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Buddy Murphy reveals Roman Reigns’ alleged attacker: SmackDown LIVE, Aug. 6, 2019

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Roman Reigns spent SmackDown’s go-home show beating answers out of the one man who knew who nearly got him killed.

Three weeks of unexplained violence against Roman Reigns came to a head on the August 6, 2019 episode of SmackDown LIVE, when the Big Dog cornered Buddy Murphy in the locker room and refused to let him leave without a name. The segment closed out the final SmackDown before SummerSlam, and it did not end with a handshake. By the time the show went off the air, Reigns had his answer — and so did the two men standing in the ring watching it happen on the video screen.

• Reigns tracked Buddy Murphy to the locker room after spotting him lingering in the background of surveillance and fan footage from the July 30 scaffolding collapse that nearly crushed him.
• When Murphy denied knowing anything, Reigns slammed him against walls, a training table and equipment cases until Murphy named Rowan as the attacker, saying he did not see Daniel Bryan but “distinctly saw Rowan” behind the assault.
• The broadcast ended by cutting to the arena, where Bryan and Rowan stood in the ring watching the backstage footage play out on the video screen in silence.

Three Weeks of Escalating Attacks

The mystery started on the July 30 SmackDown, when production equipment and scaffolding were shoved over backstage in an attempt that nearly crushed Reigns. It escalated fast. On the following Monday’s Raw, August 5, a car t-boned Reigns’ vehicle in the parking lot in what was clearly no accident. Earlier in the August 6 broadcast, Reigns had already crossed Samoa Joe off his list of suspects after Joe voiced genuine concern over the hit-and-run.

That left Reigns combing through every second of footage he could find from the night of the scaffolding collapse. Buried in the background of that clip was Buddy Murphy, and once Reigns noticed him there, Murphy became the only lead left standing.

The Locker Room Confrontation

In the closing segment of the night, Reigns found Murphy in the locker room and started asking questions. Murphy stuck to his story — he didn’t know anything. Reigns didn’t buy it, and things turned physical fast, with Reigns repeatedly slamming Murphy against walls, a training table and equipment cases until he got a different answer.

The pattern of intimidation and payback on the go-home show echoed the kind of turn-on-your-own-crew dynamics that make for the messiest breakups in any competitive locker room, the same territory covered in pieces like celebs who started out friends and ended up enemies. Murphy finally cracked under the pressure.

Murphy said he did not see Daniel Bryan, but he “distinctly saw Rowan” behind the assault.

Bryan and Rowan Watch It Unfold

The moment Murphy gave up the name, WWE cut to the arena. Daniel Bryan and Rowan were standing in the ring, and the same backstage footage that had just aired for the TV audience was playing on the video screen in front of them. Both men stood in stunned silence as the crowd watched their reaction in real time, with the show going off the air before either had a chance to respond.

That kind of on-camera reckoning, where the accused has to stand there and take the reaction of a live crowd, is the sort of moment that tends to blow up a storyline rather than quietly resolve it — not unlike the fallout captured in reality stars who treat their co-stars like trash, where confrontations play out with everyone watching.

WWE left Rowan’s role — and whatever Daniel Bryan knew about it — completely unresolved heading into SummerSlam, with Reigns now armed with a name and a grudge and no explanation yet from either man standing in that ring.