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Hey there everyone, it’s Friday so it’s time for WWE Smackdown. SummerSlam is looming large on the horizon, and now that SNME is behind us pretty much everything is set. WWE champion CM Punk and Cody Rhodes are heating up their rivalry, it went from tense but respectful to quite heated in the aftermath of Punk and Rhodes beating Gunther and Sami Zayn at SNME. Those two will doubtless have things to say tonight. Speaking of that tag match though, Gunther is now slated to battle Smackdown GM Nick Aldis after Aldis brawled with Gunther post SNME. We’ll see if Aldis is allowed to keep his General Manager position through this or if he’ll transition to full time worker and someone else takes over the suit and tie role. Sami Zayn is left out in the cold a bit though, so expect him to whine some more tonight then interfere in the SummerSlam title match. On the women’s side we know WWE women’s champion Rhea Ripley is still injured so we’re still having qualifying matches for a ladder match at SummerSlam for the interim title. Last week Jade Cargill and Tiffany Stratton qualified, tonight Charlotte Flair tries to qualify over Nia Jax. There still need to be a couple more qualifiers so we’ll see what gets announced. Royce Keys and Solo Sikoa will team up in a tune up match before their trios bout at SummerSlam, the US title picture is crowded now that Baron Corbin returned and Trick Williams continues to be relatively inactive as champion. Fatal Influence won the women’s tag belts at SNME with a finish that was flatly stupid, made the ref look idiotic, and was a damning indictment of everyone involved in terms of them being professionals about understanding layout and blocking. But Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid have belts, so there’s that. Finn Balor has pinned, cleanly, both of the Tonga brothers so he should move on, though will likely wind up trapped in their vortex a little longer. Still nothing for Ilja Dragunov, Shinsuke Nakamura, or Jordynne Grace, and at some point that R-Truth and Damian Priest vs. the War Raiders match will actually have to happen. But all in all Smackdown has bounced back just a bit over the last couple of weeks so let’s hope that pattern holds as we get to the action.

Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett welcome us to Oakland, California. After that we see wrestlers arriving at the venue.

We get a recap of the Gunther and Nick Aldis stuff, Aldis and Adam Pearce are in the ring with a table set up for a contract signing. Pearce plays with the crowd and he’s here to make sure Aldis and Gunther sign the contract. Gunther comes out, and we’ve got some specifics to hammer out before actually signing. Gunther is wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, what is going on?! All three men have mics as the participants sit. Pearce says that Aldis will have to give up his GM duties to Pearce after signing the contract. Aldis will also that WWE will not be liable for anything that happens between him and Gunther. Aldis knows exactly what he’s signing, and says he never wanted any of this but Gunther just couldn’t stop pushing. Gunther pushed them to this, and Aldis signs the contract. Gunther considers, then mocks Pearce and Aldis for wearing suits. There’s a lot of mic issues with Gunther’s mic, and he says this will be the greatest moment of Aldis’s career, but all of this is beneath Gunther. Gunther should be preparing to win the WWE title, but Aldis got involved and doesn’t know how to do his job. Ever since Gunther joined Smackdown Aldis has had it out for him, and he finally figured out that Aldis is jealous of him. He knows Aldis is a former NWA world champion, but Aldis never really made it as a wrestler. He was dreaming of being here, in WWE, but it never happened while Gunther just showed up and got it all. Titles, records, money, Gunther have all of that while Aldis had nothing. Aldis had to face just not being good enough. Now Gunther will make the dream of Aldis come true, he signs the contract, and says he’ll have Aldis join the list of legends that Gunther has retired. All his victims were chasing one more moment, now Gunther will add him to that list. Aldis gets a mic and says Gunther is just repeating himself, but if Gunther actually believed that he wouldn’t be here still saying it. Aldis figured Gunther out, Gunther is projecting because Gunther never thought this would actually happen. Gunther thought he’d just cheap shot Aldis, pay a fine, and move on. But Aldis fought back, and knows Gunther doesn’t want any of this. Now Gunther is the one with his career in jeopardy, because Aldis hasn’t had a match in 3 years and if that guy beats Gunther at SummerSlam then Gunther goes from career killer to a man bitched out by his boss. That prompts the brawl, Aldis gets the better of Gunther at first but Pearce separates them and Gunther takes Aldis to dick kick city then powerbombs him through the table. I appreciate Aldis taking the obvious talking point and actually turning things around on him just a bit. That sends us to break.

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