It’s just been a couple of days for Dirty Dom as a solo champion but he was literally forced into first title defense on WWE Smackdown. A Hall of Famer was in attendance at the show to schedule him in the title match.
As seen on WWE Smackdown, Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley and her boyfriend, WWE NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio were present, backstage for an interview with Kayla Braxton. Dominik admittedly attended the blue brand show to show his “deadbeat Dad what a real champion looks like.”
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Butch of The Brawling Brutes interrupted the interview and challenged him to a title match, right there. Dominik wasn’t prepared for the match and besides, he mentioned that there was no one from NXT to book him in a Title match. NXT show-runner and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels showed up on WWE Smackdown and proposed that Dominik should defend his title later the night on the show.
After utter ringside chaos, Dominik Mysterio eventually defeated Butch to retain the NXT North American Championship on WWE Smackdown. Rhea Ripley attacked Butch’s knee during the ending moments of the match, which allowed her boyfriend to pick up the win. Ridge Holland was out at the ringside area to provide Butch with the upper hand but Kit Wilson lured him into the backstage area.
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With that WWE Smackdown has already presented Dominik with his first successful title defense after his controversial title win on the July 18th episode of WWE NXT. He defeated the former champion Wes Lee for the NXT North American Title after Ripley clocked the latter with the Women’s World Title behind the referee’s back.
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Dominik’s father, on the other hand, approached one step closer to becoming the United States Champion. Over on WWE Smackdown, Rey Mysterio defeated Cameron Grimes, Sheamus, and LA Knight in a Fatal-4-Way United States Championship Invitational in the opening contest.
United States Champion Austin Theory was out during the match to attack Mysterio during the match, which led to LWO member Santos Escobar making the save. After Escobar neutralized Theory, Mysterio pinned LA to advance to the next round. Next week on WWE Smackdown, Mysterio vs. Escobar will take place with the winner facing Theory for the US Title.
