On Friday Night SmackDown, the show featured a title change as Jeff Hardy became the new Intercontinental champion defeating AJ Styles.
Earlier in the show, they shot an angle where Hardy was attacked by Styles during the opening segment when the locker room emptied to attack Retribution. Styles chop blocked the knee of Hardy setting up the story of the match with Hardy working with an injured right knee.
The match went past eleven minutes ending when Hardy blocked the Styles Clash by using the knee brace to strike Styles and hit the Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb for the win.
This is Hardy’s fifth Intercontinental title win and first time holding the championship since September 2007.
During the show, they also revealed that the match at SummerSlam between Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville will also be a “Loser Leaves WWE Match”. The stipulation was added when Deville came out on the stage to respond to Rose’s offer to shelve the match and go back to being friends. The stipulation replaces the previously announced “Hair vs. Hair” one.
After a “Beat the Clock Challenge”, it was determined that Bayley will face Asuka first at SummerSlam for the SmackDown women’s title and Sasha Banks will defend the Raw women’s title second. This was decided after Banks beat Naomi in 3:39 of the “Beat the Clock Challenge” and was followed by Naomi pinning Bayley in 1:54.
