Smackdown
Date: September 3, 2019
Location: Norfolk Scope Arena, Norfolk, Virginia
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
The King of the Ring rolls on with another two quarterfinal matches. Unlike Raw last night, hopefully that means we can get all the way down to two semifinalists instead of three because Smackdown might be smarter than that. Otherwise, it’s time for another level of pushing towards Clash of Champions, which is sneaking up on us. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Sasha Banks returning and Bayley turning on Becky Lynch to join her last night.
Here’s Bayley to open things up with her usual entrance, including the tube men. The fans are rather happy to see her after what she did. Bayley doesn’t understand what people expected because she gives her whole heart out there very time. She wants the fans to feel the way she did when she was a kid and she’s trying to show the younger fans what it means to be loyal. That’s why she had Sasha’s back last night when it got rough.
She’ll prove that when she beats the selfish Charlotte at Clash of Champions, so here’s Charlotte to interrupt. Charlotte admits to being selfish but what you see is what you get. There is no hugging so Bayley should hug the title goodbye. Cue Sasha so Charlotte decks Bayley before fighting Banks. Bayley comes in with the chair though and they both beat Charlotte down.
King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Elias vs. Ali
Elias says being the biggest acquisition in Smackdown history isn’t enough so he wants to be King. Ali starts fast with some early near falls and a spinwheel kick sends Elias outside. The suicide dive is blocked though and Elias tosses him with a release suplex on the floor. Ali gets sent face first into the barricade and then over the barricade as we take a break. Back with Ali sending Elias outside and the second suicide dive attempt connects. The landing bangs up Elias’ arm so Ali hits a 450 onto the arm.
A headscissors into a Crossface continues the arm work but Elias gets out in a hurry. Elias manages a sitout powerbomb for two before grabbing a Stretch Muffler on the leg, complete with some stomps to the head. Ali heads outside and has to superkick a diving Elias out of the air. Back in and Ali misses the 450 (slowed down because of the leg) and a knee to the leg makes it even worse. Drift Away finishes Ali at 11:27.
Result: Elias b. Ali – Drift Away (11:27)
Elias plays some guitar while sitting on the throne.
Samoa Joe promises to become king and make everyone bend a knee.
Aleister Black takes off his tie and says if the mountain isn’t coming to him, he’s coming to the mountain. He’s going to the ring to see if anyone is man enough to pick a fight with him.
Fire & Desire vs. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross
Non-title and the result of an argument over who can take better photos. Cross gets caught in the wrong corner to start but manages to knock Deville out to the floor. A dropkick puts Mandy out there with her and a big dive from Cross sends us to a break. Back with Mandy shouting about how Cross will never look like her. That’s enough for Cross to fight over for the tag to Alexa and everything breaks down. Cross slips out of a double underhook from Mandy, leaving Bliss to DDT Deville. Twisted Bliss hits knees though and it’s back to Mandy for a High/Low and the pin at 6:56.
Result: Fire & Desire b. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross – High/Low to Bliss (6:56)
Samoa Joe comes up to Chad Gable and makes short jokes about him, which he knows hurts Gable. That’s because Gable is weak mentally and there is no room for that in the kingdom.
Here’s Randy Orton to talk about how he caught Kofi Kingston last week. The best part was that sweet sound of Kofi’s head bouncing off the floor. For weeks now, Orton has destroyed the power of positivity and if you don’t believe him, here’s a highlight package of Orton taking out New Day. Orton wants to face Kofi right now so here’s Kofi…with the Revival beating him up. They get him into the ring so Orton can do his circle stomp, while calling Kofi stupid on every boot. Orton takes too long spelling out RKO and Kofi gets in a few shots but Revival takes him down again. The super RKO plants Kofi.
Video on Erick Rowan being shown as helping in the attack on Roman Reigns. Rowan vs. Reigns is set for Clash of Champions.
King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Chad Gable vs. Andrade
Before the match, Zelina Vega says that she has nothing but respect for another vertically challenged superstar. She could see Gable winning the tournament if Andrade wasn’t in it, but he is so Gable has no chance. Gable wastes no time in wrestling Andrade down and a sunset flip out of the corner gets two. A monkey flip sends Andrade down but a second attempt is dumped to the floor as we take a break. Back with Gable getting two off a wrist clutch chickenwing suplex but Andrade’s Alberto double stomp gets the same.
Three Amigos, with an Eddie dance, are broken up and it’s Gable rolling some German suplexes. Andrade is right back with the third suplex but the double moonsault hits knees. Gable hits a moonsault of his own for two and Rolling Chaos Theory connects….with Vega distracting the referee to break up a cover. That’s enough for Andrade to hit a rolling elbow to the face but the hammerlock DDT is countered into a sunset flip for the pin at 7:56 and a BIG reaction.
Result: Chad Gable b. Andrade – Sunset flip (7:56)
Aleister Black vs. Shelton Benjamin
Open challenge from Black, who sits down to start and misses an early Black Mass attempt. A knee to the face sends Shelton outside instead but he gets in his own knee to rock Black. Back in and Black Mass finishes Benjamin at 1:53.
Result: Aleister Black b. Shelton Benjamin – Black Mass (1:53)
Drake Maverick and his wife hide in the boiler room and a bunch of people happen to be waiting for him. Bo Dallas manages to pin him for the title and the chase continues.
Here are Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn for a chat but Sami cuts the music so the fans can’t sing along. For now though, we’ll settle for this.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. ???
Non-title with Sami on a live mic at ringside. The kicks to the face have the unnamed jobber in trouble but he punches Nakamura in the corner. That earns him a bunch of knees to the ribs and kicks to the face, plus the running knee to the ribs. Kinshasa finishes at 1:14.
Result: Shinsuke Nakamura b. ??? – Kinshasa (1:14)
Post match the B Team runs into the ring with the title but here are the Singh Brothers and Kalisto. Drake Mavericks rolls Dallas up for the title…..but R-Truth is disguised as a guard next to the throne and wins the title for the fourteenth time.
Here’s Daniel Bryan to demand an apology from Roman Reigns. The fans rather approve of Bryan, who thinks it means they finally understand him. People think that Bryan is guilty by association but now we know he had nothing to do with it. Bryan has never lied to anyone and he hates liars of all kinds. Therefore he wants and gets Reigns out here but Erick Rowan jumps Reigns from behind. A powerbomb sends Reigns into the post and the claw slam makes it even worse.
Rowan grabs the mic and says Daniel had nothing to do with this. He yells at Bryan for thinking he can control Rowan and offers to fight Bryan right now. Come slap him again like he did last week. Bryan isn’t sure what to do so Rowan talks about being proud of what he did to attack Reigns, which included attacking him with the car. What makes him most proud though is the pain that Reigns is going to feel at Clash of Champions. Rowan throws him outside and hits him with the steps, drawing Bryan over to slap Rowan again. The claw slam puts Bryan through the table to end the show.
Results
Elias b. Ali – Drift Away
Fire & Desire b. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross – High/Low to Bliss
Chad Gable b. Andrade – Sunset flip
Aleister Black b. Shelton Benjamin – Black Mass
Shinsuke Nakamura b. ??? – Kinshasa
Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. His latest book is KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews.
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