John Cena’s final episode of SmackDown was shaping up to be an all-time moment. That’s when a familiar entrance music hit the speakers in Chicago. Brock Lesnar made his return to WWE TV on Friday by laying out both Cena and United States champion Sami Zayn during their match.
Lesnar later confirmed that he and Cena would square off at Wrestlepalooza in Indianapolis in two weeks.
Plus, an old face made a special return when AJ Lee helped take Becky Lynch down a peg after Lynch continued to slap CM Punk and publicly berate him.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from the Allstate Arena in Chicago.
Cena gets special SmackDown send off spoiled by Lesnar
Cena opened the show getting a rousing ovation from the Chicago fans, the kind of reception you’d expect for a wrestler being back in his hometown. Amid the celebration, Cena noted that this would be his final appearance in Chicago and more importantly, his final SmackDown. It’s notable because Chicago is where Cena made his official debut when he answered an open challenge from Kurt Angle in 2003.
As Cena was preparing to send the crowd into the rest of the night, Sami Zayn’s music hit. Zayn said he wanted to honor Cena by being a fighting champion like Cena was an issue an open challenge for his United States title. But before the open challenge could really be issued, Zayn said he wanted to give Cena one last shot at the title before his retirement, which Cena accepted.
Sami Zayn vs. John Cena ends in a no contest after Brock Lesnar returns and attacks both men. Zayn and Cena were putting on a tremendous match with Cena pulling out all the stops in doing vintage moves not in his move set. Cena hit an avalanche AA before Lesnar’s music hit. He dragged the referee out of the ring before hitting Zayn with an F5 and Cena with a pair of them. Lesnar left the ring laughing to himself. When they returned from commercial, Lesnar was shown backstage in a clip saying, “Hey John, I’ll see you at Wrestlepalooza, bitch.”
AJ Lee is back in WWE
Seth Rollins made a surprise appearance on SmackDown as he introduced his wife, Becky Lynch, while in the crowd. Lynch then ran down the city of Chicago for being losers, including each pro sports team in the area. Her verbal attack on the city continued until CM Punk’s music hit. Punk attempted to calm things down a bit, but Lynch again attacked Punk with slaps across the face before Punk left the ring. That’s when Punk said he knew someone who would fight back against a woman and his wife, AJ Lee, made her first appearance on WWE TV in over a decade.
Lee put a beatdown on Lynch before Lynch scampered out of the ring. Punk and Lee embraced in a big hug as the show went off the air.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Allstate Arena in Chicago.
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
- Aleister Black def. Damian Priest via pinfall after hitting Black Mass.
- Giulia (c) def. Michin via pinfall to retain United States women’s title after hitting arrivederci. Kiana James helped Giulia with a distraction to hit the finishing move.