WWE SmackDown live results: Orton & Kane vs. Wyatt & Harper

Date: October 11, 2016
Location: The Shark Tank in San Jose, CA

The Big Takeaway —

James Ellsworth (yes, him) defeated WWE Champion AJ Styles in a non-title match thanks to Dean Ambrose.

John Cena was not on the show. Neither was Curt Hawkins, whose debut was advertised for tonight. Also, the program between Dolph Ziggler and The Miz is continuing, and Kane disappeared or whatever.

Update: On Talking Smack, Daniel Bryan announced Ellsworth will get a World Title shot against AJ Styles next week.

Show Recap — 

A video recap of No Mercy aired, focusing on Dolph Ziggler winning the IC title and AJ Styles retaining the WWE World title.

Dolph Ziggler came out as all three announcers put over his win on Sunday. He got a nice reaction from the crowd and some “You deserve it” chants. Ziggler said he was having fun now, but wasn’t sure if he would be here tonight. He suggested we press the “info” button on our remotes if we didn’t believe him (referencing the TV guide previews suggesting this would be his last night.) The crowd didn’t know what he was talking about.

Ziggler wondered if this would be his last night there, his last night taping his wrists, or his last night spray tanning Zack Ryder’s back. Ziggler doubted himself, but knew he belonged as soon as he stepped in the ring, and beat Miz despite Maryse and the Spirit Squad.

That brought out Miz and Maryse, both wearing all black and shades. They hung their heads in mourning and Miz announced the death of the IC title. Miz claimed he was the one to bring prestige back to the title, not Daniel Bryan or Ziggler. Miz said this wasn’t the end of the story, this is only act two. Miz is the hero who has to overcome the odds, and the hero gets the gold and the girl in the end.

Ziggler showed a replay of Miz’s reaction after he lost and mocked him for crying. Miz tried to defend himself but the crowd chanted, “You were crying.” Miz was pissed and said he would do anything to get the title back. The Spirit Squad came out and Mikey and Kenny announced a handicap match against Ziggler. As I wondered if Bryan would approve this, Mauro Ranallo announced that Bryan approved this.

2-on-1 Handicap Match: IC Champion Dolph Ziggler defeated The Spirit Squad

Mikey and Kenny got the heat for a long time, but Ziggler won after about 7 minutes with a superkick on Kenny. Ranallo yelled, “Oh my God, he killed Kenny!” Miz attacked Ziggler after the match. They were about to triple team him, but Rhyno and Heath Slater ran out to make the save.

The announcers said Becky Lynch would be back soon and showed her hospital bed tweet. Ranallo emphasized that it was not a wrestling injury, and they announced Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss for the title on November 8th in Glasgow, Scotland.

Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon were backstage with an announcement for Survivor Series in Toronto. They issued a challenge to Raw for a 5-on-5 elimination match, pitting the 5 best singles wrestlers on each brand against each other. They also issued separate challenges to Raw for a tag team elimination match and a women’s elimination match.

They showed Renee Young interviewing Nikki Bella earlier today. She plugged Total Bellas, said she’s been doing great “ever since” beating Carmella (two days ago) and has been living fearlessly. Carmella attacked her and launched her into a thing.

Naomi defeated Carmella

Carmella attacked Naomi before the match. They started during commercial and Carmella gained control. Nikki stormed down the ramp but some referees held her back. This distracted Carmella, so Naomi rolled her up for the win. The announcers put over Naomi as a title contender after her last two wins.

Backstage, Andrea (traded for Charly Caruso, I guess) asked Alexa Bliss about Naomi’s recent run. Bliss said she wasn’t prepared for a rave and Naomi’s entrance gave her motion sickness. Bliss said she could beat Naomi any day of the week. Bryan showed up and made Bliss vs. Naomi next week.

They aired a Hispanic Heritage video for… Eva Longoria.

Jimmy Uso (w/Jey Uso) defeated Chad Gable (w/Jason Jordan)

JBL and Otunga asked Ranallo how he can tell the Usos apart. He said because they’re fraternal twins, not identical twins. Jimmy Uso won quickly with a school boy, as Jey used his legs to give him leverage on the cover (out of the sight of the referee).

Backstage, Mojo Rawley talked to Zack Ryder about… something. I think Rawley was upset with Ryder for not partying with him. The Ascension showed up to confront them, but said nothing. Rawley wondered how long they were standing there because he just finished getting dressed. Ascension left.

A commercial aired for Goldberg on Raw this Monday.

AJ Styles’ Victory Speech

Styles boasted about beating Dean Ambrose and John Cena at the same time. He told the crowd to cheer for him and then called them losers. He said there was only room for one on this bandwagon. Styles said they could cheer for Cena, but he was off trying to be Kelly Ripa’s co-host. He said they could cheer for Ambrose, and when they did, he seemed surprised that they could actually like someone like him.

Styles reiterated that he beat both men at the same time. He suggested most champions would take a year off after a victory like that, or at least one night. Styles wanted to give one man a championship opportunity and called out his opponent.

Dean Ambrose came out instead. Ambrose said, “I know you weren’t talking about me” and Styles responded, “No, I wasn’t talking about you.” Ambrose said he had Styles beat on SmackDown and had him tapping out at No Mercy. Ambrose told Styles, “you don’t want none” and said nobody on the roster was jumping in line ahead of him.

Styles said his opponent wasn’t on the roster, which brought out James Ellsworth. The crowd cheered. Styles offered him a non-title match and told Ambrose to leave. Ambrose said he actually wanted to see this and put over “Ellsworth 3:16.” Ambrose was going to pull up a chair to watch but Styles wanted him gone.

Daniel Bryan came out and said he makes the matches. He’s a huge fan of Ellsworth and made the match official. He also made Ambrose the guest referee. Bryan said Styles can’t put his hands on Ambrose or he’ll be fined/suspended. Ambrose emptied his pockets and gave the contents to Styles to hold as he took his time putting on his referee shirt.

Non-Title: James Ellsworth defeated WWE World Champion AJ Styles (Special Referee: Dean Ambrose)

Styles punched Ellsworth, then he and Ambrose got into an argument about whether or not closed fists are illegal. That led to a punch from Ellsworth. Styles chased after him, but Ambrose stuck out his leg and Styles tripped over it. He got in Ambrose’s face leading to a school boy by Ellsworth. Ambrose tried a fast count but Styles kicked out and clotheslined Ellsworth.

Styles applied the Calf Crusher and Ellsworth tapped (eventually), but Ambrose was checking his phone so the match continued. Styles beat down on Ellsworth some more but Ambrose got distracted by a lady in the front row who wanted a selfie.

Styles hit the Styles Clash, and Ellsworth kind of tucked his head. Fortunately, he wasn’t instantly killed. Ambrose counted two, but got up and gave Styles a Dirty Deeds. After some deep contemplation, Ambrose tossed Ellsworth over Styles for a cover, but Styles actually kicked out. After taking a sip of somebody’s soda, Ambrose gave Styles another Dirty Deeds, tossed Ellsworth on him again, and did a quick 3 count. Ellsworth pinned AJ Styles.

Randy Orton caught up to Kane backstage and opened up to the big red monster. He was tired of living in Bray Wyatt’s world. Orton’s world was filled with pain and misery and voices telling him to stop, but he doesn’t listen. He asked Kane to come along for the ride. Kane said yes, and added, “Randy, you got issues.” Ok, that was funny.

Backstage, Styles yelled at Bryan and threatened to smack him, but Shane McMahon intervened. Shane said Styles is the one who wanted the match and he should be angry at himself. Shane said it was official, Styles lost to Ellsworth. Styles was pissed, but calmly said he would take matters into his own hands. After Styles left, Bryan said he had an idea for Ellsworth next week.

James Ellsworth and Nikki Bella were announced for Talking Smack tonight.

Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper defeated Randy Orton & Kane

Before the match, Harper said this world put him to sleep, but now he’s awake and sees the light. Bray said the light is brighter than ever. He said some other things too as the crowd chanted “What?”

It took about 10 minutes to get through entrances, the Wyatt promo and a commercial break. Once the match started, they went to commercial again after about a minute.

Harper has the same attire before. They worked over Kane until he made the hot tag to Orton, who hit Bray with a powerslam and Thesz press. Orton tossed Harper over the announce table and Bray into the barricade and steel steps. Orton followed with the draping DDT.

The referee got in Kane’s face for attacking Harper, which distracted Orton. This was awkwardly done. Anyway, Orton dodged a senton and crawled to Kane on the apron. The lights went out, and when they came back on, Kane was gone from the corner and Harper was in his place. This allowed Bray to hit Sister Abigail for the win.

“Where’s Kane?” asked the announcers.

Final Thoughts —

This was an enjoyable show until the main event, which was bad and had a dumb ending. I liked the stuff with Styles/Ambrose/Ellsworth, although I wouldn’t have pinned Styles, no matter how ridiculous they made it seem. We’ll see where they go.