WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, and Highlights From Aug. 23
This week’s edition of WWE SmackDown kicked off with a recap of last when Roman Reign stepped to the self-proclaimed “Tribal Chief” Sola Sioka and The New Bloodline.
The Grayson Waller Effect on WWE SmackDown
The first segment of the show was “The Grayson Waller Effect” featuring “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes. It all began fine, the crowd was really into the whole atmosphere as Cody was walking down to the ring. Things instantly took an interesting turn when Cody was just about to do his turnbuckle “WOAH! before Waller struck his nose in and cut the music.
That was not all as when Rhodes stood in the ring to say So, What do you wanna talk about catchphrase Waller once again cut Rhodes and finished the line, saying “Everything in WWE is about Cody Rhodes”.
During the interview, Cody mentioned how Waller is using Theory for his personal benefit and he always throws him under the bus to save himself. To replay that, Waller played a video package of how KO has betrayed his friends over the past years. Theory also showed a video where Kevin Owens attacked Chris Jericho who is not a part of WWE right now.
During all of this going on Kevin Owens made his way to the ring and told Cody his side of the story assured that it will now happen. During all this going on in the ring, Nick Aldis made his way to the ring and made a tag team match official between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens vs Austin Theory and Grayson Waller. During all of the mix in the ring, Kevin accidentally knocked Rhodes from the back, proving the point Theory made moments ago.
Rating: 7.5 /10
LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar – United States Championship
The first match of the night featured the US Championship on the line between Knight and Escobar, but Angel and Humberto attacked Knight before the opening bell even rang which led to no choice for the official Jessika Carr but to ban both of them from the ringside. Things just got from bad to worse for Escobar as Elektra Lopez also got banned from ringside, which left no helping hands for Escobar.
The overall match was pretty good but Knight and his offense were a clear factor in this victory over Escobar.
Rating: 6.5/ 10
Result: LA Knight def Santos Escobar
Carmelo Hayes Promo on WWE SmackDown
A quick backstage promo was set up between Carmelo Hayes and Andrade. The two luckily didn’t hand on each other but it is certain that a future rivalry between the two is firing up.
Rating: 6/ 10
Naomi, Belair, and Cargill vs. Fyre, Dawn, and Davenport
After weeks and weeks of chasing Naomi, Belair, and Cargill got a chance to take on the womens who had made their lives hell.
Belair who now seems to be permanent residence in the mid-card, looks like she has bought Cargill with her self too. The match seems to be just about okay because none of the women got enough TV time and opportunity to showcase their skills.
Nonetheless, it was Naomi who picked up the win for her team after delivering a Split-Legged Moonsault on Davenport.
Rating: 6/ 10
Result: Naomi, Belair, and Cargill def Fyre, Dawn, and Davenport
The Bloodline vs. Street Profits
The Bloodline made their way to ring before the, where Solo cut a promo. Solo also promoted Jacob Fatu as his personal enforcer and bodyguard.
Both teams delivered a pretty good match, but I really didn’t like it much. The chemistry was a bit too much off. Dawkins who started the match was isolated by The Bloodline from the get-go. Both Dawkins and Ford tried their best but the numbers game from the Bloodline was too much to handle.
Solo also interfered in the leading it to a victory for the Tongans. DIY also made their way to ringside and brought a fight to The Bloodline before falling short of the numbers games of The Bloodline. Solo also delivered a couple of Samoan Spike to both members of DIY.
Rating: 8/ 10
Result: The Bloodline def Street Profits
A-Town Down Under vs. Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes
After their face-off at the beginning of the show during “The Grayson Waller Effect”, a tag team was scheduled to take place in the main event.
It was a nice competitive match between both teams, I personally think that Owens was the MVP of the matchup due to his incredible performance.
The main storyline that has been building up slowly is that will Kevin Owens turn on his friend “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes. During the ending moments of the show, there was this slight moment when it looked like Owens was gonna strike Cody from behind using the Undisputed Championship before Cody turned around and KO just handed over his championship to him.
Rating: 8/ 10
Result: Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes def A-Town Down Under
My Thoughts on this week’s edition of the “WWE SmackDown”
It was pretty casual WWE SmackDown, I really liked “The Grayson Waller Effect”. As we all saw WWE is extremely focused on building storylines for their upcoming WWE Bash in Berlin PLE. I also think it is a very good move by WWE as they have tried to put a little spotlight on Mia Yim as well. Yim who was previously hanging around with OC, now has a chance to showcase her abilities.
Overall Show Rating: 7
