SmackDown Results and Recap: Best Foes Forever
Results for SmackDown LIVE – 9/18/18
- Cesaro def. Kofi Kingston
- Shinsuke Nakamura (c) def. Rusev, for the United States Championship
- AJ Styles def. Andrade “Cien” Almas def. R-Truth
- Asuka def. Billie Kay
After the epic Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, the September 18, 2018 episode of WWE SmackDown LIVE kept the momentum going with the fallout of Becky Lynch winning the blue brand’s Women’s Championship from Charlotte Flair, Randy Orton’s next move after his sadistic match with Jeff Hardy, and a shocking conclusion to a United States Championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev.
The show opened with Miz TV. The Miz bragged about beating Daniel Bryan at Hell in a Cell and declared he would beat him again in their WWE Championship #1 contender match at the Super Show-Down in Australia, before moving on to whoever the WWE Champion is after that show. He then announced the much-hyped secret guest for this installment of his in-ring talk show: his wife, Maryse.
Maryse trash-talked Brie Bella, and both she and the Miz mocked Bryan and Bella’s marriage before announcing that Maryse would be retiring from wrestling to focus on motherhood. When the crowd cheered for that, Miz declared he would beat up Daniel Bryan right then and there. Bryan ran into the ring after declaring he would defend his wife’s reputation and accidentally knocked the Miz into Maryse with a dropkick. Maryse appeared to be seriously hurt, and was helped by medical professionals… until it turned out that this was a trick to allow The Miz to attack Bryan from behind. Bryan escaped the Miz’s Skull Crushing Finale set-up and sent the It Couple out of the arena with their tails between their legs.
In a backstage interview later, Daniel Bryan said he knew the Miz must be up to something when he called him out and declared he would beat him
at the Super Show-Down and win a WWE Championship opportunity.
Before the bell rang, the Smackdown Tag Team Champions had a short promo battle with The Bar—featuring a Crocodile Dundee/Steve Irwin impression from Big E—about their upcoming tag team title match in Australia. Cesaro pinned Kingston after a Neutralizer to win a hard-hitting, entertaining match and gain valuable momentum for his team going into the Super Show-Down.
Backstage, we saw the Rusev Day team was in trouble: Rusev said he would defeat Shinsuke Nakamura and become United States Champion because Aiden English, who cost them their tag team championship match at Hell in a Cell, wouldn’t be in the ring. Once English thought he was alone, he freaked out at a passing WWE employee and said Lana was actually to blame for the team’s problems. However, he realized too late that Lana was right behind him. English apologized, but an upset Lana said she would tell Rusev about what she just heard.
Lana tried to tell Rusev about this before his match, but Rusev told her it could wait and asked English to sing him out for his entrance. During the match, Aiden English grabbed a mic and tried to get the crowd—which was about 50/50 in supporting Nakamura and Rusev—to cheer “Rusev Day” louder. In a moment where it Rusev looked like he was gearing up to capitalize on a prone Nakamura, English grabbed the mic and yelled “Rusev, crush!” very loudly. As a result, with Rusev distracted, Nakamura rolled up him to retain his championship.
When Lana and Rusev blamed English after the match, he ran into the ring and started bashing Rusev in the head with a microphone. He said and sang “Happy Rusev Day” while standing over Rusev’s body, with Lana screaming at him to get out of the ring.
We then saw Randy Orton in the production truck intimidating a video editor while rewatching his Hell in a Cell match against Jeff Hardy. Orton ominously said he would do worse to his “next victim.”
In a backstage interview, AJ Styles said that the screwy finish of his WWE Championship defense against Samoa Joe at Hell in a Cell was karma for the way Joe had been threatening his family. He promised to retain against Joe again—with a more definitive result—at Super Show-Down.
Andrade “Cien” Almas started his subsequent non-title match against Styles by ambushing him from behind before the bell rang. He started the match super aggressive—with the encouragement of Zelina Vega—and Styles responded in kind. Almas dominated the beginning of the match, but the WWE Champion soon made progress on offense. Both Styles and Almas pulled out all the stops. After several close calls for both men, Styles pinned Almas thanks to an incredible reversal out of the set-up for a hammerlock DDT into the Styles Clash.
While Styles celebrated his win, Samoa Joe ran into the ring and jumped him. Joe, who believes he is the rightful WWE Champion, grabbed AJ’s face and yelled, “You know the truth! You will never be safe!”
Before their tag team match against Asuka and Naomi, The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) mocked their opponents from the ring. They were interrupted by the
At the end of the show, General Manager Paige presented Becky Lynch with her SmackDown Women’s Championship as the crowd chanted, “You deserve it!” Lynch said this was her show now and she wouldn’t be left out of promoting it anymore. She then called her former friend—and the former champion—Charlotte Flair to the ring.
Charlotte said she wasn’t there to fight or cause trouble, but to show Lynch the respect she deserved after losing to her. Flair said she had lost a friend, but Lynch would lose her championship at Super Show-Down when Flair enacts her rematch clause. Lynch said she wanted Flair to put the title around her waist and Flair took offense. The standoff only got more heightened until Lynch called Flair a bitch, which led to Flair attacking her. The women brawled and Lynch got the better of the encounter and held her championship belt high as she stared down Flair in the ring from the ramp.