintained control over Flair.
Carmella grinded Flair’s face into the mat before tagging in Royce who continued the advantage over the former SmackDown Women’s Champion. Flair eventually took a bump off the top turnbuckle but Asuka got the tag in the process and she jumped in quickly to get some payback on the IIconics.
She destroyed Peyton Royce with kicks and a hip attack before hitting Billie and Mella with a hip attack off which sent them both flying off the apron. Peyton turned this distraction against Asuka and got two nearfalls but Asuka landed a kick to the head.
Billie hit the Shades Of Kay on Asuka and Flair nailed a spear on Billie. Then Flair hit a beautiful moonsault on Carmella on the outside.
Then Asuka got Peyton Royce in the Asuka Lock and she tapped out.
SmackDown Live ended in Montreal with Asuka, Becky, and Charlotte hugging in the ring. But this loss could set Carmella up for a win at Backlash thanks to WWE’s 50/50 booking.
Winners: The babyfaces
