The tournament for the WWE United States Championship has played out on SmackDown over the past few weeks, and tonight it was down to the final two. It was a family affair too, as LWO’s Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar made it to the final match and had to take on each other for the shot at the Title tonight. Things were going along well, with both stars having their shining moments, but then at one point Mysterio landed on the floor and seemed to experience some whiplash, with the replay indicating he might have hit his head against the floor during the fall. The match had to be stopped and the referee decided Mysterio couldn’t continue, giving the win to Escobar as a result. Whether it’s a real injury or just a kayfabe one is unknown at this time.
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Escobar locked up Mysterio early but soon Mysterio started to gain some momentum. These two know each other quite well, which allowed Escobar to move out of the way of the 619. Escobar came right back though, slamming Mysterio down into a cover, but Mysterio kicked out. The speed of the match favored Escobar at this point, but on a dime, Mysterio hit Escobar and went for the pin, but Escobar kicked out.
Escobar then hit a backbreaker, turning the tide once again, but was soon running into the ring apron. Mysterio then went to capitalize, but Escobar moved out of the way, and Mysterio missed completely, slamming into the floor outside of the ring.
When we got back from commercial break though, Mysterio was on the mat and near the corner being attended to by medical officials. It looks as if Mysterio had some substantial whiplash after being knocked down to the floor by Escobar. It was then decided that Mysterio couldn’t continue in the match, and that means Escobar moves on to face Austin Theory of for his United States Championship.
Escobar will face Theory for the United States Title in two weeks on WWE SmackDown, and after the result Escobar went over to check on Mysterio and the two hugged. No love is lost due to the match or the result it would seem, and that’s great news for LWO fans. As for Mysterio, his status hasn’t been updated yet by WWE, so it’s not known if this is a kayfabe injury or a real one. We’ll let you know when we know more.
Up next for WWE is SummerSlam, and you can find the official card below.
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Tribal Combat)
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins vs. Finn Bálor
WWE Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair (Triple Threat Match)
Intercontinental Champion Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre
Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
SummerSlam streams live on Peacock on Saturday, August 5th.
What have you thought of SmackDown so far? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
