WWE SmackDown live results: King & Queen of the Ring matches
With two weeks remaining until the King & Queen of the Ring finals in Saudi Arabia, SmackDown’s tournament action gets underway on tonight’s episode from Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles, Angelo Dawkins vs. Tama Tonga, and Carmelo Hayes vs. Baron Corbin are tonight’s opening-round matches in King of the Ring.
Dawkins is replacing Bobby Lashley, who WWE said is unable to compete after suffering an injury during training this week.
On the women’s side of the tournament, three matches are scheduled for tonight’s card. Bianca Belair goes head-to-head with Candice LeRae, Jade Cargill competes against Piper Niven, and Naomi goes up against Nia Jax.
Tonight’s SmackDown also features the fallout from Backlash, which saw Belair & Cargill become the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. Cody Rhodes retained his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Styles at Backlash and will make an appearance tonight.
Our live coverage starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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– A video recapping Backlash from last weekend opened the show.
– Corey Graves ran down the brackets for the King & Queen of the Ring tournaments. Graves threw it to Smackdown GM Nick Aldis, who was in the ring. Aldis introduced Cody Rhodes and Cody made his entrance.
The Cody Rhodes segment
This was fun. For whatever reason, I never considered Paul to be next up in the line of wrestlers Cody will face as Undisputed WWE Champion, but I like it. Paul played his pest heel role well and Cody did a nice job putting him over as becoming a credible wrestler in such a short amount of time. Plus, the “Logan Paul Levesque Era” cracked me up. No way that match ends with a clean finish in two weeks, right? Also, as an aside, did anyone else have All In flashbacks when they saw Cody and Nick Aldis in the ring together? What a tangled web pro wrestling weaves.
The crowd chanted “Cody!” and Cody soaked it in before Aldis congratulated Cody for his win at Backlash. Aldis said they must turn their attention to the King & Queen of the Ring PLE. Aldis said Cody wants to be a fighting champion and because of that, Aldis had determined his next challenger. Aldis introduced Logan Paul and Paul walked to the ring. Paul grabbed a microphone and Cody said he thought he knew what Paul wanted to talk about.
Paul said he wanted a champion vs. champion match at the PLE to truly kick off the “Logan Paul Levesque era.” The crowd chanted “Logan sucks!” Cody said he liked the challenge from Paul and Paul then cut Cody off as Cody was talking. Paul noted how he is the longest reigning champion in WWE, which was wild. Paul called himself the greatest attraction in the company and said he was a superstar. Paul said “Happy Birthday” to a kid in the crowd. Paul talked about how everyone remembered Paul’s spot with Ricochet at the Royal Rumble that Cody won. Paul also noted how he and Cody debuted on the same night three years ago at WrestleMania.
Paul asked Cody how he could finish the story when it wasn’t even Cody’s story. Paul said he would knock Cody out in the ring on top of his Prime logo and walk out of Saudi Arabia as the Undisputed WWE Champion. Cody responded by calling Paul a dumbass. Cody said he wasn’t going to call Paul an influencer, podcaster or anything like that – instead, Cody put over Paul’s skills as a wrestler and the fact that he won the U.S. title this early in his career. Cody said if he won the U.S. title, it would make Cody a WWE Grand Slam Champion.
Cody called Paul disrespectful, delusional and self-centered. Cody said at King & Queen of the King, Paul will find out where Paul stands within WWE. Cody’s music hit as the two champions held their titles up and engaged in a stare down to end the segment.
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– AJ Styles was interviewed backstage. Styles said he had Cody beat at Backlash, but he was distracted. Styles said it should be Styles vs. Logan Paul and Saudi Arabia. Styles said the next time he meets Cody, he will beat him and winning the King of the Ring tournament would be a step in that direction.
Nia Jax defeated Naomi to advance in the Queen of the Ring tournament [10:07]
This was more competitive than I thought it might be, but I’m not complaining. Naomi got some nice spots, but WWE has done a good job protecting Jax since Jax came back to the company, so it felt inevitable that she’d get the win here (speaking of wins and losses, why can’t Naomi string together some wins sometime soon … please?). All told, it was a fine television match and a worthy first-round tournament bout.
Jax had control early and threw Naomi around. Jax hit a splash and an elbow. With Naomi in the corner, Jax ran at Naomi, but Naomi moved and the match turned with Jax running into the ring post. Naomi then landed a suicide dive on Jax, who was on the outside. Jax bounced back with a Samoan Drop on the outside and the show went to a commercial break.
Back from that break, Jax had control and draped Naomi over the top rope. Jax headbutted Naomi to the outside. Naomi eventually went for a sunset flip into the ring, and Jax tried to sit on Naomi, but Naomi moved to even things out. Naomi tried a clothesline and a back elbow, but it was a modified Disaster Kick that took Jax to her knees. Naomi planted Jax onto the apron and landed a split-legged moonsault for a near-fall.
Naomi hit a leaping elbow and lifted Jax onto the top rope. Naomi went to the top and landed a top-rope Frankensteiner for another near-fall. Naomi hit a series of super-kicks until Jax caught Naomi and power-bombed Naomi. Jax executed a leg drop and followed that up with the Annihilator for the win.
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– Byron Saxton interviewed Baron Corbin backstage and Corbin talked about how he found himself in NXT. Carmelo Hayes walked into the frame and condescendingly asked Corbin when he got drafted. Hayes gave Corbin advice and said he should have pulled out of the KOTR tournament the way Bobby Lashley did.
– A DIY vignette aired.
Carmelo Hayes defeated Baron Corbin to advance in the King of the Ring tournament [6:31]
Poor Baron Corbin. Fans seem to want to get behind him more often than not anymore, and it really did feel like he got a shot in the arm by teaming with Bron Breakker in NXT … but Carmelo Hayes is The Guy these days, so Corbin’s fate was sealed. Here’s hoping Corbin can get something going on the main roster sooner than later, though. As for the match, it was fun to see Hayes play the plucky heel while Corbin (as a babyface?) came off as the respected veteran well enough. For six-and-a-half minutes, it worked.
Hayes initially jumped out to a quick edge, landing a dropkick to Corbin’s knee and slapping Corbin, but Corbin got angry, landed some strikes and took Hayes out. With Hayes on the outside of the ring, the show went to a commercial break early in the match. The show returned and Hayes landed a springboard clothesline and a facebuster for a two-count. Corbin came back with a Death Valley Driver and a vertical suplex for a two-count.
Ultimately, Hayes hit the First 48 and went to the top, but Corbin moved and clotheslined the hell out of Hayes. Corbin landed a suplex/cutter for a two-count. Corbin then went for an End Of Days, but Hayes rolled through and rolled Corbin up for the win.
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– Kayla Braxton interviewed Bayley backstage. Bayley said there were a lot of talented women in the QOTR tournament. Bayley was cut off by Chelsea Green and Piper Niven. Green said Niven was going to kick Jade Cargill out of the tournament. Cargill, meanwhile, was shown walking backstage.
– Randy Orton was interviewed backstage by Byron Saxton. Orton said he has accomplished a lot during his WWE tenure, but he hasn’t accomplished being the King of the King. Orton said Styles is great, but it will feel phenomenal to hit an RKO on him later. Orton then talked to Tama Tonga and said he hasn’t forgotten about how he and the Bloodline took out his friend Kevin Owens. Orton said when he crosses paths with Tonga, it won’t be out of nowhere and he’ll make sure Tonga sees it coming.
Jade Cargill defeated Piper Niven to advance in the Queen of the Ring tournament [5:15]
Well, that’s the most I’ve ever seen Cargill sell, no matter the company, so that’s a good thing. She could spend some more time learning how to take those short-arm clotheslines, but that’s for another day. Despite the clunky moments, it wasn’t a terrible five-minute match. It might not be the best bout of the night, but it didn’t embarrass anybody. Cargill is a star. There’s no denying that. How much further she can get down the road on that star power alone, only time will tell. She’s getting better in the ring, but there continues to be work to do.
The two locked up and jawed at each other quite a bit to start things out. They traded shoulder blocks, but neither wrestler moved when they were on the receiving end of one. Eventually, Cargill took Niven down with a shoulder block, but Niven came right back, caught Cargill and slammed Cargill before hitting a Senton for a two-count. With Cargill draped over the second rope, Green slapped Cargill as the referee wasn’t looking.
Niven slammed Cargill and hit a short-arm clothesline. Niven did it again. Niven went for a third one, but Cargill blocked it and landed an impressive Blue Thunder Bomb for a two-count. Cargill hit a series of splashes in the corner and punched Green off the apron. Cargill teased Jaded, but Niven blocked it and knocked Cargill down before hitting a Cannonball in the corner for a two-count. Niven tried to climb to the top, but Cargill cut her off, hit a pump kick and landed Jaded for the win.
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Bianca Belair defeated Candace LeRae to advance in the Queen of the Ring tournament [2:54]
Not much to this. I remain confused as to why the main roster doesn’t want to do any favors for Candace LeRae because she has considerable talent, but this was little more than a squash match. And in a tournament, no less.
Belair had control early despite Indi Hartwell attempting to interfere. LeRae targeted Belair’s knee and spent the middle of the match working on it until Belair fired up and evened things out with a fallaway slam. Belair tried a vertical suplex, but LeRae worked out of it and hit a chop block. Still, with one good knee, Belair caught LeRae and hit the KOD for the win.
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– Paul Heyman was shown talking to Solo Sikoa backstage. Sikoa was still angry about how the Bloodline was drafted in the third round of the SmackDown draft. Sikoa blamed Heyman for taking money out of Sikoa’s pocket. Sikoa mentioned how Heyman looked at Jey Uso last week and asked if Heyman was trying to give Jey a signal. Sikoa told Heyman he had spoken to Roman Reigns since WrestleMania while Heyman hasn’t and Roman said Sikoa is now in charge of the Bloodline. As such, Sikoa explained that Heyman is now Sikoa’s wise man. Sikoa told Heyman, “I love you wise man,” and hugged Heyman to end the segment.
– An Andrade vignette aired.
Tama Tonga defeated Angelo Dawkins to advance in the King of the Ring tournament [2:09]
Another match that didn’t have much to it. You have to wonder if this would have gone differently if Bobby Lashley wasn’t injured. Tonga probably would have advanced. But in two minutes? Maybe not. Either way, this Bloodline 2.0 stuff is getting more intriguing as Heyman appears to be reluctantly taking Sikoa’s orders. That Roman Reigns return will be quite the event whenever it happens.
Tonga jumpstarted the match and attacked Dawkins in a corner. Tonga ran at Dawkins, but Dawkins moved and hit Tonga with a fury of clotheslines, punctuated by a flying elbow. Dawkins then hit a shoulder block that took Tonga outside. Dawkins then punched Sikoa before Montez Ford took out the rest of the Bloodline with a splash on the outside. Dawkins then slammed Tonga before Sikoa hit the Spike on Ford on the outside. That distracted Dawkins enough for Tonga to hit his finisher on Dawkins for the win. After the match, Sikoa hit Dawkins with a Spike before the Bloodline left the ring.
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– Next week, the contract signing for Cody vs. Paul will take place. Two men’s KOTR matches are on tap while two QOTR matches will go down as well.
Randy Orton defeated AJ Styles to advance in the King of the Ring tournament [17:07]
This was a very good WWE television main event between two of the company’s most notable stars. My fear coming out of Backlash was that Styles might fade back into loss-laden obscurity and it appears we may be headed in that direction after this defeat. Still, he showed good fire, was given a lot of offense and was able to prove that he still belongs near the top of the card in the company. Orton, for his part, looks to be having some of the most fun of his career (with perhaps a heel turn on the way soon? Maybe?). The result here was a worthy SmackDown main event and one of the better matches of the KOTR tournament so far.
The crowd was hot for this, chanting Orton’s name as the match began. Orton clotheslined Styles to the floor and posed on the second rope early in the match as the show went to a commercial break. Back from that break, Orton was punching Styles repeatedly. Styles got a bit of wind and landed a pair of sliding elbows/knees. Orton was on the outside of the ring and Styles went out there with him. Orton responded by dropping Styles on the guardrail. Orton then dropped Styles on the announce table. Orton did it again and bowed to the crowd.
Back in the ring, Styles went to work on Orton’s knee with a dropkick and a running chop block. Orton rolled to the outside and Styles ran around the ring to land another running chop block on Orton’s knee. The show then went to its final commercial break. Styles continued to focus on Orton’s knee when the program returned. Styles was on the first rope and Orton kicked Styles over the top and to the floor. When Styles tried to return to the ring, Orton kicked Styles.
Orton landed a series of clotheslines on Styles until Styles rolled Orton up for a two-count. Orton came back up and hit a European Uppercut, which took Styles to the apron. From there, Styles yanked on Orton’s knee over the second rope. Styles set up for a Phenomenal Forearm, but Orton cut Styles off and knocked Styles off the top rope. Styles worked a Calf Crusher but Orton managed to turn it into a rear chin-lock to get out of it. Orton followed that up with a power-slam and a two-count.
Orton placed Styles on the top rope, but Styles slipped out of whatever Orton had it mind. It didn’t matter because Orton caught Styles for a draping DDT. Orton set up for an RKO, but Styles pushed Orton away. Styles went for a Phenomenal Forearm and hit it this time, but Orton got to the ropes to break up a pin attempt. Styles signaled for a Styles Clash, but Orton pushed Styles away, hit the RKO and got the win. The show almost instantly ended after the pin.