SmackDown Results: CM Punk & Paul Heyman Return, Join OG Bloodline

November 22, 2024 John Kleinchester NEWS, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: WWE

November 22, 2024
Delta Center – Salt Lake City, UT

By: John Kleinchester

WWE Smackdown Results

  • US Women’s Championship Tournament: Chelsea Green over Blair Davenport and Bianca Belair via Unprettier in 9:50
  • US Championship: LA Knight over Santos Escobar via BFT in 8:13
  • Bayley & Naomi over Candice LeRae & Tiffany Stratton via DQ in 7:45
  • Montez Ford over Tommaso Ciampa via Roll-Up in 7:49

 

Terms of Surrender

Smackdown from Salt Lake City kicked off with The New Bloodline coming down to the ring with “The Auszilla” Bronson Reed in tow. Solo Sikoa said Roman Reigns wasn’t even there yet but he needed him to meet him in the ring by the end of the night so he could accept Solo’s terms of surrender. This was a short opening segment compared to other Bloodline openers in recent memory. 

US Women’s Championship Tournament

Smackdown’s opening match was United States Women’s Championship Tournament First Round Match between Bianca Belair, Blair Davenport, and Chelsea Green. Early in the match, the crowd chanted for Chelsea as all three competitors exchanged near falls. 

After the commercial break, Jade Cargill was shown unconscious on the hood of a car backstage. This led to Belair leaving the match to go check on her tag team partner. 

With Belair departed, Chelsea Green picked up the win by hitting the Unprettier on Blair Davenport. Green goes on to face Bayley.

United States Championship

From one United States title to another, next was LA Knight’s US Title match against Santos Escobar. Before the match could begin, a Shinsuke Nakamura video played with Shinsuke saying “This is the beginning of your end”. Meanwhile, Escobar jumped a distracted LA Knight to take control of the match’s early goings. 

Finally, LA Knight regained control until Nakamura appeared in the entranceway allowing Escobar to hit a Hurricanrana and Frog Splash from the top rope. Instead of going for a cover, Escobar attempted the Phantom Driver which Knight reversed into a BFT for the victory. Nakamura immediately charged the ring, running Knight’s shoulder into the ring post multiple times. Shinsuke finished him off with a running knee to the back of Knight’s head.

MCMG & Johnny, Nick & Nia

Backstage, Johnny Gargano tried to patch things up with Motor City Machine Guns, arguing that Ciampa just wanted a tag team title match. MCMG said that they felt Street Profits deserved the next shot. The Profits entered and insulted DIY as Johnny tried to remind MCMG that they sucker-punched them last week. 

Elsewhere backstage, Nick Aldis asked Nia Jax if she knew what happened to Jade Cargill. Jax said she wanted to take Jade out at War Games. Aldis then caught Cody Rhodes backstage and said he hadn’t heard from Kevin Owens despite the advertised face-to-face. Rhodes scoffed and said Owens wouldn’t miss this opportunity. 

 

Cody & Kevin, Face-to-Face

Cody Rhodes came out to the ring and called out Kevin Owens. Owens appeared (donned in a tuxedo shirt) in the crowd and insulted Cody for not wearing his typical “sleazy politician suit” (he was wearing an American Nightmare tracksuit).

Cody attempted to go into the crowd after Owens but WWE security stopped him. Owens then said that what happened to Randy Orton was Cody’s fault. Owens said he fought Roman Reigns and The Bloodline for four years and once Cody returned he agreed to partner with Reigns.

Cody said teaming with Reigns was the right thing to do and called Kevin Owens a victim. Cody said that Kevin Owens crossed the line but on the wrong man. Owens agreed to a match but he’ll pick the time and place.

After the commercial, Cody ran into Carmelo Hayes who made a snide comment about Randy Orton’s neck. The two got into a shoving match and Hayes stormed off. Also, for some reason, Giovanni Vinci was there too.

They Don’t Need a Fifth

Backstage, the OG Bloodline debated who could be their fifth member. Cody Rhodes was brought up but Roman Reigns said he’s “moved on”. Sami mentioned Seth Rollins and Roman shot that idea down too. Reigns said they didn’t need a fifth and they all agreed but Roman Reigns admitted he didn’t have a plan. 

Bayley & Naomi vs. Candice LeRae & Tiffany Stratton

The next match was a Women’s Tag Team Match with Bayley and Naomi teaming up to take on Candice LeRae and Tiffany Stratton with Nia Jax in their corner. Stratton and LeRae had trouble getting along during the match and eventually, Nia Jax got fed up and attacked Naomi, causing the disqualification. The heels all started beating down Bayley which began a parade of War Games participants culminating with Rhea Ripley. 

Montez vs. Tommaso

The final match of the evening was The Street Profits’ Montez Ford taking on DIY’s Tommaso Ciampa. These two both had bitter feelings about not being tag champions and took out their aggression on each other throughout the match. 

The finishing sequence saw Ford reverse the Fairytale Ending for a roll-up victory. Ciampa immediately jumped Ford after the match, leading to Angelo Dawkins and Johnny Gargano running out and mayhem ensuing. Ciampa shoved Ciampa again which then led to MCMG running out to defend Gargano. 

The Wise Man Cometh

The final segment of Smackdown was The New Bloodline demanding The OG Bloodline’s Surrender. Both Bloodlines squared off in the ring and Solo told them that he still loves all four of them. Solo continued “You don’t have a fifth man, you don’t have a wise man, and you don’t have a choice. Surrender yourself and join my team”. With that, Paul Heyman returned to a massive pop. Heyman said there was no way to do War Games four versus five. 

With that CM Punk returned and joined the OG Bloodline for War Games. The faces cleared the ring, leaving Roman Reigns looking astonished at Punk. 

 

Announced for Smackdown Next Week also from Salt Lake City:

  • Cody Rhodes vs. Carmelo Hayes
  • US Women’s Championship Tournament: Michin vs. Piper Niven vs. ??? (Jade Cargill has been pulled due to injury)

 

Final Thoughts

Outside of the compelling segment between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens, this episode of Smackdown felt like they had already built everything on their way to War Games except for the reveal of The OG Bloodline’s fifth partner. And to that point, the crowd went nuts for the double returns of Paul Heyman and CM Punk. 

Kevin Owens made a decent point about Cody Rhodes teaming with Roman Reigns despite Owens’ feuding with them for nearly four years. Cody came off as narcissistic and there was a similar “Cody-verse” feeling in this segment from his AEW days where he thought he was a babyface but was actually more of the heel. 

About John Kleinchester 202 Articles
New Jersey born and raised. Wrestling fan since Lex slammed Yokozuna on the deck of the USS Intrepid. Favorite Wrestler of all time is Owen "The Rocket" Hart.
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