Former champion advances in major tournament ahead of WWE SummerSlam
WWE Superstars have been attempting to put on their best performances as the 37th annual SummerSlam approaches. A veteran former world champion just picked up a big win after going 225 days without a singles title match.
WWE Speed competition continued on Friday as a top superstar moved one step closer to a title match with Andrade. The latest eight-man tournament kicked off on Wednesday, with Joaquin Wilde defeating Axiom to advance to the quarterfinals. After a big 450 Splash, the NXT Tag Team Champion was pinned by the Legado Del Fantasma member with just four seconds to go in the three-minute match. Friday's match featured Pete Dunne vs. Julius Creed.
The Bruiserweight defeated the two-time NCAA Division I All-American Wrestling Champion on the latest WWE Speed episode. Dunne hit his Bitter End finisher for the pin with 25 seconds to go in the three-minute match.
Dunne vs. Wilde in the semifinals will take place later this month. Next week's episodes will feature an opening round to the bottom half of the bracket with Austin Theory vs. Montez Ford and Je'Von Evans vs. Ashante "Thee" Adonis. The winner of Wilde vs. Dunne will advance to the semifinals to lock up with Theory, Ford, Evans, or Adonis.
El Idolo will be waiting to face his third challenger, who will be the semifinal's winner, toward the end of August. The second-ever Speed Champion dethroned Ricochet in late June. He retained over Xavier Woods on July 5 and stopped Baron Corbin on July 24.
Spoiler updates for the current WWE Speed tournament
The final WWE SmackDown before SummerSlam was held on Friday at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. WWE also taped two Speed matches.
The SmackDown tapings included two Speed matches, which will air next Wednesday and Friday to wrap up the opening round of the current eight-man tournament. Je'Von Evans defeated Ashante "Thee" Adonis to advance, while Austin Theory vs. Montez Ford ended in a three-minute time-limit draw.
Ford and Theory are likely to be eliminated from the tournament, as happened in the first-ever Speed draw between Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes earlier this month. The draw allowed Baron Corbin to advance to the title match instead of facing the winner of Hayes vs. Dragunov, but he still came up short against Andrade.
While not confirmed, the winner of Joaquin Wilde vs. Pete Dunne in mid-August will likely face Evans in the semifinals to determine Andrade's challenger. Evans will bid the semifinals goodbye due to the Theory vs. Ford draw.