It was the final edition of Smackdown Live prior to this Sunday’s Summerslam event. A big-time main event match was announced between John Cena and Jinder Mahal. Plus, after what went down last week, AJ Styles was supposed to have an apology segment to Shane McMahon. Here’s how all of that went down from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
WWE Smackdown kicked off with Jinder Mahal celebrating the Independence Day of India. The whole ring was decorated with Indian accessories and the national anthem was also played. Shinsuke Nakamura interrupted to make a bold statement that this Sunday, he will become the new WWE Champion in Brooklyn by defeating Jinder.
The scheduled match between Becky Lynch and Natalya took place, next. Naomi, the champion was sitting at ringside for commentary during the match. Nattie capitalized with a sharpshooter to pick up the win. She continued with the assault to Becky even after the match.
Naomi ran down to make the save and Natalya decided to run away. On the ramp, Carmella showed up with Ellsworth to mock both the competitors at Summerslam. At backstage, Lana had a conversation with Tamina where they planned to act like a team and make the latter one, a champion, one day.
Rusev had a matchup against Chad Gable on Smackdown. The brawl went outside, as Rusev hit the steel steps and was unable to make it to the referee’s call. Both men got counted out and Rusev decided to go after Gable. Randy Orton came out of nowhere to hit an RKO to his Summerslam opponent to end the segment.
AJ Styles had an apology segment to Shane McMahon for hitting the latter one with a kick, last week. Kevin Owens went out to interrupt the conversation between the two. This led to a fight between Styles and Owens. Shane was again hit by a superkick from Owens for a second week in a row.
The New Day had a matchup against The Usos. After neutralizing Xavier Woods from ringside, Uso twins connected with a double superkick to pick up the win. The fashion police aired another segment that hinted that they will return to the show after two weeks.
The main even witnessed the first-ever matchup between Jinder Mahal and John Cena. The Singh Brothers were present at the ringside area to provide the distraction on a constant basis that led the referee to ban them. Cena connected with an AA but failed to pick up the win. He hit another AA from the second rope but this time Baron Corbin attacked him from behind.
This disqualified the match, as Corbin saw the opportunity to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase on a lying Jinder Mahal. The bell rang for an official title match between Jinder and Corbin. Cena distracted at the beginning of the match and Jinder rolled up Corbin for the win. The show went-off the air with Cena mocking his Summerslam opponent.