It’s the SmackDown Live after WWE Money In The Bank and everybody’s wondering the same thing: will Daniel Bryan have baby vomit in his beard? Let’s watch and find out!
Opening Segment
The ladies who were in the Women’s MITB match were all backstage chattering about how upset they were about the ending of the Women’s Money In The Bank ladder match. Daniel Bryan walked in the shot and said he’ll make a decision but he wants to hear what James Ellsworth and Carmella have to say for themselves.
As Daniel Bryan walked off Natalya just kept complaining.
Carmella came to the ring sporting her MITB briefcase in the same money ring attire she wrestled in at Money In The Bank. With James Ellsworth by her side she pranced to the ring and looked very proud of herself.
James Ellsworth said everyone should get on their feet and give it up for Miss Money In The Bank: Carmella.
Mella grabbed the mic and welcomed everyone to the fabulous era of Carmella. She said since MITB her name has been trending worldwide. But her name isn’t trending about the fact she won, but how she won.
She said “who cares” about what everyone says about her winning the briefcase in a shady way. She said she’s been overlooked and underestimated. She said she was the last pick in the WWE Draft, which she was.
Carmella listed every other women on the SmackDown roster and she said none of the things about them matter because Carmella is that intelligent. She was getting major heat and soaking up every moment in the spotlight. This was Carmella’s coming out performance. As she said she won the match fair and square the place booed like crazy.
Carm started listing other MITB matches and all the other ways a briefcase has been won in controversial ways. She said everyone should be embarrassed that they harassed Daniel Bryan to make him make a decision about how she earned her contract.
She said there are no rules in a MITB match. How do you break a rule when there are none? She was getting a TON of heat and the crowd wouldn’t let her talk as she carried on. She said they were being disrespectful.
Carmella said she is Miss Money In The Bank and she owned that statement with authority. “And there’s not a damn thing any of you can do about it” she added and then — mic drop as she held her briefcase up high.
Daniel Bryan watched on a monitor backstage and he turned to greet Charlotte and asked her about her neck. Charlotte wanted a rematch but Bryan said it was a no DQ match. Charlotte said that only pertained to the five people in the match.
Charlotte told Daniel Bryan they were robbed and wanted to make history at MITB. Then The Nature Girl told The Bearded GOAT to “do the right thing” and she walked away.
Big E vs Jimmy Uso
Clap for your longest reigning tag champs and feel the power! See, that sounds much more impressive than three-time champs.
The New Day used a lot of rhyming words and puns to discuss their distress of losing the chance to be the SmackDown Tag Team Champions. They showed a very fun little slide show about how The Usos just took their titles and ran at MITB.
Xavier invited Usos the play in their playpen and Kofi introduced Big E as the warden as he said he’s big, strong, and has a big knight stick and knows how to use it… yup.
As The New Day got the “New Day Rocks” chants going Dem Usos strolled to the ring.
Jimmy got a cheap shot to start off on top because that’s how he does. Big E turned things around and wrapped Jimmy up in a stretching submission while he spanked Jimmy’s ass… yup.
He tossed Uso out of the ring and went out to join him. Big E smashed Jimmy’s head off the apron and tossed him in the ring. Big E hammered on Jimmy’s chest and then got on the apron. Just as E was going to splash on Jimmy, Jey distracted him and Jimmy knocked him off the apron to the floor with a superkick.
With Jimmy in the ring, Big E was on the floor and the referee counted away.
Big E got in just in time but was met with stomps to the chest as he laid in the turnbuckle. Jimmy him Big E with a splash and got a two count. He positioned Big E on the apron and hammered away at him. Jimmy knocked E down on the apron and soon brought the action back to the ring as he maintained advantage.
Jimmy hit E with an uppercut and charged at Big E. E moved and Jimmy went to the apron. Jimmy went to the top rope and jumped off right into Big E’s arms. Big E slammed Jimmy a couple of time and then made it three.
Big E went for the splash but Jimmy sprung up and hit a Samoan Drop for a two count. Kofi jumped up to help but got knocked off. Big E used the distraction to hit him with a slam. As Big E looked like he was gearing up for the Big Ending, Jimmy rolled out of the ring to the outside.
The Usos looked like they were leaving again until Kofi jumped off the ring steps and hit Jey with a splash. Big E tried to pull Jimmy back but took a right hand.
Jimmy tried to fight back but took a Big Ending. 1-2-3 and Big E stands tall shaking his hips with his New Day brethren.
Backstage Segment
Daniel Bryan was backstage talking on the cell phone to Shane McMahon. Natalya came up to him with Tamina by her side. Daniel asked Nattie how her shoulder was doing and she said it’s not about her because she just wanted to wish him a happy first Father’s Day.
Tamina asked Daniel if he was going to let Carmella and her little sock puppet get away with stealing the MITB briefcase. Natalya stuck around and bugged Bryan a bit more before by thanking him profusely before finally leaving.
Hey — “Free Agent” John Cena is returns on the 4th of July!! What???
Naomi was interviewed backstage about the Women’s MITB briefcase. She said she doesn’t care who wins the briefcase because she knows Daniel Bryan is going to do the right thing. In the end whoever she faces is going to feel the glow.
Then Lana came up and challenged Naomi to a rematch. She told Lana she was thirsty and granted her a rematch anyway. Then she told her to leave before she gets slapped back to Russia.
Randy Orton was interviewed about what happened at MITB. He said he lost focus and played into Jinder Mahal’s strategy. Jinder made things person and Orton said it’s no longer about winning his 14th WWE Championship. He said it’s far from over and he doesn’t care if he ends his career or he has to break the Singh Brother’s necks.
Then Randy threatened to go to India (or Canada) and RKO all of Jinder Mahal’s family.
Dolph Ziggler vs Shinsuke Nakamura
Nakamura is so over he’s like Japanese Jesus at this point. If you’re offended by that please don’t watch Raw last night when he said gods were imaginary.
Dolph tried to take Nakamura down by sweeping the leg at first and then Nakamura almost hooked him but Ziggler got away. Dolph was moving very cautiously and he needed to be.
Ziggles wrapped Shinsuke up from behind and Nakamura transitioned it to the ground and into a cross armbreaker but Dolph slithered out of the hold. Nakamura soon had ahold of Dolph’s ankle while Ziggler grabbed Shinsuke’s face.
Dolph got on a standing headlock and pushed Nakamura to the ropes. Shinsuke got free and beckoned for Dolph to bring it. The two soon locked up and Ziggler reached around to turn it around. Shinsuke slung him to the mat and landed a knee drop.
Shinsuke pinned Dolph against the bottom turnbuckle and hit the Good Vibrations. Shinsuke tried to inflict more damage but Dolph pulled him forward and into the turnbuckle.
Ziggles soon hit a nice looking standing dropkick and got a two count. Ziggler pulled at Nakamura’s face while he stretched his arm out and diverted the ref’s attention.
Nakamura sold his facial injuries as Ziggler grabbed him and walked him to the corner. He drug Nakamura across the top rope and ran Nakamura’s face across it as JBL told people to go into their kitchen and rub a cheese grater across their own faces so they know what it feels like.
Nakamura soon lifted Dolph over the top rope and sent him plummeting to the floor.
Ziggler soon took control of the match over again with some strikes but Nakamura landed a backheel kick to send Ziggler to the mat.
Ziggler turned things around for himself but wasted too much time taunting and paid for it. Nakamura started hitting him with kicks and started to come alive. Shinsuke hit a running knee tot he corner and then placed Dolph across the top rope and drove another knee into Dolph’s midsection.
The King Of Artist Style drove a couple more knees into Dolph to hammer home his point and wrapped him up with his head between his armpit. Nakamura hit him with a facefirst planting move and went for a Kinshasa but Ziggler moved and hit a Fameasser. 1-2-kickout!
Ziggler threw a little hissy fit and rose to his feet while Nakamura remained on the canvas. He prepped himself for a superkick but Nakamura moved out of the way. Ziggler rolled Nakamura up for a pin but Shinsuke countered by locking in a cross armbreaker. Ziggler broke the hold up with a thumb to Shinsuke’s face. It wasn’t pretty but it got him free.
Dolph countered another move and hit a Zig Zag. 1-2-kickout! Ziggler immediately locked on a sleeper hold and Nakamura struggled to get free.
Nakamura got to his feet and caused some separation with a headbutt. He kneed Ziggler in the back of the neck and Ziggler was out cold. That’s how fast Shinsuke Nakamura can turn things around.
Nakamura primed himself for a Kinshasa and he nailed Ziggler with a powerful one. 1-2-3 and Shinsuke Nakamura wins again.
Backstage Segment
Daniel Bryan and Sami Zayn were backstage when Daniel told him he was facing Baron Corbin next week. Sami said he had Baron’s number and seemed sure of himself.
Becky Lynch appeared in the hallway and Sami told her he saw the Women’s Money In The Bank match. Yup, so did everyone else. Then he left.
Becky told Daniel no matter how hard she works there’s always someone who will come in with underhanded tactics and weasel their way in to beat her out of it. Daniel Bryan told her it’s complicated.
“Is doing the right thing really complicated?” Becky asked as she left.
KO Open Challenge
Kevin Owens came to the ring in full ring gear with his United States over his shoulder. He looks stiff from the tough bumps he took in the MITB match and had wrist guards on. KO said the only reason he didn’t have the MITB briefcase is because everyone else in the match conspired against him. They ganged up on him, attacked him, and tried to end his career. He said what happened to him at MITB wasn’t fair but he was still there in the ring unbroken, The New Face Of America, and still the United States Champion.
KO said Shane McMahon is the land of opportunity. He said the OG land of opportunity was the USA and then KO said he’s going to give one lucky guy from Dayton Ohio a chance at his title.
So the “Kevin Owens Face Of America Open Challenge” began… but AJ Styles showed up. Wait… he’s not from Dayton Ohio!
AJ came out and said the only thing better than KO being the US Champion is him beating KO for the United States Championship. Styles jumped in the ring and said “it’s go time!”
KO said AJ wasn’t from Dayton Ohio… insert American Alpha here… that’s where they’ve been!
Then Owens told Alpha they weren’t from Dayton Ohio either. Gable said he just moved to Dayton and he’s answering his challenge. KO quizzed him on his address and he gave a reply that got a pop out of the crowd. AJ told the ref to ring the bell and the match started.
Then Gable started wrestling all over Kevin Owens. It was rather impressive how smoothly this guy worked around KO. AJ Styles joined them on commentary as KO jumped out of the ring and told everyone not to touch him.
When Kevin got back in the ring Chad Gable kept beating on Owens with strikes and bested the US Champ for a bit before KO sent him plummeting to the floor. KO left the ring to deliver another move and left Chad on the floor to roll back in on his own.
Once Gable got back in the ring it was mostly Kevin from there. He kept slugging away at the American Alpha member and Gable sold brilliantly. Kevin locked in a headlock and kept hold of it until Chad fought out and landed a dropkick.
KO dodged a corner splash and propped Gable up on the top turnbuckle. He climbed to the top and latched onto Chad Gable looking for a superplex. But KO just decided to jump down and pull Gable to the mat with a flat back bump.
1-2-kick out.
KO pulled the former Olympian up and knocked him back down. Gable hit Owens with a surprise and leaped up the turnbuckle to hit a beautiful flipping splash for a two count.
Owens would soon drive Gable into the ring post but Chad dodged a cannon ball. Chad Gable hit a beautiful bridging suplex pin for a very close two count.
Then KO hit the pop up powerbomb out of nowhere for the win.
That was a great match and an amazing chance for Chad Gable to show what he can do. Outstanding display from 1/2 of American Alpha.
Backstage Segment
The Hype Bros were backstage with Daniel Bryan and told him they went out as the #1 contenders which is true. Zack Ryder injured his knee in a match that the Hype Bros won becoming the #1 contenders. They had to relinquish that title after Ryder went out and they think they should still be next in line for the tag team championships. Daniel said the tag division has changed a lot since they left so he set up a match next week against The Usos to see if they’ll get a title shot.
So Hype Bros have to beat the Tag Team Championships before they can get a shot at a title match. It looks like Daniel Bryan might be playing with a loaded deck there and Zack and Mojo are getting screwed. After all this is SmackDown Live. AJ Styles got so tired of waiting for his WWE World Title rematch that now he’s going for the United States Championship.
Backstage Segment
Zayn and Tye Dillinger were backstage and Sami asked him how he would rate milkshakes from Sonic. Dillinger kept rating them “10.” At least it’s nice to see Tye Dillinger on TV in some way.
Daniel Bryan Speaks
Daniel Bryan came “yes-ing” down the ramp and up the turnbuckle like he always has. The “yes” chants were heavy and a huge smile beamed from Daniel Bryan’s face. He was a proud new poppa but now he had to get back to business.
He said it was great to be back but he wished it could under different circumstance. Then he said he’s been held up with Shane McMahon and other WWE officials trying to sort out the MITB controversy.
Bryan said officials told him he needed to take his emotions out of this and stick to the WWE rule book. Okay, I’m not even going to get started about the rule book. Nice bait GOAT, but I’ve got better things to rant about.
Daniel introduced everyone who was in the Women’s Money In The Bank ladder match and they all came out one-by-one. Carmella still had hella heat. She was so happy as she pranced to the ring. She’s really owning this new role and this push looks good on her.
Daniel said his decision involves all of them. Bryan said MITB matches are no DQ and there’s nothing about someone not being allowed to climb up and get a briefcase for someone. Then Bryan said there’s never been someone to climb the ladder and hand it to someone else so they’re in unchartered territory.
Then James Ellsworth started to talk and said Bryan being the daddy to a little vegan hippy baby has gotten him soft. Bryan looked hot! He told Ellsworth to shut up and got in his face. He told him that if he talked about his baby girl one more time he would punch him in the face and fire him. That was not a good move on Ellsworth’s part.
The other ladies tried to talk but the crowd still wanted Daniel to kick Ellsworth’s ass.
Finally Charlotte told everyone to shut up because she was there for a decision. Bryan told everyone to calm down and then went on to explained how Carmella had to hand over her MITB briefcase.
Daniel looked at Ellsworth and said he’s not going to let someone like him ruin a historic moment. He said they’re going to relive history next week and booked another Women’s MITB ladder match for next week.
Daniel Bryan might have been leaning toward letting Mella keep her case, but Ellsworth ruined it for her by making a crack about baby Birdie Joe.
After Daniel left all the women started to fight leaving Carm in between Becky and Charlotte. As Mella begged off to Becky, Charlotte hit her with a Natural Selection from behind. Becky slapped the Dis Arm Her on The Princess Of Staten Island and she sold the submission hold like she was really having her arm pulled off.
Then the faces left the heartbroken Carmella battered and broken on the mat as she sold her injuries.
Jinder Mahal vs Luke Harper
The Singh Brothers introduced Jinder Mahal and out walked India’s hero in all his non-PED glory. Jinder Mahal has not only proved he is the Modern Day Maharaja but he’s also not a one-hit wonder. He’s a WWE Champion and defending his belt successfully as a hero to his people.
Luke Harper came out and he works better now that he’s not in the Wyatt Family because it looks like he’s allowed to take showers now. Jinder beat Harper down and shot him to the turnbuckle. Luke returned with a block and ended up hitting a beautiful drop kick for a guy who’s 300 pounds.
Jinder Mahal rolled out of the ring as he took a breather. This match is probably going to be heavily featured in India but they’re still working the match with Harper as a babyface and Jinder as a heel here.
While Luke Harper remained control Jinder kept going to the help of the Singh Brothers. Luke took a sick bump over the top rope but Jinder threw one of his sacrificial lambs in front of Harper and took over the match.
Jinder Mahal strapped on a submission hold and kept the big man down once they returned to the ring. Mahal moved to pushing Luke’s head with his knee as he used the ropes for leverage.
Then Mahal snapped Luke back over and applied another punishing submission hold. He brought Luke back to his feet and applied a few strong elbows before Luke Harper hit a surprise butterfly suplex sending the WWE Champion down.
Luke hit a few offensive moves and jumped to the apron and hit a springboard tackle. He hit Mahal with a bit boot for a two count and the big man looked ready for a Discus Clothesline. Jinder dodged out of it but took a spinning side slam for a two count.
Luke tried to suplex Mahal but Jinder landed on his feet. Harper knocked Jinder back down and climbed to the top rope. Mahal met Luke on the top rope and hit the one superplex of the night.
Insert Baron Corbin here with his briefcase in tow. Baron pointed at Mahal and said “I’m in your head… I’m watching you.” Baron circled the ring and pointed as he messed with Mahal’s head and then he left. Well, that was fun.
Luke Harper took advantage of the distraction and tried to steal a win but it didn’t work. Jinder Mahal still got to Kallaus and won the match.
But Jinder wouldn’t be able to celebrate for long because Randy Orton’s music hit and Orton came to the ring and took out the Singh Brothers in quick fashion.
He hit a Thesz Press on Mahal and rained down punches on his head. Randy beat Mahal all around ringside and tossed him over the timekeeper’s area. Randy snatched Mahal’s head and hit his suspended DDT move he does on the mat outside.
Rando got back in the ring and prepared for an RKO when the Singh Brothers attacked them. Orton hit RKO’s on them both as Mahal left through the crowd.
So that’s SmackDown Live everybody! Drive safely!
