Dot Net reader Robbie Jordan is at the WWE Smackdown television taping in Tampa, Florida at Amalie Arena and is sending the following updates. Refresh the page for his latest updates on the taping for Thursday’s television show.
Pyro to start the show. Neville vs Kalisto for the United States Championship was shown on the video screen for later on…
New Day came out to a strong response to start Smackdown. No Unicorn Ho…I mean llama penises on their heads though. They showed highlights of The Rock/New Day segment from Raw. New Day trash talked The Rock and said he still didn’t have gold like them. Xavier Woods said he couldn’t say what The Rock called their unicorn horns because it’s a PG show (even though they showed the line on the big screen).
The Miz came out and agreed with New Day. He said The Rock had no right to disrespect him, a fellow movie star. Miz then touted his own accomplishments including headlining WrestleMania. The Usos then came out. They said The Miz is the only man to ever headline WrestleMania that has to constantly remind people he did. They also made fun of Miz’s “dress”. New Day accused The Usos of riding their cousin “Dewie’s” coattails. The Usos said they weren’t here to talk, they were here to fight. That brought out Titus O’Neal and Dolph Ziggler and the four babyfaces cleared the ring. Eden Stiles announced that she’d just been informed that this was now an eight-man tag match…
1. The Usos, Dolph Ziggler, and Titus O’Neil beat Kofi Kingston, Big E, Xavier Woods, and The Miz. Xavier played his trombone at ringside even though he was a match participant. Pretty standard action and about what you’d expect. The heels worked over one of the Usos in the corner taking turns stomping on him. Titus took the hot tag and cleaned house to a good reaction. The Usos did suicide dives on to Kofi and Big E. Ziggler superkicked Xavier and then gave it to The Miz too who ended up taking Titus’s finisher for the pinfall at the 10-12 minute mark…
2. Kalisto defeated Neville to retain the U.S. Championship. That silly Lucha chant is over in Tampa. They got in ring intros for it being a title match. They announced Neville as a Slammy Award winner…Both men got decent responses but I’d give the edge to Kalisto. Lots of fun spots, fast paced action, and energy. It reminded me of a WCW Cruiserweight bout from back in the day. It was weird seeing Neville being the bigger wrestler during a match. Kalisto reversed some kind of suplex attempt by Neville in to the Salida del Sol out of nowhere at the 8-10 minute mark for the win and to retain the title. They could have gone another 10-15 minutes easily and kept the crowd’s interest. They shook hands after the match…
Chris Jericho hosted the Highlight Reel segment. Jericho came out to the best response of the night so far. In ring, he played to the crowd and welcomed us to “Thursday Night Jericho.” He put over his performance in the Royal Rumble and his match with AJ Styles from Raw. He talked about the Fast Lane main event and the three participants, two of which were his guests. Jericho introduced Dean Ambrose who got a big pop, then introduced Roman Reigns, who got a loud but mixed reaction. Ambrose gave Jericho some crappy looking flowers for some reason. The three men made fun of Jericho’s cheap Highlight Reel set/furniture.
Reigns put over how he and Ambrose started together in a warehouse in Tampa years ago. Jericho tried to stir up trouble between Reigns and Ambrose which they both no sold. They transitioned in to talking about Brock Lesnar. Ambrose put over Brock but said he isn’t afraid of anyone. Reigns said he was in the ring with Lesnar and told Dean it wasn’t like facing anyone else. Ambrose told Reigns he didn’t have to beat Brock, he just had to beat him. Reigns told Dean that he’s never beaten him before so good luck.
The Wyatt Family appeared on stage. Bray talked about slaying The Beast at the Rumble. After a short exchange, Bray then challenged Jericho, Ambrose, and Reigns to a six-man tag later tonight…
The Social Outcasts cut a promo in the ring. They complained about AJ Styles getting more attention on Twitter and Raw than them. Curtis Axel is pissed because AJ ended his 364 day run in the Royal Rumble and challenged him to come on down and face the “Ax Man”.
3. AJ Styles beat Curtis Axel (w/The Social Outcasts). AJ came out to a good reaction. Not as good as his Rumble or Raw pops but I guess that’s to be expected. He has pyro now. All three outside members of the Social Outcasts tried interfering at different points but AJ fought them all off. He fought out of a Perfect Plex attempt and hit the Pele Kick followed by a Styles Clash for the win in less than five minutes…
They showed highlights of the Diva’s Title Match from the Rumble. Charlotte came to the ring accompanied by Ric Flair. Lots of Wooo’s of course.
4. Divas Champion Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) beat Natalya in a non-title match. Nattie got a good reaction. There were oud “We Want Sasha” chants during the match. Flair woooed in Natalya’s face on the outside at one point which distracted her. Charlotte took advantage and won with the Figure 8 in about four minutes. After the match, Charlotte celebrated and then locked in the Figure 8 again. Becky Lynch ran to the ring which scared Charlotte off. Becky attended to Natalya in the ring…
They cut backstage to JoJo with Sasha Banks. JoJo asked Sasha if Team BAD was setting their sights on the Diva’s Title. Sasha said she was the boss and while Naomi and Tamina were great, she wanted the title. Naomi and Tamina showed up and told Sasha they supported her and they had her back. Sasha told them she’s glad they know that she’s the boss. Sasha came off heelish…
They cut to R-Truth who was stretching outside for a jog. Goldust showed up in jogging gear and freaked him out with innuendos. Something about pulling his groin muscle and needing a massage. Weird…
5. Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan (w/Braun Strowman) by DQ. Rowan and Jericho started the match. The Wyatts worked over Jericho early. Jericho made a comeback on Harper going for the Walls of Jericho at one point and hitting the 10 punch in the corner. Harper cut him off with and tagged in Bray Wyatt. Wyatt beat up Jericho and then tagged in Rowan, who went in to rest hold mode. Harper got tagged back in and beat up Jericho some more. Ambrose played to the crowd on the apron to get them behind Jericho. It worked briefly because he fought out of a Harper chin lock, but he was then caught with a Michinuku driver.
Harper took a cheap shot at Reigns which got some heat. Jericho then caught Harper with a move I missed but it was enough to get the first hot tag from Ambrose. Dean went crazy and took out the Wyatts including a suicide dive on to Harper and Rowan. Bray cut him off back in the ring but Ambrose managed to tag in Reigns for another hot tag. Six-way action broke out and Reigns hit the Superman Punch on Harper. Reigns went for the pin, but Strowman pulled him out for the DQ.
The Wyatts dominated after the match and ganged up on Roman in the ring. Big Show’s music hit to a loud/surprising pop. Show took out Rowan on the outside and then got in the ring face to face with Strowman. Harper and Bray attacked from behind and they all ganged up on Big Show. Reigns, Amrose, and Jericho all made a comeback and the faces cleared the Wyatts from the ring. They all celebrated while Reigns’ music played to end the taping.
Notes: There was an advertised dark match of Ambrose & Reigns vs Sheamus & Kevin Owens but we didn’t get it. A solid live show by WWE as usual. Maybe it’s just me, but they’ve really increased the volume on the music in the arena compared to before. I don’t know if it’s to mask the lack of crowd reactions for the most part or what. There were way too many video packages. This was my first Smackdown since 2011 though and I had a good time.
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