WWE Smackdown TV results (August 20): SummerSlam go-home show, huge eight-man tag
By Steve Khan, WrestlingObserver.com
– Air Date: August 20, 2015 (Aug 19 in Canada)
– Location: Resch Center in Green Bay, WI
The Big News:
SmackDown had some good things and some bad things.
Show Recap:
Non-Title: IC Champion Ryback DCO Big Show
Big Show took control almost immediately after a clothesline and got some light “Please retire” chants. Ryback came back with shoulder blocks and a spinebuster, but got caught with an ugly spear for a near fall.
The match spilled to the outside where Ryback used a running clothesline on Show, sending both men through the barricade. Instead of this being a ref stoppage, they both got counted out. Not a good match.
This is where having a good commentary team is important, because this team of Jimmy Uso, Tom Phillips and Jerry Lawler basically treated crashing through the barricade like a normal thing that happens. This didn’t get over at all.
Backstage, New Day walked toward Gorilla and saw a random stagehand. Big E got him to do the clap, but the guy dropped his papers, so Xavier Woods held a toy basketball net over his head and Kofi dunked on him. Woods and Big E carried Kofi away and they all sang the New Day song. Amazing.
6-Man Tag Match: The New Day beat El Torito & Los Matadores via pinfall
They kept calling this a “six-being” tag match, which was annoying as hell. Torito hit a 619 on Big E outside the ring. Fortunately, he didn’t sell it. Eventually, Torito got the hot tag and almost got the pin on Woods with a rollup but Kingston made the save.
This led to one of the great moments in (recent) SmackDown history. Big E tagged in and gave Torito a backbreaker. Then, Big E absolutely crushed Torito with a giant splash, which was just incredible.
Woods jumped up and down asking for a tag, so Big E tagged him and Woods immediately applied the cover for the win. Kofi gave Woods a bouquet of flowers and they hoisted him up in celebration. Great segment.
Dolph Ziggler and Lana came out for a promo. Ziggler said Rusev crushed his throat and it hurt just to breathe. Ziggler wasn’t sure if he could come back, until he saw Summer Rae put Lana in the Accolade.
Ziggler knew he had to come back and Lana told him they need to crush those bastards. (So I guess Ziggler just willed himself back?) Lana said Ziggler makes her laugh and he fights for what he believes in. Lana said she’s also the best, because she slapped Rusev and shoved the fish in Summer’s face.
Ziggler said he loves that Lana has a sense of humour and called her a badass (they were holding hands). They went for a kiss but the Rusev flag dropped and Rusev came out with Summer. Rusev said Ziggler will find out what pain really is at SummerSlam when he puts Ziggler in the Accolade, forcing him to watch as Summer puts Lana in the Accolade as well.
Ziggler said he would shove Rusev’s teeth down his throat and steal his girlfriend—his real girlfriend (Lana). This was every bit as bad as the Ziggler and Lana “go public” segment on Raw a couple of months ago.
They showed John Cena’s promo on Seth Rollins from Raw.
Neville beat Bo Dallas via pinfall
This was every Neville singles match. Bo got the heat immediately, Neville came back with a high flying move and hit Red Arrow for the quick win. Meh.
After the match, Stardust and King Barrett did a promo saying they were sick of Red and Green. Barrett said he was going to turn Stephen Amell and Neville black and blue and Stardust said “because he’s going to punch you!” This was a perfectly fine wacky promo.
Team Bella came out for a promo. It was bad. Alicia Fox put over Nikki’s title reign, mentioning she was 26 days away from setting the record. Nikki said she had her toughest battle to date when she fought Sasha Banks.
She said Banks would be a great Diva’s champion one day, but not now. She called Banks’ win a fluke, and Fox said they were proud to be witnessing history. Team B.A.D. came out and Naomi said nobody was buying Nikki’s insincere speech.
Banks said she made Nikki tap-out, and Team Bella would finally crash and burn at SummerSlam. Brie said Sasha might call herself “The Boss,” but she should call herself another word that starts with the letter B. (Like… Banks?)
Banks said Brie was just riding off Daniel Bryan’s coattails, while reminding us that he’s injured. Brie told her instead of banking it, she should shove it. Oh boy. Becky Lynch came out with Charlotte (no Paige) and said they’re all in for a lass kicking. This was really bad. All of it.
Triple Threat: Brie Bella beat Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks via pinfall
After a break, Brie used Yes kicks, which got the biggest reaction of anything in this match. Banks took control after hitting double knees in the corner to both women. She mocked the Yes chants and collided with Brie on a double clothesline.
Lynch jumped in and made her comeback with kicks and exploder suplexes. Brie knocked Lynch into Banks, who fell out of the ring, and rolled up Lynch for the win. I think Brie was holding the tights but they didn’t mention it. Basic match and, obviously, Brie winning is really dumb.
They did a video package recapping the Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar and Undertaker segment from Raw.
8-Man Tag Match: Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns & Cesaro beat Luke Harper, Bray Wyatt, Sheamus and Kevin Owens via pinfall
9:24pm. Randy Orton made his entrance for the main event. Cesaro came out during commercial. Everyone else got a full entrance. 9:35 pm. The match is now starting. Orton went for an RKO but Sheamus escaped the ring. 9:36 pm. Commercial break. 9:40 pm. We’re back.
Cesaro picked up Owens for a delayed vertical. Owens tried to punch his way out but Cesaro hit it anyway. Ambrose tagged in and ran wild on Harper. Reigns tagged in and got his hands on Wyatt, but tagged out for some reason to Cesaro.
Cesaro tried to give Harper the big swing but Owens knocked him down. Harper caught him with a big boot and the heels took over from there.
After a break, they did a good little spot where all four heels tagged in and hit different senton variations. Lawler assured Tom Phillips that the “You look stupid” chants were not for him.
Cesaro cut off Sheamus with a dropkick and brought Reigns in with the hot tag (not that hot). Reigns clobbered Sheamus with clotheslines, followed by an apron dropkick and Samoan drop. He also gave Samoan drops to Harper and Owens.
Reigns went after Bray allowing Sheamus to roll him up with the tights, but Reigns kicked out. Sheamus hit a powerslam for two. Sheamus then knocked Orton off the apron so Reigns came back with a superman punch.
Ambrose made an actual hot tag and hit Harper with a bulldog and rebound clothesline. Ambrose knocked down Bray with a springboard plancha and Harper with a suicide dive. Ambrose followed with a diving elbow but Owens broke up the cover with a senton.
Cesaro uppercut Owens, Sheamus Brogue kicked Cesaro, Orton RKO’d Sheamus, Harper superkicked Orton, Reigns speared Bray, Harper superkicked Reigns, and Ambrose used Dirty Deeds on Harper for the win. Ambrose’s music played as the good guys posed.
Final Thoughts:
Definitely a mixed bag. The main event was really fun (once it actually started) and The New Day was great as always. On the other hand, the segment with Ziggler and Lana was painful, and the women’s talking segment was just bad.
Also, I didn’t mention crowd reactions during the report because this particular crowd didn’t care about anything outside of the main event.