SmackDown Episode #1291
Venue: VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena (Jacksonville, FL)
Attendance: ~9,600
Results of Tonight's Show
| Match | Stipulation | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Bianca Belair vs. Tiffany Stratton | Queen of the Ring Tournament Match | Bianca Belair |
| LA Knight vs Tama Tonga | King of the Ring Tournament Match | Tama Tonga |
| Jade Cargill vs. Nia Jax | Queen of the Ring Tournament Match | Nia Jax |
| #DIY vs. Legado del Fantasma | Tag Team Match | #DIY |
| Randy Orton vs. Carmelo Hayes | King of the Ring Tournament Match | Randy Orton |
IMPORTANT NOTES:
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SmackDown kicks off tonight straight into Bianca Belair vs. Tiffany Stratton, a match which has had absolutely no online controversy or weird speculation
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Post match, Cathy Kelley interviews Bianca in the ring, asking about her knee. She says yeah, it's bothering her but that's no reason for excuses. And next week nothing is stopping her from becoming Queen of the Ring.
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Logan Paul strolls through backstage before being interrupted by LA Knight exiting Nick Aldis' office. They have a brief staredown before Nick invites Logan into his office.
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Byron Saxton interviews Jade Cargill backstage, asking her how she prepares for someone as dominant as Nia Jax. She says, Jax is just in her way. Bianca strolls in and Jade congratulates her on her win, asking her about her knee. She says it'll be fine, even if she has to stand across the ring from her.
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Backstage with the Bloodline, with Tama Tonga chattering like an angry cat who can't get to a bird. Paul Heyman asks Solo Sikoa if he's talked to "him" today. Solo says, all the time…
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Cathy Kelley asks LA Knight how he feels about his upcoming match. Knight says he can get him introduced to a BFT and then grab his crown. Carmelo Hayes walks up, noting he was a top draft pick and… Knight says, who was the first round draft pick when Tom Brady was drafted? Hayes says their match will end with H-I-M, with Knight countering with everybody saying L-A-KNIGHT YEAH.
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Post-match, LA Knight is complaining to Charles Robinson about the 3-on-1 situation when Carmelo Hayes interrupts saying oh he couldn't get the job done huh? Knight shoves him, and Robinson holds them apart.
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Nick Aldis is in the ring for our contract signing. Logan brings a bunch of Prime bros with him to the ring. Cody asks Logan if he knows what happened here 32 years ago on this day? It was Wargames '92, and it's memorable if you're a fan of professional wrestling, but Logan is just a tourist. It's time for him to make Cody Rhodes a Grand Slam champion. Logan doesn't want to here it, he just showed up to sign a contract - except the crowd keeps drowning him out with boos whenever he tries to say this. He tells the crowd they're horrible. He reviews the contract, but then tears it up and says he only agreed to compete for the WWE Undisputed Championship ONLY. Logan has his attorney pulling out the contract with his terms, and tells Nick Aldis to make Cody sign it. Aldis says this isn't what they agreed to & it's unprofessional. Logan's litigator asks if he's threatening his client? Cody interrupts, tells Nick he's doing a good job, then tells him to leave it to him & Logan to resolve. Logan says Cody's done nothing to deserve a shot at his US Championship, but Logan is worthy of every title in this industry. He throws the contract at Cody, who comes back angrily saying the honeymoon is over, everyone's going to see what Logan is like on the inside. He signs the contract before tossing Logan out of the ring and taking out his cronies.
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Cathy Kelley talks with Nia Jax, who knows Jade Cargill is impressive, but she's not going to be the Queen of the Ring.
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Austin Theory & Grayson Waller join the commentary desk for the tag team match.
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The commentary desk addresses the QR codes that have been appearing recently, and they address the Twitch feed last week -- but all they have are more questions than answers.
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Byron Saxton speaks with AJ Styles, noting his last couple of weeks have been challenging. Where does he go from here? Styles notes his loss in Lyon, and in the first round of the KOTR tournament. Next week, he goes to Nick Aldis' office, and will find out from there.
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Byron Saxton attempts to speak with Bayley, but she's interrupted by Chelsea Green & Piper Niven. Bayley says she doesn't have time to talk, how about they do it in the ring next week?
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Next week, from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: the King & Queen of the Ring Semi-Finals!
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Cathy Kelley attempts to interview Randy Orton in the ring after his win, but the Bloodline interrupts. Randy grabs the mic and interrupts them saying, are you going to intimidate ME? I'm RANDY FREAKIN' ORTON, a 14 TIME WORLD CHAMPION. And since we're doing introductions, next week he'll introduce him to his foot up his ass, as well as the 3 most deadly letters in sports entertainment... R-K-O!
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Next week's Smackdown will be pre-taped from KSA (airing live in Europe).
For anybody notice that Tiffany went over to the wrong crown when she came out for her match? She walked over to the men’s crown, now the women’s lol
Did AJ and Bayley fly in just to do a minute-long promo? Easy payday
Nothing has put me off Solo so far until the way he presented himself during Orton’s promo. No thanks.
I’m liking the intro videos, reminds me of the in your house introductions. House show matches meaning something is good too.
This episode was fun
I hope we get Rock's feral bloodline vs Roman's bloodline
LA Knight was really the highlight of the show lmao.
He’s a visionary, a revolutionary…..
he’s Randy “Freakin” Orton?
Mid episode, smackdown got gutted in the draft. No Roman, bloodline under solo is a shell of what it was, Cody feuding with a scam artist who only wrestles to promote his shitty drink.
Cody Rhodes, AJ styles, Logan Paul, LA Knight, A Town Down Under, DIY, Nia Jax, Jade and Bianca, Chelsea Green, Bloodline with (eventually) Roman and The Rock, Carmelo, Randy Orton, Tiffy all in a two hour show?
Looks gutted to me. /s
I hope Cody wins and we’re rid of Logan Paul, but with the sponsorship from Prime, I fear he’s not going anywhere any time soon. X-PAC heat.
Not sure you know what X-PAC heat is, buddy.
X-Pac heat: go away, I don’t want to see you on my TV ever again.
I didn’t misunderstand anything, buddy.
Yeah, Logan Paul doesn’t have that
I wasn’t asking. I don’t ever want to see that dipshit on my TV, ever.
Why are you letting your fine-looking blue chipper go in there into a promo battle with a man like LA Knight. He's gonna come out looking like Freddy Luger, all scarred up and charred up and fuckin' ugly. And you're still gonna push him, you sick bastard, because you're a WRESTLER.
No Tiffy time :(
Fact check: FALSE.
It is always Tiffy Time.
In all seriousness she'll be fine, good chance she wins MITB for a start
Tama backstage be like
Smackdown is probably the least interesting WWE show right now. Booking has really fallen off a cliff since Wrestlemania hasnt it? It just feels like they know the big picture is Cody vs Rock next year so they just feel like they need to do filler until then.
If rock comes back it’s for Roman. Cody is boring af
I didn't like all of the results there but I still thought overall that was a great show in terms of the matches, so, as so often, I have no idea what other people here were watching.
Great wrestling and storytelling, so even if not all of my fantasy booking pans out I'm happy if it all works out in the long run.
I feel like Gunther is gonna make Orton tap in the final with his "bad knee", when was the last time we saw Orton tap? Shows how much they're behind Gunther if he taps out Orton, still think Gunther should be on Smackdown challenging Cody since the WHC title picture is pretty full right now
I feel like Gunther is gonna make Orton tap in the final with his "bad knee", when was the last time we saw Orton tap? Shows how much they're behind Gunther if he taps out Orton, still think Gunther should be on Smackdown challenging Cody since the WHC title picture is pretty full right now
OK, look - I love Carmelo, so I'm not hating, but...
The visual of him against Randy is just weird. It's just way too big a size disparity, Randy looks like two feet taller and 150lbs heavier than him.
I kind of thought the same when he was up against Baron, who's actually taller than Randy, but Randy's so yoked that this seriously looked like a grown man fighting a kid.
I'm not saying everybody has to be a gigantic bodybuilder to get pushed, but can't people go against opponents who are at least roughly their own size more of the time? Because if they don't, not presenting it as a "David vs Goliath" struggle really strains the suspension of disbelief.
It's the same reason I dislike almost all intergender matches - unless the woman is like Rhea, Chyna, maybe Jade etc, you can almost always tell at a glance that this would never be competitive in reality.
How dare they throw Carmelo Hayes into a promo battle against LA Knight
bah Gawd that man has a family
If Gunther vs Orton turns out to be the final, I'll be very happy.
I could see Jey and Orton happening too, especially with the bloodline feud
They cool, man. They cool. They literally teamed up at Survivor Series. I don't see them having Gunther lose a tournament that literally would give even more legitimacy to his character/gimmick.
It's the logical choice, considering they are infinitely bigger names than jey and tama. This is a Saudi show, they have to put all the big stars on it.
You think Gunther is a bigger name than Jey?
You’re just ignoring every crowd reaction ever at this point eh?
Gunther is a bigger name than Jey, yes but more importantly Orton is a bigger name than all 3 combined so Orton is definitely in the final. And if we agree that Orton is in the final they are going to put him against a heel. Either way it's Orton vs Gunther or Tama vs Jey, I know which one I want to see.
LOL.
If you actually believe Gunther is a bigger name than Jey, I got some land to sell you big dawg.
Is Gunther a 'infinitely bigger', let alone even bigger name than Jey? And don't get me wrong, I really really dislike this whole 'my whole character is that I say yeet' thing
We're got great wrestling in Jacksonville after a really long time. 👏
The correct answer for Logan Paul debacle is make LA Knight go over him but seems like triple h see him as enhancement talent??
This casual wrestling fan feels like checking out until SummerSlam season. I forgot how crap April/May/June are in WWE land. It doesn’t have to be like this. Sometimes this cooling feels like a choice by WWE.
No idea what you're talking about tbh, I thought that episode was great overall.
worst timeline would be jey vs tama final
Anyone remember if at the wwe superstore in Philly if they had afterpay options ?
The jade Cargill DQ Is super WEAK by WWE a great example of WWE using the easy route WWE still avoiding a Cargill loss it's similar problem Aew had with her
Punctuation matters.
No respect
And it wasn't even that big of a deal... She lost her cool that easily?? Come on!
So KOTR finals is Orton vs Gunther?
Logan Paul is garbage he never wrestles in normal tv matches he's just a celebrity with the US belt
there's NOTHING wrong with being an LA Knight fan, NOTHING. But LA Knight fans need to stop being delusional. Knight is a jobber.... He's never won a title and he loses most of his matches..he literally just got pinned after 1 finisher by someone who just arrived at WWE...that makes him a jobber....
He had his chance...he had multiple title matches and lost.. that's it... stop your crusade against cody fans that you've been on the last year.
He has the same win rate as Cody Rhodes. So lol.
he gonna get Logan's title
and i am a Cody and LA Knight fan so well :P
both Cody and Knight will have titles
Calling him a jobber is CRAZY.
funny how cody fans constantly feel that are "under attack"and play victims
no dude, us Roman, Knight fans simply dont care about your boring ass one dimensional dude. stop being delusional.
Solo looked so funny today 😭
I didn't realize people online think that Iyo isn't winning Queen of the Ring, to me it feels like the most logical and safe choice. Refresh her gimmick, make her Queen of the Sky, she gets to have her win back over Bianca who will make it to the Finals with a nagging worked injury and you get to pay off the interactions between Becky and Iyo/Damage CTRL since they got drafted to Raw.
Win back? Didn’t Iyo cash in on Bianca at Summer Slam and beat her at Crown Jewel last year? Aren’t they kinda even now?
They're playing her arm injury too much for it to happen. But I want my Queen of the sky
Lmao
This was one of my favorite signs. Along with ‘The Bloodline Family Tree is a Wreath’ and ‘Logan is the Reason Shampoo Has Instructions’.
I liked the idea of Tama Tonga joining WWE and the prospect of some fresh matches but something just feels off or not right.
I think they shouldn't have brought in Tanga Loa or else at least waited a while until Tama Tonga was a force.
Also, Solo is awkward and lacks charisma which doesn't help.
I think Solo just needs time. His biggest issue is his look, he needs to shave that horrible haircut and goes to a buzzcut and get some better suits to look a bit more menacing.
I agree with Tanga Loa shouldn't be introduced but if they're going to have Solo be discount chief it makes sense to have someone else do the dirty work with Tama
He should come out like this
i actually think the haircut is fine, considering he comes from the "silent enforcer" gimmick, but yes he needs some better suits, imo the blackone he intially wore was fine but i guess that clashing too much with what loa is wearing.
The people were chanting for LA Knight's finisher, that BFT chant really took me by surprise.
Give this man a lengthy US title run at the bare minimum.
He promo’d his face off. Some real old school Warrior/Macho man energy.
He was trying to get a clap thing going and the crowd started chanting for his finisher. That's kind of awesome, he just needs to change his clap to a 1-2-3 for the crowd to chant along "B-F-T".
First time I've heard that chant
Solo looked like he was trying to hold back from laughing during the closing segment of the show
Seeing the "we have bloodline at home" ah faction beat LA Knight is just pain
Why does Randy wait for like 5 seconds after RKO to cover for the pin. That seems a bit arrogant. One day someone will kick out in an important match, which will cost him (probably Cody in an eventual title match)
In Kayfabe maybe, but if I was The Fucking Randy Orton I would take all the time I want before doing anything in the ring.
-Not a fan of the results this week. I wanted Carmelo and Tiff in the end. I don't care they are new, i want to push them both to the moon NOW. The tournament would have been awesome way to give them credibilty without putting title on them.
-When we saw Tomga win, we knew Orton was winning. Orton spitting all over the mic at the end of the show was fun but can we give him something else to say other than "RKO", its repetitive.
Belair vs Stratton was the best match here. These two ladies never fail.
I don't watch NXT so I'm unfamiliar with Carmelo but I don't really like him. He doesn't seem neutral... Seems like he's trying too hard on the mic
Honestly feels like the younger talent should've gotten more of a push here. Orton is fine but there is not much of a point on making him go over Carmelo. Jey absolutely shouldn't be going over Dragunov, honestly he has good reactions but that's about it, because his character isn't evolving and his in ring product is just not good.
Them merch sales say otherwise
I said he was over bro. Is that sustainable long term if the character work isn't evolving and pretty much no one likes his matches? We'll see.
He just had a good one against Gunther tonight
Nia might be QOTR now that Tiffy and Jade are out. That will get her some heat and bragging rights without the title.
Maybe Tiffy is being penciled in to win MITB, so it doesn’t make sense to also make her QOTR
On men’s side, its gotta be MAIN EVENT JEY USSOOOOOO He is over AF
I reckon jey uso wins mitb
imo Gunther is winning it
King of the ring just doesn't seem like a great step up from Ring general when everyone expects WHC from him soonish
Randy channeling his inner Red Forman.
Oh no Melo lost that clearly means he's buried /s
Nobody has ever come back from losses to more established talent before, looks like he, Tiffany and Ilja will be bumped down to Lvl Up next week...
Tiffany is the rightful Queen, now we have to wait years for her to be it!
LA Knight lost too, but looks like he's eyeing' Logan's title.
speaking of which they found a way for Logan to keep his belt from his match with Cody, so that somebody can take it later. no Cody Two Belts.
i still gotta think they heading for Gunther vs. Randy.
Nia's veteran mind and Jade being green led to a DQ finish. Jade must be used to being allowed to swing back with a chair if a chair is swung at you.
how the Queen will play out feels less clear. Bianca seems like she would beat Nia. meanwhile Lyra could beat Iyo, or Iyo could beat Lyra.
one would think the winner of Lyra/Iyo would end up being Queen at the big event....but it could be Bianca too with how they going with her.
on a side note, Paul Heyman may very carefully check out if Solo is really talking to Roman "all the time". XD
as for what MFT stands for with Tama Tonga. since Tonga Loa is now in Bloodline...perhaps MFT is from Solo's perspective and means "My First Tonga" as to Tama. XD
Would it be too early to have Tama and Jey in the finals? And make a story about the Usos vs the Bloodline?
yah it seems too early for that really
it's when Roman returns in the future things like that will start cooking i think
Tiff/Bianca was a banger. Rematch on a PLE asap, please.
Nia/Jade was a lot of fun, but they could have given them longer than 3 minutes. What the fuck?
Honestly, I'd love to just see these 4 women on Smackdown have a bunch of matches with each other. All exciting fresh matchups as well.