The February 6th, 2018 edition of WWE SmackDown Live took place at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO.
– Tom Phillips welcomes us to Kansas City, and promotes the Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens match, where the winner will go on to face AJ Styles for the WWE Title.
– Shane McMahon comes down to the ring to kick off SmackDown. He discusses the Owens vs. Zayn match, and says he doesn’t think either of them deserve an opportunity, Daniel Bryan does think they do. Shane introduces Bryan, who comes down to the ring next. Shane tells Bryan that he doesn’t think he’s listening to his frustrations, because he keeps giving Owens and Zayn opportunities over and over. The crowd chants “Rusev Day,” and Shane acknowledges them. Shane says maybe the fans would rather see someone else get a shot at the WWE Title instead of either Owens or Zayn. Bryan counter-argues that Owens and Zayn were victims of a bad referee call, and they are now going to fight each other for another opportunity. Bryan says he thinks he deserves a pay raise for his work. Shane says he thinks Bryan has given Owens and Zayn enough opportunities already. Shane says Bryan has changed WWE forever, and that this is emotional for him to discuss, but he accuses Bryan of trying to live vicariously through Owens and Zayn, and says they have been manipulating Bryan. Shane says he knows Bryan wants to compete in the ring again more than anything in the world. Bryan asks Shane to clarify what he means, and Shane reiterates that he thinks Bryan is living vicariously through Owens and Zayn. WWE Champion AJ Styles comes out to interrupt. AJ steps in the ring and the crowd chants his name. AJ gets on the mic and says he’s the best in the business and he was put on the world to be phenomenal. He says he was built for the wrestling business, and he can deal with it’s downsides, but he can’t deal with SmackDown management obsessing over Owens and Zayn. AJ accuses both Daniel and Shane of obsessing over Owens and Zayn. AJ tells Daniel and Shane to stay out of his way, then heads to the back.
– The New Day is backstage eating pancakes and answering fan questions on Twitter.
– Up next: Charlotte vs. Liv Morgan in a non-Title match. Still to come: Bobby Roode defends the U.S. Title against Rusev.
– AJ Styles is shown walking backstage, and he is confronted by Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura tells him he’s going to take his WWE Title at WrestleMania, and walks off.
– Charlotte vs. Liv Morgan: The rest of the Riott Squad is at ringside. Charlotte starts off with a spear into the corner right off the opening bell. Charlotte follows up with some shoulder strikes, then stomps Liv down in the corner. They fight out to ringside briefly, and a distraction by the Riott Squad leads to Liv dropping Charlotte and taking control. Back in the ring, Liv slams Charlotte face-first into the mat, then puts her in a sleeper. Charlotte starts firing back with chops to the chest, then hits a fallaway slam. Charlotte follows up with a boot to the face, then she goes up top. Liv pulls Charlotte down then stomps on her. Charlotte comes back with a spear, but then gets distracted by Sarah Logan. She knocks Logan down, while Ruby pulls Liv outside to safety on the other side of the ring. The ref ejects Riott and Logan from ringside. Back in the ring, Charlotte hits a big boot on Morgan. Charlotte follows up with the Figure Eight for the win via submission.
Winner: Charlotte
– After the match, Charlotte says “one down, two to go.”
– Tom Phillips introduces a Black History Month video package featuring Roman Reigns and Titus O’Neil.
– Kevin Owens does an interview backstage where he questions whether Sami Zayn will be able to handle losing to him tonight.
– The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Jobbers: The jobbers haven’t gotten names so far. Harper starts off with a big running dropkick on the first jobber, and follows up with a suplex. Harper then rolls outside and chases the second jobber right into Rowan, who drops him with a running cross body. Harper and Rowan take both jobbers into the ring and start beating on both of them. They hit a double team splash on them both at the same time. They double-team powerbomb one jobber, then double chokeslam the other jobber, and pin him for the three count.
Winners: The Bludgeon Brothers
– After the match, The Usos come out and confront The Bludgeon Brothers. The Usos end up walking around the Bludgeon Brothers, and stepping into the ring as The Bludgeon Brothers walk backstage.
– The Usos get on the mic and cut promo in the ring. They talk about the Uso Penitentiary being a “state of mind,” and they make a bunch of prison analogies. They say 2017 was a turnaround year for the Usos, and say the other teams of SmackDown should be feeling paranoid.
– We go backstage to Daniel Bryan, who is about to reveal the SmackDown Live Top 10 List, which is a list of the top wrestlers on the show as voted by their peers. #10 is Tye Dillinger, Randy Orton is #9, Becky Lynch is #8, The Usos are #7, the New Day is #6, Bobby Roode is #5, Naomi is #4, Shinsuke Nakamura is #3, #2 is Charlotte, and #1 is AJ Styles.
– The New Day is shown still backstage messing around with pancakes and answering questions on Twitter with the hashtag #AskTheNewDay.
– We see a pre-taped promo from Aiden English and Rusev, where they talk about preparing for battle. English says Roode should prepare to lose his U.S. Title, because Rusev is about to deliver his masterpiece.
– Aiden English is out to the ring now. He sings a song and introduces Rusev for his U.S. Title shot.
– U.S. Title: Bobby Roode (c) vs. Rusev: Rusev backs the Champion into the corner early on, and the ref pulls them apart. Roode and Rusev lock up again, and this time Roode backs the challenger up then taunts him. Rusev comes back with a snapmare and a front face lock on Roode, then drops him in the corner. Roode and Rusev trade strikes in the middle of the ring until Rusev catches him with a fallaway slam. Rusev puts the boots to Roode, then hits a vertical suplex on the Champion. Roode comes back with some forearm shots to the face, then a clothesline in the corner and a swinging neckbreaker. Roode hits a flying clothesline off the top. Roode gets distracted by Aiden English on the apron, which leads to Rusev hitting a kick to the head of Roode. Roode starts fighting back, but Rusev stuns him with a knee to the body. Roode comes back with a spinebuster for a two count. English gets on the apron again, and Roode punches him off. Rusev rolls up Roode out of nowhere for a two count. Rusev follows up with a big boot, but Rusev is down too for a breather. Rusev goes for the Accolade, but Roode reverses into a rollup for a two count. Rusev rolls up Roode for a two count of his own, and then goes for the Accolade. Roode escapes again, and this time hits the Glorious DDT for the three count.
Winner & still U.S. Champion: Bobby Roode
– After the match, Roode poses in the ring, and then Randy Orton runs in and hits an RKO out of nowhere on the U.S. Champion. Aiden English checks on Rusev, then Orton grabs English and gives him an RKO. Rusev finally gets up, and Orton hits an RKO on him too.
– We see a pre-taped promo from Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable, where they call The Fashion Police clowns and buffoons. They say they want to bring prestige back to the tag division, an they want to run both Breezango and The Ascension out of the division. They will face The Ascension next.
– Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. The Ascension: Konnor and Shelton start off, and Konnor overpowers him early on. Benjamin comes back with some knees and kicks, then tags in Gable. They briefly double team Konnor, then Gable starts working over Konnor’s knee. Viktor gets the hot tag and cleans house. He rolls up Gable and Shelton breaks up the pin. Konnor runs in to take out Shelton, but Shelton hits him with a spinebuster. Viktor throws Shelton outside, then Gable grabs him from behind for a German suplex. Shelton tags in, and they hit the double team powerbomb for the three count.
Winners: Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable
– The New Day is backstage answering Twitter questions. They say they don’t care who wins between Zayn and Owens, and they say Kofi would be the highest-rated individual New Day member on the SmackDown top Ten list.
– Sami Zayn does an interview backstage at the gorilla position, and says tonight is the night he steps out from behind Kevin Owens’ shadow. He says he has fought Owens more than anybody, and knows what he’s capable of. He says Kevin will stop at nothing, but neither will he.
– Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens: The winner of this match gets a shot at AJ Styles’ WWE Title. AJ is on commentary for this one. Owens and Zayn lock up off the opening bell, and Owens takes him down with a front face lock. They separate, then Owens drops Zayn with a shoulder block. Sami comes back with some arm drags, then a shoulder lock. Sami slaps Owens across the face, then Owens returns the favor. Sami tackles Owens and pummels on him, and Owens rolls outside for a breather. Owens tries to get back in the ring, but Sami blasts him off the apron. Back in the ring, they trade strikes until Owens stuns Zayn with an enziguri, and then hits a suplex neckbreaker for a two count. Zayn comes back with a tornado DDT for a two count of his own. Owens drops Zayn now and goes up top for a Swanton bomb, but Zayn blocks it with his knees. The fight spills out to ringside, where Zayn leaps throug hthe ropes and hits a tornado DDT on the floor. Back in the ring, Zayn charges forward, but Owens stops him with a superkick. Owens goes up top and hits a frogsplash for a two count. They slowly fight up to their feet, then Sami shuts him down with a Blue Thunder Bomb for a two count. They fight back out to ringside, in front of where AJ is sitting on commentary. Zayn starts talking trash to AJ, then shoves him. AJ shoves Sami back, then starts punching Sami and Owens. AJ beats down both Sami and Owens, and the ref calls for a DQ. AJ hits a suicide dive out of the ring onto Owens and Zayn.
Winner: No contest
– Daniel Bryan comes out to the stage, and says that both Sami and Kevin will compete for the WWE Title in a Triple Threat match against AJ. None of he three competitors seem to know what to make of Bryan’s decision. Owens and Zayn argue on the ramp while AJ stares them down from the ring. AJ lays the WWE Title down on the mt in front of him as SmackDown goes off the air.
