WWE SmackDown Live
Episode 1048
#SDLive
Original Air Date: September 17, 2019
Event Date: September 17, 2019
(aired live)
City: Atlanta, GA
Venue: State Farm Arena
Commentary: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves
Ring Announcer: Greg Hamilton
Match 1
Big E & Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston (WWE Champ) vs The Revival (SD Tag Champs) & Randy Orton
(referee: Dan Engler)
Result: Kofi Kingston pins Scott Dawson after Trouble in Paradise
Time: 14:11 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Good match. It’s interesting that SmackDown started with such a long match without any talking or story segments before it. I’m not complaining. I think it’s great. It was just unusual to see that happen. The match itself was fun. New Day was working perfectly as a unit early in the match, then Orton and The Revival started to mount a comeback. The match went back and forth from there. I liked it.
Ring Area
New Day celebrates after the match, but the festivities are cut short when Brock Lesnar comes out to the stage with Paul Heyman. Lesnar and Heyman slowly walk towards the ring as Kofi tells Woods and Big E that he wants to face Lesnar alone. Woods and Big E leave the ring. Heyman and Lesnar enter.
On behalf of Lesnar, Heyman tells Kofi “it’s a bad day for the New Day.” Heyman officially issues a challenge from Lesnar to Kofi Kingston for the WWE Title on the premiere of Friday Night SmackDown. Kofi says he made a promise to be a fighting champion, so he accepts the challenge. Lesnar laughs, then he hits Kofi with the F5.
Backstage
Kayla Braxton welcomes Sasha Banks and Bayley. Banks says she’s willing to face Becky Lynch in Hell in a Cell. Bayley tells Kayla that Sasha will not answer any more questions. She’ll give her answers in the ring when she takes on Charlotte Flair tonight.
Video
Luke Harper returned to help Rowan beat up Roman Reigns at Clash of Champions.
Backstage
Michael Cole sits down with Erick Rowan. Rowan says his attacks were only meant to scare Roman Reigns. Cole says it was attempted murder (he said “manslaughter,” but he should have said “murder”). Rowan brushes off the accusation. He says he is no one’s puppet. Rowan says he is a leader. He also says he is physically and mentally superior to Daniel Bryan. Everyone will learn to never disrespect Rowan again.
Ring Area
Ali heads to the ring for a match. Sami Zayn comes out and introduces Ali’s opponent, Shinsuke Nakamura. Rather than start the match though, Zayn distracts Ali as Nakamura attacks. Nakamura hits Ali with Kinshasa, and their match never happens.
Meanwhile, Kevin Owens can be seen walking through the crowd and taking a seat. He’s here to watch the show.
Backstage
John Cone tells Shane McMahon that Kevin Owens is in the building. Shane says he’ll take care of it, and he leaves his office. As he walks, someone approaches Shane and hands him an envelope. Shane has just been served.
Ring Area
Shane McMahon comes out to the stage, and he brings security with him. Shane heads to the ring and invites Owens to join him. Owens gets into the ring, and Shane reveals that the papers he’s holding are regarding the largest wrongful termination suit he’s ever seen. Shane says Owens’ case is weak, but Owens disagrees.
Owens points out that Shane attacked Owens when he was a referee, but he didn’t fine himself like when Owens attacked Elias as a referee. Instead, Shane fired Owens for being insubordinate. He wasn’t insubordinate though, because Owens was doing what Shane wanted when he got fired. Owens has been through a lot, and now he wants to hurt Shane. The best way to hurt Shane is by attacking his wallet and his pride. Owens says that his lawsuit includes not just money, it also includes a clause that will have Shane fired from SmackDown.
Owens leaves as Shane looks at the papers in his hands.
Backstage
Daniel Bryan sits and contemplates.
Backstage
Charlotte Flair welcomes Ric Flair to her locker room.
Video
The Authors of Pain talk about hurting people in the ring.
Ring Area
Hip-hop artist Offset is in the ring, and he’s wearing a Ric Flair robe. He introduces Charlotte Flair.
Match 2
Charlotte Flair vs Sasha Banks w/ Bayley (SD Women’s Champ)
(referee: Charles Robinson)
Result: Charlotte Flair wins via DQ when Bayley attacks her
Time: 7:50
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. It never got very intense, but it was fine. It kind of felt like we were just waiting for Bayley to get involved though.
Ring Area
After the match, Bayley and Sasha beat up Charlotte. Carmella runs to the ring and helps Charlotte clear Bayley and Sasha from the ring.
Ring Area
Baron Corbin heads to the ring for his coronation as King of the Ring. Corbin smiles as he is dressed in a cape and crown. Corbin says he’s not only the king we wanted, he’s the king we needed. He lists some of his positive attributes and lies about his honor. If he doesn’t get the respect he says he deserves, we will all learn that he can rule with an iron fist. Corbin brings out Chad Gable.
Corbin makes some short jokes as Gable enters the ring. Gable gets tired of being made fun of, so he attack Corbin. It’s a one-sided beating that ends up destroying Corbin’s throne, scepter, and cape. As the final blow, Gable stomps Corbin’s crown.
Match 3
The B-Team vs Heavy Machinery
(referee: Dan Engler)
Result: Tucker pins Bo Dallas after the Compacter
Time: 3:27
Match Thoughts
This was fun. Otis had new ring gear, and B-Team couldn’t get any support from the crowd. That’s all I really took away from the match, but it was an entertaining few minutes.
Backstage
Daniel Bryan scowls as he walks.
Ring Area
Daniel Bryan heads to the ring. Bryan understands why people thought he was involved in the attacks on Roman Reigns, but he repeats that he has never lied.
Moving on, Bryan says he saw the talent, intelligence, and potential in Erick Rowan. He treated Rowan as his equal, and he treated Rowan as his friend. Rowan comes out and heads to the ring.
Rowan tells Bryan to stop. Rowan says Bryan always made him stand in the back, and Bryan never let him talk. Did Bryan ever ask Rowan how he felt about anything? Bryan tells Rowan that there’s nothing worse he can to than what he’s already done. There’s nothing worse than ruining their friendship and Rowan lying to Bryan. As Bryan talks, Luke Harper appears and attack Bryan from behind.
With Bryan down, Roman Reigns heads to the ring. Reigns takes on both Harper and Rowan, but he is quicky overwhelmed. Harper and Rowan powerbomb Reigns into the ring post. Security tries to stop Harper and Rowan, but they fail. Rowan kicks over part of the barricade and smashes it into Reigns. Then Harper and Rowan slam Bryan through the commentator’s table.
Show Impressions
This was a pretty good show. I really enjoyed starting the show with a decently long match, but the rest of the show was extremely light on wrestling. The two other matches were short and didn’t mean much, so the good start was lessened overall because of a weak follow-up. The story segments throughout the night were fine, but the show felt kind of uneven. Still, I didn’t have any real complaints. I was entertained.
Match of the Night
New Day vs The Revival & Randy Orton
Ultimately this felt like a way to get Orton out of the picture so Lesnar could take over in challenging Kofi, and I’m fine with that. The match itself was quite fun as well.
Official Results: https://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2019-09-17