Jordan Huie of the Overtimer here to give you the live play-by-play of WWE SmackDown! You can see my preview of the show right here. Watch this space!
After a recap video of last week’s NXT takeover, we are ushered into the arena. Baron Corbin opens the show. He’s got a mic, everyone jeers. Says Survivor Series is two weeks from this Sunday and for the first time the battle for brand supremacy will be Raw vs. SmackDown vs. NXT. Big chant for NXT. All anyone can talk about is how NXT took over SmackDown last week. He finds it embarrassing, and thinks the blame can go to a lot of people but in particular, to a supposed locker room leader, Roman Reigns.
He puts him over, asking how many athletes around the world can say they beat leukemia and came back. Applause. But if there’s one thing he knows, the fickle blood-sucking audience only cares about what you’ve done for them lately. And lately, Roman’s done nothing. Baron says his priorities have changed, he’s a face not a fighter. Chides him for taking more days off and spending time with his family when THIS used to be his family. Says that he sees right through him and the people do as well. Claims that the Big Dog’s testicles have shriveled up into itsy bitsy tiny, tiny little marbles.
Corbin says his bark is starting to sound like a little chihuahua. Cuts to a video on the tron where, I swear to God, Roman’s logo starts making little yipping sounds. After it goes on for too long, Baron notes that Roman’s music isn’t playing, asks if that isn’t enough? Demands that he bring his little testicles down here. But then notes that he’s not actually here yet, he’s off making a wish for some child. Says that you’ll all have tiny poo bags for him, and in fact holds up a tiny bag. For… for his poo. And then he tosses it down and they pipe in really, really obviously fake boos. They want us to think that line of all things got a ton of heat. Wonderful.
New Day walking backstage. E tells Xavier not to drop the soap. Kofi tells him once again, Xavier didn’t go to jail he’s off recovering. Kofi chides Revival for taking credit for putting Woods out of action. They’re going for that seventh tonight, because if they don’t, how will they ever catch up to Charlotte Flair? Promise to become tag team champions. They’ve got XW arm bands, similar to the old EG ones.
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The Revival (c) vs. The New Day
We start with swift roll up and cradle attempts from Kofi, Dawson escaping them all, gets him with a blow to the back of the head. Tag to Wilder who chops him into the corner. Kofi chops his way out, wristlock, tag to E, arm drag from Kofi, leapfrog leg drop, E covers for 2. Wilder leap frogs over E, comes down favoring his leg. Wilder crawls over to his corner as we go to commercial.
Back from commercial and you’ll never believe this but it was a fake injury!!!!! Dash surprised E and threw him into Dawson for a cheap shot. But Kofi’s tagged in now, ton of dropkicks and flying clotheslines. Hits the ropes, huge trust fall tope wipes both of them out! Kofi up top, crossbody takes out Dawson. Wants the Trouble In Paradise, Wilder pulls Dawson out of the way of it. Double team now, Dawson pulls Kofi up top as Wilder scales the top rope on an adjacent corner. Dawson with a superplex, Wilder with a frog splash! E comes in to break up the pin, gets an overhead belly to belly on Dawson but eats a springing Tornado DDT from Wilder. Kofi with an SOS to Wilder, nearfall!
E tags in, homage to Randy Orton with a double Draping DDT, tag team german suplex/flying uppercut off the top gets a nearfall! Kofi tagged in, E hoists up Wilder for an assisted Trouble In Paradise and that is that, new champs!
Winners: The New Day
Good match, though heavily cut for time I think. New Day always a safe space to park any set of tag titles.
Roman Reigns arrives at the arena, Shorty G here to get him up to speed on everything Baron said. So yes Shorty G is now telling Yippy Doggy boy about King Corbin’s poo bags. WWE is very cool.
Daniel Bryan is WALKING~! Sami Zayn comes up to him, says a couple weeks ago he made him an offer to stand with him and Nakamura. Sami says if he had answered him there and then, he’d be the new NXT Champion. Under his watchful eye, he never would’ve let Adam Cole win that match. Tells him to talk to Shinsuke Nakamura, see how he feels. Claims that Shinsuke is liberated as IC Champion. Tells him to talk to Cesaro who always fights, frustrated for opportunities, but got a main event match two weeks ago because of him. Tells him to be there for a tag match Cesaro and Shinsuke have against Ali and Shorty G and see for himself what he could do for him.
Heavy Machinery out now… but the Imperium attacks?! Huge beatdown in the middle of the ring! New Day, Ali, Shorty G and Apollo Crews emerge to run them off, Imperium retreats through the crowd.
Interviewer Girl #2 is here with Bayley and Sasha Banks. Bayley talks about her match in which she destroyed Nikki Cross to retain her championship. Says what happened with NXT’s attack last week was not a sign of things to come, it was Shayna’s attempt to be relevant. Says she and Sasha put the NXT Women’s division on the map. Bayley says keeping an eye on her isn’t enough, she’s been Raw, SmackDown and NXT Women’s Champion.
Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro vs. Ali & Shorty G
Before the bell rings, Bryan does indeed come out, standing on the stage. The moment the match starts, Cesaro with a destructive running uppercut to Shorty G. Tag to Shinsuke, pummels him in the corner. Takes him up top, G counters his attack with a crossarmbreaker over the top rope! Tag to Cesaro, G back body drops him to the floor. G starts to crawl to his corner, but Cesaro back in to power him over to the heel corner. G with a voctry roll to escape, tag to Ali! Rushes in, big spinning headscissors. Whipped to the opposite corner, he slides to avoid it, WWE Headkick leads to a roll-through X-Factor, tilt-a-whirl Tornado DDT for a nearfall, Nakamura breaks up the pin.
G comes in, Nakamura charges, overhead belly to belly sends him to the floor! G wants a dive, but Cesaro cuts him off with a Very European Uppercut! Throws him out of the ring, Ali takes Cesaro out as well, big suicide dive! Ali up top, crossbody, Cesaro with an awesome catch into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for a nearfall! Cesaro hoists him up, G with a clip of his legs, picks into an Ankle Lock, Cesaro kicks him away, Ali takes him to the floor, Nakamura capitalizes with an inverted powerslam! Goes for the Kinshasa, Ali cuts him off with a kick! Ali up top, Sami on the apron, G bickers with him but this distracts the official enough for Cesaro to knock Ali off the top rope, Kinshasa for the win!
Winners: Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro
Solid match, did what it was supposed to be. Daniel Bryan strokes his beard curiously as he watches the heel team celebrate.
Wow they actually changed Sasha’s theme to have an evil remix. Is… is that Snoop Dogg? I know the relation, could be. I think it actually is!
Sasha Banks vs. Nikki Cross
Nikki with a waistlock, Sasha breaks out and clubbers her. Throws her to the corner, grinds her boot into her throat. Snap suplex, cover for 1. Sasha kicks her in the chest. Running meteora. Bayley gets the “I wanna know, will you be my girl” chant at ringside and is disgusted by it. Nikki with arm drags, crossbody for 2. Nikki on the outside, just rams right through Bayley with a big pop! Takes up the headset and yells into it. Goes to the apron, Bayley clips her, Sasha knocks her to the floor. Sasha drags her into the ring, but Nikki makes a comeback and fights back, forcing her to bail. Commercial break.
We come back in time to see a double kneedrop. Bayley is wiping down the headset at ringside, disgusted with Nikki touching it. Nikki tries to elbow her way up, Sasha cuts her off, grinds her against the top turnbuckle. Takes her up, only to eat a Tornado DDT! 2 count. Nikki firing up as she rises, ducks a clothesline, running forearms! Running clothesline in the corner into a bulldog! Nikki up top, crossbody, rolled through beautifully into the Bank Statement! Nikki counters into a cover, transitioned to a crucifix from Sasha for a kickout. Sasha in the corner, hops over a charge, drives Nikki into the second buckle with her legs, turns it into a stylish sunset flip for 2.
Nikki wants her swinging neckbreaker finish, Sasha counters with the Back Stabber into the Bank Statement! Nikki has no choice but to tap.
Winner: Sasha Banks
Guess Nikki’s challenge is done. Pretty good match, Sasha solidifies her new theme with a win. I swear that’s gotta be Snoop Dogg… afterwards, Bayley in the ring attacks Nikki, only for Shayna Baszler to rush in and clobber her to a big response and chant of NXT! Gutwrench front suplex, Sasha runs back in only after Baszler makes her leave.
Sami backstage with Daniel saying he thinks he should’ve come up and celebrated with them. Sami says he doesn’t think he needs more time, he’s looking into his eyes and can see that his mind is already made up. Sami tells him he doesn’t want to go back to the Yes Movement, he wants to move forward with them. So just say so! The lights flicker? And then shoot off… The Fiend appears behind Daniel Bryan?! Sami runs off as the Fiend attacks Bryan! Gets him down with the mandible claw, howling and cackling as we fade to commercial.
Tyson Fury out now, Manchester’s own. Gets a pretty good response, takes up a mic and gets a quick cheap pop. Says he’s gone around the world fighting people in their own backyards. Talks about fighting in Germany, America and now Saudi Arabia. But there’s no place like home and this is where he calls home. Plugs an upcoming fight with Deontay Wilder, as he doesn’t like unfinished business. (His fight with Wilder before was a draw, the only fight Fury’s had that wasn’t a victory.) This transitions to his unfinished business with Braun, whom he calls out and Braun swiftly emerges.
Braun says “You wanted me, here I am.” Fury puts him over, saying he now knows why they call him the monster among men and asks for a handshake. Gets it! Fury says if they ever fight again it should be as a tag team together! Crowd seems into it. Braun says he likes the sound of that, but there ain’t two dudes in the back stupid enough to fight them, unless they’re trying to get all four of these hands! And then the B Team comes out. Axel outright says they’re stupid enough to fight him! Bo says that came out way wrong. What he meant was everybody knows that B in B-Team stands for fearless. And they ain’t scared of them hands! They get onto the apron and Braun charges to knock them right off.
Fury cheers him on as Braun rushes around the ring and steamrolls through them both. Braun throws Bo into the ring, Tyson with a KO punch! Does the same with Axel, who backs off from Fury but eats a Running Powerslam instead. Celebration.
This doesn’t seem like the natural thing to do after how their match at Crown Jewel went in the slightest, but a fun segment on it’s own.
We see King Corbin attacking Roman on WWE Backstage last week.
Fire & Desire are in the ring, Carmella and Dana Brooke make their way out. We’re informed that this match was intended to take place last week, but due to Bianca Belair’s assaults on Dana and Carmella, Rhea Ripley and Tegan Nox ended up taking their place. Turns out the winners here will join Sasha Banks on Team SmackDown at Survivor Series.
Fire & Desire vs. Carmella & Dana Brooke
Sonia and Carmella start, Carmella with a spinning headscissor, Sonia throws her down. Quick tags and isolation commences. Plethora of stomps and shots. Mandy pulls her out and clobbers her. Carmella with a smack to the stomach, gets shot to the ropes but Mandy hoists her up, Fallaway Slam, cover for 2. Tag ti Sonia, Carmella escapes a suplex of Mandy’s, kicks to both, knocks Mandy out the ring but eats a mean roundhouse kick to the face! Sonia grounds her with a bodyscissors. Carmella fights up, Sonia blocks a tag attempt, Carmella ducks a clothesline and makes it.
Dana comes in to crickets, Handspring Back Elbow in the corner, big bulldog. Hangspring Splash, Mandy breaks up the pin with a running knee. Carmella with a superkick, sends Deville to the floor, Dana with a super athletic cartwheel off the apron to the floor to avoid Deville, throws her into the steps! Forces her into the ring. Top rope Senton, cover for the win.
Winners: Carmella & Dana Brooke
Decent match. Amazing that it’s taken them this long to try and push Dana.
King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns
Bell rings, immediate clothesline takes Baron to the outside! Roman out, huge uppercut. Nobody talks about his tron dog! Knocks him around ringside, throws him into the barricade. Takes him into the ring, Corner Ten Punches commence, Baron throws him off, kick to the gut. Gets him with the Corner Ten of his own! Reigns slip between his legs, trips him onto the top rope. Lengthy series of clotheslines! Hits the ropes, running big boot! Clobbers him around ringside, throws him back in, wants the Superman Punch. For reasons, Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler emerge from ringside, Roman dashes out to take them out with superman punches and Samoan Drops. Goes back into the ring, Baron ducks a clothesline, Deep Six for a nearfall, commercial break.
We come back to see Baron drop him with an uppercut. Roode and Ziggler are clapping along. Pummels in the corner, throws him from the ring, distracts the ref as Roode and Ziggler get cheap shots. Corbin rams him into the barrier. Throws him into the ring, pursues, eats a few uppercuts, cuts him off with a knee. Throws him to the corner, Roman evades, ring-around-the-ringpost clothesline for 2! Half nelson, raining elbows from Baron. Roman fights to his feet, exchange of punches breaks out. Baron throws him to the corner, Roman evades, bounces off the ropes for a series of clotheslines. Flying clothesline gets countered with a chokeslam for a nearfall!
Knee to the gut, running haymaker. Hits the ropes, Roman with gets him with big uppercuts. Baron up top, wants a double axe handle but Roman avoids, big running forearm for 2. Roode and Ziggler on the apron to distract the ref, Roman takes each of them down, Superman Punch to Roode, spear to Ziggler, then turns directly into an End of Days for the pin.
Winner: King Corbin
Aight.
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