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WWE SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Sept. 3, 2021) with a show emanating from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for later this month.
Roman Reigns is going to defend the Universal championship against Finn Bálor in tonight’s main event. This match came about after Bálor was screwed out of the very same title match last month by John Cena. As a result, Finn has lost patience and is no longer waiting around for the next pay-per-view to receive his shot at the gold.
Come right back here at 8 pm 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 SEPT. 3
Took my love into overdrive. Custom pink, tonight you’ll pay the price. When she’s hot, well, damn she’s hot, and she’s about to liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with a recap of last Friday’s closing segment.
The Usos make their entrance and we see Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman watching the monitor backstage.
Jey gets on the mic and says the Bloodline is now in your city, and Jimmy says all last week all he could think about is why the hell would the Street Profits stick their nose in family business. And why? Because they’re trying to make a name for themselves, or prove themselves? Nah, what they did was disrespect the Head of the Table and the Bloodline.
Street Profits make their entrance and ask the Usos what they’re doing in the ring without their permission slips.
Montez Ford says they’re gonna get their ass whooped.
Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) vs. the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso)
Jimmy and Angelo to start, Uso in control and posing in the ropes but Dawkins blasts him with a dropkick! Whip to the corner, spinning Stinger Splash, tag to Ford. Drop down into a dropkick, one for Jey too, Montez kips up and he’s fired up! Action to the floor, the Usos turn the momentum, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Jey is legal and has Ford in a reverse chinlock. Montez manages to post him, hot tag to Dawkins! Leapfrog, Samoan Drop cuts the rally off, cover for two! Back and forth, Ford gets a tight nearfall off a splash but the Usos break it up and post him into the turnbuckles a few times! Referee Jason Ayers has had enough...
Street Profits win by disqualification due to castigo de excesivo.
Post-match the brawl continues and Montez lays the Usos out with a plancha!
We go backstage to Roman Reigns, who tells Paul Heyman to bring the Usos to him.
Paul runs into an interview on his way to collect them.
He tells Kayla Braxton to enjoy the moment and Brock Lesnar’s theme plays. It’s his phone ringing and he tries to ignore it but it keeps ringing and he picks it up. He says the timing is a little awkward but he always loves— he gets cut off and says yes a few times before saying he doesn’t have a lot of privacy right now.
He agrees to deliver the message and tries to say one more thing but gets hung up on. Kayla tells him she’s enjoying this moment and he damn near runs over a janitor on his way out. He tells the guy to take Braxton out with the trash and it turns out to be Big E, cackling and shaking and holding his Money in the Bank briefcase up.
Becky Lynch makes her entrance and we get a recap video of her return to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Becky Lynch gets on the mic.
She says last week during her return as our SmackDown Women’s Champion, she walked to the ring and got no “You deserve it!” chants but okay— she gets “You deserve it!” chants and says she should have been here last week. She spoke about her victory at SummerSlam until she was interrupted by the whole women’s locker room, but she didn’t get a chance to talk about Bianca Belair.
She’s a hell of an athlete, probably the most athletic woman they’ve ever had in WWE, and the only woman aside from herself to win in the main event of WrestleMania. So you can imagine how excited she was to go toe-to-toe with her at SummerSlam, but somehow she’s portrayed as the bad guy in all of this? So she wants to explain that her return saved SummerSlam.
When Sasha Banks couldn’t make it, they called the biggest name they could, and she had been preparing to get her title back from the moment she left, and it’s on Bianca to be prepared for that. Just because she hasn’t played this game in a while doesn’t mean she’s forgotten how to win, and Belair can pretend she’s the best but we all know that’s a lie.
You can’t fake experience, and that’s why Becky was able to end her title reign with one flick of her fist.
Enter Bianca Belair.
She get son the mic and says the championship was more to her than just a title, it was part of her and etched her name into the history books. She came so far and accomplished so much and lost all of it in 26 seconds. But you know what, she’s not afraid to admit that she was embarrassed and she’s still hurt, but she stands in that because it’s her truth.
And what she won’t do is build herself up by bringing another woman down, and she’ll never make excuses for herself. Lynch stands here talking like she knows her, but she doesn’t, and she’s going to explain why they call her the EST of WWE. She was the strongEST last week and the fastEST rising superstar, and she’ll bounce back because she’s the toughEST, and when she wins the title back, she’ll be known as the greatEST, and that’s just straight facts.
She earned her rematch like anything else, and it’s not a matter of if, it’s a question of when. Roman Reigns is defending his title tonight, so why not show up and show out instead of talking? Becky laughs it off before saying she doesn’t give a damn what Roman does, the answer is no.
The Dirty Dawgz are walking backstage and talking about how it’s their time to shine but Dolph Zigger runs into Toni Storm and splits off from Roode to chat with her. He asks if she’ll check out his match tonight and she agrees but admits she’s actually rooting for Rick Boogs. Dolph plays it off and walks on.
Rick Boogs plays Shinsuke Nakamura in to send us to break.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Rick Boogs
Boogs with a military press drop, Ziggler floats over the next one, rake the eyes, Zig Zag... NOPE! Pumphandle...
Rick Boogs wins by pinfall with the pumphandle body slam.
Becky Lynch runs into five-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville backstage.
They inform her that she’s going to defend her title against Bianca Belair at Extreme Rules and there will be a contract signing next week.
Commentary hypes up WWE’s partnership with Connor’s Cure to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Seth Rollins is interviewed at Gorilla.
He says tonight is a perfect opportunity for a new beginning and he’s watched his match against Edge back so many times over the last week and he’s become something of an inspiration. He’s figured out what let Edge defeat him at SummerSlam, and he’s going to use that against Cesaro tonight to prove why he’s a visionary and a revolutionary that only gets better with time.
Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins
Collar and elbow, side headlock from Rollins, shot off, drop down, Cesaro with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and Rollins rolls to the floor for a breather! The Swiss Superman charges after him, uppercut into the barricade and he’s fired up! Smashing his face into the barricades, back inside, shot off, drop down, dropkick, dropkick, Giant Swing denied!
Duck an enzuigiri, Seth hides in the ropes, Impaler DDT... NOPE! Smiling after the nearfall, Rollins sends us to break.
Back from commercial, jockeying for position in the corner, Rollins gets the corner-to-corner buckle bomb but can’t put Cesaro down! Edge-O-Matic gets another nearfall, Seth clearly borrowing from Edge, lying in wait, Blackout countered into a powerbomb! Both men down and out, Cesaro recovers first, corner uppercuts, charging uppercut, discus lariat... NOPE!
Calling for the giant swing, Seth reverses into a victory roll pin for two! Boot up, charging in, Cesaro catches him, spinebuster into the giant swing! Looking for the Sharpshooter, it’s a struggle but he gets it on and Rollins almost immediately gets the ropes! Seth rolls to the floor, Cesaro charges in but Rollins has a steel chair and hits him with it...
Cesaro wins by disqualification.
Post-match, Rollins keeps hitting him with the chair and posts him shoulder-first! Seth puts him in the ring and stomps out the crossbar of the chair and locks the assisted arm-trap crossface on! He lets go of it... BLACKOUT! He wedges a chair under Cesaro’s head—
EDGE MAKES THE SAVE, CHAIR IN HAND!
We see the Bloodline backstage.
Roman Reigns is just finishing explaining his game plan to the Usos and they leave. Paul Heyman tells Roman they have a problem, and Reigns says he has no problems and he’s about to smash Finn Balor. Heyman says the problem is with Brock Lesnar, and Roman says it’s Paul that has the problem, because he’s gonna smash Brock too.
Heyman says that Lesnar will be at Madison Square Garden for the show next week. Reigns asks how he knows that, and Paul says Brock called him on the phone for the first time in a year. Roman asks Paul how he knows that Brock is in Saskatchewan and not here tonight, and Heyman has no answer for him.
A car rolls up to the arena and Happy Corbin gets out.
He runs into an interview but treats her like a valet and walks off.
Kevin Owens makes his entrance to send us to break.
Back from commercial we see Edge run into an interview backstage.
He says he hoped his feud with Seth Rollins would be over but who are we kidding, if he lost the way Seth did at SummerSlam he’d react the same way. But it has to stop, so he’s coming down the barrel and talking direction to Rollins— he’s challenging him to a match next week on SmackDown, Edge vs. Rollins II: Madison Square Garden.
Kevin Owens is in the ring to host the Kevin Owens Show.
He introduces his guest tonight, Happy Corbin.
Corbin is excited to be part of the show and says he wanted to come out here and thank Owens, because if it weren’t for him he wouldn’t be where he is today with this expensive suit and watch and such. And he knows why Kev is mad, he wants his $100 back but he left his wallet back in the Rolls Royce. But his special guest might have it.
KO is confused as to who Corbin’s guest is, and it turns out to be Logan Paul.
He thanks Kev for having him on the show, and Owens says he really didn’t invite him and wouldn’t subject these poor people to that, but while he has him here he might as well ask a question. He asks about them not liking each other recently and they say they’re friends now. KO says that makes sense because they have a lot in common.
He says Logan is one of the most self-centered useless pieces of trash to ever step foot in a WWE ring and Corbin is here too. Paul asks if he really wants to talk that way to somebody about to give him a hundred dollars, because by the way he looks he could really use it. Owens says he doesn’t need his money, he just needs Logan to leave his ring and never show his face in WWE again.
KO swats the money out of his hand, Paul shoves him, Owens shoves him back, Logan turns his hat backwards, Kev takes his tie off and Happy cheap shots him and then chokeslams him!
And so we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a weird little hype spot for Carmella’s “hottest girl in a world where literally every girl is hot” gimmick that leaves Liv Morgan dubious.
Dominik Mysterio vs. Sami Zayn
Zayn in control early, test of strength pin attempt, big lariat, Mysterio turns him around and gets the 619 setup but Sami runs away! Zayn decides to walk out, Rey blocks him off, Dom with a tope con giro and he throws Zayn back inside but tells his dad he’s got it. Back inside, Sami is faster...
Sami Zayn wins by pinfall with the Helluva Kick.
Sonya Deville is backstage on her phone when Naomi rolls up to remind her she was supposed to tell her about her match this week, and Sonya tells her to ask again next week.
On that disappointing note, we go to break.
Back from commercial Finn Balor is interviewed at Gorilla, full of determination.
The Usos attack Finn during his entrance and beat him down at length, ramming him repeatedly with the steel steps! But the Street Profits make the save before they can hit the diving splash on him!
Roman Reigns makes his entrance to send us to break, unsure if our main event is happening.
Back from commercial, we get another hype reel for the new-look NXT, featuring some sketches of what is presumably the new NXT set design.
Medics are checking on Finn Balor in the ring, but he’s ready to fight!
Finn Balor vs. Roman Reigns (c) (WWE Universal Championship)
Balor hanging back, Reigns rams him into the corner and biels him across the ring! Right hands in the corner, smashing Finn’s face into the turnbuckles, off the ropes, Balor hits a basement dropkick to take him off his feet! Leg kicks, leg pick, Roman counters with a headbutt! Rock Bottom, cover for two and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Balor sidesteps a Superman Punch, boots up in the corner, forearm smash, whip, duck a lariat but Reigns hits the big slicing right! Pele kick in return and both men are down and out! My girlfriend calls me beautiful and I melt for a moment but when I return Finn hits a double stomp! Chop, shoulder thrusts in the corner, duck a lariat, side kick but Reigns throws him to the floor!
Balor traps Roman in the apron and wails on him, stomps on stomps, referee Ryan Tran has to warn him off! Off the ropes... TOPE CON GIRO! Back inside, up top... NOBODY HOME ON THE COUP DE GRACE! SUPERMAN PUNCH CONNECTS... NOT ENOUGH!
And at this point my Fox feed dies. Cable’s still up, but no SmackDown. Sorry, folks.
It comes back after a minute and apparently Reigns hit a low blow to kick out of a Coup de Grace, intentionally or not, and hammers Balor with punches! Guillotine choke applied...
Roman Reigns wins by submission with the guillotine choke to retain the WWE Universal Championship.
Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman leave, title in hand.
That’s the show, folks.