Welcome to this weeks SMACKDOWN Recap from Scrum Sports! The show is coming from Bakersfield, CA tonight and we start off with Randy Orton being interviewed backstage and we find out he’s facing Alberto Del Rio later tonight. Del Rio comes out and threatens Randy and walks off. The theme song comes on, pyro hits afterwards in the arena and were off and running with Mauro Ranallo, JBL and David Otunga on commentary.
Bray Wyatt’s theme immediately hits and he makes his way down the ramp with Erick Rowan. Before any words are spoken, we get a rewind from last week when Bray challenged Ziggler for his spot at SUMMERSLAM. Bray gets on the mic and says he was robbed. He then calls himself a God and says no matter what, he can’t be killed and he will not stop. He says that Ziggler, and Ambrose fails to realize that SMACKDOWN is HIS show and essentially there’s nothing anyone can do about it. The theme of Dean Ambrose hits and he makes his way down the ramp, mic in hand.
Ambrose immediately calls Bray a baby and says he needs to stop talking about the things he does. And in fact SMACKDOWN belongs to the people first and himself second. Bray laughs and tells Ambrose to come into the ring but Ambrose says he’s not going to fall into the trap of just running to the ring and getting beaten down two on one. The theme of Ziggler hits and he just B-Line’s for the ring and goes after Rowan. Ziggler gets taken down, Ambrose goes in to help. They get overwhelmed for a moment, Bray is going for the Sister Abigail on Dean, Ziggler goes to Superkick Bray but Wyatt put Ambrose in the way.
Ziggler screams “What did you do??”, he Superkicks Rowan and Bray grabs him and hits the Sister Abigail on him. We get the picture for Orton V. Del Rio tonight, they announce American Alpha will have another match tonight and we get our first commercial break.
Coming back from commercial we get a preview for “Talking Smack!” which happens after the show. Last week I identified it wrong as “Smack Talk” and for that, I’m sorry. We have Dolph and Dean in a confrontation in the back, they say they can go right now but Shane and Daniel step in. They make a match for tonight with Dolph/Dean V. Bray/Rowan. Dolph and Ambrose look at each other as we go to commercial break.
After the break, the local jobbers are in the ring and American Alpha get their introductions and theme music.
MATCH.01: TAG-TEAM MATCH (American Alpha v. Mikey O’Shea/Mike Vega)
Before this match begins, The Ascension, The Vaudevillains, and The Hype Bros. all have their theme songs as they make their ways to the ring. Gable and Jordan look around ring side as they’re surrounded by the other teams and the bell rings. This match really didn’t last long. Just a showcase of American Alpha’s moves and they get the pinfall victory.
WINNERS VIA PINFALL: AMERICAN ALPHA
After the match, all of the tag-teams surrounding the ring get in and a brawl ensues. American Alpha are the only tag-team left standing as they stand in the ring with their theme playing. We get another ad for Orton/Del Rio later on and the announcement of Eva Marie getting another shot to debut. I bet she’ll get “injured” again.
Back from commercial and were on the set of Talking Smack with Renee and she introduces Miz and Maryse. Things become weird as they start to crawl along the table for each other and Renee stops them quickly and rolls a video for Apollo Crews. It was actually pretty funny. We come back from the video with Miz and Maryse lying along the table on opposite sides and they compliment each other, begin kissing and Renee hurries us back to ringside.
MATCH. 02: SINGLES MATCH (Becky Lynch v. Eva Marie) — It Won’t Happen
Becky’s theme hits, she makes he way to the ring, Eva’s theme does the same but of course she’s got the announcer talking over her music and she saunters to the ring seductively instead of how Becky does. She gets into the ring and makes her way to the middle rope. Blows a kiss and jumps down from the ropes but doesn’t land awkwardly this week. Instead, her straps pop off on her top and it’s declared that the match isn’t happening. She runs off and Becky stays in the ring and demands an opponent for the night. She ends it with “Come at me bro!” and slams the mic. The theme of Alexa Bliss hits, she says she’s not just a pretty face and she’s ready to take down Becky…. after the commercial break.
MATCH. 02: SINGLES MATCH (Alexa Bliss v. Becky Lynch)
The match is already going on when we come back from commercial. Alexa has Becky on the ropes, pushing her down with her boot. Goes for a cover and doesn’t get it. More anger and flurry of hits, goes for a pin, doesn’t get it. Gets angry with the ref, and goes for another pin and a one count. She wrenches Becky’s neck but Becky gets up and goes into a fury of moves until she hits a suplex. Then Eva’s theme hits and distracts Becky. Alexa takes advantage knocking Becky down and going to the top to hit “Twisted Bliss” from the top rope and for the pinfall. Happy Birthday Alexa.
WINNER VIA PINFALL: ALEXA BLISS
Eva Marie says that she wished she got back out in time for the match but, she’ll be ready next week. An image for the tag match happening later and another image for Del Rio/Orton happening… NEXT!!! Kidding… commercial. And THEN the match will happen. Back from commercial and we get a “Greatest Upsets In WWE History” moment for Ben-Hur coming out. And it’s when Lesnar beat the streak.
MATCH. 03: SINGLES MATCH (Randy Orton v. Alberto Del Rio)
Orton’s theme hits first as JBL says that Orton needs o see that last video and he hopes he knows what he’s facing at SUMMERSLAM. Orton makes it to the ring, does his pose and we get a quick recap of Orton hitting the rKo on Lesnar and Lesnar hitting the F5 on him all last week on RAW and then SMACKDOWN respectively. Del Rio’s theme hits and he makes his way to the ring. he bell sounds and the two men circle each other in the ring. They go for the lock up and quickly Del Rio backs up, they lock up again, Orton off the ropes and knocks Del Rio down. He quickly gets up and goes outside the ropes to recover. He gets in and goes after Orton. He gets some offense and then Randy counters and gets in some offense.
Randy keeps on the offensive and grinds Del Rio into the mat. He puts Del Rio in a catapult on the bottom rope. It wasn’t very effective as Del Rio mounts his offense. It’s quickly taken and Del Rio is thrown outside as we go to yet another commercial break.
Side Note: I’m getting really tired off all of these commercials. It feels like there’s really a lot of them for a two hour show and it makes everything feel really disjointed when you pull away from things during the match and every ten to twelve minutes.
We come back from commercial to find out Randy has dominated the match and Orton goes for three but only gets two. Del Rio counters a move and hits a “Back Stabber” on Orton. He gets Orton out of the ring and slams him into the steps. Does it again and tosses Randy back in. Del Rio to the top rope and hits Orton with a big right hand and gets a two count out of it. He hurries and puts Randy into a hold on his recovered left arm. Randy counters and hits a standing drop kick. He puts Del Rio in the corner on the top rope, Del Rio falls backwards with Orton’s arm and tries to ake him out. The referee breaks it up. Del Rio goes back to the top, Orton kicks the ropes and makes him fall. Orton goes up and hits a Superplex on Del Rio.
Both men get up and go back and forth with each other until Randy hits a couple clotheslines and then finally a front slam. He picks Del Rio up and takes him to the ropes for the second rope DDT but Del Rio counters. He calls for the Arm Breaker, Del Rio goes for it and Orton counters. He goes for the middle rope DDT again and hits it. He tries to pick Del Rio up for the rKo and Del Rio counters. They end up outside and Del Rio abuses Orton’s arm with the chair and gets DQ’D.
WINNER BY DISQUALIFICATION: RANDY ORTON
After the match, Del Rio continues to abuse the arm, he gets Orton into the ring and Orton quickly hits a one armed rKo as Del Rio goes for another arm chair shot. Lesnar celebrates in the ring, poses and we go backstage to see Rhyno working out for his match tonight. Heath Slater is there of course and is begging for Rhyno to take the fall tonight but Rhyno says he won his election in Michigan last week and has to impress. Slater apparently said the wrong type of pool he has because Rhyno declined helping him. Commercial of course. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
We come back and see The Miz and Scooby-Doo! in a completely unneeded segment. Scooby slams Miz into the Mystery Machine and takes the Audi that Miz pulled up in. Yup. That happened.
MATCH. 04: IF SLATER WINS, HE GETS A CONTRACT (Heath Slater v. Rhyno)
A lot of back and forth in this match and a lot of two counts take up the first few minutes. Rhyno hits a belly to belly suplex to try and change the match flow. Rhyno then goes for the GORE but Slater moves away. He goes for the pinfall and puts his legs on the ropes. The referee notices and sops the count. Heath stands up arguing and as he turns around, he gets the GORE by Rhyno and it’s all academic.
WINNER VIA PINFALL: RHYNO
After the match, Death sits in the ring looking forlorn. Then we go backstage to see Bray trying to get Erick hyped up and ready for their match tonight. And instead of a commercial, we go to ringside and see Mauro, JBL and Otunga. They then tell us about Ben-Hur and we get a special look at the movie. And THEN the anticipated commercial.
Back from commercial with Shane and Daniel. They’re discussing signing Heath but he comes in screaming about not having a job and he has to tell his now, seven kids… it went from two to four and finally seven. He storms off and they close the contract they were going to offer him. And from there we go into our next match.
MATCH. O5: SINGLES MATCH (Carmella v. Natalya)
Carmella comes out talking trash. Natalya tries to hit her from behind again but Carmella counters and gets Natalya into the ring. They fight a bit and the match finally begins. Natalya quickly gets the upper hand as the fans chant “HOW U DOIN?” for Carmella to try and get her going. It doesn’t work and Natalya keeps her offense on. Carmella finally sneaks in a pin attempt and gets a two. Natalya stays on the offensive with a few submission holds, trying to get Carmella to tap. Carmella finally starts to hit some elbows to Natalya’s knee and Natalya connects with a discuss clothesline and gets a two count out of it. Natalya gets a bit too cocky and ends up in Carmella’s submission hold and has nothing to do but tap in the middle of the ring.
WINNER VIA SUBMISSION: CARMELLA
After the match, we get told that were going to see the story of AJ and Cena, an ad for Talking Smack and guess what? COMMERCIAL BREAK!
Back from commercial and we see Renee on her set of Talking Smack. She gives a recap of everything that’s happened tonight so far. After that she takes us to a video for AJ Syles and John Cena. Very nice video, I love the chemistry between these two and am really anticipating their match at SUMMERSLAM. After that we go backstage to see Baron Corbin beating up Kalisto and the trainers trying to stop him. He lifts him up and says its what he gets for costing him his shot.
MATCH. 06: TAG-TEAM MATCH (Dolph Ziggler/Dean Ambrose v. Bray Wyatt/Erick Rowan)
Dolph and Dean have their intros and then… commercial. After we come back, another “Greatest Upsets In WWE History” moment and this time it’s Daniel Bryan winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WRESTLEMANIA 30. Bray and Erick then make their way to the ring.
The bell rings and we have Bray and Erick going immediately after both men. It ends up being Ambrose and Bray in the ring. A lot of basic things happen and Ziggler tags in. A couple moves and Rowan hits a lariat on the apron to Ziggler. And… commercial.
We come back and see Bray in control but that quickly changes after a failed Senton. Ziggler gets a quick tag for Ambrose and after a couple moves, Ambrose hits a Running Bulldog onto Wyatt and goes outside to Rowan. He smacks him onto the announcer table and makes his away back into the ring, Wyatt takes him down and gloats. Rowan tags in and after a few moves, Ambrose ends up outside. Ambrose is the victim of that brutal Chokeslam, onto the ring apron. He throws him back in, and after a few counters, Ambrose hits a corkscrew neckbreaker on Wyatt and gets the tag.
Ziggler explodes into the ring and takes down Rowan, notices Wyatt on the ropes and takes him down. Goes for a pin, Rowan kicks out, Rowan tries for a slam and Ziggler counters it into a DDT. Gets a two count. After that Rowan connects with a spinning kick for a two count, Ziggler goes up for a Powerbomb but Ziggler counters it with a Zig-Zag. Ambrose is in and Suicide Dives onto Wyatt on the outside. Ziggler in the ring, hits a Superkick on Erick Rowan and gets the three count.
WINNERS VIA PINFALL: DOLPH ZIGGLER/DEAN AMBROSE
After the match, Ziggler pats Ambrose on the back and they’re good. Ambrose quickly gets up and hits the Dirty Deeds to end the night. Dean walks out with his music playing and the Championship over his shoulder. He looks back into the ring as the show goes off air.
