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SmackDown Live started off with the first ever Miss. Money In The Bank Carmella who came down to the ring with her briefcase and accompanied by James Ellsworth. Carmella cut an excellent promo stating how she got the briefcase in any way possible while the other women were concerned with making history.
Carmella then went on to talk about how fans overlooked how Kane had helped Seth Rollins win the MITB briefcase in the past while Bray Wyatt had prevented Roman Reigns from winning it, allowing Sheamus to win in 2015.
Carmella then blamed the internet trolls for forcing Daniel Bryan to make a decision about her winning the match even though the Money In The Bank Ladder match is a No Disqualification match.
We cut backstage to Daniel Bryan who told Charlotte that he’d heard from the medical team about her neck. Charlotte cut him off, saying that Bryan should do the right thing since Ellsworth wasn’t licensed to be in the match even though it was a No DQ match before walking away.
The New Day came out and called out The Usos for running away and staging a “prison break out of their own prison” at Money In The Bank when they ran away with the SmackDown Tag-Team Titles.
Big E vs Jimmy Uso
Jimmy Uso took control in the early stages of the match after a distraction from Jey gave Jimmy Uso to hit Big E with a Superkick on the apron. Jimmy continued his momentum till he looked to hit a double axehandle from the top rope only for Big E to catch him in midair and hit him with a trio of overhead belly-to-belly suplexes.
Jimmy Uso hit back with a massive Samoan Drop which even had Xavier Woods looking concerned at ringside. Jimmy Uso then hit Kofi with a cheapshot the it allowed Big E to hit him with a massive modified Rock Bottom.
As The Usos looked to walk away again, Kofi hit them with a running splash before Big E dragged Jimmy Uso back into the ring with the hair and hit him with a Big Ending for the win.
Big E def. Jimmy Uso
Backstage interview with Randy Orton
Tom Phillips sat down with Randy Orton who admitted that he let his eyes come off the ball when Jinder Mahal’s cronies attacked his father. He said that if Jinder’s strategy had been to make it personal, he had succeeded before warning Jinder that he would hurt him badly.
Randy even threatened to travel to India to disrespect Jinder’s family in the same way Jinder has disrespected his as the interview ended.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Dolph Ziggler
Nakamura was confident on the opening stages while Dolph Ziggler moved about a little apprehensively, avoiding Nakamura when he could. Nakamura looked to lock in an early cross-armbreaker but Ziggler avoided it and rolled out of the ring.
Once back inside, Nakamura caught Ziggler with a knee to the guy followed by a knee drop and the Good Vibrations boot in the corner. Ziggler desperately fought back by grabbing Nakamura and tossing him shoulder-first into the corner.
Ziggler raked Nakamura across the face which only enraged the Japanese Superstar. He then tried to lock in a headlock but Nakamura broke free and dumped Ziggler over the top rope and onto the floor outside.
After we came back from commercial, Nakamura turned it up a notch and caught Ziggler on the jaw with an enzeguiri before hitting him with a running knee in the corner for a nearfall. Nakamura hit Ziggler with another knee before attempting to finish him off with a Kinshasa but Ziggler saw it coming. He dodged Nakamura’s patented knee strike and hit him with a Famouser but it wasn’t over as Nakamura kicked out in the last second.
Ziggler then gestured for the Superkick but Nakamura caught him in a Cross-armbreaker and Ziggler escaped only by poking Nakamura in the eye. Nakamura looked to hit an inverted exploder Suplex but Ziggler transitioned it into a Zig-Zag but Nakamura kicked out again. Undeterred, Ziggler locked in a sleeper only for Nakamura to get back to his feet and hit Ziggler with a headbutt.
Nakamura then took Ziggler out with a brutal knee to the back of the head. He followed it up with a Kinshasa to Ziggler’s jaw to pick up the win.
Shinsuke Nakamura def. Dolph Ziggler
Kevin Owens’ Face of America Challenge
Kevin Owens came out and said that the only reason why he wasn’t holding the Money In The Bank briefcase was because the other 5 people had ganged up on him to take him out.
He then went on to say that America was the original land of opportunity and he wanted to give someone from Dayton, Ohio the chance to challenge him.
AJ Styles’ music hit and he came out to challenge Kevin Owens. Owens denied him the opportunity and American Alpha’s music hit, with Chad Gable coming out. When Owens told him he wasn’t from Dayton, Gable replied that he had moved to Dayton that morning. Styles hilariously agreed with him and the match began.
Gable hit Owens with a belly-to-back suplex before trying to lock in an ankle lock as Owens grabbed the bottom rope and rolled out of the ring.
When we returned from the break, Gable rolled up Owens for a 2-count. An irate KO, got back up and knocked Gable down before Gable hit Owens with a DDT. He then hit a moonsault off the top rope for the nearest of falls. Chad Gable then looked to hit a German Suplex but Owens sent him crashing shoulder-first into the corner.
KO went for a cannonball but Gable dodged it and hit a beautiful German Suplex for another nearfall. As Gable looked like he might have a shot at winning this, Owens hit him with a Pop-Up Powerbomb for the win.
An excellent match and a superb performance by Chad Gable.
Kevin Owens def. Chad Gable
Daniel Bryan makes his MITB announcement
Daniel Bryan came out and invited all the women from the Money In The Bank ladder match out to the ring. Bryan said that even though people had helped others win the MITB match before, no one had actually climbed up a ladder and gotten the briefcase for someone else.
Ellsworth interfered and took a shot at Daniel Bryan being a father which almost sent Daniel Bryan into a rage and he threatened to knock Ellsworth out before firing him. As the other women took verbal shots at each other, Bryan announced that he was stripping Carmella of the MITB briefcase and the entire Money In The Bank Ladder match would be held again on SmackDown Live next week.
After Bryan left with the briefcase, the situation broke down in the ring ending with only Carmella, Becky and Charlotte in the ring. Charlotte hit Carmella with a Natural Selection after which Becky locked in a Disarmer.
Jinder Mahal vs Luke Harper
Luke Harper started the match in control as Mahal rolled out to ringside to regroup with the Sing Brothers. Harper hit a suicide dive and only connected with Samir Singh. Mahal hit Harper with a running knee strike to take advantage.
Mahal then rolled Harper into the ring and drove his knee into Harper’s back. Harper hit back with a Butterfly Suplex on Mahal and followed it up with a rolling elbow and a big boot for a 2-count. Harper looked to hit the Discus Clothesline but Mahal dodged it, leaving Harper to hit a sideslam instead.
Baron Corbin’s music hit at this point as he teased cashing in Money In The Bank before walking away. Harper almost took advantage of the distraction to pull off the win but Mahal took advantage of a distraction from one of the Singh Brothers to hit Harper with a sidekick followed by the Khallas to pick up the win.
Jinder Mahal def. Luke Harper
Randy Orton’s music hit after the match was over. He came out and took out the Singh Brothers before turning his attention to Jinder. As he teased an RKO, the two Singh brothers came back in to attack Orton. As Jinder escaped through the fans, Orton hit the Singh brothers with RKO’s to close off a fantastic episode.
