SmackDown Episode #1288

Venue: Heritage Bank Center (Cincinnati, OH)

Attendance: ~11,600

Results of Tonight's Show

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Draft night! We have WAR ROOMS!

• Kayla Braxton chats with Paul Heyman backstage, talking about rumors swirling about Roman Reigns. Heyman says no, they're facts: Roman has withdrawn his eligibility for the draft. He's not planning to return in the immediate future, so he shouldn't be taking the first draft pick slot.

• Jackie Redmond is at the NXT Performance Center with the NXT roster to see who's next to move up.

• Corey Graves is moderating the contract signing tonight and welcomes AJ Styles & Cody Rhodes to the ring. AJ says before he signs this he wants to say they've got two Georgia boys mixing it up for the first time for the biggest prize in the game. He knows he let LA Knight get under his skin & lost at WrestleMania. But he got his composure back, and beat Knight to challenge Cody at Backlash. AJ says he & Cody have been down similar roads, proving themselves outside of WWE. They likely both received the same advice to stand on their own two feet, from the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. AJ knows the weight of the title is more than just leather & gold, and they'll see if at Backlash he can carry it. Styles signs the contract & Cody picks it up. Cody notes that everyone in the locker room respects AJ Styles, but that respect goes by the wayside at Backlash. And Cody knows it's not about winning the title, it's about keeping it. And while he understands they have some shared history, no matter how phenomenal AJ is, this isn't a dream match for him, it's a must-win. They approach each other and Cody reaches out to shake AJ's hand, but AJ stops first to say how great it was to see him finish his story at WrestleMania, but he's going to end his reign at Backlash. They THEN shake hands.

• As Cody exits the ring, Triple H's music hits. He takes a moment to raise Cody's arm before they head to the draft podium for the first round. Triple H's asking Cody to assist with the announcements. The first pick for SmackDown: Bianca Belair; Raw selects Jey Uso; SD picks Carmelo Hayes; Raw selects Seth "Freakin'" Rollins.

• Shortly after, Carmelo Hayes comes out to cut a promo on himself, and says to Cody that he's heard he says if you come for the king you best not miss, but the funny thing about about him is that when he shoots, he doesn't miss. As a first round draft pick, the best way to shoot his shot is to shoot it against Cody. Cody asks the audience, you don't wanna see me in action tonight do you? What if he forgot his gear? Never mind, he didn't. Cody says to Carmelo, you're on.

• After the LWO's win celebrating with the whole faction, Santos Escobar interrupts (bringing Elektra Lopez with him) and says he's a lot of things but he's not a liar. And when he says he didn't attack Dragon Lee before WrestleMania, he meant it. Elektra hunted down the security footage, and what Rey's about to see will very interesting. And behold - the attacker was CARLITO! And with that, Carlito attacks Dragon Lee again from behind before high-tailing it out of the ring.

• Tiffany Stratton runs into Nick Aldis and asks when she's getting her title match. He says she'll go one-on-one with Naomi tonight, and the winner will get the title match. Tiffy asks whose dumb idea was that? Bayley says ding-dong & says it was her. Tiffy asks her to show up to a front-row seat to see her do what she couldn't.

• Michelle McCool announces SmackDown's next pick is Randy Orton; Torrie Wilson announces Raw selects Bron Breakker; SD chooses Nia Jax; Raw picks Liv Morgan!

• Backstage, Paul Heyman watches as an SUV pulls up. He's already apologizing before Solo Sikoa even gets out, saying yeah he should've opened it for him. Solo asks, the Bloodline got drafted, right? Heyman says no, not yet. Solo wants the deets. Heyman tells him Roman opted out, and with new members being added to the Bloodline, nobody knows what they're getting. Tama Tonga joins them, and Solo tells Paul he needs to repeat that for him one more time. Before they get any further, Kevin Owens rushes in to start beating Tama Tonga. An entire staff pulls them apart.

• Kayla Braxton standing on the entrance ramp introduces the #1 draft pick, Bianca Belair! Kayla asks her about their upcoming tag match at Backlash. Bianca really hopes Jade Cargill gets drafted to SmackDown on Monday, but she's otherwise excited to help end everything she's gone through with Damage CTRL. They're falling apart piece by piece, so once the titles are taken, the Kabuki Warriors won't have a reason to show up at SD. The Kabuki Warriors' music hits, and Asuka & Kairi taunt Bianca with their belts. Jade's music plays and she joins Bianca's side while the four of them scream at each other.

• Behind them, Kevin Owens and Tama Tonga reappear fighting and bring it all the way down to the ring. Solo Sikoa shows up and joins in, taking down Owens. Security and officials attempt to break things up but Tama takes them all on by himself while Solo continues the beatdown. Randy Orton's music hits and makes his way to the ring to attack Solo. As he tries chasing him down, officials hold him back. KO & Orton quickly hug in the ring before Owens goes back on the attack against the Bloodline, although again being thwarted by the massive amount of security.

• Bubba Ray Dudley announces SmackDown selects LA Knight; D-Von Dudley announces Raw's next selection is Ricochet; SD picks The Bloodline; Raw chooses Sheamus!

• During the women's match with Bayley on commentary, she's attacked by Nia Jax! Naomi tries coming to her aid only for Nia Jax to attack her as well for the no-contest.

• Street Profits & B-Fab ar backstage, asking where's Bobby? Byron Saxton interviews them, and while they aren't apart of the draft until Raw, they'll be challenging A-Town Down Under for the championships next week. They're hype to cement their spot on SD by beating them, but then Waller & Theory roll in to taunt them. Bobby Lashley appears and boots them out.

• Karrion Kross, with Scarlett, grabs the cameraman & drags him back to show the Final Testament beating down New Catch Republic. Kross says they'll keep up the violence until they get what they want.

• Teddy Long announces the next pick for SmackDown is AJ Styles; JBL announces Raw selects the Alpha Academy; SD picks Andrade; Raw selects Kiana James!

• Kayla Braxton speaks with Nick Aldis backstage, asking how he feels about the selections? He's looking forward to the new roster but for now he has an annoucement for Backlash: Bayley will be defending her championship against Naomi and Tiffany Stratton in a triple-threat! He brings in Teddy Long to announce a tag team match also for Backlash: The Bloodline vs. Kevin Owens & Randy Orton!

• Next Friday: Cody Rhodes & AJ Styles face-to-face; New Catch Republic vs. Authors of Pain; and A-Town Down Under vs. the Street Profits for the Tag Team Championships! Also… the first-ever RKO show, hosted by KO & Randy Orton!

• After Cody's win, AJ Styles meets him in the ring for a staredown. They shake hands once more.

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Next week's Smackdown will be tape-delayed from Lyon-Déclines, France.

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