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WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 9/3: King of the Ring Second Rounders Ali vs. Elias and Gable vs. Andrade, I’m Still Waiting for That Apology Big Dog, That’s What You Get Kofi, Come Try and Get a Hug Now

By Frank Peteani, PWTorch Specialist

September 3, 2019

Chad Gable (photo credit Brandon LeClair © PWTorch)
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER
SEPTEMBER 3, 2019
NORFOLK, VA. AT THE NORFOLK SCOPE ARENA
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

Arena and Items Advertised by WWE

WWE Smackdown returns to the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, VA. after last appearing on the Halloween episode in October of 2017. The arena opened in 1971 and was an occasional venue for Jim Crockett Promotions which of course eventually became WCW. Events such as Starrcade, Clash of the Champions, World War 3, and the Great American Bash took place here. TNA even snuck in with a Destination X event in 2008. WWE began coming here in 2002 with their events. The 2012 Tribute to the Troops December tradition emanated from this arena.

We continue on course for the September 15th Clash of Champions. The two second round matches of the King of the Ring tournament matches take place tonight, as well as some storyline follow-up:

  • Ali clashes with Elias in King of the ring quarterfinal action
  • Chad Gable battles Andrade in King of the Ring quarterfinal showdown
  • Will Roman Reigns apologize to Daniel Bryan?
  • Will Kofi Kingston be out for payback after Orton’s vicious attack?
  • What will be the fallout of Bayley’s shocking attack on Becky Lynch?

Matches & Segments:

King of the Ring Second Round Matches: Ali vs. Elias and Chad Gable vs. Andrade

Tonight, the two second round Smackdown matches of the King of the Ring tournament take place as Ali takes on Elias and Chad Gable goes one on one with Andrade. Last week, Ali defeated Buddy Murphy who had recently lost to Roman Reigns but defeated Daniel Bryan. Murphy had also been involved in the ongoing whodunnit story with Roman Reigns. Chad Gable defeated former tag team partner Shelton Benjamin.

Ali goes one-on-one with Elias. They have not met on TV to date but will vie to advance to the Smackdown finals next week. Ali was recently involved with Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and holds a non-title victory over him, which WWE hasn’t discussed much since it happened. Elias has been involved with the 24/7 Championship as of late, and last week sat on the throne soon people will chant “Long Live King Elias.” He lost the 24/7 title to Drake Maverick, who got out of Baton Rouge in a hurry:

Does anybody know if he consummated his marriage? He’s been quiet on Twitter. I haven’t slept well not knowing. No, I’ve actually been fine. Anyway, Chad Gable takes on Andrade. They also go at it for the first time. Here are WWE exclusives from both men:

Frank’s Analysis: Again, I say these WWE exclusives are better than the promos we see on TV. That said, let’s hope Ali gets past Elias because him against either Chad Gable or Andrade will be a very nice Smackdown final match. I’ll pick Ali vs. Andrade as that seems to be the most logical, but Ali vs. Gable works too! Elias has no business going any further in this tournament.

Storyline Follow-Up:

Daniel Bryan Still Wants an Apology from Roman Reigns

Last week, as Roman Reigns stood in the ring in his allotted timeslot to apologize to Daniel Bryan, he revealed footage of the equipment falling on him that somehow wasn’t available for a month. In the upper right-hand corner was a person with a beard wearing a hoodie, which appeared to be red. Rowan looked shocked and Daniel Bryan smacked him, expressing frustration with “being betrayed.” He went to the ring and continued to yell saying he had nothing to do with this, that someone had Rowan attack him. Roman then speared Bryan.

Daniel Bryan released this statement to WWE.com, which was shown on Raw last night as well when Michael Cole talked about the story that has been “gripping WWE as of late” :

“Roman Reigns speared me last week and I understand his frustration. I know how it looks. I know a lot of people don’t like me and I know I seem guilty by association, but that doesn’t make me a liar. Erick Rowan is the one to blame and I have had nothing to do with this. Therefore, I still deserve an apology from Roman Reigns.”

We’ll see if this apology comes tonight. Here’s Roman on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/WWERomanReigns/status/1166781756395200513?s=20

Frank’s Analysis: I can’t believe I typed all of this with a straight face.

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston Response to Randy Orton Attack

Last week, Kofi Kingston opened Smackdown discussing how he had attacked Randy Orton and the Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) with a chair a week earlier. He cited how they made it personal going after his family and trying to take out his New Day partner, Xavier Woods. (Woods is fine BTW as he appeared on the FOX Fall Lineup Preview show with Big E) At any rate, Orton interrupted calling Kofi “stupid” god knows how many times. He read a “fan letter” begging him to stop hurting Kofi, and that he is so mean because he makes Kofi cry at night. He said Kofi isn’t just his hero, but rather his dad. Kofi did not take too kindly and went to the back, only to be intercepted by Orton in Gorilla. Orton DDT’d him onto a table.

Later on, Big E took on Randy Orton but came up short. He was later RKO’d by Orton with help from the Revival. Here’s Orton and Kofi on Twitter:

Orton challenges Kofi for the WWE Championship at Clash of Champions in a rematch from SummerSlam.

The Fallout of Bayley’s Attack on Becky Lynch on Raw

Last night on Raw, the “champions” all got together in a matter of speaking as Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley and Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch teamed up to face Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross. The match ended when Sasha Banks, who had come down to watch the match, attacked Becky causing Bliss & Cross to be DQ’d

Sasha would proceed to attack Becky with a chair when she would be stopped by Bayley. After several minutes they smiled at each other when Bayley would proceed to attack Becky with the chair, turning heel for the first time in her WWE tenure including her time in NXT. Earlier in the evening, Bayley acknowledged that Sasha was still her best friend. What they had discussed was private. When Sarah Schreiber tried to talk to Sasha, she told her to get out of her face. Here’s a tweet from WWE which includes a WWE.com exclusive of what happened after Raw went off the air. At least Bayley is still a hugger. Also see a tweet from Sasha:

Earlier in the evening, we learned Sasha will challenge Becky for the Raw Women’s Championship at Clash of Champions. Bayley puts the Smackdown title on the line against Charlotte Flair.

Frank’s Analysis: Let me just get this out of the way. This could have been done in 2017 when she was feuding with Alexa Bliss and they had that Kendo Stick match. Last year Bayley attacked Sasha on Raw in what appeared to be a heel turn. You could even go back to when she first won the Raw title from Charlotte with the help of Sasha Banks and refused to give back the title. Her babyface booking on the main roster has been terrible. With that said, this is the refresh she desperately needed, and we’ll see where it goes from here. It’ll be interesting to see if things stay status quo with the match against Charlotte. Clash of Champions is in Charlotte, N.C., so Charlotte is going to get cheered anyway if the match stays as is. Ember Moon could get slotted into the match to make it a triple threat. She could certainly be the buffer if they want to protect Charlotte.

Other Match Results and Segments from Last Week

  • The Miz challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship at Clash of Champions. Sami Zayn came out and talked about Shinsuke being the King of Strong Style while Miz is the King of Soft Style. Nakamura attacked Miz from behind and would give him two Kinshasas. The Miz got his match as requested. Last night he defeated Cesaro.
  • Bayley defeated Lacey Evans in a non-title match.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome. Thank you for reading!

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