WWE Smackville was a professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's SmackDown brand division. A portion of the live event was livestreamed exclusively on the WWE Network as a one-hour special. It took place on July 27, 2019, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

WWE Smackville
Promotional poster featuring Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, and Samoa Joe
PromotionWWE
Brand(s)SmackDown
DateJuly 27, 2019
CityNashville, Tennessee
VenueBridgestone Arena
WWE Network event chronology
← Previous
Extreme Rules
Next →
NXT TakeOver: Toronto

Nine matches were contested on the card, three of which were shown for the one-hour WWE Network special. In the main event of the non-televised live show, Bayley defeated Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss in a triple threat match to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship, while in the main event of the televised portion of the show, Kofi Kingston retained the WWE Championship in a triple threat match against Dolph Ziggler and Samoa Joe.

Production

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Background

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In 2015, WWE began to expand its content on the WWE Network by presenting televised house shows. These one-hour WWE Network-exclusive specials did not show the entire card, but only a select few matches. Smackville took place on July 27, 2019, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee and featured wrestlers from the SmackDown brand. The one-hour WWE Network special of Smackville was livestreamed.[1][2][3][4]

Storylines

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Other on-screen personnel
Role: Name:
Commentators Tom Phillips
David Otunga
Ring announcer Greg Hamilton
Referees Danilo Anfibio
Ryan Tran

The card included nine matches, three of which were shown for the one-hour WWE Network special. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[5][6] Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the SmackDown brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show SmackDown Live.[7][8]

On the May 21 episode of SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler, who had been inactive since January's Royal Rumble event, made a surprise return and attacked Kofi Kingston. Ziggler, a Raw wrestler appearing via the wild card rule, later explained that it should have been him who got the opportunity to go to WrestleMania 35 and win the WWE Championship instead of Kingston.[9] Ziggler, who was in turn moved to SmackDown, then lost to Kingston at both Super ShowDown and Stomping Grounds.[10][11] On the June 24 episode of Raw, after Kingston had defeated both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in consecutive singles matches, Kingston was randomly attacked by Raw's Samoa Joe, who performed an "uranage" on Kingston. As referees tended to the champion, Joe returned and applied the "Coquina Clutch" on Kingston.[12] Kingston would defeat Joe at Extreme Rules.[13] On July 18, a WWE Championship Triple Threat match between the three wrestlers was announced for Smackville.[14]

At Money in the Bank, Bayley won the women's Money in the Bank ladder match and later that night cashed in the contract on Charlotte Flair to win the SmackDown Women's Championship.[15] On the June 4 episode of SmackDown, Flair competed in a triple threat match against Carmella and Raw's Alexa Bliss, who appeared via the wild card rule, in order to earn a rematch against Bayley for the title at Stomping Grounds. Bliss, however, won the match, thus Bliss earned the title match at Stomping Grounds,[16] but lost.[11] She and Cross then faced Bayley at Extreme Rules in a two-on-one handicap match for the title, but the two were defeated by Bayley.[13] On July 18, a SmackDown Women's Championship triple threat match between Bayley, Flair, and Bliss was announced for Smackville, though this match was not shown on the WWE Network special.[14]

During the Extreme Rules pre-show, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Finn Bálor to win the Intercontinental Championship.[17] A rematch was later scheduled for Smackville;[14] however, Bálor was removed from the match on July 27 after suffering an undisclosed injury and was replaced by Ali.[18]

In addition to the matches, a musical performance by Elias was also announced for the show.[14]

Results

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No.ResultsStipulationsTimes
1DThe New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) (c) defeated The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel)Tag team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship[19]13:48
2DAleister Black defeated Andrade (with Zelina Vega)Singles match[19]12:06
3Shinsuke Nakamura (c) defeated AliSingles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship[20]8:05
4Kevin Owens defeated EliasSingles match[20]4:10
5Kofi Kingston (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler and Samoa JoeTriple threat match for the WWE Championship[20]12:15
6DHeavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker) defeated AOP (Akam and Rezar)Tag team match[19]8:04
7DThe IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) (c) defeated The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane)Tag team match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship[19]16:24
8DSami Zayn defeated Apollo CrewsSingles match[19]9:15
9DBayley (c) defeated Charlotte Flair and Alexa BlissTriple threat match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship[19]12:59
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match
D – this was a dark match

References

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  1. ^ "SMACKVILLE to feature WWE Championship Triple Threat Match live on WWE Network July 27". WWE. July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  2. ^ Meltzer, Dave (July 28, 2019). "DAILY UPDATE: WWE INJURIES, UFC FALLOUT, ROH NOTES". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  3. ^ Joseph Currier (July 18, 2019). "WWE ANNOUNCES SMACKVILLE NETWORK SPECIAL, TWO MATCHES SET". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  4. ^ "Please login".
  5. ^ Grabianowski, Ed (13 January 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  6. ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  7. ^ Steinberg, Brian (May 25, 2016). "WWE's 'Smackdown' Will Move To Live Broadcast On USA (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  8. ^ "Triple H Conference Call Report: Discusses 205 Live, NXT Takeover: Toronto, Says HBK Working at the Performance Center and More - 411MANIA". 411mania.com.
  9. ^ Barnett, Jake (May 21, 2019). "5/21 WWE Smackdown Live Results: Barnett's review of Roman Reigns vs. Elias, New Day celebrates Big E's return, Becky Lynch and Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair and Lace Evans, Kofi Kingston vs. Sami Zayn in a non-title match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  10. ^ Powell, Jason (7 June 2019). "WWE Super ShowDown results: Powell's live review of Undertaker vs. Goldberg, Seth Rollins vs. Baron for the WWE Universal Championship, Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship, Triple H vs. Randy Orton, Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  11. ^ a b Powell, Jason (23 June 2019). "WWE Stomping Grounds results: Powell's live review of Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin with a special referee for the WWE Universal Championship, Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler in a cage match for the WWE Championship, Becky Lynch vs. Lacey Evans for the Raw Women's Title, Samoa Joe vs. Ricochet the U.S. Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  12. ^ Powell, Jason (June 24, 2019). "6/24 WWE Raw Results: Powell's review of U.S. Champion Ricochet vs. AJ Styles in a non-title match, Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre in a handicap match, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Sami Zayn in a non-title match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  13. ^ a b Powell, Jason (14 July 2019). "WWE Extreme Rules results: Powell's live review of Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans in an Extreme Rules match for the WWE Universal Championship and the Raw Women's Championship, Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  14. ^ a b c d "WWE SMACKVILLE". Bridgestone Arena. Archived from the original on 2019-07-23. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
  15. ^ Powell, Jason (19 May 2019). "WWE Money in the Bank results: Powell's live review of Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles for the WWE Universal Championship, Kofi Kingston vs. Kevin Owens for the WWE Championship, Becky Lynch defends the Raw and Smackdown Women's Titles, two Money in the Bank ladder matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  16. ^ Barnett, Jake (June 4, 2019). "6/4 WWE Smackdown Live Results: Barnett's review of Goldberg's appearance, final hype for WWE Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia, Bayley on A Moment of Bliss". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  17. ^ Powell, Jason (14 July 2019). "WWE Extreme Rules Kickoff Show results: Powell's review of Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship, Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  18. ^ Johnson, Mike (July 27, 2019). "FINN BALOR MEDICAL UPDATE". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  19. ^ a b c d e f Cook, Ryan (July 27, 2019). "WWE Smackville Results Kofi Kingston Retains, Shinsuke Nakamura vs Ali". Fightful Wrestling. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  20. ^ a b c MacDonald, Josiah (July 18, 2019). "WWE Smackville live results: Kingston vs. Joe vs. Ziggler". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
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