WWE SmackDown Live recap: Mystery wrestling theater

The whodunit featuring Roman Reigns, Rowan, Daniel Bryan and Buddy Murphy continues on SmackDown Live this week.

If there’s one loose thread that Sunday’s SummerSlam didn’t tie up, the mystery behind who has been attacking Roman Reigns is it. And that’s where the focus primarily lied on this week’s SmackDown Live. Before we get to that, though, let’s check in on the ongoing saga between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon.

Repercussions for Owens

Owens opens the show, a hero to the Canadian crowd and to the WWE Universe after defeating McMahon at SummerSlam on Sunday. It’s his five-year anniversary with WWE and that SummerSlam was a major moment in his career because his whole family was sitting ringside in an arena full of fans who were happy to see him and happy to see him defeat McMahon.

Now, Owens has a new goal: Winning the King of the Ring tournament, which is set to begin next week on Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live. Owens loves the King of the Ring tournament, by the way, and it’s hard to knock it.

Alas, this was interrupted by McMahon, with no one happy to see him. McMahon runs the SummerSlam footage featuring Owens’ low-blow while the referee’s back was turned, which everyone thinks is particularly satisfying except, of course, McMahon. McMahon calls Owens a cheater, and says that Owens wouldn’t have won (and thus still have his job) without doing so.

McMahon doesn’t feel like fighting himself tonight, so he’s set up a match for Owens for later in the evening. He also brings up Elias, whom Owens attacked with a steel chair on Sunday. McMahon notes that Elias was serving in the capacity of a WWE official at SummerSlam, and will fine Owens $100,000 (American) for attacking an official. Owens is displeased because of the effect it will have on his family.

After the break, Owens storms into Shane’s office and McMahon threatens to sue Owens (destroying his family) if he strikes him. He smashes a television, agreeing to a $105,000 fine. Later, it’s revealed Owens will be facing Samoa Joe.

Owens versus Joe ends when Owens is about to win via pop-up powerbomb and Elias, dressed as a referee again, pulls the official out of the ring. The distraction leads to Joe pinning Owens, via a super-fast three count called by Elias. So no, this story isn’t over, despite what happened on Sunday. There’s more McMahon where that came from, apparently. Make it stop.

Charlotte vs. Ember Moon

Charlotte faces Ember Moon in the lone women’s match on SmackDown this week. The match was good, and most importantly means that Moon will continue to be featured in the women’s division following her loss to SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley at SummerSlam. While that feud fell flat thanks to not much story written to build it, it doesn’t look like Moon is being dinged for it, getting a bout with Flair.

It was also a fairly long one, with Flair holding most of the control and working to wear down Moon’s legs in anticipation of locking in the Figure 8. Moon was able to recover, however, and get in a number of big strikes. Of note: Flair hit a Lion Tamer and Moon, a Code Breaker. After knocking Moon down with a big boot, Flair picks up the win with Figure 8. The thing, though, is that while Moon has been given a higher profile, she’s yet to win since being put in the title picture ahead of SummerSlam. So while Moon is appearing in matches that matter, she’s not winning them. Let’s get that fixed.

On the subject of Rowan Reigns’ attacker

Daniel Bryan and Rowan headed to the stage to discuss the attacks on Roman Reigns and whether they were perpetrated by Rowan, as Buddy Murphy had revealed last week. Bryan acknowledges that someone is out to get Reigns, but claims that he and Rowan had nothing to do with these attacks and calls Murphy a liar.

He also doesn’t blame Murphy for said lying, because he was being attacked by Reigns. The crowd isn’t buying it, believing that Rowan and Bryan are the culprits. Bryan is going to prove that he and Rowan aren’t at fault.

Murphy faces Reigns because of all of the aforementioned nonsense. While Murphy gets in some strong offense (and has the support of a vocal segment of the crowd) including a big knee to the face, Reigns takes control by tossing him into the announce table.

This was surprisingly competitive, given Reigns’ status in the company and this being Murphy’s first SmackDown match. But that makes sense: Reigns is both over-emotional and distracted by whoever is hunting him down as well as underestimating Murphy, who was dominant on 205 Live. Murphy even kicked out of a Superman punch, smacked Reigns with knees and a brain buster and had many near-falls in his favor.

Roman ultimately wins with a spear, but the real story is how great Murphy (nickname: “The Best-Kept Secret”) looked. Hopefully this leads to more top-tier opportunities for him, or at least this means he’ll be regularly featured on television. Waiting around for this hasn’t been fun, but now that we’re finally here, let’s keep it going.

Backstage later on, Bryan and Rowan enter the locker room, and kick everyone out except Murphy, as Reigns did last week. They confront Murphy, claiming that they know that he lied to Reigns about Rowan. Murphy laughs a little and gets attacked by Rowan while Bryan yells, telling him to admit what he’s done. About to be beaten to death, he finally just agrees that he lied. Bryan hates liars. Reigns then heads backstage to look for Bryan and Rowan.

Reigns confronts Rowan and Bryan in the locker room to close out the show; they had been waiting for him. Bryan is seeking an apology; he and Rowan have “conducted their own investigation” and will bring the real culprit to Reigns and SmackDown next week.

Deja vu

Aleister Black is back in his dark room seeking yet another fight, by the way.

Moving the story forward

The Revival have arrived on SmackDown after having their match against the Lucha House Party interrupted the previous night on Raw (because of 24/7 Championship stuff). They are ready to be taken seriously and for tag team wrestling to be taken seriously, and thus are facing The New Day, the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, tonight.

Before the match (our main event) gets underway, here’s Randy Orton, who is certainly not cool with what happened at SummerSlam, Kingston hitting him with a kendo stick and costing Orton the WWE Championship. Orton claims Kingston’s running away post-disqualification is because he knows he cannot beat Orton and is afraid of him. Orton also reminds him that he ran away from a fight right in front of his wife and children, who must live with that shame forever and ever.

Orton suggests that tonight’s match should be made a six-man tag match, with Orton joining The Revival and Kingston joining his New Day teammates and it is made so.

The Revival work to keep Woods isolated in their half of the ring and Orton subsequently dropped him, back first, onto the announce table. It’s classic tag team wrestling strategy, and Woods remains in the ring following a commercial break, unable to reach his partners.

Eventually, Woods escapes, tagging in Big E. Kingston was thinking of hitting Trouble in Paradise on Scott Dawson, but Orton tried for an RKO. Kingston was able to counter it, dropkicking Orton outside the ring and then diving onto him.

The tags came in flurries for both teams, and ultimately The Revival landed a Shatter Machine on Woods — who took the most punishment on the night — for the win. That is followed by a post-match beat down from The Revival. Kingston takes them both out but is RKO’d by Orton for his trouble. Woods gets an RKO, as does Big E. Kingston gets an RKO for a second time, just for good measure. It’s Viper time.

Also worth pointing out: This is yet another good match, which has been the fortunate trend for the night. Things are moving forward at a rapid pace toward Clash of the Champions in September, and with the King of the Ring tournament starting next week, SmackDown Live made good use of its time this week to build up the non-tournament storylines, given that they may have to take a back seat for a bit.

What did you think of SmackDown Live this week? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.