The road to WWE Bad Blood 2024 continues tonight in “The Golden State.”
WWE SmackDown returns with their second show on USA Network this evening at 8/7c from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.
On tap for tonight’s show is Nia Jax & Tiffany Stratton vs. Bayley & Naomi in a match where if Bayley & Naomi win, the person who scores the fall faces Nia Jax at WWE Bad Blood 2024 for the WWE Women’s Championship. If Bayley & Naomi lose, the person who loses the fall must leave WWE SmackDown.
Additionally, the show will feature Giovanni Vinci vs. Apollo Crews II, LA Knight puts the WWE United States Championship on-the-line against Andrade, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns seek common ground against The Bloodline and more.
Featured below are complete WWE SmackDown results from Friday, September 20, 2024. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 8-10pm EST. on USA Network.
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS – SEPTEMBER 20, 2024
We see footage of The Bloodline arriving to the building and going through metal detectors, which go off. They keep walking anyways, except for Jacob Fatu, who beats up the security guards who tried patting him down.
From there, we see a shot of Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes at Georgia Tech in a tease for their face-to-face segment scheduled for later in the show.
WWE United States Championship
LA Knight (c) vs. Andrade
The theme for “The Mega Star” hits and out comes WWE United States Champion LA Knight to kick off this week’s show with our first match of the evening.
Andrade’s entrance tune hits next and out he comes for the title shot he earned with his victory over Carmelo Hayes to go 3-2 in their series of five matches in recent weeks.
Once the bell sounds, this one gets started with a bang, as Knight gets off to a quick start. He looks for a BFT early to try and end this one before it begins, but it was not meant to be. As the action continues, we head into a mid-match commercial break.
When the show returns, we see Andrade starting to settle into a comfortable offensive lead. The action spills out to the floor, where Knight starts to take over. The U.S. champ bounces the dome of Andrade off of the commentary desk as fans chant “YEAH!” each time.
Back inside the ring, the action continues as we head into a second mid-match commercial break. When we return, Knight is fighting from underneath, but begins to take over. He stomps away at Andrade as fans chant “YEAH! YEAH!” He takes him up the ropes as fans chant “This is Awesome!”
Andrade elbows his way free, knocking Knight of the ropes. He goes for a big moonsault but Knight moves. He lands on his feet and immediately shifts into another move, which connects for a close two-count. Andrade hits the running knees to a slumped over Knight in the corner for another super close pin attempt.
Moments later, the two collide and Knight gets a cut on his right eye. Regardless, he connects with his BFT for the win to retain the U.S. title. After the match, the two had an awkward showing of mutual respect. Knight went to fist bump Andrade, who insisted on a handshake, so he ended up pulling Knight’s arm towards him, holding it still and shaking hands with the champ’s fist. Odd.
Winner and STILL WWE United States Champion: LA Knight
Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes’ Meeting At Georgia Tech
Backstage, we see Tiffany Stratton and Nia Jax talking after footage is shown from last week’s show to remind fans about their high stakes tag-team tilt later in the evening. Jax tells Stratton if she loses, she might want to think about leaving SmackDown as a way of threatening and intimidating her.
She mocks her “Tootles!” catchphrase and walks off as Stratton looks nervous. After that, Michael Cole informs us that after the break, we check in at Georgia Tech with Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, as they seek to find common ground ahead of their battle against The Bloodline at WWE Bad Blood in Atlanta, GA. on October 5.
When we return, we head right into the very well-produced, slick pre-recorded segment with Rhodes and Reigns at Georgia Tech. After a five minute music video with clips cut in plays as the two walk to center field from opposite ends of the stadium, the music cuts off and the two begin talking like a serious pivotal scene in a movie.
They talk about their respective issues with The Bloodline, vow that they will have each other’s back at WWE Bad Blood 2024, but then Reigns makes it clear once that is taken care of, he’s taking back the title that belongs to him.
When it wraps up, Byron Saxton sees Kevin Owens watching it on a monitor and tries asking for his thoughts. Owens just walks off. We head to another commercial break on that note. Really good stuff. As advertised.
Giovanni Vinci vs. Apollo Crews II
When the show returns, Kevin Owens is shown sitting by himself looking lost in thought and dejected still after seeing the Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns segment from Georgia Tech.
Inside the arena, we see Apollo Crews in the ring ready for our next match of the evening. Out comes the repackaged Giovanni Vinci for his second match since getting his new character.
The bell sounds and Vinci goes to work on Crews. He beats him up for about a minute before hoisting him up, only for Crews to counter with a roll-up for the unexpected upset victory once again. After the match, Vinci attacks Crews and leaves him laying.
Winner: Apollo Crews
Kevin Owens Promo Segment
Backstage we see Byron Saxton once again approach a down-in-the-dumps-looking Kevin Owens. He asks him if now is a better time to get his thoughts on the Rhodes/Reigns segment. You know, since he waited all of three or four minutes since asking him and getting blown off the first time.
Owens stands up and says if he’s going to address it, he might as well go out and do it in the ring. We head to another commercial break on that note. When we return, the theme for “The Prize Fighter” hits and out comes Owens to the ring.
