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CM Punk is still the undisputed WWE champion, but this title reign isn’t helping his reputation as “the best in the world.” Punk spoiled Kevin Owens’ homecoming in Canada only because of Sami Zayn, leaving more questions than answers after SmackDown.<\/p>\n
Punk and Owens have had issues for 20 years. In all that time, they’ve never wrestled each other. Friday’s main event had a big match feel as legitimate gripes and professional wrestling storytelling intertwined. The outcome spins their story in a new direction after Zayn injected familiar issues into what was a rather fresh narrative.<\/p>\n
The undisputed WWE championship wasn’t the only title at stake on Friday. One week after winning the WWE tag team titles, Tama and Talla Tonga defended their titles against the team they beat. The MFTs effectively staved off Damian Priest and R-Truth, but have a new problem to face after Shinsuke Nakamura welcomed another New Japan Pro Wrestling veteran to the WWE.<\/p>\n
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.<\/p>\n
Punk sneaks away with the title after Zayn betrays Owens<\/p>\n
Punk was interviewed backstage in the hours leading up to their main event match. He welcomed the showdown in Toronto, claiming to thrive on enemy soil. Owens takes pride in not letting the industry change him a quarter century into his run. Where Owens sees consistency, Punk sees stagnation. Cue Orton. “The Viper” delivered Punk a warning that he was next on the list once Orton was done with Rhodes. Punk welcomed the challenge.<\/p>\n
Owens’ interview, taking place later in the show, was also cut short. Balor approached Owens with more warmth than Punk received. Balor was happy to see Owens back, but would’ve loved a warning before he crashed Balor’s title eliminator at SummerSlam.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before they could hash it out, Gunther joined the revolving door. Gunther walked by without so much as acknowledging Balor. After all, Balor is a shell of himself, by Gunther’s assessment. “The Ring General” presented himself as next in line for the undisputed WWE Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Balor and Owens wrapped up their conversation after Gunther’s exit. Balor offered the title challenger words of encouragement and promised to see him on the other side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Undisputed WWE Championship — CM Punk (c) def. Kevin Owens via pinfall after hitting GTS. SmackDown’s closer had the atmosphere of a SummerSlam main event. Owens stormed into Scotiabank Arena with incredible intensity, reminding the audience he’s been waiting 20 years for revenge. He paced around the ring impatiently, awaiting Punk, who arrived wearing a custom Jason Voorhees mask. The referee and ring announcer were forced to separate the rivals after Owens shoved Punk in the face.<\/p>\n
The referee was the victim of an inadvertent collision in the final stretch. Owens capitalized with a stunner, drawing a 10-count from the audience, but only the referee’s count matters. Punk struck back with a GTS, but the official was still snoozing. That’s when Zayn arrived. Last week, Owens told Zayn not to get involved in their match. He couldn’t listen. Zayn attacked Punk before rolling all parties, including the referee, back into the ring. Owens only scored a deep, deep two-count. Zayn snatched the undisputed title and offered it to Owens as a weapon. Owens rejected his best friend’s offer, determined to win the match fairly. Zayn’s solution was to plant the title against Owens’ skull. Punk feasted on his vulnerable title challenger, finishing him off with a GTS.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Post-match, Punk grinned ear-to-ear after another successful, albeit tainted, title defense. His celebration didn’t last long. Zayn laid him out with the undisputed title. Friday’s main eventers sat helplessly on their knees as Zayn delivered one more blow to each man.<\/p>\n
I have mixed feelings here. The match was fine, but wasn’t given ample time for superstars of their caliber. WWE’s fixation on referee bumps has been an issue for as long as I’ve been alive. There’s genuineness to the rivalry between Punk and Owens. I had hoped to explore it more without Zayn distracting them. Now onto the positives. Zayn executed his role well; he came off as a cold-blooded killer. Punk’s enthusiasm over the win also furthers the narrative that he’s OK with taking shortcuts. For a man who prides himself on being “the best in the world,” he hasn’t seemed to be bothered about needing help in each of his title defenses. Grade: B<\/p>\n
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton exchanged harsh words ahead of their match at Sunday Night’s Main Event. Both men know how to command an audience. Delivery is never an issue with Orton and Rhodes. The subject matter worked fine here, too.WWE Tag Team Championship \u2013 The MFTs (Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga) (c) def. Damian Priest & R-Truth via pinfall after hitting the Red Cross on R-Truth. The MFTs retain the titles in a solid tag team match.Blake Monroe laid out Giulia with a neutralizer before their match could start. Monroe viciously beat down the former women’s United States champion ahead of her own SmackDown debut. It was a good beating; however, it was disappointing for those hoping to see Monroe in action.Baron Corbin and Lil Yachty agreed to a match at Sunday Night’s Main Event. If Yachty survives five minutes, Trick Williams gets another shot at the United States title. This happened after Yachty attacked Corbin with a kendostick. Yachty’s been training for an in-ring debut, though I can’t say the match sounds appealing.Lash Legend def. Tiffany Stratton via pinfall after hitting the legendary bomb. Post-match, Green rescued Stratton from a beatdown by The Irresistible Forces. A fine television match that sets up Green’s future title challengers.Hiromu Takahashi, under the ring name Kyoki, debuted alongside Shinsuke Nakamura. The five-time IWGP junior heavyweight champion is Nakamura’s answer to battling The MFTs. Takahashi is a fantastic signing for the WWE; hopefully, they put him to good use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This page may contain affiliate links. If you click and sign up, make a deposit, or place a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[301342,49,48,30276,8274,75,155112,205491,4589,2815,7787,208,30285,82054,22290,13015],"class_list":["post-867433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-august-21","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cm-punk","tag-cody-rhodes","tag-entertainment","tag-grades","tag-kevin-owens","tag-randy-orton","tag-recap","tag-results","tag-review","tag-sami-zayn","tag-smackdown","tag-winners","tag-wwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}