WWE: Smackdown
April 21, 2016
London, England
O2 Arena

The current WWE champions are as follows:
WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Roman Reigns (4/3/2016)
WWE Intercontinental Champion: The Miz (4/4/2016)
WWE United States Champion: Kalisto (1/24/2016)
WWE Tag Team Champions: The New Day (8/23/2015)
WWE Women’s Champion: Charlotte (4/3/2016)

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

MIZTV: His guest tonight is AJ Styles. Miz and Maryse want to know if AJ Styles sent his pals Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows to attack Roman Reigns last Monday night on Raw. No matter how Miz tries to spin the story, AJ sticks to his guns and says he doesn’t need anybody else to help him beat Roman Reigns. Miz finds himself doing his Jack Nicholson from “A Few Good Men”, but Maryse tells him to “go Will Smith”. “TELL THE TRUTH! TELL THE TRUTH!” Well, that turns on Maryse and they start smooching. Miz turns around and eats a spinning back fist as AJ walks out. They will have another match later tonight.

• Kalisto vs. Ryback
  

Non-title match here. Haven’t been paying attention if this is new or not, but Ryback is wearing a weightlifting belt similar to Hogan circa 1997 onward. Ryback pearl harbors Kalisto and starts throwing him around because he can. He slides Kalisto into the ringpost to take us into commercial. When we return, Ryback delivers an HOURGLASS SUPERPLEX to Kalisto for 1-2-NO! Over in the corner, Kalisto avoids a charge and mounts his comeback with a flying legdrop. He springs off the ropes with the corkscrew attack. More comeback stuff from Kalisto. Ryback shoves off the SALINA DEL SOL and Meat Hooks him. The SHELLSHOCK gets countered to a DDT for 1-2-NO! He tries for the SDS one more time, but Ryback blocks the move and hoists up Kalisto for the SHELLSHOCK for the win. (6:12 shown) Fun little game of chess here. Crowd seemed pretty dead though. Ryback holds up the US belt standing over Kalisto and drops it on his chest making his intentions known. **

• Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin
  

No match. Corbin attacks Ziggler during his entrance and throws him into the steps before giving him the END OF DAYS on the floor.

Some interview guy who I am still not sure who he is asks Corbin why he’s doing this to Ziggler. Because he can. Duh.

• AJ Styles vs. The Miz (w/Maryse)
  

Another non-title match. Miz tries to slow it down with headlocks and shoulderblocks, but that’s when AJ strikes with the kip-up rana. Slam and a jumping knee drop gets two. AJ stretches out Miz with the Muta Lock. Once he breaks out, Miz bails and baits AJ out to the floor and back in the ring so he can nail him. AJ pops up with the dropkick though, but Miz buries a knee to the gut and grabs a chinlock. Styles breaks free and spinning heel kicks Miz to the floor. Maryse gets pulled in between them and Miz punches AJ in the face. Miz takes AJ around for some ringside violence. Commercials! When we return, Miz hits his version of the corner clothesline and the flying double sledge for two. AJ escapes another chinlock, but Miz catches him with the Christian backbreaker and reverse neckbreaker combo for two. They struggle in the corner over a superplex, but finally AJ ducks out and yanks Miz down. Both men run the ropes and collide into each other. Big comeback by AJ as he lands the pumphandle gutbuster for two. Miz sees the Styles Clash coming and pushes AJ back into the corner. He kicks at the leg obviously going for the Figure-Four, but AJ sees *that* coming and inside cradles Miz for two. DDT by Miz gets another nearfall. Skull Crushing Finale gets countered to the Ushikoroshi for 1-2-NO! Styles flies down into an inverted atomic drop setting up the FIGURE-FOUR! WOO! AJ reverses out of the hold and catches Miz charging into the CALF CRUSHER. Miz barely makes the ropes. Why Maryse didn’t help push the bottom rope is beyond me. MIZ EVEN TELLS HER TO DO IT AND SHE WALKS AWAY. Another try at the Skull Crushing Finale is countered to a victory roll. Styles lands the Pele Kick. Miz bails out when AJ goes for the Phenomenal Forearm, but he’s stopped in his tracks by Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. AJ pescado forearm smashes Miz and brings him back inside for the PHENOMENAL FOREARM to get the win. (14:14 shown) Kudos to AJ making me want to watch the Miz. His offense never seems to change and it’s pretty weak, but he’s at least having decent matches lately. AJ stares at Anderson and Gallows as they give him the thumbs up. ***¼

In the back, the interviewer I am unaware of welcomes Sami Zayn and Dean Ambrose. They really need to beat Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho tonight. Zayn and Ambrose argue over a cool tag team name. Ambrose wanted Rough Riders, but Zayn felt that sounded too sexual. Ambrose tries not to laugh and walks off camera.

When we come back, the ambiguous interviewer tracks down Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to find out some truths. They are just looking to make an impact here in WWE. They will make their in-ring debut next Monday night on Raw against the Usos.

• Paige & Natalya vs. Naomi & Tamina
  

Natalya plays face in peril here even though she’s the number one contender to the WWE women’s title. I understand we’re in England, but there are bigger plans at stake here. Besides Paige looking good in her homeland, wouldn’t she draw more sympathy if she’s the one getting beaten up in the first place? Hot tag to Paige and we finish with a DOUBLE SUBMISSION (Sharpshooter and PTO) for the win at 5:17.

• (Special Referee: Goldust) R-Truth vs. Fandango
  

As if there’s any surprise to this news, Goldust wears gold and black striped ref shirt. During a silly dance contest, Truth jumps Fandango and hits the LIE DETECTOR for the win at 1:54. Afterwards, Truth and Goldust dance a little jig.

Enzo Amore and Big Cass come out to the ring. They will meet the Vaudevillians in the #1 contenders to the WWE tag titles match at Payback.

My name is Enzo Amore, and I am a certified G, and a bonafide stud. And you can’t teach that. And this right here, this is Big Cass, and he’s 7 foot tall, and you can’t teach that. BADA BOOM, REALEST GUYS IN THE ROOM! HOW YOU DOING?

Well, the Vaudevillians interrupt join us. They point out how classless and infantile Amore and Cass are while Amore and Cass confirm their opinions by being classless and infantile in response. Nevertheless, these two teams are very different people for sure, which causes people to take sides in this match. While the Vaudevillians haven’t really done anything heelish to Amore and Cass, Amore and Cass aren’t exactly your typical likeable babyfaces either.

• Dean Ambrose & Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho
  

Zayn and Ambrose control Jericho to start. When Ambrose looks for Dirty Deeds, Jericho ducks out and regroups with Owens as we go to commercial. When we return, Ambrose fights back and hot tags Zayn. He hits a flying body press on Jericho for two. When he tries the rope walk tornado DDT, he decides to leap down onto Owens instead. Back inside, Owens blind tags Jericho and pulls out Zayn for a toss into the barricade. In the ring, Zayn becomes face in peril. Lionsault on Zayn gets 1-2-NO! Zayn comes right back with a Blue Thunder Bomb and reaches Ambrose for a tag. He clotheslines Owens in the corner and dumps him out for a tope suicida. Jericho distracts Ambrose for a moment allowing Owens to catch Ambrose for a superkick for two. Ambrose tries the McGuinness Clothesline, but Owens ducks only to take DIRTY DEEDS instead. Cover, 1-2-NO! Jericho makes the save. Zayn kicks Jericho out, but Jericho still manages to get up and knock Ambrose off the top to crotch himself on the top rope. As he falls to the mat, Owens sneaks over and jumps on the pin for the three-count. (9:24 shown) A finish that didn’t involve a finishing move. How un-WWE of you, WWE. Still, pretty weak though. But kudos for at least thinking outside the box a little. Are they sacrificing Ambrose for AJ Styles? What really is the point of making him look like weak sauce ever since WrestleMania? Btw, Jericho and Owens are really good together. **½

Until next time, so long for now.