SmackDown Live was broadcast live on September 5, 2017 from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
SmackDown Live main event: Shinsuke Nakamura def. (pin) Randy Orton to become No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell
Crowd was split early for this matchup. Orton went for the the RKO early, but Nakamura escaped and scrambled to the corner. Orton controlled most of the match early, eventually throwing Nakamura over the announce table. Nakamura turned things around later, using several kicks to inflict damage on Orton, as the crowd again started chanting for both competitors.
The finish saw Orton hit a superplex, and then a snap-powerslam later both for near-falls. Orton then hit the draping ropes DDT and set up for an RKO, but Nakamura countered it into an armbar and then a triangle submission. Orton reversed that into a powerbomb, and set up for an RKO again, that Nakamura again countered. Nakamura hit the Kinshasa kick for the the win, and he will face WWE Champion Jinder Mahal at the Hell in a Cell show in October.
Shane McMahon suspended indefinitely as commissioner of SmackDown Live, Mr. McMahon on next week
The show opened with Ms. Money in the Bank Carmella and James Ellsworth in the ring. Ellsworth got a few words out before Kevin Owens interrupted to say that he would be the special guest referee for the match between Carmella and Natalya. Shane McMahon came out and vehemently disagreed.
Things then got weird, as Owens started antagonizing Shane, saying that Shane's family would be better off if he hadn't survived that plane crash. This set Shane off, as he started beating the hell out of Owens until SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan was able to calm him down.
After going to commercial, Owens said backstage that he intended to press criminal charges against McMahon. Later in the show, Daniel Bryan informed Shane that his father, Vince, had suspended him indefinitely, and Shane eventually left the ring to "Thank you, Shane" chants from the crowd.
To close the show, Bryan announced to Kevin Owens that Vince McMahon would be on the show next week.
Natalya (c) def. (pin) Carmella (w/ James Ellsworth) in a non-title match
So they had this match after all of that commotion. The story was less of the match and what happened afterwards, as Ellsworth tried to give Carmella her briefcase to cash-in during the match. Afterwards, Carmella officially broke up with Ellsworth, calling him a sorry excuse for a human (amid other things) before leaving the ring.
Ellsworth got a kiss and a slap later from Carmella as the two appeared to sort of reconcile.
Dolph Ziggler "re-debuted"
Zigger was back out in the arena after several weeks out of the ring. Ziggler came out and chastised the crowd before heading backstage and re-entering the arena with John Cena's theme song and trademark hat and towel. Ziggler then did this with Macho Man's theme... and then Naomi's with all of the glowing items. This was pretty great. Ziggler's point was that anyone could do the gimmicked entrances, but that no one could match him in the ring, and eventually left and didn't come back.
Aiden English def. (pin) Sami Zayn
So... this happened. English got a rollup win — the second rollup pin of the hour — over Zayn in a short match. English tried to do his song after the match before an angry Zayn ran him off.
Baron Corbin def. (pin) Tye Dillenger (w/ A.J. Styles on commentary)
This was actually a long, okay match. Dillenger was able to get a lot of offense in, and he was only derailed after Corbin got a cheap shot in when the ref was trying to get the two out of the corner. Styles was irate on commentary at the manuever, and it looks like we will be getting Styles vs. Corbin for the U.S. title at some point down the road.
Best of the rest of SmackDown Live
- The Usos announced a "Sin City" street fight for the tag titles match against the New Day next week in Las Vegas.
- The New Day gave Daniel Bryan a pair of New Day themed underwear. Yes, that really happened.
- Styles announced that he would defend his U.S. title next week, but only against Tye Dillenger after Dillenger had been cheap shotted by Corbin in their match earlier.
- Natayla vs. Naomi in a Women's Championship match also scheduled for next week
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