WWE SmackDown: Retribution attacks and ruins the show

WWE’s newest stable, Retribution, ended the night destroying the WWE ring

Last week’s WWE SmackDown ended in a scary sight of the Fiend attacking Alexa Bliss in the middle of the ring. Bliss is a close in character friend to current WWE Universal champion, Braun Strowman. This attack was meant to mentally harm Strowman, who has not been seen since the Swamp match at Extreme Rules. Friday’s edition of SmackDown picked up on that angle and many others within the WWE.

The night started off with a one-on-one battle between Sheamus and Matt Riddle. This was a highly anticipated match that many were expecting to be hard-hitting from the very start. Sheamus used his power to grind and slow Riddle down early. Riddle countered often but Sheamus would continue to pound on his opponent every time he would get some momentum going.

Riddle did not stay down for long. After countering a back-body drop, he landed a series of strikes and Broton Splashes. The fight spilled to outside the ring where Sheamus left Riddle laying. Before Riddle could get back in the ring, Chad Gable ran down to the ring and attacked, causing the disqualification.

Tag team specialists, Cesaro and Lince Dorado were pit against each other in a one-on-one affair. Dorado attempted to come out and use his speed but once Cesaro got his hands on him, that ended quickly. Cesaro grounded Dorado and began to toy with him, but that created the space for Dorado to turn things around momentarily. Cesaro landed a nasty European Uppercut and then finished things off with the Neutralizer to get the pin.

Sheamus gets his payback

Jeff Hardy and Baron Corbin renewed their feud in the next match. Staying true to their styles, Hardy attempted to keep this match moving at a quicker pace while Corbin slowed everything down each moment he could. Hardy and Corbin spilled outside but Sheamus came down to the ring to return the favor to Corbin since he motivated Gable to get involved earlier, which cost Sheamus the bout.

The outcome was a match between Sheamus and Corbin, with the big men going at each other’s throat. The animosity between these two men caused them to take their aggression out on each other both in and out of the ring. Riddle would not let the situation earlier go without payback as he came down to the ring and caused a distraction for Corbin that allowed Sheamus to land the Brogue Kick to take the win.

The main event of the evening was a tag team match with the Miz and John Morrison facing off against Heavy Machinery. Tucker and Otis were looking to get revenge for Mandy Rose and things started out very well for the duo. Morrison and Miz isolated Tucker to work together on picking him apart. This match also ended up outside as all four men brawled. But that opened the door for Rose to sneak attack Deville, which caused the referee to call for the bell, ending the match.

Before the show could end, Retribution stormed the Performance Center, attacking everyone and causing damage to the ring, cameras and everything that wasn’t nailed down.

August 7 WWE SmackDown Results

• Matt Riddle defeated Sheamus via disqualification
• Cesaro defeated Lince Dorado via pin fall
• Jeff Hardy defeated Baron Corbin via disqualification
• Sheamus defeated Baron Corbin via pin fall
• Heavy Machinery versus the Miz and John Morrison ended in a no contest