Tonight we find out who will go on to the finals in the Intercontinental Championship Tournament.
We open Smackdown outside of the Performance Center, some sort of car accident has occurred. Elias is involved somehow and is in pretty bad shape. He had to be put on a stretcher and put in an ambulance.
Renee Young tried to give us updates, she is there when law enforcement identify the car involved as Jeff Hardy’s. Kayla Braxton is then shown with Braun Strowman who saw the entire accident happen. Strowman said the car came out of nowhere and he saw the driver take off. He is the one who called 911.
Jeff Hardy is then found in pretty bad shape. Jamie Noble and Jason Jordan try to help him, as law enforcement asked if Hardy had been drinking (there was some sort of alcohol found in the car). They cops say he smells of alcohol and eventually put cuffs on him.
Hardy is walked by Elias getting put into the ambulance and gets pretty emotional. He is eventually put into the cop car and taken downtown. We head to commercial after seeing Hardy taken off and Elias to the hospital.
Back from commercial, Adam Pearce updates the locker room on Elias. Then someone comes up and tells him about Jeff Hardy. While most of the locker room is shocked, Sheamus speaks up. “What a shock! What is this the fourth or fifth time?”
AJ Styles spoke up about how its alright with him that Elias and Jeff Hardy can’t compete in the tournament; everyone wanted Styles versus Daniel Bryan anyway. Bryan though isn’t about that, he wants to find replacements and compete. Styles called him an idiot for it, Bryan said he won’t be a coward.
Sheamus agrees with Bryan. He throws his own name into facing Bryan later tonight. King Corbin then got angry and said he should get a chance too and said he’ll face AJ Styles. Styles said this isn’t what he signed up for and he wants his free ride to the finals.
Then Sheamus suggested a triple threat match, the rest of the locker room is up in arms. Jey Uso said Sheamus and Corbin both lost in the tournament and he wants a shot. Dolph Ziggler said he is a tag guy and Ziggler says he wants a shot. Pearce makes the decision to have a battle royal to determine Daniel Bryan’s opponent for the main event.
Before commercial, AJ Styles called DB an idiot for not taking the free ride.
Sheamus won the Battle Royal to face Daniel Bryan later in the night
Battle royals are chaos and its fantastic. Dolph Ziggler was almost eliminated multiple times pretty quickly. Again Sheamus yelled at Michael Cole throughout the match. A lot of men in the match gave it their best effort, specifically Shorty G. Unfortunately for Shorty G, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro are the reason for his elimination…which led to Sheamus being victorious (Jey Uso was the last to be eliminated).
After the match commentary talked to us about A Moment of Bliss coming up later. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross welcome The New Day as their guests.
Then we head backstage and see Sonya Deville shadow boxing preparing for her match with Lacey Evans. Deville then looked at the camera and said last week she wrecked a bleach blonde Barbie doll. She warned Evans that the same fate awaited her, but didn’t realize Evans showed up behind her. After Deville was done talking, Evans shoved her and told her she’d she her in the ring.
Back from a commercial, Shorty G is arguing with Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. Cesaro mocks him and his size. Then challenged Shorty G to a match, which he didn’t think would be accepted. Shorty G knocked Cesaro over and said the challenge was accepted.
Lacey Evans versus Sonya Deville ends in a double count out
As Deville likes to say, these women put their hair up and squared up. Sadly nothing was truly decided because of the count out, but Evans made Deville pay a bit for her words.
After the match the two ladies continued to brawl a bit. They traded off throwing each other into the announce table. Evans got back into the ring and yelled at Deville to get back in the ring. Deville though, “I’ll fight you on my terms blonde.”
We got yet another Forgotten Sons promo. This week we heard from Wesley Blake. The whole our blood on their hands thing occurs again
Before going to commercial Kofi Kingston and Big E sneak up on Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
Back from commercial, Bliss and Cross welcome the New Day to A Moment of Bliss. Cross is very excited about the New Day being their guests that she can barely contain her excitement.
Bliss welcomed them and said she was excited about the Tag Team Summit, where they’ll discuss the competition. Cross though has a present for the New Day and she’s so excited about it, Scottish Pancakes! The New Day did not come emptied handed though! Big E pulled out coffee from his singlet and made Bliss a cup of coffee…she did not drink it.
When asked about who they consider challengers Kofi said they have to look at the Forgotten Sons. When Big E asked Bliss and Cross the same thing, they were interrupted by Bayley and Sasha Banks.
Bayley said she didn’t see the best tag team on Smackdown in the ring. Of course Sasha agreed, that is until they got into the ring…because they are the “best” tag team. Nikki Cross actually complimented Bayley on her victory last week. Alexa Bliss wasn’t as nice, she said she stopped listening to Bayley as soon as she started talking and even asked Banks where her title belt is.
All the talk eventually led to Bayley putting her best friend under the bus again. Bayley said Sasha Banks would beat Alexa Bliss right there, even though Banks clearly was not dressed to compete. We go to commercial with Bliss throwing Banks’ jacket back at her and drop kicking her out of the ring.
Sasha Banks defeated Alexa Bliss via Pinfall (Sunset Flip)
Nikki Cross is an excellent cheer leader from the announcer’s table…although Bayley did not appreciate it. Of course Bayley and Cross got up on the apron, which led to Bliss losing the match. PS: Michael Cole helping Cross cheer on Bliss was just great and a fun laugh.
Commentary hyped up a getaway between Otis and Mandy Rose before going to commercial.
Back from break, we were taken back to what occurred at the beginning of the show.
Chad Gable defeated Cesaro via Pinfall
After eliminating both Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura from the battle royal, Shorty G continued some slight good fortune. Shorty G got his revenge for being unfairly eliminated earlier in the night and Cesaro was left stunned.
We finally got to see Mandy Rose and Otis on their poolside date. It turned into a Fast Times At Richmont High type deal.
Afterwards we hear from Kurt Angle. Angle announced a new Smackdown Superstar, who he believes could be a face of Smackdown’s future….its BRO! Matt Riddle has arrived on Friday Night Smackdown.
Kayla Braxton was trying to give props to Matt Riddle but was interrupted by Sheamus. He isn’t happy about the talk of Riddle, just like he wasn’t happy about the Jeff Hardy talk. Sheamus said they may get the hype, but he gets results. Sheamus wants to become WWE’s first Ultimate Grand Slam Champion and all he need to do is win the Intercontinental Championship.
Daniel Bryan then showed up and doesn’t say a word to Sheamus. When Sheamus poked and prodded, Bryan simply kicked him in the shin.
Daniel Bryan defeated Sheamus via Pinfall (Busaiku Knee)
Sheamus dominated a good majority of the match, but he has also made a lot of enemies recently. After being taken away in a cop car earlier, Jeff Hardy showed up at the right moment. He distracted Sheamus just enough, so that Bryan could hit him with the knee and get the pin.
After the match Hardy attacked Sheamus. And well, that’s the show folks!