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WWE Friday Night SmackDown comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Oct. 20, 2023) with a live show emanating from Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Crown Jewel premium live event scheduled for early next month in Saudi Arabia.
Advertised for tonight: YouTube star Logan Paul returns to WWE and will have a face-to-face confrontation with United States Champion Rey Mysterio.
Also on the card: IYO SKY defends the WWE women’s championship against Charlotte Flair, Santos Escobar has a singles match against Montez Ford, John Cena is in the house, The Bloodline responds to LA Knight, and much more!
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. (Note: Links to illegal streams are prohibited. Pics and GIFs are allowed.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR OCT. 20
See the light, a new day has arrived for us, genesis of our evolution. A linchpin holds within a means to an end, can’t you see that I’m here to liveblog this pro wrestling show for you, folks?
The show opens with a recap of last week’s episode with a focus on Roman Reigns.
Paul Heyman is in the ring, mic in hand.
He talks up Jimmy Uso for his hand in costing Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes the tag titles on Monday and claims he was running Roman’s play. He brings up today’s breaking news that Roman Reigns will defend the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship against LA Knight at Crown Jewel.
He tells us we have to watch Crown Jewel because it’ll be the last time you’ll get to see him wrestle, because he’s going to get smashed by Roman Reigns.
Enter LA Knight.
He berates Heyman for his idle threats and demands that he tell him to his face what Roman Reigns is gonna do to him. Paul begs off and tries to leave, but LA tells him to get his ass back in the ring before he knocks his hair back to grey. He talks about the spear being a warning shot and asks Heyman if he thinks that was the right move.
He says he doesn’t do warning shots, because he’ll pull a Michael Myers on you and keep coming back, and he won’t stop until he owns Roman Reigns in this ring and the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship. He says as fast as he’s risen in WWE is as fast as he’ll take the title off him.
He catches Paul saying he hates the “YEAH” and makes him do it before calling him pathetic. He says they’re gonna have a contract signing next week right here in the ring, and if Heyman’s gonna talk to Roman about that signing, make it completely absolutely clear whose game this is.
And when Reigns looks a little confused and lost for words, make sure you speak the truth that is LA Knight, yeah.
Bobby Lashley is backstage motivating the Street Profits to fight with pride and take these guys down.
Latino World Order make their entrance as we go to break.
Montez Ford vs. Santos Escobar
Ford in control early, taking him down with a big elbow, nearfall off a big splash! Escobar fighting back with leg kicks, passed into the corner, boots up, Montez with an enzuigiri that sends him crashing to the floor and us to break!
Back from commercial, big imploding bulldog, Santos comes back from that with a flurry of kicks, lining up the big Cuerno dive! A little back and forth, both men’s teammates get into it and Ford steals one...
Montez Ford wins by pinfall with a schoolboy and a handful of tights.
Post-match, Ford and Dawkins beat Escobar up until Carlito makes the save, steel chair in hand!
Backstage, Damage CTRL hype IYO SKY up and we go to break.
Back from commercial, the Latino World Order are chatting backstage.
Rey Mysterio talks about confronting Logan Paul, Zelina Vega asks if he wants help and he says he’s rolling solo today.
We get a Pretty Deadly vignette of them having a spa day together happily until Brawling Brutes interrupt and ruin everything.
Jimmy Uso rolls up on Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa crowing about how he cost his brother the tag titles by executing Roman Reigns’ plan.
We cut to John Cena walking backstage and we go to break.
Back from commercial, John Cena makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He talks about how fired up he is and admits it’s been a rough day and he got hit with some pretty harsh truths today and he feels like he should be honest with us and with himself. Last week he talked about Roman Reigns’ streak, 1138 days as champion, and today he found out he has a streak of his own.
2002 days since he last won a televised singles match.
He wants us to think about that for a minute, and points out his last win was in 2018. He says he’s been talking a whole lot about retirement and it’s just time to face facts. It’s been a long time since he’s had a win, but he believes in himself and in us and the beauty that is all this madness.
He believes that he can still go, he can still bring it, and the time is now to turn the math around! So it’s gonna be a bad night for the next idiot brave enough to walk through that curtain, and whoever it is is gonna get smoked.
Enter Solo Sikoa!
He jumps John, Jimmy Uso joins the attack and they overwhelm Cena until a masked man cuts Uso off. IT’S JEY USO! JEY USO IS HERE AND FIGHTING HIS BROTHER, SENDING HIM OVER THE TIMEKEEPER’S BARRICADE WITH A SUPERKICK! Back in the ring Cena takes Solo out with an Attitude Adjustment!
We get a media hype reel for Logan Paul and Rey Mysterio business.
Paul arrives at the arena and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get an Alba Fyre / Isla Dawn vignette where they’re clearing calling out tag champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven.
Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis are backstage with Jey Uso and security.
Aldis fines Uso ten grand over Pearce’s objections and has security escort both of them out. Adam asks if he’s kicking him out of this building and Nick answers in the affirmative.
Logan Paul makes his entrance and gets on the mic.
He talks about winning his fight and says it was a pathetic excuse for a fight but he shoulda known that if he wanted real competition he could have just had another WWE match. But he’s got news for us, he already beat Rey Mysterio, been there done that, and the last time he beat him Dominik was still his son!
A lot has changed since then, and he’s got his life figured out and he’s a WWE superstar, baby. So no, he’s not here for Rey Mysterio, but Rey does have something he needs. Rey has respect, he doesn’t need that. He doesn’t need his legacy. But he DOES need his United States Championship.
Enter Rey Mysterio.
He says Logan reminds him a lot of Dominik, dripping with passion, incredible career ahead of him, and a big mouth. Oh, and he wants this title so bad? He’ll give him the shot at Crown Jewel.
Logan offers a handshake, Rey is slow to accept but they get there.
We get a video package for Charlotte Flair vs. IYO SKY.
Austin Theory and Grayson Waller make their entrance and we go to break.
Austin Theory & Grayson Waller vs. Cameron Grimes & Dragon Lee
Lee and Theory to start, Austin off the ropes, shoulder block, Dragon with a tijeras in return! Blind tag to Waller, bulldozing Lee, knee lift, whip across, boots up, tag to Grimes, Manhattan Drop into a double team and Grayson bails to the floor!
Theory eats a Penalty Kick, Waller pulls him off the apron and Cameron puts him into the post! Dragon joins him, double whip sends Austin into the post and the heels are down on the floor as we go to break!
Back from commercial, Lee is down and out but he clears a path for himself, crawling and he gets the tag! Grimes off the top, crossbody on both of ‘em, axehandles, elbows, roundhouse kick staggers Theory and sets up the bridging German suplex... NOPE! The match breaks down, off the ropes, tope con giro, crossbody powerslam... SO CLOSE!
Back and forth, Theory gets Grimes caught...
Austin Theory & Grayson Waller win by pinfall with A-Town Down from Theory on Cameron Grimes.
We go to break on the promise of a Kevin Owens interview.
Back from commercial, we get some hype for a Bad Bunny edition of WWE 2K23.
Cathy Kelly has a sitdown interview with Kevin Owens taped before the show.
He says it doesn’t feel great being separated from Sami Zayn after working so hard to get where they got together and to be separated without a fair shot at getting the tag titles back hurts. But it’s a clean slate to be back on SmackDown, so it’s bittersweet.
He says he has a lot of history with the Bloodline and he knows he’ll cross paths with them again. He’s never had a singles match with Rey Mysterio or with Sheamus or the Brawling Brutes or LWO and there’s lots of new faces to punch. He offers to punch people for her and she says she has to be unbiased as a journalist.
She admits that Austin Theory and Grayson Waller have punchable faces and he puts them on the list and says he just wants people to go home from SmackDown knowing that this is the Kevin Owens show.
Commentary hypes next week’s show up, which will be on FS1.
Charlotte Flair vs. IYO SKY (c) (WWE Women’s Championship)
A little bit of feeling out, SKY bails to the floor, and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Flair with the rolling figure four headscissors, into a kip-up, Bayley runs interference and SKY blasts her challenger off the apron! Off the ropes, suicide dive connects, back inside and IYO grinds her down with kicks and a side headlock. Back suplex counters, SKY follows with leg kicks, setting IYO in the ropes but the champion sends Flair to the floor off her own momentum!
Diving Frankensteiner countered... GALLON THROW INTO THE APRON SENDS US TO BREAK!
Back from commercial, jockeying for position in the turnbuckles... IYO SKY SUNSET FLIP POWERBOMB OFF THE TOP ROPE CAN’T KEEP CHARLOTTE FLAIR DOWN! Corner knees, cover for two, La Mistica into the crossface in the middle of the ring! Flair fighting, up to her feet, IYO floats over, la casadora reversed into a wheelbarrow suplex!
Charlotte with an avalanche fallaway slam, only a nearfall! Following it up, high-angle Boston Crab, SKY fights out and Flair is lame in the knee, boots up on the moonsault, spear... BAYLEY PUTS IYO’S FOOT ON THE ROPES! Shot with the belt sets her up...
IYO SKY wins by pinfall with a lateral press, retaining the WWE Women’s Championship.
Post-match, Damage CTRL attack Charlotte but Bianca Belair makes the save! Bayley barely saves IYO from the KOD... BIANCA HITS KOD ON BAYLEY INSTEAD!
That’s the show, folks.
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