WWE SmackDown Live Results & Discussion (9/12)

The September 12th edition of WWE SmackDown Live took place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

- This week’s broadcast starts with a video package highlighting last week’s showdown between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon, ultimately leading to Shane’s father Vince returning tonight.

- Kevin Owens comes out to the ring first to kick off tonight’s show. Owens gets on the mic and says when Shane assaulted him last week, he didn’t fight back because he respects authority. Owens says since a WWE authority figure assaulted him, he’s suing everyone in WWE until SmackDown Live is no more. Owens says SmackDown will now be known as “Kevin Owens presents: The Kevin Owens Show, starring Kevin Owens.” He says some improvements will be made and people will be fired. The first to be fired will be Sami Zayn. He says Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton will have to both wear the same one suit each show, because they both sound the same on TV. Owens also says he’ll cancel the Fashion Files forever. He says there’s no point in dragging this out any longer, and he asks for Mr. McMahon to come on out. Shane McMahon’s music hits, but Dolph Ziggler comes out instead dressed as Shane McMahon. Ziggler gets on the mic and says he’s trying out a new entrance, but it didn’t go over great so he’ll put it in the ‘maybe’ pile. Owens thanks Ziggler, and then Ziggler returns backstage. Daniel Bryan’s music hits next and the SmackDown GM makes his way down to the ring. Owens tells Bryan that when he takes over, Bryan will still has a job, as a janitor. Bryan tells Owens to just wait because Mr. McMahon will be here very soon, and Owens won’t like what the WWE Chairman has to say. Owens says Mr. McMahon is the one who won’t like what Owens has to say, then he drops the mic and heads to the back.

- Up next, Tye Dillinger will challenge AJ Styles’ for his United States Championship.

- AJ Styles (c) def. Tye Dillinger: Dillinger hits a neckbreaker on AJ early on, and AJ fires back with a dropkick. They fight out onto the apron where Tye throws AJ into the ring post. Dillinger takes Styles back in the ring and lays in some chops to the chest in the corner. Backbreaker by Tye for a two count, then he drops some knees on the champion and applies a chin lock. Tye mounts AJ in the corner for ten punches, but AJ reverses into a powerbomb in the middle of the ring. AJ follows up with some elbows and Tye answers with a big boot. AJ misses a Pele kick, but he connects with a clothesline and both men are down. AJ hits another elbow to the face of Tye and the challenger is down. Baron Corbin runs in and gets on the apron, so AJ hits the Phenomenal Forearm on him to knock Corbin down to the floor. Tye rolls up Styles from behind off the distraction for a two count. Tye follows up with the Tyebreaker for another two count. Tye goes to pick up AJ, but AJ grabs him and puts him in the Calf Crusher for the win via submission. AJ holds up his U.S. Title after the match and shakes hands with Tye. Before AJ can leave, Corbin grabs him and throws him into the fan barricade. Corbin then clotheslines down Tye and continues to beat down AJ. Corbin hits the End of Days on Styles on the ringside floor, then he tells him that next week he’s going to face AJ in his U.S. Title Open Challenge.

- Rusev does an interview backstage where he talks about returning to his home country Bulgaria. He says he went home as a loser after SummerSlam, but he’s getting his killer instinct back and now he thinks he “must break a legend.”

- WWE Champion Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers are backstage heading to the gorilla position.

- The Singh Brothers come out to the stge first and they introduce the Modern Day Maharaja, Jinder Mahal. They come down to the ring and Jinder gets on the mic to cut a promo about his next challenger, Shinsuke Nakamura. Mahal says his preparation is not only physical but also mental, and he will be getting inside of Nakamura’s head. They put an image of Nakamura up on the big screen and Jinder and the Singh Brothers laugh at him. Jinder says when he looks at Nakamura’s face he doesn’t see inspiration or motivation, he sees constipation. He puts up another picture of Nakamura and says that’s a piece of him thinking about what to rip off from Michael Jackson next. Jinder puts up another picture an says this is the face is makes when someone yells out “Godzilla!” Jinder says everything he just said, the American people have already thought. Jinder says if Nakamura wins the WWE Title, they will treat Nakamura the same way they treat him by chanting USA whenever he tries to speak. Jinder says Americans will tell Nakamura he looks like “Pikachu having a seizure.” Jinder tells Nakamura should walk away, because it’s not worth the suffering he will feel when he faces The Modern Day Maharaja. Jinder holds up his WWE Title belt before heading backstage.

- Kevin Owens is backstage outlining the changes he wants to make on SmackDown after he takes over. Owens runs into Sami Zayn and tells him that after he fires him from SmackDown, Zayn will have to wrestle at armories in small towns again. Sami says he would rather go back to working in armories before he ever works for Owens, and he walks off.

- The New Day def. The Usos: The Usos’ Tag Titles are on the line in this one, and The New Day will be represented by Big E and Kofi. This one is under Street Fight rules. The two teams brawl around ringside and the Usos take control after driving the New Day members into the ring posts. The Champs then double team Big E and one of the Usos superkicks a steel chair into his face. They work on Kofi at ringside, then grab a Kendo stick and go back to work on Big E in the ring with the stick. Kofi runs in and DDTs Jimmy Uso then dropkicks Jey. Kofi grabs the Kendo stick and tees off on the champions. Kofi dumps Jimmy out to ringside then dropkicks a chair into Jey for a two count. Kofi throws Jey out to ringside, then he throws the steel chair at Jimmy. Kofi goes for a suicide dive onto the Usos, but they catch him and throw him into the fan barricade. Big E grabs one of the Usos and hits a belly to belly overhead suplex, then he slams the other one into the announce table. Back in the ring, Big E hits a suplex on Jey then a suplex on Jimmy. He hits the big splash on both Usos, then he goes for the Big Ending but Jey escapes. Big E clotheslines Jey outside, then Jimmy superkicks Big E. Big E comes right back with the Big Ending on Jimmy, but Jey breaks up the pin. Jey delivers two kicks to Big E, then the champions double superkick Big E. The Usos both go up top for the double splash, but Kofi knocks Jey off the top through a table at ringside. Jimmy hops down and runs at Kofi but Kofi kicks him in the head. Big E grabs Jimmy and Kofi goes up top and they hit the Midnight Hour for the win via pinfall. The New Day are handed the Tag Team Championships and they celebrate their championship victory in the ring.

- Daniel Bryan is shown backstage waiting for Mr. McMahon to arrive.

- Ronda Rousey is shown sitting at ringside.

- Natalya (c) def. Naomi: The Women’s Title is on the line in this one. Carmella and James Ellsworth are on commentary. After some back and forth mat wrestling in the opening moments, Naomi hits some kicks and a slap to the face. Natalya turns the tides and stomps a mud hole in Naomi in the corner, then puts her in a chin lock to slow down the pace of the match. Naomi fights her way up and hits some leg kicks then a hurricanrana. More kicks by Naomi then she slingshots over the top rope for a leg drop on the champion. Naomi misses a moonsault and Natalya goes for the Sharpshooter. Naomi fights out and dumps Natalya out to ringside. Carmella and Naomi get in a shoving match, then Naomi hits a suicide dive onto Carmella and Ellsworth. Natalaya takes advantage of the distraction and throws Naomi into the ring post. Back in the ring, Natalya locks the Sharpshooter in on Naomi for the win via submission.

- Aiden English is backstage practicing his singing until he gets interrupted by Kevin Owens. Owens says unlike everyone else here, he enjoys Aiden’s beautiful voice and he will want him to sing the new theme song for the Kevin Owens show.

- We’re told that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is still on his way to SmackDown right now.

- Dolph Ziggler comes out and says that the other wrestlers’ elaborate entrances are done by wannabes who couldn’t lace his boots. He says he’s the greatest performer in WWE history, so he shouldn’t need an elaborate entrance so the fans will like him, but the fans only cheer for that. Ziggler goes backc and comes backc out with Bayley’s entrance music and wacky waving inflatable tube men, imitating Bayley. Zigglers back behind the curtain, and this time he comes out and does the Ultimate Warrior’s entrance. He runs down to the ring, then gets on the mic and says anyone can do what he just did, but no one can do what he does in the ring. Ziggler tells the fans he couldn’t care less about them, then drops the mic and leaves.

- Daniel Bryan is shown backstage on the phone, still awaiting Mr. McMahon’s arrival.

- Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable def. The Hype Bros: Gable gets Mojo in a hammerlock to start then immediately tags in Shelton. Shelton takes down Mojo, then the two trade elbows to the face. Shelton hits a spinning heel kick to the face then Mojo tags in Ryder. Ryder hits a facebuster for a two count, then Mojo runs in but Gable throws him into the ring post. Ryder throws Gable outside, then Ryder hits a missile dropkick on Shelton. Shelton comes back with a spinebuster on Ryder, then he and Gable hit a double team powerbomb for the win. Mojo shakes their hands after the match, but Ryder doesn’t and he walks away.

- Vincent Kennedy McMahon is shown backstage talking to Daniel Bryan in the parking area. McMahon starts strutting towards the gorilla position, and he’s out next.

- Kevin Owens comes out to the ring and looks up at the stage waiting Mr. McMahon. Vince’s music hits and the WWE Chairman and CEO struts down to the ring. Mr. McMahon steps into the ring and receives a warm reception from the crowd. Before Vince says anything, Owens says this is a first for him - standing in the ring with Mr. McMahon. Owens says Vince is intimidated by him, but Vince says he’s not intimidated he’s more like nauseated. Vince says last week Owens disparaged the McMahon name, so Shane jumped him. Vince says Owens didn’t fight back because he couldn’t, because Shane was beating his ass. Vince asks Owens how he has any respect for himself when he looks in the mirror, and mocks Owens for wanting to sue instead of fighting back. Vince says Owens thinks he has the upper hand, but as soon as Owens files the lawsuit Vince is going to immediately call Owens’ attorney and say “Kevin Owens, you’re fired!” Vince tells Owens to go ahead and file his lawsuit, because he’s undefeated in court. Vince says the laws of this land are written for people like him, because he’s a billionaire. Vince says by the time the lawsuit gets to court years and years from now, Owens will be bankrupt and Vince won’t. Vince tells Owens to go ahead and file his lawsuit and see what happens. Owens complains to Vince that his son Shane put his hands on him, and Vince says he gets it which is why he suspended Shane. But Vince says he really suspended Shane for not finishing the job against Owens. Vince says he wanted Shane to kick Owens ass so badly that his bowels spill out onto the floor. Vince says Owens got what he deserved, and he’s going to reinstate Shane. Vince says there isn’t going to be a lawsuit, there’s going to be a match. That match will be Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon in a Hell In A Cell match. Owens says he wants Vince to promise that he won’t get fired for beating a McMahon senseless if provoked. Vince gives Owens his word, and shakes hands with Owens. They exchange some words off-mic, then Owens headbutts Vince. Vince is down and he’s bleeding from the forehead. Owens gets on the mic and says Vince just gave him his word that he can beat a McMahon senseless. Vince gets up and charges at Owens but Owens drops him with a right hand. Owens kicks Vince while he’s down, and a couple referees come out to help. McMahon slowly gets back up to his feet, so Owens superkicks him. Owens throws the refs away and drags McMahon into the middle of the ring. Owens goes up top for a frogsplash, but Joey Mercury comes out and jumps in front of Vince. Joey tells at Owens not to do it. Owens comes flying off the top, Joey moves and Owens hits the frogsplash on Vince. Owens leaves the ring as Mercury and a medic check on Vince. Stephanie McMahon comes out and yells at Owens then goes to check on Vince. Vince declines to get on the stretcher as Joey Mercury, Stephanie, and some referees and trainers help walk Vince to the back. Vince is selling his ribs and still declines the stretcher as SmackDown goes off the air.