By Brittany Van Dyke
This week’s episode of Smackdown came to us from Tampa, Florida.
The show started with a recap of the events of the Royal Rumble match this past Sunday and Stephanie’s big announcement this past Monday on how it will be Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar at Fastlane to determine who will face Triple H at Wrestlemania 32.
In Ring Segment
The New Day came out and a recap of what happened between them and the Rock on Monday was shown. The New Day talked about how the Rock should be ashamed of himself for what he said about their unicorn horns. Then the Miz came out and talked about how he understood the New Days pain, and reminded us that he has main evented Wrestlemania. The Usos came out after that and the New Day pointed out that there was four of them and only two of the Usos, but the Usos had a plan. Titus O’Neil and Dolph Ziggler came out and they headed into the ring. New Day & Miz left the ring and an eight man tag was set up as it went to commercial.
Match #1: The Usos, Titus O’Neil, & Dolph Ziggler vs. the New Day & the Miz
The match started off pretty even, but the team of the New Day and the Miz quickly took control. There was a moment where the Miz had some fun with New Day. It’s kind of strange how Miz fit with the New Day during this match, but he also looked ridiculous. The match ended when Titus hit the Miz with the Clash of the Titus for the win.
Match #2: Kalisto vs. Neville for the U.S. Championship
The match started with Kalisto getting the upper hand on Neville. The match soon evened out with both men getting in plenty of offense on each other. Kalisto ended up picking up the victory, but this was a fun match. Both men showed why they are so entertaining to watch in the ring and hopefully there will be more matches between these two in the future.
In Ring Segment (Highlight Reel)
Jericho introduced Ambrose first and Ambrose came out to the ring carrying some flowers with him. Roman made his way to the ring next and Ambrose told Jericho he brought him some flowers to brighten up the set. Jericho wanted to know if the title opportunity would cause friction between the two, but Ambrose & Reigns said that it won’t affect their friendship. Jericho then asked about the fact that they will be facing Lesnar as well. Ambrose said he wasn’t afraid of Lesnar, while Reigns told Ambrose that he doesn’t understand what it means to get in the ring with Lesnar. The Wyatts appeared on the ramp, where Bray talked about how they were going to destroy Jericho, Reigns, and Ambrose.
In Ring Segment
The Social Outcasts were in the ring, where Curtis Axel talked about his annoyance at being eliminated from the Rumble by AJ Styles. Axel called out Styles and Styles came out. They showed a quick recap of Styles’ match against Jericho on this past Monday.
Match #3: AJ Styles vs. Curtis Axel
This was a quick match, but not a complete squash. Axel got some good offense in, but the match ended with Styles hitting Axel with the Styles Clash.
Match #4: Charlotte vs. Natalya
This match was good. Both women showcased how skilled they are in that ring. At one point Natalya got distracted by Flair “wooing” in her face, which helped Charlotte pick up the victory with Natalya tapping out to the Figure 8. After the match, Charlotte put Natalya back into the Figure 8, but Becky Lynch came out for the save.
Backstage Segment
They showed R-Truth and Goldust earlier that day. Goldust asked Truth if he had thought about his question from this Monday night. Truth reminded Goldust that he was married and Goldust said he wanted them to be tag team partners and even suggested a tag team name for them, Golden Truth. The segment ended with Goldust stuck in a stretch with Truth leaving him stuck. Not sure where they are going with these segments, but I’m on board.
Match #5: Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, & Roman Reigns vs. The Wyatt Family
The match started off pretty even, but the Wyatts quickly took control with Jericho taking most of the punishment. Ambrose was able to take control back for his team for a short time after he got in the match with a hot tag. The two teams traded control until the match ended in a DQ when Strowman pulled Roman out of the ring. The Wyatts started destroying Ambrose, Jericho, and Reigns when, unexpectedly, Big Show came out. He had a quick stare down with Strowman before the Wyatts started to attack Show. The attack didn’t last long as Ambrose, Jericho, and Reigns came in and took out the Wyatts. The show ended with Ambrose, Jericho, Reigns, and Big Show standing tall.
Pro Wrestling Authority 