WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights From Aug. 16 (2024)

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of WWE SmackDown on August 16.

With Bash in Berlin just over two weeks away on August 31, we can expect a lot of WWE's time to be spent on hyping the German PLE.

Here is what WWE advertised for this week's SmackDown:

Let's take a look at what happened on Friday's show.

SmackDown opened with a video recapping Reigns' return to SmackDown last week. When we went live in the arena, Tiffy was already in the ring with Pretty Deadly to welcome Nia Jax for her championship celebration.

The new women's champion and Queen of the Ring was brought out on a giant throne with a big crown on her head. She immediately expressed displeasure at the amount of pink in the ring.

Jax ended up saying all of the women in WWE need to bow to her, including Tiffy. Ms. Money in the Bank deflected and had Elton Prince and Kit Walker sing her a song.

Mia Yim broke up the festivities with a kendo stick and took out everyone in the ring. This probably sounds boring on paper, but it was a pretty entertaining segment. Pretty Deadly always commit to their roles 100%.

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

Andrade and Carmelo Hayes have been engaged in a bitter feud ever since Money in the Bank. El Idolo was up 2-0 heading into this week's third singles match.

Melo took a more careful approach and played some mind games instead of going right at his more experienced rival.

Every time these two step into the ring, magic happens. This time was no different. In fact, it was probably the best encounter they've had yet.

Andrade is a lauded veteran whose technical ability is on par with the best, and Melo is one of the brightest young stars in all of WWE. Pairing them together was a brilliant move after they stole the show at MITB.

The crowd responded to their efforts with chants of "This is awesome" shortly before Hayes managed to pin El Idolo with a counter. They ended up getting into a fight after Hayes bragged about his win a little too much for Andrade's liking.

Result: Hayes defeated Andrade

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

Davenport has been causing a lot of trouble in recent weeks by helping the women's tag team champions, so Naomi was looking to teach the SmackDown newcomer a lesson.

They were throwing punches as soon as the bell rang. Davenport took Naomi down first, but the former women's champion rebounded quickly and sent her out of the ring.

This was a highly physical match. Some of their exchanges could have been better, but the force and energy they put behind their moves helped make up for a lack of chemistry.

Davenport countered the split-legged moonsault and drilled Naomi with a knee to the face to get the pin and the win.

Result: Davenport defeated Naomi

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

Owens and Waller had a hilarious exchange backstage to set up this singles match. Austin Theory was by his tag team partner's side as usual.

Owens took control almost immediately and ran Waller down with a clothesline at ringside. He rammed the Aussie's head into the announce table a few times for good measure.

Owens was able to get the win with a Popup powerbomb to end a semi-short but energetic bout. Once it was over, he brought Waller out of the ring and tried to powerbomb him onto the apron.

Theory saved his partner and grabbed some chairs. Cody Rhodes made the save and helped Owens take out the former tag champs with their own chairs.

Result: Owens defeated Waller

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

LA Knight came out to a big pop to talk about winning the U.S. title from Logan Paul before Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford took on Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa for a tag title shot.

Both teams received a warm welcome from the crowd, but the reaction to the Profits was slightly louder. Ford and Gargano began the match with a sequence of counters, but it was definitely a step above what we usually see.

Anybody who if familiar with these two teams came into this expecting fast-paced action, unique offense and creative double-team spots, and that's exactly what these two teams delivered.

This was a great example of how good tag team wrestling can be if the right teams are given enough time to perform.

Several false finishes convinced the crowd that it was over, which only made each near-fall get a bigger reaction. In the end, it was Ford who pinned Gargano to pick up the victory and make the Profits No. 1 contenders.

Result: The Street Profits defeated DIY

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

Sikoa and Tama made their way to the ring for the final segment of the night. The self-appointed Head of the Table called out Reigns to try to come to take the ulafala from him.

The former universal champion arrived and battled Sikoa and Tama all by himself. He reclaimed his ulafala before Jacob Fatu leveled him with a superkick out of nowhere.

The show ended with Solo standing tall over his fallen cousin. This was a solid ending to an above-average episode of SmackDown.

It didn't feel like a single segment or moment was wasted, and we got two Match of the Week contenders with Andrade vs. Melo and Profits vs. DIY.

Bash in Berlin is shaping up nicely, but equally as important, WWE is having feuds that only take place on TV that probably won't get a PPV match, which gives fans a bigger incentive to tune in every week.

The Bloodline story is still going strong, but WWE is in a holding pattern right now. If it doesn't advance the plot soon, fans may begin to sour on it.

Grade: A-