WWE Friday Night Smackdown Live Coverage - October 27th, 2023

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Roman Reigns and LA Knight set to sign contract for title fight at WWE Crown Jewel

Tonight on SmackDown on FS1, Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and LA Knight will set in stone their match at WWE Crown Jewel in a huge contract signing. How big will the fireworks be when these two put pen to paper for their huge match at WWE Crown Jewel?


:smackdown:

– We are LIVE inside the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI. where Kevin Patrick welcomes us to the show on FS1 as the camera pans the crowd. Corey Graves chimes in and the two talk about the announcement of John Cena vs. Solo Sikoa for WWE Crown Jewel 2023.

– We then hear Roman Reigns' theme song and out comes the WWE Universal Champion accompanied by "The Wise Man" of The Bloodline, Paul Heyman. The two head to the ring to kick off this week's show.

As "The Tribal Chief" gets half way down the ramp, his music cuts off and LA Knight's theme hits. The fans go wild as Knight struts past Reigns and Heyman on the ramp and power-walks into the ring like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in his prime. The contract signing for Crown Jewel opens things tonight on SmackDown on FS1.

The two take their respective seats at the table set up in the ring for their contract signing, which SmackDown G.M. Nick Aldis is overseeing. Knight scoots his chair over to the head of the table to taunt Reigns. Knight says we know why we're here, and that's for Reigns to sign the contract and sign over the Universal title to him.

Knight signs and slides the contract over to Reigns. Reigns calmly gets on the mic and calls Knight an idiot. He tells Knight he's gonna take it easy on him since this is his first contract signing and his first championship match. Reigns signs it as fans chant "Roman's scared!" Reigns goes to stand up but Knight stops him.

LA Knight says he's sitting at the head of the table. He tells Roman to acknowledge him. He brings up Roman saying he's gonna go easy on him because this is his first title shot. He tells him if he does, he's already beat. He says he only needs one shot and he's gonna take Reigns' title.

When Knight goes to finish up with his "with everybody sayin..." catchphrase, Reigns pops up and flips the table over Knight long-ways and it flips over the top-rope and damn near hits fans in the front row. Reigns then attacks Knight and heads out to the floor, where he reaches under the ring and pulls out a table.

He briefly struggles to get it in the ring, but does and sets it up. Knight recovers and beats Reigns down. He puts the boots to him in the corner and gets ready to put him through the table, when out of nowhere Jimmy Uso hits the ring and attacks Knight. Reigns and Heyman walk to the back as they order Jimmy to finish Knight off.

Instead, Knight pops up and puts Jimmy through the table. We see Reigns and Heyman looking nervously back at the ring as Knight stands on the top-rope and poses for the crowd. He talks trash to Reigns, who is still looking on, to wrap up the contract signing opener for this week's show.

– The commentators run down the lineup for tonight's opening contest, which features the LWO duo of Santos Escobar and Carlito teaming up to take on The Street Profits duo of Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins. Carlito and Escobar settle into the ring as we head into our first commercial break of the evening.

Carlito & Santos Escobar vs. The Street Profits

When we return, Bobby Lashley's theme hits and he brings out The Street Profits in ring gear that looks similar to Logan Paul's with the black and yellow color and the shiny look. The two come out dancing and are then led to the ring by "The All Mighty" for our first match of the evening here tonight.

The bell sounds and we see Dawkins and Escobar kick things off for their respective teams. We see the Profits settle into the offensive lead and head into a commercial break. When we return, we see Ford beating down Escobar as Rey Mysterio is shown watching on via a monitor backstage.

Carlito finally gets the hot tag and he fires up on offense for his team. As he gets close to finishing off the Profits, we see backstage Logan Paul appear out of nowhere and blast Rey Mysterio with a knockout shot. He leaves him laying and taunts him, telling him it only takes one shot. Back in the ring, the Profits hit their finisher on Santos after Carlito runs off to help Rey.

Winners: The Street Profits

– Backstage, we see Paul Heyman plugging the custom WWE replica titles for the NFL teams. He shows the Green Bay Packers one to Roman Reigns since they're in Milwaukee, WI. tonight. He tells Reigns he's gonna give it to LA Knight tonight because it's the closest he or Wisconsin are ever gonna come to a world champion.

Jimmy Uso comes in and flops down on the couch. Reigns asks where he has been. Uso says he's been in the trainers room getting checked on. Reigns says he ran the wrong play. Uso says he ran an audible. Reigns tells Uso he needs to handle LA Knight tonight. Uso says he's on the injured list he can't do anything tonight.

Reigns doesn't want to hear it and tells Heyman to make the match. Heyman is on it. Uso tries being cool about it and says "Yeet!" Reigns says he told him already he doesn't like that. We head to another commercial break.

– When we return, we see Logan Paul walking backstage. He is asked about knocking out Rey Mysterio after being so nice to him recently. He is super cocky and mentions how his hand is bigger than Rey's head. That's why they have weight classes in boxing.

Logan walks off in arrogant fashion and sees Kevin Owens leaning up against a wall. He makes a quick remark to him and keeps walking. As Owens walks off, he is confronted by Grayson Waller and Austin Theory, who taunt him about his claim that he wants to punch both of their faces.

They argue back-and-forth about whether or not he can do this for real and he actually does, with one punch, knocks them both out. He runs off to brag about how he said he could do this.

– Now we shoot to Dragon Lee who is being interviewed backstage when up walks Cedric Alexander. The two have some words briefly and a match is made for later tonight.

Shotzi vs. Chelsea Green

Back inside the arena, Shotzi's theme hits and out she comes for our next match of the evening. As she settles in the ring, we see earlier today footage of Shotzi talking to Nick Aldis when she is confronted by Piper Niven and Chelsea Green. That is how tonight's match was made.

As the pre-show segment wraps up, we return live in the ring and see Shotzi waiting on the arrival of her opponent. With that said, we head to a quick pre-match commercial break.

When we return, we see Shotzi in the ring and her music dies down. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven make their way out and Corey Graves jokes about Niven still being dressed up like Stevie Knicks for Halloween. The bell sounds and we're off-and-running with this one.

Early on, we see Green taking it to Shotzi, however Shotzi fires up and takes over. She ends up pulling off the win out of nowhere. After the match wraps up, we head into another commercial break.

Winner: Shotzi

– When we return from the break, we hear the familiar sounds of the iconic theme music for John Cena. "The Greatest Of All-Time" makes his way out to the ring and talks about there being a special energy in the air tonight. He says tonight things are serious for him.

It hasn't been this serious since 20 years ago when WWE wanted to fire him. Cena talks about what happened back then, which was that he and the company dug deep and they've turned it into what it is today. He says for the first time in 20 years he's at risk of losing the fans support and respect.

Cena gets choked up and kneels down and gets even more emotional. He stands back up and says we can't ignore the match. The fans interrupt him with a loud "You still got it!" chant. Cena responds, "What if I don't?" He says we can't ignore the data.

He says if he doesn't deliver soon, he loses the respect from the fans and then he loses all of this in WWE. He says he doesn't want to lose it, he wants to keep this ride going. He says so there's only one thing left to do at Crown Jewel -- win. He calls Crown Jewel a must-win for him.

Paul Heyman interrupts with his "Ladies and gentlemen ..." catchphrase. He mentions his name and his job title as he walks to the ring to a ton of boos. Heyman gives Cena credit for being the best talker in history and thanks him for the full house tonight and the many sold out arenas over the years.

Heyman mentions how Cena was the man until he squared off against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam, and it was proven on that night that he is no longer the greatest in the ring. He mentions Cena's vulnerability to the Samoan Spike of Solo Sikoa.

He mentions Cena calling Crown Jewel a must-win, but says he can't. He says that's not a prediction, that's a spoiler. Solo attacks Cena from behind and leaves him laying with two Samoan Spikes. The segment wraps up on that note as the commentators plug their match at next weekend's Crown Jewel.

– We shoot backstage to LA Knight in his ring gear. He talks directly into the camera about what went down in the contract signing earlier in the show. He vows to beat down Jimmy Uso when the two meet later tonight.

Dragon Lee vs. Cedric Alexander

Now we return inside the Fiserv Forum where Dragon Lee's theme hits. Out comes the masked fan-favorite for our next match of the evening. As he makes his way down and settles inside the squared circle, we shift gears and head into a pre-match commercial break.

When we return from the break, we hear Cedric Alexander's theme music. Out he comes as a special video package airs to catch fans up on him. We return live and the bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running.

We see some hard-hitting, high-flying back-and-forth offense and then we head into a mid-match commercial break with both guys down and out on the floor at ringside. When we return, Dragon Lee hits a double-stomp off the top-rope and finishes Alexander off moments later. Great match.

Winner: Dragon Lee

– After We see an extensive video package showing what went down last week that led to Bianca Belair's return. She comes out swinging her giant pony tail as the fans give her a big pop.

When we return, "The EST of WWE" is in the ring and we see Damage CTRL watching on a monitor backstage. She mentions being on the sidelines with one thought on her mind, how she was gonna get vengeance on Damage CTRL.

Belair reveals she will be facing Bayley next week on the show. She says she isn't going to be done until she takes out every member of Damage CTRL and reclaims her WWE Women's Championship.

– We shoot back inside the arena where we hear the commentators remind us what went down in the contract signing at the top of the show. We see video highlights of the segment. From there, Jimmy Uso's theme hits and out he comes for our final match of the evening.

Jimmy Uso vs. LA Knight

As Jimmy Uso settles in the squared circle, we shift gears and head into a pre-match commercial break. When we return, LA Knight's theme hits and out he comes for our main event. He settles in the ring and the bell sounds to get this one off-and-running.

Knight dominates the offense in the early going, taking it to Uso. He controls him on the mat and talks trash to him, all the while Jimmy comedically complains to the referee about Knight "cheating." Knight hits a big back-breaker on Uso that pops the crowd and the commentary team on the broadcast.

Uso starts to fight back and plants "The Mega Star" onto the hard part of the ring apron. On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as our final match of the evening continues. When we return, we see Jimmy still controlling the action as fans try and rally behind Knight with chants of his name.

We see Knight connect with a DDT that shifts the momentum back in his favor. He puts the boots to Uso in the corner of the ring as the fans chant "YEAH! YEAH!" He brings Uso to the floor and bounces his dome off the commentary fans as the fans chant "YEAH! YEAH!" again.

Back in the ring, Uso takes back over and hits a big Samoan Drop for a close near fall. Uso heads to the top-rope and connects with an Uso Splash, but Knight still kicks out of the follow-up pin attempt. Uso goes up for another one but Knight stops him. Knight hits his BFT finisher and picks up the win.

Winner: LA Knight

– After the match, Knight celebrates. Roman Reigns comes out and tries to sneak in a spear, but Knight sees it coming and counters with a BFT. He leaves Reigns laying. Fans chant "LA Knight! LA Knight!" as this week's show goes off the air.