IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley kicked off WWE SmackDown after a recap of last week's events, leading to them setting up WarGames. Ripley said that the Kabuki Warriors think they are untouchable, and now they've teamed up with Nia Jax and Lash Legend. They have made way too many enemies, and SKY added that now they had nowhere to hide thanks to WarGames.
Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair showed up, and Bliss said that they were going to end the fight that the Kabukis had started. Flair said that she didn't trust Rhea, they had too much bad blood, and that they should leave her out of it before walking out.
Uso got some big strikes in early on and sent The Miz out of the ring before the latter came back with the Codebreaker. Jey took a basement DDT before Miz came back with a Blue Thunder Driver and the Five Knuckle Shuffle.
Uso dodged a big slam but took the Skull Crushing Finale for a near fall. Jey came back with a big slam and hit the splash for the win.
Ilja Dragunov and Nick Aldis were backstage, and Ciampa complained to them that refusing him the open challenge over and over wasn't fair. Nick Aldis said that he couldn't do anything, at least tonight, since Dragunov had already chosen his opponent to be Axiom.
Paul Heyman and Bronson Reed were waiting to talk to Nick Aldis, and Aldis told them to make it quick. Cody Rhodes was also there, and after some banter with Paul, the latter set up a match tonight between Reed and Rhoads.
Dragunov was in control early on and got a big boot before the H-Bomb was countered. Axiom dodged a back elbow and got a dropkick before his dive to the floor was intercepted.
Back in the ring, Axiom dodged the Constantine Special before taking a powerbomb. The champ went for an H-Bomb, but it was countered with the moonsault. Axiom hit the Spanish Fly but took the Torpedo Moscow and the H-Bomb before the champ retained.
Result: Ilja Dragunov def. Axiom to retain the United States Championship
Grade: B+
R-Truth was trying to get into The Last Time is Now tournament, but Aldis told him that it was a lottery. Chelsea Green came in and asked for a championship celebration, and Aldis said he would arrange it for next week.
Sami Zayn was out next and said he was tired of watching The MFT attack people he is close to while he is stuck on the sidelines. Solo and The MFT showed up before Sikoa said that Zayn was a pathetic liar and that he didn't care about anyone but himself.
The MFTs surrounded the ring, but Solo said that he was going to let Sami recover to a hundred percent before taking him on. Sami egged him on and was joined by Rey Fenix, Shinsuke Nakamura, and The Motor City Machine Guns.
A brawl broke out, and Sami set Solo up for a helluva kick in the corner, but Talla Tonga saved him, and JC Mateo took Sami down. Sami and friends took the MFT down and cleared the ring before Rey Fenix hit a big dive to the floor on all of them.
Backstage, Solo demanded a match against Sami, and Aldis said that they should set up a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match with Sami's new team.
Former 4-time champ Zack Ryder made his return after five long years to face LA Knight in the Last Time is Now tournament. Knight dodged the Rought Ryder right off the bat and got a big lariat before hitting the neckbreaker for a near fall.
Zack came back with an Impaler DDT before catching LA with the Rough Ryder for a near fall. Ryder blocked the BFT before Knight hit the powerbomb and the BFT for the win.
Backstage on SmackDown, Alexa Bliss told IYO and Ripley that she would try to talk to Flair and get her to come around. The Kabukis, Jax, and Legend attacked the three from behind and laid them out before SmackDown moved on.
Cargill dominated off the bat and blocked some early offense from B-Fab before B-Fab dropkicked the champ into the corner.
Cargill came back with a pump kick and an elbow before getting the Fallaway Slam. Fab took the Jackknife Powerbomb twice before Cargill hit Jaded and picked up the quick win.
After the match, Michin got in the champ's face and got shoved down to the mat before the ref stopped a potential brawl from breaking out.
Next week, Carmelo Hayes will face Bronson Reed, and Penta will face Finn Balor in The Last Lime is Now tournament.
Carmelo Hayes was backstage and said that he looked up to Cena and would want to retire him. Bronson Reed came in and said that he would end Cena's career after ending Melo's next week.
Reed was dominating off the bat and got a big senton and some strikes to the gut before sending Cody into the corner. Reed got the Jagged Edge but missed the Tsunami before Cody came back with the avalanche Cody Cutter.
Cody sent Reed over the barricades and cleared the announce desk before Bron Breakker and Logan Paul attacked him at ringside. The match was called off, and the duo beat him down before Jey and Jimmy Uso showed up on SmackDown to make the save.
Jimmy and Jey hit the 1D on Logan and set up a table in the ring before Drew McIntyre came in and stopped them from getting double splashes on Paul. Breakker hit a spear on Jey through the table in the corner before Logan took Jimmy out with the right hook.
Cody took the Claymore and the Tsunami before the heels took over the ring. Heyman handed a contract to Drew, and the latter joined the Vision for the WarGames lineup before SmackDown went off the air.