The road to WWE Bash In Berlin 2024 continues tonight in Washington, D.C.
WWE SmackDown returns this evening at 8/7c on FOX from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. with the second-to-last blue brand show leading up to the aforementioned premium live event scheduled for August 31.
On tap for title tilts on tonight’s two-hour WWE on FOX prime time Friday night program is The Bloodline (Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga) (c) vs. The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) for the WWE Tag-Team Championship as well as LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar for the WWE United States Championship.
Scheduled for non-title action on the show is Naomi, Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair vs. Blair Davenport, Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn, as well as Cody Rhodes “chatting” with Grayson Waller on “The Grayson Waller Effect” to show him just how much of a “bad guy” he can truly be.
Featured below are complete WWE SmackDown results from Friday, August 23, 2024. 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 – AUGUST 23, 2024
The “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature gets us started as always. We then shoot inside the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. as the commentators welcome us to the show.
The Grayson Waller Effect With Special Guests: Cody Rhodes & Kevin Owens
Inside the arena, we see the ring is already decked out in the set for “The Grayson Waller Effect” talk show segment. A-Town Down Under duo Waller and Austin Theory are already on-set and awaiting their guest. They introduce the WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes.
We hear the familiar sounds of the entrance tune for “The American Nightmare” and out he comes to a packed house in D.C. singing along. Rhodes tries starting things off on the microphone as always, with, “So, Washington, D.C., what do you want to talk about?” but is cut off by Waller.
Waller says we’re not doing that tonight. He talks about the crowd loving him but only because they don’t know the real Cody Rhodes. He talks about his friends, Kevin Owens and others getting beat up and hurt as a result of Cody’s actions. Cody asks if Waller is done yet.
Cody talks about how he is giving Owens a title shot at Bash In Berlin and goes on to defend him as the rightful challenger, noting he can and has beat everyone in the locker room and has been battling The Bloodline since before Cody even returned to WWE.
Waller asks if he and Theory are friends or if he’s just using him. Cody calls Theory “Magic Mike” and asks if he’s listening. Cody stands up and tells Theory that Waller is the one using him and he, like everyone in the crowd, is just waiting for Theory to do something about it.
Grayson says Cody isn’t going to turn things around on them. He tells them to focus on the topic at hand and shares a special video they made to show just how much Kevin Owens only truly cares about himself. We see a compilation video with a lot of heel Owens days mixed in.
Current AEW star Chris Jericho is shown in it, among others. When the video finishes, Waller says Owens doesn’t look like much of a friend to him. Owens’ theme immediately hits and out he comes to “K.O.” chants. Owens says it’s obvious Waller is trying to convince Cody he’s gonna stab him in the back.
Owens tells Cody he can admit that every one of the guys in the video kind of had it coming. Well, except Kofi Kingston. He apologizes to Kofi. He says he and Cody have been tight ever since they met and nothing like was shown in the video is going to happen between them.
“The Prize Fighter” asks if we can skip all the shenanigans and get to the point and have SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis come out and just make a tag-team match with all four of them for later tonight. Aldis comes out and says it’s a done deal.
It will be Cody and Kevin against Grayson and Austin in the main event. Owens says he knows they’re short on time but asks Aldis if he can still go punch them in the face real quick. Aldis tells him to just hurry up. Owens goes down to do exactly that and in the chaos, accidentally decks Cody.
WWE United States Championship
LA Knight (c) vs. Santos Escobar
We see LA Knight in his ring gear walking backstage with his newly won WWE United States Championship around his waist. Corey Graves and Wade Barrett inform us that his scheduled title defense against Legado Del Fantasma’s Santos Escobar is up next. We head to a commercial break.
When we return from the break, the theme for Knight immediately hits and the D.C. crowd explodes. Out he comes and settles in the ring. The Legado Del Fantasma theme hits and out comes Escobar accompanied by Angel and Humberto and Elektra Lopez.
Before the match even gets started, we see the other members of Legado Del Fantasma at ringside beat down “The Mega Star.” The referee ejects all three Legado Del Fantasma members from ringside, leaving only Knight and Escobar. The bell sounds and the actual match gets underway.
Knight jumps into the early offensive lead and gets Escobar down for a quick pin attempt, but only gets two. We shift gears and head into an early mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
After the commercial break wraps up and the show returns, we see Escobar in the offensive lead. He has Knight out on the floor up against the cleared off commentary table. He climbs up on top of the barricade and hits a running meteora to Knight onto the commentary desk. Ouch.
Inside the ring, Knight slowly starts to fight from underneath back into competitive form. Ultimately, “The Mega Star” connects with his Blunt Force Trauma finisher for the victory. With the win, he retains his WWE United States Championship.
Winner and STILL WWE United States Champion: LA Knight
Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair & Naomi vs. Alba Fyre, Isla Dawn & Blair Davenport
We shoot to an “earlier today” segment where Carmelo Hayes is taunting Andrade into the camera about how you’re only as good as your last match, and in Andrade’s last match, he wasn’t as good as Hayes.
Andrade busts into the door and tells Hayes what he did after the match was disrespectful. A fourth match between the two appears set for next week’s WWE SmackDown.
Back inside the arena, the ring entrances for our next match, six-woman tag-team action, begin to take place as we head into a pre-match commercial break. When the show returns, the entrances wrap up and the bell sounds to start this one off.
Belair and Dawn kick things off for their respective teams. Dawn gets the early offensive jump on Belair, but “The EST of WWE” quickly takes back over. After a high spot, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break.
This time when we return, we see Belair being isolated in the ring and dominated by the trio of Fyre, Dawn, and Davenport, who keep her on their side of the ring and utilize frequent tags to keep a fresh person on her at all times.
After some more back-and-forth action, Cargill gets the hot tag and cleans house until ultimately, Naomi hits a big high spot for the pin fall victory. We head to another commercial break.
Winners: Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair & Naomi
WWE Tag-Team Championships
The Bloodline (c) vs. The Street Profits
When we return, Solo Sikoa leads The Bloodline out for their scheduled tag-team title defense. He tells Jacob Fatu to hand over his title belt. He says as his personal body guard, he needs to give the title to Tonga Loa. It will be Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa defending.
Their opponents, The Street Profits come out with B-Fab. B-Fab cuts a promo talking trash in response and then Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins also take a turn with a few insults on the microphone. We head to a quick pre-match commercial break.
After we return, LA Knight talks about his win tonight and mentions a U.S. title challenge at Bash In Berlin. Back inside the ring, we see the match in progress, with Tama and Tonga taking turns tagging in and out to work over Dawkins in the early goings.
Dawkins finally makes the much-needed tag to Ford, who comes into the ring with a ton of energy and hits some offensive spots before Tama and Tonga take back over control of things. We see a very pleased Solo Sikoa watching at ringside as we head into a mid-match break.
The show returns to see Ford once again helping The Profits fight into the offensive lead. Jacob Fatu ends up getting involved, however, leading to The Bloodline picking up the win to retain the tag-titles. After the match, The Bloodline attack The Profits some more, which brings out DIY. They end up beating them down as well.
Winners and STILL WWE Tag-Team Champions: The Bloodline
Cody Rhodes & Kevin Owens vs. A-Town Down Under
It’s main event time …
But first, when we return, we check in with Byron Saxton for an update on DIY and The Street Profits. B-Fab comes out and says they’re fine, they’re just pissed. A Michin video package airs where she vows to beat down “Queen” Nia Jax for the WWE Women’s Championship at WWE Bash In Berlin.
Backstage, Nia Jax approaches Tiffany Stratton and Pretty Deadly. She vows to make Michin pay for destroying the party she created for her. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven are shown right next to them talking trash openly so Nia will hear about how Tiffany is just going to turn on her.
From there, we head back inside the arena where Cody Rhodes’ theme hits and “The American Nightmare” makes his way out for tonight’s scheduled tag-team main event. As he settles in the ring, we head into a pre-match commercial break. When we return, Kevin Owens makes his way out, followed by A-Town Down Under.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. Rhodes and Waller kick things off for their respective teams. Rhodes settles into an early offensive lead, but after some cheap heel tactics, Waller and Theory take over control of the action. As they do, we head into a mid-match commercial break as the main event continues.
When the show returns from the break, we see Cody still getting beat down until he finally makes the hot tag to Owens. Owens comes in and shifts things into his favor but then A-Town Down Under takes back over. Cody eventually gets back in and hits his trademark spots, but this one stays alive until Owens hits a pop-up power bomb for the win.
Once the match wraps up, Graves and Barrett run down the updated lineup for next week’s WWE Bash In Berlin premium live event as the official match graphics flash across the screen. After that, we see Cody recovering in the ring.
When he gets to his feet, we see Owens charge over to him like he’s gonna hit him with a Stunner, but he walks past him and yells at A-Town Down Under heading up the ramp. That’s how this week’s show goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
Winners: Cody Rhodes & Kevin Owens
