WWE SmackDown Live
Episode 947
#SDLive
Original Air Date: October 10, 2017
Event Date: October 10, 2017 (aired live)
City: Grand Rapids, MI
Venue: Van Andel Arena
Commentary: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
Ring Announcer: Greg Hamilton
Video
Last Sunday, Sami Zayn made his presence known in the Hell in a Cell match between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon.
Ring Area
The Usos head to the ring with their newly won SmackDown Tag Team Titles. They have something they want to tell New Day face to face. New Day comes out and heads to the ring. The Usos talk about making history with New Day at Hell in a Cell. They also talk about the pain and injuries in the aftermath that most people don’t see. New Day knows all about that though. The Usos tell New Day that they have earned their respect. Before the two teams can shake hands, Mojo and Ryder interrupt.
Mojo is tired of seeing the same two teams taking the credit and the airtime every week. Gable and Benjamin come out and tell the Hype Bros to get to the back of the line. Breezango comes out next, but before they can speak, The Ascension comes out as well. The Ascension is tired of being stuck in the wasteland.
The Usos say that if any team wants a shot at the titles, they should get in the ring and take it. Daniel Bryan comes out and says tonight isn’t a good night for all of this. He demands that The Usos and New Day get out of the ring because there is going to be a fatal four way match right now.
Match 1
Fatal Four Way SD Tag Title Number One Contender Match
Hype Bros vs Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin vs Breezango vs The Ascension
(referee: Jason Ayers; at ringside: The Usos)
Result: Shelton Benjamin pins Tyler Breeze after a tandem diving neckbreaker (Gable) and powerbomb (Benjamin)
Time: 9:19
Match Thoughts
Good match. Gable and Benjamin did a lot of the work early on, staying in the ring longer than any other team. After a commercial break the match started to break down, and the pace quickened to a nice, lengthy finish with a few good false finishes. Breezango seemed to be the fan favorite here, and that was used well within the match to add tension.
Backstage
Dasha Fuentes waits outside Sami Zayn’s and Kevin Owens’ dressing room.
Backstage
Natalya loves her title belt. Lana (with Tamina) also like the title. Carmella shows up and shows her briefcase. THen Charlotte walks up and starts a brawl in which Becky and Naomi join.
Backstage
Renee Young welcomes Baron Corbin and his new US Title. Corbin is proud of himself, and he likes shoving his title in the faces of all the “keyboard warriors.”
Match 2
Carmella w/ James Ellsworth vs Becky Lynch
(referee: Charles Robinson)
Result: Becky Lynch wins via submission with Disarm Her
Time: 2:58
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. Nothing wrong with it, but it was fairly short. Becky looked good here, dominating most of the match when Carmella wasn’t conniving.
Ring Area
Kevin Owens limps to the ring. Owens boasts about sending Shane McMahon to Hell, from where he will never return. He describes his own near-death experience at Hell in a Cell and mentions his guardian angel, Sami Zayn. Zayn heads to the ring.
Owens wants Zayn to let everyone know that Owens had no idea Zayn would help him at Hell in a Cell, but first, he thanks Sami. Zayn says that after Owens powerbombed him on the apron a few weeks ago, is eyes started to open. He saw that being a nice guy who wanted to please people only got him to mediocrity, while Owens rose to prominence by not caring who he stepped on to get to the top. Zayn realized that Shane never really cared about him and never cared about giving him a real opportunity. While watching Hell in a Cell, Zayn saw that Shane didn’t care about Owens, Zayn’s brother. Zayn saved his brother. He then thanks Owens for always being right before giving him a hug.
Match 3
Rusev & Aiden English vs Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura
(referee: Jason Ayers)
Result: Shinsuke Nakamura pins Aiden English after a Kinshasa
Time: 5:58
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. Orton got beat up for a long time because of some good teamwork from Rusev and English, then Nakamura got the tag and cleaned up. The final portion of the match had some good energy, but the winner of this match was never really in doubt.
Backstage
Renee Young welcomes AJ Styles. Styles is confident that he can take back the US Title tonight. After all, Corbin is prone to mistakes.
Backstage
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are “Bludgeon Brothers.”
** Um, alright. Looks kind of silly, but I’ll give it a shot. But if you’re going to have them carry large, Mjolnir-like hammers, then they better be able to use them convincingly. I’m not convinced that that’ll be a reality. **
Ring Area
Bobby Roode heads to the ring. Roode is happy about his glorious SD PPV debut, but he’s less happy about Ziggler attacking him after the match. Roode calls Ziggler to the ring for a fight.
Dolph Ziggler comes out and congratulates Roode on his PPV debut, but he says he exposed Roode as a fraud during the match. He points out that Roode cheated to pin Ziggler, and he demands a rematch. Roode agrees to a match and invites Ziggler to the ring right now. Ziggler says he’ll fight Roode, but not tonight. Then Ziggler walks away.
** Things got very awkward for a while in the middle of this. Roode seemed to struggle for words after agreeing to a rematch, and it seemed like Ziggler kept nearly saying something. They just stood there and stared at each other for a bit without really saying anything before awkwardly moving the segment forward. It felt like someone dropped a few lines somewhere. Not just because of the awkward silences, but because the continuity of the conversation didn’t really work very well. It was strange. **
Match 4
US Title Match
AJ Styles vs Baron Corbin (US Champ)
(referee: Mike Chioda)
Result: Baron Corbin wins via pinfall after End of Days
Time: 8:21 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Good match. It started slow with Corbin running outside the ring a lot, but that makes sense for the character. As the match went along it got better and became pretty competitive. This didn’t make me a fan of Corbin, but it was a good match for him.
Show Impressions
This show was okay. Not great. Not a whole lot of important stuff happened. It was mostly fallout from Hell in a Cell which is fine, but a lot of this show just felt like filler until they can figure out the next step (like the women’s match and the English/Rusev vs Orton/Nakamura match) or the first baby steps towards the next big show (like the fatal four way). I think you could miss this show and not really miss much at all. I did like The Usos promo though. They are pretty much always a can’t miss.
Match of the Night
US Title Match
It wasn’t fantastic, but it was solid and seemed to have the best structure of any of the matches tonight. I liked the fatal four way as well, but it was more of a chaotic type of match.