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WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (July 23, 2019) from the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for next month in Toronto.
Advertised for tonight: Kofi Kingston makes a challenge for SummerSlam, Charlotte Flair vs. Ember Moon, Shane McMahon addresses Kevin Owens, 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 JULY 23
Stand beside it, we can’t hide the way it makes us glow. It’s no good unless it grows, feel this burning love of mine. Deep inside the ever-spinning, tell me does it feel? It’s no good unless it’s real, hillsides burning, wild-eyed turning ‘til we’re running from it. I’ll take care of you if you ask me to, but first, babe, I’ve gotta liveblog this here pro wrestling show for these folks.
The show opens with a recap of last week’s business between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon.
Live in the arena, we get a shaken up commentary team-- Corey Graves and Byron Saxton are gone, so David Otunga is filling in alongside Tom Philips and a cast of guests, starting off with New Day.
Shane McMahon makes his entrance.
He gets on the mic and talks up last night’s Raw Reunion show while running Kevin Owens down for “yapping” on social media all last night. He brings up KO’s challenge for SummerSlam and says it wouldn’t be complete without the Best in the World, so he accepts. And further, he brings Kev’s promise to quit if he loses up and then says it’s not the first time he’s said that.
He plays footage of KO quitting last August and says this time he wants it in writing-- Kevin Owens is going down at SummerSlam, and he’s gonna make sure of that.
Enter Kevin Owens.
He says Shane is smart and he has no problem admitting that that was the lowest point of his career, but that wasn’t actually him. That was the broken-down KO that just did whatever to get along, you see. And at SummerSlam he’s not gonna quit, because he’s gonna beat the living hell outta McMahon, and maybe they don’t even have to wait until SummerSlam!
KO advances on the ring but Shane tells him to back off or he won’t get the match, and hey he’s all fired up so maybe he should have a match. So tonight, Owens is going to wrestle Roman Reigns!
We see Shinsuke Nakamura walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Shane McMahon is walking backstage when he runs into Elias and Drew McIntyre.
Drew says Shane really outdid himself with the Reigns/Owens match and McMahon wants to go one better. A match like that needs something special, like a special guest referee. Like, say... Drew McIntyre. And a special guest timekeeper... like Elias. And just to really make sure it comes off right, they need a special guest ring announcer... Shane himself.
Apollo Crews vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Circling, side headlock from Nakamura, shot off, shoulder block, elbow drop, only a nearfall. Delayed vertical suplex, to the floor, moonsault off the apron and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Crews off the ropes with a boot, duck a lariat, leaping lariat of his own into a kip-up! Scoop into a Samoan drop, only a nearfall! Military press, Nakamura with the evasion and the 540 roundhouse! Boots up on the charge but Shinsuke catches them, roundhouse kick, sliding German suplex! Back inside, lying in wait... ENZUIGIRI COUNTERS KINSHASA!
Apollo with an Olympic Slam... NOT ENOUGH! Headed up top, Nakamura cuts him off, running corner knee lift, tossing him aside but he charges into a pop-up drop! Standing shooting star press misses, the King of Strong Style capitalizes...
Shinsuke Nakamura wins by pinfall with Kinshasa.
Post-match, Nakamura keeps kicking away at Crews and knocks him to the floor. He’s got him on the ramp... KINSHASA!
Backstage, Mandy Rose comes up behind Sonya Deville to tell her that they’ve got a tag match next week where if they win, they’ll get a title shot. They embrace to close the bit.
Miz is shown walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial we get a Mustafa Ali promo where he talks about needing to rewrite his story after his injury earlier in the year cost him everything.
He’s gonna put that pen to paper and the paper’s gonna read “Ali becomes WWE Champion” and he doesn’t care where they are, nobody is writing his story but him, and he’s gonna go down in history for his story.
Miz is in the ring to welcome us to MizTV.
He runs a recap package for Raw Reunion from last night and then introduces his guest, the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels.
HBK comes and takes his seat and says he’s been on both sides, both the young guy and the legend who’s coming back and he gets both angles, and talks a little about the DX/nWo/Rollins/Club segment from last night.
Enter Dolph Ziggler.
He’s had enough of these so-called legends limping out to the ring, just happy to be there, and asks to be put out of his misery if he ever ends up being that guy. Miz threatens to punch him but Shawn insists on giving Ziggler a moment to get whatever it is off his chest. Dolph says they all used to idolize HBK and he had a chance to ride off into the sunset, but what has he done?
Every chance he gets he comes back out here and shuffles and waves to the crowd and it’s embarrassing. Ziggler says HBK broke his heart unretiring last November and he’ll say it to his face: He was embarrassing. Michaels says he won’t disagree, it was embarrassing, but what’s more embarrassing is working his whole career, giving everything, and still being left with nothing but being known as a second-rate Shawn Michaels wannabe.
Dolph says the only second-rate Shawn Michaels out here is HBK and both he and Miz have ruined their legacies by selling out and kicking ass, and the A-Lister gets in his face, telling him to just do something already. He’s sick of Ziggler complaining and moaning, and in WWE, you make it you! So he’ll say again, do something about it.
They all drop mics and take jackets off, and Miz leans his jaw in, but Dolph walks away. He goes to slap HBK, Shawn ducks, Miz eats it... SUPERKICK TO HBK! Miz gives chase and but Ziggler gets away as we go to break.
Back from commercial, we’ve got a match!
Charlotte Flair vs. Ember Moon
Off the ropes, handspring arm drag from Moon but Flair runs her over and stomps her midsection in--
Enter Bayley. Ember snaps one off...
Ember Moon wins by pinfall with a schoolboy pin.
Charlotte lays Bayley out with a boot, Ember up top... ECLIPSE! She climbs the turnbuckles again... ECLIPSE ON BAYLEY, TOO!
Kofi Kingston is shown walking backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, we get some press for Raw Reunion.
Roman Reigns is shown backstage getting geared up.
Kofi Kingston makes his entrance to officially announce who is challenging him for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam.
He says he wants to call Randy Orton out face to face to challenge him.
Orton obliges, and Kofi says he picked him because they’ve got a lot of history. November 16, Madison Square Garden, sold out, the crowd on their feet chanting his name. That was the night that he whipped Orton’s ass all over the arena, and if needs a refresher, Kingston plays a recap of the Boom Drop off the barricade and through a table from that show.
That moment still gives him goosebumps to this day, because that was supposed to be when he made it to the main event, but that’s not what happened, is it? No, Kofi wants to talk about the truth, what really happened, how Randy used his influence to hold him down and keep him away from the main event, and it almost worked until it didn’t. Ever since then, Kingston kept grinding and found the power of positivity and became what Orton never wanted him to be, WWE Champion.
Orton admits to it and says he was doing Kofi a favor because he wasn’t ready then and he’s not ready now. The title is a fluke, and he comes out here and brags about how hard he’s worked for eleven years, well Orton didn’t need to fake a Jamaican accent, he just needed to be himself, and he wins matches and titles and main events WrestleManias.
And at WrestleMania this year, it’s only because of Orton that he even had a shot, because he’s the one that injured Ali. So what he’s saying, in a nutshell, is that Kingston doesn’t deserve the title and he can take it whenever he wants. Kofi wants to put that to the test at SummerSlam-- Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship. Orton accepts!
He says when it’s all said and done, Kofi’s fairy tale will come crashing to a halt courtesy of the RKO.
As Orton leaves, Samoa Joe enters, and there’ll be a match after the break.
Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe
Joe with a wristlock, Kingston reverses, reversed again and another time into a standing armbar and Samoa gets into the ropes to force a break. Waistlock, reversed, fireman’s carry takeover, a wristlock standing on Kofi’s shoulder but an upkick gets him free. Arm wringer, top wristlock, Joe breaks and lays in a hard chop. Headbutt to the back of the head, Kingston fires back with punches.
Drop down, leapfrog, leapfrog, dropkick! Charging in with a dropkick, off the ropes... TRUST FALL SENTON! Back inside, Stinger Splash into mounted punches but Joe is able to flapjack him hard into the turnbuckle! Sidestep the charge, but Kofi gets spiked by the corner Rock Bottom for two and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Joe has a standing neck crank in, Kofi breaks with a few elbows and lays a series of double chops into a dropkick into Samoa! Superman Lariat, fired up, off the ropes, Boom Drop, calling for it... but Joe begs off into the corner so Kofi hits a springboard brain chop! Randy Orton runs in, referee Rod Zapata has no choice...
Kofi Kingston wins by disqualification.
He blocks the RKO, Joe takes the RKO, Trouble in Paradise wipes the Viper out!
We see Kevin Owens taping his wrists backstage.
Finn Balor makes his entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Finn Balor is interviewed about the rough patch he’s been going through of late.
He says he doesn’t know how Bray Wyatt’s mind works and he doesn’t know if he’s settling an old score or if he’s here for something new, but he can’t explain any of his new gimmick. He says Bray is more twisted and messed up than ever, but he’s stared fear in the eyes before and he’s not gonna back down now. So Bray Wyatt or the Field or whatever, he’s here to challenge him to a match at SummerSlam!
An episode of Firefly Fun House plays on the tron. Bray says hi to Finn and calls him brave. He says it’s inspiring and that’s why he and Mercy and Rambling Rabbit are such big fans of Balor. The Fiend, however, isn’t such a fan, and the Fiend officially accepts his challenge! The Fiend is no man, the Fiend is an abomination, the Fiend is power, and the Fiend remembers.
We go to break on the promise of our main event.
Back from commercial we get a recap of all of last night’s 24/7 Championship shenanigans.
Backstage, Charlotte Flair is interviewed and rants about all the slaps in the face she’s been given lately, up to and including being left off of SummerSlam. She says she demands to be at SummerSlam and her opponent will be better than Ember Moon so she can prove why she’s the greatest female superstar of all time.
We get entrances for our special guest folks and our main event is next.
Back from commercial, Shane McMahon runs Kevin Owens down in his intro, but KO vows that he’ll drop him tonight even if he has to run through Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, and Elias first.
Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns
Collar and elbow, struggling into the corner, referee Drew McIntyre slips in and gets them apart. Owens side headlock, again McIntyre breaks it up. Reigns with the big slicing right, he dumps Drew to the floor, Elias gets involved, Shane tries to run away but the babyfaces get him surrounded, first in the ring and then on the apron, but McIntyre returns for the brawl!
The match goes to a no contest somewhere in here, although no finish is announced.
Elias with a running knee, McMahon recovers and directs his boys in putting boots to the babyfaces. He calls for Reigns to be put in position but KO runs wild on him! Superkicks for both his henchmen, spear for Drew, Stunner for Elias! McMahon back in... SUPERMAN PUNCH! STUNNER! The crowd wants on more... STUNNER! Kev gets on the mic and says if you think tonight was good, just wait until SummerSlam, because everybody’s gonna love the ass whipping he hands out to Shane that night!
That’s the show, folks.