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After months of battling in and out of the ring, CM Punk and Kevin Owens met in the main event of SmackDown on Friday with no rules to get in the way of the damage they wanted to inflict on one another.
Unfortunately for Punk, things didn't go his way, and Owens was able to deliver the finishing blow in their match with a steel chain wrapped around his fist.
Also on Friday, Sami Zayn chose not to come to the aid of Jimmy Uso, leaving him to the wolves that are 946. It was a tactical decision for Zayn, who faces Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel on Saturday.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Kevin Owens takes down CM Punk in No Holds Barred action
Videos aired for both main eventers during the show. CM Punk said that Kevin Owens was hung up on some issue from years ago that Punk barely remembers. What matters to Punk, he said, is that Owens cost him the undisputed WWE championship and now he was stuck facing Owens instead of facing Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel. Owens mocked Punk for having him thrown out of NXT so he could have a title match there and said that he'd use the No Holds Barred match to send Punk to the past.
Kevin Owens def. CM Punk via pinfall in a No Holds Barred Match. As expected, the men used many weapons, including tables, chairs and trash cans to inflict damage. It was a steel chain that would prove the deciding weapon, however. At the end of the match, Owens wrapped the chain around his fist, but Punk cut him off to hit a Go To Sleep. Owens bounced from Punk's knee to the ropes and rebounded to deliver a chain-assisted punch to Punk's head. Owens then fell on top of Punk for the pinfall and the victory.
This was a solid enough main event and felt like an appropriately big match between two stars. It also puts Punk in a tough spot. While he has talked about getting rid of Owens to get back to the WWE championship, he now suffered a clean loss under No Holds Barred rules, so he'll have to get even with Owens if he hopes to get back to Zayn and the belt. Grade: B+
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
- Sami Zayn opened the show to discuss his actions on Raw, where he attacked Roman Reigns after Reigns and The Bloodline had been beaten down by 946. This brought out Jimmy Uso, who claimed he was all alone tonight and wanted to know why Zayn had taken a cheap shot at Reigns before saying Reigns said he was going to crush Zayn at Crown Jewel. This made Zayn happy as he said it meant Reigns was finally giving him the attention he deserved. 946 then arrived and beat down Uso, with Zayn walking away rather than getting involved.
- Shinsuke Nakamura def. Tama Tonga via pinfall after hitting a Kinshasa.
- Finn Balor ran off Gunther after Gunther called him out. Gunther said he wanted Balor "the man," not "The Demon." Balor said he was there as a man with a demon inside of him before the two brawled, with Balor getting the better of things and forcing Gunther to run off.
- Women's Tag Team Championship – The Baddies (B-FAB & "Michin" Mia Yim) (c) vs. Fatal Influence (Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid) ended in a no contest after an attack by Tatum Paxley and Alexa Bliss. Bayley ran in to make the save but was taken out by Jade Cargill before Charlotte Flair returned to attack Cargill.
- An emotional Chelsea Green said that she needs to beat Liv Morgan at Crown Jewel to leave a true championship legacy. Morgan came to the ring and mocked Green after Green's promo.
- Damian Priest def. Nathan Frazier via referee stoppage. Priest took out Axiom after the match.
