WWE on FOX is back!
This week’s episode of WWE SmackDown goes down at 8/7c on FOX this evening form the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.
On tap for tonight’s show is the return of Shinsuke Nakamura, LA Knight vs. Xavier Woods and Riddle comes for The Bloodline.
Also scheduled is Damian Priest vs. Santos Escobar and the Championship Celebration for new WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan.
Featured below are complete WWE SmackDown results from Friday, April 14, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 8-10pm EST. on FOX.
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS (4/14/2023)
The “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature kicks off this week’s show. The regular weekly SmackDown theme airs from there and we’re off-and-running.
Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens Kick Off This Week’s Show
Michael Cole welcomes us to the show as we shoot inside the arena. Kevin Owens’ theme hits and out comes “The Prize Fighter” sporting two belts. He stops and Sami Zayn’s theme hits. “Whoa-oh-oh .. LET’S GO!”
And go the two do.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens head down to the ring to kick off this week’s show to a rock star reception from the fans in Lincoln, Nebraska. The two settle in the ring and gets an extended ovation from the crowd.
The music dies down and Zayn begins by talking about how we’re only a couple of weeks removed from he and Owens making history by closing out WrestleMania in a tag-team title match. They talk about not being able to let that fact soak in because of all of their drama with The Bloodline.
As they continue talking, they mention that regardless of what happens in the WWE Draft, they will defend those titles whether it’s on Raw or SmackDown every single time. Owens mentions that sooner rather than later he knows The Usos are going to come calling for a rematch.
With that said, The Usos’ theme hits and out comes Jimmy and Jey Uso along with Solo Sikoa. The Usos talk about pressure getting to Zayn and Owens. Zayn says they’re doing fine, they don’t have to answer to “daddy Roman Reigns.”
The Usos say Zayn has been singing that same song for months now. Zayn insists there are problems in The Bloodline, that Reigns isn’t pleased with them losing the titles. He says they can even pretend like Solo Sikoa wasn’t ready to take out Jey Uso just last week.
Zayn drops the mic after saying he assumes they didn’t come out here just to talk. As The Usos and Solo Sikoa surrounds the ring, Riddle runs out and grabs “The Enforcer” of The Bloodline and goes to work on the man who put him out of action for a while.
Meanwhile we see Zayn and Owens taking it to Jimmy and Jey. Back in the ring, Sikoa has the upper-hand on Riddle. He goes for the Samoan Spike but Riddle avoids it and decks him. Riddle, Owens and Zayn stand tall as The Usos peel Sikoa out of the ring for refuge. After this, we head to a commercial break.
Tonight’s Main Event Announced
When we return, we see Adam Pearce backstage. He tells someone to inform Riddle and Solo Sikoa that they will get to settle their issues later tonight, as they will be competing in the main event of the evening.
Xavier Woods vs. LA Knight
Now we shoot to a Twitter video that shows Xavier Woods and LA Knight reacting to their video game segment from last week’s show, which set up their match for tonight. After the package wraps up, we head to the ring.
Xavier Woods makes his way out and heads to the ring, where he plays the trombone to get the crowd going. Wade Barrett mentions on commentary how you don’t touch another man’s joystick or it’s gonna be a fight.
And a fight it is gonna be.
LA Knight’s theme hits and out he comes for our opening contest on this week’s show. With both guys settled in the ring, the bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one.
We see some good back-and-forth action, with Woods dominating the early exchanges. He sends Knight out to the floor and then builds up a full head of steam before leaping, flipping and splashing onto him at ringside.
Back in the ring, Woods goes for another big move but Knight slides out to the floor. Woods goes for a diving spot but gets caught up in the ropes. Knight then sends him into the barricade and ring apron as we head to a mid-match commercial break.
As we settle back in from the break, we see Woods trying to make a big offensive comeback, however Knight isn’t done in the offensive driver’s seat. He cuts Woods off and hits a big DDT for a close near fall and then does the psycho peepers as he looks out and scans the crowd.
Knight picks Woods up for a suplex but Woods blocks it so Knight just pounds the piss out of him with forearms and kicks. Knight hooks Woods again and looks to suplex him over the top rope.
Instead, Woods drapes Knight over the top rope and leaps off the top in the corner with a leg drop. He comes off the top with a flying follow-up leg drop for a close near fall. Woods finds himself on the defensive after this, as Knight hits a big elbow drop and then goes for a pin while holding the tights.
The ref notices this and calls him on it. While he bickers back at the ref, Woods rolls him up for the win. Very fun and pretty damn good match.
Winner: Xavier Woods
Xavier Woods Wants The Intercontinental Title
After the match, we head to a commercial break. When we return, we shoot backstage and we see Xavier Woods annoying GUNTHER with his trombone in trying to get a shot at the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
The two talk about the title and the upcoming WWE Draft. Woods says he’s beyond ready to step into the ring with the Imperium leader so he can take the title back to his place. He plays another note on the trombone and walks off.
Riddle Is Ready .. Bro
Now we shoot to a video that shows Solo Sikoa taking out Riddle a few months ago with a chair around his neck. We see special footage of the stretcher job and then Cole and Barrett promote the main event for tonight between Riddle and Sikoa.
We shoot backstage and we see Sami Zayn telling Riddle that he feels partially responsible for everything because he was with The Bloodline when the Riddle attack happened. Zayn then tells Riddle to be careful.
Owens fires up and pushes Riddle telling him screw that, he needs to take out Sikoa. Riddle responds and then shoves Owens and says he’s gonna do exactly that, “BRO!”
Kayla Braxton Interviews The Judgment Day
Now we shoot to Kayla Braxton, who is with The Judgment Day trio of SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley, Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio. Braxton brings up recent happenings and this closes with Damian Priest saying he’s going to address Bad Bunny in the ring.
Damian Priest Sends A Warning To Bad Bunny
The Judgment Day guys go to the ring and Damian Priest begins by saying Bad Bunny can host WWE Backlash in San Juan, Puerto Rico and have a good time sitting in the front row. He warns him not to do anything more than that.
Priest tells Bad Bunny if he puts his hands on his family again, he knows what can happen. He points to the big screen and we see Bad Bunny decking Dominik Mysterio and then being manhandled and put through a table by Priest.
Damian Priest vs. Santos Escobar
We see The Judgment Day in the ring after the footage wraps up and then the LWO logo appears on the big screen and out comes Legado Del Fantasma attacking the trio. Priest remains in the ring alone as Cole and Barrett promote his match against Santos Escobar — next.
On that note, we head to a pre-match commercial break. When we return from the break, we see the match already in progress. Escobar leaps off the top-rope and hits a big splash on Priest before knocking him out to the floor.
Priest builds up a full head of steam, looking to dive onto Priest on the floor, but Priest moves. He tries timing another jump but leaps right into a big right hand from the big man from The Judgment Day.
Back in the ring, Priest hits a big splash-elbow in the corner onto the Legado Del Fantasma member. He plants Escobar into the mat and goes for the cover, but only gets two. We see Rhea Ripley complaining to the referee outside the ring afterwards.
As Santos continues to take it to Damian, we see the LWO members watching on and cheering him on. Priest ends up taking over and knocking Escobar out to the floor. He heads out after him and hits a running shot to Escobar on the steps. After this, we head to a mid-match commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see some back-and-forth action, with Santos starting to fare well until all hell breaks loose. We see The Judgment Day and LWO battle it out, including Zelina Vega sending Rhea Ripley into the barricade and Santos hitting a big splash from the corner to the announce table. When all was said and done, Priest hits his finisher on Escobar for the win.
Winner: Damian Priest
Rey Mysterio Beats Down The Judgment Day
After the match, Priest looked to put Santos through the table but Rey Mysterio’s theme hits. He comes flying from the crowd to take out Priest and then he confronts his son in the ring alone.
The two immediately start duking it out as the crowd goes wild. Rey goes for 6-1-9 but Priest and Ripley pull him out to save him.
Backstage With The Bloodline
We shoot backstage to “The Wise Man” of The Bloodline, Paul Heyman hyping up Solo Sikoa, along with The Usos, naming every Smaoan wrestler to ever pass through the doors of WWE being disrespected when he is taken out the way he was earlier.
Solo Sikoa finally hears enough and quietly and definitively says to tell Roman Reigns that “I’ve got this.” Heyman looks shook and says “okay.” He walks off and the segment ends.
Championship Celebration For Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan
Michael Cole and Wade Barrett hype the return of Shinsuke Nakamura later tonight and then we shoot back inside the arena where Liv Morgan’s theme hits. Out she comes and she stops.
The theme for Raquel Rodriguez hits and the two new WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions begin making their way to the ring. As they settle into the squared circle, Cole and Barrett promote their Championship Celebration coming up next.
On that note, we head to a commercial break. When we return, Morgan and Rodriguez talk about their journey to the titles until they are interrupted by the duo of Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green.
The two enter the ring and ask how it makes any sense that Lita was attacked right before their match, Trish Stratus filled in and everything was just cool. They claim it was the doings of the pea-brain Adam Pearce.
Morgan reveals that after talking to Adam Pearce, it has been decided that Deville and Green will be their new challengers. They have a quick brawl and then the heels retreat to the back as the champs stand tall in the ring. We head to another commercial break.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Madcap Moss
We return from the break to the lights going out. When they come back on the violin starts playing. From there, the crowd goes wild as Shinsuke Nakamura emerges and begins making his way down to the squared circle.
He settles in the ring for our next match of the evening and then we shoot backstage and see Emma giving Madcap Moss a pep talk, explaining how he’s gonna win tonight and prove he deserves to be a top pick in the 2023 WWE Draft.
Moss and Emma make their way out and head to the ring. With Moss and Nakamura both in the ring, the bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. Straight out of the gate we see Moss come out like a bull, completely rushing Shinsuke and seemingly ringing his bell immediately.
Nakamura brushes it off and starts to go to work on Moss with his wild black-and-white ring gear as the commentators sing the praises of “The King of Strong Style.” Nakamura hits a running knee and then his finisher and scores a quick pin fall victory.
After the match, Moss isn’t happy. He hits the ring and tries to attack Nakamura, but it back-fires as “The King of Strong Style” takes him down and slaps an armbar on him. Emma helps Moss out of the ring and to the back.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
Tick Tock … (Not The App!)
We shoot backstage and we see a playing card get placed on a table with candles. The camera pans up and we see Scarlett and Karrion Kross, the latter of whom simply says, “Tick Tock.” After this, we see Riddle warming up for our main event and then head to a commercial break.
Riddle vs. Solo Sikoa
When we return from the break, we see The Viking Raiders taking part in a savage style beat down of Ricochet. We then shoot back inside the arena where we hear “BRO!” followed by the entrance of Riddle.
Riddle makes his way down to the ring with the Undisputed WWE Tag-Team Champions by his side. Sami Zayn is looking a bit “Ucey,” doing some BRO-style dancing and strutting behind Riddle as the two and Kevin Owens head to the ring.
Once settled inside, we again see footage of Riddle being stretchered out before a four-month absence due to a savage attack from Solo Sikoa. We return live and see Riddle watching the footage on the big screen.
His music dies down and now the theme for Solo Sikoa plays and out comes “The Enforcer” of The Bloodline accompanied by Jimmy and Jey — The Usos — and “The Wise Man” of The Bloodline, Paul Heyman.
It’s main event time here on Friday Night SmackDown!
Before the match gets started, Paul Heyman gets on the mic and reveals that in two weeks in Corpus Christi, Texas, The Usos will get their immediate rematch, as they square off against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens in a WrestleMania 39: Night 1 rematch with the titles on-the-line.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with tonight’s main event between “The Original BRO” and “The Enforcer” of The Bloodline. We see Riddle faring well early on as Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are shown cheering him on at ringside.
As the action continues, Sikoa starts to take over and as Cole and Barrett sing his praises, we see the outside factors becoming too much of an issue, so the referee ejects Zayn, Owens and Jimmy and Jey Uso from ringside.
After this, the camera returns to focus on the action in the ring. We see Sikoa still dominating the offense, taking it to Riddle. On that note, we head to a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
When we return from the break, we see Riddle trying to fight for a comeback as the crowd rallies behind him. Sikoa isn’t done in the offensive driver’s seat, so he continues controlling the action. Riddle starts mixing his kicks up and now he is taking over.
He hits a big running forearm in the corner and looks to T-Bone suplex Sikoa out of the corner. Sikoa tries elbowing his way free but Riddle hits it anyways. Riddle connects with a Floating Bro for a close near fall.
After this, we see The Usos coming through the crowd and making their way back to ringside after being ejected earlier in the bout. As they do, we see Zayn and Owens come from the back down to the ringside area. The four men start brawling as the crowd goes wild in Lincoln.
Meanwhile in the ring, Riddle catches Solo with a kick. He heads to the top and springboards into a moonsault to take out The Usos on the floor. He heads back up to the top-rope and leaps right into a super kick from a prepared Sikoa, who follows up with a Samoan Spike for the pin fall victory.
Once the match wraps up, Sikoa isn’t satisfied so he takes Riddle out to the floor and he choke slams him on it. It doesn’t break. Riddle bounces off it and Sikoa lifts the entire table up and flips it over on him. Riddle is favoring his arm as Zayn and Owens check on him. That’s how this week’s show goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
Winner: Solo Sikoa
