The New Day guys are the first act out the gate on Smackdown, taped in Rockford, Illinois. They’re interrupted by The Club, which leads into a match between AJ Styles and Kofi Kingston later.
This is a really cool feud because Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are truly solid tag team performers that can potentially take the tag belts off the New Day without hurting the New Day or the division. Also, Styles’ involvement could lead to more legitimate singles opportunities for New Day members without requiring a break-up. Plus, this places the tag team titles very close to main event level, which is a good thing considering how great the New Day have been as of late.
Becky Lynch def. Charlotte (non-title match)
The Women’s Champion takes the loss when Dana Brooke interferes to create the disqualification. That leads to a two-on-two brawl with Natalya and Becky getting the upper hand on Charlotte and Dana.
The women’s division turning away from Ric Flair and toward the actual women is a welcome change. If this is a build toward Becky getting a future shot at Charlotte’s title, that would also be a good thing. Hopefully, she can be built up as a real threat, or even take the belt, to give the entire division enough momentum heading into the recently announced brand split.
Dudley Boyz def. Golden Truth
Tyler Breeze and Fandango help out the Dudleys with a distraction at ringside.
On one hand, it’s a necessity that more tag teams get involved in the storyline, since that division will probably get a larger showcase once the brands split. That said, this Golden Truth storyline has gotten drawn out to the point that fans are already tired of it before the team has ever won a match. Breeze and Fandango have real potential both as a serious heel threat and as entertainers, but that would only matter if they get more wins.
For the Dudleys, it remains to be seen where their feud with Enzo and Big Cass is going, but it’s nice to see the opponents mixed up a little bit here.
Dean Ambrose/Sami Zayn def. Kevin Owens/Alberto Del Rio
For the second time this week, the faces involved in the Money in the Bank ladder match get the upper hand on the heels in tag team action. In true Owens show-stealing fashion, the Canadian superstar brings in a ladder after the match to go after the briefcase hanging above the ring.
With these men on the card alongside the world title match between Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns and perhaps matches involving New Day vs. The Club and John Cena vs. AJ Styles, the Money in the Bank pay-per-view is shaping up nicely. This is an absolutely loaded MITB match with several men that make sense as winners. If the WWE adds one more guy – perhaps Randy Orton or Bray Wyatt – this could go huge places for the rest of the year. As it stands now, there really isn’t a MITB participant that seems out of the running to take home the briefcase, especially when you consider how unlikely a winner Sheamus was last year.
Rusev def. Jack Swagger
Unclear whether this was a United States Championship match or not, but it really doesn’t matter since Rusev won. Afterward, he went on the attack, but as has become expected, Titus O’Neil comes out to make the save.
Rusev’s newfound vicious streak is a good return to the character he had when he was originally U.S. Champ back in 2015. Titus is also a good opponent for him because the feud will help both men but make Rusev look even stronger when he, presumably, wins in the end. Guys like Titus should be most excited about next month’s brand split, as it can only increase his odds to get more meaningful matches.
AJ Styles def. Kofi Kingston
In a rare singles main event for Kofi, Styles gets the win with his Styles Clash finisher. While the match is coming to an end, the other members of the New Day fight with Gallows and Anderson at ringside.
Styles and the Club are fresh off an incredibly well-done feud with Roman Reigns and the Usos, and this could head similar directions. At least for now, Styles using the Clash to beat Kofi seems to mean that he takes this match very seriously, which makes Kingston look good even in a loss. This is really good writing, too, because Styles doesn’t seem likely to have beef with New Day going forward, but this match still makes sense. Hopefully, with his new heel persona, Styles can get some even bigger wins over the next few weeks and even get in on a title picture somewhere.
