WWE SmackDown Live recap: It’s KO’s show now

On this week’s SmackDown Live, Kevin Owens asserts his place, Kingston tells Samoa Joe how he really feels and Bobby Lashley makes a threat.

We already apparently saw the shift in creative direction on Monday Night Raw, with Paul Heyman putting his stamp on the red-brand flagship show. Was the same the case with Eric Bischoff at the helm of SmackDown Live this week?

No, not really. While there still felt to be a different tone to the proceedings, there was still a dearth of wrestling. Luckily, we avoided the two-out-of-three falls trap for a night.

The show opened with a recap of the LED-board explosion caused by Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman colliding with it on Monday night. The speculation is that Strowman has “a number of fractures and a potentially ruptured spleen.” We will also hear from Lashley at some point.

Kevin Owens presents ‘The Kevin Owens Show’

The night starts out with Kevin Owens set to host another episode of The Kevin Owens Show. His guests are Drew McIntyre and … yes, we cannot escape him … Shane McMahon. The money, it’s arriving.

McMahon is displeased with Owens’ dispassionate introduction but at least Greg Hamilton remains on hand to help. With that out of the way, it’s down to business: What’s up with The Undertaker? For two straight weeks on Raw, Undertaker has shown up — not to help Roman Reigns, which was just incidental though the two are teaming up against McMahon and McIntyre at Extreme Rules — to menace Shane and Drew.

McMahon claims he is unafraid of The Undertaker, given his recent hot streak. He also reveals the tag match at Extreme Rules will be no holds barred. McIntyre basically reiterates his points and notes that this will be a vicious assault, which one would suppose is the point of a no holds barred stipulation at an event entitled Extreme Rules.

All of this “fearing The Undertaker” talk is interrupted by Dolph Ziggler, and Owens stops it right away: Yes, we know “it should have been you,” but it wasn’t, it’s not and it’s time to go away. Ziggler just keeps repeating the same “it should have been me,” talking points.

Owens and Ziggler appeal to McMahon to be given the next title shot against Kofi Kingston.  Instead, McMahon puts Owens and Ziggler in a “can they coexist?” tag team and they will face Heavy Machinery later in the night. If they win, they will be added to the SmackDown tag titles match, currently set between champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan versus challengers The New Day.

Match No. 1: Big E vs. Daniel Bryan

As aforementioned, SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan are set to defend their titles against The New Day at Extreme Rules. Thus, Bryan faces Big E one-on-one in the first match of the night. Big E is accompanied by Xavier Woods and Bryan, by Rowan.

The match starts during the picture-in-picture commercial break, with Bryan mostly having the upper hand over Big E. A belly-to-belly on Bryan from Big E (and a splash) turned the momentum in Big E’s favor. Rowan to attacks Big E on the outside after E missed on a dive.

Bryan thus uses the distraction to hit Big E with a knee and picks up the win.

Our favorite former champion

Former WWE 24/7 Champion R-Truth is backstage with Kayla hoping to not have to review the footage of losing said title to Drake Maverick the previous night. He reminisces on his own lack of a honeymoon. But he also thinks that maybe three would make for a better honeymoon and perhaps he will join Maverick and his wife in order to get his coveted championship back.

Elsewhere backstage, Alexa Bliss tells Nikki Cross that Cross will be hosting A Moment of Bliss tonight. Bliss is nervously confident.

A Moment of Cross

Cross, empowered by Bliss, takes on the hosting duties for A Moment of Bliss on SmackDown this week, and yet again the guest is SmackDown Women’s Champion, Bayley. Cross is thrilled in that way that only Cross can be thrilled.

Cross thanks Bliss and then promises that, because of her accent, she will try to talk slowly to make sure everyone understands her. She introduces her guest, Bayley, who of course defends her title against Bliss at Extreme Rules (because Cross beat Bayley last week). Bayley again warns Cross against doing Bliss’ bidding.

Cross gets into things, asking Bayley why she calls Bliss a liar. Bayley’s answer? Because she is! Cross is displeased, believing that everyone is treating Bliss unfairly. Bayley points out that it was Cross’ win that got Bliss the title shot and that Cross beat Carmella on Raw when Bliss couldn’t. So why is Bliss Bayley’s opponent at Extreme Rules and not Cross?

A logical question. One that Cross doesn’t have an answer to aside from to fight right here, right now. It is, apparently, on.

Match No. 2: Nikki Cross vs. Bayley

In a rematch from last week, Bayley and Cross face off in the ring, only this time it’s a result of Cross being unable to handle tough questions without her fight instinct kicking in rather than a mandate from Bliss.

This week, Bayley holds the upper hand early before a cross-body from Cross puts the momentum back in her favor.

The two are well-matched, not just by the booking but also their styles. A Bayley-to-Belly, however, puts Cross away easily. Cross fails to pick up her third win in a row and Bayley looks strong as champion (yes, it’s still possible on occasion).

We also get another Ali promo (these have been outstanding):

Oh, this will go well

Noted violent man Samoa Joe is set to have a face-to-face, in-ring … discussion … with WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, the man he is challenging for said title at Extreme Rules and also the man he choked out on Monday night. No chance it ends up in more violence, this time.

Joe, like so many who have challenged Kingston in the past, claims that Kingston cannot win on his own. Kingston counters with saying that all Joe has done himself is lose his United States Championship to Ricochet and that Joe is now just attacking people from behind rather than confronting people head on.

Joe goes to his traditional well — insulting and threatening a person’s family. Kingston says it’s because Joe is jealous — also a traditional well to draw from in pro wrestling.

Joe challenges Kingston to shake his hand, and if he does, Kingston “and all who he holds dear,” will be kept safe and unharmed until Extreme Rules. Kingston flips Joe off and hits him with Trouble in Paradise. Look for Joe’s attacks on Kingston and The New Day to escalate ahead of Extreme Rules.

Backstage, Heavy Machinery tout their brotherhood — and Kevin Owens’ and Dolph Ziggler’s inexperience teaming together — as their advantage in tonight’s match.

Bobby Lashley update

We then get an update on Bobby Lashley from Lashley himself. He’s upset that he could have been electrocuted and Braun Strowman didn’t care — which means he deserved getting the worst of the damage on Monday. Lashley is going to send Strowman “to the morgue,” so there’s an on-camera death threat, folks! Fun!

Match No. 3: Apollo Crews vs. Andrade

Apollo Crews has been after a fight with Andrade for weeks, presumably because he sees talent in him — that part is unclear but not difficult to assume, since Andrade is extremely talented. And finally he gets one.

Andrade tries to get an early advantage by attacking Crews pre-match but it doesn’t work. The momentum shifts to Crews and then back to Andrade during the picture-in-picture commercial break. By the time we’re back, it’s Crews atop again.

Zelina Vega eventually gets involved, hitting a hurricanrana on Crews on the outside, sending him into the announce table. That sets up an easy win for Andrade with a hammerlock DDT.

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Aleister Black got ding-dong-ditched

Last week, Aleister Black, begging for a fight and for someone to come to the door of the closet he lives in, got a knock. This week, he’s let us know that when he opened the door, no one was there.

He is requesting to fight said mystery man at Extreme Rules, and to take each other to seven layers of dip … er, Hell. So, Black will finally (maybe) get back in the ring on July 13.

Match No. 4: Ember Moon vs. Mandy Rose

Ember Moon’s ongoing rivalry with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville continues this week with Moon facing Rose, with Deville in Rose’s corner. Moon defeats Rose with the Eclipse in short order.

What a beautiful move, one we see all too rarely anymore.

Uhh …

Match No. 5: Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens vs. Heavy Machinery

In main-event action, Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens face Heavy Machinery and should Ziggler and Owens win, they will join the SmackDown  tag team title match between champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan and The New Day, making it a triple-threat match. As such, Xavier Woods, Bryan and Rowan are all at the commentary desk — or, desks. The New Day have their own, pancake-themed table.

This, naturally, made for entertaining banter. Bryan continues to put Heavy Machinery over — but only if they would stop gyrating and get serious. That line of criticism continues to The New Day, resulting in Big E and Woods attacking Rowan and Bryan.

The pancake carnage is staggering.

After the break, New Day and the champs have been sent to the back for the match at hand to continue in peace. Now the story shifts back to whether Ziggler and Owens can work together as a team and have the opportunity at gold outweigh their animosities. So far, they seem to be.

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Tucker gets the hot tag to Otis, and Owens to Ziggler. Otis hits the Caterpillar on ZIggler but Owens hits Otis with a superkick. Ziggler tries the same thing, but instead connects with a superkick on Owens. Heavy Machinery then hit the Compactor on Owens, getting the pin and ending Ziggler’s and Owen’s chase for tag gold.

Owens then hits Ziggler with a stunner and we might have a face turn on our hands. Where’s Sami Zayn?

And that’s SmackDown Live for July 2. Perhaps not as … explosive … as Monday’s Raw, but it still did a lot of work to build storylines ahead of Extreme Rules, which is less than two weeks away. Let us know your thoughts on the show in the comments below.