Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Smackdown, wrestling, wwe

WWE Smackdown 7/17/20 Part 1 – Morrison vs. Van Damme

With the Horror Show at Extreme Rules just days away, WWE is racing against the clock to produce a go-home show before everyone in the company gets coronavirus. That means it's time for Friday Night Smackdown! Are you ready for a good time?

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 7/17/2020 Part 1

Smackdown kicks off with a series of rapid promos, which they should do more often. It's different. AJ Styles talks about facing Matt Riddle tonight. Yeah, Riddle beat Styles in his debut match, but Riddle had the element of surprise. There will be no element of surprise tonight. Riddle is a flash in the pan, and this is the house that AJ Styles built. Matt Riddle chimes in. What does AJ Stand for? Arrogant jackass? Riddle says last time was no fluke, and after he wins the Intercontinental title, he'll officially be the bro that runs the show. Daniel Bryan says Styles vs. Riddle will tear the house down, and Riddle will win. Alexa Bliss has a mystery guess for Moment of Bliss tonight. Miz asks John Morrison whether he's afraid to fight Braun Strowman tonight. Morrison says he beat up Jean Claude Van Damme on a yacht one time. Miz asks him if that means he's not scared. Morrison says he's terrified. Braun Strowman says the Horror Show might start tonight. He hopes Bray Wyatt is watching when he literally kills Morrison. Shinsuke Nakamura says he and Cesaro will become tag team champions on Sunday. Cesaro says he gets to choose the stipulation if he beats Big E tonight. Kofi Kingston says they aren't losing on Sunday, and Big E isn't losing tonight. Big E says Cesaro is called the Swiss Superman because when he looks up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, oh no, Big E's fist is Cesaro's, Lois Lane. Does that mean Big E is gonna jerk Cesaro off? That's one way to move past the PG era.

The New Day come out for Big E's match. They throw their discarded clothing at Corey Graves as Michael Cole plays a clip of the post-match altercation between New Day and Cesaro/Nakamura last week. Cesaro and Nakamura head to the ring. It's a contest of strength through the first commercial break. After the commercials, it becomes a submission battle. Big E puts Cesaro into a Stretch Muffler, which Cesaro reverses into the Cesaro Swing into a Sharpshooter into a crossface. The match ends when Big E struggles to lift up Cesaro, accidentally swinging him into the referee, allowing Nakamura to interfere. Cesaro wins with the Neutralizer, which means they get to pick the stipulation. After the match, Cesaro and Nakamura try to pull a table out from under the ring, but Kofi hits them with a dive and sets up the table himself. Kofi puts Cesaro on the table and goes up top, but Nakamura and Cesaro run away.

Kayla Braxton is back from coronavirus quarantine and interviews "The Ratings King of Friday Nights" Baron Corbin. She wants to know about Corbin's feud with Matt Riddle. Corbin says Riddle started it. As for the Intercontinental Championship match tonight, AJ is one of the best, and Riddle can't even remember to put his shoes on. Styles will win. Pressed further, Corbin admits Riddle is ambitious, and he's had a good few weeks. Riddle thinks this is like the movies where you go after the biggest guy around to prove you're a badass, but when you play with fire, you get burned. Corbin implies he'll get some payback on Riddle tonight. Smackdown goes to commercials.

After commercials, Cesaro and Nakamura cut a promo backstage. They try to decide between a steel cage match or a tables match. A steel cage is punishing, but Cesaro feels there might be too much gyrating against the cage from the New Day, which is a fair point. So they choose a tables match at Extreme Rules.

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross are out for Moment of Bliss. They start off by talking about the fifth anniversary of the Women's Evolution, which some people say was started by Stephanie McMahon. Bliss asks for applause for the women of WWE. Bliss is feeling clairvoyant. She predicts the LA Lakers will win the NBA Championship. She predicts Matt Riddle will be AJ Styles tonight. She predicts Braun Strowman will beat Bray Wyatt in the swamp fight on Sunday. And she predicts her mystery guess will tear the roof off on Sunday. She starts talking about her guest, and Nikki assumes it's her. Nikki launches into a rant about her match with Bayley on Sunday. However, Alexa wasn't talking about Nikki. The special guest is Bayley, who comes out with Sasha Banks.

Bayley says Nikki should get used to being disappointed. Sasha says that Cross will be back in the shadow of Alexa Bliss after Sunday. Bayley is glad that Alexa mentioned the Women's Evolution, but Alexa forgot to give credit to Sasha and Bayley, the architects of the Women's Evolution. Bayley yells for a cameraman to get out of the way so she can walk up the ring steps. She stomps up them the whole way. Bayley is in rare form. She says that on Sunday, she'll defeat Nikki, and Sasha will beat Asuka, and they'll have all the belts.

But, shockingly, Alexa reveals that Bayley wasn't the special guest either. Asuka's music plays, and she comes out (alone). Sasha and Bayley attack Bliss and Cross. Asuka runs in, and Banks and Bayley retreat from the ring. Alexa calls for a referee so Banks and Bayley can fight Nikki Cross and Asuka. After Smackdown takes a break for some commercials, that is.

After a clip of Matt Riddle training with Drew Gulak, Daniel Bryan talks up the match tonight. Bryan is happy that Syles is being forced to be a fighting champion. If Styles embraces the opportunity, he could be the best IC Champ ever. But Bryan has also seen the fire in Riddle, and besides, Riddle has a special coach tonight.

The women's tag match picks up after Bryan's promo. Cross is all over Bayley to start. I feel like there's something missing from Cross's offense. It just doesn't feel all-that impactful. The announcers sell it as wild and unorthodox. It's also not effective because Bayley soon gets the upper hand, tags in Sasha, and it's time for Nikki to get beat up until she can make a hot tag to Asuka. Asuka unleashes on both Bayley and Sasha. Sasha sends Asuka out of the ring with a hurricanrana, but Asuka traps Sasha in the ring apron. She tags in Cross. Bayley gets trapped in the ring apron and beat up too. Cross and Asuka pose on the announce table. You know what that means: time for a commercial break, and when we get back, it will be Cross getting beat up to build to an Asuka hot tag again because that's how WWE rolls.

Folks, I must apologize. After the break, WWE surprises me by doing something different. It's not Nikki Cross getting beat up until it's time for Asuka to make the hot tag again. I was wrong, and I can admit when I'm wrong. Instead, it's Asuka getting beat up, leading to a Nikki Cross hot tag. Cross gets it and goes nuts on Sasha. That goes on for a while until Cross hits a tornado DDT outside off the announce table on Bayley. She tries to bring Bayley in and pin her, but Sasha breaks it up. It devolves into a brawl at that point, and in the chaos, Bayley gently lays Cross on the mat, pins her, and puts her feet on the ropes for leverage. That gets the win, and the heels stand firm on the go-home show.

Corey Graves teases a Firefly Funhouse tonight. The Miz tries to convince Morrison backstage that Braun Strowman isn't so scary. Morrison asks if he's nuts. Miz tells him they're Hollywood guys, and in horror movies, the hero overcomes the monster, and Morrison is a hero. Morrison agrees but says there's another horror movie trope where the hero has an even cooler and braver best friend who steps up to fight the monster for him. Miz doesn't know anything about that, but he will be at ringside for the match, which is happening after these commercials. And we'll be picking up after these commercials in part two of the Smackdown report.

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