WWE Smackville live results: Kingston vs. Joe vs. Ziggler

A WWE Network special will air live tonight as Smackville takes place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston will defend his title against Samoa Joe and Dolph Ziggler in a triple threat match. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura was supposed to face Finn Balor, but WWE has announced that match won’t be happening: “During the week, @FinnBalor suffered an undisclosed injury. @WWE Medical has unfortunately not cleared him for competition tonight at #SMACKVILLE. It is unknown who or if @ShinsukeN defends his title tonight. Stay tuned as we learn more.”

Joe and Ziggler are Kingston’s two most recent pay-per-view opponents. Kingston retained his title against Joe at Extreme Rules earlier this month, which came after he retained against Ziggler at both Super Showdown and Stomping Grounds.

Kingston and Joe faced off in a non-title match on SmackDown this week, with Randy Orton causing a disqualification when he tried to give Kingston an RKO. Orton will challenge for the WWE title at SummerSlam on August 11.

A musical performance by Elias has also been announced for Smackville. The special is an hour long and will begin on the WWE Network at 9 p.m. Eastern time. 

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The show opens with David Otunga and Tom Philips on commentary speaking about the injury to Finn Balor. Just as they finish mentioning it, Nakamura’s music hits.

Nakamura grabbed a mic and said, “No Finn, no match! I win by forfeit. Ring the bell!”

The bell rang and the ref started to count out Finn Balor. Ali’s music hit as the ref hit 8, and it looks like he’s going to step in for Finn. Ali challenged Nakamura, and Nakamura accepted.

Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Ali to retain his title

Davit Otunga said Ali wasn’t ready because he saw him out back eating a sandwich. Apparently eating food means you can’t be ready for a match. Nakamura and Ali exchanged some holds, but Nakamura couldn’t get the the better off him as Ali was too fast. Ali hit a spinning heel kick and flying crossbody for a near fall. Nakamura cut him off, then hit a baseball slide.

Nakamura put Ali stomach down on the apron and then hit a running knee on Ali for a 2-count. Nakamura did his foot choke in the corner and began to get the heat on Ali. Nakamura maintained control for the next few minutes and locked in a sleeper hold.

Ali rolled Nakamura forward, but Nak kicked out. Ali hit a dropkick and a did a forward roll into a facebuster. Ali put Nakamura on the top rope, went for a superplex , but Nakamura shoved him off. Ali did a backflip, landed on his feet, and then hit a dropkick as Nakamura went for a flying knee. Nakamura kicked out.

Nakamura hit a back heel kick and then a sliding German suplex. Nakamura went for the Kinshasa but Ali superkicked him and hit a satalite DDT. Nakamura kicked out, but the crowd woke up a bit. Ali went for the 450 splash, but Nakamura dodged. Ali landed on his feet and charged at Nakamura. Nakamura dodged and sent Ali face first into the middle turnbuckle. Nakamura hit the Kinshasa for the win! Solid match.

Joe cut a promo about how he was going to win the title tonight because he doesn’t have to lose tonight to lose, but he was walking into a target rich environment where he could take anyone out.

Elias played his concert. He cut a promo about how the the Titans would never win the Super Bowl. He then sung a song about how Shane was great. Vince called him and said he could have all the time he needed. Kevin Owens came out and sent him out of the ring. Owens wanted a match, and the ref ran down and made it official.

Kevin Owens defeated Elias

Owens was attacked by Elias as the bell rang, and Elias got the heat on Owens for a bit. Elias bent Owens against the ring post and then walked across the ropes while holding Owen’s hands and hit a Meteora. Owens ended up on the top rope, and Elias went up for a superplex.

Owens headbutt Elias and he fell from the top rope. Owens hit a senton bomb, but Elias kicked out. Elias hit a flying knee and went for a flying elbow, but Owens moved. Elias went for a clothesline, but Owens hit ducked and hit a stunner for the win.

A hype video aired for Ziggler vs. Joe vs. Kingston.

Kofi was interviewed and they said a triple threat was insurmountable odds. It isn’t. Kofi’s promo was great.

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler and Samoa Joe in a triple threat match to retain his title

It didn’t take long for the match to spill to the outside and Kofi was sent into the guardrail by Ziggler. Joe and Dolph teamed up and started to beat on Kofi. The y double teamed him for a few minutes, but the alliance didn’t last long, and both were arguing as Kofi began to run wild on the both of them.

Kofi called for the Trouble in Paradise on Dolph, but Dolph rolled to the outside and Joe hit a Samoan Drop on Kofi and got a two count. Joe put Kofi on the top rope but Kofi fought him off. Dolph ran in and tried to hit a run up superplex, but Kofi blocked. Joe came underneath him and went to powerbomb Dolph.

Dolph slipped out and hit a DDT. Kofi tried to powerbomb Dolph, but Dolph rolled through and went for a sunset flip. Kofi kicked out. Dolph hit a Fameasser. Joe cleared the ring and destroyed both men on the outside. Joe sent Kofi into the steps and sent Dolph flying onto the announce table.

Joe put Kofi back in the ring and picked him up. Kofi started to fight back, but Joe dropped him with an elbow. Kofi kicked out. Joe went for the rear naked choke, but Kofi fought out and went for Trouble in Paradise, but Joe caught him with an ankle lock. Kofi fought out again, but Joe caught him again. Dolph zoomed in with a superkick, but Kofi broke up the pinfall attempt.

Kofi and Dolph exchanged strikes, but Dolph headbutt Kofi and then hit the Zig Zag. Kofi kicked out. Dolph called for the superkick, but tuned up the band. He went for it, but Joe caught him with a capture suplex. Kofi rolled up Joe, Joe kicked out. Kofi hit the ropes and Joe absolutely killed him with a clothesline. Kofi kicked out.

Joe picked him up and went for the rear naked choke again, but Kofi rolled out, hit Trouble in Paradise, and scored the pinfall victory. This was a fun match. It had potential to be very good if they didn’t cut it down to about 13 minutes after the 10 minutes of hype they had before it.

David Otunga was awful on commentary. Tom Philips was fine.