WWE SmackDown: Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Kofi Kingston
WWE SmackDown featured a lot of wrestling action Friday.
After a big Wednesday night show with the NXT Great American Bash, WWE content continued with another edition of SmackDown on Friday. This night featured a big rematch for the intercontinental title as the main draw, but several other attractions on the evening as well.
Matt Riddle is the newest name added to the SmackDown roster from the NXT brand. He walked from one show to another to face AJ Styles his first time out. His second match involved another former champion as John Morrison was tabbed as Riddle’s second opponent. They kicked off the show after Riddle and Baron Corbin fell into a war of words.
Riddle and Morrison got off to a start with a grappling exchange that would please any Olympic wrestling hopeful. Morrison got out to an early lead in the match, mixing in wrestling with aerial attacks. Riddle turned things to his advantage, landing a variety of throws and top rope attacks of his own. The Miz and Corbin attempted to run the distraction play, but Riddle saw through the opportunity, rolling Morrison up and getting the pin fall.
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Before the show could go to commercial, Styles would run out to attack Riddle. Drew Gulak ran out to make the save, which kicked off their match immediately after. Styles wasn’t in a mood for showboating as he punished Gulak from the very start of the contest. Styles focused on Gulak’s leg, stomping away at it to prepare for the Styles Calf Crusher. Gulak swung the momentum in his direction, but that was ended when Styles threw him face-first into the turnbuckle. Just when it looked like Gulak was going to find a way to earn a victory to take the title, Styles countered into the Styles clash that left Gulak motionless. He wasn’t done with the contender though, setting him up for the Phenomenal Forearm to finish Gulak off and get the victory.
Bayley and Sasha came out to support their continued run of success, only to be interrupted by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. The back-and-forth would lead to an impromptu match from the mind of Banks between Bayley and Bliss. Bliss and Bayley would share their moments of success in this match, but everything would break down when Banks got involved while the referee was distracted. Cross would attack Banks and then attack Bayley after, getting Bliss disqualified in the process.
Nakamura defeats former WWE champion
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura have pestered the New Day week after week as they seek the SmackDown tag team titles. This week, Nakamura faced off with former WWE champion, Kofi Kingston, in a one-on-one match. Kingston attacked right out of the gate, landing multiple takedowns and forcing Nakamura out of the ring. Nakamura used that moment to turn the tides and get the momentum in his favor. Cesaro and Big E got involved outside, only to both get tossed from ring side.
Back in the ring, Nakamura would regain control over the former champion for a second time. The pace would pick up as they would trade a number of high-impact strikes. Kingston landed the SOS for a close two count. Nakamura landed a running knee to drop Kingston and get the big singles victory.
While the night ended with the toast for Jeff Hardy, the wrestling action on WWE SmackDown this week was exceptional from start to finish.
July 3 WWE SmackDown Results
- Matt Riddle defeated John Morrison via pin fall
- AJ Styles defeated Drew Gulak via pin fall to retain the WWE Intercontinental title
- Bayley defeated Alexa Bliss via disqualification
- Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kofi Kingston via pin fall