After a whirlwind week of mostly related events, we are moving to SmackDown Live. Just as a quick recap of things that took place over the past week, we had RAW’s first exclusive pay per view, Clash of Champions post the draft. Here are the quick results:
- Nia Jax def. Alicia Fox in the pre-show match event.
- The New Day retained their titles against The Club.
- Chris Jericho defeated Sami Zayn.
- TJ Perkins defeated Brian Kendrick to retain the Cruiserweight title.
- Roman Reigns defeated Rusev for the United States Championship
- Cesaro vs Sheamus ended in a double count out
- Charlotte retained the Women’s championship against Sasha Banks and Bayley
- Kevin Owens retained the WWE Universal title against Seth Rollins
We saw a continuation of almost all the storylines at RAW. Apart from Cesaro and Sheamus being named as the new number one contenders for the New Day’s tag titles.
So, tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live comes in from Cleveland, Ohio from the Quicken Loans Arena. Ironically, this is the same arena from where the first No Mercy pay per view was held back in 1999. Here’s a preview of the show:
AJ Styles is scheduled to defend his WWE World Title against Ohio’s own, Dean Ambrose.
Fallout from the Miz’s controversial Intercontinental title victory.
Will we see Randy Orton finally square off against Bray Wyatt? If yes, when would it be?
Will the Usos end the fairytale run of Rhino and Heath Slater?
Follow up of events from the turbulent women’s division.
We start things off with the Viper, Randy Orton in the ring who asks Bray Wyatt to get his ass out. The lights go out and immediately Bray appears on the big screen to cut a promo on Orton. Wyatt sings ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands’ and the promo cuts off. Orton walks to the back.
Dean Ambrose makes an appearance at the venue. He cuts a promo on both Cena and Styles. He calls Cena old news and declares he is going to crush Styles tonight.
The Ascension and the Usos vs Heath Slater and Rhino and the American Alpha: The members of the American Alpha take turns in attacking the Usos, with Jordan hitting suplexes on Jey. Jimmy starts works on Gable’s bad knee again. Connor tags himself in and continues working on Gable’s knee. Gable tries to tag in Jordan but is cut off by the Ascension. Rhino hits a clothesline onto the Ascension, while Gable tags in Slater. Slater clears the ring and hits a flying knee on Jey, following it up with a neck breaker for a near fall. Jimmy tags himself in and kicks Slater in the knee. Jimmy puts Slater in the Boston Crab and Slater taps out.
Randy Orton is showing walking backstage in a dimly lit room. He turns away and camera reveals Eric Rowan standing in the corner. Eerie!!
Continuing the previous segment, Bray is playing a game of hide and seek of sorts with Orton. He asks Orton to find him.
John Cena arrives at the venue and talks about getting the title at No Mercy be it either from Dean Ambrose or AJ Styles.
Natalya and Carmella vs Naomi and Nikki: Naomi and Carmella start things off. Action quickly moves to the outside with Natalya locking in the Michinoku Driver on Naomi. Back in the ring, heels are in control of the match. Carmella connects with a Bronco Buster on Naomi for a two count. She tags in Natalya for a double northern suplex. Nikki gets the tag and cleans house. When she goes for a fireman’s carry on Carmella, Carmella pokes her in the eye. Natalya runs in causing the distraction on Nikki prompting Carmella to roll Nikki up for the win.
Randy Orton is another dimly lit room with lots of messages seemed to be ‘clues’ posted in red paint and code words. There’s also a cutout of Orton in the room. Orton walks out of the room, not seeing Rowan who’s hiding there! Wow! Looks like a scary house for Orton! This would have given me goosebumps!
The Miz is out to cut a promo on his hometown. A video highlighting his career is shown. Miz introduces his parents and Ziggler’s parents. Miz tells Ziggler’s parents that they created a loser prompting Ziggler to come out. Ziggler yells at Miz for talking to his parents and says Miz cheated to win on both occasions. Miz says history books will not reflect that he cheated. Miz tells Ziggler to give up on his career and walks up the ramp. Ziggler says that he loves wrestling, but wrestling does not love him back and appears to be teary eyed. Ziggler challenges Miz to put his title on the line again and this time, Ziggler will put his career on the line. Miz accepts and says he is on at No Mercy. Woah! Will the rumors of Ziggler leaving the WWE turn out to be true? Or is WWE back to teasing us again?
Becky Lynch is out and even before she can make it to the ring, is jumped from the behind by Alexa Bliss. She says she deserves the Women’s title more than Becky and walks away.
We are shown another Bray Wyatt segment. He says that when one door closes, another door opens and tells Orton to be careful about where it ends. He says he is disappointed in Orton and Orton is no viper and has no fangs. Orton suddenly turns up behind Wyatt wearing a sheep mask. He removes the mask while Wyatt is still yelling. When he turns around, Randy attacks him while Wyatt runs away. He sits down on the chair and wears the sheep mask again and Orton sings the same song that Wyatt was singing. Although Orton is singing, we can hear Bray laughing and singing in silent mode. Wow! One of Bray’s best work in the recent times, after Taker’s promo.
AJ Styles is walking up and is stopped for an interview who says that we are at this point because he beat both Cena and Ambrose, so tonight all we will hear is that Styles has retained his title.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for your main event of the night. As expected, John Cena is out on commentary for the match to get a bird’s eye view of his challenger at No Mercy.
Dean Ambrose vs AJ Styles for the WWE Heavyweight title: Ambrose drops AJ immediately after the bell and pummels him with right hands, following it up with a clothesline and beat down on the announce table. Once back in the ring, Styles connects with the flying elbow, but Dean is back in control with a series of clotheslines and a back breaker. AJ goes for the calf crusher but Dean gets out and puts Styles in the Texas Clover leaf. AJ gets out and is knocked to the floor by Ambrose. Ambrose follows with a suicide dive and an elbow drop. Back in the ring, AJ hits elbows and chops, but Ambrose turns tides with a swinging neck breaker. AJ hits a forearm and Ambrose gets a near fall with a reverse power bomb. AJ gets his own near fall by hitting a fireman’s carry modified into a neck breaker. Ambrose dodges the splash in the corner and hits a clothesline. AJ comes back with a Pele kick and goes for the springboard 450 splash, but Dean rolls out. Ambrose comes off the top with an elbow drop for a two count. AJ hits a knee to the face of Ambrose and turns to Cena and taunts him with cheap shots. AJ rolls back into the ring and Dean pins him, but Cena is on the apron and the referee is distracted. Dean would have won the match here!! Ambrose lays out Cena, only to be rolled up from behind by Styles for the win.
After the match, Ambrose tries to hit the dirty deeds on Cena, but Cena counters with an AA. AJ hits the ring and tries to attack Cena but Cena lays him out with an AA. Cena holds the WWE heavyweight title in the air and yells ‘The Champ is here’ to close the show.
It is announced that Becky Lynch and John Cena would be appearing on tonight’s episode of Talking Smack!
- Updated card for the WWE Royal Rumble pay per view - January 28, 2017
- WWE SmackDown Results – 01/24/2017 - January 26, 2017
- WWE RAW Results – 01/23/2017 - January 24, 2017
