WWE SmackDown Live recap: The final push to SummerSlam

This week’s SmackDown Live wrapped things up ahead of Sunday’s SummerSlam, and — maybe — revealed who has been behind the attacks on Roman Reigns.

This week’s edition of SmackDown Live was yet again a victim of last-minute rewrites, but nothing in the episode seemed all that rushed or slapdash. However, one match set for SummerSlam instead took place on Tuesday night. We also potentially found out who has been attacking Roman Reigns.

Here’s the SmackDown need-to-knows for the August 6 episode, which was live from Detroit.

The Queens face off

Charlotte Flair, who faces Trish Stratus at SummerSlam, opened the show to tell us how great she is, particularly compared to Stratus. Again, it’s more of the same talking points: Stratus’ era is over, her place now is as a wife and mother and Flair is the ultimately superior Superstar, the “Queen of All Eras.” She has a highlight package to prove it, but it’s interrupted by another featuring Stratus.

After this, Stratus comes to the ring to remind Flair that Flair’s success is directly related to Stratus’ WWE career. Stratus knows she’s superior and will prove it on Sunday. Flair, meanwhile, claims she will win. Stratus slaps Flair, and after a stare-down, it’s over.

Dolph Ziggler warms up for SummerSlam

The first match is Dolph Ziggler vs. Rey Mysterio, with Ziggler doing a full Goldberg entrance ahead of it, perhaps the most entertaining thing Ziggler has done all year.

Ziggler jumps Mysterio before the match and hits him with a superkick — er, Sweet Chin Music — and the match never happens. It’s a shame, too; if given time and didn’t have all this Ziggler stuff *gesturing wildly* attached, it could have been good. “IT COULD HAVE BEEN … GOOD!” Anyhow, Ziggler claims that his match with Goldberg at SummerSlam will be Goldberg’s last.

Ali comes out and attacks Ziggler, maybe as payback for taking out Mysterio (it’s not clear). But during the picture-in-picture commercial break, it’s made an official match. During said break, Ziggler had the control, and after it, the momentum shifted to Ali. That’s stopped quickly enough, though, thanks to Sweet Chin Music; Ziggler gets the win.

The Roman Reigns saga continues

Roman Reigns sat down with Kayla Braxton to talk about the recent attacks against him — the collapsing lighting rig last week and nearly being crushed by a car on Raw. He’s confused: He has no idea who or why he’s being targeted. He knows it’s not Samoa Joe, who he issues a public apology to because people speculated that it was his fault. He’s also assuring us he’s going to get “some answers” about these attacks, this very night.

At the end of the show, Reigns kicks out everyone in the locker room except for Buddy Murphy, who was seen in the back at the scene of the equipment collapse last week. Reigns says he either did it, or knows who did. Murphy swears he doesn’t know, so Reigns threatens violence to get the answer. Murphy reiterates he doesn’t know who did it — but if he did, he wouldn’t tell Roman.

And thus, did Murphy get a beating. He admits that it was Rowan who knocked over the equipment; he didn’t see Bryan, just Rowan, last week. Rowan and Bryan are standing in the ring watching all of this unfold. Mystery, solved? Bryan claims that Rowan has nothing to do with what has befallen Reigns. Perhaps we get more on this at SummerSlam.

Two challengers collide

Natalya faces Becky Lynch in a submission match for Lynch’s Raw Women’s Championship at SummerSlam; Ember Moon, meanwhile, faces Bayley for Bayley’s SmackDown Women’s Championship. On SmackDown this week, Moon and Natalya take on each other.

Both women are extra intense in this one, as it serves as their de facto tune-up ahead of their respective championship matches. But it ends in a count-out loss, because Natalya has locked in the Sharpshooter on Moon outside of the ring. Much like last night, she won’t break the hold, so Bayley comes down to make the save, despite Bayley facing Moon on Sunday. She probably should have just let Natalya hurt her, no? It would certainly improve her odds to retain.

The KO Show

Kevin Owens wastes no time in calling out Shane McMahon, who is in the building unlike last week (unfortunately). McMahon, never one to shy away from TV time, obliges. Owens says that he keeps being asked why he didn’t request McMahon also put his career on the line, not just him, at SummerSlam.

He figures that because Shane is a McMahon, it wouldn’t matter — he can say and do whatever he wants as the owner’s son and all. But Owens tries to appeal to McMahon’s lizard sense of fairness and his vanity and that McMahon do what’s “best for business” and also put his own career on the line.

Vince’s son declines. He says that it was Owens who gave himself his own stipulation and thus he won’t give him the satisfaction of agreeing to do so in kind. He reminds that Owens’ WWE career is over if he is pinned, submitted, counted out or disqualified. Owens counters that, despite his history as a risk-taker, McMahon is afraid to agree to the stipulation. They go to settle it in the ring right-here-right-now style but Owens is jumped by Elias.

Owens Stunners Elias on the announce table, but McMahon takes over with “his” “ground and pound,” flips the table onto Owens, hits him a few more times (including with a chair) and is red and sweaty and screaming at the end. See ya never after Sunday, Shane-O-Mac. It has … not been fun.

A SummerSlam switcharoo

Sami Zayn heads to the ring with the crowd singing along with his theme, despite his recent character iterations involving him yelling at them. He’s got something to say regarding his match with Aleister Black at SummerSlam. He reiterates that Black is afraid to be exposed, that the “hype” isn’t real and that’s why Black has nothing to say about his challenge.

Black appears on the Tron (on his squeaky board or maybe in a coffin, for some reason) and says that he’s going to fight Zayn now, not at SummerSlam. Black wins easily with Black Mass, in a match that would have gone precisely the same way at SummerSlam. Vince’s penchant for rewrites, particularly of SmackDown, strikes again.

[Shelton Benjamin Segment]

There ya go.

A warning for Finn Balor

Huskus the Pig Boy is binging on sweets when Bray Wyatt appears. He loves that Finn Balor has no fear, but, just as Huskus hides his insecurities by eating, Balor’s courage hides his ignorance. For why would anyone want to fight The Fiend? The Fiend is going to hurt Balor.

Meanwhile, while the two are on vacation, Kofi Kingston responds to Randy Orton’s promo from last week with a pre-taped promo of his own. It helps move the story forward without Kingston needing to take a number of sneak-attack RKOs ahead of their meeting for Kingston’s WWE Championship at SummerSlam.

The New Day vs. Daniel Bryan and Rowan

The SmackDown Tag Team Champions, The New Day (Xavier Woods and Big E) take on Daniel Bryan and Rowan, former champions themselves. The match is good, as it should be; these are four top competitors and they worked well in the ring together.

Bryan hit a Standing Stretch Muffler on Big E, of all people, and transitioned into a Labell Lock that E powered out of as but one example of the impressive work in the match. Xavier Woods also hit a massive flying elbow on Rowan and Big E hit a diving spear to the outside on Bryan.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1158920395237601280

The match ends, via disqualification, as Rowan hits Woods with the steel steps. The two then beat down Woods and Big E, leaving the champions laying in the ring.

This week’s SmackDown was light on actual wrestling matches, instead trying to move SummerSlam rivalries forward ahead of Sunday’s show. Beyond the Reigns storyline — which seems to point to something happening between himself, Bryan and Rowan (perhaps with a Samoa Joe addition) — we basically maintained a holding pattern.

What did you think of this week’s episode of SmackDown Live? Let us know in the comments below.