WWE Smackdown results: AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Roman Reigns and The Usos
– Air Date: May 5, 2016
– Location: Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO
– The Big News:
Roman Reigns and the Usos got some revenge over AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Also, The Vaudevillains vs. The New Day was made official for Extreme Rules.
– Show Recap:
Chris Jericho came out for the Highlight Reel. He said Dean Ambrose thought he could be funny and zany when tangling with him, but it got serious when Jericho smashed the 20-pound pot over Ambrose. Jericho claimed that Ambrose spent the night in a St. Louis hospital with contusions, whiplash and bulging discs.
Jericho said Ambrose wasn’t here tonight, wasn’t going to run out to make a surprise appearance, and he should stay home for good. Jericho said it is a new era in WWE – his era. The crowd chanted “You suck” at Jericho, who introduced his guest Sami Zayn.
Jericho said his good friend Kevin Owens beat Zayn fair and square but Zayn continues to attack him, which makes him a sore loser. He also called Zayn a thief for posing with The Miz’s Intercontinental title. Jericho asked Zayn what kind of human being he is, and Zayn responded, “Actually, I think I’m a pretty good human being, honestly.” Zayn thought people would agree, just like they would agree that Jericho’s scarf makes him look stupid.
Zayn said he didn’t have a problem with Owens beating him, he had a problem with Owens slapping him in the face after the match and tossing him out of the ring like garbage. He also wasn’t trying to steal the IC Title. Miz interrupted.
Miz said he’s the only one who’s earned the right to hold the IC title belt and called Zayn a serial coattail rider. Miz warned Zayn not to lay a finger on the title again, so Zayn repeatedly touched the title with his finger, which was funny. The crowd chanted for Zayn. Jericho said if someone laid a hand on his $15,000 jacket, he would do something about it, and told Miz he should do something about it.
Zayn couldn’t believe Jericho spent $15,000 on his jacket. Jericho started raging, tossed his stools down and left. Zayn called them jackasses. Miz said Zayn has no respect and called himself the biggest, baddest shark in WWE. Zayn touched the title again and challenged Miz to a fight, but Maryse got in his face. Zayn challenged him to a fight again but Miz bailed.
This segment was good enough. The biggest positive was that Sami Zayn, surprise surprise, came off very likable.
Non-title: Sami Zayn beat IC Champion The Miz (w/Maryse) via DQ
Miz tried tossing Zayn into the barricade, but Zayn leapt onto the barricade and nailed a moonsault. The highlight of that spot was the reaction of a girl in the front row. Kevin Owens came out (to his music) and joined commentary after a break.
Mauro Ranallo asked Owens what brought him to ringside and Jerry Lawler responded, “Obviously his legs brought him down here Mauro, don’t be an idiot!” Owens enjoyed that. Owens then mocked Miz for hitting an axe-handle off the top, calling him a great “athlete.” Zayn hit a dive to Miz on the outside, then got in Owens’ face.
Zayn went back after Miz, but Owens jumped Zayn from behind for the DQ. Miz and Owens double teamed him but Cesaro made the save (he stripped off his suit as he ran to the ring). Cesaro did the uppercut parade to both Miz and Owens, while still wearing sunglasses. Cesaro also caught Zayn with one by accident, which knocked him out of the ring. Cesaro tried to swing Miz but both Maryse and Owens got in the way and all the heels bailed. Cesaro posed with the title.
They showed a replay of the main event angle from Raw. Backstage, AJ Styles asked Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson if they were ready for round two. Anderson said Styles would have broken the chair over Roman Reigns if this was back in the day. Styles said it wasn’t, and reminded them he beat Reigns twice at Payback before Reigns beat him.
Styles said he would become champion, but would do it his way. Gallows and Anderson said Reigns may not see it that way after he put Styles through a table. Styles decided to go have a chat with Reigns. Anderson and Gallows were happy to hear it.
Promo for Primo and Epico. They also replayed the footage of Enzo Amore being knocked out, and announced The Vaudevillains vs. The New Day at Extreme Rules for the Tag-Team titles.
The Vaudevillains beat Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas via pinfall
The Vaudevillains did an inset promo, calling the New Day clowns and called themselves real men. They won in under two minutes with the Whirling Dervish.
Afterwards, Big Cass came out to tell the Vaudevillains they look like they came off the set of Sherlock Holmes. He said he was going to give them a whooping and called them soft. He knocked both guys out of the ring, when Axel jumped in and called them soft too. He tried to buddy up to Cass, but Cass hit him with the swinging side slam. Axel was pretty amusing here.
Natalya & Becky Lynch beat Emma & Women’s Champion Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) via submission
They worked over Natalya until she made the hot tag to Lynch, who ran wild on Emma until she was pulled out of the ring by Charlotte. They double teamed Lynch to gain control and worked her over until she made the hot tag to Natalya, who hit Charlotte with clotheslines, a low dropkick, and discus clothesline.
Natalya applied the Sharpshooter but Charlotte crawled to her corner and Emma tagged in. Emma knocked down Natalya and hit a running crossbody. Lynch broke up the cover and knocked Charlotte off the ring. Natalya applied the Sharpshooter to Emma who tapped. Average match that went about 10 minutes. Emma didn’t need to be in this match.
Backstage, Reigns and the Usos were chatting when they were interrupted by AJ Styles. Reigns told Styles he had guts coming in there. Styles told Reigns he had him dead to rights on Raw. He took the high road, but he won’t next time. Styles asked if Reigns was going to be in the Usos’ corner in the main event. Reigns called himself the champ, called the Usos family, and he would be wherever he wanted to be. Styles said he would see them out there.
There was a really bizarre vignette with Darren Young. Young spoke about searching for a life coach. He said the answer was right in front of him, when the screen split and Bob Backlund appeared. Young asked Backlund if he would be his life coach.
Backlund said yes, he would be his “wrestling coach.” Young was glad, but he wanted a life coach, not a wrestling coach. Backlund screamed that the first lesson was “wrestling is life.” The segment ended with the words “Make Darren Young Great Again” on the screen. No idea what to make of this.
Rusev (w/Lana) beat Zack Ryder via submission
Ryder didn’t get an entrance. Also, Charles Robinson was the referee. Ranallo said Rusev claimed he would eat Kalisto’s big heart, and Rusev beat Ryder in just over a minute with the Accolade. The only thing to note was Rusev developed a hematoma after being sent face-first into the steel post. Lana wasn’t happy about that.
Afterwards, Kalisto ran in and attacked Rusev for basically no reason. They claimed it was because Lana was mocking the Lucha chants. He hit Rusev with a few kicks, springboard corkscrew crossbody, and then he left to pose with his title on the stage. Rusev vs. Kalisto should be pretty great.
The announcers plugged Camp WWE by reading the same script the announcers did on Raw.
Backstage, Fandango taught Goldust some new dance moves. After some “comedy,” Fandango challenged Truth and Tyler Breeze to a tag match next week. This is so dumb.
Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (w/AJ Styles) beat The Usos (w/Roman Reigns) via DQ
As Gallows and Anderson made their entrance, Ranallo put them over as one of the best teams in Japan and Lawler responded, “Who cares about Japanese wrestling?” After Jey Uso was sent outside a couple minutes into the match, Reigns went to check on him, at which point Anderson used his boot to face-wash Reigns. Reigns jumped in the ring and attacked Anderson for the DQ, which led to a big brawl.
A bunch of officials ran down to break it up. Styles grabbed a mic and said, “I thought this was a new era – or his that just for Raw? This is Smackdown, and we’re going to finish what we started, now!” Normally these setups to turn a singles match into a tag match (or a tag match into a six-man in this case) feels really phony, but this was done well and the crowd was into it. It was chaotic and the fans just wanted to see them fight.
WWE Champion Roman Reigns & The Usos beat AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson via pinfall
Reigns and Styles started as they did on Raw, and there were dueling chants from the crowd. Reigns seemed to be getting the better of it until Styles backed him into the corner for Anderson to make a tag. Reigns and the Usos triple-teamed Anderson but he eventually backed Jey Uso into the corner for Gallows to make a tag. The Usos double teamed him, but Gallows gained control with a big boot on Jimmy Uso.
Reigns made a hot tag and hit Anderson with a jumping clothesline and clotheslines in the corner. He knocked Styles off the apron with a right hand as well. Reigns superman punched Gallows off the apron. He tried to hit Styles with one as well, but Styles hung him over the top rope, and Anderson followed with a school boy for a near fall.
An Uso hit Gallows with a suicide dive and Reigns hit Anderson with a superman punch. Reigns went for a spear but Styles cut him off with forearm. An Uso dragged Styles out of the ring and Anderson made a cover on Reigns for a close near fall. Anderson followed with a spinebuster for another near fall, but Reigns popped back with a spear for the pinfall win.
Styles tried to make the save before the pinfall, but was held back by an Uso. As soon as Reigns got the 3 count, he and Styles stared at each other, perhaps acknowledging how close this was. After they showed a replay of the finish, Styles and Reigns were still in a staredown. Styles pointed at the title saying “That’s mine” and Reigns held it up to end the show.
– Final Thoughts:
This was a mostly mundane show again until the main event stuff, which I thought was really good. Not a fan of Gallows/Anderson losing already, but at least it was to the champ.