Well, we just witnessed the breakup of the best friends in WWE, Sasha Banks, and Bayley. Bayley viciously assaulted Sasha after they failed to regain their tag team championships from Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler. The assault ended with Bayley putting a steel chair around Sasha's head and then stomping on it from the top rope. Welcome to the third and final part of our WWE SmackDown report.

The official logo for WWE Friday Night Smackdown.
The official logo for WWE Friday Night Smackdown.

WWE SmackDown Report for September 4th, 2020

Sasha Banks is wheeled into an ambulance. Michael Cole and Corey Graves are totally shocked and saddened by these events. They're at about an 8out of 10 on the Owen Hart just fell from the ceiling scale.

Sami Zayn comes to the ring. He complains that the ring announcer should have announced him as the Intercontinental Champion. The announcer says it wasn't in his notes. Sami calls up the stage manager, who gives the same excuse. Sami is very mad.

Jeff Hardy comes out and says Sami didn't have to attack him last week. If he wanted a match for the Intercontinental Championship, all he had to do was ask. Sami says he's the real champ, so it should be Hardy asking. Hardy says "nuh-uh." Sami says "uh-huh."

AJ Styles comes out. He says he's the real champion because Hardy cheated to beat him. Hardy says if AJ is healed, Hardy is ready to defend his belt. Styles attacks him. Zayn tries to join him in assaulting Hardy, but Styles kicks him in the head and goes for the Styles Clash. Hardy hits a Twist of Fate on Styles. Sami hits a Helluva Kick on Hardy and leaves with his version of the belt.

Cole and Graves present breaking news: Jey Uso will take Big E's place in the fatal four-way tonight.  Speaking of which, Matt Riddle makes his way to the ring for that very same fatal four-way.

We get a video package for someone walking in heels with a fur coat and a sort of 1980s feel to the lighting and music. Not sure who it was. Lacey Evans? Why? Someone new?

Backstage, Tucker is worried about Otis's Money in the Bank contract since John Morrison stole it earlier tonight. Otis reveals he doesn't keep his contract in the briefcase. He keeps it in his Money in the Bank lunchbox. Otis asks what's in the briefcase then. Cut to… Morrison opens up the briefcase and finds random office equipment and a sandwich. He considers eating the sandwich, but Miz stops him.

Jey Uso visits the large, private dressing room of Roman Reigns to thank him for getting him in the four-way. Roman is chilling on a leather couch. Uso tells Roman he owes him. Roman says Paul Heyman made that happen and it's time to start showing Paul some respect. Jey says he can't wait to win and have a great match with Roman at Clash of Champions. Roman says we'll see. Roman tells him he knows his brother would win and he knows he would win. So can Jey get one on his own this time? Dickhead Roman is god damn awesome.

Baron Corbin is carried out on a god damn palanquin. What is happening? Smackdown is great tonight!

The Ratings King of Friday Nights starts shouting about how Jey Uso doesn't deserve to be in this match. Matt Riddle runs up the ramp and attacks him. They brawl on the stage. Sheamus runs out and attacks Riddle. Uso runs out and attacks Corbin. Everyone gets to brawling. Smackdown goes to commercials.

Uh… now it's a Firefly Funhouse. Isn't there a match going on? Bray says he's down in the dumps because "he" lost his toy again. Bray says a brand new friend is coming to the Firefly Funhouse next week. That's it. Okay, now is it time for the match?

Nope. Alexa Bliss approaches Nikki Cross backstage. Alexa apologizes for breaking her coffee mug last week. She doesn't know what came over her. She hopes Nikki will forgive her. Nikki says of course she does and starts to talk more, but Alexa hugs her, thanks her, and walks away.

Okay, NOW it's time for the match.

Matt Riddle vs. Baron Corbin vs. Sheamus vs. Jey Uso – #1 Contender Match

  • Riddle and Uso clear the heels out of the ring so they can have a nice clean wrasslin' match, god damn it!
  • It doesn't last long before Corbin pulls Uso out of the ring.
  • Corbin and Sheamus team up on Riddle in the ring for a while.
  • Uso and Riddle team up to take on Corbin and Sheamus.
  • Riddle hits End of Days on Uso as Sheamus hits the Irish Curse on Riddle. They both pin and the ref counts both pins at once. Both kick out at two. Funny spot.
  • Smackdown takes a commercial break.
  • Sheamus and Corbin fight after the break. Then Sheamus hits his chest punching thing on Uso. Michael Cole asks "could this be Sheamus's time?!" so we know he's not winning tonight.
  • Matt Riddle gets his turn beating up Corbin and Sheamus. Sheamus kicks out of a German Suplex pinning combo.
  • Riddle tries a triangle but Sheamus picks him up into a powerbomb, which gets a two-count.
  • Sheamus tries a cloverleaf but Uso kicks him in the head.
  • Corbin goes for a chokeslam on Uso but Uso blocks.
  • Uso is fired up. Superkicks for everyone! He goes for a suicide dive but Corbin uppercuts him.
  • Sheamus and Riddle dump Corbin over the barricade into the Thunderdome crowd. Uso hits a dive over the top rope on both of them.
  • Uso brawls with Corbin in the "crowd," but Corbin tosses him over the first row of screens.
  • Corbin brings Riddle in the ring and goes for End of Days, but gets a Brogue Kick from Sheamus.
  • Riddle hits Bro to Sleep on Sheamus and a Floating Bro on Corbin. He's gonna win…
  • But Jey Uso hits a frog splash on Riddle out of nowhere and gets the pin!

Yeah, I know it was predictable from the moment he was added, but it's still cool to see Jey Uso get a big win like that. The piped-in cheers agree. These pre-recorded sounds are going wild!

Kayla Braxton interviews Jey Uso after the match. She asks how important the victory was. "Yessir!Yessir! Hey Big Dog! I made the family proud too! But guess what! For Roman Reigns, it's lockdown! Welcome… you know the rest! Wooooo!" Smackdown goes off the air with Uso basking in the victory.

Man, I don't know what happened, but Smackdown was really good tonight. Arrogant, asshole heel Roman Reigns, oozing disdain for everyone around him, is everything I hoped he would be. The Bayley vs. Sasha storyline is finally moving along. Tonight's show only had three matches, but a ton of non-match segments that advanced storylines. Everything felt well-paced and flowed together. The pacing at the end, with various segments taking place AFTER the entrances for the main event started, was particularly enjoyable.

Can WWE keep this up? I have no idea. I hope so, but, you know, I've been a fan of wrestling for like 35 years, so I know better than to get my hopes up too much. But credit where it is due: SmackDown tonight was a great show.

This post is part of a multi-part series: WWE Smackdown Report for September 4th, 2020.

About Jude Terror

A prophecy once said that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero would come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events.

Sadly, that prophecy was wrong. Oh, Jude Terror was right. For ten years. About everything. But nobody listened. And so, Jude Terror has moved on to a more important mission: turning Bleeding Cool into a pro wrestling dirt sheet!

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