SmackDown Results and Recap: Miz-ery Loves Company

Sep 4 2018 Kimberly Schueler

Marital Yes Locks by Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella. (source: WWE) — SmackDown LIVE – September 4, 2018

Results for SmackDown LIVE – 9/4/18

Daniel Bryan def. Andrade “Cien” Almas
Naomi def. Peyton Royce
Rusev Day (Rusev & Aiden English) def. The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) & SAnitY (Eric Young & Killian Dain)
R-Truth def. The Miz

The September 4, 2018 episode of WWE SmackDown Live takes us a few steps closer to the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.

The episode starts with Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella entering the ring and seeing the above video. The Miz and Maryse showed up earlier in the day to cut a promo on their rivals in an empty arena.

Brie, who returned to in-ring competition the previous night on RAW, is ready to fight the It Couple after this and challengs them to a match right then. But it turns out she and her husband’s Hell in a Cell opponents aren’t even at the venue.

(Later in the episode, we find out via braggy Titantron video that they skipped the show to have a date night.)

However, the other mixed-gender duo that participated in that beatdown last episode, Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega, are at the arena and are also ready to wrestle. Bryan and Almas face off in a rematch of their interrupted bout from the previous week.

Both experienced, acclaimed grapplers go hard, eager to settle their score. Bryan pins Almas for the victory, and Bella attacks Vega after the match as payback.

After that quality in-ring action, we see a heated battle of words between Charlotte and Becky Lynch, who will face off at Hell in a Cell for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The former best friends seem to be even better enemies. Flair points out that Lynch could have just asked for a title shot after the SummerSlam match, but Lynch isn’t hearing it. The former (and first) SmackDown LIVE Women’s Champ says she’s tired of living in the Queen’s shadow, stating, “I’m done playing. From now on, I’m taking.”

The women’s division also sees the return of one of its strongest competitors this week. Naomi defeats Peyton Royce but is attacked by both Iconics after the match. In what could be a game changer in this feud, Asuka runs in and quickly takes out both Australians with a variety of devastating moves.

Interspersed throughout the show, we see video packages from both Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton’s perspective about their upcoming Hell in a Cell match.

Samoa Joe shows up—unscheduled—to antagonize WWE Champion AJ Styles by directing a monologue at his wife Wendy and their children. Styles appears on the Titantron to tell Joe he’s crossed a line, then shows up in the actual arena to fight him. The two men brawl and General Manager Paige, along with multiple referees, have to push Styles to the back once he again goes to a dark, violent place while fighting Joe.

Rusev Day defeat The Usos and SAnitY in a triple threat tag team match, so they will face The Bar (winners of last week’s triple threat tag) for the chance to wrestle The New Day for their tag titles at Hell in a Cell.

After Bryan’s match, he and his wife left the venue, assuming The Miz and Maryse wouldn’t show up. (In fact, they left to go find their rivals and punch them in the face.) But the It Couple ended up making it in to work—as soon as the coast was clear—with Miz also making it into the night’s main event.

After Paige tells Miz he needs to have a match that night or never come back to SmackDown, R-Truth stumbles into a fight with the reality show and Marine franchise star. Truth, searching for Carmella—who he still wants to pin in order to get a title shot—confuses Maryse for the Princess of Staten Island. This offends Maryse, which inspires her husband to set up a match with his former Awesome Truth partner.

Later in the show, R-Truth finds the real Carmella—his future Mixed Match Challenge partner—backstage and calls a truce between them. He asks her to accompany him to the ring to counter Maryse; and after learning Maryse called ‘Mella “trash” earlier, the New Yorker is unsurprisingly on board.

After the A-Lister cuts a promo on Bryan and Bella, he and R-Truth faces off in the ring. A Miz win looks inevitable, but when Bryan and Bella returned to the arena, “Flight of the Valkyries” distracts Miz long enough for R-Truth to score a roll-up victory.

Bryan runs into the ring and puts The Miz in the Yes Lock, while Bella and Maryse fought at ringside. Not to be forgotten, Vega and Almas return to join the brawl, which culminates with Bryan and Bella putting Vega and Almas in simultaneous Yes Locks (while staring down their Hell in a Cell opponents). The Miz and Maryse back off and Bryan and Bella “YES” chants with the crowd, having gained the upper hand. At least until next week’s SmackDown.