WWE SmackDown results

WWE SmackDown Results: Review, Grades, Card For July 18

By Lovell Porter

Our WWE SmackDown results for tonight include Charlotte Flair going one-on-one with one half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez, Stephanie Vaquer battling Alba Fyre of The Secret Hervice, Fraxiom clashing with Motor City Machine Guns, Andrade & Rey Fenix, and #DIY in a WWE Tag Team Championship number one Contenders Fatal 4-Way Match, Saturday Night’s Main Event & Evolution fallout, and Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena & Cody Rhodes to coming face-to-face in SummerSlam Contract Signing. Here’s our review and grades for tonight’s show, live from the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas.

WWE SmackDown Card:

  • Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena & Cody Rhodes to come face-to-face in SummerSlam Contract Signing
  • Stephanie Vaquer vs. Alba Fyre
  • Saturday Night’s Main Event & Evolution aftermath
  • WWE Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender Fatal 4-Way Match: Fraxiom vs. Motor City Machine Guns vs. Andrade & Rey Fenix vs. #DIY
  • Charlotte Flair vs. Raquel Rodriguez

WWE SmackDown Results:

At the start of the show, Solo Sikoa and his MFTs apparetly had a car accident in front of the arena. As Raw GM Adam Pearce is checking on Sikoa and crew, Cody Rhodes walks in and says he sees Pearce has his hands full, but wanted to confirm that everything he asked for is in the contract.

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Backstage, Charlotte Flair runs into Alexa Bliss. Flair tells Bliss that she got them a tag team title match at SummerSlam. Bliss is confused since their last challenge for the title didn’t work out, so why would Flair want to continue? Flair notes that she never does anything halfway and asks Bliss to be in her corner tonight. Bliss quips that to quote Flair, “Does she look like a cheerleader?” Flair says, well, yes, you do. Bliss says damn right.

Charlotte Flair w/Alexa Bliss vs. Raquel Rodriguez w/Roxanne Perez

Rodriguez lands a few strikes. Flair sends Rodriguez over the top and lands a dive. After the break, Rodriguez works over Flair. Flair fires up and lands a crossbody off the top, but Rodriguez rolls through. Rodriguez drops Flair with a weak-looking spinning slam. Flair fires up and lands a big boot. Flair sets up the Figure Eight. Perez gets on the apron and distracts Flair. In the confusion, Bliss stuns Rodriguez on the top rope. Flair rolls up Rodriguez for the win.

Winner- Charlotte Flair

Grade: B

Solid opening match. Rodriguez is coming into her own, partially because she is following the advice Kevin Nash gave her about working like a monster.

Backstage, Damian Priest is looking for Aleister Black. Priest runs into Carmelo Hayes and asks if Hayes has seen Black. Hayes says no, but if he did, he wouldn’t tell Priest. Hayes told Priest this would happen if Priest didn’t mind his business. Priest challenges Hayes to a match.

Damian Priest vs. Carmelo Hayes

Hayes attacks Priest before the bell rings. Once the bell rings, Hayes tries a whip, but Priest puts on the brakes and unloads on Hayes. Hayes rolls out. Priest tries to lawn dart Hayes into the post. Hayes escapes, but Priest puts on the brakes before hitting the post. Priest turns around and eats a dropkick from Hayes. Priest crashes into the ring post, and Hayes strikes a pose for the camera. After the break, Priest fires up and lands a flurry. Hayes surprises Priest with a springboard forearm. Hayes kips up and sets up Sweet Chin Music.

Priest avoids it, but Hayes lands La Mistica. Hayes tries another springboard, but Priest counters with an elbow to the face. After another series of counters, Hayes counters South of Heaven with the first 48! Frog splash by Hayes! Priest kicks at two! The crowd chants that this is awesome (it is). Priest rolls out. Hayes tries a dive. Priest catches Hayes with another elbow. Complete shot on the commentary desk by Priest. Priest sets up Old School, but Aleister Black appears on the apron. Black crotches Priest on the top rope. The referee calls the bell.

Winner- Damian Priest

After the match, Black knocks Priest out with Black Mass. Hayes and Black lock eyes. Hayes backs away. Black sits in front of Priest and says, “I heard you were looking for me.”

Grade: B+

There is no discernible reason Carmelo Hayes should be featured in matches every week on SmackDown. This match was hard-hitting, and Hayes played the swarmy heel to perfection, annoyingly countering Priest at every turn. It was evident from the start that Aleister Black would interfere at some point, but having him appear on the apron in that manner hasn’t been done in a while. It looked different, but only slightly took away from the hotly contested match that followed.

The United States of Solo

US Champion Solo Sikoa is in the ring with his MFTs. Sikoa says that without him, Jacob Fatu is lost. Sikoa rants on and on about what he did for Fatu and how he’s ungrateful. When it comes to Fatu, it’s once a criminal, always a criminal. Backstage, a police car pulls up. Jimmy Uso is standing there. Jacob Fatu gets out of the police car, and one of the police officers informs Fatu that they have checked the footage and he is not the person of interest. Fatu tells the police what they think of him and powerwalks to the ring. Jimmy Uso appears behind Sikoa and his crew. Fatu and Jimmy attack. Jimmy and Fatu clear the ring. Tala Tonga pulls Jimmy out of the ring and boots him in the face. After some back and forth, Fatu whips Jimmy into Tala, sending him over the timekeeper’s area.

Sikoa tries to run away, but Jimmy sends Sikoa back into the ring. Fatu runs over Sikoa. Hip attack by Fatu. Fatu wraps a chair around Sikoa’s neck and sets up another hip attack. JC Mateo cuts Fatu off. Tala pulls Sikoa out of the ring. Jimmy Superkicks Tonga Loa. Jimmy crushes Loa with a Uso Splash. Fatu crushes Mateo with a Mighty Moonsault. Fatu works over Mateo and Loa with a chair. Adam Pearce walks out on the stage, as he is covering for SmackDown GM Nick Aldis. Pearce announces that since Sikoa wanted to see Fatu locked up, he wants to see how Sikoa likes it. Sikoa will defend the United States Championship against Fatu in a steel cage. The police come out and arrest Sikoa for the incident before the show.

Grade: B-

This one ran a bit long, but it was a solid segment. Fatu still looks like a star, and that’s all that matters here.

Stephanie Vaquer vs. Alba Fyre w/Piper Niven

Fyre starts hot, landing a flurry of offense. Vaquer fires up and blasts Fyre with the Devil’s Kiss. After a series of counters, Vaquer lands the SVB for the win.

Winner- Stephanie Vaquer

After the match, Niven attacks Vaquer. Vaquer pushes Niven over the top while Niven is setting up Vader Bomb.

Grade: C

This was a huge nothing burger. These two needed way more time to get this one going, and unfortunately, they didn’t have it. Vaquer vs. Fyre could be a PLE match, but not when they have four minutes to work with. Also, at the end of the match, Joe Tessitore yelled out, “Vaquer is going to challenge for a title!” Ok… Which title? Why are they being so vague?

WWE Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender Fatal 4-Way Match: Fraxiom vs. Motor City Machine Guns vs. Andrade & Rey Fenix vs. #DIY

After a ton of back and forth, Axiom lands a Spanish fly off the top on Andrade. Frazer sets up a Phoenix splash, but Ciampa gets a blind tag. After Frazer crushes Andrade, but Ciampa pushes Frazer out of the ring and tries to steal the pin. Fenix breaks up the pin while hitting a codebreaker on Gargano. Andrade hits the Message on Gargano for the win.

Winners and NEW Number One Contenders, Andrade and Rey Fenix!

Grade: B-

Solid tag match, but it’s always hard to keep up when there are so many teams moving a mile a minute. This one went over a commercial break, but the action never stopped. At a certain point, you have to let big moves breathe to sell the fact that they registered.

Undisputed WWE Champion SummerSlam Contract Signing

John Cena is out next. Cena tells Rhodes to sit down because he has news. John Cena tells Rhodes that he’s not going to be at SummerSlam. Cena knows this is the first time Rhodes is hearing this, but Cena has already taken it all the way up the food chain. The crowd boos, and Rhodes looks visibly annoyed. Cena notes that he is exhausted and too busy filming a movie for Netflix, so it wouldn’t be good for anyone if he signs this contract. The crowd boos louder. Cena adds that if he signs that contract, he will HAVE to be at SummerSlam, so he can’t. Rhodes earned a rematch, so he can have it in Paris or in Perth. Cena walks away.

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Rhodes runs after Cena and attacks him from behind. Cena and Rhodes brawl. Cena grabs the championship and tries to hit Rhodes with it. Rhodes knocks it into the air and catches it. Rhodes clocks Cena with the championship. Cena falls on top of the table set up in the ring. Rhodes puts Cena through the table with a splash. Rhodes puts the pen in Cena’s hand and signs the contract for Cena. Rhodes grabs a mic and says Cena didn’t get to read the fine print; the match at SummerSlam is a Street Fight!

Grade: B+

This segment was brilliantly done. Rhodes delivered one of his better promos, with the passion of about 10 exploding suns. Cena countered that with the ultimate heel move: passing on a match to not just film a movie, but because he’s “tired.” The only thing this segment was missing was Rhodes signing the contract in Cena’s blood, but that may have been a bit much. One thing of note is that this continues the trend of Cena being in gimmick matches that will most likely be overbooked to the gills. Time will tell, but history suggests this is likely to be a mess.

WWE SmackDown Review:

This week’s episode of SmackDown was well-balanced, featuring solid in-ring action and quality promos. The match of the night was the hard-hitting contest between standout Carmelo Hayes and Damian Priest. The match between Stephanie Vaquer and Alba Fyre was a low point, largely due to the lack of time for anything to develop before it ended. The show closed with an amazing segment between number one contender Cody Rhodes and champion John Cena, where Rhodes proved he will have zero hesitation when next they meet. All in all, this was a solid build for the upcoming SummerSlam PLE extravaganza. Were you all sports-entertained tonight? Let us know in the comments!

Grade: B

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Lovell Porter
Lovell Porter

Lovell Porter is the lead Play-by-Play Analyst for Wrestlezone.com. Lovell handles the live coverage for Monday Night RAW, NXT, and all WWE Special Events. Lovell is a lifelong professional wrestling fan that has been covering the sport professionally since 2015.

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