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WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Aug. 14, 2018) from the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, featuring the go home show to the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view scheduled for this Sunday night in Brooklyn.
Advertised for tonight: AJ Styles has more to say, Carmella, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte all come face-to-face, New Day vs. SAnitY, Aiden English vs. Andrade Almas, 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 AUG. 14
Bye, bye world, or will our hope still hold on? Boy, you’re never going see the things that will come of these days. Raise your hands high, young brothers and sisters, there’s a world’s worth of work and a need for you. Oh, a change is coming, feel these doors now closing in. Is there no world for tomorrow, if we wait for today? So march to the drumming, show them you’re coming, but me, I’ve got to liveblog this here pro wrestling show, folks.
The show opens with Charlotte Flair making her entrance.
Becky Lynch follows out after, and then SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella.
Carmella begins, saying that almost as absurd as defending her title in a three-way at SummerSlam is Paige forcing her to come out here tonight for this fake face-to-face-to-face. She’s tired of their faces and tired of being constantly punished for being such an amazing champion. But hey, she IS champion, so life is good, baby! She wants to talk about something everyone is thinking-- poor Becky Lynch doesn’t stand a chance now.
She used to be a clown for a living and she should think about going back because it’s the one thing she does better than Charlotte. Becky admits she’d rather not have Flair in the match, but only because she’s an incredible athlete. Lynch was losing sleep about dismantling Carmella, and when Charlotte got into the match she needed a new dream, and added whooping Flair to her dream of beating Carmella.
Mella cackles about how she beat Charlotte twice and runs down her accolades, and Flair cuts her off and says the lies and the cheating ends at SummerSlam, and she’s pulled out all the stops to retain, digging James Ellsworth up to beat Asuka, and she wonders why no one respects her? Maybe it’s because she’s a Diva living in a women’s era.
Carmella cops to the notion and asks them to compare their beauty, bodies, and charisma to theirs, and further, she’s the champ and they are not.
Enter Paige. She says the WWE Universe owes Mella a big thank you for losing to Charlotte and setting up the triple threat, and she knows they’re going to steal the show. As general manager it’s her duty to create the best competition for SmackDown, so why wait until Sunday to see what they do best? For Carmella that’s talking, so she sends her to the announce desk and books Lynch and Flair in a tag match right now!
Or, well, after the break.
Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville
Flair and Deville to start, circling, Sonya shoots in but Flair fights her off, snapmare, leg pick into a side headlock, Charlotte reverses to a headscissors. To their feet, standing switch, leg pick, spinning toehold, kicked away, the Queen ducks a kick combo and they stalemate! She struts, ducks a forearm, big chops and she gets Deville into the corner for a tag.
Double monkey flip, off the ropes for a leg drop, elbow drop, turning leg drop, all good for one. Into their corner, tag to Rose, whip, up and over, waistlock, Mandy blocks, leg pick, shot off, cartwheel and a dropkick to follow it! Matrix evasion on a cover, Becky with a dropkick of her own, tag to Flair and she grabs a side headlock. Shot off, roll over, slam denied and Rose lands a mat slam with a handful of hair and tags Sonya in.
Snapmare, off the ropes, Charlotte ducks the Penalty Kick and hits an exploder suplex that sends Deville to the floor! Tag to Lynch, lariat off the apron, back inside for the cover, only two! Tag back to Flair, whip reversed, Flair Flip shoulder block, slingshot schoolboy gets a nearfall and Sonya’s able to land a kick and tag Rose in to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Deville’s in control and rams Becky into the corner with shoulder thrusts. Tossing her aside, tag to Rose, she chokes her over the middle rope, hard whip but Lynch sidesteps and gets a kick off! Exploder reversed into a slam, tag to Sonya and she grabs a bodyscissors chinlock that Becky quickly fights out of. Blocking the tag at first, enzuigiri connects, Mandy tags in but Lynch gets fired up, strike rush, exploder suplex, big forearm connects!
Fending Deville off, baseball slide, small package, shift through...
Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair win by submission with Dis-Arm-Her from Lynch on Mandy Rose.
We get a handcam promo from Miz and Maryse announcing the second season of their show Miz & Mrs. and thanking everyone who’s watched.
On that bombshell, we go to break.
Back from commercial Charlotte and Becky are celebrating and Flair says she didn’t have to do it alone. About Sunday they pledge that the best woman will win.
Bludgeon Brothers are set for a handicap match against a team of enhancement talent called the Triple Threat.
Harper and Rowan rush them before the bell, knocking two out of the ring and double crucifix powerbombing the remaining guy! (Who happens to be Matt Lynch, one half of the Lynch Mob with 2018 Scenic City Invitational winner Joey Lynch) To the floor, they destroy the other two, slamming them into each other and then Erick slamming Luke onto the pile for good measure. Choking, tearing, they head back to Lynch and Harper wipes him out with a diving lariat!
A video package (one of three that will air tonight) covering Miz and Daniel Bryan’s long and storied history together follows.
SAnitY make their entrance for their trios match against New Day and we go to break.
Back from commercial in time for New Day’s entrance.
New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods) vs. SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe, Eric Young, & Killian Dain)
E and Young to start, circling, Eric with a waistlock but Big gets a fireman’s carry takeover into a hip swivel. EY with a front kick, overhead elbows, off the ropes he gets caught by a belly-to-belly suplex for two and E tags Kingston in. Leapfrog senton, only two, arm wringer, whip, Young hangs up in the ropes but Kofi gets a kick combo off on him anyway.
Whip reversed, Wolfe with the low bridge and Kingston crashes into the edge of the announce desk! The German pressing the attack, slamming him into the apron, quick tag to Dain and he takes it to Kofi, setting him up in the corner. Jockeying for position, up and over but the Beast of Belfast catches him with a dropkick and cuts him off! Dragging him into the middle of the ring, crossface strike into a fisherman buster!
Tag to Wolfe, up top, diving forearm strike gets two and we go to break.
Back from commercial, SAnitY have Kingston surrounded in the corner, Dain goes for a lariat but Kofi rolls through and floats over into a DDT! Woods is hot for the tag... AND HE GETS IT! Superkick takes Young off the apron, whip reversed, flying forearm, kicks, into the ropes, dropkick to the back! Charging, up and over to the apron, enzuigiri, tornado DDT... EY BREAKS IT UP WITH A DIVING ELBOW!
Killian blasts Xavier’s teammates off the apron! Eric tags back in, fireman’s carry slam / lungblower combo with Wolfe! Leg pick, tag to Dain, he comes in with stomps but Woods floats over a slam and throws chops! Hard whip in the corner, clear the apron, freight train crossbody... BIG E WITH THE SAVE! The match breaks down into the “everybody does something cool” phase of things, Kofi up top, trust fall senton to the floor!
Xavier with a boot, tag to made, Big gets Dain up up...
New Day win by pinfall with Up Up Down Down on Killian Dain.
New Day celebrate in the ring, throwing pancakes out to the crowd.
Part two of the Miz vs. Daniel Bryan retrospective follows.
Commentary hypes up Miz and Maryse making an appearance on NBC’s Today tomorrow as well as AJ Styles’ appearance and Jeff Hardy’s return to action later tonight to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Paige knocks on Samoa Joe’s locker room door and he answers.
He asks what’s up and she says he refused a chance to address the crowd tonight separately. He says he’s shy, and she says she doesn’t want him ruining her main event and he needs to be professional. He says that’s funny because she wasn’t looking for a professional when she offered him the shot, she liked his killer instinct. AJ wants to make a promise tonight?
Samoa promises that he’ll do what he damn well pleases when he wants, and Paige and the WWE Universe will have to deal with the consequences... or he can sit back here and relax and take advantage of all his hard work.
Aiden English is in the ring struggling to sing into the mic. He steels his resolve and launches into his song about making amends to Rusev and Lana by making Andrade “Cien” Almas pay tonight in the name of Rusev Day.
Almas makes his entrance but we go to break.
Aiden English vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
Almas with an armbar, Aiden counters into a small package but charges right into a hip toss after! Big falling lariat knocks Cien down, English heads up top, diving splash... NOPE! Big back elbow knocks Aiden down in the corner, double knees sets it up...
Andrade “Cien” Almas wins by pinfall with the hammerlock DDT.
Zelina Vega gets on the mic and says if we like catchphrases and useless holidays, mark your calendar, because SummerSlam is the end of Rusev Day and of Lana Day, and she’s going to expose Lana as the dead weight she is.
Enter Rusev and Lana.
Rusev says they’re acting like they just won the Powerball but Andrade’s luck runs out Sunday and Zelina will learn why Lana is the best, Lana number one. Lana says they’ll crush them, because SummerSlam is on Rusev Day.
AJ Styles rolls up in Paige’s office because she wanted to see him. She says she knows things are getting intense but she needs both of them to stay professional. She admits talking to Joe didn’t go well but AJ is the champ and people look up to him. He says he made his wife a promise that he intends to keep.
We see Jeff Hardy being weird backstage and commentary hypes up part three of the Bryan/Miz feature for after the break.
Back from commercial, as promised, we get part three of the Daniel Bryan vs. Miz video package.
Jeff Hardy makes his entrance for his match against Shelton Benjamin and we go to break.
Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin
Benjamin in control, sleeper hold applied on the mat, Hardy posts to his feet, firing off elbows, getting clubbed in return, side cradle only good for two and Shelton keeps rolling. Reverse chinlock applied, headlock STO into a side headlock when Jeff threatens to escape. Back to his feet, jawbreaker to escape for real, and a gasping Hardy drags himself up the ropes.
Sidestep the charge... WHISPER IN THE WIND! NOT ENOUGH! Blocking punches and throwing his own, whip reversed, lariat knocks Benjamin down. Manhattan drop to the double leg drop and the basement dropkick, only a nearfall! Twist of Fate denied, duck the roundhouse, leg-feed solebutt, Hardyac Arrest countered, Jeff slips out, inverted Twist of Fate!
Headed up top, Shelton cuts him off with a running knee! SUPERPLEX! Float over... nope! Charging in, Jeff gets kind of a neckbreaker drop, Twist of Fate...
Jeff Hardy wins by pinfall with a big splash.
Shinsuke Nakamura comes out, Shelton runs interference, and the US Champion gets a single knee lungblower! Lying in wait... HARDY COUNTERS KINSHASA TO A TWIST OF FATE! Headed up top... Swanton Bomb!
We see Randy Orton prowling around the edge of the stage, watching, lurking.
Commentary runs down the SummerSlam card and shills for the WWE Network.
AJ Styles makes his entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial, AJ Styles gets on the mic.
He says for almost 20 years he’s been able to travel the world and compete against some of the best talent. He’s learned a lot, but nothing more important than the lesson he learned after winning the WWE Championship. You see, there’s a reason this title is so hard to hold, and that’s the pressure the champion is put under, and Samoa Joe has hit his pressure points.
It started when he blindsided him in this very ring, right when he thought he knew him, he stabbed him in the back and then in the heart. Joe got him right where he wanted him and he lost his cool and spoke about something very private and personal, his family. As a man, as a father, a husband, he had to defend himself and he got emotional and went to a place he didn’t want to go.
A place where he wanted to rip Joe’s head off, but then he got home and hugged his kids and his wife and his wife told him he can’t lose his cool like that. They appreciate everything he does for them, but he’s gotta remain focused so he can kick S--
Enter Samoa Joe. He’s got a piece of paper in hand and says that’s a wonderful tale but they both know that what he’s saying isn’t true. Relax, he wants to help him keep his promise, and he holds a letter from a member of the WWE Universe and he thought AJ should hear it. He unfolds and reads, it’s from someone who thought what Samoa said about AJ and his family was disgusting and made them ill.
Not because they were wrong, but because they were true, and this person used to be the biggest AJ Styles fan in the world but it’s now clear he didn’t want children nor a wife, and that’s why he’s such a great champion, because he’ll do anything to stay away from his family. They pray Joe wins so Styles can feel the feeling of losing what he values most, because they lost him a long time ago.
Joe then reveals that the letter is from AJ’s wife Wendy!
That’s the show, folks.