LA Knight enters his match against Seth Rollins at less than 100%, similar to their encounter at Money in the Bank. Rollins’ empire laid waste to Knight on WWE SmackDown, putting Knight in a defensive position at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Knight spoiled Rollins’ perfect night on Monday Night Raw. Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, working at Rollins and Paul Heyman’s behest, did the same to Knight on Friday. Knight won SmackDown’s main event, but looked like anything but a winner as the show went off the air.
SmackDown also featured an unexpected encounter between social media star Logan Paul and music star Jelly Roll, a brewing feud also involving Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Knight gets squashed by Breakker, Reed
Knight kicked off SmackDown, aiming at Rollins and Heyman. The self-proclaimed “Megastar” claimed his intentions, above all, were to hurt Rollins at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Knight provoked Heyman, who hyped his clients as WWE’s future. Heyman deemed Knight, by contrast, as futureless. Their conversation was cut short by Solo Sikoa’s posse. Sikoa urged Heyman to flee before winding up in the center of a wrecked announcers’ table. Sikoa, JC Mateo, Tala Tonga and Tonga Loa circled the ring like a wolf pack. Before they could lunge, Jimmy Uso rescued Knight. SmackDown general manager regained control long and booked a tag team main event pitting Knight and Uso against Siko and Mateo.
Jimmy Uso and LA Knight def. Solo Sikoa and JC Mateo via pinfall after Uso rolled up Sikoa. Post-match, Sikoa’s allies chased Uso while Sikoa blamed Heyman for distracting him. Knight planted Sikoa with a BFT, but walked into Breakker’s spear and Reed’s tsunami splash.Â
A lively environment will always earn high marks from me. The intersecting issues between Knight, Rollins’ empire and Sikoa’s tribe — which further extends to CM Punk, Sami Zayn, Jacob Fatu and Uso — create ample storytelling opportunities. WWE neatly tied together multiple story beats for Saturday Night’s Main Event. Rollins vs. Knight doesn’t feel like a big ticket item, but it’s refreshing to WWE’s main event scene. Grade: B+
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
- Alexa Bliss def. Kairi Sane, Roxanne Perez and Sol Ruca via pinfall after hitting Sane with Sister Abigail.
- WWE Tag Team Championships —Â The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy) def. The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c) via pinfall to win the titles. Interference by Erick Rowan gave the challengers a chance to double-team Ford.
- Logan Paul crashed country musician Jelly Roll’s live performance. Randy Orton defended Roll before Drew McIntyre attacked. The segment ended with Jelly Roll rescuing Orton from Paul.
- Ron Killings def. Aleister Black via pinfall with an Okada roll.
- Black laid out Damian Priest with Black Mass after Priest tried to calm him down.
- Tiffany Stratton and Trish Stratus’ verbal showdown was interrupted by Naomi and Jade Cargill brawling.
