WWE: Smackdown
February 4, 2016
Memphis, TN
FedExForum

The current WWE champions are as follows:
WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Triple H (1/24/2016)
WWE Intercontinental Champion: Dean Ambrose (12/13/2015)
WWE United States Champion: Kalisto (1/24/2016)
WWE Tag Team Champions: The New Day (8/23/2015)
WWE Divas Champion: Charlotte (9/20/2015)

Your hosts are Mauro Ranallo, Jerry Lawler, and Byron Saxton.

• Roman Reigns vs. Rusev (w/Alberto Del Rio & King Barrett)
  

We start off Smackdown with a MATCH! As they collide, Rusev backs Reigns up against the ropes. Del Rio grabs Roman by the foot for some distraction, but it doesn’t faze him. Reigns fires back on Rusev and goes after ADR. Rusev tries to pearl harbor him unsuccessfully, but he manages to reverse a whip into the stairs. Back inside, Rusev hammers on Roman until he misses a corner charge. Reigns hits the sliding dropkick on the apron and mounts his big comeback with clotheslines. As Reigns heads to the corner for the start of the Superman Punch, Del Rio and Barrett grab his legs and start beating on him for the DQ. (3:02) Dean Ambrose runs down hoping to save the day. Rusev gets taken out, but he flies down onto ADR and Barrett and wipes out Reigns by mistake. OOPS. So flabbergasted by hitting his own friend, the League of Nations beat him into the ring so that Rusev can apply THE ACCOLADE. Reigns scares them off with a chair though. Rusev looked pretty weak here, but I can’t tell if that’s a thing that’s been happening lately or not. *

Renee Young catches her man Dean Ambrose backstage to find out if what he did was an accident. Ambrose says sometimes he gets a little “out of control at 3AM and the cops come”, but what happened earlier was an accident. When he comes after Roman, he’ll know it. She asks more dumb questions. Tonight in the tag team main event against the League of Nations, he and Roman will be hitting other people – not each other.

• Kalisto vs. Kevin Owens
  

Dolph Ziggler joins us for extra special commentary. Owen pearl harbors Kalisto to start because he loves to fight, but Kalisto fires back with the handstand roundhouse kick. Owens retreats to the floor and receives a somersault plancha. Back inside, Owens pushes away Salida del Sol and delivers a release German suplex to take us into commercials. When we return, Owens hangs Kalisto out to dry and delivers a running senton for two. A back suplex gets switched over to a gutbuster for another nearfall. Kalisto rolls away from a second running senton and catches Owens with the springboard corkscrew body attack. With Owens on his knees, Kalisto headscissors Owens on his face for two. Tilt-a-whirl into a DDT on Owens scores another two-count. Out on the floor, Owens launches Kalisto onto the barricade so he can set up the announce table for some action. He looks for a powerbomb and then decides to THROW KALISTO INTO DOLPH ZIGGLER. I love it. When Ziggler stands up to yell at Owens, he eats a superkick into the first row. Back in the ring, Owens watches Ziggler instead of paying attention to Kalisto and gets rolled up for the upset win. (5:14 shown) Owens delivers a shot to the back of Kalisto’s head. That’s all the damage he can do post-match as Ziggler chases him off. Pretty fun little match. I enjoyed Owens work here. **½

They take us back to Raw this past Monday night when the Miz called AJ Styles a “rookie redneck” (which seems like he got it backwards?) who can’t cut it here in the WWE without his guidance. Well, AJ Styles let him know what he thought of that opinion REAL quick. These two will meet later tonight.

In the back, JoJo meets with the Miz. He goes all Hollywood on her and mentions how he can’t believe “Santa’s Little Helper” was snubbed by the Academy awards. As for AJ Styles, he still believe this guy would refuse his help when he’s personally responsible for mentoring the great Daniel Bryan. Tonight, the Miz says he’s going to give AJ a little more of a *forceful critique* and will let him know that it takes much more than a Pele Kick to make it here in the WWE.

• Ryback vs. Erick Rowan (w/Braun Strowman)
  

Why is Ryback dressed up like Bill Goldberg tonight? Anybody know? Rowan wears down Ryback and applies the Atomic Noogie for a bit. Ryback comes back with a lol so random missile dropkick on Rowan. After the knee up in the corner, he hits the Spinebuster. Strowman gets up on the apron, so Ryback runs Rowan into him. With Rowan staggering, he turns back around into the Meat Hook clothesline for the three-count. (2:58) Afterwards, Strowman knocks Ryback out of the ring, but that’s as far as they come to any kind of payback. ¾*

Backstage, Renee Young speaks with Becky Lynch. Last Monday on Raw, Becky Lynch helped Sasha Banks against an attack from Naomi and Tamina Snuka. Before she can answer why she would help Sasha, the Boss comes by to argue about why she didn’t need her help. Blah blah blah. Women are arguing. Somehow, they come to the conclusion they should work together.

• AJ Styles vs. The Miz
  

Chris Jericho joins us for some extra special commentary. AJ goes on the defense immediately as Miz charges him at the bell. After some initial blows, AJ catches Miz with a dropkick. Snap suplex connects, but Miz retreats to a corner. He charges Styles again and gets caught with a ground and pound. He rolls out and AJ delivers an elbow smash pescado. Back on the apron, Styles gets yanked down and sent hard into the barricade. In the ring, Miz tries to wear down Styles with a chinlock. Styles escapes, but gets caught with a backbreaker and neckbreaker combo for two. Miz continues to dominate as he lands a kitchen sink followed by a running boot to the face for two. Jericho calls Styles a “lone wolf” in WWE right now. Miz scores another nearfall with a big clothesline. Styles fires back with his flurry of strikes on Miz. The spinning back fist hits him REAL good. Miz though ducks a springboard and they knock each other out. Commercials! When we come back, AJ is on top and delivers a fireman’s carry neckbreaker for two. Miz shoots right back on him with a DDT. Time for the Skull Crushing Finale, but Styles counters and connects with the Pele Kick. Cover, 1-2-NO! Styles Clash is well scouted, but AJ avoids a corner charge and hits a springboard forearm smash. KIP-UP! Styles Clash is again countered. Miz backdrops him over and hooks the legs, but AJ counters *that* and gets a nearfall. That’s the actual finish from the Jericho match. Miz runs at him again and gets caught in the CALF CRUSHER – another finisher that AJ Styles has that Miz didn’t see coming. That gets the tapout, ladies and gents. (7:46 shown) That was a good little match. I enjoyed the storytelling here as AJ just gave the Miz his best match in years. Chris Jericho gets in the ring after the bell and tells AJ that he wants a rematch for next week’s Smackdown. He knows AJ Styles is good, but he wants to see if AJ Styles is great. When they shake hands agreeing to the match, AJ pulls Jericho close and tells him that he’s better than great – he’s PHENOMENAL. Awwwwwwwesome stuff. ***¼

In the back, JoJo hangs with Roman Reigns. He says he and Dean aren’t on the same page, but they are in the same book. He doesn’t know if JoJo realizes this, but Dean Ambrose is crazy. They ride together, they fight together, and tonight against ADR and Rusev – they will win together. How adorable.

• The New Day vs. The Social Outcasts
  

After some bad comedy from these six (because “Bo-Rida is still in the studio laying down tracks for his future gold album”), we have a match. There’s nothing like an unfunny conversation happening in a coliseum setting. I’ll just hit the highlights here. Adam Rose catches Xavier Woods in a nice spinebuster as he comes flipping through the air. Next up, Curtis Axel and Kofi Kingston take forever to hit a move on each other with a longer than usual series of counters. Axel lands a big knee in Kofi’s face and covers him for two. Once everybody but them are on the floor, Curtis rolls up Kofi with his feet on the ropes. Xavier makes sure that New Day doesn’t lose that way. Kofi does the same to Axel and cheats with his feet on the ropes to get the pinfall. (3:59 shown) They went at a pretty fast pace, but it didn’t seem to mean a whole lot. *½

• Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) vs. Alicia Fox (w/Brie Bella)
  

They mention how Brie got a non-title win over Charlotte this past Monday night on Raw. Ugh, what an ugly inside cradle. Ricky Steamboat – she is not. Byron makes a terrible comment about how Charlotte can’t win without her daddy’s interference. Lawler points out how stupid that is and makes him feel like he needs a safe space because Byron has no idea how to verbally spar with the King. Charlotte takes control with a neckbreaker out of the corner and baseball slides Alicia to the floor. She trades words with Brie there for a moment. Back inside, Alicia surprises Charlotte with a slowly timed Jack Brisco rollup only for Charlotte to knock her down again. The Skull F*ck almost backfires on Charlotte as Alicia bridges back on her for two. Alicia mounts one last comeback before Charlotte clips her from behind for the FIGURE-EIGHT to get the tapout. (3:57) Nothing more than for Charlotte to get some heat back, I suppose. Alicia is a HOT chick and she has personality, but she’s no wrestler. ¾*

Earlier today, R-Truth is checking into a hotel or checking out when Goldust appears for assistance dressed as a bell hop. He wants to help carry Truth’s bag and when Truth denies him the pleasure, the bag comes open and there was some funny looking underwear in there. Where are these writers learning comedy? Big Bang Theory?

• Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Alberto Del Rio & Rusev (w/King Barrett)
  

Ambrose and Rusev start us off here. Dean works in some headlockage, but tags in Reigns who trades shots with Rusev. Big roundhouse kick to Reigns gets two. Now the League of Nations cut the ring in half with Roman on their side of town. Chinlocks and general bullying ensues with Del Rio getting a turn. Roman shoots up with a Samoan drop on Rusev and hot tags Ambrose. Running bulldog sets up a missile dropkick by Ambrose. Rusev crashes out on the floor for the tope suicida. Back inside, Dirty Deeds turns ugly as Rusev counters with a roundhouse kick, but Ambrose comes right back with the McGuinness rebound lariat. Another tag to Roman, he hits the sliding dropkick on the apron on Rusev. Down goes Del Rio. Time for the Superman Punch, but Barrett is there to distract. Nevertheless, the Superman Punch to Rusev gets 1-2-NO! Del Rio superkicks Roman in the face. Down on the floor, Del Rio is pounding away on Roman when Ambrose tries another tope suicida only for Barrett to pull Del Rio out of the way. Roman catches Ambrose in mid-air and puts him down on his feet. Just an accident, bro! Roman saves Ambrose from a sneak attack by Rusev with another Superman Punch. Meanwhile, Ambrose runs Del Rio and Barrett off. That allows Roman to put Rusev back in the ring and finish him with the SPEAR for the win. (7:46) Pretty standard tag team affair. Reigns and Ambrose seem pretty cool with each other despite all the accidents – so it’s all good, right? **½

Until next time, so long for now.