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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Aug. 28, 2020) with a show from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Tonight’s lineup includes the return of Roman Reigns to the blue brand. He’ll sign a contract, along with Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman, for a triple threat Universal championship match at Payback. There will also be a Miz TV segment with Big E as the special guest, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on Fox. 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. 28
All my life I wanted to fly, like the birds that you see way up in the sky. Making circles in the morning sun, flying high in the sky ‘till the day is done. I can’t break away. Like a child in his fantasy, punching holes in the walls of reality. All my life I wanted to fly, but instead, I’m going to liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens up with a graphic in memory of “Bullet” Bob Armstrong.
A recap of the Falls Count Anywhere match for the Universal Championship and Roman Reigns returning to WWE after follows.
Five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce instructs security to be on high alert and knocks on Mr. McMahon’s door. He goes in and Vince turns to him, refusing any greeting. McMahon says he seems nervous and Adam admits that he is, a little. McMahon says that happens to a lot of people and he has a mission for the Scrap Daddy.
He wants him to go to Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and Bray Wyatt and get them to sign the contract for their title match. Vince gives him pointers on where to find Bray and then gives him a garment bag, describing it as “the proper attire.”
Jeff Hardy makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He says it’s good to be standing in the ThunderDome tonight, and after what AJ Styles did to his knee last week, he’s tickled to be standing anywhere, and he’s ready to defend—
Enter AJ Styles.
He asks if this is real, saying that Hardy seems pretty proud of himself after what he did last week. He’s not a conquering hero, no, he’s much more than that. He’s a liar and a cheat, and you can blame whoever you want for his knee injury, but Styles has had knee injuries before and never went to whine and cry to a doctor to get an illegal object on his knee.
He accuses Jeff of having a plan and says he knows exactly what he was going to do with that object, and he clearly had him beat with the Styles Clash until Hardy hit him in the face with the brace. Hardy knows how to play the system, he says, because that same doctor won’t medically clear AJ to compete tonight, and it’s all Jeff’s fault.
Hardy says he was gonna issue an open challenge to anybody... except for AJ Styles. Styles is apoplectic and continues yelling about the system until Jeff decks him with a right hand and we go to break!
Back from commercial, AJ Styles is on commentary and Shinsuke Nakamura has answered Hardy’s open challenge.
Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE Intercontinental Championship)
Light grappling in the feeling out, trading arm wringers, Nakamura gets him in the ropes and cuts him off with a kick and a side headlock. Wrenching it in, knocking him down, drop down, Hardy with a hip toss, atomic drop, snapmare into a standing blockbuster and then an elbow drop for one! Jeff draws him up, right hands, whip blocked, whip reversed, Shinsuke takes his injured leg out with a basement dropkick!
Sliding knee to the back of the knee, Cesaro gets an inset promo and complains about Shinsuke taking this title match without letting him know, but everybody wants to hold two titles now, so all respect to him. Nakamura working the knee in the corner, stomping and tearing, chest kicks ensue! Hardy fights out but Shinsuke nails him in the corner and sets him up... JEFF DODGES THE CORNER KNEES!
Suplex attempts over the ropes, blocked, but Hardy clotheslines him to the floor! Slingshot dropkick drives him into the announce desk, before throwing him over it and into AJ Styles to send us to break!
Back from commercial, Nakamura is recovered but Hardy running through his usual sequence of moves into the big splash for a nearfall. Back and forth, Shinsuke with the sliding German suplex through the ropes before heading up top and perching... DIVING KINSHASA BUT HARDY KICKS OUT! Sidestep the charge, Twist of Fate blocked, fight off the sleeper, kick to the gut... TWIST OF FATE!
AJ Styles loses his mind on commentary because Jeff kneed him with the brace, Hardy up top...
Jeff Hardy wins by pinfall with the Swanton Bomb to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Post-match... SAMI ZAYN IS BACK! AND HE’S STILL CARRYING THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP HE NEVER LOST! HE CALLS HARDY A FRAUD AND SAYS HE’S THE REAL CHAMP! HE LAYS HARDY OUT!
Jeff recovers and stares AJ Styles down more to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Sami Zayn is walking cheerily backstage when an interview rolls up on him.
He says he’s all about righting wrongs, and what is wrong around here is Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles running around pretending to be champion when he won the title fair and square in March and defended it successfully at WrestleMania and never lost it. He says he has many perfectly valid reasons to not defend the title for months, and he’s from Quebec, a man of the world, a true Intercontinental Champion.
A new Firefly Fun House follows.
Bray comes in through the Fun House door and waves to everybody and gives the show a big introduction. He says it’s good to be home with all of his friends and has an exchange with Huskus, claiming the internet is rotting the pig’s brain. He can’t help but think that something is missing, but what? The Universal Championship!
He speaks to Roman Reigns, saying it’s been a long time and it’s really good to see him again. The doorbell rings, and he answers it, revealing five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce dressed as a postal worker. Pearce asks him to sign the contract but Bray asks why he would sign it, and Adam says there’s some kind of connection between Wyatt and Him, the screen flashes with Fiend imagery.
Bray says he’ll sign it, but he hopes Roman and Braun know what they’re getting themselves into. Wyatt is all excited about signing a couple of death warrants, and Postman Pearce takes his leave as Bray says goodbye.
Matt Riddle makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He calls King Baron Corbin out and talks about the King’s Ransom on his head, saying it seems like he doesn’t even want to face him and he’s scared, and if not, prove him wrong right now.
We go to break before we get an answer.
Back from commercial, Matt Riddle is still waiting in the ring.
He calls Corbin out some more and behold—
Enter King Baron Corbin.
Chad Gable blindsides Riddle and Corbin says he accepts the challenge... on behalf of Gable.
Chad Gable vs. Matt Riddle
Riddle with leg kicks, Gable takes him down with a dragon screw, crossface strikes, into the ropes and Matt hits the Karelin lift! Rolling through, Tombstone blocked, Chad with a bridging Tiger suplex... NOPE! Riddle with a hard knee, he gets Gable up...
Matt Riddle wins by pinfall with the falling Gotch Tombstone piledriver.
Post-match, Corbin attacks but Riddle fights him off! Baron bails and backs off! He jaws at Riddle, telling him he’ll bow down.
We get a recap of last week’s Talking Smack with Miz and Big E, as well as a video from Big E from earlier today about how he doesn’t want to be on MizTV tonight and gets into a bit of a standoff with Miz, Morrison, and Sheamus, backed by Heavy Machinery.
Backstage right now, Big E is chatting with Heavy Machinery about what’s in their lunch box, which happens to be little a hard salami, for treat.
Bayley and Sasha Banks roll up to make fun of them for playing with their meat, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce is knocking on Roman Reigns’ door to see about getting him to sign the contract, but he gets no answer and moves on.
King Baron Corbin runs into an interview and says he’s gonna beat Matt Riddle up on Sunday in a lot of colorful ways, and he’s going to prove he doesn’t belong on SmackDown.
Bayley and Sasha Banks make their entrance.
Bayley gets on the mic and says they’re in the midst of one of the most difficult weeks of their careers, having had to defend both their titles at SummerSlam and the tag titles on Sunday, but lucky for them they’re the greatest tag champs in the whole world. She puts their tag team over and says things don’t always go as planned, addressing Sasha losing her title.
She says it’s all her fault, and she never should have let her challenge Asuka for the title, but she saw how she looked at her and wanted to join in the fun, but as her best friend she should have known she’s never successfully defended the Raw title. But that’s in the past, and they’re going to mooo-ve forward, get it? (Sasha is wearing cow print pants, you see.)
The tag titles represent their friendship, and on Sunday they cannot lose. Banks agrees, and says she might not be Two Belts Banks anymore, but she knows exactly who she is and what she stands for, and lucky for Bayley, she’s still her best friend, and she’s going to do everything in her power to keep the titles.
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler appear on the tron and talk about how they hate each other but any chance to beat Banks and Bayley up and get the women’s tag titles is worth taking. They talk about how the champs are talking a lot about feelings but not about winning, and Sasha says one bad week isn’t going to hold her back and there’s not a damn thing they can do about how they’re going to defend the titles.
Backstage, five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce runs into Drew Gulak and asks him if he’s seen Roman Reigns. Drew tells him to let him know if he sees Braun Strowman because he owes him a receipt, and that leads Gulak to wallop Braun with a chair and throw it at Pearce and run.
Braun tells him the only way he’s signing the contract is if Adam gets that twerp Gulak out in the ring right now, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Cesaro is telling Shinsuke Nakamura that he needs more communication and he wants him in his corner against Kalisto later.
Sami Zayn rolls up all excited that the band is back together, and Shinsuke points out that it’s been four months and he didn’t even call. Sami admits he should have been more communicative but he’s working on it, and Cesaro says not to apologize, because his absence changed things for the better and they won the tag titles.
Zayn acts like it was his idea and sets his title down next to the tag titles, to which Cesaro says they were having a private tag team conversation and they’d like to finish talking. Sami asks if they want him to go and they say yes. He says that’s okay and actually he has to go, because he’s got so much stuff to do.
Braun Strowman vs. Drew Gulak
Strowman in hot, bieling Gulak across the ring, waiting for him to get up and freight training him in the corner before sandwiching him from the back in the opposite corner! Short-arm lariat, running senton, standing crossface strikes, a chokeslam, he asks Drew if this is what he wanted before scooping him up...
Braun Strowman wins by pinfall with the running powerslam.
On his way out, five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce is there with the contract, and Braun signs it.
Lucha House Party are hanging out backstage and Kalisto says he’s learned from Lince Dorado’s mistakes last week and he wants him to stay in the back and see how it’s done. Lince tells him to go do good lucha things, and Kalisto leaves. The tag champs blast Dorado and Gran Metalik from behind and we go to break.
Cesaro vs. Kalisto
Cesaro right in with a tilt-a-whirl slam before throwing Kalisto into the corner, whip across, up and over, off the ropes, satellite headscissors sends the Swiss Superman to the floor! KALISTO SPRINGBOARD DRAGONRANA TO THE FLOOR! Back up on the apron, gamengiri, springboard crossbody but Cesaro catches it and turns it into a backbreaker for a nearfall!
Back body drop turns into a sunset flip, Cesaro blocks and hosses him up but Kalisto gets the sunset flip for real this time for two! Back and forth, Kalisto gets a wild DDT after standing on Cesaro’s chest... NOPE! Off the ropes, headscissors driver, again the Swiss Superman kicks out! Fighting in the corner, headscissors puts Cesaro into the turnbuckles, Nakamura up on the apron but the rest of Lucha House Party come down and fight him off!
Cesaro thinks fast...
Cesaro wins by pinfall with a schoolboy pin.
Post-match, Lucha House Party bicker amongst themselves.
Cut to Vincent Kennedy McMahon in his office when five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce rolls up to give him a progress update. He still hasn’t gotten Roman Reigns to sign, and Vince says he needs all three, and he advises Pearce to go knock the door down, explaining how he’d put his shoulder into the door until it falls down.
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get some hype for tomorrow’s episode of Talking Smack.
Backstage, Tamina rolls up on Nikki Cross holding a coffee cup that she says is the first gift Alexa Bliss ever gave her. Bliss rolls up, all hugs, and she says she’s never been better before asking if that’s the mug she got her. Cross points out her pigtails and says it’s been a long time since she wore her hair like that.
She notices she’s got a dreadlock in there and Alexa says it’s something she’s trying, but Cross doesn’t like it because it reminds her of the Fiend. This leaves Bliss to go all glassy-eyed for a second before telling her not to be ridiculous and she thought they were best friends. She smashes the mug and storms off.
Miz and Morrison are chatting backstage and Johnny says he can kick at 70 miles per hour. Sheamus rolls up to ask about their game plan, and they break it down. Big E is the powerhouse and they have to keep him out of the ring, while Tucker is big and as strong as two or three men, so he has to stay on the apron. And then Otis, he’s a crazy man, a wild card, so they can’t let him tag in either.
Sheamus asks if their strategy is to not let any of their opponents tag in, and they confirm this. An exasperated Sheamus tells them just to follow his lead and walks off, leaving them to bicker amongst themselves.
Big E and Heavy Machinery make their entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial, five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce knocks on Roman’s door again.
He just walks in and Reigns is right there, so he hands the contract over and the Big Dog looks it over, but we cut away before he signs.
Big E & Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight) vs. John Morrison, Sheamus, & the Miz
Morrison and Otis to start, circling, John with a go-behind, Dozer backs him into the corner and biels him but he lands on his feet! Springboard roundhouse bounces off the big man and he throws Johnny into his corner! Babyfaces making tags, Knight with a springboard crossbody for two! Cutting Tucker off, quick tags of their own, a dropkick sends Knight to the floor where he starts to rally with a series of kicks of his own!
Back inside, a lariat takes Morrison out and a bell rings, which turns out to be Sheamus being rude as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Morrison is still in control on Knight. Tag to Miz, heels working their control segment, springboard roundhouse kick Hart Attack gets Otis and E to break up a pin and Sheamus forces his way into the match but referee Charles Robinson didn’t see the tag and he’s not allowing it!
Morrison accidentally knocks the Celtic Warrior down off the apron and he throws a fit! He starts walking out, Miz tries to bring him back but Sheamus threatens him and he backs down! Sheamus leaves and Tucker tags Big in! E with the overhead belly-to-belly suplexes to the Miz! Fired up, hip swivel, off the ropes, Big Splash!
Clapping the crowd into it, but the A-Lister bails to the apron and snaps E’s neck over the top rope! Charging in... BIG HITS THE ROCK BOTTOM OUT OF THE CORNER BUT MORRISON BREAKS THE PIN UP WITH A SPRINGBOARD STOMP! Otis slams John and tears his shirt off... CATERPILLAR ON MORRISON! Miz got away, gets behind him, Skull-Crushing Finale!
But E’s the legal man and he slips back in...
Big E & Heavy Machinery win by pinfall with the Big Ending from E on the Miz.
Backstage, Roman Reigns says he’ll be at Payback on Sunday and he’ll win the Universal Championship that he never lost back, and that’s not just a prediction... that’s a spoiler.
THE CAMERA PANS TO PAUL HEYMAN SITTING NEXT TO ROMAN!
Paul E tells us to “Believe that.”
That’s the show, folks!