WWE SmackDown results, recap, grades: Champions come face-to-face ahead of Survivor Series – CBSSports.com

With WWE Survivor Series just two days away, the go-home edition of SmackDown was largely focused on ticking off the final boxes ahead of the pay-per-view. SmackDown filled the remaining spots on the men’s and women’s Survivor Series teams and a few visitors made their way from Raw to confront their opponents ahead of Sunday’s event.

The big pre-show headlines focused on WWE champion Drew McIntyre returning to SmackDown to share the ring with universal champ Roman Reigns and sign their match contract. But Raw tag champs The New Day also appeared on the show, tagging with upcoming opponents The Street Profits and Raw women’s champion Asuka showed up to trade words with SmackDown titleholder Sasha Banks.

CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recaps and highlights of all the action. Read on for everything you need to know coming out of the PPV go-home edition of SmackDown.

Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns sign Survivor Series contract

McIntyre came to the ring for his contract signing with Reigns before a commercial. After the break, Reigns’ music hit and the universal champion took a long time before making his entrance, forcing McIntyre to sit in the ring and wait for him. Reigns made his walk to the ring and again took a lengthy pause at the bottom of the ramp, and again at the ring steps. Reigns then forced WWE official Adam Pearce to move from his seat so that he was able to take the chair at the head of the table.

Reigns stared McIntyre down and told him he knew he would beat Randy Orton on Raw to win back the WWE championship. Reigns also said that McIntyre has long been the right guy at the right place at the wrong time. McIntyre said he knows what Reigns is trying to do, but he isn’t going to flip a table and punch him because he already has his match on Sunday. McIntyre said he was just going to do what he was told to show up and do, sign the contract. McIntyre signed and told Reigns to use his last two days of peace to prepare for war. Reigns told McIntyre that he’s a secondary champion and a prop, while Reigns is the champion and the face of the promotion. The universal champion then said that one day, McIntyre will love him for the lessons he taught him and Reigns will love him right back, because McIntyre will always be his “favorite number two.”

It was refreshing to see a contract signing in WWE that didn’t break down into a brawl. That’s exceedingly rare over the history of these segments over the past decades. The messages delivered by both men were solid, meaningful and added a sense of weight to a match that has no real stakes beyond personal pride. Reigns came out looking better than McIntyre, but right now that’s just what happens when you go word-for-word with The Tribal Chief. Grade: B

Murphy scores win over Seth Rollins

Rollins cut a backstage promo in the opening hour of the show, taking credit for everything Murphy had earned since becoming his disciple. Rollins promised to teach one final lesson and then send Murphy back to having no one and nothing.

Murphy def. Seth Rollins via pinfall after hitting Murphy’s Law. Murphy was escorted to the ring by the Mysterio family before being jumped by Rollins at the start of the match. After tying Murphy up in the ropes, Rollins tried to grab a kendo stick from under the ring, but Rey Mysterio grabbed the stick. Rollins attacked Rey and then followed up with an attack on Dominik Mysterio before Murphy freed himself, only to be quickly knocked to the floor by Rollins, who then began stalking Aalyah Mysterio as the show went to commercial. After the break, Rollins and Murphy were back in the ring wrestling as normal. Murphy managed to survive a falcon arrow from Rollins only to hit Murphy’s Law for the victory, celebrating with the Mysterios after the win.

It was nice to see Murphy get the win, if not obvious given reports that Rollins is heading toward planned time off as he and Becky Lynch are anticipating the birth of their child. It’s a little inexcusable to use Rollins stalking toward Aalyah as a transition to commercial only to come back from the break without mentioning what happened. Was Rollins about to physically assault a 19-year-old? What stopped him? Dramatic transitions carry no weight if they’re just “the moment the show went to break.” Grade: C+

What else happened on WWE SmackDown?

The New Day & The Street Profits def. Robert Roode, Dolph Ziggler, King Corbin & Sami Zayn via pinfall after Montez Ford hit Zayn with a frog splash. The match came about after The New Day cut a promo in the show open and were confronted by the four heels only to be saved by the Profits. As the match was building, Kingston hit a crossbody from the top rope but accidentally hit Ford, causing issues between the teams. Despite the miscommunication, the Profits were able to score the victory for their team by pinning Zayn who intentionally kept himself out of the match until the final stretch.

Daniel Bryan was backstage when Zayn walked into his interview. After Bryan laughed at Zayn, Zayn tried to confront him only to be shoved by the ground. Zayn left the area saying Bryan was lucky that he was focused on facing Bobby Lashley at Survivor Series. Bryan went on to have his interview, talking about his issues with Roman Reigns and Jey Uso after being attacked by Uso after their Survivor Series qualifying match several weeks ago.

Adam Pearce announced that Otis and Bayley had been chosen members of their respective teams for SmackDown at Survivor Series. Natalya was upset that she was not given a spot, but was told she had a match to get to.

Survivor Series Qualifying Match — Natalya def. Tamina via submission with the Sharpshooter. This was Natalya’s third attempt to qualify for the team and finally got the job done in a short match.

Carmella attacked Sasha Banks for the third straight week. Banks and Asuka were in the ring discussing their upcoming Survivor Series match when Carmella ran in and attacked, hanging Banks in the corner and delivering a stomp before walking off.

Daniel Bryan def. Jey Uso via pinfall with a roll-up. Uso wasted little time in the match before snapping, taking Bryan outside the ring and clearing off the announce table, but Bryan was able to fire back before Uso could put the table to use. That situation was only temporary, however, with Uso back body dropping Bryan through the table minutes later. Bryan, still dealing with the injuries to his kidneys from Uso’s prior attack, tried to lock in a LeBell Lock, but Uso retaliated by hammering him in the injured kidneys. After eating a series of superkicks, Bryan got his knees up on a splash from Uso to score the roll-up for the win.

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