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SmackDown Live kicked off with the debut of WWE United States Champion Kevin Owens. Owens came out and welcomed fans to the ‘brand new Kevin Owens show’. He said he was the WWE United States Champion even though he was a Canadian. As the fans got more riled up, Owens said everyone knew that Canadian athletes were better than the average athlete.
Owens continued saying that he could take out anyone in the arena or in the locker room. He ended his speech saying that he was the new face of SmackDown LIVE and the new face of America.
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Baron Corbin’s music hit at this point. He said that he was sure that Owens could beat anyone in the arena or in the locker room, but not him. Corbin then said that he beat Ambrose last week which meant he could beat Owens too and he wanted a title match.
At this point, Sami Zayn’s music hit – making Zayn the second new member of the SmackDown Live roster. As Owens lost it after seeing Zayn follow him to the blue brand, AJ Styles built.
AJ came out and stated that SmackDown Live was his show and he was still there when Daniel Bryan came out. He stated that Owens was set to face Chris Jericho at Payback and whoever won that match would be on SmackDown and to find the #1 contender, we’d have a triple threat match later in the night between AJ Styles, Sami Zayn and Baron Corbin.
Randy Orton vs Erick Rowan
Randy Orton was the favourite going into this match but the newly returned Erick Rowan started off strong. He got some offence in the corner before Randy Orton hit his trademark Powerslam. He followed it up by working on Rowan’s foot which sent Rowan rolling out to ringside.
When Orton joined him, Rowan charged in at Orton who sidestepped him and sent him crashing into the steel steps. Orton followed it up with the Draping DDT and was signalling for the RKO when the lights went out and Bray Wyatt came up on the titantron.
After Bray was done with his warning, Rowan smashed the steel steps into Randy Orton.
Randy Orton wins by DQ
Rowan then finished Orton off with the Full Nelson slam.
The Usos (C) vs American Alpha
The question heading into this match was whether there would be any RAW tag-teams that would show up during or after the match, but that question was for later.
Jason Jordan and Jey Uso started off. Jordan took Uso down before driving his shoulders into Jey Uso. Jordan then tagged in Gable but Jey Uso drove him into the Uso’s corner and tagged his brother Jimmy in.
Gable and Jordan double-teamed Jimmy with a double leg-snap before tossing him over the top rope as we headed into the break.
We came back from commercial to see Jey Uso hit Jason Jordan with a jumping kick before tagging in Jimmy Uso. Jordan then sidestepped Jimmy Uso who crashed into the ringpost before Jordan tagged in Gable.
Gable hit Jimmy with a German Suplex before hitting both Uso’s with an exploder suplex each. Gable then went to the top rope and hit Jimmy Uso with a moonsault for a nearfall. He then locked in the rope-assisted armbar on Jey Uso but Jimmy broke it up with a Superkick.
At this point, Jimmy Uso went for a Frog Splash but Gable got the knees up. Alpha then double teamed Jimmy Uso with the top-rope bulldog but Jey broke up the count.
Both the Uso’s then looked to hit suicide dives but American Alpha caught them in midair and hit stereo exploder Suplexes. Back in the ring, the Uso’s took advantage of a confusing situation to hit Gable with a Superkick followed by a Frog Splash to retain their titles.
The Usos def. American Alpha
The Shining Stars ambushed American Alpha after the match, making them the newest faces on SmackDown Live.
Mojo Rawley vs Jinder Mahal
Mojo Rawley faced his former-foe Jinder Mahal tonight on SmackDown Live. Jinder was one of the new additions to the SmackDown Live roster but this match didn’t really do any good for either member. The match itself was slow and plodding. It was also uneventful till Jinder left the ring to confront Rob Gronkowski who threw his beer into Jinder’s face.
Mojo followed it up by the running forearm to finish Jinder off for the win.
Mojo Rawley def. Jinder Mahal
What’s the point of having a Superstar who has just moved to your brand lose their first match?
Shane McMahon addresses the state of the SmackDown Women’s Division
Shane McMahon came out next to address the state of the SmackDown Live women’s division. Shane invited the SmackDown Live women out to the ring to find out which women would be joining the roster. He was joined by Carmella, Naomi, Becky Lynch and Natalya.
Shane then invited one of the new additions – Tamina. Even Shane knew that everyone was expecting Charlotte to come out so instead of teasing the fans further, he then introduced the last member to join SmackDown’s women’s division – Charlotte!
Two more additions to SmackDown’s roster was announced after this – Sin Cara and Rusev.
Aiden English vs Tye Dillinger
Tye Dillinger came out to a massive pop from the fans and he started the match off strong against Aiden English who has just started his singles career. After a brief spell of offence from English, Dillinger got the momentum back and sunk his boots into English to chants of “Ten” before finishing English off with a Tye Breaker.
Tye Dillinger def. Aiden English
Shinsuke Nakamura interrupts Dolph Ziggler
We came back from the break to see Dolph Ziggler in the middle of the ring. He tells fans that he is going nowhere and will still be on SmackDown Live – the show he made cool.
Shinsuke Nakamura’s music hit at this moment and the crowd went nuts. They sang Nakamura’s theme song as he headed down to the ring to confront Dolph Ziggler. They continued singling as Ziggler asked Nakamura who he was.
Nakamura finally took the mic and asked Ziggler if he really wanted to know who he was. The chants only got louder as Nakamura ‘introduced himself’. Ziggler looked to blindside Nakamura with a Superkick but Nakamura caught his foot and taunted him. Ziggler, for his part, decided to scurry away from the ring and fight another day.
Before the main-event, it was announced that New Day would be joining SmackDown Live.
Sami Zayn vs Baron Corbin vs AJ Styles (#1 contender’s match for the WWE United States Championship)
AJ and Zayn had a clear strategy going into this one – try to take Corbin out first. But, that didn’t work well in the beginning as Corbin hit the two of them with a double suplex before wiping AJ out of the ring. Both men regrouped, however, to clothesline Corbin out of the ring before going at each other.
With Styles on the outside, Sami went for a suicide dive only for Corbin to grab his foot and drag him out. Corbin then took out Styles before he launched Sami in the air. Sami grabbed onto the ropes and hit a rope-assisted moonsault on Corbin and AJ.
We came back from commercial to see Corbin in control. He Irish-whipped Zayn into the turnbuckle before turning his attention to AJ Styles, hitting him with knee strikes. He followed it up with a sidewalk slam to Sami Zayn and a big boot to AJ.
Styles tried to hit back with a combo of strikes but Corbin floored him with a stiff right hand. Zayn then launched Styles out of the ring and hit Corbin with an Exploder Suplex into the corner. Zayn looked to follow it up with a Helluva Kick but AJ hit him with an Ushi Goroshi. Corbin immediately took AJ down with a massive clothesline, almost beheading Styles.
Corbin was the first one back up to his feet as he hit Sami with right hands. As Corbin looked to regroup after an Irish Whip from Zayn, AJ blindsided him with a knee to the face. When AJ re-entered the ring, Sami hit him with a Blue Thunder Bomb for the nearfall.
Sami then went for a Superplex but Corbin came in looking for an electric chair. AJ looked to take advantage and hit a Phenomenal Forearm but Zayn dodged it and rolled Corbin up for a 2-count. Corbin replied with a Deep Six for a 2-count with AJ breaking up the pin.
Corbin then looked to hit a spear into the corner but AJ dodged it, sending Corbin shoulder-first into the ringpost. He followed it up with an enzeguiri before connecting with a perfect 450 Splash. This should have been it but Sami Zayn broke up the pinfall.
Zayn and Styles then traded right hands before AJ landed his strike combo. With both Corbin and Zayn in opposite corners, AJ hit a couple of running forearms before Zayn came in and hit big boots to both men. Styles replied with an attempted Styles Clash but Sami broke out and hit Corbin with a Helluva Kick. Styles took advantage and hit a Phenomenal Forearm for the win.
AJ Styles def. Sami Zayn and Baron Corbin
A phenomenal match to end SmackDown Live. That was absolutely incredible.
Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE
