WWE SmackDown live results: SummerSlam go-home show with Cena vs. Del Rio

Date: August 16, 2016
Location: Frank Erwin Center in Austin, TX

The Big Takeaway —

SmackDown ended with John Cena putting AJ Styles through a table with an AA.

Dolph Ziggler laid out Dean Ambrose deliberately with a superkick in the opening segment, and we never saw Ziggler again.

Eva Marie avoided her in-ring debut one more time, but will presumably do it at SummerSlam, because Eva, Natalya and Alexa Bliss will team up against Becky Lynch, Carmella and Naomi in a 6-woman tag team match.

Show Recap — 

They opened with Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon backstage getting Randy Orton to sign the contract for his match with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Orton warned them that the match might not go as long as they would like, because all he has to do is hit an RKO and it’s over.

Heath Slater interrupted with a fruit basket for Bryan and Shane. Bryan noticed the gift basket was stolen from someone else. Bryan was pretty clear they weren’t going to sign him, but Slater wasn’t convinced. Orton said he had an idea, but he never said what it was before they cut away.

MizTV featuring WWE Champion Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler

Miz started talking but Ambrose interrupted. Before Ambrose could really say anything, Ziggler interrupted him, and they got in each other’s faces. Miz stopped them and reminded them they were on MizTV.

Miz ran down Ziggler’s career and asked what he would do if he lost at SummerSlam. Ziggler said he wasn’t worried about after SummerSlam, he was focused on his match. Ambrose mocked the new Ziggler because he wasn’t buying it.

Ziggler asked if Ambrose wanted him to use the last few weeks as fuel to “kick your head right off your face.” Ambrose mocked him some more, saying Ziggler was tugging on his heart. Ambrose let him know that, even if Ziggler wins, that won’t silence the critics. The real work starts after you win the title, the critics will still be there, and the pressure gets turned up.

Ambrose claimed Ziggler didn’t like pressure, and the chip on his shoulder is going to weigh him down. Ambrose said he’s going to embarrass and beat up Ziggler, and Ziggler would prove that he never wanted it bad enough.

Ziggler said Ambrose doesn’t know him, and no matter what Ambrose does, he can’t put Ziggler away. Ziggler continued ranting about Ambrose not having enough when, mid-sentence, he superkicked Ambrose. Ziggler finished off by saying Ambrose would learn that he is that damn good.

They announced John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio, and Randy Orton vs. Heath Slater, with a contract for Slater on the line.

During commercial, Miz was still in the ring, cutting a promo on “Apollo Creed.” That brought out Apollo Crews, who gave Miz a spin-out powerbomb.

The Usos, American Alpha & The Hype Bros defeated The Vaudevillains, The Ascension & Breezango

Both teams got into a brawl about a minute into the match, probably because they knew it was time for a commercial break.

After the break, everybody took turns hitting moves, leading to an Uso hitting a big dive to the heels outside the ring. American Alpha picked up the win for their team after hitting Grand Amplitude on Aiden English. The good guys celebrated together afterwards. Extremely short match given the number of guys.

They announced Dean Ambrose vs. Erick Rowan, and Eva Marie’s in-ring debut.

Naomi vs. Eva Marie

Naomi has a new entrance, and it’s something. Her theme is remixed, they turn off the lights, and she comes out wearing a glow-in-the-dark outfit. She danced to the ring and gave out glow-in-the-dark gimmicks to fans.

The match never happened. They started Eva’s usual entrance as the voiceover man introduced her. However, the voiceover announced that Eva was stuck in traffic and would not be able to compete.

They replayed Alberto Del Rio’s return in October when he beat Cena to win the U.S. title. AJ Styles caught up to Del Rio backstage, basically marking out about Del Rio beating up John Cena and taking him out of action for 9 months. Del Rio said he doesn’t need Styles’ pep talk to do it again. Styles, trying to fire up Del Rio, reminded him that Styles is in a main event at SummerSlam, whereas Del Rio isn’t even on the card.

They aired a video for a returning Curt Hawkins with Hawkins “facts,” which were: Hawkins has counted to infinity twice, he can slam a revolving door, and he doesn’t flush the toilet – he scares the crap out of it.

Heath Slater defeated Randy Orton via DQ

The referee stopped the match after one minute because Orton was beating the crap out of Slater in the corner. Orton followed by tossing Slater around ringside, including sending him over the announce table into David Otunga.

Orton tossed Slater back in the ring and gave him a German suplex, then mimicked Lesnar’s pose. He gave Slater one more German, followed by an RKO. They didn’t announce a decision, but presumably this will be a DQ win for Slater, which would mean he gets signed.

Backstage, Slater was being checked out by the trainer and he was hurting all over. Slater asked the trainer if he won, when Bryan and Shane came in to congratulate him. Slater was completely out of it, claiming he beat the crap out of Lesnar and Orton, showing them “no mercy.” Bryan and Shane thought “no mercy” would be a good name for their October PPV in Sacramento.

Slater thought Bryan was Mick Foley and said he’s a much bigger legend than Bryan. They gave him a contract to sign, which the crowd cheered. However, before he could sign it, he called Shane beautiful, thinking he was Stephanie. Shane then took the contract away and the crowd booed.

They showed Randy Orton facing off with the Wyatts as he was leaving the ring earlier. The announcers speculated what this meant.

WWE Champion Dean Ambrose defeated Erick Rowan (w/Bray Wyatt) in a non-title match

Ambrose won in 5 minutes with Dirty Deeds. After the match, Bray had his back turned to Rowan as looked down at Rowan’s sheep mask. Bray tossed it aside and left Rowan alone in the ring. The crowd booed Bray for this.

Becky Lynch & Carmella defeated Alexa Bliss & Natalya

Lynch made a hot tag and ran wild on Natalya until they collided with dual crossbody attempts. With both women down, Eva Marie made her grand entrance. This brought out Naomi who chased Eva into the ring. Eva managed to escape after Natalya grabbed Naomi and tossed her out of the ring.

Natalya went for  a schoolboy on Lynch, but Lynch countered into a Disarmer for the win. The match, which was more of an angle, was only about 4 minutes and Lynch is the only member of the match who got an entrance.

Backstage, Baron Corbin held Kalisto’s face up against a garage door as a cameraman stood right in their faces. Corbin said he does what he wants, when he wants, and tossed Kalisto down. Some officials checked on Kalisto.

They aired a video package for Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar, the same one that aired last week.

They also announced a 6-woman tag match for SummerSlam, featuring Naomi, Carmella and Becky Lynch vs. Eva Marie, Alexa Bliss and Natalya.

John Cena defeated Alberto Del Rio

AJ Styles is on commentary. Styles flat out said he’d like to see Del Rio out soften up Cena for him. Loud dueling chants for Cena to start the match. Del Rio had to regroup after a hip toss and they went to commercial one minute into the match.

Ranallo reminded us that that Otunga was once tag champs with Cena. Otunga spoke about the respect he has for Cena, to which Styles responded, “Maybe you should show me some respect. How about that, rookie?” (May not be the exact quote.)

Del Rio had control going into a commercial break. After the break, Cena came back with a dropkick and five knuckle shuffle. Del Rio followed with a backcracker for two. Del Rio missed an enzuigiri and Cena nailed a clothesline. Del Rio then nailed the enzuigiri for a near fall.

Cena countered an armbar into the STF, but Del Rio quickly got to the ropes. Del Rio then hit the kneeling superkick for two. Del Rio counted an AA into an armbar, but Cena countered that into a powerbomb, followed by an AA for the win.

Styles jumped off commentary and hit Cena with the Phenomenal forearm. He grabbed the mic and said he was sick of hearing that the future goes through Cena. Styles said he would be the face that runs this place after he beats Cena at SummerSlam. He’s going to make Cena’s passion his prison, because his time is up, and Styles’ time is now.

Styles was about to leave, but went back to give Cena a Styles Clash. However, Cena counted into an AA and they played Cena’s music. His wasn’t done yet, though. Cena cleared the table and bounced Styles’ head off the steel steps.

Cena positioned the steps by the table, put Styles on his shoulders, climbed the steps, and tossed Styles through the announce table with an AA. He posed to end the show.

Final Thoughts —

I thought this show was alright, but the main stuff was good. Cena and Styles do wonders in making this feel like a more important show.

One negative is the lack of attention given to the Intercontinental title. The U.S. champion main evented Raw the last two weeks. This week on SmackDown, Miz’s primary role was as the host of a talk show featuring the real champion. The only hype they gave to Miz’s title defense at SummerSlam was for a few seconds during a commercial break.