DIY gets it done against A-Town Down Under at Smackdown in Toronto

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It’s DIY time again.

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World Wrestling Entertainment kicked off its Money in the Bank weekend in Toronto with an excellent main event on Smackdown at Scotiabank Arena on Friday night that saw the tag team champions A-Town Down Under defend their championships against DIY’s Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano.

As expected, the match was fast-paced, featured some high-flying antics and left the Toronto crowd completely satisfied, particularly with the result as DIY scored the submission victory. Gargano locked Grayson Waller in his Gargano Escape and, as he did, Ciampa created a second tapout by locking Austin Theory in the Sicilian Stretch. With the victory, #DIY claimed the titles in the same arena where they once captured the NXT Tag Team Title together.

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It was an emphatic and fitting conclusion to a night that was largely focused on setting the stage for Saturday’s Money in the Bank premium live event.

Smackdown opened with the men’s Money in the Bank competitors, Jey Uso, LA Knight, Carmelo Hayes, Chad Gable, Andrade and Drew McIntyre meeting in the ring with a brawl ensuing. The camera then shifted backstage, where Toronto’s Jackie Redmond was interviewing WWE Women’s Champion Bayley, who was confronted by Canadian Chelsea Green, who vowed to win Money in the Bank and subsequently cash in her contract and win the women’s title.

The evening’s opening match featured the Street Profits facing Pretty Deadly. Again, the not quite capacity crowd was treated to a fast-paced match that ended with Montez Ford scoring the win for the Profits after hitting a frog splash on Elton Prince.

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The second match of the night featured Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae taking on Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair. The match struggled a bit to get going, but did pick up before finishing strongly with Jade scoring the pinfall win after Jade and Belair simultaneously hit the Jaded and KOD finishers.

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Perhaps the best segment of the night belonged to Kevin Owens, Randy Orton and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, who hit the ring to promote their 6-man tag team match scheduled for Money in the Bank.

Owens, from Montreal, spoke about how he’d just arrived in Toronto from home, where he’d spent most of the last week at hospital with his mother, who is hospitalized with a virus. A visibly emotional Owens talked about how he should’ve, and could’ve stayed home with his ailing mother, but said that his mother taught him to fight like hell, so he was in the ring and in Toronto in honour of his mother. Owens’ parents are regular ringside guests at many WWE shows, particularly across Canada.

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The evening’s third match featured Bayley, with Naomi, taking on Piper Niven, with the aforementioned Green. During the match, Tiffany Stratton walked out, which led to all the competitors in the women’s Money in the Bank match brawling in the ring, as the men had done to open the show. The high point came when Stratton hit a moonsault off the top rope down onto her opponents on the floor.

As for the match itself, Bayley hit her Bayley-to-Belly finisher during the mayhem to pin Niven. Nia Jax then came out and attacked Bayley, prompting Michin to run in with a kendo stick and save Bayley.

The show ended not with DIY celebrating their tag title victory, but rather a pre-recorded video featuring Solo Sikoa, claiming to be the Tribal Chief and that Roman Reigns can no longer claim that title. Reigns has not been seen since losing to Rhodes at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia three months ago.

Will Roman return on Saturday night in Toronto?

Time will tell.

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