WWE SmackDown Live
Episode 993
#SDLive
Original Air Date: August 28, 2018
Event Date: August 28, 2018 (aired live)
City: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Venue: Scotiabank Arena
Commentary: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves
Ring Announcer: Greg Hamilton
Ring Area
New Day heads to the ring. They are wearing their newly-won tag titles, and Big E is carrying a Stanley Cup filled with pancakes. Woods, Kingston, and E celebrate their title victory and are about to proclaim the number of times they have won a tag title when King Booker comes out and heads to the ring!
King Booker has a royal decree. He begins by addressing Woods and Kingston by their royal names, but Big E is upset when he doesn’t get a fun name. Booker says E’s title is already in his name. He’s big. Big E doesn’t like that and claims King Booker has gone “full Saxton.” Booker hopes he didn’t hear E correctly. Despite all of the name calling, King Booker welcomes New Day into the Five Timers Championship Club of All Time. Everyone then celebrates by taking turns doing spineroonies.
Match 1
The Bar vs Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs The Colons
(referee: Mike Chioda; guest commentary: New Day; stipulation: The winning team will face the winners of next week’s triple threat to determine the number one contender for the tag titles.)
Result: Cesaro pins Luke Gallows after a double backstabber from Epico & Primo
Time: 10:32
Match Thoughts
Good match. There was a lot of back and forth early on, and it built to a nicely chaotic finish. This was fun, and it was very good to see Epico and Primo back in the ring.
Backstage
Paige welcomes Rusev, Lana, and Aiden English. Paige tells Rusev and English that they will face The Usos and SAnitY next week in a qualifying match. Rusev thanks Lana for getting Paige to add them to the match, but Lana says English was the one who set things up. Everyone is happy.
Video
Last week, Becky Lynch had some harsh words for Charlotte.
Backstage
Jeff Hardy turns his painted head.
Ring Area
Jeff Hardy heads to the ring. Hardy says that Orton’s obsession with him over the last few weeks has altered his brain. That’s why Hardy swantoned Orton through a table last week. Hardy feels reborn and rebroken by fate, and he wants Orton to come to the ring so Hardy can finish what Orton started.
Randy Orton saunters out to the stage. Orton congratulates Hardy for finding himself again. Orton thanks Hardy for the credit, but Orton also says he isn’t finished yet. Orton plans to leave Hardy in a heap of broken bones in the ring. But not tonight. They’ll meet at Hell in a Cell.
Backstage
Renee Young asks Carmella if she’s concerned that her buzz has seemingly moved to Charlotte and Becky. Carmella says the buzz goes where the title goes, so when she gets it back tonight she will have her buzz back.
Carmella leaves, and R-Truth walks up. Truth is looking for Carmella as Tye Dillinger tries to talk some sense into him.
Match 2
Naomi vs Billie Kay w/ Peyton Royce
(referee: Danilo Anfibio)
Result: Billie Kay wins via pinfall with a schoolboy (after a kick from Peyton Royce)
Time: 1:51
Match Thoughts
This was okay. They didn’t have much time, and some of the kicks didn’t look super great. All these women have had and will have better matches.
Backstage
Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella watch themselves on television.
Ring Area
Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan head to the ring. Bryan says the Miz is a terrible actor. He couldn’t even act like a tough guy last week. He had to use Maryse as a shield. Miz is a coward, a coward who got punched by Bryan’s “hot mama” wife Brie Bella. As Bryan and Bella finish, Andrade Almas and Zelina Vega head to the ring.
Zelina Vega says it’s an honor to be standing next to two legends: Brie Bella and Andrade Almas. Vega introduces herself to Bryan before talking about everything Almas has done since being on SmackDown. The Miz outsmarted Bryan, so Vega thinks it’s time for Almas to out-wrestle him. Bryan would love to wrestle Almas, but he’s not the GM anymore so he can’t make the match official. After a few seconds, Paige comes out to the stage.
Paige asks the crowd if they want to see Bryan versus Almas. They say “yes.” So it’s official.
Match 3
Daniel Bryan w/ Brie Bella vs Andrade “Cien” Almas w/ Zelina Vega
(referee: Jason Ayers; watching in the back: The Miz, Maryse)
Result: Daniel Bryan wins via DQ when The Miz attacks
Time: 9:33
Match Thoughts
This was a very good match up until Miz and Maryse decided to take advantage of the situation. I hope to see this again sometime when The Miz isn’t lurking.
Ring Area
Miz and Maryse continue their attack on Daniel and Brie.
Backstage
Renee Young asks Charlotte about Becky Lynch. Charlotte says Becky doesn’t deserve anything she doesn’t win. Becky wants to blame Charlotte because she can’t win the big one. Charlotte won’t apologize for anything though.
Ring Area
AJ Styles heads to the ring. Styles says Samoa Joe is good at mind games, but at Summer Slam Joe proved he’s not man enough to take the WWE Title away from him. Styles intends to stop Joe’s harassment of his family right now. Styles demands that Joe come down to the ring, but Joe appears on the tron.
Joe is backstage. Joe calls Wendy and tells her that he’s sending her husband home. He also says he might stop by next Tuesday. Infuriated, Styles runs to the backstage area.
Backstage
AJ Styles searches for Samoa Joe. He doesn’t find him.
Match 4
SmackDown Women’s Title Match
Carmella vs Charlotte Flair (SD Women’s Champ)
(referee: Ryan Tran)
Result: Charlotte wins via submission with the Figure Eight
Time: 8:50 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. Carmella had a lot of offense, but her offense slowed the match down considerably. She applied a lot of headlocks at first, then she would wait a long time between moves as she complained about Charlotte not giving up. This was okay and it was a definitive defense for Charlotte, but most of the match was pretty slow.
Ring Area
After the match, Becky Lynch attacks Charlotte. With Charlotte down on the mat, Becky says she’s taking her title back. She also calls Charlotte a “bitch.”
Show Impressions
Good show. The highlights were easily the Bryan/Bella/Almas/Vega segment and the opening segment with New Day and King Booker.
Match of the Night
Daniel Bryan vs Andrade Almas
Despite the DQ finish, this match had the best action of the night. Both women’s matches could have been a lot better. The tag match was good, but Almas and Bryan had more energy.
Official Results: https://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2018-08-28