WWE Tuesday Shows July 23, 2019 edition

The July 23, 2019 Edition was a Professional wrestling event television shows of WWE which took place on July 23, 2019 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

SmackDown LIVE
After Kevin Owens issued a SummerSlam challenge to Shane McMahon via social media during Raw Reunion and indicated that he would quit WWE if he lost, “The Best in the World” kicked off SmackDown LIVE by accepting. KO then hit the scene, promising Shane that he would beat the living hell out of him at The Biggest Event of the Summer.

Owens was ready and willing to start SummerSlam early as he marched the ring ready to get a piece of the former SmackDown LIVE Commissioner, but Shane wasn’t nearly as interested. “The Best in the World” instead declared that Owens would instead take on Roman Reigns in tonight’s main event.

Newly minted Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura looked to score another impressive victory against a Superstar looking to turn heads on Team Blue, Apollo Crews.

With a chance to potentially put himself in position for an Intercontinental Championship Match, Crews blistered the titleholder with a series of stiff kicks and even an Olympic Slam, but Nakamura kicked out at the last possible second, eventually regained control and put Crews down for three with a wicked Kinshasa.

Nakamura didn’t seem content with just claiming the 1-2-3 though, as he put the boots to Crews after the victory and dropped him with another Kinshasa at ringside before sauntering away with his championship.

A very special episode of “Miz TV” that featured Shawn Michaels quickly descended into bedlam when Dolph Ziggler crashed the proceedings and exchanged verbal daggers with HBK.

The Showoff lambasted Michaels, mocking several of his recent appearances in a WWE ring. HBK didn’t mince words, retorting that more embarrassing than anything that he has done was the fact that Ziggler would only ever be known as “a second-rate Shawn Michaels wannabe.” The Showoff continued to bark at the WWE Hall of Famer until The Miz interjected and demanded that Dolph do something about it if he was gonna keep talking about how “it should have been him.” It appeared that Ziggler was about to take off, but when Michaels stopped him short, The Showoff took a swing. Michaels ducked, but the punch connected with Miz. After Michaels briefly checked on The Miz, he turned back around right into a vicious superkick from The Showoff, who dashed out of the ring before Miz could get his hands on him.

The whole ordeal was blatantly disrespectful… and Ziggler seemed to revel in every single second of it.

With her SmackDown Women’s Championship opportunity against Bayley at SummerSlam fast approaching, Ember Moon looked to score a monumental victory against Charlotte Flair on the blue brand.

However, the match was over almost as soon as it started. After a few brief exchanges between Moon and Flair, Bayley arrived, distracting The Queen and allowing The Shenom to catch her off-guard with a rollup for the win. Bayley and Ember reveled in the win for a few seconds until Ember flipped the script on The Hugger and tossed her in the ring with Charlotte. A mini-melee broke out, and Ember dropped Flair and Bayley with picture-perfect Eclipses.

Advantage Ember in a BIG way.

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston hasn’t suffered many pinfall defeats since becoming WWE Champion at WrestleMania 35. However, last week, Randy Orton did indeed pin Kingston after connecting with a gnarly RKO in Six-Man Tag Team action. Because of that, and a whole litany of history between the two from years back, Kofi didn’t waste any time waiting for someone to challenge him to a title match at SummerSlam. Instead, Kingston backed up all his claims of wanting to be a true fighting champion and challenged The Viper to a WWE Title Match at The Biggest Event of Summer.

Kingston recalled their tumultuous history, telling Orton that he still reached the top of the mountain, despite all Randy did to keep him down over the years. Randy didn’t deny the WWE Champion’s claims that he used his influence to hold Kofi back, telling Kingston that he wasn’t ready for the main event then and still wasn’t ready now.

Orton was clearly already attempting to begin the mind games, but Kofi would have none of it, staying steadfast in his belief, both in himself and in his ability to dethrone The Viper at SummerSlam. The match was now official, and it appeared that The Viper would try to continue the psychological warfare as he remained at ringside for Kofi’s upcoming match with Samoa Joe.

Kofi Kingston and Samoa Joe ran it back in a WWE Extreme Rules rematch while Randy Orton kept a watchful eye at ringside.

Clearly with no love lost after their recent saga, Kingston and Joe threw down in an absolute slugfest. Joe attempted to keep Kingston grounded, but in the clutch, The Viper tried to take out Kofi with his signature RKO outta nowhere. However, the WWE Champion was ready for it, and he evaded the move, resulting in a standoff with The Apex Predator. Instead, The Samoan Submission Machine got an RKO for his troubles, which was quickly followed by a Trouble in Paradise from Kingston right to Orton’s dome piece.

The road to SummerSlam was now firmly defined and already scorching.

Finn Bálor was brutally attacked by “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt last week on Raw, and following The Fiend’s attack on WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley last night, The Extraordinary Man made it clear tonight that what he wanted was a SummerSlam match against Wyatt.

Bray responded quickly, but not in person. Instead, Bray appeared via the TitanTron, back in the familiar confines of the Firefly Fun House alongside Mercy the Buzzard and Rambling Rabbit. An eerily jovial Wyatt praised the former Universal Champion for his bravery and accepted the challenge, but he warned Finn of the dangers of fighting The Fiend, who Wyatt called “an abomination.”

The Fiend was seemingly not present … at least, not until the end, when flickering images of the masked Superstar appeared, and it was clear that Finn would likely have to deal with Bray and The Fiend as SummerSlam approached.

With Drew McIntyre as the special guest referee, Elias as the special guest timekeeper and Shane McMahon as the special guest ring announcer, Shane’s plan was to get Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns to tear each other apart in this main event contest… but it quickly became clear that Owens and Reigns were far more interested in trying to lay the boots to Shane, Elias and Drew.

Shane-O-Mac and company tried to gang up on KO and The Big Dog once they went rogue, but Reigns and Owens rallied to take out McIntyre and Elias, leaving “The Best in the World” alone to eat a Superman Punch from Roman and two Stunners from Owens.

With Shane fleeing alongside Elias and McIntyre, KO promised the WWE Universe that what they saw tonight would pale in comparison to what they would see him do to Shane at SummerSlam.

205 Live
In the first of two battles between 205 Live and NXT tonight, Humberto Carrillo – who competes on both brands – teamed up with fellow Mexican Superstar Raul Mendoza to take on Cruiserweight mainstays Kalisto and Gran Metalik of The Lucha House Party.

Mendoza and Kalisto fought to an early stalemate, resulting in a rousing ovation from the WWE Universe, and each tagged out of the match. The same kind of incredible agility from Carrillo and Metalik led to another stalemate, forcing The King of the Ropes to change his strategy. Feigning a handshake, Metalik decked Carrillo, finally giving The Lucha House Party the advantage.

Working together to isolate Carrillo, Kalisto and Metalik took turns working on their opponent’s upper body, hoping to keep him grounded and away from Mendoza. The Lucha House Party maintained control until a desperation knee to Kalisto’s gut gave Carrillo the chance to tag in Mendoza.

The Mexican high-flyers have teamed up before, and their chemistry was on full display as they took turns attacking Kalisto. Working on the former United States Champion’s arms, Carrillo seemed to have the match in control until Kalisto’s resilience kicked in, and he fended off his opponent and brought Gran Metalik back into the fray.

Applying pressure to Carrillo and methodically increasing the pace of the contest, Metalik enjoyed a brief advantage until a high-flying counter flattened The King of the Ropes. After a tag on each side of the ring, Mendoza charged forward at a breakneck pace, keeping Kalisto on defense as Carrillo worked to keep Metalik out of the equation.

The fight reached a frenetic pace as Metalik and Carrillo battled on the ring apron and the top rope. The King of the Ropes seemed to have the match in control until Mendoza broke up a pinfall. Taking the fight to Kalisto, Mendoza dropped jaws as he launched himself over the top rope and flattened his opponent. Back inside the ring, Metalik attempted a moonsault, but Carrillo countered and quickly capitalized by executing a twisting corkscrew to secure a huge victory.

With his rivalry against Ariya Daivari seemingly in the past after he claimed victory during a brutal Anything Goes Match, Oney Lorcan is laser-focused on one goal – the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

Lorcan’s opponent, Tony Isner, was looking to make a name for himself and squared up with the Boston brawler, delivering a few potent strikes. Unfortunately for Isner, those strikes only enraged Lorcan, and he quickly unloaded his unbridled rage, bulldozing his opponent with running uppercuts before delivering a Half and Half for the win.

Still waiting for his next challenger, WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak found himself faced with someone from his past – NXT Superstar Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. However, Gulak remained unfazed by his opponent, revealing that not only did he train Scott, but he’s ready to continue the lesson in the second and final 205 Live vs. NXT match of the evening.

Scott landed the first big blow of the fight when he launched himself over the top rope and drilled the Cruiserweight Champion with a splash.

“Swerve” impressively remained in control, nearly securing victory with a clobbering right hook that left Gulak dazed and confused. Potentially doing as much damage to his hand as he did to Gulak’s jaw, Scott favored his right hand as he dished out an impressive flurry of offense, though Gulak fired back with aggressive strikes, driving his opponent out of the ring.

Clearly fed up, Gulak grabbed his opponent and tossed him into the barricade before launching Scott into the ring post. Taking the battle back inside the squared circle, The Philadelphia Stretcher focused on his opponent’s right hand, showing off his unique technical abilities and even leveling Scott with a clothesline off the top rope.

Scott countered a potentially devastating move with a jawbreaker and increased the pressure on the Cruiserweight Champion. Blocking out the pain in his right hand and feeding off the energy of the WWE Universe, “Swerve” nearly secured victory when he went airborne to drill the titleholder with a kick.

After somehow escaping Gulak’s dragon sleeper, Scott delivered a crushing stomp, dropping Gulak from the ring apron to the floor before annihilating him with a second stomp back inside the ring from the top rope that nearly won the match.

“Swerve” trapped his opponent in an armbar, leaving Gulak desperate to break the hold. Grabbing his opponent’s injured arm, the Cruiserweight Champion escaped, and both Superstars traded blows in the center of the ring.

Unfortunately for Scott, Gulak took control and executed his patented Cyclone Clash to pick up a hard-fought and impressive victory.

Results

 * Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
 * (c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
 * Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Apollo Crews (8:15)
 * Ember Moon defeated Charlotte Flair (0:45)
 * Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe ended in a No Contest (7:45)
 * Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens ended in No Contest (Special referee: Drew McIntyre) (Guest time keeper: Elias) (Guest ring announcer: Shane McMahon)
 * Humberto Carrillo & Raul Mendoza defeated The Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Kalisto) (w/ Lince Dorado)
 * Oney Lorcan defeated Tony Isner
 * Drew Gulak (c) defeated Isaiah Scott to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

Chants & Pops


The Miamian Crowd have said anything random.
 * New Day Rocks (1)
 * Boo (to Shane McMahon) (1)
 * CM Punk
 * You can't wrestle (to Shane)
 * Pop for Kevin Owens
 * Cheers (when Kevin says to Shane) (1)


 * Boo (to Shane) (2)


 * Nakamura
 * 1-2-3 (1)
 * Miz TV
 * HBK! HBK!
 * Ohhh (when Shawn says to Dolph Ziggler)
 * Yes! Yes! Yes!
 * Do Something
 * Ohh (when Ziggler attacks Shawn)
 * Cheers (to Randy Orton, when Kofi Kingston says it) (2)
 * Kofi! Kofi! (1)
 * W W E World Heavy Weight Champion
 * R K O
 * Joe! Joe!
 * Kofi! Kofi! (2)
 * New Day Rocks (2)
 * Cheers (when Orton comes and tries to RKO Kofi. Orton then RKOs to Samoa Joe, and then Kofi attacks Orton) (3)
 * You Suck (to Shane)
 * One More Time (that was chanted after Kevin stunnered Shane)

Others/Miscellaneous
The indoor arena, as a professional wrestling. Turned basketball into professional wrestling as a whole for WWE's SmackDown LIVE July 23, 2019 episode.

The transcript for SmackDown and 205 Live can see it by clicking here.