WWE Friday Night Smackdown Live Coverage - June 21st, 2024
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CM Punks returns to Chicago
CM Punk has been out of action since tearing his triceps at Royal Rumble earlier this year, but all of that could change when The Best in the World makes his return to Chicago this Friday. At the Clash at the Castle: Scotland Post-Show, Punk stated he would provide an update on his health this Friday. Punk has much to discuss, especially after his involvement in the main event of Clash at the Castle: Scotland when he sported a referee’s shirt and refused to count to three as Drew McIntyre was covering World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest for a potential title victory. What news will Punk deliver?
:smackdown:
– We kick off tonight's show with a recap package looking back at the WWE Clash At The Castle: Scotland premium live event, and how CM Punk cost Drew McIntyre the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in front of his home country fans. Also shown is footage of Drew McIntyre "quitting" WWE on Raw this week.
– We see a live shot of "The Second City" of Chicago, Illinois as Corey Graves and Wade Barrett welcome us to the show. The camera shot settles inside a sold out AllState Arena, where we immediately hear loud "CM Punk! CM Punk!" chants. Living Colour hits the house speakers and the roof nearly comes off as "The Best in the World" comes out to kick off this week's show.
Punk gets not only the rock star reaction, but the super rock star reaction, as he comes to the ring. He stops and soaks it up with little personal moments with several fans in the front row before settling in the ring. The "CM Punk!" chants grow even louder as he drops down and sits cross-legged in the middle of the ring in trademark fashion. He pops up, the music stops and the crowd reaction continues to grow louder, as do the "CM Punk!" chants.
He mentions being on live TV in Chicago on a Friday night, and how good that feels. He says that's a lot of pressure. He says promising to walk away champion in front of your hometown crowd is pressure, alluding to Drew McIntyre. Punk mentions July 17, 2011 as a date he promised he would leave his hometown with the title. And he did it.
He says they said they needed extra security for him in Scotland if he got involved, and he did it the Chicago way and did it anyways. "I just didn't think it would be that easy." He brings up McIntyre quitting. Punk mentions him gloating about praying that bad things would happen to CM Punk. He says he made some bad things happen to Drew, and planned to make more bad things happen, but he took his ball and went home.
Before he can continue, we hear "Ladies and gentlemen ..." and out comes Paul Heyman to interrupt Punk. Punk looks at him with his jaw dropped. Fans loudly chant "ECW! ECW!" Heyman says he didn't interrupt Punk out of disrespect. He says it's hot as balls in Chicago right now. He says when CM Punk kicks off SmackDown in Chicago, it's hot as balls inside the AllState Arena.
He mentions Punk being there with his kids when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He says he told him then and he means it now, that Punk is his best friend along with Roman Reigns. He asks Punk's permission to come into the ring. Fans chant "We Want Roman!" Punk says there's one person who can hijack his promo and gets fans to chant for Roman and get away with it, and it's him.
Punk tells him he can come into the ring. Heyman does. Punk says he doesn't look so good and asks if he's okay. Heyman falls into his arms and gets emotional. "I'm sorry, I needed that," Heyman says. He says on the drive in, that Chicago is CM Punk's town. "And that really pissed off Solo Sikoa." Heyman begrudgingly says now that he's head of the table, he wants every town to be his town.
He says he came out here to do Punk a favor, and he wants one back. He says any day now Punk is gonna get medically cleared and anyone who steps into the ring with him is gonna see Punk is "The Best in the World." He says if he doesn't get out of here right now, The Bloodline is coming for him. He mentions extra security being here "for The Wyatt's," not a bunch of Samoans and savages.
He says with love and respect, against your own instincts, please get the hell out of here right now. Punk says, "You're serious? You want me to leave because Solo and the Tongans are gonna try and jump me ... in Chicago?!" Fans chant a negative Solo chant and then his theme hits. Out he comes with Tonga Loa and Tama Tonga to a ton of boos from the Chi-Town crowd. Solo gets on the mic as they walk to the ring.
Sikoa threatens Punk. Punk asks Heyman what favor he wants to ask of him. Heyman says, "Take me with you," and nearly starts crying. "Solo, I acknowledge....the fact that I don't see The Bloodline standing in front of me. I see a bunch of fake-ass Usos and a phony cosplay Tribal Chief." Solo and The Bloodline drop their mics and head to the ring. Punk takes his jacket off. Cody Rhodes hits the ring and stands aside Punk with a bat, and hands him a bat as well. The Bloodline backs off.
Cody says Solo fancies himself head of the table, right? Solo says you damn right. Cody says he already beat one head of the table. He challenges Solo to a fight tonight and says he'll beat another. Cody's theme hits to end an explosively entertaining opening segment.
– Backstage, Jade Cargill approaches Bianca Belair and tells her she knows she has a match to worry about tonight, but she's gonna go find Nick Aldis and get them their tag-team title rematch. Belair says that's good but she's got to go qualify for Money In The Bank right now. The two laugh and Jade wishes her luck as she heads out to the ring for tonight's opening contest.
Women's Money In The Bank Qualifier: Bianca Belair vs. Michin vs. Chelsea Green
As "The EST of WWE" settles inside the squared circle, we shift gears and head into a quick pre-match commercial break.
Back from the break, the bell rings and both Michin and Belair take turns landing forearms on Green as we see Bayley watching the action from backstage. Belair levels Michin, but Green lands a right hand on her. Belair rolls up Michin, but kicks out. Belair then looks to land a springboard moonsault on Michin, but Green prevents her from doing so and pulls her out of the ring. Belair inadvertently lands a forearm on Michin while aiming for Green, and the two go back and forth with forearms until Green delivers a tope suicida to level them both.
Back from the break, Belair and Green teeter on the ropes, but Michin pulls them both down with a double back suplex. Michin and Belair then go back and forth with forearms before Belair rolls up Michin. Michin kicks out and looks to land a hurricanrana on Belair, but Belair blocks her. Michin counters into a roll up, but Belair kicks out.
Michin sends Belair crashing out of the ring with Eat Defeat, but Green rolls up Michin. Michin kicks out and looks to land Eat Defeat on her. Green reverses into an Unprettier, but Michin avoids it and connects with a Styles Clash. She goes for a pin, but Belair breaks the fall. Belair delivers a German suplex to Michin, then follows it up with KOD. Green dumps Belair out of the ring and pins Michin for the win.
Winner and QUALIFYING: Chelsea Green
– Bayley, who was shown multiple times watching the qualifier on a monitor backstage, is approached by Blair Davenport, who taunts her and says she'll be qualifying next week.
– In The Bloodline locker room, Solo Sikoa is in Paul Heyman's face. He demands a message be sent to Kevin Owens and Randy Orton. Solo grabs him by his tie and tells him when he gets back, he and Heyman need to have a talk. Heyman walks off to find Orton and Owens as we head to another break.
– We see footage of DIY trying to convince Austin Theory that Grayson Waller is just using him. We return live, where Grayson Waller is backstage for an interview. He mentions Theory not being here tonight and says he's gonna qualify for Money In The Bank tonight and win it for Theory. Up walks DIY who again talk about how Waller is using Theory.
Some guys walks behind them and pounds on the garage door. It slowly opens and we see CM Punk is laid out and busted open with someone standing over him. The garage door finishes opening and we see it is Drew McIntyre. He picks up the lifeless, bloody Punk, hoists him over his shoulders and walks him all the way to the ring with a single camera shot following him the entire way.
McIntyre comes out in front of Punk's hometown crowd, which is loudly booing. He drops Punk like dead weight and stands over him looking out at his fans. He kneels down and does the sand-comb, "It's clobbering time!" gesture and then takes something out of Punk's hand.
He gets ready to leave and out comes Nick Aldis and security. Aldis gets hands'y with McIntyre, who turns and shoves him hard. A stretcher is brought out to load up a very bloody and still unconscious Punk as we head to another commercial break. When we return, we see footage of Punk being wheeled out on a stretcher during the commercials. Back live, we see him being loaded into an ambulance in the parking lot.
Money In The Bank Qualifier: Tama Tonga vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Randy Orton
Back inside the arena, Tama Tonga is in the middle of finishing up his ring entrance. Already in the ring, introduced next, is Carmelo Hayes. Randy Orton's theme then hits and out comes "The Viper." It's time for our first of two men's Money In The Bank qualifying matches for tonight's show. The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one.
Barrett informs us the job of Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa is to make sure Randy Orton doesn't qualify for Money In The Bank. This was the message Solo gave Heyman earlier, which wasn't heard due to audio issues. Wade Barrett cleared that up as the early action gets started in this triple-threat qualifier.
Tama and Hayes both jump Orton in the corner and then Orton begins fighting back and throwing both to the floor. Orton heads out and bounces Tonga's head off the commentary desk. Hayes blasts Orton from behind. Orton grabs Hayes and goes to slam him on the table but Tama stops him. The two team up on Orton again.
Orton fights back again and hits back-to-back side suplexes on Tonga and Hayes onto the commentary desk to pop the crowd. On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
When we return, we see Orton take over until Tonga Loa comes out to interfere. Kevin Owens cuts him off but in the chaos, Hayes rolls Orton up for the win to qualify. After the match, an awesome recap package is shown of the ending of Raw with the debut of The Wyatt 6. We head to another commercial.
Winner and QUALIFYING: Carmelo Hayes
– When we return from the break, the theme for LA Knight hits and the crowd goes bonkers as "The Mega Star" heads to the ring for our next segment of the evening.
Knight says it's he, Paul and Santos Escobar in a qualifier for the Money In The Bank on next week's show in Madison Square Garden. He tells Paul if he doesn't show up again, he'll come looking for him.
As he continues talking, the theme for Escobar hits and out he comes. Knight says to cut the stupid music. He says he didn't ask for Escobar, he asked for Paul. Escobar tells Knight to shut up. He says Knight is dillusional.
Knight tells Escobar he's not looking at him, he's looking past him. Escobar tries attacking Knight from behind, but Knight gets the upper hand and takes him out with a BFT. He goes to brag, but Logan Paul shows up out of nowhere and knocks Knight out cold with brass knuckles. We head to another break.
Money In The Bank Qualifier: Grayson Waller vs. Andrade vs. Kevin Owens
As we settle back in from the break, we see Grayson Waller making his way to the ring. As he settles inside, we see Andrade is already in there. The theme for Kevin Owens hits and out comes "The Prize Fighter" to a big pop. He is attacked from behind by The Bloodline.
Barrett informs us on commentary that the other part of Solo's message to Heyman was that Owens not qualify either. They succeeded in keeping Orton from qualifying earlier. Orton comes out to help fight The Bloodline off of Owens. Owens limps to the ring, refusing help, and demands the bell be rung.
It is, and we see Owens try and score a quick victory. He doesn't, and Andrade takes over. He goes for a big dive onto Waller on the floor, but misses. Waller hits a dive but then Owens takes him out and hits a running senton to him on the floor. He rolls him back in the ring and climbs to the top, but Andrade cuts him off.
We see back-to-back high spots, culminating with Andrade flipping over the ropes and power bombing Waller off the ring apron to the floor. On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as slow-motion footage of the aforementioned spot is shown on the way out.
After we return from the break, we see some more back-and-forth action and then Waller starts to take over. Andrade heads to the top-rope with him, but Owens cuts them off and hits a stacked high spot out of the corner. Owens heads back to the top-rope for a flying swanton.
He hobbles over on a bad knee for the pin, but only gets two. Owens hits a stunner out of nowhere on Andrade off the ropes, but Waller breaks up the follow-up pin attempt. He pulls Owens out to the floor and lays him out. He leaps back into the ring, but Andrade takes him out for the pin. With the win, Andrade qualifies for Money In The Bank. After the match, we head to another commercial break.
Winner and QUALIFYING: Andrade
– Back from the break, we are told CM Punk will be kept in a hospital overnight for evaluations, and that Chad Gable has been medically cleared for his Money In The Bank qualifying match on Monday's Raw.
– Also, announced for next week's SmackDown in MITB qualifying bouts are Candice LeRae vs. Jade Cargill vs. Tiffany Stratton, Naomi vs. Blair Davenport vs. Indi Hartwell and LA Knight vs. Logan Paul vs. Santos Escobar.
Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa
Cody Rhodes' theme hits inside the arena and out comes "The American Nightmare" for our scheduled main event of the evening. As he settles in the ring, we shift gears and head to another commercial break.
When we return, Cody is shown waiting in the ring. Backstage, Paul Heyman approaches Solo Sikoa before he goes out. He tells him he delivered the message as promised and that Orton and Owens didn't qualify as promised.
Heyman tells Solo that Roman Reigns had some rules and Solo isn't following them. One was that CM Punk is hands off and another was that Cody was his business to handle. Solo tells Heyman, "Roman isn't coming back." He walks off as Heyman looks stunned.
Solo Sikoa heads out and Heyman trails behind him as they head to the ring for our final match of the evening. The bell sounds and off we go. After all of a minute of action, we see Solo and Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga jump Cody and the ref calls for the bell.
Winner via DQ: Cody Rhodes
– After the match, Orton and Owens run out to make the save. Solo Sikoa actually begs off in the corner, but then stops and lets out a giant smile. We see someone appear in the ring behind the baby faces. It's Jacob Fatu! He proceeds to take out everyone one-by-one and he lays out Cody on the announce table. He climbs to the top-rope and hits a big splash to put him through the table. He climbs to the top-rope and hits a big splash to put him through the table. "God help us all, there's a werewolf on the loose," is Graves' last words as The Bloodline throw up the 1s as this week's show goes off the air.
