WWE SmackDown Results, Highlights, And Grades For September 4, 2018

Daniel Bryan vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas

After last week’s entertaining matchup, Andrade “Cien” Almas and Daniel Bryan are in the middle of another classic. But will Miz and Maryse resurface again to interfere and play more mindgames with Bryan? Are they truly not near the building?

Bryan immediately starts going after Almas’s left arm from all angles, softening him up for a “YES! Lock”. But it also has the secondary effect of impacting Almas’s strength in locking in the Hammerlock DDT, which is Almas’s devastating finisher.

Almas locked up Bryan in the ropes to counter the arm targeting, and he sent Bryan flying into the barricade afterwards before hitting a huge chop. After slamming Bryan’s arm into the apron, he rolled the WrestleMania 30 hero back in the ring.

Bryan showed his quickness, launching Almas to the outside after the former NXT Champion missed wildly with a knee. That was smart from Bryan, but Almas studied just as hard as Bryan. I mean, there’s a reason why he wanted to challenge Bryan again, right? When Bryan went for that big flying knee on the outside, Almas countered it with a dropkick to the chest!

During the break, Almas started locking in on Bryan’s left arm again, putting the Miz’s rival into a submission right in the middle of the ring. This lasted for an awfully long time, with Bryan struggling for a good minute until he finally grabbed for the bottom rope.

I found it awesome that they sold more of the story of how Almas has been working hard to prove himself against Bryan, especially by scouting him out. Zelina Vega would look shocked at every big move or counter from Bryan, because no matter how much Alma and Vega studied, Bryan would find a way to get a step ahead.

But Almas hit a big moonsault and started trading kicks with Bryan. After countering the final “YES! kick, Almas threw Bryan head-first into the turnbuckle before going for the knees. But when he went for the Hammerlock DDT, he didn’t have the arm strength to finish the move off due to Bryan’s earlier limb targeting! And while Almas did major damage to Bryan’s arm, Bryan still has his knees. He hit the “Running Knee” for the win!

At the end of the match, Brie Bella gave Zelina Vega some sweet payback.

Grade: EXCELLENT, This is a must-see match. But the story between Almas and Bryan has yet to be written…There will be another chapter months from now.