The final WWE Friday Night SmackDown before SummerSlam featured Jey Uso facing his brother Solo Sikoa in the main event.
This week’s SmackDown took place at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. Roman Reigns was not on this week’s show.
LA Knight did a pre-match promo with the fans cheering him loudly. Knight mentioned there were 25 guys in the battle royal. They showed an image of men like Sheamus, Grayson Waller, AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and The Miz in the SummerSlam battle royal.
EVERYBODY'S saying… 👈 L 🫵 A 👉 KNIGHT! YEAH!
Can @RealLAKnight win the @SlimJim Battle Royal tomorrow at #SummerSlam?#SmackDownpic.twitter.com/fvuSEXDl6G
— WWE (@WWE) August 5, 2023
Match #1:LA Knight defeated Sheamus. – There were a lot of wrestlers around the ring during the match since they are in the SummerSlam battle royal. After Sheamus hit The Miz with a Brogue Kick, Knight won with the BFT (Blount Force Trauma) on Sheamus.
A video package aired about the Brock Lesnar-Cody Rhodes match at SummerSlam.
Match #2: The OC – Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows (w/Mia Yim) vs. The Brawling Brutes – Butch & Ridge Holland ended in a No Contest when The Street Profits attacked both teams.
The Street Profits duo of Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford were dressed in nice clothes as they beat up both teams. After The Street Profits looked dominant, Bobby Lashley appeared from the back, hugged them and gave them the thumbs up. The fans cheered Lashley and chanted “Bobby” for him. There was no name announced for this group.
Charlotte Flair was featured in a video package. Flair did a promo from a yacht while drinking champagne. Flair said she would be a 15-time Women’s Champion at SummerSlam while noting she’s 5-0 at SummerSlam in her career.
Paul Heyman did his usual promo in the ring saying Roman Reigns didn’t want this to happen with Jey Uso. Heyman also said Jimmy Uso is never coming back and what happened to Jimmy is Jey’s fault. A video aired about Tribal Combat talking about generations of Samoan fighters. There were comments from WWE Hall of Famers Rikishi (Jey Uso’s father), Afa and Sika (Roman Reigns’ father) talking about the importance of the red lei saying it represented The Tribal Chief.
Jey Uso interrupted the Paul Heyman promo talking about how he’s going to beat up Roman Reigns with weapons. Solo Sikoa interrupted. Jey told Solo said that he can always forgive Solo because he is his brother. Jey said all Solo does is take orders. Jey said that Heyman is saying the same thing to Solo that he used to say to Jey every night. Solo looked like what Jey was saying had an impact, so he told Heyman to “get out” and Jey hit Solo with a superkick to end it.
The storyline update on Rey Mysterio is that he suffered “severe whiplash” last week and he’s considered day-to-day now.
Match #3: Austin Theory defeated Cameron Grimes in about three minutes. – Grimes got a nearfall after Santos Escobar was in the aisle distracting Theory. Theory got the win with A-Town Down.
After the match, Santos Escobar hit Theory with a Phantom Driver since they have a match on SmackDown next week.
A video aired featuring Asuka training for her WWE Women’s Title defense at SummerSlam. Asuka said she beat both women (Bianca Belair & Charlotte Flair) already. Asuka said she will win because she has a plan
The Grayson Waller Effect talk show had Bayley and IYO SKY as the guests. Shotzi arrived to go after Bayley with a shaver, so Bayley ran away. Zelina Vega drove Shotzi’s tank to distract Bayley & SKY.
Match #4: Zelina Vega defeated IYO SKY with a Code Red in about three minutes. – It looked like Sky would win, but she saw Bayley fighting with Shotzi by the entrance, so Vega capitalized and hit Code Red to win.
Bianca Belair was featured in a video Belair said she’s not letting up while reminding her two opponents that she’s the EST of WWE and she’ll take back what’s hers to become the WWE Women’s Champion.
Match #5: Jey Uso defeated his brother Solo Sikoa. – Jey and Solo each hit superkicks, but Jey bounced off the ropes and hit a Spear. Jey hit an Uso Splash off the top for the pinfall win.
After the match, Solo hit Jey in the back. They fought on the floor with Jey getting the advantage after a superkick and multiple chair shots to the body. Jey hit a running chair smash to knock Solo down. Jey celebrated on the commentary table to end the show.
Next Week On WWE SmackDown
* AJ Styles vs. Karrion Kross
* Austin Theory defends the US Title against Santos Escobar.
In two weeks on SmackDown on August 18th in Toronto, hometown hero Edge returns for his 25-year anniversary celebration.
As for SummerSlam on Saturday night, that lineup looks like this:
* Tribal Combat Match For the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jey Uso
* Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes
* World Heavyweight Championship: Seth “Freakin” Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor
* WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair
* Intercontinental Championship: GUNTHER (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
* MMA Rules: Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
* Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
* SummerSlam Battle Royal