12/26 WWE in New York at MSG results: AJ Styles vs. John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship, The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler in a cage match, Tag Team Turmoil for the Smackdown Tag Titles, Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch for the Smackdown Women’s Championship

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WWE Smackdown Live Event
New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Report by Dot Net reader Kevin Mullins

All in all, a fun show. Definitely a sold out crowd and they were into it all night. Lots of families and kids given it was the annual holiday show and kids are out of school this week. I’ve attended many shows over the years, but this was the first time taking my kids, who are 7 and 5. They had a blast. Here are results and notes:

1. Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton defeated Rhyno and Heath Slater, The Ascension, The Usos, Breezango, and American Alpha in a Tag Team Turmoil match to retain the Smackdown Tag Titles. Bray and Orton got a huge pop, as did American Alpha, but crowd was definitely behind the Wyatt Family. The crowd was into chanting “We Want Rhyno” when he and Heath were in the match.

2. Alexa Bliss defeated Becky Lynch to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Becky got a really good pop for her entrance. After the match, Alexa tried to continue going after Becky, but Becky got the better of her and celebrated with the belt for a bit before the ref gave it back to Alexa.

3. Apollo Crews, Jack Swagger, and Mojo Rawley defeated Curt Hawkins and The Vaudevillains. After the match, Hawkins ragged on the crowd for a little and issued an open challenge, which was accepted by James Ellsworth.

5. James Ellsworth beat Curt Hawkins. Ellsworth got the quick win.

6. Dolph Ziggler defeated The Miz (w/Maryse) in a non-title steel cage match. The Miz cut a promo trashing NYC and the Knicks lack of winning championships, comparing it to the Cleveland Cavs and Lebron James winning championships. He said therefore, NYC didn’t deserve for him to defend the title and it would thus be a non-title match. Since this was a house show, I was willing to let the obvious ridiculousness of a champion declaring his title wasn’t on the line slide. A great cage match. My kids were still a little confused as to why Ziggy didn’t win the title. Again, they’re seven and five and saw the ridiculousness of it all.

7. Nikki Bella defeated Natalya. Nikki won after thwarting a run in from Carmella, who was originally scheduled to face Nikki based on the local advertising. No reason was ever given for the change.

8. Baron Corbin defeated Kalisto. A decent match that held the crowd’s interest for the most part.

9. AJ Styles defeated John Cena and Dean Ambrose in a Triple Threat to retain the WWE World Championship. Styles pinned Ambrose for the win. Afterward, Ambrose and then Cena each hit their finishers on Styles to send the very family/kid heavy crowd home happy.