WWE Friday Night SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (June 21, 2024) with a live show emanating from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Money in the Bank premium live event scheduled for early next month in Toronto.
Advertised for tonight: CM Punk makes his return to the “Windy City” and he may have an announcement for us.
Also on the card: Money in the Bank qualifiers get underway for the blue brand with two triple threat matches: Randy Orton vs. Tama Tonga vs. Carmelo Hayes and Kevin Owens vs. Andrade vs. Grayson Waller. All that and more!
Come right back here at 8 pm ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on FOX. It will be below this line here. (Note: Links to illegal streams are prohibited. Pics and GIFs are allowed.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR JUNE 21
Relentless, unchanging, though the world is still before me now, I’m seeing forever. I will keep my heart and mind with you, so joyously I’m waiting for the day when I’m done liveblogging this here pro wrestling show for these folks.
The show opens with a recap of Clash at the Castle and the aftermath with Drew McIntyre quitting.
CM Punk makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He says it’s great to be alive in Chicago on a Friday night and talks about the pressure of live TV. He’s grateful to be in the presence of the crowd, that’s pressure. Wrestling or speaking in front of your hometown audience is pressure. Promising to walk away as champion in front of your people is pressure.
You might think he’s crazy, but right before you hear that static and Living Colour starts going he still wonders if he can handle the pressure. He’s gonna offer a date— July 17, 2011— raise your hands or your voice if you were there. He promised all of us he was going to walk out of his hometown as WWE Champion.
That’s pressure, and he could have fell flat on his face and embarrassed himself and Chicago, but did he? No. He was told he would get jumped in Glasgow, that they’d need extra security because they’d have his head on a pike if he interfered in that match, but did he ruin everyone’s day? No!
Weeks into months and Drew McIntyre kicked him while he was down but because he keeps promises he makes, Drew wasn’t just kicking him, he was kicking Chicago. In that situation, you can stay down (not an option), you can turn the other cheek (not an option), he picked the Chicago way, you send him the hospital, you send him to the morgue, and he wasn’t going to kill Drew McIntyre, but he did decide to kill his career.
But he didn’t think it’d be that easy, because Drew couldn’t take the pressure and he quit. He said he prayed for bad things to happen to Punk, so Punk made bad things happen to him, and he was hoping to make more bad things happen, but he’s taken his ball and he’s gone home.
Enter Paul Heyman.
He says he’s not here to disrespect him, he’s running late and he doesn’t know if you realize this but it’s hot as balls outside. (I wouldn’t know about that anymore /smug) And when CM Punk opens the show it’s hot as balls inside, too. CM stood next to his children while he was inducted into the Hall of Fame and despite being the Wiseman to the Tribal Chief, he told the world that Punk was his best friend and he meant it then and now.
He comes here in an urgent situation and asks if he can get in the ring. Punk says he’s the only man that can interrupt him and get the crowd to chant for Roman Reigns and welcomes him in with a deep embrace afte noting how nervous he looks. Paul says he needed that and talks about hearing on the radio that Chicago is CM Punk’s town.
And that really pissed off Solo Sikoa, you see, because now that Solo is the Head of the Table, he wants every town to be his town. So he came out here to ask a favor and offer a favor back. Any day soon Punk is going to be medically cleared and anybody that steps in the ring with him is gonna learn that he’s the Best in the World, and if he doesn’t get out of here now they’re gonna take him out of here themselves.
The extra security is for the Wyatts or anyone else who wants to cause trouble, not a bunch of Tongans and Samoans who want to run roughshod, so the favor he asks is for Punk to, against his own instincts, get out of here right now. CM asks if he’s serious that he wants him to leave because Solo and the Tongans are gonna jump him... in Chicago?
This gets big “f*ck you, Solo!” chants.
Predictably, enter Solo Sikoa and the Guerrillas of Destiny.
Solo calls Punk out on the mic and says if he wants to be on SmackDown, on his show, in his city, he’s got two options. One, he can pay his respect to him and the Bloodline, or two, they’ll make sure his ass never gets cleared to wrestle again. So what will it be?
Punk asks Paul what the favor he wanted in return was? Heyman asks him to take him with him. CM throws his one up and says he acknowledges that he doesn’t see the Bloodline standing in front of him, he sees a bunch of fake-ass Usos and a phony cosplay Tribal Chief!
Sikoa gives the nod, the Bloodline advance, Punk takes his top layer off and they square up.. AND CODY RHODES IS HERE WITH BASEBALL BATS BABY! THE BLOODLINE BACKS DOWN! Cody calls out after Solo saying he fashions himself the Head of the Table? Well he’s already beaten one Head of the Table, so leave the family backstage and he’ll leave Kevin Owens and Randy Orton in the back and they’ll settle this here and tonight!
In Gorilla, Bianca Belair is getting ready when Jade Cargill rolls up to tell her she’s gonna work on getting them a rematch for their tag titles. Bianca says she’s gonna qualify for Money in the Bank, take care of business, then they’ll get their tag titles back.
Belair makes her entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Randy Orton and Kevin Owens roll up on Cody Rhodes to question his decision to leave them behind, but he insists he has a plan.
Bianca Belair vs. Chelsea Green vs. “Michin” Mia Yim (Money in the Bank Qualifying Match)
Yim and Belair start by double-teaming Green while Bayley watches backstage! Shoulder block from Bianca, action to the floor, continuing with heavy forearms, Chelsea wipes ‘em out with a dive and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Mia goes for a Frankensteiner, Belair reverses, reversed again to a sunset flip, Sole Food connects but Bianca bails to the floor! Green with a schoolboy to try and steal it, no dice, back and forth, forearm gets a headbutt and Michin sets her up... STYLES CLASH! BELAIR BREAKS IT UP!
German suplex from the EST, backbreaker rack, KOD connects but Chelsea throws her out...
Chelsea Green wins by pinfall with a lateral press on Mia Yim, qualifying for Money in the Bank.
Backstage Blair Davenport rolls up on Bayley and asks her to tell her friends she’s really looking forward to her qualifying match and she’s really looking forward to winning the briefcase and cashing in on her.
Solo Sikoa is glowering at Paul Heyman backstage. He asks if Paul knows where he is, he says no, and Solo tells him to tell the Tongans to make sure that KO and Randy are... and he keeps moving his mouth but stops making sounds. Heyman agrees and Sikoa tells him when he comes back they’re gonna have a talk, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Grayson Waller is interviewed backstage.
He dedicates his win tonight to Austin Theory and #DIY roll up to tell him that he sacrified his best friend for his own benefit when we hear banging on the door they’re standing in front of.
The door opens vertically and we see Drew McIntyre standing over a battered and bleeding CM Punk. Drew picks him up like a sack of garbage and walks his way to the stage, dropping him in a very loose kind of Samoan Drop and giving us a better view of his fists covered in Punk’s blood.
He takes a knee and pulls a bracelet off of CM’s wrist before standing. General manager Nick Aldis runs down and shoves him, Drew shoves him back, and Jason Jordan and Shawn Daivari are in the gaggle of referees and medics checking on Punk. The medics put CM in a neck brace and on a board as we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a recap of what we just saw and we see Punk getting loaded onto an ambulance and driven out of the arena.
Carmelo Hayes vs. Randy Orton vs. Tama Tonga (Money in the Bank Qualifying Match)
Hayes and Tonga jump Orton to start, putting boots to him, Tama shoves Carmelo, Melo with a schoolboy, only two! A shoving match, Randy pops up, uppercut and a boot, tossing Tonga to the floor! Body blow, bouncing the Tongan’s head off the announce desk but Hayes cuts him off! Melo and Tama double-teaming the Viper on the floor!
Orton fighting back, back suplex puts Tama into the table and then one for Hayes as well as we go to break!
Back from commercial, Tonga and Hayes at it, big uppercut from the Bloodline man, mounted crossface blows, sliding elbow, only two! Carmelo gets a deep nearfall off of La Mistica, Rock Bottom backbreaker from Tama, and Orton breaks it up! Punches to Tonga, kick and an uppercut for Melo, big lariats for both of ‘em!
Carmelo up top, Randy meets him with punches, climbs up after him, superplex connects... NOPE! Tonga with a sleeper hold, the Viper slings him off, poke the eyes, Codebreaker from Melo, jumping reverse STO from Tama, Hayes tries to steal it but Tonga is on him and they go punching! Back suplex, Carmelo lands on his knees!
Randy kicks Tama out, sets it up, double hanging DDT connects! Going to that special place but here comes Tonga Loa! Randy sends him packing, Kevin Owens keeps him occupied, but Melo is ready to steal it...
Carmelo Hayes wins by pinfall with a schoolboy pin on Randy Orton, qualifying for the Money in the Bank ladder match.
We get a recap of the decut of the new Wyatt faction to send us to break.
Back from commercial, LA Knight makes his entrance and gets on the mic, calling Logan Paul out.
He complains about “that livertailed goof” turning his request for a title match down point blank and then about him no-showing Chicago. Next week, it’s Madison Square Garden, and he can’t run again.
Eventually Santos Escobar comes down and LA complains that he’s not Logan Paul. Escobar tells him to shut up, he doesn’t need an invitation to show up and tell the truth, and the truth is Knight must be delusional. Anyway eventually Santos attacks but Knight catches him with the BFT!
Logan Paul is here and he blindsides LA and knocks him down with a couple of punches!
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, the Bloodline attack Kevin Owens but he won’t stay down and he hobbles his way into the ring to start the match!
Andrade el Idolo vs. Grayson Waller vs. Kevin Owens
Andrade gets a quick nearfall off of Waller, plancha follows, KO with a lariat and a senton on the floor! Back inside, up top, Andrade pulls him down, all three men brawling on the apron and El Idolo just pastes Grayson!
Andrade sunset flip powerbombs Waller from the apron to the floor and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Kev and Andrade trading punches with abandon, Waller slips in with a double reverse STO, only two! Tower of Doom, KO off the top, senton atomico connects, slow to cover because of his knee... SO CLOSE! Pop-up powerbomb denied but the Stunner connects... AND WALLER PULLS HIM OFF THE PIN! Hanging DDT off the apron, Grayson charges in... ANDRADE REVERSES! IT’S OVER!
Andrade el Idolo wins by pinfall with the Message, qualifying for Money in the Bank.
Cody Rhodes is walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Mia Yim is licking her wounds when Tiffany Stratton rolls up to talk some trash. Mia hauls off and slaps her when Nia Jax rolls up to shove her into a road case!
Kayla Braxton informs us she tried to get an interview with Drew McIntyre but he declined to comment and CM Punk will be staying overnight at a local hospital to be evaluated.
Cody Rhodes makes his entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Paul Heyman meets with Solo Sikoa in Gorilla.
Paul says he did Solo’s bidding but he’s breaking commandments that he and Roman Reigns agreed on before his leave. CM Punk is hands off because he’s important to Heyman, and Cody Rhodes is to be held for Roman to take care of when he comes back. Sikoa says he hates to tell him, because he loves him, but Reigns isn’t coming back.
He apologizes and pats Paul on the cheek before leaving for his entrance.
“American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa
Immediately brawling to the floor, Rhodes reverses a whip hard into the steel steps and then does it again! Back inside, Guerrillas of Destiny hit the ring and beat Cody down, leaving referee Ryan Tran with no choice...
“American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes wins by disqualification.
Randy Orton and Kevin Owens make the save and even the odds!
Solo left alone, he begs off but here comes the Samoan Werewolf, Jacob Fatu! Samoan Drop puts KO into the steel steps! Charging around the ringside area... SPEAR PUTS RANDY ORTON THROUGH THE TIMEKEEPER’S BARRICADE! Back in, Cody Rhodes tries to cut him off with punches, a clothesline sends the Werewolf to the floor put he pulls Rhodes out and spinebusters him into the apron!
Headbutt, clear the table... DIVING HEADBUTT OFF THE TOP AND THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE DESK!
FATU GETS IN THE RING AND SOLO EMBRACES HIM! THE ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT BLOODLINE THROW THE ONES UP!
That’s the show, folks.
