Due to last week’s destructive conclusion, Nick Aldis informs the Bloodline that they’ll need to forfeit before their Tag Team Gauntlet match even started. Tonga Loa suffered an eye injury as a result of the brawl. Tama Tonga doesn’t agree with Aldis, but he doesn’t get the chance to fully express his… concerns. Instead, Solo Sikoa takes over from there.
Aldis clearly forget about Jacob Fatu being part of the Bloodline, so Sikoa ensures that they will remain in the matchup with Tama Tonga and Fatu representing the faction rather than the Tongas doing it together. Nick frightfully agrees to this last minute edit.
LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar
LA Knight provides a compelling takedown of Santos at the start of the match, which left Escobar slightly stunned. Knight has Escobar’s neck stretched out like putty. However, LA Knight became too overzealous that Santos manages to turn things around for himself. A suplex by Santos plants LA Knight against the mat.
Elektra Lopez lands a hand by slapping Knight in the face while the referee wasn’t looking. Santos takes advantage of that by adding insult to injury with a 619. Escobar delivers a set of double knees in the corner for a near fall.
LA Knight makes a comeback with a neck breaker, but Santos regains control with a tilt-the-world back breaker. Given that didn’t take Knight out, Santos decides to taunt his opponent. That simply makes Knight angry as he delivers a DDT.
Despite that attempt at a distraction Elektra provides for Santos, LA Knight was still able to power slam him. Whatever he was initially planning to do got interrupted by Logan Paul’s sudden and unwanted presence at ringside. Logan ventures to punch LA Knight while Lopez has the official’s attention, but the Megastar saw that coming and delivers a clothesline.
Just as Santos thinks he’s reestablished himself for a win, LA Knight surprises him with a conclusive BFT. He may have won, but Paul remained in the vicinity long enough to sneak behind and knock LA Knight out silly. An alliance of convivence came to be between Logan and Santos. How dull…
Winner: LA Knight
Backstage, Byron Saxton asks Naomi what was Blair Davenport’s thought process when she shook Naomi’s hand in a truce only to jump her a few seconds later. Naomi recognizes that she’s done nothing to this girl, regardless, she’ll make sure that Blair feels and respects the glow. Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair provide some cheerful commentary in agreement.
Next up, Belair and Cargill want to confront the Unholy Union since they said they were going to be here on SmackDown with those Women’s Tag Team titles in tow. So, where you at? Ask and you shall receive with a sneak attack from behind. Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre had the jump, thankfully, Belair and Cargill threw them out of the ring.
The Street Profits vs. Apollo Crews & Baron Corbin vs. The Bloodline vs. Legado del Fantasma vs. Pretty Deadly vs. The O.C. – Tag Team Championship Number One Contenders Gauntlet match
To kick off this Gauntlet match, Angel and Humberto jump Corbin, and Crews is swatted out of the ring onto the floor. Angel wastes no time pressing his advantage against Baron. However, Corbin retaliates with his own artillery.
Legado del Fantasma make a comeback when Humberto suicide dives Corbin. Humberto attempts to power slam Corbin, yet he was unsuccessful. Baron made sure of that when he sidestepped allowing Humberto to collide with the turnbuckles.
The Champions, DIY, are looking on backstage. Apollo is finally tagged in as well as Angel. Crews bulldozes through Angel with a clothesline followed by more aggressive offense. Apollo delivers a series of German suplexes to keep Angel winded. Unfortunately, Garza rocks Apollo with an abrupt knee to the face.
Apollo was nearly taken down if it weren’t for Corbin’s interference. Humberto didn’t take too kindly to that, so he tries to dismantle Corbin. Luckily, Baron manages to send Humberto into the stairs. Apollo and Baron advance when Corbin hits the End of Days maneuver on Angel. Legado del Fantasma have been eliminated. Ha!
Who’s next? The Street Profits.
After some unnecessary showboating between Crews and Ford, Apollo manages to plant Montez with a drop kick as he came off the ropes. Surprisingly, when Ford returned fire, he planted Apollo high up on the back of his neck that commentary was sure this would have ended him. It was nasty.
A collision of double clotheslines in the middle between Dawkins and Crews stuns them both. Ford and Corbin are tagged in after that. Baron nearly knocks Montez out with that clubbing blow to the head.
Corbin tried to superplex Montez, however, Ford manages to kick him off and attempts a frog splash that ultimately ends when Corbin delivers a clothesline to Montez’ throat. Baron follows that with a power slam. Ford retaliates with a step-up enziguri that lays them out both. B-Fab looked worried like hell.
Here comes Crews as he gets bulldozed by Dawkins, but he fights on for a short while that almost took him out again if it weren’t for Corbin. Ford sends Baron flying shoulder first into the post.
The Street Profits come back into the match with a winning Revelation to Crews. Corbin tried to slide back in, but he was too late. Crews and Corbin have been eliminated. Pretty Deadly struts their way to the ring as the next contestants. They even tried to end this early with a couple of roll ups.
Dawkins returns fire as he face plants Kit Wilson, followed by some double teamwork from the Profits. Montez thought he had the advantage when he hoisted Wilson up, yet he didn’t notice the tag Pretty Deadly made, so he Ford gets swept from under him by Elton Prince. They kept their focus on Montez’ left knee.
Ford was on the receiving end the majority of the time, luckily, he was finally able to tag Dawkins after he pushed Wilson away. Angelo came blazing hot for the most part, until he also didn’t notice the tag made once he collided with a sudden DDT at the hands of Wilson. Pretty Deadly almost pinned Dawkins.
Because of that, Wilson and Prince continued with their offense. Unfortunately, they didn’t count on the Profits’ resilience to stay in the game as they perform a winning Blockbuster to eliminate Pretty Deadly. Now, the O.C. have joined the fight room.
The match has already started where the Profits are getting mulled by the Good Brothers, Anderson and Gallows. Ford is suffering. Quite frankly, I’m glad the O.C. are here because they’ve been overlooked for several months now, even with AJ Styles’ switch in persona to the Lone Wolf.
Anderson and Gallows kept smothering Montez to prevent him from tagging Dawkins and exerting his own energy. Despite the amount of punishment Ford has endured, he fights on. He was able to send Anderson over the ropes, causing him to trip onto the floor by accident on Karl’s part. Ford dodges Gallows as well. Angelo finally comes in.
Just as the O.C. were about to put Angelo away, Montez grabs hold of Anderson’s leg, so Dawkins could roll Gallows for another win. Now, they face the Bloodline. The most dangerous and freshest team left. Dear God… Solo Sikoa told Jacob and Tama to bring the Tag Team titles home. They just might if the Profits lose.
Tama had cornered Dawkins and threw Montez elsewhere. The whole atmosphere of the match has changed the moment these men entered the ring. I’m not saying they can’t lose, but they’re most likely to win. The Profits just need to find their Achilles heel if they can in time.
Tama and Jacob deliver double headbutts to Dawkins, then squash him in another corner. The Bloodline has control of their opponents to the point that I wonder if Angelo can tag Ford. Fatu continues to dig his claws into Angelo’s skin. Jacob was on a roll until Angelo ducks out of the way, causing Fatu to hit the post.
Due to the shocking collision, Dawkins was able to tag Montez as Jacob brings in Tama. Ford gets the best of this exchange with two clotheslines and a spine buster. Tonga doesn’t stay down long, though. I was actually surprised when Tama nearly got pinned.
Tonga rips Montez from the top with a superplex. Even with the amount of beatings the Profits inhaled, they still have the heart to remain in the match. Ford flies over the post as he crashes on top of everybody.
Montez delivers a DDT to Jacob, but it had no effect on the man since he got right back up with a Samoan Drop followed by a winning Moonsault to become the number one contenders for DIY.
Winners: The Bloodline
Next, we were suppose to view an exclusive interview on Cody Rhodes’ initial thoughts on the carnage he, Kevin Owens and Randy Orton suffered at the hands of the Bloodline. For some reason, A-Town Down Under hijack the show for a few minutes.
Waller and Theory are mad that they lost to Rhodes and Owens last week because of Terence Crawford’s involvement, so they want him to come out and apologize. Ha! Okay… Grayson assumes that the audience wants to hear an apologize when really, I want to hear Crawford gloat.
Waller made the mistake to shout at Terence to look at him when he’s talking. He also went as far as to warn Terence that if he takes one more step towards him, Austin will knock him out. Ha! Wow. Grayson blindsides his “friend” again as Theory feels what it really means to blackout after one punch. Crawford isn’t just anybody, remember that, boys.
After this beautiful ending, we head to Cody Rhodes, who’s in Japan during a tour he said he was going to do. You know, despite the fact that Rhodes was finally able to finish his story by beating Roman Reigns, he committed one BIG mistake. He forgot about Solo Sikoa. Cody thought the Bloodline was no more after WrestleMania 40, but he was wrong.
Sikoa stepped up and brought the most ruthless and inhumane individuals he could think of to fill in the blanks that were missing within this faction in the first place. Reigns wasn’t bloodthirsty like the men we see now. Roman and the Usos had principles that retained some of their humanity, something the current members do not have.
Which is why it makes them perfect for what Solo envisioned, and a nightmare for Rhodes to deal with. The Champion challenges Sikoa to meet him in the ring one-on-one next Friday before their match at SummerSlam.
Also, WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships are on the line when Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill get a rematch against the Unholy Union. DIY have a massive pile to sift through with their new number one contenders being Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu.
Bayley & Michin vs. Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton – Tag Team match
Just as Michin makes her entrance, Nia and Tiffany clabbers her from behind. Bayley arrives a little too late, but she pays it forward by getting a jump on Stratton as soon as the bell rings. Tiffany makes a comeback with a shoulder tackle. This fight turns into a Handicap match because Michin still hasn’t gotten up.
Stratton whips Bayley into her corner, which she takes full advantage to hit Nia. Tiffany sees this and returns the punch. Regardless of the unevenness, Bayley fights on. Michin was up for a moment, so Jax Samoan Drops her on her ass. “Thanks for coming, Michin.” said Corey Graves
Nia and Tiffany remain dominant even more so once Jax gets tagged in. Their double team was truly beautiful to watch, even if queen Nia and Stratton are arrogant little prissys.
Because Bayley has an upcoming Championship match against Nia next Saturday, commentary ask themselves why she continues to kick out of every pin. Well, she demonstrates that when she delivers a German suplex after picking Stratton in the air. Bayley was able to free herself when she ducked out of the way, so Nia could hit the post. Michin comes in and fights Stratton with a neck breaker and a tornado DDT off the ropes.
Michin and Bayley were doing all right until Stratton tried to interfere. Nia was looking for a Samoan Drop, so Bayley clubs at her head. While the official was trying to get Michin to exit the ring since she’s the illegal competitor, Tiffany uses her beat up briefcase to slam Bayley in the face. Jax comes in with the Annihilator.
Winners: Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton
TOP PHOTO: Cody Rhodes with his Championship. Courtesy of WWE