WWE SmackDown Live results: Orton plants Nakamura with RKO

Randy Orton, who dominated this summer's feud with Jinder Mahal, seemingly marked his return to the title picture by striking his tag-team partner Shinsuke Nakamura, after the two has seen off the WWE Champion and Rusev in the main event. That and much more from our recap of July 29 edition of SmackDown Live.

Mahal and Orton take out Orton and Nakamura

The show kicked off by Mahal once again basking in the glory of his successful title defense at Summerslam before the Singh Brothers issued their apology for losing to Nakamura in a handicap match. Just as the two began to bow down, Nakamura's music hit. The 'Architect' and the 'Modern day Maharaja' threw punches at each other before Sunil and Samir jumped Nakamura from behind and turned it into a 3-on-1 assault. Randy Orton stormed out in an attempt to save his partner for the night but with Rusev also emerging into the fold, the numbers game eventually took over.


Successful debut for the Gold Standard

As revealed by SD Live General Manager Daniel Bryan last week, Shelton Benjamin made his return to WWE TV in over seven years. On Tuesday, he and

Chad Gable

, the show's newest tag team, made short work of the Ascension even as Konnor and Viktor wore down Gable. However, once tagged in, The 'Gold Standard' was fired up and dished out an array of offensive manoeuvres before gaining pinfall with a Paydirt on Viktor.


Styles retains US title against Dillinger

AJ Styles re-opened the United States Open Challenge and Tye Dillinger was obliged to accept it. But while he was on his way to the ring, he was interrupted by Baron Corbin, who in a backstage interview earlier, had stated that he would be the first one to challenge Styles. After a couple of mild shoves, The Lone Wolf attacked the Perfect 10 from behind and entered the ring. But before the bell could go off, Dillinger took Corbin out and entered the match itself. The match got underway and without much fuss, the Phenomenal One put Dillinger in the cab crusher resulting in a submission victory. After the match, Corbin took out Dillinger again and even went after Styles. But a clubbing forearm knocked Corbin outside


Bobby Roode beats Mike Kanellis

SD Live's latest acquisition Bobby Roode continued on his glorious path by beating Mike Kanellis almost without breaking a sweat. Kanellis attempted the Power of Love on Roode but the Glorious One countered it and executed the Glorious DDT for the win.


Things heat up between Owens and Shane McMahon

The scars of last week's defeat still fresh, KO went on rant against Shane McMahon and how it was because of SD Live's commissioner's repeated conspiracies against him that Owens was no longer the US States champion. Shane walked to tell Owens that this wasn't the right place or the right time to air his grievances and asked the Prize fighter to leave so that Aiden English could have a match against Sami Zayn.


A distraught Owens went and sat on the commentary table during the match. In the heat of moment, he entered the ring and stripped the referee of his shirt and put it on himself, almost acting as the referee. He then planted Zayn with a pump-up Pop-Up Powerbomb as Aiden pinned him for a three count.


The Usos defeated the New Day

Momentum shifted back-and-forth before Kofi Kingston and Jey Uso were the legal men. With one eye on Jimmy, Kingston attempted a crossbody of the top rope but landed safely as Jey moved out of the way. He then went for the pop-up Samoan Drop but Kofi countered it into a dragon sleeper. As the two grappled towards the corner of the Usos, Jimmy tagged himself blindly and rolled Kofi for the pin.


Orton and Nakamura defeated Mahal and Rusev

Orton and Nakamura not only were up to task against Rusev and Mahal, but even the Singh Brothers and ring-side. Eventually, Nakamura landed the Kinshasa on Rusev for the win.


However, that wasn't the last bit of action for the night. It was earlier announced that The Viper and The Artist would face each other in singles competition next week with the winner becoming a strong contender to challenge Mahal for the title. With a title shot on the line, Orton issued a warning to Nakamura by striking him with the RKO just when the two seemed to be raising each other's hands as part of the victory celebrations.