SmackDown.WWE
Shinsuke Nakamura came to the ring with his newly won U.S. title, but LA Knight came out before he could speak. The Megastar was about to go fight him, but Andrade came out and said he wanted his shot at Nakamura.
Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu showed up and beat up Knight and Andrade, but they chose to leave Nakamura alone once he started spewing black liquid from his mouth.
Up next was Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano taking on Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley for the tag titles. This match came about after Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins were attacked backstage by an unknown assailant.
Ciampa went right after Sabin as the ref called for the bell. He yelled at Gargano that they needed to be more aggressive in their pursuit of gold as he stomped on Sabin in the corner.
This match became more about the growing division between Gargano and Ciampa than the titles. Ciampa grew frustrated and told Gargano that he would do it himself.
After inadvertently kicking Gargano off the apron, Ciampa found himself outmatched by MCMG. They got into an argument and Ciampa looked like he was going to leave, but he tried to come in with a chair.
While the ref was distracted, Gargano hit Shelley with a low blow. He superkicked Shelley and a smiling Ciampa held his hand out for a tag. They pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes and hit their finisher to get the pin and win the tag titles.
This was an absolutely unexpected direction for this to go, but being surprised in pro wrestling is rarely a bad thing. DIY has turned heel and hopefully, Candice LeRae can start hanging out with her husband again.
Result: DIY defeated MCMG
Notable Moments and Observations
- Nakamura letting some of the mist leak out was such a creepy and cool look.
- Kevin Owens was supposed to have an interview with Michael Cole but he refused to enter the arena, so he said Cole could come to his car if he wanted.
- Gargano and Ciampa have broken up and made up so much that they are basically the new Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.