SmackDown Results: Judgment Day Attack AJ Styles

September 8, 2023 John Kleinchester NEWS, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: WWE

September 8, 2023
TD Garden – Boston, MA

By: John Kleinchester

 

A Wild Asuka Appears

SmackDown kicked off with Charlotte Flair and Shotzi taking on Bayley and WWE Women’s Champion Iyo Sky. The match began and exactly one minute later we had our first commercial break of the evening. As we returned from break, Damage CTRL was in CTRL of the match until Shotzi was able to make the tag to Charlotte as Flair fought off both their opponents. Charlotte got Bayley into the Figure Eight but was hit by a Meteora by Iyo Sky. Suddenly Asuka appeared behind Dakota Kai and stole Iyo’s Championship belt. This distracted Damage CTRL and led to Shotzi hitting a Fisherman DDT for the victory. After the match, Asuka and Iyo faced off in the ring and made it clear she wanted a title shot. 

Backstage Bayley said Asuka should mind her own business or they would put her out of action like they did Bianca Belair. Iyo Sky said she was ready for Asuka and seemingly accepted the challenge for the title.

Are You In? Or Are You In-In?

Backstage Jimmy Uso approached Paul Heyman and said no one told him anything about being out of The Bloodline so he is still in. Heyman said that Solo Sikoa and Roman Reigns are not there tonight and Jimmy is not “in” until the Tribal Chief says so. Heyman said to handle AJ Styles tonight and he would handle Jimmy Uso business with the Tribal Chief and he would bring this family back together. Heyman ran into Styles about five steps away from where he was talking to Jimmy and the two got into an argument which led to Jimmy jumping Styles from behind and taking him out. Heyman then spoke into his phone saying “Call Roman Reigns” with a surprised/positive inflection in his voice.

Later backstage, AJ Styles said that Jimmy Uso could jump him as many times as he wanted but he was still going to win tonight. Paul Heyman was then asking Adam Pearce who was getting traded from SmackDown when LA Knight interrupted and Heyman introduced himself to Knight as a huge admirer of his work but then said next time to knock first when he was doing business. Knight responded with “Yeah”.

LA Knight Came to Play

LA Knight vs. Austin Theory was up next but before Theory was introduced Knight got on the mic and referenced The Miz’s performance against an invisible John Cena on Raw this past week. Then this happened:

Then went on to say he didn’t want or ask for John Cena or his endorsement. Grayson Waller interrupted and introduced Austin Theory and the pair claimed that John Cena helped Knight win. Theory said that he had already beaten both John Cena and LA Knight. Knight then challenged Theory to a match even though it had already been announced earlier in the night.

After the break, the match began with Grayson Waller on commentary where he announced that John Cena would be his guest on The Grayson Waller Effect next week. When the referee’s back was turned Waller jumped up on the ring and removed the turnbuckle pad. Theory almost threw Knight into the exposed buckle but Knight was able to reverse at the last second and hit the BFT for the win. After the match, Waller tried to jump Knight but got caught and backed off. All throughout this match, the commentary team kept talking about how Austin Theory, LA Knight, and John Cena were getting “the rub” from Grayson Waller. 

Judgment Dominance

Up next was Finn Bálor & Damien Priest taking on The Brawling Brutes. In a funny moment before the match, announcer Mike Rowe accidentally announced the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Champions as “Finn Bálor & Dominic… Damien Priest!” Judgment Day got on the mic and said Dom noted that Rhea Ripley was in India for Superstar Spectacle and the crowd booed loudly. (Side note: it seemed as though they purposefully lowered Dom’s mic audio and upped the crowd booing during this, especially since it was referenced by the Brutes a few minutes later). Priest then said they were proud of Ripley and they did something that Roman Reigns and The Bloodline couldn’t do – beat Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens for the Undisputed Tag Team titles.

The Brawling Brutes interrupted and scoffed at Judgment Day calling themselves the best group in WWE. Butch then snapped Bálor’s fingers and we went to break before the match began. Much like Knight vs. Theory, this was the second match of the night where it was treated as if the match wasn’t already announced previously.

As we returned from the commercial, the match was already underway as Michael Cole noted that Sheamus was not there tonight and was nursing an injury. During the match, Pretty Deadly were shown watching in the back twice complete with Elton Prince in both a wheelchair and a sling. Cole noted that The Brawling Brutes caused Prince’s injury several weeks ago. Judgment Day won clean with the South of Heaven and Coup de Grâce combo. After the match, Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits came out and went face to face with The Judgment Day. Lashley said The Bloodline is crumbling but that they are taking over, not The Judgment Day. 

Backstage, Luke Gallows was doing his Howard Finkle impression when AJ Styles approached and got in their faces about Jimmy Uso jumping him but Karl Anderson retorted that they told him not to get involved with The Bloodline. AJ Styles said he didn’t want them anywhere near his match tonight. 

Next, a Superstar Spectacle recap video from India was shown. Then it was announced that next week, The Miz would take on LA Knight again and in two weeks Asuka would get her title match against Iyo Sky.

The Main Event

Finally, our main event saw Jimmy (only two Ms this week) Uso taking on AJ Styles. Both men had no one in their corner – one because he demanded it and the other was trying to regain his group’s trust. Styles began the match more aggressively than he has been lately and dominated the early goings. Suddenly, Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa appeared and Jimmy was happy, thinking they had come to help him defeat Styles.

At one point, Styles went to go for the Phenomenal Forearm but saw Sikoa out of the corner of his eye and moved to the other side of the apron but was met with a superkick by Jimmy who then tried to “show off” for Sikoa and Heyman by beating down Styles. AJ then jumped both Jimmy and Solo and then hit Uso with the Phenomenal Forearm for the clean victory. 

After the match, Damien Priest and Finn Bálor attacked Styles from behind and threw him to Solo Sikoa who hit him with the Samoan Spike. As the show went off the air, Corey Graves quipped “If battle lines are being drawn, I think you want The Bloodline on your side”. 

 

Announced for SmackDown Next Week in Denver, CO:

  • LA Knight vs. The Miz

Announced for SmackDown in Two Weeks in Glendale, AZ

  • WWE Women’s Championship: Iyo Sky vs. Asuka

Friday Night SmackDown Results:

  • Charlotte Flair & Shotzi over Iyo Sky & Bayley in 9:04
  • LA Knight over Austin Theory in 9:25
  • Finn Bálor & Damien Priest over The Brawling Brutes in 13:28 (estimated – match began during break)
  • Jimmy Uso over AJ Styles in 15:54

 

About John Kleinchester 204 Articles
New Jersey born and raised. Wrestling fan since Lex slammed Yokozuna on the deck of the USS Intrepid. Favorite Wrestler of all time is Owen "The Rocket" Hart.
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