Renee Young and Daniel Bryan welcome the WWE Universe to yet another edition of Talking Smack, with Bryan mocking Renee for her celebration of Independence Day despite being Canadian. The two run through some of the evening’s events, including Daniel’s beef with James Ellsworth.
#1 Naomi
The hosts run down Naomi’s new lit up championship belt, in addition to her quick disposal of Lana during their title match. They recap Lana’s tweets that led to a third match between the two, with Naomi saying that she thinks the Ravishing Russian gets the point now.
Naomi says that she has her guard up in the wake of Carmella capturing the Money in the Bank briefcase, and the three then quickly revert to the lighting changes of her championship. She didn’t want to take away from the traditional look of the title, but she wanted to add her own spin to it.
Bryan asks whether Naomi feels like she’s seriously in charge of the division, and she responds by saying that she needs to let everyone in the locker room aware of that. Her preferred opponent for a match at Battleground would be Charlotte Flair. They run down the brief appearance of Tamina following her title match, to which Naomi questions whether or not there’s a touch of jealousy involved.
Before the next guest comes out, Bryan runs down his own rap and claims he should’ve been involved in the rap battle tonight.
Also read: Best and Worst of SmackDown Live July 04, 2017
#2 Mike & Maria Kanellis
After a brief display of affection, Mike questions what kind of man trips on a power cord and says he feels sorry for Sami Zayn. Renee recaps the debut of the couple from Money in the Bank, before asking what the power of love actually is. Maria says it’s within them, and Mike follows up by saying they have a message – and it’s love.
Bryan actually brings up the fact that Mike’s last name was formerly Bennett, asking why he did it. Mike wonders why it’s a “bold” move, claiming that they are ahead of the curve. Mike says that Maria is a strong, beautiful woman and the least he could do was take her name. He doesn’t think it’s strange, and he thinks it’s a great name.
Renee asks what the duo are looking to accomplish, to which Maria responds by saying that they want to prove love conquers all. Mike says that he can feel the hatred and jealousy upon walking into the locker room, and he questions why.
After they leave, Renee claims that she still doesn’t understand the couple. She then confirms that Cena will face Rusev at Battleground in a flag match.
#3 AJ Styles
Styles comes in a tad awkwardly, almost unannounced like he’d do as a heel, before putting Chad Gable over by talking about how tough the match was. He says the Gable bout was more difficult than the Independence Day battle royal that saw him become the number one contender for the United States Championship.
Bryan and Styles discuss the difficulty of wrestling two matches in one night, with AJ going through his technique in the battle royal. Bryan wants to know what Styles’ thoughts are on Kevin Owens, with AJ saying Owens knows that he’s got his number.
Owens says that he’s a better athlete than AJ, to which Styles responds the only thing Kevin is better at than him is eating. Bryan then suggests an eating contest between the two men next week on SmackDown Live, and AJ says he’d rather not do that.
Renee wishes everyone a happy July 4th before signing off.
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