Last night Smackdown organised a Gauntlet match featuring five of the prime names.
Paige kicked off the show informing us about the same. It was the main event of the evening. The winner would be the new number one contender for the WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules.
We do know that AJ Styles is over with the feud against Shinsuke Nakamura. He defeated his nemesis at the MITB PPV event in a Last Man Standing match. This win solidified his legacy, as he moves towards the next rivalry in-store for him. Five men lined down to get an opportunity against him.
The Smackdown superstars featured in the Gauntlet match were Samoa Joe, Big E, Rusev, The Miz and Daniel Bryan. The last name mentioned, started things off. He made the entrance in an unprecedented way when the Bludgeon Brothers were leaving the ring following their Smackdown tag team match.
It set up a confrontation between Bryan and Bludgeons. Big E was the first one to join Bryan inside the ring. We did not expect him to get the win in this match. The outcome was predictable, as Bryan put him down with a kick. After that, Smackdown witnessed a dream bout between Bryan and Samoa Joe.
The elimination of Samoa Joe was pretty much interesting via count-out. Bryan got out of the Coquina Clutch and got into the ring forcing Joe to get eliminated. But The Bludgeons returned to the ring hunting him down. A massive attack followed paving the way for The Miz to eliminate Bryan from the match.
Rusev joined The Miz in this Gauntlet match. It was a pleasure to see him getting the win against the A-lister. He survived a massive DDT and backfired with a Machka Kick. The Bulgarian Brute then locked in the Accolade forcing Miz to tap out. Rusev officially became the new contender for the WWE Championship.
AJ Styles came out to greet his challenger on Smackdown Live. He went for a handshake with Rusev. Aiden English came forward and went for it. But he took away his hands right away. A furious Styles knocked down English with a punch. It ended Smackdown hinting a solid upcoming rivalry.
