WWE Friday Night Smackdown Live Coverage - August 21st, 2020
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AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy set for championship clash in WWE ThunderDome
AJ Styles looks to defend the Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Hardy, Lucha House Party challenges Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles and more as the blue brand heads to WWE ThunderDome.
:smackdown:
- Tonight's live WWE SummerSlam go-home edition of SmackDown on FOX opens up from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, which has been transformed into WWE ThunderDome. The pyro goes off and the lights start up all over the arena as Michael Cole welcomes us. He's joined by Corey Graves. ThunderDome is live and fans are on the LED boards as the crowd.
- WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon is introduced, waiting in the ring. He welcomes us to WWE ThunderDome. He says no one brings thunder like WWE, which is why we'll never see it coming this Sunday at SummerSlam. Which is also why every week... Vince is interrupted with the lights starting to go down. Vince looks around as the red lights and lasers shoot across the arena. The entrance of "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt begins as virtual fans watch from the ThunderDome LED boards.
Vince stares as The Fiend enters the ring and stares back, facing off with him in the middle of the ring. The Fiend toys with Vince and sticks his tongue out, laughing at him. There's some fan noise in the background from ThunderDome. The music interrupts and out comes WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman. The Fiend turns around, taking his attention from Vince to The Monster. Strowman climbs into the ring and we see The Fiend's head lantern sitting on the edge of the apron.
Strowman enters the ring and stares The Fiend down. Vince has left the ring. It looks like the fans have been taken off the LED boards now, but they re-appear. Strowman tells The Fiend his door is open, it sounds like. RETRIBUTION members suddenly appear on the apron, distracting Strowman and The Fiend.
More RETRIBUTION members rush the ring and surround Strowman and The Fiend, on the apron. The Fiend keeps staring at Strowman and starts nodding his head. Strowman nods and smiles back at The Fiend. The lights suddenly go out and it's black in the arena. The lights come back up and The Fiend is gone. Strowman is alone in the ring. RETRIBUTION rushes the ring and attacks Strowman. He fights some of them off but there are too many of them. Big E, Shorty G, Jey Uso, Matt Riddle, Sheamus and many others rush the ring but RETRIBUTION tries to keep them from entering. Another wave of Superstars run down now - King Baron Corbin, Drew Gulak, Otis, WWE Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles and many others.
The SmackDown Superstars, male and female, finally start to make progress in clearing the ring of RETRIBUTION. The SmackDown Superstars look on from the ring as RETRIBUTION retreats into the crowd. Gulak helps Strowman to his feet, as does Uso. Strowman recovers and drops Gulak, then tosses Uso over the top rope. A furious Strowman marches out of the ring to the back. The other SmackDown Superstars regroup in the ring as we go to commercial.
Big E vs. Sheamus
Back from the break and this match begins after Big E and Sheamus argue in the ring. The ring is surrounded by Superstars to prevent another RETRIBUTION attack.
Sheamus and Big E go back & forth to start. Sheamus knees Big E but gets knocked over the top rope to the floor. Big E runs around and hits a big shoulder tackle into the steel ring steps as fans on the LED boards look on. Big E brings it back in but goes to the floor and clubs on Sheamus while he's down on the mat and the referee counts. Big E goes back up to the apron and beats on his chest, then nails the running splash on the apron.
Big E brings it back in but Sheamus necks him over the top rope. Sheamus keeps control and goes to the top with the flying clothesline. Sheamus works Big E over while he's on the mat now as the Superstars keep pacing around at ringside looking for RETRIBUTION. Sheamus with the series of forearms to the chest now. More back and forth between the two as Sheamus gets the upperhand as the lights start flickering in the arena again. We go to commercial.
Back from the break and Big E hits several big suplexes on Sheamus. Superstars are still on high alert at ringside. Big E runs the ropes and splashes Sheamus in the middle of the ring. Big E goes for the Big Ending but it's blocked. Sheamus kicks Big E in the face. Big E catches a Brogue Kick and it's blocked. Sheamus comes back with a big knee to the face for a close 2 count.
Sheamus works Big E over on the mat now. They fight up from their knees. Big E blocks White Noise. Sheamus runs into an Uranage for a close 2 count. Sheamus blocks the Spear through the ropes. More back and forth at the ropes now. Sheamus blocks a Big Ending again. Big E runs shoulder-first into the ring post. Sheamus hits White Noise. Corbin drops Riddle from behind at ringside. Riddle fights back and a brawl breaks out at ringside. Sheamus is preparing to hit a Brogue Kick but the distraction leads to Big E rolling him for the pin to win.
Winner: Big E
- After the match, Big E stands tall as his music hits. Tucker and Otis enter the ring to dance with Big E as Sheamus fumes on the ramp.
- Still to come, Jeff Hardy vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles. Cole says there is a developing story in the back. He sends us to the trainer's room and we see Jeff Hardy getting his leg checked out. He says someone fell on him from behind but that's all he knows. He asks the medic if they can give him a brace or something because he can't miss tonight's match.
- We see Lucha House Party walking backstage to their match. SmackDown Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura drop Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik from behind. Kalisto checks on his partners as the champs walk off. Back to commercial.
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SmackDown Tag Team Titles Match: Lucha House Party vs. Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura
Back from the break and Greg Hamilton does the introductions as SmackDown Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura are out first. The Lucha House Party is out next - Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik with Kalisto.
Nakamura starts off with Metalik and dominates him. Cesaro tags in with a running low elbow drop for a 2 count in the middle of the ring. Cesaro grounds Metalik but gets tossed with a hurricanrana. Metalik leaps off the ropes again but Cesaro catches him in mid-air and nails a sitdown powerbomb for a close 2 count. We get a promo from John Morrison and The Miz in a sidebar video as they are watching backstage. Nakamura comes back in and covers Metalik for a 2 count after more offense.
Cesaro comes back in and works over Metalik while he's down for another 2 count. More frequent tags between the champs. Cesaro slams Metalik over the top rope. Metalik fights back from the apron and climbs to the middle rope with Cesaro. Metalik ends up sending Cesaro flying with a hurricanrana. Kalisto tries to rally for his partners now.
Nakamura and Dorado tag in. Nakamura runs into a big boot. Dorado flies from the top and keeps on top of Nakamura. Dorado dodges an attack in the corner and unloads with strikes. Dorado ducks a kick and drops Nakamura with one of his own. Dorado with a moonsault. Dorado with another moonsault from the second rope now. He goes for a third moonsault from the top now and hits it. Cesaro breaks the pin up at 2.
Dorado counters Cesaro and sends him flying to the floor. Metalik comes in and runs, leaping off the ropes to drop Cesaro on the floor again. Nakamura takes advantage and hits the reverse Exploder on Dorado. Nakamura goes to the floor to kick Metalik, keeping him down. Nakamura returns tot he ring and goes for the Kinshasa but Dorado rolls him for a 2 count. Dorado catches Nakamura with a springboard Stunner. Cesaro tags in and Dorado doesn't see it at first. They tangle and trade roll-ups. They go on and tangle some more but the sequence ends with Cesaro rolling through and rolling Dorado up for the pin to retain.
Winners: Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura
- After the match, Cesaro and Nakamura exit the ring with the titles as the music hits. Dorado looks on and Kalisto checks on him. Dorado almost pushes Kalisto away and they have words. Metalik gets in the middle of them and Kalisto gets knocked down. Kalisto and Dorado continue arguing as Metalik holds them back from each other.
- We see Jeff Hardy backstage again, getting his leg checked out by the medic. Cole shows us footage from earlier in the night where Hardy injured his knee during the melee with RETRIBUTION. The footage shows that AJ Styles is the one who hit Hardy from behind. AJ is backstage with Kayla Braxton now. AJ says he was trying to show urgency with RETRIBUTION but Hardy got in the way. AJ knocks Hardy for wasting his career and his opportunities. AJ mocks Hardy some more and walks off. AJ stops when he sees the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions. He jokes with Sasha Banks and Bayley about who looks better with their titles, then keeps walking. Banks and Bayley head to the ring as we go back to commercial.
- Back from the break and Cole hypes WWE ThunderDome.
- Kayla is with Mandy Rose in the back now. She asks about Sonya Deville. Rose mentions this has been a rough week, a possible reference to the incident she was present for at Deville's house. She says SummerSlam is in two days and she doesn't know what is in Sonya's head, but she knows how she feels. She goes on about how they once were friends, for the good and bad. Rose says she needs to speak directly to Sonya. She turns to the camera and says they have been through a lot. She mentions the "vicious" Hair vs. Hair match coming up at SummerSlam. Rose goes on and says she wants to put this all behind them, and get back to where they were. Rose says she chooses to see the good in Deville.
- We go back to the ring and Corey Graves waits as the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions make their way to the ring - RAW Women's Champion Sasha Banks and SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley.
Graves welcomes them to The ThunderDome and has to know one thing first. Are you splitting up? They both say no. Graves brings up how they both will defend their singles titles against Asuka on Sunday. He brings up Asuka possibly leaving SummerSlam with gold but Bayley says no chance. The interview goes on and Banks tells Graves to quit stirring the pot because they will destroy Asuka on Sunday. Bayley says everything they do is for the company, which is why they have all the gold.
Graves brings up how Bayley offered to face Asuka first at SummerSlam. Bayley says this was just a suggestion as Banks is just as capable of going first. Banks asks if Bayley is trying to volunteer her again. Graves asks if he senses a disagreement again and Bayley says no. Bayley goes on about how there's no one in the locker room that can touch them. The music interrupts and out comes Naomi, sliding down the ramp with a mic in her hand.
Naomi proposes that she faces both banks and Bayley tonight. They agree. Naomi asks which one will feel her wrath first. They argue some and Graves suggests something like a Beat The Clock Challenge. Naomi likes that. She asks again, which wants to go first. Banks and Bayley talk it over but Naomi attacks and kicks them both out of the ring to the floor. Naomi celebrates in the ring as her music hits. Banks and Bayley are upset now as they recover on the floor. Back to commercial
Beat The Clock Challenge: Naomi vs. Sasha Banks
Back from the break and Naomi is in the ring with Sasha Banks for this non-title match. Cole says the one with the best time will get to defend against Asuka second at SummerSlam on Sunday.
Banks and Naomi go at it. Banks with offense early on. Naomi turns it around and hits the Full Nelson Slam for a 2 count as Bayley watches from ringside. They tangle on the mat now. Bayley yells at Naomi as Naomi tells Banks to bring it. Banks gets sent back out to the floor. Naomi launches herself over the top rope, taking Banks back down on the floor. The referee counts and warns Bayley. Banks uses the distraction to turn it around, wailing away on Naomi in the corner.
Banks drops double knees into Naomi in the corner for a 2 count, and another 2 count. Banks grounds Naomi now and keeps her locked in a hold. Naomi gets free and nails a jawbreaker. Naomi keeps fighting Banks off and hits a crossbody from the top but Banks rolls through for a 2 count. Naomi drapes Banks over the top rope and delivers a big kick. Naomi springboards with another bigger kick but Banks kicks out at 2. Banks ends up rolling Naomi for another pin attempt. They trade more holds and Banks drops Naomi in the Bank Statement in the middle of the ring. Naomi taps with 3:39 on the clock.
Beat The Clock Challenge: Naomi vs. Bayley
Bayley immediately hits the ring and attacks Naomi but the referee backs her into the corner so she can recover from the first half of the match. Bayley rants and raves behind the referee. Naomi tells him she's ready to go. The bell rings and Bayley unloads on Naomi in the corner for a 2 count. Bayley with more offense and a suplex for a 2 count.
Banks watches closely from ringside as Bayley stomps away. Bayley launches Naomi into the turnbuckles now, then takes her back to the mat for a 2 count. Bayley keeps checking the clock on the big screen and then hits a sliding clothesline for a 2 count. Banks is also checking the clock as Bayley keeps control of the match. Bayley explodes out of the corner and drops Naomi for another quick pin attempt.
Naomi drops Bayley out of nowhere with a Rear View. Naomi covers for the pin to win with 1:44 on the clock.
Winner: Naomi
- After the match, Naomi stands tall as her music hits. Cole confirms that Banks will defend her title after Bayley defends her title against Asuka on Sunday. Naomi exits and Banks tends to Bayley but Bayley is in a bad mood. The music interrupts and out comes Asuka to the stage with a mic. Asuka rants and taunts the champs from the stage. Asuka says she will be The Empress of Every Title at SummerSlam because no one is ready for her. Asuka drops the mic and dances around on the stage. Banks exits the ring and runs up the ramp but Asuka drops her. Asuka then runs down the ramp and hits the ring, unloading on Bayley. Bayley retreats up the ramp but runs back to grab her titles from the apron. Bayley runs back up to the stage but goes right past Banks, who is still down on the ramp. Asuka dances around and taunts from the ring as her music hits. We see Bayley checking on Banks now.
- Jeff Hardy is backstage with the trainer. The medic says he will clear Jeff to go as long as he can deal with the pain. Jeff limps around some but cuts a quick promo on taking the title from AJ Styles tonight. The trainer wishes him good luck.
- Still to come, a new Firefly Fun House episode.
- Kayla approaches Sonya Deville backstage and asks if she has anything to say in response to what Mandy Rose said earlier. Deville says she has nothing to say to Braxton and will say anything she does have to the entire world. Deville turns away and Dana Brooke walks up. Dana apologizes for what Deville went through this past week. Deville says it's nothing she can't handle. Deville then delivers a huge slap to Brooke's face and calls her disrespectful. Deville walks off as we go to commercial.
- Back from the break and out comes Sonya Deville to the stage with a mic. Deville addresses Mandy Rose and says she heard her earlier. Deville says she gets it - Rose is second-guessing her own talent. Deville says that's exactly what she said Rose would do. Deville goes on asking what it is Rose wants. Deville says Rose will end up facing her one way or the other, she can't get around that. They will face at SummerSlam but clearly Rose is bothered about being bald and everyone knows Deville doesn't care about being bald. Deville proposes they up the ante for SummerSlam. She says they're going to have a No DQ match and the loser will leave WWE because she realized that hair or no hair, she's sick of looking at Rose's face. Deville tells Rose to wipe her tears and bring her A-game. She calls Rose a b---h and tosses the mic, then walks to the back.
- Cole leads us to a video package on the feud between "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman, with Alexa Bliss' involvement.
- Nikki Cross is backstage sitting in a chair, looking worried. She talks about Alexa Bliss and how she seemed off or different earlier this week. She talks and acts like Alexa but... the Alexa she knows is warm and funny and the person she spoke to on Tuesday is not Alexa Bliss. That scares Cross. She just has a feeling that something terrible is about to happen.
- Cole hypes The Fiend vs. Strowman at SummerSlam.
:ic:
WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Jeff Hardy vs. AJ Styles
We go back to the ring and out comes WWE Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles to some pyro. He hits the ring and we go back to commercial.
Back from the break and out comes Jeff Hardy, selling the knee injury and wearing a brace. We get formal ring introductions from Hamilton. They go at it to start but AJ goes right for the injured knee after slamming Hardy back. Hardy limps around but AJ keeps focusing on the knee. The referee checks on Hardy but he stays in. AJ keeps Hardy down but Hardy drops him with a jawbreaker. Jeff back-drops AJ over the top but AJ slips off the apron and falls to the floor. Jeff ends up following and going for a dropkick through the ropes but his knee goes into the edge of the ring and he goes down. We go to commercial.
Back from the break and AJ has Hardy grounded in the middle of the ring, working on his hurt knee. Hardy manages to kick AJ away and get up. AJ catches a kick but Hardy still kicks him back to the mat. Hardy tries to mount more offense now. Hardy drops AJ with a suplex on his face but AJ kicks out at 2. Hardy keeps going but AJ the pele kick to block a Twist of Fate.
Both competitors are down as the referee counts. Hardy gets up but stumbles down to one knee. AJ runs into an elbow in the corner. Hardy tries to go to the top but his knee goes out and he falls to the mat in the corner. The referee checks on him. AJ springboards in from the apron but Hardy blocks the Phenomenal Forearm with a big right hand to the gut.
Styles follows up with the Calf Crusher in the middle of the ring. Hardy crawls for the bottom rope and finally makes it to break the submission. AJ continues to focus on the knee to shut down Jeff's offense. AJ goes for the Styles Clash but Hardy's knee with the brace hits AJ in the face to drop him. Hardy drops AJ again with the Twist of Fate.
Hardy slowly goes to the top and hits the Swanton Bomb, covering for the pin to win the title.
Winner and New WWE Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy
- After the match, the music hits as the referee hands Hardy the title while he's still trying to recover. We go to replays. Kayla interviews Hard in the ring now. Hardy would've said you were crazy if you told him one year ago that he would be winning the title again because he was in a dark place he couldn't find his way out of. He says life is always a challenge but he stands tonight with a painful knee but more importantly, hope... hope that things will get better for everyone else who struggled. He keeps talking but someone hits his music to end the promo. Jeff raises the title in the air to celebrate.
- We see Ramblin' Rabbit and Huskus The Pig in the Firefly Fun House. Back to commercial.
- Back from the break and AJ Styles is backstage with Kayla. AJ's statistician, played by WWE producer Joseph Park (Abyss) is also there. AJ rants and raves as he's furious about losing the title, saying Jeff cheated to win with the neck brace.
- Cole and Graves hype the return of Talking Smack on the WWE Network tomorrow morning.
- We go to another must see edition of The Firefly Fun House with Bray Wyatt. Wyatt says he loves everyone but then he goes on about why love is bad. Wyatt takes a mystery phone call and then talks about Alexa Bliss and WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman. He sends us to a movie special with Huskus and Rabbit playing the roles of Bliss and Strowman. They kiss and Wyatt interrupts, saying that's not how it went down. They got lost in the moment. Wyatt tells the puppets to both get lost and they do. Wyatt says love can only lead to pain and suffering, the best thing we can do is be more like "him" and we see flashes of The Fiend now. He cannot wait to get his hands on Braun, Wyatt says. Wyatt senses something and looks at the camera, asking what took you so long. Strowman suddenly attacks from the side and destroys Wyatt, beating him down. Strowman drags Wyatt away and says he's not finished with him. We go to commercial.
- Back from the break and the announcers are talking about how they're trying to get cameras together for the big brawl happening backstage between Bray Wyatt and WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman right now. They wonder how Strowman was able to get into the Firefly Fun House, something most people can't do.
Cameras finally catch up backstage and we see Strowman dominating Wyatt, talking trash while beating him down. A group of referees walk up and try to talk Strowman out of it but he goes ahead and launches Wyatt from a loading dock down to the concrete floor. Strowman yells at the officials to get out of his way, and then walks off.
WWE officials rush down to Wyatt, who is laid out on the concrete. An ambulance backs up while referees and WWE producers check on Wyatt. Medics load Wyatt onto a stretcher but he's still not moving. Wyatt is loaded into the ambulance as we see a replay of Strowman throwing Wyatt to the concrete. WWE Producer Adam Pearce yells at the ambulance to hurry up and drive off. It slowly drives away but then stops. The officials are yelling and wondering what the hold up is, telling the ambulance to get out of here. The ambulance starts backing up now, back to the loading dock.
The doors of the ambulance swing open but we can't see what is there yet. Pearce is shocked and stuttering as he backs up against the other officials standing there. They're all stunned and can't believe what they're seeing. The camera goes back to the ambulance and we see The Fiend standing on the step of the back of the ambulance. There's a red glow in the back of the ambulance and fog billowing out. The camera gets closer to The Fiend and he sticks his tongue out, then starts laughing uncontrollably. Flashes of The Fiend then quickly go across the screen as the final SmackDown on FOX before SummerSlam goes off the air.
