WWE SmackDown Live preview (Aug. 20, 2019): Wrong place, right time

WWE SmackDown Live returns to us tonight (Aug. 20) from the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Fall, South Dakota. They are building towards Clash of Champions on Sept. 15.

The Headliner

One of the biggest stories in WWE right now, if not the biggest story, is Roman Reigns trying to discover his mystery attacker.

A key figure in that story right now is Buddy Murphy, who happened to be caught in a photo near the scene of the first crime. Rumor has it, that was never the plan. He just happened to be in the shot so WWE went with it. The Best Kept Secret took that opportunity and ran with it.

Roman’s rough interrogation of Buddy, where Murphy eventually gave Rowan’s name, led to a match between the Big Dog and Best Kept Secret last week. It was Buddy’s coming out party.

It was a really great match where Roman allowed Murphy to look like the star he was on 205 Live. Buddy is super talented, but Reigns had to give him the match to showcase that. Now Murphy has a great match with one of the top stars in the company under his belt.

Tonight, he gets to have another.

Because of another locker room attack, this from Daniel Bryan and Rowan using force to get Murphy to retract his statement (a tool Bryan railed against when it was used to accuse Rowan), Murphy will now face Daniel Bryan.

Once again, the former Cruiserweight champion has a chance to shine tonight. Daniel Bryan is the guy who requested he get a chance to work with Ali when Ali was still only on 205. He wants to give talented wrestlers a showcase. No doubt he’ll make sure a talent like Murphy looks good.

The big hook to this story is Bryan claiming he knows who’s been targeting Reigns, and he’ll reveal it tonight. But the real excitement is Murphy finally getting show why he’s so damn good.

And all it took was being in the wrong place at the right time.

The Title Scene:

Kofi Kingston and Randy Orton will continue feuding for the WWE championship for awhile. Last week, the Viper got his revenge from being beaten up at SummerSlam when he and the Revival beat down the New Day. (This angle was rerun last night on Raw though this time the Revival dealt Woods a leg injury.) Surely Kofi is going to be seeking comeuppance. And given Xavier Woods and Big E are SmackDown tag team champions, they likely have a title feud with the Revival coming.

Bayley dispatched Ember Moon to retain her SmackDown Women’s championship at SummerSlam. She wasn’t on TV last week, but her opponent was. Ember Moon lost to Charlotte. Is Charlotte finally in line for another Women’s title shot?

Shinsuke Nakamura is still Intercontinental champion... I think. Let me check that actually.

Yup!

Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss are Women’s tag team champions so they can show up at any time. All the women’s tag teams are there anyway.

Other things to keep an eye on:

King of the Ring matches!

- Is it possible Kevin Owens is knocked out of the first round against Elias because of Shane McMahon shenanigans? Don’t count it out. Also, if KO pins Elias, does he also become 24/7 champion?

- Apollo’s match with Andrade has a little history from when El Idolo attacked Apollo prior to their match months back. The outcome tonight may be in little doubt, but this should be really good.

We’ll find out who takes the falls when Daniel Bryan names names tonight in South Dakota.