The Friday night, August 7 episode of WWE SmackDown on USA Network, revved up the aftermath from last weekend’s SummerSlam as past feuds reignited and new feuds are now set to take off.  As far as a post-PLE SmackDown, this was one of the best in a long time, setting the table for what’s to come.

The show started with Cody Rhodes, fresh off his loss for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship to CM Punk, after Randy Orton hit Cody with his RKO when the referee got knocked out. As Rhodes was addressing the SmackDown crowd in Philadelphia (which is where Cody won the belt from Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40), CM Punk interrupts when his music hits and he comes to the ring.

Rhodes wants to know if Punk knew that Orton was going to interfere in the match and allow Punk to retain the title. Punk says he didn’t know and he was just as pissed off about Orton and offered to “Two-Man Power Trip” the place until they found Orton and beat him up. Cody leaves the ring to deal with Orton, while Punk tells him, “Say when.” Thus, Punk has left the door open for Cody to have a rematch.

Photo: WWE

KO AND CM PUNK HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY

Next, Kevin Owens passes Rhodes on the ring ramp, as he enters  to come face-to-face with Punk. Owens won the fatal four-way to become the number one contender for the title.

The two traded trash talk each other when SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis shows up at ringside. Up until now, KO and Punk just trade snide remarks with Owens claiming why he knows Punk is the same sociopath he always has been.

Owens explains how his 17-month battle and recovery from his neck injury (and surgery) made him want to get back into the ring more. However, Punks says, “Do you think they were holding their breath, waiting for Kevin Owens?” Next, KO thanked Punk for setting an example of what not to become and called him a “miserable piece of s**t.” KO pushed Punk and we are off to the races, before the two men are broken up by WWE officials.

Photo: WWE

Later in the show, The Viper Randy Orton makes his entrance to the ring, but once hitting his signature pose atop the ring post. Cody Rhodes interrupts and chases Orton out of the ring.  Then, we get the reset of their feud we it should have been for WrestleMania 42, that was ruined by the arrival of Pat McAfee forced into the build-up.

Now, Orton explains his behavior once and for all. He says when he rolled into WrestleMania 42, he gave Cody the best version of himself, and The American Nightmare still defeated him. As a 14-time champion, he added, “The best version of Randy Orton wasn’t going to win No. 15, but the worst version damn sure will.” Rhodes fired back “I don’t have to be the good guy anymore,” which got the crowd riled up. The two have a stare down.

Backstage, Sami Zayn confronted CM Punk and previously Kevin Owens and Nick Aldis. Zayn cannot believe how he has been screwed time after time to get a rematch for the title that he lost when CM Punk was inserted into the championship match when Zayn was the titleholder.

Photo: WWE

CHELSEA GREEN’S CELEBRATION TURNS TO A DERAILMENT WITH NEWS OF HER INJURY

With the news that Rhea Ripley had knee surgery a few days ago, and will be out longer than expected, new interim Chelsea Green was introduced as the WWE Women’s Champion.

The fans are so behind Green, who they have wanted to see elevated into a top spot. Green thanked them for helping make this moment happen. After Tiffany Stratton joined her in the ring for a celebration, the “friends” were interrupted by Fatal Influence and Jacy Jayne and a match ensued, which saw Green get injured. She d wound up with a broken orbital bone, which will derail her first WWE World’s Women title run for now.

Taking to social media on Saturday, Green shared, “Hey, guys. So, I was trying to keep this kind of private but the Internet knows everything so I thought I would come on here and clear things up. I did get injured last night. Stuff happens. It’s live television, it’s wrestling, it’s an occupational hazard. I ended up in the emergency room and I have a broken orbital bone. It looks amazing, all things considered. It feels awful but looks pretty amazing.”

Chelsea added, “I have no idea what that means for me. You know, usually you guys can see me play into every single injury but like this feels different, obviously. This feels very different. It feels frustrating, and I’m upset. I feel like if I didn’t have bad luck I’d have no luck at all. So, I just need to take a little bit more time to process and kind of heal from obviously the head trauma that is going on right now. And then we’ll see what happens. We’re just going to take it day-by-day. So, world domination continues we’ve just had a minor blip.”

Photo: WWE

TATUM PAXLEY ARRIVES!

The SmackDown main event featured Jade Cargill (with B-Fab and Michin) facing Charlotte Flair (with a returning Alexa Bliss) and a very special addition to the duo.

During the melee towards the end of the match, the lights in the arena went out. When they came back on NXT”s Tatum Paxley was atop the ring post and dove into B-Fab and Michin to take them out. Ultimately, Charlotte scored the pinfall on Cargill, and Tatum, Alexa and the Queen celebrated in the ring as SmackDown went off the air.

So, what did you think of WWE SmackDown this past Friday night? One of the better post-SummerSlam episodes? Excited for what’s ahead? Weigh-in via the comment section and take a look at the highlights below.

On the Friday, August 7, episode of General Hospital, Willow (Katelyn MacMullen) unknowingly has put her children Amelia and Wiley in danger, Drew (Cameron Mathison) and Ava (Maura West) appear to be in collusion against Sonny, and Josslyn (Eden McCoy) and Hudson (Troy Lennon Appel) get off to a rocky start (which as you know in soaps could be a love match down the line!).

Here’s what went down as most of the action took place at the Metro Court pool area: First, Josslyn meets with Hudson, who reveals himself to be none other than the VP of Operations for JJE (Jasper Jacks Enterprises). Hudson tells Josslyn he was sent to Port Charles from Australia, while her dad was sailing around the world as he had named her the new CEO of his company.

Josslyn immediately puts her foot down and tells Hudson she is not accepting the position. He asks, why? She informs him that she works as a WSB agent. Hudson seems stunned and his interest is piqued.

Courtesy/ABC

HUDSON DOESN’T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF JOSSLYN

In turn, they get into a tiff, where Hudson is annoyed that he flew all the way around the world and wasted his time. Meanwhile, Josslyn is annoyed that her father didn’t even bother to ask her if she wanted to run the company. In the end, Josslyn tells Hudson to get her a list of qualified candidates, one of which she can sign the company over to.  She then storms off.

However, Hudson spots Ava Jerome, whom he knows was speaking with Ethan in Norway, and who knows about Ethan’s involvement with baby Phoebe. Ava is busy talking with Drew on how they mutual disdain of Sonny, and it should be the driving force for them to work together to take him down. Ava wants no more threats over her head of having Avery taken away from her by her father. Drew is all ears!

Michael (Rory Gibson) meets up at the pool with Jacinda. She shows him the restraining order that Willow got from the courts against her to stay away from the children. Michael promises to get his lawyers to fight it.

However, Michael knows something is up when Jacinda said, “Willow is about to make a public mistake,” hoping that pills she put in Willow’s iced coffee have begun to spin the congresswoman out of control. Michael demanded to know what Jacinda had done to Willow.

Courtesy/ABC

WILLOW’S ABOUT TO GO FOR A DANGEROUS DRIVE

Elsewhere at Nina’s, Willow got a surprise when Amelia and Wiley showed up. Now, she will have them for the afternoon and decides they are going to have fun day. After a slight scare when Wiley picked up her iced coffee, Willow told her son to put down the drink because it has caffeine in it. However, then Willow began to drink it herself unaware that Jacinda spiked it with drugs.

In the final moments of the episode, Willow’s behavior changes as she is now over-excited about taking the kids to the arcade. A drugged Willow grabs her car keys, and she and Amelia and Wiley head out to the car. We fade to black.

So, did you feel on-screen chemistry between Hudson and Josslyn? Do you like Drew and Ava teaming up? Do you think Willow gets into a car accident with Amelia and Wiley in the car, which in turn, will kick Jacinda to the curb with Michael? Share your thoughts on what happens next and more in the comment section below. But first for some clues, take a look at the General Hospital preview that aired for Monday’s August 10th episode during the closing of today’s GH.

On the Thursday, August 6 episode of General Hospital, Sonny (Maurice Benard) seemed to get a clue from Jason and also decided to leave the mob. Speaking of Jason (Steve Burton), he went to tell Tracy (Jane Elliot) that he quit working for Sonny, which Tracy says would be music to Monica and Alan’s ear.

Michael (Rory Gibson) gets caught in Serena (Kelly Kruger) and Lucy’s (Lynn Herring) scheme, and Jacinda (Paige Herschell) slips a blue pill into Willow’s (Katelyn MacMullen) iced coffee as payback for the restraining order she filed against her. All this, as the closing arguments from Molly (Kristen Vaganos) and Martin (Michael E. Knight) are delivered before the jury in the Isaiah (Sawandi Wilson) vs. Curtis (Donnell Turner) court case.

Let’s break this all down: In the most heartfelt of scenes, Jason shows up at the Qs to see Tracy. He explains he told Sonny he can’t work for him anymore and quit. He tells Tracy he has to be a better role model for his son, Danny.

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GETTING OUT OF THE MOB IS EMOTIONAL

Jason gets teary-eyed. Tracy says what Jason wants for Danny is all that his parents, the late Alan and Monica Quartermaine would have wanted for him. A gutted Jason feels so badly for his previous behavior towards his parents and wishes he could apologize for all that he put them through. Tracy says if they were here now, they would be happy that he had come to this decision for himself.

At Sonny’s, Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) gets an earful from his father, who informs him that Jason had decided he wanted out of the business for Danny’s sake. Suddenly, Dante is worried for Sonny’s safety. However, Sonny says he shouldn’t be. Sonny claims he’s getting out of the mob too and plans to focus on business opportunities that opened up after Sidwell’s arrest. (This makes no sense, because Sidwell was involved in shady dealings too!) Next, the two men hug it out as Sonny explains he won’t be a problem for his son with the PCPD anymore.

At Nina’s (Cynthia Watros), Willow wants her mother to stop confiding in Jack Brennan about her children. Nina explained to her that her quest to reopen the investigation into Michael as a suspect in Drew’s shooting, could implicate Jack, since he had gotten rid of the traffic cam footage of Willow, the night she shot Drew. Nina is mortified when she also learned Willow has a restraining order against Jacinda.

JACINDA WANTS PAYBACK AIMED AT WILLOW

Jacinda asked Ezra (Daniel Cosgrove) to return the blue pills she’d left at his place a few months back, claiming she needed to take the edge off after Willow served her with a restraining order. She explains Willow wants her nowhere near Amelia and Wiley. Ezra is concerned for his escort/friend.

Later, Jacinda arrives at Nina’s where she runs into Willow. When Willow and Nina leave the room, it leaves Jacinda to spot the iced coffee lattes marked for Willow and Nina.  Next, she slips one of the blue tablets into the cup marked “Willow.”

Elsewhere, at the Metro Court Pool, Serena Baldwin lays on Michael’s pool chaise lounge chair. When he gets out of the water, he goes over to his chair only to have Serena laying on it. She gets a bit flirty, but explains she is concerned for her mother and Deception. Michael explains he will vote fairly with his shares given to him by Maxie. (You can check out the scenes entitled “Ambushing Michael” below).

Now weigh-in: Do you think Sonny is truly going to get out of the mob? And take up some of Sidwell’s, of all people’s business opportunities? Did you enjoy the touching scene between Jason and Tracy? Do you think Nina will wind up drinking the coffee that is laced with the drug Jacinda put in it instead of Willow?

Do you think Willow is going to try to paint Michael as a bad father and use drugs against him as well? Do you see a spark yet between Serena and Michael, or no? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section.