The first WWE SmackDown after SummerSlam had some heavy lifting to do, immediately addressing the huge returns of Brock Lesnar and new SmackDown women's champion Becky Lynch. While Lesnar did not appear on the show, his return was felt as it drove Finn Balor to issue a title challenge to universal champion Roman Reigns rather than wait on the sidelines for "The Beast" to receive his championship opportunity.
For Lynch, who returned at SummerSlam to defeat Bianca Belair in 26 seconds, there were a host of women looking for their chance to challenge for the SmackDown women's title. After a fatal four-way match, however, it was Belair who earned the chance to right the wrongs of SummerSlam.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Bianca Belair secures shot at Becky Lynch's title
Becky Lynch opened the show with an in-ring promo, saying she had missed the fans and that giving up the Raw women's championship due to her pregnancy was the hardest thing she ever had to do. She said she is now more deadly because she has more than herself to fight for. Lynch said she was not sorry for her controversial SummerSlam win, it was simply preparation and taking advantage of the opportunity when she was able to beat Bianca Belair in less than 30 seconds, a line that drew Belair to the ring. Belair said she wouldn't make excuses but also was not alright with what happened in their brief watch and challenged Lynch to a title match later in the night. Zelina Vega, Carmella and Liv Morgan all followed suit, each demanding their own title match before Lynch simply said, "Nah," and left the ring.
Bianca Belair def. Liv Morgan via pinfall with a Kiss of Death. After the chaos of the previous segment, a four-way elimination match immediately started. Beliar first eliminated Vega, narrowing the field to three. Moments later, Morgan eliminated Carmella, leaving her alone with Banks in what was now a No. 1 contender match. After a lengthy one-on-one period, Belair finally finished off Morgan with a Kiss of Death to secure her rematch for the SmackDown women's championship.
The SmackDown women's locker room is a bit of a shambles. Vega and Carmella received endless challenges when Belair was champion and lost over and over and over. Morgan was building a bit of momentum, but only wrestled twice in July and the four-way was her first match since Money in the Bank on July 18. All that adds up to no real reason to care about anything that happened or think that anyone but Belair was in play to win the title opportunity. WWE was also weak with Lynch's reported heel turn, not really going as hard as they needed to in the opening segment to establish her current character. At least Belair is set up to get something resembling a legitimate match after the SummerSlam disaster. Grade: C-
Finn Balor issues challenge to Roman Reigns
Paul Heyman was interviewed backstage early in the show, asking where he stood after the return of Brock Lesnar. Heyman said he would remain where he always is, by Roman Reigns' side, only to find out he'd been locked out of Reigns' locker room. Later in the show, The Usos confronted Heyman, saying he knew Lesnar would be there and questioning why Heyman sent them back to the locker room before Reigns' match with John Cena at SummerSlam. Heyman said he didn't issue the order, Reigns did, but the Usos did not believe him before heading back into the locked locker room without Heyman. Reigns would later show up and ask Heyman if he was joining him in the locker room.
The show ended with Reigns, the Usos and Heyman in the ring for a championship celebration. Heyman told the crowd it was time to celebrate Reigns dominating John Cena at SummerSlam, only to be interrupted by Finn Balor. Balor said he was screwed out of his opportunity at SummerSlam by Cena and he wouldn't sit by while Edge and Lesnar were gunning for the universal championship. Balor was, he said, going to challenge Reigns for a match at Extreme Rules, but no longer trusted anyone enough to stand by and instead challenged Reigns for a title shot next week on SmackDown. Balor then threw the microphone at Reigns before attacking the universal champion. As both Usos attacked Balor, the Street Profits ran to the ring to even the numbers as Reigns walked off. Balor landed a Coup De Grace on Jey Uso as the show went off the air.
Adding some new wrinkles with seeds of distrust toward Heyman from "The Bloodline" was a nice touch as Reigns' well-received act is starting to grow a little bit stale. It was also important that Balor being screwed out of his title shot was not entirely overlooked. Hopefully, WWE can go forward with booking a Reigns vs. Balor match for SmackDown. Title matches on TV are always welcome, even if it seems we're destined to see Reigns face Lesnar when WWE returns to Saudi Arabia. Grade: B
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
- Cesaro def. Chad Gable via disqualification after interference from Otis. Cesaro was going for a Cesaro Swing when Otis jumped in the ring to attack. Gable and Otis continued their attack after the match.
- Baron Corbin tried to buy Big E's Money in the Bank contract. Corbin is rich now, after getting lucky in Las Vegas and used that money in a failed bid at Big E's contract, though Big E shot him down even after a $100,000 offer.
- Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs def. Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler via pinfall when Boogs pinned Roode after a pumphandle slam.
- Sami Zayn def. Dominik Mysterio via pinfall after a Helluva Kick. Rey Mysterio was at ringside and tried to calm Dominik down after the loss but Dominik ignored him and walked off.
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