WWE SmackDown Live recap: Beard and switch

This week’s SmackDown Live centered around Roman Reigns and his alleged attacker and also started building storylines ahead of September’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view.

After a successful edition of Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live had a lot to live up to. We knew we’d get the next installment of the Roman Reigns Mysteries, a couple of King of the Ring matches and start to get things on track for Clash of Champions.

So what went down on WWE‘s blue brand this week? Here are the takeaways from August 20’s episode of SmackDown Live.

A whole lot of something, a whole lot of nothing

For weeks, we’ve been awaiting the reveal of who exactly has been masterminding and executing the random attacks on Roman Reigns’ life. While we pretty much know that it’s Daniel Bryan and Rowan and not Buddy Murphy (whom they’ve been trying to scapegoat) or anyone else (though it would be fantastic if it were Luke Harper), this week’s SmackDown Live carried with it the promise that Bryan and Rowan had uncovered the real attacker and would be revealing the person to Reigns, and us, this week.

Indeed, it was the main plot of this week’s episode of SmackDown. Bryan and Rowan have a hooded person with them, whom they lock in a room while Bryan has a match with Buddy Murphy. The match was fantastic, proof that Murphy shouldn’t have been held in storage since being moved from 205 Live to SmackDown.

But the past two weeks have helped make up for it, with Murphy looking competitive in a long match he lost against Reigns last week and looking even better against Bryan. Murphy even won, pinning Bryan clean via Murphy’s Law after dispatching any Rowan interference with a superkick. Bryan and Rowan then attack Murphy backstage afterward, guaranteeing that Murphy will still be part of this top-tier storyline. He’s got the brass ring, everyone!

Anyhow, Murphy and Reigns aren’t in alliance quite yet; Reigns isn’t completely sure Murphy is being straight with him after Murphy is only “pretty sure” it was Rowan who attacked him, and Bryan also alleges that Murphy is somehow still involved in the attacks on Roman.

This all comes to a head in the show’s final moments (yet again), with Reigns heading to Rowan and Bryan’s little room. There, they remove the mystery man’s hood and … it’s a large, bald, older man with a long orange beard, a/k/a someone who resembles Rowan. Apparently Bryan and Rowan are going with an “it’s a case of mistaken identity,” while we all know that those two have been behind this the whole time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcvdIFEsEWA

This was a bummer on a few levels. While we know what the ultimate outcome of this will be, the potential that there was someone else (perhaps working in concert with Bryan and Rowan) behind the attacks made the reveal feel like a bait-and-switch. Further, with the reveal happening literally seconds before the show closed, we don’t know what happened. There’s no Fan Nation YouTube exclusive, nothing. Did Roman just laugh and walk away? Did the scared, bearded elder Rowan-alike get beaten up? By Reigns? By Rowan and Bryan? There’s no resolution. They may as well sit in that room forever. It’s just weird.

Ultimately, we know where this is all going and if that delivers, not every stop on the path to get there will be remembered or matter. But given that this was the biggest story on this week’s show — and for weeks of WWE programming — the build was way better than the payoff.

Something we didn’t know we needed

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable moments of SmackDown this week was Sami Zayn revealing on MizTV that he will be helping/managing Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. Zayn says that he and Nakamura have a deep-rooted bond, as they are both tortured poets and artists. The two attack Miz, of course, which should set up a pretty interesting feud moving forward.

Pairing Zayn and Nakamura is an interesting choice. The two certainly have history, and Zayn can be a very effective mouthpiece for the champion. It’s a left-field pairing but, depending on where this goes, could have them being quite the powerful heel force and might lead to the revitalization of both of their careers. If the fans can get behind this as they did Becky Lynch last year, for example, really good things could happen. Just a thought.

Shane McMahon things

Oh no, we’re definitely not rid of Shane McMahon just yet. Kevin Owens is summoned to McMahon’s office, and while McMahon initially forgets just why, Owens uses it as an opportunity to request McMahon reconsider the $100,000 fine he levied on him last week. McMahon will take it under advisement.

Later, McMahon requests that Owens apologize for attacking Elias at SummerSlam, which he does, and says that he’s still considering dropping the fine for said attack. But he also informs Owens that should he put his hands on an official again, he’ll be fired.

Thus does McMahon come to the ring to reveal he’s wearing a (custom Shane-O-Mac) referee jersey during Owens’ King of the Ring Round 1 match with Elias.

With Owens making sure not to make contact with McMahon during the match and being completely distracted, Elias rolls him up and McMahon hits a quick three-count, giving his ally the win. Owens is incensed, but there’s nothing he can do to get his revenge, given McMahon is wearing stripes. So, no, this remains very much not over.

King of the Ring, SmackDown style

The other King of the Ring tournament match features Andrade taking on Apollo Crews. It was good, to be sure, and possibly even better than Bryan versus Murphy. Most importantly, it’s good to see Crews having the kinds of matches we know he’s capable of but that WWE has chosen not to give us. That’s something to be said for a lot of the King of the Ring entrants; there’s no reason why everyone in it should not get a boost, given the quality of (most of) the matches (and quality that will only go up from here).

Andrade wins thanks to some Zelina Vega interference and is easily one of the favorites to win the whole tournament, given Kings of Rings are almost always more entertaining when they are heels. And next time, he’ll face off against either Chad Gable or Shelton Benjamin, two guys who should have a good match next Tuesday. It was a smart move for WWE to sprinkle this tournament with some folks we don’t see all that often and not just pack it with all the same Superstars we’ve been dealing with all year long. Let’s create a new mid-card and some new stars.

A moment of the women’s division

The only contributions of WWE’s women’s division on SmackDown this week is a Moment of Bliss segment featuring Charlotte Flair, which serves to draw out Bayley and for Bayley to agree to put her SmackDown Women’s Championship on the line against Flair at Clash of Champions. It was decent promo work, with Flair bragging that while she may not be champion, she’s the face of the brand, being sent to work red carpet events and do ESPN appearances.

Bayley, meanwhile, does this:

How about we do better next week? And from then on?

Champions preparing for their Night of

The other major storyline is the one revolving around WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and his New Day teammates, Big E and Xavier Woods, who are also SmackDown Tag Team Champions and their nemeses, Randy Orton and The Revival.

SmackDown this week opened with Orton calling Kingston, again, “stupid,” in reference to their decade-long feud and a specific RKO he laid out Kingston with nine years ago. And, like nine years ago, Orton’s out here RKO’ing Kingston because of said stupidity.

Kingston’s music hits but it’s a swerve; he appears behind Orton and gives him a Trouble in Paradise. He tries to Pillmanize Orton’s ankle as payback for what he and The Revival did to Woods the night before. The Revival stop him, though, but Kingston attacks them with said chair while Orton retreats.

Later in the night, The Revival take on Heavy Machinery (and win) but not before challenging The New Day for their tag titles at Clash of Champions. And just like that, the match card for the September 15 event is starting already to round out.

So those are the things and such which took place on SmackDown Live this week. Did you enjoy the bearded reveal at the end of the show? What should the Zayn-Nakamura alliance be called? Let us know in the comments below!