Friday Night SmackDown aired a pre-recorded episode this week from inside the Jim Whelan Broadwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first following Night of Champions as we now begin the road to Saturday Night’s Main Event on July 18th, and SummerSlam the weekend of August 1st and 2nd.
Cathy Kelley stood backstage interviewing Charlotte Flair and asked The Queen why she interfered against Jade Cargill during her Women’s United States Championship match with title holder Tiffany Stratton at Night of Champions last Saturday. Flair said that Jade got what she deserved; Jade ruined her opportunity at winning the Queen of the Ring tournament, so she ruined hers at winning the title, and she’s going to keep teaching her lessons ’til she gets the damn picture.
Alexa Bliss walks into the shot and tells Flair that she didn’t know she was going to be in Saudi Arabia last Saturday. “Blisster” knows that Flair is impulsive; with Jade having attacked them both, enough is enough. Bliss gets that, but still wishes she told her, sitting at home and watching her pop up on the screen; she looked great, but still, a heads up would have been nice. Flair says it wasn’t personal, and last week, when she was at home icing her knee, sitting with her mom and her dog, she saw her on the screen with Tiffany.
Bliss tells her she’s stubborn enough to team up with Tiffany, when speak of the devil… Tiffany Stratton arrives. The Buff Barbie tells Flair that she never needed her help, but reluctantly thanks her. Chelsea Green comes in and says that Jade should be worried about them. Flair then leaves to make her entrance for a six-woman tag team match pitting her, Stratton, and Green against Jade, Michin, and B-Fab.
The babyfaces were in control of the match early on, with Stratton waging war with all members of the heel team before tagging in Flair, who took them out only to meet a clothesline by Cargill before commercials. The heels were dominating by the time the show returned, keeping a strong foothold of Flair before she could tag in Green, who went full speed ahead against Michin, tagged in by B-Fab. Ultimately, the match would end with Green being the victim of Jaded for The Baddies to win.
Candice LeRae appeared backstage when the new WWE Champion, Sami Zayn, ran into her and the still-motionless Johnny Gargano. Zayn told The Poison Pixie to take a quick picture of him and Johnny on his phone, which she did, although she remains none too pleased with his presence.
Cathy Kelley reappeared later, now interviewing Giulia. The Beautiful Madness says she doesn’t back down from any fight; she put Kiana James behind her. If Blake Monroe stops being a coward, she will fight her anytime, anywhere. James walks in and disrespectfully claps, saying that Giulia’s words are rich coming from her; it would be just like her to bite the hand that feeds her, as James says she got lucky.
As Giulia starts to talk, Blake Monroe pulls her by the hair and throws her into a box, telling her that it’s so good to see her again. James then tries to rub it in by saying that as fun as that was to watch, to not forget who’s in control, but she too gets slammed into the box by Monroe.
After the two got into a physical altercation at ringside during last week’s match between Jacy Jayne and Paige, Fatal Influence’s Lainey Reid took on the Anti-Diva’s partner and co-Women’s Tag Team Champion Brie Bella. In what was a quick match, the two fought for control before Brie began to target Lainey’s arm and shoulder. With commentary mentioning Brie’s longevity over the relative newcomer, she was able to reverse a maneuver caused by a distraction from Fallon Henley and Jacy Jayne into the Yes! Lock.
Fallon attempted to get Lainey to reach her hand out, but was slammed to the floor by Paige, who then threw Jacy into the ring post. Fallon then hit a right hand onto Paige, spurring Brie to throw Lainey against the barricade. The distraction helped Brie get thrown off her game as she met a running knee from Lainey upon getting back into the ring, resulting in the Alabama native winning the match. Jacy and Fallon celebrated in response.
Saturday Night’s Main Event will air on July 18th at 8 p.m. Eastern Time / 5 p.m. Pacific on Peacock in the United States. The following matches are set to take place:
- Women’s Tag Team Championship: Scream Mode (Brie Bella and Paige) (c) vs. Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid, with Jacy Jayne)
Next week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown airs from inside the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s episode of SmackDown in the comments below.
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