This week’s SmackDown started as footage from last week was shown where WWE Universal Heavyweight champion Roman Reigns defended his title against Riddle and defeated him. After the match Brock Lesnar made his return and beat down Roman Reigns and The Usos. The Last Man Standing match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam was also advertised.
The show started as Drew McIntyre came out to the arena. He talked about the Money in the Bank ladder match and he claimed that he is going to win the match and dethrone Roman Reigns who had been snubbing him for quite a long time.
WWE Smackdown 24.06.2022 Results & Ratings
The Brawling Brutes interrupted him. Sheamus made similar claim about the Money in the Bank ladder match and said that there is no way that Drew would be winning this match. He reminded that he won it before and he cashed in his contract on Roman Reigns.
Paul Heyman inturrupted them. Adam Pearce came out following him. Paul Heyman talk about the WWE Universal championship match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar that is scheduled for SummerSlam and also said that Brock Lesnar does not have any chance at the mentioned event.
Adam Pearce made an announcement after that by saying that both Drew McIntyre and Sheamus are now cancelled to compete in Money in the Bank ladder match. But they would get a second chance if they could team up to defeat the WWE Tag Team champions The Usos tonight.
Match 1 – Money in the Bank qualifying match – Sami Zayn defeated Shinsuke Nakamura
This Smackdown match was booked for seven minutes and it was a really cool match. The match was mostly dominated by Nakamura and in most parts it seemed like Nakamura was going to get an easy victory. But Sami Zayn stunned him with a sudden Helluva Kick and pinned him qualify in Money in the Bank ladder match.
Next up, the New Day was scheduled to meet Jinder Mahal and Shanky in a tag team action. As both teams entered the ring, the New Day said that this match was being staged week after week and nobody was interested to see it anymore. Rather they would have a dance from Shanky.
Shanky started to dance along with the New Day and the crowd in Austin, Texas went completely wild. Jinder tried to stop Shanky and Shanky pushed him off. Jinder then left the ring and Shanky and the New Day started dancing together.
Suddenly a strange music hit and the faces of the Viking Raiders was the shown on the big screen. The Viking Raiders attacked all three members from behind. First they took out Shanky out of the ring. Then they beat down the New Day really bad. So the Viking Raiders are heel team now.
Match 2 – Raquel Rodriguez and Lacey Evans defeated Sonya Deville in a 2 on 1 Handicap match
This match was booked because Sonya met Adam Pearce backstage and embarrassed him. Adam booked this match to punish her. Sonya brought Shayna Baszler and Xia Li along with her who remained outside during the match. Lacey Evans pinned Sonya with the women’s punch. After the match, all three women tried to attack Raquel and Lacey but they fought back.
Natalya cane out in the disguise of Ronda Rousey. She even brought a baby stroller. So Ronda Rousey is being made fun of for being a mother? Seriously? Natalya kept on making fun of Ronda as WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey came out to the ring and returned the favour by insulting her back. The segment turned violent at the end as Ronda beat down Natty.
Match 3 – WWE Intercontinental Championship – Gunther defeated Ricochet to retain
This match was booked for 3 minutes and it was a very easy victory for Gunther. Ricochet tried to attack Gunther a several number of times but it did not work out. At the end, Gunther pinned Ricochet with the Power Bomb. We expected a better contest since it was championship match.
Match 4 – Money in the Bank qualifying match – Shotzi defeated Tamina
This match was booked for 3 minutes and it was a little shocking to see two jobbers fighting each other at this stage. Shotzi pinned Tamina with a Face First. This must have been the first singles victory for Shotzi from the main rosters to congratulations to her.
Max Du pri was schedule to reveal his clients for the Maximum Male Models stable but once again he did not like the decoration of the stage so in the segment was postponed for next week once again. This is getting irritating now. What is so special about it that they are wasting weeks after weeks?
Pat McAfee stood up on the announce stable and cut a short promo. He talked about the incident that took place last week on Friday night SmackDown with Happy Corbin. At the end he challenged Corbin in a match at SummerSlam. The promo was really cool.
Match 5 – Sheamus and Drew McIntyre defeated The Usos
Not only it was the best match of the night but it was one of the best matches in the recent time of Friday Night Smackdown. What a high intensity match it was! It is impossible to skip past it for even a second. The chemistry between McIntyre and Sheamus was really well produced.
A lot of things happened in this match. At first, McIntyre and Sheamus were not being able to coexist at all. At the end when they finally got some chemistry to work together, Usos became the dominant side. As the referee was busy stopping a chaos, Sami Zayn tried to help Usos but he was stopped by the Street Profits.
Speaking of the Street Profits they were really impressive as live commentators. At the end, McIntyre pinned Jimmy Uso with the Claymore to earn the victory for his side and qualify for Money in the Bank. McIntyre and Sheamus celebrated together as this week’s SmackDown went of air.
Overall it was an average show with the main event being really awesome. There was nothing special about the rest of the show. Shotzi winning her first match in a very long time was a good thing. Once again they postponed Max Du Pri’s stable reveal which was a terrible thing. No World Championship segment either. We give it 2 stars out of 5 and that is all because of the main event which was biggest plus point of this week’s Smackdown.
Sportzwiki Ratings – 2/5