WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 9/17: Continued Clash of Champions Fallout, It’s a Six-Man Yes It Is, Here Ye Here Ye All Hail King Corbin, A Bludgeoning Reunion, Shane Talks Owens Firing

WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER
SEPTEMBER 17, 2019
ATLANTA, GA. AT THE STATE FARM 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

We continue to move away from Clash of Champions tonight as we get ready for another edition of Smackdown. The “blue brand” emanates from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA tonight after appearing last October. The arena opened in 1999 and has hosted not only WWE TV events, but PPVs including the 2010 Royal Rumble which saw Edge surprise everyone and return six months earlier than what had been planned. He won the match and would go on to challenge Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship at the ensuing WrestleMania. Roman Reigns won his first WWE Championship in this building at the 2015 Survivor Series but would lose it moments later to Sheamus as he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. WCW held a few Nitros in this building as well upon opening.

There is a quick turnaround in terms of current PPVs as Hell in a Cell, which is slated to take place October 6th, returns to this building after appearing in 2012. Here is what’s advertised for tonight’s show thus far:

• The New Day meet Randy Orton & The Revival in Six-Man Tag Team Match
• King Corbin ready for his coronation
• Erick Rowan sits down for interview after Clash of Champions reunion
• Shane McMahon to address firing of Kevin Owens
• Will Bayley’s dirty victory over Charlotte Flair catch up to her?

Matches & Segments:

New Day (WWE Champion Kofi Kingston & Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. Randy Orton and Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)

This past Sunday, New Day was unsuccessful in their attempt to continue to “the gold” if you will as the Revival took the Smackdown Tag Team Championship from New Day. The Revival has now held the NXT, Raw, and Smackdown Tag Team titles in their WWE career. Following the match, they cut a promo talking about there’ll be no more swiveling and “all that other stuff” New Day does. Kofi Kingston, however, was successful as he defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship as he continues his reign that started with a victory over Daniel Bryan at this year’s WrestleMania. Kofi expressed his disappointment on Twitter despite retaining his title:

Bittersweet feeling tonight at #WWEClash. We came up short, but we also succeeded & around here, we take what we can get. Won’t be long until we’re back at full force. In the meantime, I don’t wanna hear ANYTHING from @RandyOrton anymore! #WeStillChamp

— KOFI (@TrueKofi) September 16, 2019

New Day, Orton, and the Revival have been circling each other for quite some time now. Most notably, Revival injured Woods’ knee with Orton restraining Kofi about a month ago on Raw:

A full-strength New Day takes on Randy Orton and the Revival tonight in six-man tag team action.

Frank’s Analysis: Despite Kofi getting a clean win over Orton this past Sunday, they likely may be looking to continue the feud even though it may be hard pressed to get people interested in seeing more matches between these two. Sunday’s match was decent, but not really defining for Kofi. I thought they had a Hell in a Cell match in their future, but with Rollins vs. Wyatt and Lynch vs. Banks in those matches at the next PPV, that’s probably not going to happen. I’m sure Big E & Woods will look to get a title match out of the Revival. The rosters get reset Oct 11th and 14th, so I could see WWE wanting to squeeze a little more juice out the feud with these guys.

The Coronation of “King” Baron Corbin

Last night on Raw Baron Corbin took his place with “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Harley Race, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Bret “Hit Man” Hart, and countless other legends as he won the 2019 King of the Ring tournament defeating Chad Gable in the finals. He becomes the first “King” since 2015 when Wade Barrett won the honor. Here’s Corbin in a WWE exclusive with Kayla Braxton and also Chad Gable:

 

Corbin gets coronated tonight.

Frank’s Analysis: I said for a while this thing had Baron Corbin written all over it. I wanted to be wrong, as there were better choices and better things that could have been done with this tournament, but Vince McMahon can’t help himself with Corbin. We’ll see if it gets him more heat and gets him more over as a heel, but my money is no. It didn’t work with having him beat Kurt Angle at WrestleMania, it didn’t work during his mega-push times, and I don’t see it working now.

Sit-down Interview with Erick Rowan

This past Sunday at Clash of Champions, Erick Rowan defeated Roman Reigns in a no-DQ match which came as a result of Rowan being the man behind recent attacks on Reigns on both Raw and Smackdown. He had some help though, as long-time Wyatt Family and Bludgeon Brother partner Luke Harper returned to WWE television. As Rowan and Reigns were brawling on the outside of the ring, Harper intercepted Reigns as he was attempting to spear Rowan.

It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen Harper. What this means for Rowan’s and his future remains to be seen. Rowan sits down for an interview tonight to address this and his hostilities towards Reigns.

Frank’s Analysis: Maybe I’m looking too much into things, but Drew McIntyre loses to Reigns in nine minutes at WrestleMania and never got a win over him that I recall. Yet Shane McMahon and Rowan get wins? I know there were shenanigans both times, but still. McIntyre is 100 times better than those guys combined. Maybe I shouldn’t care about this, but it crossed my mind. Anyway, hopefully the Bludgeon Brothers aren’t reuniting. If they want Rowan and Harper to join forces that’s fine. Let them be a dominant tandem. Leave the goofy costumes and bludgeoning promos somewhere else.

Shane McMahon to Address Firing of Kevin Owens

Last week, Shane McMahon replaced Elias in the King of the Ring tournament Smackdown final match against Chad Gable. Kevin Owens, looking to get his $100,000 fine lifted, was the special guest referee chosen by Shane who was looking for Owens to do “the right thing.” Gable won the match as a result of Owens’ fast count, but Shane made the match two-out-of-three falls. Gable would still win as he tapped out Shane to his ankle lock. Owens was then attacked by Shane and fired. See my on-site report here at PWTorch.com if you want more details as well as Wade Keller’s and Brandon LeClair’s TV reports.

Owens is always animated on Twitter about his life and his family. He posted a few things “wise-ass” tweets regarding what happened to Becky Lynch as she accidentally struck an official at Clash of Champions. It was striking Elias that got Owens the $100,000 fine. Here are those tweets:

I guess Becky’s fired.

— Kevin (@FightOwensFight) September 16, 2019

https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/1173593020534595590?s=20

Owens also tweeted the numbers that coincide with the letters N-X-T:

14-24-20

— Kevin (@FightOwensFight) September 11, 2019

Shane addresses Owens’ firing tonight.

Frank’s Analysis: Last week was a mess on a lot of levels. There’s no need to rehash it. There are rumors of Owens going to NXT, which isn’t surprising at least to me especially with NXT going to the USA Network. The question is, is that seen as a demotion? They talk about NXT being the third “international touring brand,” but it still seems like the developmental territory. We’ll see how that changes with the move to cable TV. I hate that I think this, but Owens may be better off in NXT. Adam Cole is going to need an opponent for the championship. Owens vs. Cole could work for the next Takeover.

Storyline Follow-Up

Bayley’s “Dirty” Victory over Charlotte Flair

You think Ric Flair is the dirtiest player in the game? You clearly haven’t met the “hugger.” Bayley retained her Smackdown Women’s Championship over Charlotte Flair in a surprisingly quick match. She exposed the lower turnbuckle with the referee’s back turned and rammed Charlotte’s head into it and scored the pin. She then ran off with the title. Here she is in a WWE.com exclusive:

Frank’s Analysis: While I thought this match could have been more, overall, they were smart to have Bayley show what she is willing to do to keep her championship. She is a different kind of heel, and I’m interested to see what she does as I think a lot of people are which is good.

Other Match Results and Segments from Last Week

• Undertaker made a special appearance at MSG. He was interrupted by Sami Zayn and gave him a chokeslam.
• The Miz defeated Andrade and was attacked by Shinsuke Nakamura in advance of their Intercontinental Championship match this past Sunday at Clash of Champions. Nakamura retained with the help of Sami Zayn.
• Nikki Cross defeated Mandy Rose
• Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker) won a squash match
• Bayley defeated Ember Moon in a non-title match

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