Following in the footsteps of Raw and NXT, SmackDown Live went back on the road this week as we await the answer to who will challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam.

Stopping in St. Louis, Missouri, the blue brand played to a smaller arena than usual in an attempt to halt empty seats and by all accounts, it worked. Though not sold out, the live event drew more attendees than usual thanks to the weekly Tuesday programming taking an upturn in quality. Plus, who doesn’t want to witness AJ Styles in action?

Talking of the ‘Phenomenal One’, he defended his WWE Championship in a Triple Threat Match in the main event of the evening – yes, the company’s main gold got the main event spot. Sit down, deep breaths, and have a glass of water – against his Extreme Rules challenger Rusev, and the man expected to step up to the plate at SummerSlam, Samoa Joe. It took fifteen minutes, but the champion retained amidst overwhelming support for the Bulgarian.

Elsewhere on the card:

• The Bludgeon Brothers cracked the Usos and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match to retain the SmackDown Live Tag Team Championships
• Andrade “Cien” Almas best Sin Cara – yes, again!
• Asuka, Becky Lynch, and Nikki Cross conquered the IIconics and Lana
• Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Jeff Hardy with the Kinshasa to retain the WWE United States Championship. Following the bout, Randy Orton struck, attacking Jeff Hardy. Who would have seen that one coming?
• Daniel Bryan overcame The Miz in the match of the night.
• The New Day outlasted the Bar. Xavier Woods was absent due to his attendance at the San Diego Comic Con. This was the Bar’s return to action after visa issues.
• Carmella moonwalked her way to victory over Naomi to retain the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship.

 

WrestleTalk wants to know your opinions on Smackdown Live’s roster, the matches on display here, and whether Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas should replace Samoa Joe – potentially – as the number one contender to the WWE Championship. You can talk to all your favorite writes on Twitter and Discord now.

• Wrest;eTalk
• Smackdown Live Tag Team championships
• Naomi
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• RAW
• The Bar
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• Andrade Almas
• Carmella
• AJ Styles
• Bludgeon Brothers
• karl anderson
• SmackDown Live
• usos
• luke gallows
• The Miz
• Xavier Woods
• WWE United States Championship
• summerslam 2018
• the new day
• extreme rules 2018
• Samoa Joe
• the iiconics
• Lana
• Shinsuke Nakamura
• Becky Lynch
• Randy Orton
• Daniel Bryan
• nikki cross
• Asuka
• Zelina Vega
• wwe championship
• Sin Cara
• nxt
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