Two days before the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event, WWE brought SmackDown to Philadelphia. Despite having an upcoming Extreme Rules match with Finn Balor on Sunday, universal champion Roman Reigns found himself drawn into a surprising main event match with Montez Ford.
While Reigns would ultimately manage to survive the challenge from Ford, and help out The Usos ahead of their SmackDown tag title defense against The Street Profits, he would end the night on his back after a post-match attack by Balor. It's now Balor with the momentum heading into the pay-per-view main event and Reigns again finding himself thrown off by "The Demon."
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
The Demon attacks Roman Reigns after main event
Ahead of The Street Profits' shot at SmackDown tag team champions The Usos, Montez Ford cut a promo backstage during which he called the Usos "Bloodline b---hes" for following all of Roman Reigns' orders. Reigns responded by agreeing with Paul Heyman's suggestion that he put Ford in line in a main event singles match.
Roman Reigns def. Montez Ford via submission with a guillotine choke. Ford got off to a solid start in the biggest singles match of his career before Reigns took the match over. Ford tried to battle his way back into the match but hit a bit of bad luck when he was setting up to jump off the announce table only for the table to collapse as soon as Ford stepped on it. Ford continued to battle back as he pushed Reigns in a tough match but Reigns managed to get his knees up on a Ford frog splash and lock in a guillotine choke for the finish. After the match, Heyman said it was not enough punishment for Ford's sins and called the Usos to the ring. The Usos set up a table and Reigns put Ford through it with a rock bottom before the lights went out and "The Demon" Finn Balor appeared on the top rope, taking out The Bloodline before using a kendo stick. Balor put Reigns down with a slingblade and several chair shots before a big dive over the top rope before the show went off the air.
It was great to see Ford receive a big singles opportunity. He's as close to a "can't miss superstar" as you can get in professional wrestling and he should get these kinds of spotlight chances even if he's not yet a main event player. The match also delivered what it needed to, showing Ford as a threat but not yet on Reigns level. More importantly, Balor got a good show-closing moment to build momentum to Extreme Rules, which not much else on the show aside from the Belair and Lynch opening segment did. Grade: B+
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
- Bianca Belair dropped Becky Lynch with a Kiss of Death. Lynch opened the show with an in-ring promo only for Belair to interrupt. A brawl broke out after the two women exchanged words before Belair countered a Manhandle Slam attempt into the Kiss of Death to lay out the SmackDown woman's champion.
- Intercontinental Championship -- Shinsuke Nakamura (c) def. Apollo Crews via pinfall after a roll-up. Chaos broke out late in the match with Commander Azeez and Rick Boogs getting involved to set up the finish.
- Seth Rollins threatened to find Edge in his home if Edge refused to return to SmackDown and acknowledge that Rollins is better in every way. Later in the show it was announced that Edge would be making an appearance at Smackdown next Friday to respond to Rollins.
- Zelina Vega def. Liv Morgan via pinfall with a Code Red. The finish came after distraction from Carmella -- who faces Morgan at Extreme Rules -- allowed Vega to score the quick win.
- Kevin Owens was attacked when he attempted to interrupt Happy Corbin during "Happy Talk." Owens was blindsided by Riddick Moss, who apparently has now aligned with Corbin.
- Nikki A.S.H. def. Natalya via pinfall with a small package. After the match, Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart brought their tank to ringside and fired a missile at women's tag champions Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley.
- Sonya Deville had Naomi escorted off by security after Naomi got in the ring and demanded a match. Naomi challenged Deville to a match only to have her mic cut off.
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