WWE Smackdown results: Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens & Sheamus

– Air Date: December 31, 2015

– Location: Verizon Center in Washington, DC

The Big News:

Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae are no more.

Show Recap:

A Raw recap opened the show, which included Vince McMahon’s line about Roman Reigns’ ancestors. It also made the return of John Cena seem secondary. They announced Reigns and Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens and Sheamus for tonight.

The New Day came out and they showed a replay of Sin Cara separating his shoulder at the hands of Big E on Raw. Xavier Woods said they don’t have a New Year’s resolution because they’re perfect. They’re still upset about not being voted Tag-Team of the Year and Kofi Kingston said the fans don’t appreciate them. They had a list of resolutions for the fans, like the fans should wear glasses and hearing aids, and they’re required to keep a New Day journal so they don’t forget anything. This wasn’t good.

Lucha Dragons interrupted. Sin Cara wore a sling. Kalisto called New Day a cute tag-team and Sin Cara challenged all three of them to a match. New Day laughed at him. Woods said Sin isn’t hurt, he’s injured. Kalisto said they had friends of their own and the Dudleys came out with a table that had “Happy New Year” spray painted on it.

Throughout the night they aired pre-taped segments with guys giving their New Year’s resolutions. Ryback wished everyone a happy new year and his resolution was to help those less fortunate.

6-Man Tag Match: Kalisto & The Dudley Boyz beat The New Day via pinfall

Dueling chants for New Day. Bubba and D-Von held Kingston’s legs apart so Kalisto could hit a diving headbutt to the groin. Kalisto went after Kingston on the outside but Big E yanked him down onto the ring apron, trying to injure the shoulder. As they worked over Kalisto, Woods played the trombone to loud “New Day sucks” chants.

Big E hit Kalisto with an impressive big splash, but Kalisto kicked out and hot tagged Bubba. Kalisto eventually tagged back in and hit a sitting senton off of Bubba’s shoulders followed by a tornado DDT. Dudleys gave Big E a 3D, and Kalisto used Salida Del Sol on Kingston for the win. After the match, Bubba put Woods through a table with a powerbomb. This was good and the crowd was into it. I like that Woods is the one New Day member always getting beat up.

Tyler Breeze (w/Summer Rae) beat Goldust via pinfall

Booker said Goldust debuted in 1988, the same year Breeze was born. Booker then reminisced about tagging with him. Goldust took most of the match and was begging the crowd to get into it, but they didn’t. Breeze won on a crap finish, sending Goldust face-first into the middle turnbuckle pad and getting the pinfall win with his feet on the rope.

Afterwards, Summer said they had a huge announcement for 2016. Breeze announced that he and Summer are (amicably) going their separate ways. They gave the crowd one last selfie together. Well, that’s one way to break up a duo.

The announcers talked about The Rock and WrestleMania and drooled over all the news coverage.

Backstage, Bo Dallas found Curtis Axel somehow. Dallas said Axel had a bad year and should make a New Year’s re-bo-lution. Ugh. Axel told him he was never eliminated from the Royal Rumble and wouldn’t be eliminated this year either. Dallas told him to start using deodorant. Dallas continued walking and autographed some woman’s hand, which she rubbed off as soon as he walked away.

He then ran into Dolph Ziggler, who told him to stop dressing like the New Year’s baby. Dallas had an amazing comeback, telling Ziggler: It always sounds like you’re telling a joke, but you never actually say anything funny. Ziggler said he should get ready for his match, because its against him. Ziggler psyched out Dallas with a fake superkick and told him to Bo-lieve.

Luke Harper & Braun Strowman (w/Erick Rowan) beat The Usos via submission

Bray Wyatt wasn’t there, so they came out to Harper’s music. Wyatts had the heat almost immediately, working over Jimmy Uso. Jey made a hot tag and ran wild on Harper and nailed him with a suicide dive. I assume Jimmy tagged himself in as Jey went out on the dive, but they didn’t really show it. Jimmy hit two superkicks on Strowman and superkicked Rowan off the apron. Jimmy tried a third superkick on Strowman, but Strowman caught him and choked him out for the win. Surprisingly quick loss for The Usos.

They announced John Cena would return to Smackdown next week.

Brie Bella & Alicia Fox beat Naomi & Tamina via pinfall

Light “We want Sasha” chants. She wasn’t there. After Tamina hit a superkick, Booker said the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but never mentioned Snuka by name. Brie made this match’s version of a hot tag and hit Yes Kicks and an X-Factor on Naomi for the win. If they don’t forget about this match by Monday, they can tell the story that Team B.A.D. lost here without Sasha Banks.

Backstage, they wanted Miz to make a New Year’s resolution but he laughed at them, called his manager and walked away.

They’re plugging The Hateful Eight movie by essentially counting down the top eight heels in the company. They started with the first four tonight: 8. The Miz, 7. Paige, 6. Rusev & Lana, 5. Kevin Owens. Final four will be shown on Raw.

Dolph Ziggler beat Bo Dallas via pinfall

Dallas did a victory lap around the ring after getting the heat less than a minute into the match and Jerry Lawler said he really does look like the New Year’s baby. Rich Brennan reminded us that he’s the longest reigning NXT Champion, something they might want to ignore. In short: Bo Dallas dominated for five minutes and Ziggler won with a superkick. Ziggler looked like such a loser getting beat up by Bo Dallas.

New Day does have a resolution after all: to get the patriarch Kofi Kingston the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. That seems unlikely.

They aired the same Raw recap that opened the show and plugged Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus with McMahon as referee for Monday.

WWE Champion Roman Reigns & I.C. Champion Dean Ambrose beat Kevin Owens & Sheamus via DQ

They showed a replay of Owens powerbombing Ambrose through the announce table on Raw as Ambrose walked to the ring looking like he always does. Reigns hit some moves on Sheamus and tagged in Ambrose who nailed a suicide dive. Owens tagged in and Ambrose sent him to the outside to set up for a powerbomb through the announce table, but Owens drove him into the side of the ring.

Heels beat up Ambrose for a while until he hit Owens with a rebound clothesline and tagged in Reigns. Reigns hit Sheamus with clotheslines in the corner, a Samoan drop and superman punch. He readied for the spear, but Owens tripped him from behind and pulled him groin-first into the ring post for a lame DQ.

They attacked Reigns and sent him over the announce table. Ambrose dove on Sheamus but Owens cut him off with a superkick. Owens set up Ambrose for a powerbomb through the announce table but Reigns hit him with a superman punch. Ambrose tossed Sheamus into the ring post and Reigns finished him off with a spear. Reigns and Ambrose stood tall on the announce table holding their titles to end the show.

Final Thoughts:

The opening match was fun but the show dragged like crazy after that. A good main event on paper ending with an abrupt DQ is the perfect way to end the final Smackdown of 2015.