WWE SmackDown results, recap, grades: John Cena and Roman Reigns deliver final messages ahead of SummerSlam

Reigns said he will leave WWE if he fails to beat Cena at SummerSlam

On Friday night, WWE SmackDown landed in Phoenix to do the final lifting 24 hours prior to Saturday's massive SummerSlam pay-per-view. That meant a night heavy on big names delivering final messages to their SummerSlam opponents.

Chief among those big names were universal champion Roman Reigns and SummerSlam challenger John Cena. Cena had delivered a powerful message to Reigns on previous SmackDowns by explaining that he expected Reigns to dominate him, but that it would only take a three-count for Cena to destroy everything Reigns had built. On Friday night, Cena doubled down on those words while Reigns vowed to make Cena the next man he would smash and send away before adding a new wrinkle to the match.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Footprint Center in Phoenix.

Final SummerSlam messages are delivered

Reigns and Cena faced off in the ring to close the show. Reigns said Cena had said "a lot of dumb stuff" last week and it was great that he fired up the fans, but that he wouldn't allow Cena to lie to them. Reigns asked Paul Heyman to name the last time he'd lost a match, to which Heyman said no one had ever beaten "this" Roman Reigns. Cena said people who thought he was just showing up to lose before disappearing to film a movie were right that he had a movie to film, but that they were dead wrong that he wouldn't leave Reigns as a shell of himself without a title. Cena told Reigns that the second he failed to be perfect, the impossible would become possible and he would break the all-time record for most world championships. Reigns then closed things out by saying he'd either leave SummerSlam as world champion or he'd leave the WWE forever. Reigns then tried to attack before Cena rolled him up for three seconds before sliding out of the ring.

In the other major storyline of the night, Edge opened the show with an in-ring promo, addressing SummerSlam opponent Seth Rollins. Edge said that he has been pushed to a dark place by Rollins' threats and targeting of his family. He also said that he likes being forced to that dark place and would look to not beat, but instead break, Rollins at SummerSlam. Rollins responded later in the show, saying he knew Edge didn't actually still have it in him to go to the "dark place." At that point, Edge's music from when he was in The Brood in the late 1990s hit and a dark goop fell on the ring, covering Rollins, which was a signature of The Brood, except the group used "blood" during their brief run.

Cena and Reigns basically ran through the previous week's promo once again, but Reigns' new stipulation and giving Cena a post-promo roll-up to prove a point was fun enough. And it's a little bit of extra fun that Cena proved his point with a quick pin instead of the standard "big move." The stuff with Edge and Rollins was fun for the sake of the callback to an often overlooked period in Edge's career, though a lot of the punch was lost when WWE had to settle for a "Broodbath" instead of a "bloodbath." Still, few people on the roster can deliver a promo with the intensity of Edge. Grade: B+

What else happened on WWE SmackDown?

• Jey Uso def. Rey Mysterio via pinfall after an Uso Splash. Dominik Mysterio was caught trying to give Rey some extra leverage on a pin, allowing the momentum to swing for the finish.
• Baron Corbin def. Kevin Owens via disqualification after interference from Big E. Big E ran to the ring to attack Corbin, who still had the Money in the Bank briefcase he stole from Big E last week. Corbin managed to escape the attack with briefcase in hand.
• Shotzi Blackheart & Tegan Nox def. Tamina & Natalya via pinfall when Shotzi pinned Natalya with a roll-up.
• Otis def. Montez Ford via pinfall after a Vader Bomb.
• Ric Boogs & Shinsuke Nakamura def. Apollo Crews & Commander Azeez via pinfall after Boogs pinned Crews with a pumphandle slam. Boogs was making his main roster in-ring debut in the match and impressively showed off his strength throughout.
• Bianca Belair def. Zelina Vega via pinfall with the Kiss of Death. This was the first of two matches for Belair, who was trying to prove a point ahead of her planned SummerSlam match with Sasha Banks.
• Bianca Belair def. Carmella via pinfall with the Kiss of Death. Belair continued her run of beating Carmella and Vega on a near-weekly basis.