AJ Styles cuts a promo backstage talking about LA Knight. He tells LA Knight that he saw him walking around like he owns the place but the reality is that LA Knight does not deserve to be in the same locker room as him. He says LA Knight stole momentum off his expense. AJ says this is a cut throat place to be. He tells him that LA Knight is overachieving, undertalented, loud mouthed, desperately in need of humbling and he is a phenomenal choice for the job.

LA Knight is backstage laughing. He says phenomenal and takes a practice swing, he swings a chair onto the television.

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Rhea Ripley speaks up and says Dom has been carrying the entire WWE on his back this entire year. Ilja calls today a day of celebration. He says as a gift for himself, he can’t picture anything better than eating a man alive like him in this ring. He then tells Rhea he’s gonna smash her boy. Cody makes the title match official for tonight. He reveals LA Knight will be the special guest referee.

Now we shoot to Baron Corbin backstage for an interview. He talks about being disappointed at the new NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov. As he continues to complain, he is interrupted inside the CWC by the theme music of LA Knight. Out he comes as the special guest referee of our next match of the evening.

After LA Knight settles in the ring as the special guest referee, the theme for Dominik Mysterio plays and out comes the NXT North American Champion accompanied by the WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. He makes his way to the ring for this NXT Championship showdown against “The Mad Dragon.”

The theme for Ilja Dragunov hits and out comes the reigning, defending NXT Champion for this scheduled title defense against the aforementioned member of The Judgment Day. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. The fans chant “YEAH! YEAH!” at virtually everything early on.

“The Mad Dragon” dominates the offense early on. The momentum shifts after LA Knight is distracted by Rhea Ripley on the ring apron, which allows “Dirty” Dom to live up to the moniker, as he thumbs the champ in the eye and takes over as we head into a mid-match commercial break as this title tilt continues.

When we return from the break, we hear louder “YEAH!” chants as LA Knight and Rhea Ripley being the referee and ringside manager are heavily over-shadowing the action in the ring between the NXT World Champion and the NXT North American Champion. Ouch.

Dom backs Ilja in the corner and chops him loud enough that Rhea Ripley reacts big, Ilja stares at him with wide eyes. Dom looks for a 6-1-9 but Dragunov avoids it. He goes for it again and this time he hits it. Ripley cheers Dom on as he goes for the cover, but Ilja kicks out.

We hear the “YEAH!” chants fire up again as Dragunov fights back into the offensive lead. Dom slides out of the ring to avoid Dragunov looking for his H-Bomb finisher. Dom takes advantage of a cheap shot opportunity and looks to finish Dragunov off, but Dragunov counters and hits a big power bomb and then an H-Bomb.

He goes for another one but out comes Finn Balor and JD McDonagh. LA Knight takes them both out. Dragunov avoids a title shot from Rhea Ripley. She falls off the apron and is caught by Trick Williams, who appears at ringside. Dragunov hits torpedo masquo for the win to retain. Eventful match for what has been an eventful show thus far.

After the match, we see Baron Corbin’s theme hit and out he comes to beat down Ilja Dragunov, but from behind, Dijak takes out the champ. He tells Corbin as he passes by him, “I got him first.”

Winner and STILL NXT World Champion: Ilja Dragunov

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Live in the arena, out comes LA Knight to the ring to a loud pop from the crowd. As LA Knight is about to begin speaking, out comes Jimmy Uso with Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa.

Heyman says for decades, he has been able to spot who the next big thing will be. He goes on to say that the next big mega star in this business is going to be LA Knight. He tells LA Knight that he is on a roll, he has all of the momentum in the world. He has earned Heyman’s respect and admiration. As Heyman is speaking, the fans chant “LA Knight”. He tells LA Knight that now that he has earned his attention, the Bloodline is gonig to have to do something about it.

The fans boo as LA Knight asks him if he is done running his fat mouth yet. HE tells Heyman that he appreciates what Heyman told him but he didn’t buy his bullshit. As he is speaking, Jimmy Uso tells him to shut his mouth. He tells him that they have not been properly introduced. And they are out here to tell his ugly face that he isn’t making it to Fastlane. Jimmy tells Solo to get in the ring. As both men are on the ring apron, John Cena’s music hits and he comes running down. Cena and LA Knight stand in the ring with the Bloodline on the ring apron.

The fans chant “Cena” as Heyman tells the Bloodline to get down from the ring apron. Jimmy and Solo walk down the ring steps as LA Knight tells them that they were excited for a fight but he gets it. They didn’t have permission from their chief to come out. He says he is thinking about tonight as he challenges Jimmy to a match. And that way he can learn once and for all who’s game it is with everybody saying “LA Knight… Yeah!”

Jimmy agrees to the match as Heyman argues with him saying he has to speak to Roman about it.

Jimmy Uso with Paul Heyman vs. LA Knight

The bell rings and we are under way. LA Knight with a kick and a head lock. LA Knight to the ropes and he knocks Jimmy down with a shoulder tackle. A kick and a head lock by Jimmy as he runs to the ropes and knocks LA Knight down with a shoulder tackle. A kick to the face by Jimmy as he runs towards LA Knight but LA Knight hits him with a powerslam. He goes for the cover but Jimmy kicks out. LA Knight throws Jimmy to the ropes but Jimmy with a kick. He goes for a super kick but LA Knight moves out of the way. LA Knight goes for the BFT but Jimmy rolls out of the ring. LA Knight to the outside and he throws Jimmy back into the ring. LA Knight gets in the ring and Jimmy hits him with a kick to the side of the head and LA Knight falls to the outside. Jimmy to the outside and he hits LA Knight with a super kick.

Back from commercial, LA Knight with a bodyslam in the middle of the ring. He runs to the ropes and hits an elbow onto Jimmy. Solo gets in the ring and attacks Solo from behind as the referee calls for the bell.

Winner: By disqualification, LA Knight

John Cena’s music hits as he runs down to the ring. He grabs Solo and throws him to the outside. Solo and Jimmy are on the outside as the fans chant “Cena”. The Judgment Day’s music hits and they walk down to the ring.

The Judgment Day and the Bloodline are face to face at ringside. Heyman extends his hand and tells Rhea authorized as they shake hands. LA Knight and John Cena stand in the ring as the fans chant “Cody”. The Bloodline and the Judgment Day get on the ring apron as “Uso” hits and out comes Jey Uso. He gets in the ring and stands alongside Cena and LA Knight. Cody’s music hits and Cody runs down to the ring and stands alongside Cena, LA Knight and Jey.

Heyman tells Solo to step down as he walks down the ring steps but a fight breaks out. Jey, Cody and Cena clean house. Cody hits a suicide dive onto the outside. Jey jumps over the top rope and lands on the Judgment Day. Cena stands in the ring and in comes Solo as both men are face to face. The fans chant “Cena” and Cena with a right hand but Solo with a super kick. In comes LA Knight. Solo goes for the spike but LA Knight ducks and he clotheslines Solo to the outside. JD McDonagh gets in the ring and LA Knight hits him wit the the BFT. Jey hits him with the super kick and Cena slams him onto the mat. Cena with the five knuckle shuffle. He hits JD McDonagh with the AA. Cody hits JD with the Cross Rhodes as all four men stand in the ring and SmackDown goes off the air.

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John Cena’s music hits as he runs down to a loud pop from the crowd. He is introduced as the greatest of all time as Cena has the contract with him. The fans chant “Cena” as he tells them that he hears them and he knows they hear him. He says last week he said he came back to compete and he wants a match.

Cena says the Bloodline did not take too kindly to that and they left him knocked out. But they also left him with the contract. A signed contract for a match against the Bloodline at Fastlane. Cena says there is a big problem because he doesn’t have a partner. Cena says tonight is very important because now he has a choice. He can rip up the contract and act like it never happened or he can stand and fight. He asks the fans what they think a man who wears “Never Give Up” on his heart will make. The fans cheer. He says if he doesn’t find a partner for Fastlane, he will fight them in a two on one handicap match.

Jimmy’s music hits and out he comes with Solo and Heyman. Jimmy says look who finally showed up. Jimmy tells Cena is out here talking about Fastlane but did he not see what they did backstage. They get on the ring apron and Jimmy tells Cena he is not making it to Fastlane. Cena with a right hand knocks Jimmy off the ring apron. He tells Solo to get in the ring. Solo gets in the ring, he goes for the Samoan Spike, Cena ducks and goes for the AA but Jimmy hits him with a superkick.

Cena falls to the outside as Jimmy clears the announce table. Jimmy places Cena on the table and as he begins to climb the ring steps, Solo stops him. Solo climbs the ring steps and climbs the top rope. LA Knight’s music hits and he runs down to the ring. LA Knight gets in the ring and he hits Jimmy with a clothesline. He stomps on Jimmy and he hits Solo with right hands. LA Knight with a neckbreaker. LA Knight slams Jimmy down onto the mat and hits him with the elbow. Cena gets in the ring and he throws Solo to the outside as LA Knight throws Jimmy to the outside.

LA Knight and John Cena are face to face in the middle of the ring. LA Knight grabs the contract and signs it. He gives Cena the contract as Cena raises it in the air and SmackDown goes off the air.

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LA Knight vs. Finn Balor

We see the first-ever Firefly Fun House in the latest tribute video for Bray Wyatt. We shoot live backstage and see LA Knight walking the hall ways as he prepares to head to the ring for the main event against Finn Balor.

As he does, we head to a commercial break. When we return, we see footage of LA Knight interfering in Miz’s match with Akira Tozawa on Raw. We then see TMZ Sports’ interview with The Miz where he vows Knight won’t make it to WrestleMania if he keeps disrespecting him.

Back live, the radio screeches and the theme for LA Knight hits. The entire crowd erupts and stands on their feet as “The Mega Star” makes his way out and settles into the squared circle for our main event of the evening.

Knight gets on the mic and says he’ll get to The Miz in a second, but from what he can tell, tonight is about Bray Wyatt. He brings up the fans showing the “Fireflies” at the start of the show. He talks about great foes being great helpers. He says he and Bray Wyatt went through hell and through that, what Wyatt was really doing was getting him ready for anything.

He says he was doing good keeping it together until he saw photos of him and his family and that got to him. He says everyone can feel the spirit of Bray Wyatt in this building. The fans chant “Thank you Bray!” Knight says it as well.

From there, he switches gears and says, “Let me talk to ya!” He then brings up Miz’s interview with TMZ Sports. He says if he’s a fad, he’s okay with that, because Miz never was — no one ever cared about him. He says when he had a stunt double, he played second fiddle to him. Even when he was champion, he was a background story to the real main event of The Rock and John Cena.

LA Knight finishes by saying a wise man once told him, “The next time you see me … run!” On that note, we shift gears and see Bray’s Extreme Return as another tribute clip before heading into another commercial break.

When we return from the break, Michael Cole, Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves confirm John Cena and Jimmy Uso’s return for next week’s SmackDown, as well as Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar vs. Grayson Waller & Austin Theory. They also announce LA Knight vs. The Miz for WWE Payback 2023.

In the arena, Finn Balor’s theme hits and he makes his way out for tonight’s main event. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. We see Knight jump into the early offensive lead. He takes Balor out to the floor and repeatedly bounces his head off the commentary desk.

The action resumes in the ring where Knight heads to the top, but Balor sweeps his legs out from under him and he crashes and burns — bad. On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.

When we return from the break, we see Balor working over Knight, who he eventually hits with his trademark Sling Blade spot. Knight fights back and starts going at Balor again, but this doesn’t last long, as Balor sweeps him down and stomps on his chest. He hits a running drop kick into the corner.

Balor heads to the top-rope looking for his Coup de Grace, but Knight moves just in time. Knight fires up on offense after hitting Balor with a big power slam and playing to the crowd. Seconds later, Knight finishes off Balor for what the commentators call the biggest win of his career.

Winner: LA Knight

Gallery: WWE Related > Digitals > Friday Night SmackDown > 2023 >August 25th
Gallery: Screen Captures > World Wrestling Entertainment > Friday Night SmackDown > 2023 >August 25th