A Room with a Review: SmackDown 08/28/20

This week’s SmackDown has everything you could dream of: returns, revelations, and Otis playing with his hard salami.

• Adam Pearce is talking with security backstage. He knows that Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, and Roman Reigns are in the building tonight and they are all angry. Vince McMahon is also there, and he wants Pearce to get them all to sign the contract for their match this Sunday at Payback. 

• The first person out to the ring tonight is the new Intercontinental Champion, Jeff Hardy. AJ Styles interrupts Jeff and accuses him of being a cheater. Styles says that the same doctor that gave Hardy a metal knee brace last week won’t medically clear AJ tonight. Jeff says that’s too bad because he is issuing an open challenge for tonight. 

• After a commercial break, it’s Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy for the Intercontinental Championship. AJ Styles is sticking around to provide commentary. They play a video of Cesaro backstage implying that he is a tad upset with Shinsuke for going off for this match without him. Hardy wins after a swanton bomb, but AJ points out that he may have hit Nakamura with the metal knee brace. Hardy poses at the top of the ramp while Styles continues yelling at him when Sami Zayn appears! He’s got his own Intercontinental Championship belt and says that Jeff is a false champion, since nobody ever beat Sami for his title. Zayn hits Hardy with a Helluva kick before skanking to the back.

• After another commercial, Sami Zayn is walking around backstage. Kayla Braxton asks him why he attacked Jeff Hardy.

• It’s time for the Firefly Fun House. The doorbell rings and Adam Pearce is there, dressed as a mailman. Bray signs the contract and Pearce scampers away.

• Next up is Matt Riddle. He calls out King Corbin, who finally appears after a full commercial break. Shorty G jumps Riddle from behind and Corbin accepts the challenge, but on Shorty’s behalf. Matt makes short work (ha!) of him, winning with Bro Derek. 

• They show a clip from Talking Smack where Big E and Miz had some heated words. This leads to a segment from earlier in the day when Miz and Morrison, as well as Sheamus, confront Big E. Heavy Machinery has E’s back and we are going to have a 6-man tag match tonight. Before the match, Big E and his partners are discussing snacks, which prompts Otis to pull out his hard salami. The Golden Role Models walk by Bayley tells E that some people can only handle a tag team title. 

• Adam Pearce is knocking on the dressing room door of Roman Reigns, asking him to sign the contract, but nobody answers the door.

• Kayla grabs Corbin backstage, and the King says he’s going to destroy Riddle at Payback. 

• Bayley and Sasha Banks head to the ring. Bayley tries to apologize to Sasha for SummerSlam but just makes it worse. Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler appear on the TitanTron. They hate each other, but they hate Bayley and Sasha more. 

• Pearce runs into Drew Gulak backstage. They are both looking for Braun Strowman – Pearce for the contract and Gulak owes Strowman for last week. Drew sees something offscreen and grabs a chair. He hits Braun with the chair, which doesn’t faze the Monster Among Men. Gulak runs and Strowman says he’ll sign the contract if Pearce gets Drew in the ring right now.

• Sami reunites with Cesaro and Shinsuke backstage. The SmackDown Tag Team Champions are upset that Sami ghosted them for four months. They kindly ask their former manager to pound sand. 

• Next up is Drew Gulak vs. Braun Strowman. The Monster wins easily, then signs the contract. 

• Lucha House Party is backstage, and Kalisto tells his partners to stay backstage. They assent, but are attacked by Cesaro and Nakamura. 

• It’s Cesaro w/ Nakamura vs. Kalisto w/ nobody. Shinsuke tries to get involved, but Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik run down to prevent. Cesaro uses the distraction to roll up Kalisto for the win. There’s still dissent in Lucha House Party.

• Adam Pearce tells Vince McMahon that he can’t get Roman’s signature. Vince says that it would be in his best interest to get it.

• Nikki Cross is talking with Tamina about Alexa. Bliss pops up and is all hugs and smiles until Nikki mentions the Fiend.

• Miz, Morrison, and Sheamus discuss their match.

• Pearce finally gets into Roman’s locker room, but the Big Dog wants to read the contract first.

• It’s time for our main event match as Heavy Machinery and Big E square off with Miz, Morrison, and Sheamus. The Celtic Warrior gets increasingly upset that his partners aren’t tagging him in until he finally gets fed up and leaves. Big E pins the Miz after a Big Ending. 

• Roman Reigns tells Adam Pearce that he won’t sign the contract, but he will be at Payback and he will regain the Universal Championship. The camera pans over and shows that he is retaining the services of Paul Heyman!

What a reveal at the end there. Interesting choice to put Roman with Heyman, but I dig it. And it was great to see Sami Zayn back and as obnoxious as ever. Plus, it looks like they didn’t completely drop the Alexa/Fiend storyline, even though she wasn’t involved in the SummerSlam match.

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