WWE SmackDown spoilers: Clash at the Castle go-home show

Before it airs tape-delayed on Fox, Friday’s WWE SmackDown will be shown live in some markets overseas.

It’s a massive weekend for Scottish wrestling as the country prepares to host its first WWE PPV/PLE. The OVO Hydro in Glasgow is the venue for tonight’s SmackDown and Saturday’s Clash at the Castle. Cody Rhodes and AJ Styles will both be in the building tonight in advance of their “I Quit” match for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Clash at the Castle.

We’ll also get the final build to the WWE Women’s Championship match at Clash at the Castle. In her home country, Piper Niven is challenging Bayley for the title this Saturday.

Niven’s tag team partner Chelsea Green faces Naomi on SmackDown. Kevin Owens vs. Solo Sikoa and Nia Jax vs. Michin have also been announced for the episode, along with a Grayson Waller Effect segment with DIY.

Join us for spoiler coverage starting at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

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– Cory Graves hyped up Glasgow as we saw clips of Cody Rhodes, AJ Styles and Kevin Owens arriving at the arena.

Naomi (w/ Bayley) beat Chelsea Green (w/ Piper Niven) [08:33]

Chelseas called herself and Piper “the hometown heroes” and promised fans would see not one but two crushing defeats this weekend. Naomi, by the way, has modeled her in-ring look after a unicorn “the national animal of Scotland” (as checked and verified by Cory Graves).

They locked up and Chelsea started out with some chain wrestling, but quickly got overwhelmed as the crowd sang the “Hey Bayley, will you be my girl?” song. Naomi hit the splitt-legged leg drop for a two-count, then followed up with a basement dropkick in the corner. Chelsea escaped to ringside, then stopped Naomi with a slap as she went for a dive as we headed into our first commercial of the night.

Back from commercial, Chelsea still was in control as Bayley got the audience to chant for Naomi at ringside. Naomi hit a kick out of the corner as Chelsea rushed in then hit a springboard enzuigiri, followed by a dive to the outside. Back in the ring, Chelsea hit a cross body from the top for another two-count. Naomi went for punches on the turnbuckle, but Chelsea yanked her down and hit a missile dropkick for a two-count of her own and immediately went for another pin. Chelsea threw a tantrum, then went fro a rollup out of the corner and put her feet on the rope, which Bayley shoved down.

Piper Niven got into Bayley’s face and the two had words as Naomi hit a prawn hold in the ring for the quick three count. Bayley and Naomi celebrated on the outside as Niven consoled Chelsea in the ring.

This was a fine little match to kick off the show and put a spotlight on Bayley vs. Piper Niven for tomorrow. There were not a lot of cheers for Niven and the people were into Bayley (Bayley also was massively cheered during the Clash at the Castle pre-show that took place before SmackDown!). The Glasgow crowd, while lively, up to this point couldn’t hold a candle to the crazy French fans in Lyon from a few weeks ago.

– a clip recapped the attack of Legado del Fantasma on Apollo Crews last week

– Baron Corbin was talking to Nick Aldis when Legado del Fantasma walked in and made fun of him. Aldis promised Corbin they would postpone their talk and told LdF they were being fined for their attack on Apollo Crews last week. Santos Escobar asked if Apollo was cleared, then told Aldis to inform Apollo that he would be facing him later tonight.

– a highlight video showcased Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair and their upcoming match against Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn and Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark

The Grayson Waller Effect with #DIY

There was another disturbance in the feed with a QR code for the presumed new Wyatt Family as the segment was beig announced.

Waller insulted the crowd, saying he talked English and thus did not understand any of them. He said he didn’t bring plants as this place was so depressing not even fake plants could cheer it up. Gargano and Ciampa came out and threw one of the chairs that were set up out of the ring.

Ciampa tried to stir something up between Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. Waller said he would take a bullet for Theory and Ciampa threw it to a clip that showed how Waller pulled Theory in the way of a Gargano dive during last week’s match. Ciampa wanted a fight and wanted it here, now and for the tag team titles, which Waller straight up refused. Gargano said everyone was tired of hearing Waller talk and wanted to talk to Austin Theory.

Gargano said they went way back and Gargano always believed in him and was proud of what Theory had accomplished on his own. He told Theory that Waller was using him, prompting Waller to blindside Gargano. As a brawl ensued, Waller once more pulled Theory into the way of a Gargano superkick. Gargano took out Waller with a running knee and Ciampa did the same to Theory. The champions regrouped at ringside while Gargano and Ciampa took a closer look at the tag team titles in the ring.

A fun angle, further planting seeds of dissension between Waller and Theory that possibly might cost the the tag team titles down the line and might lead to a program between the two. Maybe this could be the breakout moment for Theory, who floundered after beating John Cena at WrestleMania and then quickly disappeared deep into the midcard.

– A clip showed the triple powerbomb through a table that Kevin Owens took from the Bloodline last week. Owens was then shown backstage sitting on a box as the STreet Profits and B-Fab entered the frame and told Owens they had his back, as Owens had been there for them in the past and they also hated the Bloodline.

– the camera followed Grayson Waller and Austin Theory discussing what just happened, then transitioned into Bayley and Naomi walking down the hallway as Waller and Theory ducked into a dressing room. They encountered Blair Davenport, who insulted Naomi before walking off. Naomi wanted to go after her, but Bayley calmed her down and thanked Naomi for having her back. Naomi told her not to thank her but hug her, which Bayley did. This led to Chelsea Green coming around the corner and getting into Naomi’s face. This was all a ruse for Piper Niven to squash both of them against a wall and welcoming them to Scotland

Santos Ecobar (with Legado del Fantasma) beat Apollo Crews [08:55]

Apollo started the match with an overhead belly to belly suplex but the match quickly spilled to ringside with Santos dominating as the rest of Legado del Fantasma distracted Apollo. Suddenly, Baron Corbin’s music hit as he ran out and started beating up Angel and Berto. Back in the ring, Crews used the distraction to launch Escobar into the air with a press slam and hit a standing moonsault for a two-count as we headed into a commercial break.

Escobar was back in control as we returned from break, hitting an enzuigiri from the apron followed by a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Crews came back with an arm drag, kicks to the leg and a Stinger splash into the corner. He hit two consecutive German suplexes but Escobar elbowed his way out of a third one. Crews quickly came back with a high-angle fallaway slam for a two-count. They briefly fought on the top rope before Apollo threw Escobar down and want for a cross body, but got kneed in the sternum in a greatly-timed spot.

Apollo caught Escobar with a Death Valley Driver, but Escobar managed to kick out at the last second. Corbin at ringside cheered Apollo on, but got attacked once more by Angel and Berto. He fought back and threw them into the ring steps, but Elektra Lopez used the ensuing chaos to shove Crews off the top rope. As he argued with her, Escobar rolled him up and hooked the tights for the cheap win.

This was a really good match that showcased both men’s in-ring-talent very well. Apollo Crews may be one of the most underrated guys in WWE today and seeing Ricochet looking to prove himself elsewhere made me remember how great he and Uhaa Nation used to be on the indies and in Japan. Repackaging Baron Corbin as a face is an interesting concept, but he floundered in the role in the past and really was his best as a badass in the recent Wolf Dogs team with Bron Breakker in NXT. Crews and Corbin are still at least one man (and one woman) short if they want to step up to LdF, so we’ll see who they may be able to recruit to their cause.

– a video recapped the great angles leading up to tomorrow’s Cody Rhodes vs. AJ Styles I Quit world title match at Clash at the Castle; we then saw Cody Rhodes in a suit walking through the backstage area

– Andrade, Cedric Alexander, Ashante “Thee” Adonis and Pretty Deadly were shown in the crowd. Everyone’s life is better with Pretty Deadly in it

Cody Rhodes segment

Cody walked out to kick off hour two as the crowd sang his song (albeit not as loud and enthusiastic as in France) and made a young lad’s day as he signed his Cody poster.

Cody said he really believed AJ was about to retire a few weeks back. He said no one wants to be become the guy who overstays his welcome and AJ Styles is starting to look like that guys. The crowd erupted into singing Cody Rhodes’ name. Cody played into it, then started talking about how AJ Styles wanted him to say the words… before he stopped himself as not to fall into the old Mick Foley trap of having the tape of saying just those words played back at him tomorrow.

AJ Style’s music hit and he came out, flanked by the OC. He said it was really easy fool Cody as all he had to do was faking his own retirement. The crowd started singing “Cody Rhodes” again, drowning Styles out. Cody asked him why he was so far away, told him to leave Gallows and Anderson (who he called “Horace and Jasper”) behind and face him man to man. Styles complied and slowly entered the ring.

They then smartly put up a “SmackDown! Live & Loud” noisemeter on the screen and the video wall above the ring, measuring the crowd at around 92 dB.

Styles talked about how it had taken him 17 years to climb the ladder to get to WWE as the crowd told AJ Styles to refrain from speaking in not so nice terms. Styles accused Rhodes of quitting WWE when things got tough. He said things did not stop there, as Cody also quit NJPW and ROH. He said Cody also helped found another company and quit it too, to which the crowd gasped. He said the saying goes “when things get tough, Cody walks”.

Cody said that Styles was right, he quit all those places but he did not quit, he walked away to chase something greater. He said he bet on himself and accomplished his goals, as he was now standing here WWE champion. Cody said he idolized AJ Styles, but if anyone quit, it was Styles quitting on himself.

Cody said that AJ wanted him to say “I Quit” and AJ pointed out how easy those words came to him. AJ also uttered the words “I Quit” at one point, so at least they canceled that out. AJ said that his family actually would rather have him own, but he told them the same thing he told the rest of the world: “I am done when I say I’m done”. He vowed to win the title tomorrow and make Cody quit.

This was a great go-home segment, hyping tomorrow’s I Quit match and making it meaningful. Mentioning the real-life career decisions of Cody in NJPW, ROH and (even though not mentioned by name) AEW added some intriguing realism.

– Cathy Kelley interviewed the Street Profits and B-Fab and questioned if it was wise for them to put themselves in the Bloodline’s crosshairs. Just as they started answering, Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa appeared on cue and beat the Street Profits down. Nick Aldis and a number of officials ran in to break the melee up and the former Guerillas of Destiny calmly walked away and around the corner just as Kevin Owens came running down the stairs. He also was held back as Solo Sikoa followed Tonga and Loa at a distance.