Reviews

The John Report: WWE Smackdown Live 07/23/19 Review

By John Canton • Published 24th July 2019

Live from Miami, Florida, this is Smackdown Live for episode #1040. Follow me on Twitter @johnreport. Thanks to Melo Man for the banner up top. Please visit TJRWrestling.net daily for our regular updates on the wrestling business featuring WWE news coverage along with reviews about wrestling’s past and present.

There was an opening video package showing the issues between Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens over the last few weeks. That has led to Owens hitting McMahon with the Stunner on multiple occasions, which has helped KO’s soaring popularity.

The New Day’s Big E and Xavier Woods, who were the Smackdown Tag Team Champions, were dancing on the announce table. Tom Phillips was joined by David Otunga on commentary because he said Corey Graves and Byron Saxton were not there this week. Woods and Big E sat down for commentary. Phillips said Shawn Michaels was going to do commentary, but instead, he’s on Miz TV.

Analysis: Woods and Big E should do well. Saxton’s father died recently while Graves is filming a movie in Vancouver.

Let’s Hear from Shane McMahon

Shane McMahon made his entrance on his own. He was booed loudly by the crowd. Shane forced Greg Hamilton to give him the special introduction so “The Ham” did an excellent job of introducing Shane as the Best in the World as usual. Shane said that the Raw Reunion was an amazing show where they paid homage to legends of the past and superstars of the present. Shane said that he was happy to not see the face of Kevin Owens. Shane claimed that Kevin was hiding behind social media and yapping. Shane said that Kevin Owens has challenged him to a match at SummerSlam. Shane said that SummerSlam wouldn’t be complete without the “best of the world” competing in it. Shane said he accepted Kevin’s challenge for SummerSlam.

Shane said that Kevin claimed that if he loses then he will quit. The fans chanted “you can’t wrestle” at Shane, so Shane told them to ask Roman Reigns about that. Shane noted that Owens has said it in the past including in the same building where SummerSlam takes place this year.

A clip aired from August 27, 2018 on Raw in Toronto when Kevin Owens lost to Seth Rollins and Owens said, “I quit.” Owens walked away. I believe he had his double knee surgery shortly after that.

Shane said that this time when Owens quits, he wants it in writing. Shane said that Owens is going down at SummerSlam and he’s going to make sure of that. Owens made his entrance. Woods said he didn’t like Owens, but he wants him to beat up Shane.

Owens got a nice ovation as he stood on the stage to soak up the applause. Owens said that one thing is he would never say is Shane’s not smart and he proved it. Owens talked about how that moment last August was the lowest point of his career. He claimed that Kevin Owens is not who he is today. Owens said he knew that if he put out that challenge, Shane would accept. Owens said that it doesn’t get any brighter than this year’s SummerSlam in Toronto. Owens said that the only problem for Shane is that Kevin isn’t going to quit. Owens said that he’s going to beat the living hell out of Shane, so Shane called him a quitter. Owens went down to the ring and Shane said he better stop or he won’t get his match.

Shane said he can see Owens is all fired up, so maybe he should fight tonight. Shane put Owens in a match against Roman Reigns. Shane’s music played to end it.

Analysis: This was typical for what we usually get to start Smackdown with Shane doing a promo. The fans were all over him with booing, so when Owens cut him off, they were happy to see Owens. It was a newsworthy segment since they set up Owens vs. Reigns for later, which is a big match between two babyfaces. We also learned that Owens vs. Shane is official for SummerSlam and hopefully that’s a win for Owens.

Still to come: Kofi Kingston’s SummerSlam challenge and Miz TV with Shawn Michaels as the guest.

Shinsuke Nakamura was shown walking backstage because he’s up next against Apollo Crews.

(Commercial)

Shane McMahon was walking backstage with his buddies Elias and Drew McIntyre there to greet him. Elias gave Shane credit for making the Owens vs. Reigns match. Shane said that McIntyre will be special guest referee for Owens vs. Reigns, Elias will be the timekeeper (Elias said he always wears a watch even though he wasn’t wearing a watch) and Shane will be the special guest ring announcer.

Shinsuke Nakamura, the Intercontinental Champion, made his entrance. Apollo Crews entered as the opponent.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Apollo Crews

This is not for Nakamura’s IC Title. Crews locked up with Nakamura while Big E said it’s about damn time for Crews to step up. Woods said the standard announcer thing saying that if Crews wins then he’ll probably get a title shot. Crews with a body slam followed by an elbow drop and a delayed vertical suplex where Crews held Nakamura in the air for about 20 seconds. That was impressive. Crews with a clothesline that sent Nakamura over the top to the floor and Crews hit a moonsault off the apron onto Nakamura on the floor. Commercial time here on the Canadian broadcast while it was a split screen showing ads in the US.

(Commercial)

The match returned with Crews hitting a knee to the head followed by a jumping clothesline. Crews lifted Nakamura into the air leading to a Samoan Drop for two. Nakamura came back by countering a slam attempt into a spin kick. Nakamura with a kick to the back followed by the sliding German Suplex while Crews was against the ropes. I love that spot. Nakamura charged, but Crews hit an enziguri and an Olympic Slam with Nakamura getting the shoulder up at two. Woods and Big E were going crazy for the two count about how close it was. Crews up top, Nakamura kicked him and hit a running knee lift to the ribs. Nakamura charged, Crews knocked him down and a standing Shooting Star Press missed because Nakamura moved. Nakamura hit the Kinshasa knee strike on Crews for the pinfall win after about ten minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Shinsuke Nakamura

Analysis: ***1/4 That was a very good match with Crews getting a lot of offense. The crowd really got into the match with Crews coming close to winning a few times. Nakamura’s offense was smooth as always. I like that he won the Intercontinental Title and they can re-establish the Kinshasa as a deadly finishing move again. It was nice to hear the crowd get behind Crews as much as they did.

Post match, Nakamura kicked Crews in the ribs repeatedly and sent him out of the ring. Nakamura stomped away on Crews while they were on the floor. Nakamura hit a Kinshasa knee strike to the face of Crews to put him down. Woods: “Where are you friends, Crews?” That was funny.

Analysis: The post match attack could be a way to keep the story going because Crews will want revenge for that. I would have no problem with that because they put on a good showing here and if there was more of a story, that would help.

Sonya Deville was backstage on her phone. Mandy Rose said she was taking care of business because she talked to Shane McMahon. Mandy said she told Shane about the IIconics laughing about him last week, so Shane put them in a match next week and if they win that they can get a Women’s Tag Team Title match. Sonya hugged Mandy because she was happy about it.

Analysis: I should clarify that one of them misspoke because Sonya asked if they get a Women’s Tag Team Title match next week and then Mandy said yeah, if they win that they get a Women’s Tag Team Title match. I don’t know who got it wrong.

The Miz was shown walking backstage because Miz TV is next with Shawn Michaels as the guest.

(Commercial)

Ali was sitting on some stairs talking about how he has to re-write his story. He talked about how he was injured, replaced and then forgotten. Ali said he knows that injury cost him everything, but he refuses to let that be his story. Ali said he’s going to write his story, he’s holding the pen and mark his words because Ali will go down in history for his story.

Analysis: The injury prior to Elimination Chamber was a mild concussion and he hasn’t done much since then. That was February. They should use him more often, but I’m glad that it appears as though there’s a storyline for him.

Miz TV with Shawn Michaels as the guest

The Miz was in a suit in the ring. He plugged the Miz and Mrs. show at 10:30pmET on USA Network later that evening.

A video aired showing some highlights from Raw Reunion on Monday. It ran for about four minutes showing the legends like John Cena, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and everybody else. Read my WWE Raw Reunion review here in case you missed it.

The Miz said that not only was his guest tonight at Raw Reunion, but Miz also shared the silver screen with him in The Marine 6. I don’t think I have ever met anybody that has bought a Marine movie. Somebody has to buy them if they have made six of them, right? I don’t know. The Miz introduced the “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, whose birthday was yesterday. He turned 54 years old. Big E and Woods danced and sang along with the Shawn Michaels theme song. Big E and Woods were hilarious as they marked out for the Michaels theme song. The fans chanted “HBK” for Shawn. Michaels was wearing a “NXT” hat since he’s a NXT coach.

Michaels said that he’s been a young guy sitting there in the back looking at the legends coming in and wanting them to leave. However, much like Stone Cold said, they are like family, so any time they get the chance to be together, it’s hard to turn down and have some fun. The Miz said that everybody had a blast. There were more “HBK” chants. Michaels said that Seth Rollins was out there with Degeneration X and it’s been a cool thing watching him become a WWE superstar. Michaels said Rollins has to go to SummerSlam to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship and Seth has every intention of burning it down. Dolph Ziggler showed up for the interruption.

Dolph Ziggler walked down to the ring in his street clothes interrupting a Miz segment for the second week in a row. Ziggler went into the ring complaining about the legends. Michaels said he wants Ziggler to say what he has to say.

Ziggler said that they all used to idolize Michaels. Ziggler talked about how Michaels had the chance to go off in the sunset as the greatest of all time, but every time he would go back out there to wave to the crowd. Ziggler said that it was embarrassing like Goldberg in a wrestling ring (not the first time he has ripped Goldberg, so that tells me it’ll lead to something) and Shawn was embarrassing last night. Ziggler said that last November when Shawn came back in the ring (bad tag team match at Crown Jewel), he broke Dolph’s heart. Ziggler said that nobody has the guts to say this to Shawn’s face except him: “You were embarrassing.”

Michaels told Ziggler he’s not going to disagree with him. Michaels said it was embarrassing and he was embarrassed. Michaels told Ziggler that he is nothing more than a second rate Shawn Michaels wannabe. The fans cheered. Woods and Big E laughed about it. Ziggler said that there is only one-second rate Shawn Michaels out here right now and he’s looking at Shawn. Ziggler said that Michaels and Miz choose to wave at the fans like an idiot. He said they will be known for kissing ass while people like him have made a career…and Miz told him to do something already. Miz told Ziggler to do something about it.

Ziggler stood face to face with Michaels and Miz as the fans chanted “do something” at them. Ziggler took off his jacket, Miz dared him to punch, Ziggler walked away, Michaels grabbed the arm of Miz and Ziggler punched Miz after Shawn ducked. When Shawn looked at Miz, Ziggler came back with a superkick to Shawn’s face to knock him down hard. Ziggler bailed while Miz checked on Shawn to end the segment.

Analysis: That was awesome. I thought all three guys did an excellent job with Ziggler as the antagonist heel that told Michaels he was embarrassing last November in his comeback match, then Michaels admitted it and found a way to insult Ziggler by calling him a HBK rip-off. Miz also played his role well by telling Ziggler to do something about it and in the end, Ziggler did do something about it by knocking Michaels down with a superkick. What will ultimately lead to? I’m sure people will think it’s a Michaels match against Ziggler, but I think Shawn is content with never wrestling again. I could be wrong on that, of course, because he did come back last year. Ziggler and Miz have feuded before including in 2016 when they were in opposite roles, so perhaps this is part of a long term Ziggler vs. Miz rivalry again. Also, that angle is obviously the reason why they didn’t have Michaels on commentary since they had a storyline for Michaels to take part in.

Up next is Charlotte Flair vs. Ember Moon.

(Commercial)

The end of Flair’s entrance was shown, but that’s it.

Charlotte Flair vs. Ember Moon

Flair with a clothesline. Bayley made her entrance with her music playing, Flair was distracted by that Moon did the ROLLUP OF DEATH~! on Flair for the pinfall win in less than one minute.

Winner by pinfall: Ember Moon

Analysis: 1/4* I was hoping they would have a good match, but this was incredibly rushed. I hate the entrance distraction into the finish.

After the match, Moon tossed Bayley into the ring and Flair kicked Bayley to knock her down. Moon jumped off the top with the Eclipse on Flair and she went up again leading to the Eclipse on Bayley as well.

Analysis: Moon looked strong here although it was so rushed that it didn’t help anybody. I’m guessing the Miz TV segment went a bit long, so this was likely cut short.

Kofi Kingston, the WWE Champion, was shown walking backstage because he’s up next.

(Commercial)

There were graphics from different media outlets covering the Raw Reunion show last night.

Roman Reigns was shown backstage getting ready for his match against Kevin Owens.

Let’s Hear from Kofi Kingston

Kofi Kingston made his entrance with the WWE Title around his waist as he tossed pancakes into the crowd. There was a plug for the WWE Smackdown special on WWE Network on Saturday night. I will review it.

Michael Cole took over for Woods and Big E on commentary for the second hour of the show. Phillips noted that Saxton’s father died last week and they said “we love you buddy” to Saxton. Best wishes to Byron and his family. I’ve been through that. It’s not easy.

Kingston did a promo saying that the man he wants to challenge to a SummerSlam match for his WWE Title is Randy Orton. The fans let out an “ooohhh” reaction with Orton’s music hitting and Cole said that this was a bold challenge. Orton made his slow walk down to the ring to go face to face with Kingston.

Kingston told Orton that they have a bit of history. Kingston said he remembered clear as day, November 16 at Madison Square Garden and everybody was chanting his name. Kingston said that was the night that he whipped his ass all over the arena. They showed a clip from 2009 when Kingston put Orton through a table with a boom drop. Kingston said that moment still gives him goosebumps to this day. Kingston said that was supposed to be the moment that took him to the main event. Kingston said what happened in real life is that Orton used his influence to make sure Kofi didn’t become a main eventer. Kingston talked about how he found the power of positivity, he has been grinding and he became your WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Orton admitted that he used his influence to hold Kingston back. Orton told Kofi he wasn’t ready back then and he is not ready now while adding that title is a fluke. Orton mentioned how Kofi talks about how hard he works around here while Orton said he’s had 18 years on top. Randy: “I never had to work hard a day in my life to get where I am in this company because all I had to do was be Randy Orton. I didn’t have to fake a Jamaican accent, throw pancakes, or shake my ass.” The fans popped for that.

Orton said all he had to be was be him and with him, what you see is what you get and it’s worked pretty damned good. Orton said that he wins matches, titles, Royal Rumbles and he main events WrestleManias. Randy noted that it was because of him that Kingston got the WWE Title shot at WrestleMania against Daniel Bryan because he injured Ali before Elimination Chamber and Kofi took his place. Orton claimed that Kofi didn’t deserve that championship while Orton can take it from him whenever he wants.

Kingston said let’s do it at SummerSlam – Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship. Orton said you got it. Orton told him that this fantasy tale he’s been living comes to a screeching halt courtesy of the three most destructive letters in sports entertainment…RKO. Orton left.

Analysis: Good work by both guys. The SummerSlam challenge was obvious since Orton pinned Kingston in the tag team match last week, so Orton was being built up for the title shot after not doing much the last few months. I liked the way they brought up the rivalry in 2009 that went into 2010 in the early years of Kofi’s WWE career. They didn’t mention the famous “STUPID” moment, but perhaps that is going to come in another week. Kingston showed a lot of confidence as the WWE Champion while Orton fired back with a stoic look as he told Kofi he’s going to take his title. I think it’s possible that Orton will win the WWE Title, but I’m not sure if that’s my official prediction right now.

Samoa Joe made his entrance for his match against Kingston. Joe stared at Orton and walked down to the ring. Orton stayed around ringside to watch the match.

(Commercial)

Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe

This is not for Kofi’s WWE Title. Orton was seated on a chair beside the announce table.

Kingston grabbed an armbar and Joe came back with an armbar of his own. Kingston slapped on another armbar, so Joe grabbed the hair to take Kofi down. Joe with headbutts to work over Kingston, Kofi with two leapfrogs and a jumping back elbow. Kingston with a dropkick that sent Joe out of the ring. Kingston jumped over the top back first onto Joe on the floor. Back in the ring, Joe countered punches to the head by sending Kofi into the top turnbuckle. Joe missed a corner charge, Kofi ran at him and Joe hit a uranage slam for a two count. That led to the split-screen commercial in the US and a regular commercial here in Canada.

(Commercial)

Joe was in control of Kingston with a headlock. Kingston got some momentum going with a dropkick followed by a leaping clothesline and the boom drop legdrop. Kingston charged, Joe moved and Kingston jumped off the top with a punch to the head. Orton into the ring, he went for the RKO, but Kingston avoided it. The referee called for the bell to end it via DQ after around seven minutes.

Winner by disqualification: Kofi Kingston

Analysis: **1/4 They were going through the motions for the first few minutes, then it picked up a bit and Orton showed up for the cheap ending. At least Joe wasn’t booked to lose another match clean.

Post match, Orton faced off with Kingston, Joe back up, he touched Orton in the arm and Orton dropped Joe with a RKO. When Orton got back up, Kingston hit the Trouble in Paradise kick on Orton to put him down. Kingston stood tall over Orton.

Analysis: Last week it was Orton getting the advantage over Kingston and this week was the opposite. It was pretty basic as a post match segment. The build for Kingston vs. Orton should be interesting in the weeks ahead.

Still to come is Reigns vs. Owens with McIntyre, Elias and Shane all having roles in the match.

Kevin Owens was shown backstage taping up his wrists.

Finn Balor made his entrance in his ring gear.

(Commercial)

Let’s Hear from Finn Balor

Balor was interviewed in the ring by tiny Kayla Braxton, who played a clip of Balor getting attacked by Bray Wyatt as “The Fiend” on Raw eight days earlier.

Balor said he didn’t know how Bray Wyatt’s mind works. Balor noted they have crossed paths before, so is he back to settle an old score or is it something new? He talked about the puppets and attacking Mick Foley at Raw Reunion. Balor said he can’t explain any of it. Braxton said he appeared to be shaken. Balor said he has stared fear in the eyes before, he didn’t back down then and he’s not going to back down no. Balor looked into the hard camera saying he’s challenging Bray Wyatt or The Fiend to a match at SummerSlam.

A Firefly Fun House video aired on the video screen. Bray Wyatt was in the video with Mercy the Buzzard and Rambling Rabbit joining him. Wyatt said that Finn is so brave, which is why they are fans of yours. Wyatt said that The Fiend is not a big fan no matter how many times they tell him how super-duper Finn is. Wyatt said that The Fiend is officially accepting Finn’s challenge for a match at SummerSlam. Wyatt said that while Balor is an extraordinary man, The Fiend is power, he remembers and he said: “let me in.” They showed clips of Wyatt with The Fiend mask on his head. The video ended.

Analysis: That match was expected at SummerSlam after last week’s attack. I like how Wyatt accepted on the Firefly Fun House set with The Fiend taking over because we saw promos from that set for several months. It’s smart to keep it going. Balor is not likely to be in “Demon” gear because it’s expected that he’ll lose the match. It will also be the first match for Wyatt as The Fiend in WWE. I think there will be a lot of anticipation for Wyatt as The Fiend at SummerSlam and he will get one of the loudest reactions of the night.

Reigns vs. Owens is next.

(Commercial)

A video aired showing highlights of all the 24/7 Title changes on Raw this week. I wrote all about it here. The night ended with R-Truth winning back the title for the 10th time.

Charlotte Flair was interviewed by Sarah Schreiber. Flair complained about Bayley and Ember earlier in the night. Flair said that being off of SummerSlam was a slap in the face and Bayley choosing Ember as her SummerSlam opponent is a slap in the face. Flair wondered how do you leave the woman that is “solely responsible” for the women’s revolution (or evolution?) off of SummerSlam? She also called herself the “queen of all eras” of sports entertainment while wondering how she can be left off SummerSlam. Flair said she will be at SummerSlam and said she will demand to be at SummerSlam. Flair said that her opponent will be better than Ember Moon and she will prove she is the greatest female superstar of all time.

Analysis: The rumor is that Flair will face Trish Stratus coming out of retirement for the match at SummerSlam. It makes sense since SummerSlam is in Toronto, Trish is from Toronto, she still lives there and the fans in Toronto are going to respond to Trish in a big way. It works as a “dream match” to get Flair on the card on a major show. I like it.

Shane McMahon was introduced as the guest ring announcer for the main event. Shane introduced Elias as the guest timekeeper.

Analysis: Does WWE really need a timekeeper when they have no time limits on their matches? It’s a fair question that they won’t answer. The timekeeper role in wrestling is to give cues from the back because they have a headset on.

Drew McIntyre was introduced by Shane as the special guest referee. Cole said Shane was “Howard Finkel-like” in his ring announcing role. Good sarcasm. Cole had another good line saying Mike Chioda wished he looked as good as Drew in the referee gear. I just praised Cole twice. What’s wrong with me? I like sarcasm. Shane, Drew and Elias posed in the ring.

(Commercial)

Kevin Owens made his entrance first with McIntyre reminding him he was the referee. Roman Reigns was up next as he stared down McIntyre. There were only about seven minutes left in the show.

When Reigns and Owens got in the ring, Shane introduced both men. Shane reminded us that Reigns lost to him at Super Showdown. Shane called Owens “the quitter” that will lose to Shane at SummerSlam.

Owens grabbed a microphone said that he had no problem going through all of them to get his hands on Shane tonight. Reigns didn’t think Owens was going to run through him, so Reigns is going to whip everybody’s ass tonight. Elias rang the bell to start the match.

Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens

Reigns and Owens locked up in the corner with McIntyre breaking it up. There was a headlock that led to the guys getting in the corner, so McIntyre shoved them to break it up. Reigns punched McIntyre and tossed him out of the ring. Let’s call it a “No Contest” after one minute.

Match Result: No Contest

Analysis: It was an angle to further the storyline and not really a match. I’m not going to rate it.

Owens punched Elias to knock him off the apron. Reigns and Owens chased Shane around ringside. McIntyre saved Shane with punches and then Elias hit a jumping knee on Owens. Shane went back into the ring as Drew and Shane attacked Reigns with kicks. Shane worked over Reigns with punches to the ribs. Shane set up in the corner, but Owens pulled him out of the ring and sent Shane into the barricade. Owens with a superkick on McIntyre, a superkick on Elias, then Reigns with a Spear on McIntyre and Owens with a Stunner on Elias. The crowd was LOVING all of this.

Shane tried to leave, but Reigns brought him back into the ring. Reigns with a Superman Punch to Shane and Owens hit a Stunner on Shane. The fans cheered loudly. The fans chanted “one more time” for Owens and Reigns, so Owens picked Shane up and hit another Stunner on him. Owens celebrated while Shane was down in the ring. Owens and Reigns stared at eachother as a sign of respect. Elias helped Shane out of the ring. Replays aired showing what happened.

Analysis: Great segment with Shane getting his ass kicked just like the fans want to see. The more Shane got beat up, the louder the fans got. Yes, Shane is boring in a lot of ways and the fans hate him, but he bumped his ass off here and sold everything perfectly. I think they also set up a possible Owens/Reigns vs. Elias/McIntyre tag team match next week as well. I’m still not sure what Roman’s SummerSlam role will be.

Owens did a promo saying if you think tonight was good, it’s nothing compared to SummerSlam. Owens said that everybody will love the ass-whipping that he will give Shane that night. Owens celebrated to end the show.

Analysis: It would be a surprise if Owens didn’t beat Shane at SummerSlam. KO has a lot of babyface momentum and it’s great to see. I’m happy for the guy as a fellow Canadian, but also just a fan of his for many years. Owens has been a heel for most of his career. However, it’s clear that this babyface run is working and WWE needs to keep it going to see just how popular he can get.

Three Stars of the Show

Shawn Michaels
Kevin Owens
Kofi Kingston

The Scoreboard

7.5 out of 10

Last week: 6.5

2019 Average: 6.75 (Raw is 5.51)

Last 5 Weeks: 6.5, 7, 5.5, 6, 7

2019 High: 8.5 (February 26)

2019 Low: 5 (January 15, June 11)

Final Thoughts

I give this week’s Smackdown a 7.5 out of 10.

There was a lot of talking with not a lot of action since they only had three matches and one of those matches was finished in under one minute while the main event went just as long. There were only about 18 minutes of actual wrestling on Smackdown this week, but I doubt the fans in the arena will complain because it was a fun show. I was very entertained by the promo segments, especially the main event angle and how well the crowd reacted to everything. Great work by Shawn Michaels, Kofi Kingston, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton to name a few.

They also built up SummerSlam matches in an effective manner. On Raw, they barely even mentioned SummerSlam because it was all about the reunion, so it was nice to see Smackdown focus on the SummerSlam build quite a bit.

This was an example of how you don’t need great matches every week to put on an entertaining show. We want interesting stories that make us care about the bigger matches. That’s what they gave us this week. I enjoyed Smackdown.