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WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (April 17, 2018) from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island, featuring night two of the special Superstar Shakeup.
Advertised for tonight: We find out who is coming over from Raw, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR APRIL 17
Down from the glen came the marching men with their shields and their swords, to fight the fight they believed to be right, overthrow the overlords. To the town where there was plenty they brought plunder, swords and flame, but me, I’m just here to liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with a recap of Shinsuke Nakamura’s interview and disruption of the main event from last week.
Live in the arena, AJ Styles makes his entrance. He gets on the mic and says you can tell a lot about a man through his failures, and if that’s the case he thinks he’s found out everything he needs to know about Nakamura. He dreamed about having this match with him at WrestleMania, and when it happened, he was successful. And when Shinsuke failed, he showed his true colors.
Nakamura’s not just an artist, he’s a con artist. Last week he should have been celebrating, but instead he was only thinking about retribution, about paying Shinsuke back. Instead he was presented with an opportunity, a real dream match against Daniel Bryan... and then Nakamura showed his true colors and ruined that match. So AJ isn’t letting it go, and he’s not leaving the ring until he can confront Shinsuke.
He knows he’s forgotten how to speak English all of a sudden, but he’s not down here for a conversation, he’s here for a fight. He calls Shinsuke a two-faced coward and demands he come out to fight him.
Enter Rusev Day. Aiden English gives his man the usual big intro and explains that Nakamura is on vacation anywhere but Providence. AJ’s game to fight Rusev instead, so we have a match!
AJ Styles vs. Rusev
Kick to the midsection, a punch, another punch, Rusev starting srong, Styles slips out of a slam, picks the leg, rolls through and puts the Calf Killer on! Rusev reaches, crawling... AND AIDEN ENGLISH HITS THE RING!
AJ Styles wins by disqualification, although no finish is announced.
Rusev Day beat AJ down... DANIEL BRYAN MAKES THE SAVE AND RUNS RUSEV OFF! STYLES RUSH FOR ENGLISH!
Shane McMahon is shown watching on a monitor backstage when Paige rolls up. They wish each other a happy Shakeup and Shane mentions how good it is to see Bryan back in the mix. Paige quotes Teddy Long and books Rusev Day vs. AJ Styles & Daniel Bryan for later tonight. Shane reminds us that Miz has returned to SmackDown by Daniel Bryan’s request and Paige gives him a quick Teddy “Holla!” on her way out.
Commentary informs us Carmella will be celebrating her title win later and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Shelton Benjamin makes his entrance.
He says last night he said on Twitter he saw great things for Chad Gable, but his Twitter got hacked and he would never say anything like that. He no longer needs Gable-- correction, he never needed Chad, Chad needed him. What he NEEDS is the respect he deserves and the championship opportunities he’s owed, and the chance to remind everyone that he’s one of the biggest threats on SmackDown.
So he had a chat with Paige and asked for some real competition, and he means BIG competition...
Enter Randy Orton. He makes it halfway down the ramp, pauses...
ENTER UNITED STATES CHAMPION JEFF HARDY!
Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin
Shelton right in with a boot, hammer blows, stomps on the mat, but Hardy counters with a jawbreaker. Off the ropes, Benjamin passes him to the floor and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Shelton’s in control but Jeff reverses a whip into a leaping lariat! Forearms, whip reversed, Hardy comes up lame but drops Benjamin with a lariat, a back elbow, Manhattan Drop into the double leg drop to the midsection and the basement dropkick... only a nearfall! To the corner, Benjamin crotches him, climbs up after, Hardy blocks the back superplex with elbows... SHELTON CLOCKS HIM IN THE FACE WITH A RUNNING KNEE STRIKE!
Climbing back up after him, clubbing blows, Jeff gets a headbutt, perches... WHISPER IN THE WIND IS ONLY GOOD FOR TWO! Calling for it, Twist of Fate blocked, Shelton nails a reverse roundhouse but can’t put Hardy away. Lying in wait, Paydirt blocked, rolling solebutt, to the corner, upkick counter but Jeff keeps his wits about him, Twist of Fate, he heads up top...
Jeff Hardy wins by pinfall with the Swanton Bomb.
We go to a handcam promo from the Miz. He talks about Bryan Tweeting about punching him in the face and asks Providence if they want to see him get punched in the face before pointing out he’s not there, he’s in LA with his wife and his daughter. Did you think he was gonna come in with all the other superstars? He deserves his own spotlight, so next week will be his premiere on SmackDown.
And if Bryan ever trolls him on Twitter again, he’ll kick his ass. Maryse scolds him for cursing in front of the baby and he declares that SmackDown will be awesome next week.
Commentary again hypes up Carmella’s celebration as well as Jey Uso vs. Luke Harper before sending us to break.
Back from commercial, we’re informed that Absolution have been drafted to SmackDown.
Jey Uso vs. Luke Harper
Harper rams Uso into the corner, big slicing right, throwing him aside after but Jey gets right up and fires back with a right hand of his own. Float over a slam, low kick, kneeling palm strike, Jimmy running interference on Rowan, Jey dives and Erick catches him but he gets away! Luke takes advantage...
Luke Harper wins by pinfall with a discus lariat.
The beating continues after the match, Erick throwing Jimmy into the steel steps and both Bludgeon Brothers ramming Jey into the apron! They collect their hammers but Naomi comes down to plead with them to stop! She checks on Jimmy and Luke backs Erick off, collecting the tag titles and taking their leave.
Commentary hypes up our tag team main event and we go to break.
Back from commercial and Sin Cara is in the ring waiting for his opponent...
IT’S SAMOA JOE!
Samoa Joe vs. Sin Cara
Cara right in with a leg kick but Joe returns knees and throws him into the corner. Boots up, springboard back elbow, Samoa stumbling, right hands from Sin get those Tenryu jabs right back and into a chop! Cara floats over, more kicks to the leg, another springboard... JOE DESTROYS HIM WITH A NORTHERN LARIAT AND REPEATED KNEES! He draws Sin up, grabs the Coquina Clutch, and falls back...
Samoa Joe wins by submission with the Coquina Clutch.
Joe gets on the mic after his victory and begins by bringing up SmackDown’s land of opportunity gimmick. To him, it seems more like the land of hand-outs, because by his mere absence, everyone on this roster has had it easy. SmackDown has been coddled, catered to, and worst of all, everyone here has been convinced that they’re better than they are. That all changes now that he’s here.
He gets all the opportunities, he’ll put Daniel Bryan to sleep, he’ll be the man to defang the Viper, Randy Orton, and he’ll emasculate and decimate AJ Styles. And furthermore, he promises that whatever’s left of Roman Reigns after Brock beats his ass again, he’ll personally shred the remains and put him out to pasture for good. And if by some miraculous happenstance Reigns is victorious, he’ll bring his newly won Intercontinental Championship and tear the Universal Championship from his waist.
Believe that.
Commentary then tosses to the music video promoting WWE pay-per-view being co-branded going forward. More hype for the main event follows as well as Carmella’s celebration, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a vignette announcing SAnitY’s imminent arrival on SmackDown!
Daniel Bryan is walking backstage when he rolls into an interview. He says he helped AJ Styles because he respects him. In the three years he was out, he made a list of superstar he wanted to wrestle to motivate him, and AJ was at the top of that list. He wanted to prove to himself and everybody else that he hadn’t lost a step, but unfortunately Shinsuke Nakamura ruined that.
But in any case, he’s proud to fight alongside AJ tonight, because he knows he’ll get another chance to fight him later. Bryan turns around and Big Cass is there, doing a double take at their relative heights and asking if Dan is what the fuss is about and calling him “little man.”
Carmella makes her entrance for her championship celebration. The ring is decked out in leopard print and she sets her title down on a pedestal and begins, saying everybody wants to hop on the bandwagon, but if you didn’t support her before she was champ she doesn’t need your support. She’s not just the Princess of Staten Island anymore, and from now on you can call her the moonwalking, trash-talking Princess of SmackDown Live.
She says she waited for the perfect opportunity, for 287 long days before she seized the moment and took her rightful spot atop the women’s division. She then has a good laugh about beating Charlotte Flair, you know, one of the greatest female superstars in WWE history, and she did it all on her own! Flair beat Asuka’s streak, and she beat Flair!
And all she had to do was wait for her to be blinded by her own ego. Like Charlotte says, to be the woman, you gotta beat the woman, and learn to love it because she’s the woman. And that’ll go down as the biggest moment in all of women’s history, so she wants to keep the celebration going by paying tribute to herself with a video package covering her journey to the title.
She says she’ll miss Frankie (her briefcase), but 287 days is nothing compared to how long she’s going to keep Cleopatra (the title), and she said it before and she’ll say it again, Mella is money and now--
Enter Charlotte Flair. She says it seems like her title reign is a lot like her memory, short. Her highlight reel is missing some big pieces of history, and the only reason she has the briefcase is because of James Ellsworth, and the only reason she cashed in successfully was because of Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, but Charlotte’s not mad because her dad was the dirtiest player in the game and game respects game.
So congratulations, but it’s much harder to stay on top than it is to get to the top, and she has something of hers.
Enter the Iconics. Billie Kay questions the idea of blaming them for her problems and asks Peyton Royce to do her Charlotte impression, which consists of mocking her for losing the title as if she were a baby that needs a diaper change. Kay asks what she’s crying about, last week she asked for magic and they gave it her, disappearing her title from around her waist.
That’s a moment that will last forever, and it’s all because of them, and they claim they’re the future. Flair takes her robe off and looks back and forth between the Iconics and Carmella before deciding to attack the Iconics! They get the better of her and put boots to her against the barricade... BECKY LYNCH MAKES THE SAVE!
Referees come down to try and restore order and we go to break.
Back from commercial and we have a match!
Billie Kay vs. Charlotte Flair
Brawling on the floor, back inside, Charlotte starts to rally, back body drop to the apron, face smash into the turnbuckle, Flair slingshots back in but gets caught with a forearm into mounted forearms! Kneeling armbar follows, a mat slam as Charlotte tries to escape and Billie keeps the armbar locked on and breaks with a lariat when it seems Flair might escape again.
Kick to the ribs and right back to the armbar, scraping the bones of her wrist against Charlotte’s jaw before clawing at her face for good measure. Trying to throw hands, Kay knocks her back down with a forearm and Peyton gets a cheap shot in as we go back to break.
Back from commercial, whip reversed, Flair with a big knee lift but Billie gets a overhead suplex to get back in control. Charging into a boot, Charlotte fires off chop after chop, whip across and a big chop knocks Kay down! Running knee drop to the back of her head, but Billie blocks the neckbreaker and hits an inverted stomp facebreaker... NOPE!
Big boot blocked, float over the slam, schoolboy gets two and Charlotte connects with the boot this time! Figure four leglock applied, bridging back...
Charlotte Flair wins by submission with the Figure Eight.
Carmella attacks from behind with the title! Becky Lynch tries to make the save but gets beaten down by Peyton! Carmella scraping Charlotte’s face into the mat while Royce puts boots to Lynch...
ASUKA IS ON SMACKDOWN! She heads to the ring, hip attack for Peyton, reverse roundhouse for Kay, backfist into a German for Royce and Charlotte and Becky join in to finish the job!
We toss to a video package announcing that Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows are on their way to SmackDown before heading to break.
Back from commercial we get some hype for the Greatest Royal Rumble.
The Bar get a handcam promo putting over all their accomplishments on Raw, including their four reigns as Raw Tag Team Champions before wondering how they’d fare against SmackDown’s tag teams, and they announce they’re coming to SmackDown!
New Day are walking backstage, Big E riding piggyback on some poor soul for some reason when they roll up on R-Truth. Tye Dillinger shows up and there’s a tense moment before he and Truth share a secret handshake. R says he’s happy they’re all together on Monday Night Raw but Xavier Woods points out it’s Tuesday and this is SmackDown.
Truth says it’s his bad and he’ll see everybody tomorrow. Dillinger asks if he’s gonna be okay and New Day don’t think so.
Commentary then recaps tonight’s Superstar Shakeup results before tossing to another handcame video...
ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS IS HEADED TO SMACKDOWN! Zelina Vega cuts a promo about how they’re gonna take over and then Almas chimes in in Spanish!
AJ Styles makes his entrance for our main event and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get the rest of our entrances.
AJ Styles & Daniel Bryan vs. Rusev Day (Aiden English & Rusev)
Bryan and English to start, collar and elbow, punches in the corner, Dan with an arm wringer into an armbar, wrenching the join, shot off, shoulder block, drop down, leapfrog and Bryan picks his leg and transitions into the Romero Special! Tag made before he falls back and Styles comes off the top with the double axehandle! Whip blocked, right hands from Aiden, chop against the ropes, whip, Styles catches him, into a pumphandle gutbuster!
Rusev in to run interference, Bryan takes him down into the Yes! Lock and AJ English into the Calf Killer but neither can get the whole hold and we go to break!
Back from commercial, English is in control, dropping elbows on the Phenomenal One. Snapmare to a knee to the back and he grabs a reverse chinlock and wrenches it in. Elbows break AJ free but Aiden back body drops him high in the air and makes a cover to cut the rally off! Wristlock kick to the head and he tags Rusev in. The Bulgarian Brute kicks disdainfully at the WWE Champion and bids him to come on, which gets him right hands.
Charging in, Rusev catches him in a BEAR HUG! I CAN HARDLY BEAR IT! Headbutts to break the grip, Styles tries to leapfrog him for the tag but Rusev rams him across into enemy territory! Shoulder thrusts, Rusev fired up, he tags English in and whips him hard at AJ before cutting him down with a lariat... NOPE! Stomps follow, Styles slumping against the ropes as Aiden chokes him with a foot and takes a bow after.
Right hands, referee Mike Chioda warning him, AJ breaks loose, ducks a knee drop and the way is clear! English keeps hold of his foot, kick caught into a schoolboy and Styles hits the Pele kick! TAGS MADE AND THE AMERICAN DRAGON IS IN HOT WITH PUNCHES! Whip reversed, backflip up and over, duck the lariat, flying lariat of his own and Bryan is fired up!
Running corner dropkicks follow, Rusev counters with a fireman’s carry, takedown into the omoplata for the Yes! Lock but English breaks it up! Bryan back body drops him to the floor, catches the Machka Kick and hits a dragon screw! Yes! Kicks follow, and the buzzsaw connects! “YES!” fingers in the corner, waiting for him to rise... BUSAIKU KNEE CONNECTS BUT NAKAMURA LOW BLOWS AJ ON THE APRON!
Bryan goes to check on his partner and turns around to see Big Cass and his meaty boot...
AJ Styles & Daniel Bryan presumably win by disqualification but why would you bother announcing that?
Nakamura and Cass stand tall over their fallen foes.
Shinsuke is interviewed on the stage and again he claims he doesn’t speak English.
That’s the show, folks.