WWE SmackDown Live recap: A bad day for The New Day

The 24/7 Championship changes hands, Roman Reigns’ attacker is revealed and more on this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown Live.

We’re just over two weeks away from WWE‘s next pay-per-view event, Clash of Champions, but yet much of the match card has already been built. As such, SmackDown Live this week is mostly continuing those storylines, as well as featuring two more Round 1 King of the Ring matches. Here’s what went down on SmackDown on August 27.

They are who we thought they were

As has been the case for weeks, the saga of “who attacked Roman Reigns?” is the underlying thread of Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live. Kayla Braxton interviews Roman Reigns backstage about what went down with Daniel Bryan, Rowan and the Rowan-a-like last week on SmackDown Live. He says he’s going to do his talking in the ring, instead. It would have been nice if he could have elaborated on what went down in that little room last week as SmackDown went off the air. Odds are that it was literally nothing, which is why literally nothing was said about it.

Kayla then speaks with Bryan and Rowan backstage later on about Reigns’ comments. They demand an apology from Reigns and will not leave the arena until he says he’s sorry.

At the end of the night, Reigns heads to the ring as we wonder whether (ha ha) he will apologize (ha ha) to Bryan and Rowan, the confrontation serving as the night’s “main event.” Reigns asks the crowd if he should apologize and the consensus is “no.” Reigns has a video to show us and afterward, if he needs to apologize, he will. Footage reveals that Rowan indeed knocked over the equipment and Bryan is livid in the back, because remember: He hates liars. And now he’s been betrayed by Rowan.

Bryan claims to not know anything about Rowan’s attacks on Reigns as he makes his way to the ring with a microphone. He also adds he wasn’t the person who directed Rowan to attack Reigns; Reigns hits Bryan with a spear, though, clearly not believing Bryan wasn’t involved. And so the saga continues. This could have been an entertaining little whodunit story, but the way that it has dragged on and that it has clearly been a casualty of the near-weekly last-minute rewrites of the show.

Trouble in Paradise

Kofi Kingston has something to say to Randy Orton: That Orton likes to slither around this ring, calling Kingston “stupid,” but he was the one to ambush Orton “out of nowhere” last week, putting Kingston in the advantage. Orton has made their feud personal; Kingston was here just proving that he belonged and that he deserved to be WWE Champion. Orton, meanwhile, brought Kingston’s family into things as well as attacked Xavier Woods, with The Revival’s help.

But Kingston — who also beat up The Revival with a steel chair last week — got the best of Orton, forcing Orton to retreat in fear. Kingston “does not play around” when someone comes after his family. Orton then interrupts with a Titantron promo in which he says “stupid” approximately 20 times and reveals that someone anonymously slid a letter under his hotel room door that morning.

This “touching” letter begs Orton to stop hurting Kingston, to stop calling him stupid and reveals that Kingston cries at night because of Orton’s tormenting. The letter, of course, is written by Kingston’s son, Kai. Orton thus realizes that he’s staying in the same hotel as Kingston’s family and says he’s going to pay Kai a visit — right the now. Kingston rushes to the back to attack Orton (which he does) until, after a brawl, Orton hits an RKO. Orton retreats satisfied, ostensibly to beat up Kingston’s son.

After the break, Big E emerges from the trainer’s room, where he was checking on Kingston. Kayla asks him about Kingston’s status — he’ll be ready for Clash of Champions — but that may not be the case for Orton after tonight. You see, Big E faces Orton later on in the night.

The match takes place, set both as vengeance for Kingston as well as for Woods, and for the numerous attacks Orton and his crew have brought down on The New Day over the span of weeks. Obviously, this goes from physical to brutal pretty quickly, including Big E smacking his face off of the ring apron and Orton belly-to-back suplexing Big E onto the SmackDown announce table. Big E dumps Orton onto the same table, with the same move, following the picture-in-picture commercial break.

The Revival arrived, of course, creating a distraction long enough for Orton to hit Big E with an RKO and to pick up the win. The trio then hit Big E with a Super/Shatter Machine-variant RKO. The New Day have been dismantled by Orton and The Revival, possibly not boding well for Kingston’s odds to retain his WWE Championship at Clash of Champions. Again, though, Kingston has been a successful fighting champion — and remains very popular — so he could very well hold onto the title as SmackDown transitions to FOX in a month.

King of the Ring matches

The first King of the Ring match was certainly among the best of the tournament thus far, delivering live exactly what it seemed to promise on paper. Ali is one of WWE’s most talented performers, as evinced in the Elimination Chamber build up earlier this year (one that was cut short for Ali due to a concussion). And Buddy Murphy is too, though we didn’t get the chance to really see that on the main roster until just two weeks ago, when Murphy had a fantastic match against Roman Reigns and followed that up by defeating Daniel Bryan last Tuesday.

Thus, did the two put on a total banger on SmackDown Live this week (unfortunately interrupted by being relegated to picture-in-picture for two-three whole minutes). Billed as strength vs. speed, this match was more like awesome vs. awesome, a showcase of two of WWE’s best athletes and in-ring performers. The “this is awesome!” chants were warranted and deserved; it could have even used a “fight forever.” For example:

And in somewhat of a surprise, Ali picked up the win with a 450 splash. He’s set to face Elias next week.

Setting up the next match, we head backstage, where Sarah interviews Chad Gable ahead of his King of the Ring bout with Shelton Benjamin. He’s asked about Benjamin’s recent poking fun at Gable’s height and he says it doesn’t bother him and that, of course, he’ll win tonight. Benjamin then appears and asks Sarah if she’s seen Gable (while he’s standing right there) and tells her to have Gable find him if she does.

The match itself was short, and therefore not much to discuss, beyond that it was good for the time that it got (and could/should have gotten more). Gable got the pinfall via sunset flip and, more notably, faces Andrade next week.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1166528734104604673

Oh hey, it’s Lacey Evans

Ember Moon meets with Bayley backstage to say that Charlotte Flair is wrong, that Bayley truly is the face of the women’s division and that she is the reason why Moon was able to get a championship opportunity at SummerSlam. This is interrupted by Lacey Evans, back from wherever she was, to say (as she did to Becky Lynch months ago) that Bayley brings down the value of the division and the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Evans will attempt to prove this (in a non-title capacity) via a match with Bayley later.

Once the match gets underway, it’s evident that Evans is still greeeeeeeeen. Flair showed up atop the ramp to get a closer look at the match as we headed to commercial break (not picture-in-picture). Evans spent much of the match slowly working Bayley’s left arm. The whole match was slow-paced, and it was long, but it was unfortunately also not all that good because while Evans is certainly athletic, she’s still not much of a pro wrestler at this point. She does have a good-looking moonsault that’s undeniable.

Bayley hit Evans with the Bayley to Belly, but Evans reached out for the bottom rope, breaking up the pin. She then connects with her diving elbow drop to pick up the win. Afterward, Bayley was adamant that she no longer face off against the women of Monday Night Raw; she is, after all, the SmackDown champion and she would prefer to take on her own brand’s women.

Literally Intercontinental

The Miz faces Sami Zayn because of what went down between he, Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura on MizTV last week. Miz comes out to rail against Zayn and says Zayn is handling spokesperson duties for Nakamura because he’s afraid of in-ring competition, while he also says Nakamura is only targeting him because it would make Nakamura a top-tier player. The Miz is the one who made Nakamura’s Intercontinental Championship prestigious and he claims he will take it back from Nakamura at Clash of Champions, giving us another match for the pay-per-view.

Zayn comes out to explain his relationship with Nakamura. He’s not a spokesperson, he’s “a liberator,” and that Nakamura now feels freer and stronger than before. He also reminds Miz that the Intercontinental Championship belongs to Nakamura, despite Miz’s claims to it and notes that Nakamura is an artist, poet and King of Strong Style, The Miz the “King of Soft Style.”

And now Zayn will beat some respect into The Miz — or not, as he begs off, so The Miz leaves the ring to confront Zayn. And so, Miz is attacked by Nakamura as Zayn gives play-by-play to the crowd. That all finishes with Nakamura hitting Miz with a Kinshasa and also features some top-tier crazy cackling from Zayn.

Three stories in one

Elias is strumming his guitar in Shane McMahon’s office and Kevin Owens arrives. He wants to talk to McMahon but, per Elias, McMahon isn’t there. Owens leaves. Great.

After a weekend of antics, Elias is once again 24/7 Champion. He emerges to put on the crown and scepter and sit on the King of the Ring throne (like Baron Corbin the night before, and also a possible jinx), and while he’s talking himself up he is predictably attacked by Owens.

They brawl to the ring and Owens hits Elias with a Stunner. Elias is left prone in the ring and R-Truth creeps up to pin him; he’s pulled out of the ring by Drake Maverick before the three-count, Maverick makes the pin himself and is, again, 24/7 Champion. Why didn’t Owens go after the 24/7 Championship himself? He explains:

So those are the happenings from this week’s SmackDown Live. Let us know your thoughts on the show in the comments below!