The Sept 19th edition of WWE SmackDown airs live on the USA Network from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Hell in a Cell pay-per-view (PPV) next month in Detroit.
Advertised for tonight: Baron Corbin finally gets his shot at the United States championship, and more!
The show opens up with a video package recapping the vicious attack of Kevin Owens to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon last week on Smackdown Live.
We are welcomed to the show by Tom Phillips.
Shane McMahon makes his way down to the ring, but with no smiles or dancing this week, he is all business. He starts by saying that we all just witnessed what he considers a cowardly act carried out by Kevin Owens, beating his father down in the middle of the ring. Shane continues by saying that one thing’s for sure, he has to give his old man credit for being one tough, salty SOB.
Shane also says that they haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but at the end of the day he’s still his father and he loves him. Shane asks Kevin Owens to imagine if he’d been sitting at home watching someone he love get beat down by a coward, how would that feel? Shane continues by saying that his kids had to see their grandfather take that beat-down, and when you cross one McMahon, the entire family strikes out with massive vengeance.
Shane says that he doesn’t think Owens realizes what he has done, or maybe he has, since he hasn’t shown up yet. Owens didn’t just beat the chairman down, he beat the patriarch of the McMahon family, and Shane condemns him to a ruthless beating at his own hands, to a life of pain and suffering, and a beating at The Hell in a Cell.
Commentary hypes that match up a bit before hyping up our United States Championship match that will happen later on tonight.
Randy Orton is shown walking backstage and we go to a commercial break.
Back from the commercial break, we head back to the ring where Aiden English does his usual singing, then he starts singing about Randy Orton and mocks him, but Randy Orton’s music hits and Orton interrupts English. The Viper makes his way down to the ring for their match which is coming up next.
Randy Orton vs. Aiden English: Aiden rushes Orton right off the opening bell and stomps on him in the corner. English whips Orton into the opposite corner, but Orton answers with a clothesline. Orton follows up with a spinning powerslam, then he goes for a DDT but English rolls outside. Orton follows English outside and back suplexes him onto the fan barricade. Orton goes for a suplex onto the announce table, but English escapes and hits a suplex of his own on Orton onto the announce desk. Back in the ring, English works over Orton in the corner then hits a running back splash. Orton comes back with some strikes but English stops him with a poke to the eye and a dropkick. English follows up with knee drops and a chin lock. English misses a splash in the corner, but he connects with a boot to the face of Orton. English goes up top and comes flying off, but Orton catches him in mid-air with an RKO For the win. Winner: Randy Orton
After the match, Randy Orton goes to celebrate with his pose on the turnbuckles when Rusev interrupts. He comes out with a microphone and says that going into SummerSlam he was going to be a national hero in Bulgaria, but in ten seconds Randy turned him and his family into a national disgrace. So tonight, he is going to rip the fangs out of the Viper’s mouth and do it right now.
Rusev makes his way down to the ring and the match is made official.
Rusev vs. Randy Orton: Rusev steps in the ring and the referee calls for the bell. Orton blocks a kick and goes for the RKO right off the bat, but Rusev pushes him off. Aiden English gets on the apron and distracts Orton, then Orton turns around into a superkick from Rusev. Rusev pins Orton for the win after a very short match. Winner: Rusev
After the match, Rusev celebrates his victory up the entryway just like he has won a Championship.
The Commentary team announces that Kevin Owens will respond to Shane McMahon live via satellite later tonight, and Charlotte Flair will be here tonight to discuss her father Ric Flair’s recent recovery.
We head backstage where Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers are shown walking as we go to a commercial break.
Back from the commercial break, we head backstage where Rusev is yelling “I got him!” He then does an interview where he says that he beat the viper tonight and broke him in half. So now he returns home a hero and Rusev walks off chanting “Rusev number one.”
We head to the stage where The Singh Brothers give Jinder Mahal his usual huge introduction. Jinder gets on the mic and says that he knows it is hard to believe but some folks were in an uproar over what he said about Shinsuke Nakamura last week, and Shinsuke himself wasn’t well-pleased either, but at least his face is still full of delight. This leads to them laughing about a picture again.
Mahal says that he believes half of the crowd are xenophobic enough to think Japanese people feast on feline and dine on dolphin, and reiterates his thought that the crowd will turn on Nakamura. The man deserves more, he’s an artist, which is just an excuse for more pointing and laughing about Shinsuke’s face before telling him he always “rook the same”.
Jinder continues by saying that the crowd sings along and chants his name to hide their own xenophobia and tells Shinsuke they’re not worth it, that they say behind his back that he gets his hair cut by a dog groomer, they call him Mr. Miyagi, which gets the crowd to chant that he’s taken it too far. Mahal then speaks to his people in his language of Punjabi to close the segment out.
Commentary hypes up the United States Championship match once again and it is set to happen right after the commercial break.
Back from the commercial break, we head backstage where Shinsuke Nakamura does an interview where he says that Jinder Mahal is funny, but it won’t be so funny when he takes the WWE Title from him at Hell in a Cell.
We head back to the arena where AJ Styles makes his way down to the ring. He soaks in the atmosphere of the crowd for a second before beginning. He says after what happened between Owens and McMahon, he thinks Owens has no idea what he has done, beating up a man responsible for AJ being here, responsible for the WWE Universe being here at all, and he was excited to hear that Shane has Owens in Hell in a Cell, because Owens isn’t making it out.
AJ Styles then cuts a promo on Baron Corbin. AJ says that Corbin took a shortcut to win Money in the Bank, cashed it in, but failed. Corbin then had a chance to redeem himself by beating John Cena at SummerSlam, but failed again. So AJ is going tell us what we know, that if you step in the ring with the Phenomenal One, you’re gonna fail. The Lone Wolf can huff and puff, but he’s never gonna blow down the House That AJ Styles Built.
AJ Styles (c) vs. Baron Corbin: AJ’s United States Championship is on the line in this one. This match ends up in a no contest. Baron Corbin makes his way down to the ring and we get our introductions. Corbin attacks AJ from behind win AJ makes his way down to the ring before the bell. Corbin continues to beat down AJ, then Tye Dillinger runs in for the save. Dillinger assaults Corbin at ringside until Corbin is able to break free and get back in the ring. Corbin is selling a leg injury, and AJ now gets to his feet and nails Corbin in the face with a forearm shot. Styles locks Corbin in the Calf Crusher until he taps out. The opening bell still hasn’t rung. The crowd chants “you tapped out” as AJ takes his U.S. Title and stares him down. Corbin is still selling the leg injury at ringside.
We are informed that Charlotte Flair will be appearing right after the commercial break.
Back from the commercial break, we head backstage where Corbin is being interviewed.
Corbin blows right up on Renee Young, yelling that he feels violated. He said that he was going to win the title when that perfect zero jumped him from behind, then AJ attacked him and sprained his ankle with the Calf Killer. But he’s not whining, bitching, or moaning, he’s gonna get even.
We head back to the ring where Charlotte Flair makes her entrance.
She says that it is good to be back, and she personally wants to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers while her dad has been sick. She says that it has been an emotional six weeks, literally life and death, but Ric is making a comeback. But when she was away she learned a valuable lesson that life is fragile and unexpected, and that’s why you have to make the moments count.
So from here on out, she says that she is going to make every moment as big as possible for her and her dad.
Natalya makes her way down to the ring and she has some crew members trailing behind her. She says that they are all real happy her dad is doing better but it’s time to focus on something more important. Natalya says that Flair can stay because this concerns her, and Natalya and the guys get in the ring with an easel. As champion, she says that she is happy to celebrate WWE’s first-ever celebration of women.
She continues by saying that from the strength and courage of women like Florence Nightingale, to Oprah Winfrey, to all the incredible competitors of the Mae Young Classic, it’s been women to lead the charge, break down barriers, and nurture future generations. Tonight is a celebration of all women by focusing on one woman. A woman who complete the journey that frankly Amelia Earhart couldn’t, a woman that Natalya is frankly very proud of.
She takes the cover off and of course it’s a picture of herself. Charlotte says that that was truly inspiring, uplifting even. She’s glad she interrupted because she’s challenging her for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Becky Lynch makes her way down to the ring. She says that she is sorry to interrupt her ego olympics but there’s something she and Charlotte agree on, that Natalya is the craziest there is, the craziest there was, and quite possibly the craziest there ever will be. Lynch says that she has nothing but love for the Flairs, but she disagrees and says the title isn’t going anywhere but back to her as its rightful owner.
Naomi makes her way down to the ring. She tells Natalya that she doesn’t represent all women. She doesn’t even represent the women of SmackDown, the only thing she represents is her stank cats.
Lana and Tamina make their way down to the ring. Lana asks Natalya not to listen to these “disrespectful villagers” and Natalya is glad that Lana respects her. Lana says she thinks she’s a crazy cat lady who needs to shut up before continuing with an argument that the three in the ring already had their chance and now it’s Tamina’s time.
Natalya says that this isn’t about any of them, it’s about the women, and she’s not a crazy cat lady. She’s Natalya and she’s going to be SmackDown Women’s Champion forever.
Daniel Bryan makes his way down to the ring. He says that he is sorry Natalya’s celebration was cut short, but tonight the women of SmackDown will get a spotlight, and in tonight’s main event, Naomi, Becky, Tamina, and Charlotte will have a fatal four-way match, where the winner will go on to face Natalya at Hell in a Cell.
Commentary hypes up The Kevin Owens segment for later, but up next, The New Day vs. The Hype Bros will collide right after the commercial break.
Back from the commercial break, The Usos make their way down to the ring as they are the guests announcers at the commentary booth.
Big E does the usual New Day promo and The New Day make their way down to the ring.
The New Day vs. The Hype Bros: Big E starts off against Mojo and they trade abdominal stretches early on. Kofi comes in next and Mojo flattens him with a clothesline. Big E and Ryder get the tags and Big E hits a series of belly to belly suplexes. Big E goes to follow up with the splash but Ryder blocks it with his knees. Ryder hits another knee strike then follows up with a missile dropkick off the middle rope. Ryder hits the Broski Boot, but Kofi breaks up the pin. Mojo misses a shot on Kofi and Kofi throws him outside then hits a suicide dive on him. Kofi tags in and Big E picks up Ryder, they hit the Midnight Hour and then Kofi pins Ryder for the win. Winners: The New Day
After the match, The New Day celebrate their victory.
Commentary walks us through a video recap of the segment between Vince McMahon and Kevin Owens from last week.
Kevin Owens is now live via satellite. Kevin Owens offers an apology to the whole McMahon family. He says that he watched the footage from last week and he doesn’t know what came over him, and he says he wants to offer a heartfelt apology. Owens says that Shane had it coming, and Shane made Owens attack his father. He says that Shane made Owens want to beat Vince like a garbage bag because he disrespected the good name of Kevin Owens. Owens says that he had nothing but respect for Vince, but in the moment it felt like he was head-butting Shane. Owens says that he also apologizes to anyone who dares to watch Hell in a Cell and sees the beating he gives Shane. Owens says people like him don’t go to hell, they go to heaven.
Commentary hypes up our Fatal Four Way Women’s #1 Contender’s Match and we go to a commercial break.
Back from the commercial break, we head backstage where The Hype Bros looks furious. Mojo says that he is tired of losing, and something has to give. Mojo also adds that if they want things to change, they’re gonna have to do something drastic. Ryder nods at him solemnly.
We head back to the arena where Dolph Ziggler comes out and starts rambling about being the greatest in-ring performer in WWE history. He does the entrance of Triple H and asks if he can run NXT now. But that’s not him, he can do something a little, stop the show. Or, rather, become the Showstopper, because he then comes out to the entrance of Shawn Michaels.
He says that it doesn’t get anymore superficial than that and he actually feels himself losing his smile. He doesn’t know how anybody could dress like that and be taken seriously, but we can go lower. He heads back again and the come out to the entrance of DX, and of course he comes out with the glow sticks and does the thing.
He has two words for us. “Who cares?” He runs people down for coasting off their names into retirement and once again says that all we care about are entrances and we don’t care about matches and he’s the best and so on and so forth and he doesn’t care about us and he just drops the mic.
Commentary hypes up The WWE Network for a bit before informing us that our main event begins right after the commercial break.
Back from the commercial break, all competitors make their entrances.
Charlotte vs. Naomi vs. Becky vs. Tamina: This match is a #1 Contender Fatal Four Way Match where the winner will get a shot at The SmackDown Women’s Championship at Hell in a Cell. The opening bell rings and all four women start brawling, and Tamina quickly gets in the lead. Naomi, Becky and Charlotte all team up on Tamina to take her out. Naomi hits a flying cross body on both Becky and Charlotte, then hits some kicks on Charlotte. Naomi hits a jawbreaker on Charlotte for a two count. Tamina misses a spear in the corner on Becky, then Becky hits a dropkick on Naomi. She goes for one on Charlotte but Charlotte blocks it. Tamina clotheslines down Becky, then Charlotte spears down Tamina. Charlotte slams Naomi down next to Tamina, then she goes up top. Charlotte hits a moonsault onto both Naomi and Tamina, and she pins Naomi for a two count. Charlotte puts Naomi in the Figure Four, but Becky breaks it up with a leg drop. Tamina hits a Samoan Drop on Becky, then she goes to the top rope. Tamina hits the Snuka Splash on Becky, but Naomi breaks the pin. Lana pulls Naomi outside and Naomi drops her with a kick to the head. Naomi gets back on the apron and Tamina superkicks her. Charlotte hits a superkick on Tamina and pins for the win. Winner and #1 contender for The SmackDown Women’s Championship: Charlotte
After the match, Natalya is shown backstage watching on a monitor as Charlotte celebrates her victory in the ring and SmackDown goes off the air.