WWE SmackDown live results: Edge celebrates his 25th anniversary

Edge will celebrate 25 years in WWE by squaring off with Sheamus on tonight’s SmackDown from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The match was set up when Edge called out Sheamus last week, saying they had never faced each other one-on-one. Sheamus joined Edge in the ring to accept his challenge.

Also slated for SmackDown is a tag team match that pits Bianca Belair & Charlotte Flair against WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY & Bayley. 

SKY and Bayley interrupted Charlotte’s match with Asuka last week as SKY attacked both wrestlers to end their match in a no contest. 

The Grayson Waller Effect will welcome in Santos Escobar and new United States Champion Rey Mysterio. Last week, Escobar was unable to compete in a scheduled title match due to an attack by Austin Theory.  As a result, Mysterio took Escobar’s place, ultimately beating Theory to win the US title.

Our live coverage starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

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– Kevin Patrick welcomed everyone into the show. Patrick, Michael Cole and Corey Graves then hyped up the card for the night. 

The Grayson Waller Effect with Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar

Escobar was selling his leg injury from last week with a brace on his knee. Waller started out by congratulating Mysterio on winning the U.S. title last week. Mysterio said it felt great to be U.S. Champion again. Waller asked Mysterio if Mysterio and Escobar were co-champions, but Mysterio said that wasn’t the case. Waller made the case for why Escobar had his chance at the U.S. title stolen from him. Waller said Mysterio wasn’t ready to pass the torch. Waller kept yelling until Escobar told Waller to shut up. 

Escobar said the only person he’s mad at is Austin Theory. Escobar said he gave Mysterio his blessing because he has enormous respect for Mysterio. Escobar called Mysterio his mentor. Escobar said Waller’s attempts to break them up won’t work. As Escobar spoke, Austin Theory’s music hit and Theory came out in his wrestling gear with a microphone. Theory congratulated Mysterio on becoming a three-time U.S. Champion. Theory said what happened last week was a tragedy. Theory said Escobar wasn’t man enough to step up to Theory last week. Theory called himself the greatest U.S. Champion ever. Theory said Adam Pearce was going to come out to hand Theory back his U.S. title. 

Pearce made his way down to the ring. Pearce said nobody wanted to hear Theory complain and out of nowhere, L.A. Knight’s music hit. The crowd went wild. Knight had a microphone in his hand. Knight started with his “Let me talk to you” line. Knight said Theory fumbled the ball. Knight congratulated Mysterio but said at some point, the title will go to Knight. Knight referenced going through 24 other men at SummerSlam. Knight challenged Theory to a match with the winner getting a shot at the U.S. title. Pearce made the match. 

Austin Theory defeated L.A. Knight to earn a shot at the U.S. title [10:14]

This was a fine television match. Knight’s clothesline to the Miz was rough – and, while there’s no mistaking that Knight is super-over with live crowds, there always seems to be an awkward wrestling spot in his wrestling matches, but I digress – but they rebounded and Theory rightly got the cheap win. Does this set up a triple threat for the U.S. title or will it simply be Theory vs. Mysterio? Time will tell. As for this, the guys worked hard despite their limitations and it forwarded the story between Miz and Knight. All told, mission accomplished.

Before the match started, The Miz’s music hit and The Miz walked to the ring. The Miz joined the commentary team. The bell rang and Theory attacked Knight. Theory controlled the first minute of the match until Knight landed a clothesline and a suplex to even things out. Knight hit a powerslam for a two-count. Theory threw Knight outside and Theory grabbed Knight’s face while Miz jawed at Knight. Knight fired up and slammed Theory onto the commentary table repeatedly while Mix screamed at Knight. Miz and Knight exchanged words and Theory kicked Knight in the face, but Knight came back quickly by throwing Theory into Miz. Knight posed and the show went to a commercial break. 

Back from break, Theory was working a side head-lock. Theory landed a rolling dropkick for a two-count. Theory hit a strong clothesline and went to the apron, where he went for another rolling move, but Knight caught Theory and hit a back suplex. Knight ran Theory into corners and then landed a neck-breaker. Knight got in a Russian Leg Sweep and a boot for a two-count. Knight was bleeding from his forehead. Knight landed a running knee to Theory’s head. Knight lifted Thoery, but Theory rolled out and chop-blocked Knight. Theory went for A-Town Down, but Knight got out of it and countered into a body slam. Miz jumped to the apron, and Knight turned his attention to Miz until Knight landed a DDT on Theory. Knight then went to the outside and chased the Miz everywhere until Knight clotheslined Miz to the floor. Theory rolled up Knight and held the tights for the win.

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– John Cena sent a video in congratulating Edge for 25 years. Sheamus and Natalya offered up videos, too. The Miz, Charlotte, and Sami Zayn did the same.

– Michael Cole spoke affectionately about Edge at the commentary table and Kevin Patrick threw to a montage of Edge moments. 

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Bayley and Dakota Kai made their entrance. Bayley had a microphone and introduced IYO SKY, who then made her entrance to set up the women’s tag team match. 

Charlotte Flair & Bianca Belair defeated IYO SKY & Bayley [13:50]

Who says these wrestling companies don’t give women significant TV time?! OK, yeah, WWE, AEW and everyone in between could do better, but this took up a significant amount of time and while it felt a tiny bit over-long, I have to give WWE credit for carving out space for this. The match had its moments both good and bad, but in the end, it’s a good thing to have these women on television this much on the company’s biggest television show. I half-expected Shotzi involvement, but perhaps WWE really wants to eventually get behind Charlotte and Bianca as a tag team? We’ll see. Also of note: IYO SKY is just great. 

Bayley and Belair began the match. Bayley went for a takedown, and eventually stepped on Belair’s foot. Belair came back with a slam and then worked a side head-lock. Belair landed a suplex and danced before tagging in Charlotte. Charlotte put the boots to Bayley. Charlotte chopped Bayley to the ground. Charlotte lifted Bayley, but Bayley countered by pulling Charlotte down via her hair. SKY tagged in and Charlotte chopped SKY. Charlotte hit a boot to SKY’s head, which took SKY to the outside. Charlotte then landed a rolling splash onto both SKY and Bayley as the show went to break. 

Back from the break, Charlotte had control over Bayley and climbed to the top. Bayley cut Charlotte off and slammed Charlotte from the top. SKY tagged in and kicked Charlotte’s head before sinking in a head-lock. Charlotte worked her way out of it, but SKY came back with a submission attempt. SKY went for a suplex, but Charlotte reversed it with a back body-drop and went for the hot tag, but somehow didn’t get it. SKY landed a dropkick on Charlotte. From there, Charlotte finally got the hot tag to Belair.

Belair attacked SKY and hit a vertical suplex before firing up the crowd. Belair landed a series of punches onto SKY’s head until Bayley ran in and Bayley was the victim of a back-breaker. SKY slowed things down when she dropkicked Belair’s knee. Bayley tagged in and worked on Belair’s knee. There was blood on Charlotte’s face. Belair slammed both SKY and Bayley and Belair got the tag to Charlotte, who came off the top and took both SKY and Bayley out. Charlotte landed a fallaway slam on Bayley and then hit a clothesline for a two-count on Bayley. Charlotte went to the top, but Bayley pushed Charlotte off to the outside. Charlotte clutched her ankle and SKY attacked Charlotte. 

Back in the ring, Bayley went for a pin and got a two-count. SKY tagged in and went for a moonsault, but Charlotte moved. SKY followed that up with a strike to Charlotte’s jaw. Bayley tagged in and went for a figure-four, but Charlotte cut her off and tagged in Belair. Almost instantly, Belair landed the KOD on Bayley for the win.

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– Cody, AJ Styles, Bayley, Ricochet, Kevin Owens and more sent in videos giving their thanks to Edge. 

– Bianca Belair was being interviewed backstage, but was then attacked by Damage CTRL. IYO SKY hit Belair’s leg with a chair and Belair screamed in agony. 

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The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) defeated The O.C. (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) [3:12]

As basic as it gets. The Profits are in the middle of a reboot and Anderson & Gallows are in the middle of … well … not much. Still, The O.C. got in way more offense than I anticipated they would, so good on the Profits for giving them what they did. It still feels like the crowds aren’t ready to completely hate the Profits, so it’ll be interesting to see what WWE does with the trio of them and Lashley as it evolves. As for this match, it was just kind of there. 

Gallows and Ford began the match with Gallows coming out strong. Anderson tagged in quickly and hit a series of strikes on Ford, until Ford came back with a strong clothesline. Dawkins tagged in and went after Anderson, eventually hitting a pump-handle slam. Ford tagged in and landed a frog-splash for a two-count that was broken up by Gallows, who was instantly thrown outside. Dawkins put Anderson on his shoulders, but Anderson worked out and hit a spine-buster on Dawkins. Gallows tagged in and and The O.C. went for the Magic Killer, but Ford broke it up. Ford tagged in and the Profits hit their (new?) finisher for the win. After the match, Bobby Lashley’s music hit and Lashley came out to celebrate with the Profits. 

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– Paul Heyman was shown backstage and Kayla Braxton approached him asking for an update on the Bloodline. Heyman said he wouldn’t give an update. Braxton said she had been hearing rumors. Heyman asked her about what rumors she heard. Heyman said Jey Uso abandoned the WWE Universe. Heyman asked about Braxton’s mom and dad because he said he heard rumors about her family. Heyman worked in a jab at L.A. Knight which was funny. Heyman answered his phone and stepped away. Heyman said the caller told him that Jimmy Uso will be live on SmackDown next week. 

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Edge defeated Sheamus [19:03]

This was fantastic. Edge looked like he might have had enough after about eight minutes, but he gutted it out and those false finishes were a lot of fun. Who knows what happens from here. Who knows if Edge is really done wrestling. Who knows if Edge goes on to wrestle somewhere else. Whatever it is, put it away and just consider how close those two dudes must be because the emotions felt like they were running wild from the second the bell rang. Both guys worked hard and while the outcome probably wasn’t much in doubt, this was one of the better wrestling matches SmackDown has seen in a little while. Add in the extra curricular stuff, and this was very good. It’s not often SmackDown produces a wrestling match that I’d say you should seek out if you missed it, but this was one of them. A tip of the cap to everyone involved.  

The two shook hands after the bell rang. They locked up and Edge shoulder-blocked Sheamus to the mat. Sheamus returned the favor. Sheamus landed an Irish Curse to take Edge down and the show went to break. When it returned, Edge landed a back elbow on Sheamus and kept control. Action spilled to the outside, where Edge hit a powerbomb off the apron on Sheamus. Edge rolled Sheamus back into the ring and went to the top to hit a cross-body for a two-count. Edge went for a Sharpshooter, but Sheamus kicked his way out of it. Edge rolled to the apron and Sheamus picked him up for 10 Beats, but Edge cut him off and landed 10 punches on Sheamus. Edge got in a series of knees to Sheamus’s midsection. Edge then went through the ropes and speared Sheamus off the apron as the show went to commercial. 

When the show returned, Sheamus was working a submission as the crowd fired Edge up. As a result, Edge punched his way out of it and worked a cross-face on Sheamus. Sheamus made his way to the ropes for a break. The two made it to their feet and Edge ran at Sheamus, but Sheamus got his legs up and then went to the top. Edge cut Sheamus off with a boot and went to the top, too, where he hit a super-plex and then rolled that into the Edge-E-Cution for a two-count. The crowd chanted “You still got it!” Edge went to the top, but Sheamus cut Edge off with a kick. 

The two battled while Edge sat on the top rope. Sheamus went to the second rope and hit White Noise from the second rope. Sheamus then landed the Celtic Cross and went for a pin, but it resulted in a very good near-fall. Edge rolled to the apron and Sheamus hit the 10 Beats. Edge flipped Sheamus off and Sheamus went back to the 10 Beats. The whole thing went further than 10 Beats, but who’s counting? Sheamus jawed at Edge, but Edge slapped Sheamus and then clotheslined him. Edge fired up and the crowd did so with him. Edge went for a spear, but ran into a knee from Sheamus. Sheamus followed up with a boot to the face for another great near-fall. Sheamus went for another boot, but Edge rolled him up and hit a spear for another very good near-fall. Edge then landed another spear for the win.

After the match, Edge looked like he was going to cry. Beth Phoenix looked like she was crying in the audience. The commentary team laid out and the show went off the air as Sheamus and Edge hugged.