Welcome to another SMACKDOWN LIVE Recap for The Scrum Sports! Tonight the Smackdown brand emanates from The Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut!
We begin the show with various superstars talking backstage and AJ Styles coming in to gloat about beating Cena and now telling everyone that he’s the new face that runs the place. He sees Ziggler and tells him he doesn’t like losers, Ziggler goes on the attack and the Superstars in the back pull him off of AJ as we go into the Smackdown theme.
The show itself opens with various Superstars in the ring looking at the new Smackdown Championships. Shane and Daniel make their way to the ring with lots of fanfare. Shane welcomes us to the show and thanks Daniel for being the GM and also says that they’re proud to unveil the new belts and that everyone deserves their shot. He hands the mic over to Daniel to discuss the new belts. They’re the same in the design department as the Raw belts. The strap of the Tag-Team belts is blue and they have white gold plating. The Women’s Championship has a white strap like the Raw one but it has blue where the red is on the belt.
Heath Slater interrupts and says he wants to get some gold and that he’s been close to getting a contract for a couple weeks now. He says he wants the Tag-Team Championships and guarantees that if he was in the tournament he’d win the championships. Shane tells him he can’t because he doesn’t have a partner. Daniel then says that if Heath can find someone to tag with next week he’ll put him in the tournament if his team wins and heath gets excited. Shane beefs up the pot and says the only way he’ll become a Smackdown Superstar is if he comes through with his guarantee and wins the upcoming tournament.
AJ comes out to complain about what happened in the back, Ziggler comes out and attacks him as we go into our first commercial break of the night.
We come back to Becky and Alexa in the ring.
MATCH. 01: SINGLES MATCH — (BECKY LYNCH v. ALEXA BLISS)
The bell rings and they lock up. Becky pushes off and they stare at each other. Becky gets he in a wristlock and tosses Alexa around the ring a bit. She drags her down and tries to submit Alexa. They get up, have a series of quick moves and it all settles when Becky ends up on her knees over the second rope and Alexa kicks her in the head.
Alexa goes for a pin, gets one. Goes into a arm and chin lock. Becky gets out, Alexa kicks her in the abdomen. Becky fires back, putting Alexa in the corner, Becky hits her with the flying forearm, Alexa reverses and tries to go for a pin and gets two. Alexa goes to do a reverse scissor leg grab on Becky, she reverses and gets Alexa in the disarmer for the submission.
WINNER VIA SUBMISSION: Becky Lynch
Heath is backstage, he sees Miz there and begins talking to him about being his partner. Miz agrees and we find out that he’s talking on his headset to “Steven Spielberg” about becoming Indiana Jones, not tagging with Heath. Heath looks disappointed and we go into an ad for the Tag-Team Tournament and then commercial.
We come back and have The Ascension in the ring and they announce this is a round one match for the Smackdown Tag-Team Championships…
MATCH. 02: TAG-TEAM TOURNAMENT, ROUND ONE MATCH — (THE USO’S v. THE ASCENSION)
The bell rings and The Ascension go on the attack early. Viktor is in the ring first, gets moves in fast, he tags in Konnor, he gets a couple moves in, strong moves, tags Viktor back in and the match slows down now. Viktor slaps him and goes for a pin. He tags in Konnor. Jimmy finally gets some offensive in and hits an Enzaguri, he gets across the ring and tags in Jey. Jey superkicks, goes for a pin, gets two, he then Starts the Uso chant and gets tackled by Konnor, Jimmy superkicks Konnor out of the ring, Viktor goes down and Jey does the Samoan Splash from the top rope and into the pin for the win.
WINNERS AND ADVANCING TO THE NEXT ROUND VIA PINFALL: The Uso’s
We get a minute of The Uso’s looking at the new Tag-Team Championships and then we get an ad for Randy talking about what happened to him at SUMMERSLAM on Sunday.
Back from commercial and we get some pictures about SUMMERSLAM. Mauro, JBL and Otunga are seen. They start to discuss SUMMERSLAM but AJ’s music cuts them off. They talk about AJ winning and AJ comes out with the armband Cena had left in the ring on Sunday. The fans chant for AJ and he says he sees angry faces. Uh, ok. Either way, AJ is showing pictures of him beating Cena after that we have a closeup of the armband on AJ. He says he did exactly what he was going to do… BEAT UP JOHN CENA and then he beat him in the ring. He then insults the Cenation and says they can be AJ Styles fans now.
He says he’s the face that runs this place now. He says it three times in a row. He says he should be the number one contender for the Championship and Ziggler comes out. Bryan comes out to stop them and yells at them. Daniel names AJ the Number One contender. He then says it seems that they want to fight and says that everyone wants them to fight. Now he’s saying that if AJ wins he basically gets nothing different than what he already had. But, if Ziggler wins, he’ll be added into the match and it will be a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship at Backlash. They hype the return of Nikki Bella and then a commercial on Curt Hawkins coming back and then the real commercial break.
We come back from commercial and Carmella is coming to the ring. We get told a women’s match is happening. Out comes Nikki Bella…
MATCH. 03: SINGLES MATCH — (CARMELLA v. NIKKI BELLA)
Nikki saunters out to the ring, Renee is in the ring for questions, Nikki begins to talk and Carmella attacks from behind. Carmella stays on the attack and a second referee comes out and pulls Carmella off. Nikki is down and they make Carmella leave. She runs back in tells WELCOME BACK NIKKI and hits her with the Bella Bomb in the middle of the ring and leaves.
WINNER: No Contest But Carmella’s music played
They talk about Orton coming out next and go to commercial.
We come back and get a hype package for what happened to Orton at SUMMERSLAM na out he comes after his theme hits. He stops on the ramp and does the Brock Lesnar jump, taps his head smiling and continues walking down the ramp. The fans chanted his name, Orton says they didn’t expect to see him but he’s here. He talks about the match and how upset he is. He says he and Brock will cross paths again and Bray Wyatt interrupts. That looooooonnnnngggg walk down the ramp ala Undertaker happens…
Bray sits in his rocking chair at the end of the ramp and asks how Randy’s head is. Then laughs and tells Randy he saw what Lesnar did to him and says that it took his head being busted open to realize that he’s just a man. A man who bleeds, and dies. He then says he’s a God and a God can never die and that Randy will find out all about it in time. Randy motions for him to get into the ring and Bray takes his coat off, the arena goes black, the lights come back on and he’s gone. Randy is in the ring on his own as we go backstage and Shane is interviewed on his thoughts about Lesnar and what happened.
He says that Stephanie isn’t taking anything seriously by only fining Brock $500 and that he and Brock are not done yet. We get a hype up for AJ v Ziggler and the Tag-Team Championship Tournament and then… commercial.
We come back to see Heath saying that he can be Nature Boy and Arn can be, well, Arn. Slater is asking Arn Anderson to be his tag-team partner. Heath says he’s his last chance and Arn says no because he wasn’t the first choice. Rhyno says he’ll be his tag team partner. Breezango make their way to the ring and we see a segment with them in their lounge before the match and then the theme of American Alpha hits. Backstage segment earlier in the day about them becoming the first Smackdown Tag Champs and about buying singlets.
MATCH. 04: TAG-TEAM TOURNAMENT, ROUND ONE MATCH — (AMERICAN ALPHA v BREEZANGO)
Gable and Fandango start off and lock up. Chad gets him into the ring post, its broken up, they lock up again and Chad gets the upperhand. Gable has him in a rear waistlock, and he moves quick for an arm drag. He tags in Jordan, they do a few tandem moves and then slide across the ring together. Breeze gets back into the ring and Jordan puts him into an upward armbar. Gets up and tags in Gable. Gable goes into the same move. Jordan gets tagged in and then Gable. Fandango hits a move on Gable and Breeze goes in for the pin, gets a two and then the customary match that has a commercial break in the middle of it.
Back from commercial and we see Gable get thrown over the top rope and Gable skins the cat while throwing Fandango out. Jordan gets tagged in , dropkick on Breeze, suplex on Fandango, suplex on breeze, tag to Gable, tandem move into pin and Fandango breaks the count. Tag to Jordan, Breeze up in the electric chair, Breeze drops down and Supermodel Kicks Jordan between his legs from the top rope. They go back at it with a couple failed pin attempts. Breeze is up first, goes o he corner for a Supermodel Kick, Jordan reverses it into a suplex, Grand Amplitude and Alpha win…. jeez these guys move quick!
WINNERS AND ADVANCING TO THE NEXT ROUND VIA PINFALL: American Alpha
Ambrose is interviewed wearing a huge blue hat. A server comes with drinks and he tips in casino chips while he gets his drink and coffee. Oh boy, thankfully there’s a commercial.
Back from commercial and we get treated to more SUMMERSLAM pics. Ambrose makes his way out. He’s in his clothes now and threw the ridiculous hat into the crowd. Ambrose goes to the commentary booth where he settles in to see the Ziggler and AJ match.
MATCH. 05: IF DOLPH WINS, HE’S IN THE MAIN EVENT WITH AJ AND AMBROSE AT BACKLASH — (AJ STYLES v. DOLPH ZIGGLER)
They’re getting their intros in and man, AJ and Ziggler start off strong with chain wrestling , AJ hits a bunch of right hands, they end up on the ground, Ziggler gets on AJ’s back, he gets him off and goes out the ring. He gets back in and gets knocked back out as the match goes into a commercial break.
Back from commercial and these two have not stopped flying at top speed. AJ throws Ziggler into the ring post with a VICIOUS Irish whip. He picks him up and hits a pendulum backbreaker, tries for a pin and fails. AJ stands and assaults Ziggler, he pulls him up and knocks him to a knee. He hits him again and stumbles him. Ziggler tries to get up and gets a roundhouse kick. AJ walks towards and Ziggler tries for a pin to no success. AJ gets back on the offensive and kicks Ziggler.
AJ stays on the offensive around the ring, Ziggler tries and AJ stays like a pitbull, hits a neckbreaker on the middle rope and we go into another… sigh… commercial break…
Ad for Talking Smack! and then back to the match. AJ stays on he hunt, has Ziggler in a deep arm wrench and takes him all the way down to the mat. Ziggler keeps fighting and breaks out to connect a series of right hands but AJ just stays on him. AJ hits the ropes to run on Ziggler and Ziggler jumps high into a huge dropkick. Both men down and we get to an eight count before AJ gets up first. Ziggler has the edge now and jumps onto AJ with a series of assaults until he tries for a pin. He fails, Ziggler then hits the Fameasser and tries for another pin but, no success. AJ goes for the shoulder drop neck breaker. Tries for the pin but no avail, AJ gets up and does the 450 top rope splash but connects with nothing, Ziggler connects with a Satellite DDT and gets a two count.
Ziggler and AJ both get up, Ziggler goes for the Superkick, AJ counters and tries for a Styles Clash, Ziggler tosses AJ into the ropes and hits a Zig-Zag, goes for the pin and gets a two. Both men are up a series of moves, Ziggler goes for another Superkick, then gets his foot caught on the rope, AJ kicks it and then gets Ziggler cinched in for the Syles Clash into pinfall.
WINNER VIA PINFALL: AJ Styles
After the match, AJ makes a B-Line for Ambrose, knocks the headset off of him, Ambrose gets up and they have a staredown. The referee backs AJ up and the show is over with both of them still staring from a distance. Have a good night, and see you all again next week.
