SmackDown’s Money in the Bank fallout goes down tonight from the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Solo Sikoa pinned Cody Rhodes in last Saturday’s main event, all but confirming him as the next challenger for the Undisputed WWE Championship. The six-man tag match saw the new-look Bloodline of Sikoa, Tama Tonga & Jacob Fatu defeat Rhodes, Randy Orton & Kevin Owens. Fatu starred in the match as he made his WWE in-ring debut.
It’s expected that Rhodes vs. Sikoa will take place at SummerSlam on August 3. We’ll see if WWE makes that official.
New Ms. Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton is set to celebrate her victory. With the briefcase in her possession, she could be a problem for WWE Women’s Champion Bayley, who has a title defense against Nia Jax scheduled for SummerSlam.
Tonight, Jax goes one-on-one with Michin. A WWE Tag Team title rematch between DIY and Grayson Waller & Austin Theory has also been announced. Plus, Baron Corbin & Apollo Crews face Legado del Fantasma’s Angel & Berto.
Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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The Money in the Bank main event is recapped to start the show off and felt like an all-action war that should have been a no DQ match to start out with. Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa were put over the strongest in the video package – including Cody Rhodes. We saw Cody enter the building along with DIY arriving with Ciampa’s kid and a giant orange Dunkin’ outfit.
Tiffany Stratton MITB Celebration
Stratton came out as Corey called her the center of the universe before a highlight reel of her offense at MITB. She bragged about being the youngest Miss MITB ever and complained about Trish showing up when it’s her time. Tiffy Time, in fact. Bayley came out and fans somehow popped for her theme despite its intro lacking any punch to it or matching her at all. They bring up Tiffy Time entirely too many times across the board before Bayley told her that she’ll make her fail and be the first Miss MITB to fail.
Nia Jax came out for this parade of promos and told Bayley that she beat her seven years ago and says that it’s BBL Bayley time while Bayley is now her victim too. Jax and Stratton attacked Bayley before Michin made a save with a kendo stick. Backstage, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven demanded to see Nick Aldis. Chelsea has added Joel Gertner-esque gigantic neck brace.
Nia Jax defeated Michin
Jax bullied her in the corner to start before sending her down and doing the stink face knocking an eyelash off of Michin. Jax got a long cobra clutch before tossing her around in a Biel. Jax does the Ace Ventura butt cheek mockery towards Bayley before dominating Michin on the floor. Michin landed a second rope rana on Jax before a corner cannonball got 2. Tiffany put a kendo stick in Nia’s reach, but Bayley attacked Stratton and Michin got a tornado DDT for 2. Jax landed a Samoan drop and the banzai drop ended it.
Post-match, Stratton attacked Bayley with the case and she and Jax attacked her. Nia was sucking wind hard here and Stratton teased a cash-in before Jax looked offended at her and Stratton just opted not to cash in to avoid pissing her off more. Solo Sikoa talked about how the peak of the Bloodline had all the gold – but Roman’s reign put an end to that. This new era is more violent, more powerful and this family will rule for decades as long as he’s the Tribal Chief. Baron Corbin came out to team with Apollo Crews against Angel and Berto before WWE thanks Toronto for MITB and Heatwave and Byron chatted with Andrade about his future before Carmelo interrupted him.
Berto and Angel defeated Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin
Crews dive to the floor before Corbin dominated mid-ring and they brought up WWE Speed with Corbin this week. Corbin hit a suplex/cutter to Berto before a brawl broke out. Corbin ran to Crews and Crews helped toss him over the top to the floor! Angel locked him into a Gory special before Berto flipped in for an ill-timed blockbuster for two. Berto nailed a disaster kick for two on Corbin. Corbin ate a superkick, but recovered and hit a death valley driver! Crews ran in and ran wild with a pump kick to Angel alongside a jumping lariat. Crews sent Angel to suplex city before Corbin took out Escobar. Escobar kneed Crews before the Wing Clipper ended it. This match greatly exceeded any expectations going in – Corbin shined brightly as did Crews to a lesser extent.
Chelsea Green, with her giant Joel Getner neck brace and Piper Niven told Pretty Deadly to wait for them to finish talking with Nick before they pitch Pretty Deadly The Musical. LA Knight told them that they’d be with them when he’s done and he walked out before an ad break. Before he could come out, WWE hyped up Bad Blood and Orton sat next to Cody Rhodes looking absolutely gigantic next to him and said he’ll have his back tonight – but Kevin Owens won’t because he’s with his family right now and no matter what, Orton has Cody’s back.
LA Knight came out and played promo bingo saying yeah, wanting to talk to ya and eventually stated that he has a signature from himself (yeah), and Nick Aldis (yeah) for SummerSlam – but he needs Logan Paul’s signature on it (yeah). Knight said that he’ll beat Logan Paul – not because he isn’t good, but because he’s better and that’s a fact of life (yeah). A Blair Davenport hype video showcased her as a bully heel before a match with Naomi after a video recap of Cena announcing his retirement tour at MITB.
Naomi defeated Blair Davenport
Naomi landed a series of kicks and a legdrop before executing a rope run, then a slide into a chinlock. Davenport escaped and hit a double stomp before sending Naomi’s shoulder into the post on the floor. Naomi landed a spinning jawbreaker before hitting a series of ridiculous-looking kicks and a facebuster for two. Davenport hit a tree of woe stomp to the arm before a cradle series resulted in several two count exchanges. Naomi landed a flash cradle for the win in a surprising result. DIY’s title win is recapped in a video that in a vacuum, made it look like an all-time great moment had occurred. Carmelo Hayes faces off with Andrade next week and Logan Paul will be live. Naomi celebrated with Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair and they reveal that Aldis isn’t here, much to the Chagrin of Chelsea and Niven who barge in. Blair Davenport played a plucky face against Naomi saying she’s the better person now before Naomi gets distracted by Chelsea and beaten up by Davenport.
DIY retained the WWE Tag Team Titles against A-Town Down Under
The faces took down the heels with stereo calf kicks. Waller clubbed away on Ciampa in the corner before Theory tagged in and stomped Ciampa. Gargano tagged in and hit a DDT/neckbreaker combo on them. A Gargano slingshot spear got two on Theory. Ciampa got an O’Connor roll and Waller hit a rolling thunder flatliner that got two. Ciampa avoids Meet Me in the Middle and got two and Waller ate a shatter machine! Meet Me in the Middle hits for the win and DIY retains!
Jacob Fatu ran down and took out the tag champs to seemingly set up a tag title win from himself and Sikoa if Sikoa loses at SummerSlam. Fatu laid out Ciamp with a BME and shined to an absurd degree before The Bloodline came out. Solo Sikoa demanded that the crowd acknowledge him, leading to a rundown of their beatings and a “we want Roman” chant that only grew louder as Sikoa pointed out that he took out his own brother Jimmy and the Wiseman. He gave Cody a chance to acknowledge him and Cody came out.
Cody stated that he has to talk to Aldis, but he wants to make Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa for the title at SummerSlam. However, he’d prefer to not wait until then before getting circled by the Bloodline before attacking Cody. Fatu laid out Cody with a superkick and Orton came down for a save. Orton landed the draping DDT to Sikoa before getting taken out by Fatu – who may wind up being his SummerSlam opponent. Fatu and Sikoa tied up Cody in the ropes to attack him before the Tongans took out Orton on the floor with the steel steps. Fatu landed a kneeling superkick to Orton before the Tongans set the announce table up as Fatu and the Tongans Shield triple powerbomb Orton through the table and Sikoa Samoan Spiked Cody.
The Ua Fala was placed on Sikoa before a recap aired of the beating with Cody being forced to watch it all tied to the ropes. This was a strong closing angle and they’ve struck gold with Jacob Fatu being unhinged – but Sikoa being able to tame him a bit despite Sikoa himself being so unstable that even Paul Heyman can’t control him.
