WWE SmackDown live results: AJ Styles vs. Luke Harper

Date: February 28, 2017
Location: Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, MN

The Big Takeaway —

Randy Orton announced that he will be facing Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania for the WWE title. He did so by burning down the gravesite of Bray’s sister Abigail on live national television.

AJ Styles defeated Luke Harper to apparently earn a title shot earlier in the show. Shane McMahon almost cost him the match, but Styles won anyway. We’ll have to wait to find out what happens next.

Also, John Cena cut a memorable promo on the Miz. Cena and Nikki Bella will face James Ellsworth and Carmella next week.

Show Recap — 

Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan were backstage watching the finish to last week’s battle royal. They had no new replays, just the same angle as last week. Shane told Bryan he made the right call. Styles joined and said Harper fell out first, so they can go ahead and cancel the match and make him number one contender. Styles began joking about Harper, suggesting he hasn’t showered in a while. Harper was standing him behind him of course. Styles left upon realizing this. Harper looked at Shane and Bryan, said “thank you,” and left.

Tom Phillips is still on commentary, if you were wondering.

MizTV with John Cena

Miz introduced Cena, but before Cena could speak, Miz had them cut his mic. Miz had some things to say before Cena was allowed to talk. Miz claimed Cena was on top, not because he was good, but because he manipulates everyone. Miz suggested Cena would never let him be the guy. He was about to reach that level when he main evented WrestleMania, but claimed Cena took it away from him a few weeks later.

Miz called Cena jealous and a hypocrite. He reminded us about all of the nasty things Cena said about The Rock leaving for Hollywood, but now Cena’s the one who’s never around. This led to a “You sold out” chant. Miz called Cena a parody of his former self, and his former self was a joke.

Miz was frustrated because he’s the one who’s here, doing the media, and making SmackDown a must-see show. Cena was gifted a title match at Royal Rumble, but no matter how many strings he pulls, there will still only be one greatest of all time (Ric Flair). Miz tossed Cena from the battle royal because he wanted Cena to feel what he feels, but it’s still nothing compared to what Cena has done to him. He let Cena talk.

Cena, of course, let Miz know he’s just repeating what we’ve heard from everyone else for years. Cena pointed out that if he was really pulling the strings, there’s no way he’d be standing face-to-face with Miz. Rather, Cena would be standing face-to-face with the Undertaker. This led to cheers and some Yes chants.

Cena said he never asked anyone to follow him and everyone knows who he is. He ran down the Miz, saying he cut his last name down to resemble The Rock, stole Chris Jericho’s personality, took Ric Flair’s figure four, uses Daniel Bryan’s moves and chants, and is just repeating AJ Styles from the last 6 months. Cena said Miz was just a dude dressed up as a dude playing another dude.

Cena said if you asked any of the greats, they’ll tell you that they’re always themselves in the ring, but Miz is part of a group of wrestlers who think they can over if they prove they’ve been held down. Cena told Miz that he wasn’t the Undertaker, but if he kept pressing him, he was a deadman.

Cena was about to leave, but Maryse wouldn’t allow him. She said Cena wasn’t half the man Miz was and called him an egomaniac. She claimed guys with big egos have small penises. She slapped him. Cena laughed and said she just made the biggest mistake of her life. Nikki Bella’s music hit and she ran down, but Miz and Maryse bailed through the crowd. Nikki told Maryse if she lays her hands on her man again, “I’m gonna break ya bitch, ya hear me?”

2 out of 3 falls match: Becky Lynch defeated Mickie James

Nothing really happened since the last commercial break, but they still went to commercial two minutes into the match. I suppose the first segment might’ve gone long.

James won the first fall after about 8 minutes with a jumping DDT.

Lynch scored the second fall with a school boy after Mickie missed a move off the top. Mickie blew a kiss at someone in the crowd right before that. Or someone on commentary.

Alexa Bliss marched to the ring and distracted the referee as Lynch had Mickie pinned. Mickie went after Lynch but accidentally knocked Bliss off the apron. They traded rollups leading to Lynch applying the Disarmer for the tap-out win.

Luke Harper cut a promo on Bray Wyatt backstage in his own creepy room. He wasn’t afraid of Bray, but at WrestleMania, Bray would be afraid of him. They cut to Bray who was in his creepy room and said he would be watching tonight with his blood Randy Orton. He called himself God.

Dasha Fuentes asked Alexa Bliss about Lynch. Bliss was pissed she asked about Lynch instead of asking her about becoming the first 2-time SmackDown Women’s champion. She managed to compare this to the Oscars and Emma Stone because this company can’t help themselves. Bliss did an acceptance speech and thanked Naomi for having bad knees and poor coordination. Natalya interrupted and asked Fuentes to leave by saying, “Can we just have a minute for one sec?” Natalya told Bliss she would take the title.

Elsewhere, Styles told Renee Young that Harper clearly landed first last week. He also noted how convenient it was that they didn’t have a proper camera angle. A confident Styles said he would main event WrestleMania.

WWE Title Number One Contendership: AJ Styles defeated Luke Harper

There’s still an hour left in the show. 

Harper toyed with Styles early on. Styles had a headlock applied but Harper just casually lifted him off the ground, then followed with a dropkick. He tossed Styles around but Styles kicked Harper’s leg out of his leg to knock him off the apron, then followed with a Pele kick from the floor. Harper came back with a springboard senton and big boot for a two count.

Crowd did loud dueling chants of “Let’s go Harper” and “AJ Styles.” Harper hit a suicide dive, but Styles came back with a hurricanrana. Harper dodged the combination strikes and nailed a dragon suplex for two.

Immediately following a break, Harper hit a sit-out powerbomb for a nearfall. Styles then hit an enziguri and a Phenomenal forearm. Harper’s foot was on the rope, but the referee counted three, the bell rang and Styles’ music played.

Shane McMahon came out. Styles thought he was out to congratulate him, but instead, Shane restarted the match. Harper sent Styles to the outside and Styles began arguing with Shane. Harper came in with a big boot, but Styles ducked and the boot caught Shane instead. Styles hit a springboard 450 splash back in the ring for the pinfall win.

Good match that went about 12 minutes. Pinning Harper twice was a really dumb idea, however.

Renee was about to interview Nikki Bella and John Cena, but they were interrupted by the snickering duo of Carmella and James Ellsworth. Carmella and Ellsworth called them phonies as Ellsworth pointed at Nikki’s breasts. Nikki challenged them to a mixed tag match next week and Cena made it official, so I guess Miz was right about Cena having pull.

Daniel Bryan congratulated Styles backstage for getting what he thought he deserved. Bryan offered a handshake but Styles said, “No thanks.” Styles heard that Bray had an invocation tonight and he wanted to attend.

Dean Ambrose came out to face a jobber but he just gave the guy a Dirty Deeds and cut a promo instead. (Update: I didn’t even notice, but the jobber was Curt Hawkins.) He was pissed about getting attacked by Baron Corbin. He said messing with Dean Ambrose was a very, very bad idea and challenged Corbin to a fight here in Minnesota. Corbin appeared on the screen and declined the invitation.

Ambrose said Corbin’s tattoos look even worse on the big screen. He wanted Corbin to hurry up because he didn’t validate his parking and only had about 15 minutes left. Corbin didn’t think that was funny. He said Ambrose cost him the title and would take everything from Dean. Ambrose looked bored by his promo and told Corbin they were far from finished. This was good.

Nikki Bella & John Cena vs. Carmella & James Ellsworth was announced for next week.

Chairs Match: Dolph Ziggler defeated Apollo Crews

As Ziggler made his entrance, Crews attacked him from behind. The match started and Mauro Ranallo said Crews was off to a great start. Yeah, because he attacked the guy from behind. Crews got a couple of nearfalls with a standing moonsault with the chair on Ziggler, and an Angle slam on a chair as well.

Crews positioned the chair to stand up and I guess was about to slam Ziggler on it, but Ziggler kicked his leg out causing Crews to land throat-first on the edge of the chair. Ziggler then crotched Crews on the chair and covered him for the pinfall win. This sucked.

They announced Beth Phoenix for the Hall of Fame earlier.

Phillips and JBL plugged the Network. The camera focused only on those two, cutting Ranallo and Otunga out of the frame.

Natalya, AJ Styles and American Alpha will be on Talking Smack tonight with Renee and Bryan.

Bray Wyatt’s Invocation

Bray said it didn’t matter to him who won the match earlier and Styles would end up like the rest. Bray began rambling and the crowd chanted “What.” Bray said he was from a place where Randy Orton is right now. Orton appeared on the screen in the shed we’ve seen the Wyatts appear from in the past. Creepy music played and the rocking chair was rocking on its own.

Orton said this was Bray’s world, “but it’s not mine.” That was the big turn. The crowd cheered. Orton once said, “if you can’t beat them join them,” but when the time was right, “screw him.” Orton said sister Abigail was put to rest directly beneath where he stood, “or at least what’s left of her.”

Orton pulled out a pickaxe and said he knew Bray was afraid. Orton said he would burn sister Abigail’s soul, then Orton would be the master and Bray would be the servant. He doused the shed in gasoline, as well as the chair. Orton announced he was coming for Bray and his title at WrestleMania. The crowd cheered again.

Some of the boards were already removed from the floor, exposing the dirt below. Orton dumped gasoline on the dirt as Bray frantically paced back and forth. Orton left the shed and poured a trail of gasoline behind him. Bray begged Orton not to do it and yelled, “I’ll kill you.”

Orton said he would burn the soul of sister Abigail to eternal damnation. He lit a flame and set the place on fire as Bray freaked out. This was almost all worth it for the shot of Orton doing his famous pose in front of the burning building.

Final Thoughts —

Aside from Luke Harper getting pinned twice in the same match, this was an enjoyable show until the Chairs match. I would love to see how (if) they explain why Orton waited so long to do this to Bray Wyatt, and how they can justify Styles not getting a title match at WrestleMania. I suppose they can do Orton vs. Styles on TV to finally decide who gets the shot.

On another note, Cena denied pulling any strings backstage, then basically booked a match for next week. They can play that into the storyline, but that seems unlikely.