WWE SmackDown LIVE Results: July 11, 2017By Cassidy| July 12, 2017 WWE SmackDown Previous Page Detailed Results For the first time since his unexpected victory over Kevin Owens at a WWE Live Event at Madison Square Garden in New York City last Friday night, SmackDown LIVE kicks off with the brand new United States Champion AJ Styles. The new champion says that Battleground came a little early for AJ Styles before saying that this isn’t about Kevin Owens or AJ Styles, it’s about the United States Championship and what it will represent. Styles then says that it wasn’t that long ago that a former United States Champion made it his mission to come out there and have the absolutely best matches against all comers for the United States Title and it was called the “U.S. Open Challenge”. The new United States Champion then says that he thinks it’s about time they bring the U.S. Open Challenge back! AJ then says that the United States Championship has been “overlooked” way too many times and, from now on, when you see the United Stated Title around someone’s waist, you will know that that person is the “very best”. Styles continues, saying that, if there’s any WWE Superstar in the back who disagrees, then they can come out there and “prove me wrong”! The new champion then declares that the AJ Styles U.S. Open Challenge starts right now! Appropriately enough, the man who would answer the challenge was the former United States Champion that AJ Styles was referring to earlier as the creator of the U.S. Open Challenge takes the champion up on his offer as none other than sixteen-time former World Champion John Cena comes to the ring in the very city where Cena and Styles had an absolutely classic match for the WWE Championship back at the Royal Rumble! Cena says that he wants to make sure that AJ Styles was correct, asking if the U.S. Open Challenge was open to everyone but him. However, Styles tells his longtime rival that the open challenge is “especially” open to John Cena! Cena responds by declaring that he accepts the U.S. Open Challenge before asking for a referee to come to the ring! The impromptu title match is then set up as a referee comes to the ring and the ring announcer makes the introductions with AJ Styles and John Cena more than ready to go to war over the prestigious United States Championship. However, just as the referee is about to ring the bell to officially get the match underway, the match is put on hold by the arrival of the former United States Champion Kevin Owens. Owens says that nobody cares about seeing another match between AJ Styles and John Cena, saying the only thing that matters is getting the United States Title back to its “rightful owner” and that’s him. Owens then says that nobody “missed” John Cena before saying that it is his title and Cena doesn’t “deserve” to be anywhere near the United States Championship. Cena responds by saying that, if Owens wants him to leave the ring, then he’s more than welcome to try, vowing that he will “run through” Kevin Owens if he steps into the ring and, then, he will “run through” AJ Styles! This is when Cena is abruptly interrupted by his Battleground opponent, Rusev, who tackles Cena, pounding Cena with right hands! AJ Styles then gets involved, coming to the aid of John Cena by attacking Rusev and tossing “The Bulgarian Brute” out of the ring. However, this would provide the perfect opportunity for Kevin Owens to enter the ring and catch the new champion off-guard with the Pop-Up Powerbomb! Cena then charges back into the ring only to get leveled with a side kick from Rusev! “The Bulgarian Brute” then locks in the Accolade on John Cena, leaving Cena laid out as Rusev and Kevin Owens stand tall over their respective rivals. Less than two weeks before he defends the WWE Championship against Randy Orton in a Punjabi Prison Match at Battleground, the WWE Champion was in action on SmackDown LIVE as Jinder Mahal, with The Singh Brothers in his corner, would go one-on-one with “The Perfect Ten” Tye Dillinger in a non-title match. In the end, it was Jinder Mahal hitting the Khallas on Tye Dillinger, pinning “The Perfect Ten” as the WWE Champion picks up the win. After the match, Jinder Mahal says that he brings “class, diversity, and excellence” to WWE but the fans still cheer for that “snake” Randy Orton. The WWE Champion then says that the nation of India knows that he is the “greatest champion of all-time” before vowing to “bring hell” right to Randy Orton next week when he brings the Punjabi Prison to SmackDown LIVE! After the scathing Rap Battle between The New Day and The Usos on last week’s SmackDown LIVE, this week’s SmackDown LIVE would see The New Day’s Xavier Woods, with Big E & Kofi Kingston in his corner, would face one-half of the SmackDown Tag Team Champions Jey Uso, with Jimmy Uso in his corner, less than two weeks before their rematch for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles at Battleground. Early on in the match, Big E & Kofi Kingston and Jimmy Uso would both get involved in the match and this would lead to the referee ejecting the three men from ringside, leaving it to be a true one-on-one match! In the end, it was Xavier Woods hitting his springboard elbow drop, pinning Jey Uso to pick up the win as well as some momentum before Battleground. Backstage, SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon is posed with a problem after Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Natalya, Tamina, and Lana all express that they should be the next challenger for the SmackDown Women’s Title. Shane remedies this by announcing a Fatal 5-Way Elimination Match at Battleground between the five women with the winner getting a match against Naomi for the SmackDown Women’s Title at SummerSlam! After also making a tag match for later in the evening, the Commissioner is confronted by “Ms. Money-in-the-Bank” Carmella, who presents Shane with a petition from her lawyer concerning the 30-day suspension of James Ellsworth. However, Shane rips the petition up in the face of “Ms. Money-in-the-Bank” before telling Carmella that the “decision stands”. After their brawl last week, “The Artist Known As” Shinsuke Nakamura was set to go one-on-one with “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” Baron Corbin on SmackDown LIVE. However, before the match can begin, Shinsuke Nakamura jumps Baron Corbin, sparking another brawl between the two that spills into the crowd before referees and agents are able to break it up. Before they, along with Lana, are part of a Fatal 5-Way Elimination Match at Battleground to determine who will face Naomi for the SmackDown Women’s Title at SummerSlam, “The Irish Lass Kicker” Becky Lynch would team up with Charlotte Flair to face Natalya and Tamina in tag team action. During the match, the fifth piece of the puzzle at Battleground would come down to ringside as Lana would watch the tag match with a vested interest in the proceedings. Lana would then pick her spot to distract Charlotte Flair, which would keep Charlotte from seeing Natalya tag in Tamina. Charlotte would then set up for the Figure-Four on Natalya before Tamina comes in with a super kick to Charlotte, pinning Charlotte to pick up the win for her team. Backstage, Sami Zayn would confront SmackDown LIVE’s resident lovebirds Maria & Mike Kanellis as Maria demands Sami apologize to them for interrupting their interview last week. However, Sami says that, when he has something important to do like have a match, Maria & Mike are in his way before Sami asks Mike if he even competes. Sami then asks if Mike is the “lover” and Maria is the “fighter”. Maria responds by mock laughing at Sami before slapping Zayn across the face and Mike follows this up by smashing a flower vase over the back of Sami’s head! Maria then tells Sami that was brought to him by the “power of love” before saying that, sometimes, “love hurts”. Then it was time for the main event as new United States Champion AJ Styles would team with sixteen-time former World Champion John Cena to face the team comprised of their respective Battleground opponents, “The New Face of America” Kevin Owens and “The Bulgarian Brute” Rusev. At the end of a wild tag team match, it was AJ Styles taking out Rusev with the Phenomenal Forearm before catching Kevin Owens with the Pele Kick. John Cena then follows this up with the Attitude Adjustment to Kevin Owens, pinning Owens to pick up the win for his team. After the match, AJ Styles and John Cena would go face-to-face in the middle of the ring before Cena shows his respect for AJ Styles by raising the hand of the United States Champion, putting their rivalry on hold for the time being. What did you think of this week’s SmackDown LIVE? Post your comments in the box below.
