WWE SmackDown Live
Episode 1046
#SDLive
Original Air Date: September 3, 2019
Event Date: September 3, 2019
(aired live)
City: Norfolk, VA
Venue: Norfolk Scope Arena
Commentary: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves
Ring Announcer: Greg Hamilton
Video
Clips of Bayley joining Sasha Banks and attacking Becky Lynch on RAW last night.
Ring Area
Bayley heads to the ring. Bayley is confused by the crowd’s reaction. Bayley wonders why some people didn’t see it coming that she would be on Sasha’s side. Sasha is Bayley’s best friend, and nothing has changed. Bayley is still trying to give people opportunities, and she’s still giving her whole heart. She’s trying to show the kids what it means to be loyal. Bayley is trying to give the SmackDown title the same amount of recognition as Becky Lynch gives to the RAW title. Bayley plans to defeat the most selfish person on the roster when she battles Charlotte Flair at Clash of Champions.
Charlotte interrupts and heads to the ring. Charlotte tells Bayley that she’s very perceptive. Charlotte admits that she’s the queen of selfishness. With Charlotte, what you see is what you get. Charlotte tells Bayley she better hug her title tight, because at Clash of Champions… Sasha Banks interrupts and heads to the ring.
Seeing Sasha on the ramp, Charlotte attacks Bayley. Sasha runs into the ring, but Charlotte attacks her too. With Charlotte distracted, Bayley hits Charlotte with a chair. Bayley hands the chair to Sasha, and Sasha takes her turn hitting Charlotte. Bayley then takes another turn.
Backstage
Sasha Banks and Bayley smile at each other.
Match 1
King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match
Ali vs Elias
(referee: Jason Ayers)
Result: Elias wins via pinfall after Drift Away
Time: 11:28
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Elias dominated a large part of the first half of the match, and it felt like this was just going to be a pretty good fight. About halfway through though, things started to get very good. Elias focused somewhat on Ali’s leg, and that opened Ali up to a come-from-behind battle. Ali struggled and fought and did everything he could, and he started to hit some huge moves and counters that had Elias rocked. Even though Elias looked like he might breeze his way to a victory early in the match, I believed that Ali was going to win as the match neared its end. This was definitely one of the more entertaining matches of the King of the Ring tournament this year.
Backstage
Kayla Braxton welcomes Samoa Joe. Joe isn’t worried about his triple threat match next week. Instead, he’s here to scout his opponent in the finals of the King of the Ring Tournament, whomever that might be.
Backstage
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross walk and talk.
Backstage
Aleister Black is tired of waiting in his dark room. He’s going to go to the ring to see if anyone is man enough to pick a fight with him.
Match 2
Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss (Women’s Tag Champs) vs Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville
(referee: Dan Engler)
Result: Mandy Rose pins Alexa Bliss after a tandem leg sweep (Deville) and running knee strike (Rose)
Time: 4:06 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. It was short, but it was fine. Cross and Bliss didn’t show great teamwork, and that cost them. Even though I still don’t really care for Mandy Rose, she and Deville looked like the better team tonight.
Backstage
Randy Orton smirks as he slowly walks.
Backstage
Samoa Joe laughs at Chad Gable as he warms up for his match. Joe makes some jokes about Chad Gable being short. Joe says his jokes are old and tired, but when he looks into Gable’s eyes, he can see the jokes still hurt. Joe says that’s a sign that Gable isn’t worthy of being King of the Ring, because he’s weak.
Ring Area
Randy Orton heads to the ring. Orton says he’s going to be champ in two weeks. He says Kofi Kingston has never been on his level. After the blindside attack from Kofi on a previous SmackDown, Orton wants Kofi to come to the ring and face him like a man.
New Day’s music plays, but when Kofi emerges from the back he’s being beaten up by The Revival. Kofi starts to fight back, but Orton shuts him down. Orton drags Kofi into the ring and stomps on him while yelling “stupid.” Kofi fights back again, but he’s put down with a flapjack/RKO combo.
Video
Clips of the latest concerning the ongoing saga of the attacks on Roman Reigns.
Match 3
King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match
Andrade w/ Zelina Vega vs Chad Gable
(referee: Charles Robinson)
Result: Chad Gable wins via pinfall with a sunset flip
Time: 7:53
Match Thoughts
Good match. Despite really liking Chad Gable and mostly enjoying the story they’re building for him in King of the Ring, I still kind of wanted Andrade to win this match. I’d love for Andrade to win King of the Ring, and to do that he’d have to get past Gable. Regardless of the outcome though, this match was a lot of fun. Both men looked great, and they both showed that they deserve more high-profile TV time. I think the “short guy” story for Gable is kind of strange since we all already know how great of a wrestler he is, but having Zelina Vega sympathize yet still talk down to him was pretty great. The pre-match stuff definitely helped make the payoff to the match that much better.
Match 4
Aleister Black vs Shelton Benjamin
(referee: Dan Engler)
Result: Aleister Black wins via pinfall after Black Mass
Time: 1:52
Match Thoughts
This was extremely short, so as it was, it was a tantalizing taste of what these two men could do together. Unfortunately we probably won’t see a full-length match between Benjamin and Black, but I am glad that Benjamin is getting some TV time again lately.
Backstage
Shinsuke Nakamura stands and listens to Sami Zayn.
Backstage
Drake Maverick and Renee Michelle are looking for a way out of the arena when the Singh Brothers attack. The Singhs fail to pin Maverick for the 24/7 Title, and Drake and his wife again try to escape. Gran Metalik rolls by on an equipment cart, Curtis Axel fails to pin Maverick, then Bo Dallas does pin Maverick and becomes the new 24/7 Champ.
Dallas leads a chase off-screen as Maverick sighs.
Match 5
Shinsuke Nakamura (IC Champ) w/ Sami Zayn vs Andrew Howard
(referee: Jason Ayers)
Result: Shinsuke Nakamura wins via pinfall after Kinshasa
Time: 1:15
Match Thoughts
Sami Zayn narrated this squash using a mic at ringside.
Ring Area
After Nakamura and Zayn leave the ring, Bo Dallas slides into the ring. Drake Maverick, Gran Metalik, and the Singh Brothers try to attack Dallas, but Curtis Axel runs interference and protects his tag partner. While Curtis is busy beating up Metalik, Maverick pins Dallas and becomes the new 24/7 Champ.
Maverick tries to escape up the ramp, but when he turns to face the crowd, R-Truth emerges from his hiding place next to the King of the Ring throne. R-Truth pins Maverick to become the new 24/7 Champ.
Backstage
Daniel Bryan scowls as he walks.
Ring Area
Daniel Bryan heads to the ring. He is upset that people think he is guilty of attacking Reigns by his association with Rowan. There might be people who don’t like Daniel Bryan, but no one call him a liar. Bryan hates liars. Bryan demands an apology from Roman Reigns for the accusation he made and for calling Bryan a liar.
Roman Reigns comes out to the stage. Before he can head to the ring, Rowan attacks Reigns from behind. Rowan beats up Reigns down the ramp and runs him into the ring steps. Daniel Bryan confronts Rowan, but Rowan shoves Bryan to the ground. Rowan then powerbombs Reigns into the ring post. Rowan rolls Reigns into the ring and hits Reigns with an iron claw slam.
Rowan gets on the mic and says he is nobody’s puppet. Rowan dares Daniel Bryan to get into the ring and slap him in the face like he did last week. Bryan refuses. Rowan says he is proud of his attacks on Reigns, but he is most proud of the pain Reigns will feel at Clash of Champions. Rowan throws Reigns out to the floor, then he hits Reigns with the ring steps.
Rowan sets up the commentary table for Reigns, but Bryan confronts Rowan again. Bryan says he is Rowan’s friend, then he slaps Rowan in the face. Rowan grabs Bryan and puts him through the table with an iron-claw slam.
Show Impressions
This was a good show. The wrestling was mostly good (though sometimes brief), and the story segments were interesting enough for a pretty decent episode of TV.
Match of the Night
Ali vs Elias
Both of the King of the Ring matches were quite good, so it’s kind of a tossup. My initial reaction had me liking Ali versus Elias more, so I’ll go with that.
Official Results: https://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2019-09-03