Winners, News And Notes On September 2, 2022

WWE SmackDown featured Roman Reigns’ two-year world title celebration ahead of his big showdown against Drew McIntyre at WWE Clash at the Castle. SmackDown also featured Ronda Rousey in a confrontation with Adam Pearce, where Rousey was reinstated, and The New Day vs. The Viking Raiders in an entertaining “Viking Rules” match.

SmackDown’s viewership garnered 1.990 million last week.

WWE SmackDown Results

• The Viking Raiders def. The New Day
• Karrion Kross def. Drew Gulak
• Hit Row def. Maximum Male Models
• Shinsuke Nakamura def. Happy Corbin

WWE SmackDown Ratings

• August 26, 2022 | 1.990 million
• August 19, 2022 | 2.084 million
• August 12, 2022 | 1.927 million
• August 5, 2022 | 2.093 million
• July 29, 2022 | 2.193 million

• WWE SmackDown Venue: Little Caesars Arena (Detroit, Mich.)
• WWE SmackDown Tickets Distributed: 9,381
• Available Tickets: 459

WWE SmackDown Highlights | Friday, September 2, 2022

The Viking Raiders def. The New Day

The Viking Raiders stood atop a dragon boat during their entrance, and they’ve never come off as bigger stars.

Samantha Irvin’s over-the-top delivery was actually perfect for this Viking Rules match considering its over-the-top pageantry.

Michael Cole was having almost too much fun calling this match.

These fans were cool with this match as long as there was at least the occasional tease of a table spot.

This felt it would have been a holiday-themed brawl, but August doesn’t have any holidays so they settled for “Viking rules.”

Kofi Kingston delivered a shot with a unicorn sledge hammer, and it was more convincing than most shots with a real sledgehammer.

Karrion Kross def. Drew Gulak

Of course, this is being marketed as Karrion Kross’ “debut,” rather than his return.

WWE is going all the way with this Karrion Kross presentation, and it goes without saying that this was a massive upgrade over his previous main roster debut. The question is, though, will the people come along?

Ronda Rousey Reinstated by Adam Pearce

Ronda Rouse is actually much better on the mic when she has somebody to play off of and antagonize, which seems to be the sole role of Adam Pearce throughout this feud.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess WWE was building up to a match between Ronda Rousey and Adam Pearce.

The canned reactions were all in Ronda Rousey’s favor, and Adam Pearce is the clear heel here, which tells me Liv Morgan vs. Ronda Rousey is a babyface vs. babyface feud despite Rousey turning heel after losing at SummerSlam.

In case people didn’t know Pearce was the heel in this feud, he dropped the B-word on Ronda Rousey before she trapped him in an armbar.

Hit Row def. Maximum Male Models

For those wondering, the Maximum Male Models indeed did wrestle in matching capris.

The Maximum Male Models had a pretty amusing spot where Mace did a runway walk on Ashante Thee Adonis’ back.

Angel and Hector seem to be unofficial members of Maximum Male Models just like The Street Profits seem to be unofficial members of Hit Row.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Happy Corbin

Given his affiliation with both Shinsuke Nakamura and Happy Corbin, this open challenge might have been called the Pat McAfee invitational.

After it seemed like he retired to the gimmick, McAfee is back to dancing to Shinsuke Nakamura’s theme song.

Happy Corbin was picked up by JBL, which is the biggest sign of life for this gimmick since he veered into “happy” territory.

Butch def. Ludwig Kaiser

Butche walked out in his Pete Dunn gear, and even Michael Cole had to hesitate before calling him “Butch.”

Everything about Gunther vs. Sheamus has been a delight, including this brawl between Butch and Kaiser, who seemed to be doing an homage to the dearly departed NXTXT
UK. I expect this build to pay off with a potential match of the weekend tomorrow at Clash at the Castle.

Roman Reigns 2-Year World Championship Celebration

Drew McIntyre got his heat back by running roughshod throughout this celebration, successfully completing the rare build where Roman Reigns’ world championship legitimately feels in jeopardy. Call me crazy, but I predict Drew McIntyre beats Roman Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship.