– Air Date: April 14, 2016 (Apr 13 in Canada)
– Location: Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, CA
– The Big News:
None, really. However, despite a light crew, Smackdown carried on with new acts and first time matches.
– Show Recap:
They announced a couple of first time matches in Alberto Del Rio vs. AJ Styles, and Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho. They said Del Rio requested the match against Styles.
Maryse introduced The Miz in French for MizTV. She called him sexy. Miz did that thing where he introduces everyone to MizTV but almost nobody sings along. Pretty sure zero people did it with him this time.
Miz said everyone wanted to know from Maryse what it was like being married to him. The crowd thought this question was insulting, but Maryse didn’t, and talked about how great it was. Maryse said Miz would be named sexiest man alive and then they made out. Crowd booed.
Zack Ryder interrupted and said they were sick. As in, they were making everyone sick. Maryse claimed he was mad because Miz stole his WrestleMania moment. Ryder asked her what it was like being married to someone who wore more makeup than her. He said they could never take away his Mania moment and would get the title back.
Ryder was looking forward to seeing Cesaro beat Miz, but challenged him to a title match right now. Maryse asked the crowd if they wanted to see that and they chanted Yes. Miz accepted, but was faking, because they knew that Ryder was already scheduled for a match (which Ryder somehow didn’t know).
Baron Corbin beat Zack Ryder via pinfall
Corbin had control for a couple of minutes when Ryder made his comeback with a diving dropkick and forearms. Corbin cut him off with the End of Days for the win after about 3 and a half minutes. You could tell this was the first time Jerry Lawler had ever seen that move. He was impressed.
Corbin was about to attack Ryder afterwards, but Dolph Ziggler ran out to make the save. He went for a superkick but Corbin escaped the ring and they yelled at each other.
Backstage, Renee Young asked Kevin Owens if he had any insight on what to expect from Sami Zayn tonight, since they know each other so well. He mocked her and told her that Zayn was lucky he was escorted out of the building on Monday, but won’t be so lucky tonight.
Renee asked if he was planning on interfering tonight, and Owens suggested she find Zayn and ask him for some insight on what will happen tonight. (Renee never did interview Zayn, unless they add something later.)
Emma beat Paige via pinfall
Emma did an inset promo saying she used to be the quirky girl next door until she was rejected. Now everyone loves Becky Lynch who got the most historic women’s match in WrestleMania history. Emma said she would take out Paige, the “leather princess,” and show Lynch that nice girls finish last.
Emma won in 3 minutes via pinfall on a rollup after pulling Paige off the top rope, causing Paige to land face-first into the turnbuckle. With a skeleton crew, I thought these two would have a chance to replicate their effort on Main Event last week, but… that’s not what happened. Emma should be winning matches given her current direction, but they’re killing Paige.
They recapped the Dudley Boyz beating the Lucha Dragons, The Usos beating the Social Outcasts, and the debut of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. They followed this Raw recap by letting us know we’d be getting a Raw recap after a commercial. After the break, they aired a Raw recap of the Roman Reigns/Bray Wyatt stuff. They made sure to include Roman’s new catch phrase yet again.
Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady beat The Ascension via pinfall
Enzo said hard places breed hard people. If their opponents grew up where they did, they would’ve been sent to live with their aunt and uncle in Bel Air. Enzo said he had a million bad things to say about the Ascension, but the worst thing he could say about them was that they’re the Ascension. Cass called themselves the next tag-team champions and called the other teams soft.
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey
The announcers mentioned Booty O’s cereal was the official sponsor of the tag tournament. Lawler wondered where their Booty O’s cereal was if they really were a sponsor. Enzo & Cass won in about 5 minutes after a Rocket Launcher (sort of). They weren’t super over, but the crowd liked Enzo and Cass. They face the Dudleys next.
Backstage, Styles told JoJo that he has never faced anyone quite like Roman Reigns, but Reigns has never faced anyone like him. Styles wouldn’t let the opportunity go to waste. Del Rio interrupted and said he would hear about Styles everywhere he went and and wanted to find out what the hype was about, but now that they’re standing face-to-face, Del Rio can see that Styles doesn’t belong here.
Styles said Del Rio was right, because he didn’t belong in this setting, talking backstage – he belongs in the ring. Del Rio told Styles he was out of his league.
AJ Styles beat Alberto Del Rio via pinfall
Mauro Ranallo did a great job making this seem like a big deal, calling this first time match a “mouth watering affair” and mentioned that San Diego was the same city where Muhammad Ali suffered his second loss in a huge upset to Ken Norton. Ranallo said Ali got his robe that night from Elvis Presley. Lawler groaned and mocked Ranallo for knowing so much useless info.
Del Rio went for a superkick but Styles countered into Pele kick. Del Rio followed with a super inverted suplex for a near fall. Styles took a rough landing on his head/neck. Yikes. Hopefully he’s fine.
Del Rio went for the double foot stomp, but Styles slipped out of the tree of woe and went for the springboard forearm. Del Rio ducked that and went for the armbar, but Styles reversed that into an Oklahoma roll for the pinfall win. Good back-and-forth match that went about 13 minutes.
Backstage, Goldust told R-Truth that he spoke with “management” [who?] and they won’t be teaming tonight. Truth tried to talk him out of it, but Fandango showed up and introduced him to the team of “Goldango.” Goldust and Fandango swiveled their hips for a while.
The Vaudevillains beat Goldust & Fandango via pinfall
The Vaudevillains won in under 2 minutes with the whirling dervish. They move on to face The Usos next.
They showed Chris Jericho getting ready for an interview backstage as the Smackdown music played and Ranallo plugged the segment. Jericho, who you couldn’t hear, was mouthing off at random people who were off-camera.
JoJo pointed out the issues Jericho has had with Styles, Ambrose and Zayn and wanted to know what the common thread was with them. Jericho called them amateurs who don’t know the meaning of respect. Jericho called himself the greatest of all time.
He called it a fact, and he proved it when he beat The Rock and Steve Austin on the same night in this dump San Diego. He returned to San Diego to give everyone the gift of Jericho. He compared himself to Halley’s comet because a talent like him only comes around “once every 76 years” whereas guys like Zayn come around every week.
(I wouldn’t normally point this out, but they kept showing a woman wearing a revealing dress in the crowd. She also appeared to be alone. So, she’s either a plant or a hardcore fan. Those are the two options.)
Primo and Epico let us know Puerto Rico has nice beaches. They should probably stay there.
Sami Zayn beat Chris Jericho via DQ
The crowd sang Zayn’s music and chanted Ole when the match started. Zayn used a couple of arm drags to send Jericho out of the ring. Owens’ music hit and he sauntered out. Zayn and Jericho paused as Owens walked down, but Dean Ambrose’s music hit. Ambrose walked out with cheap “Ambrose Asylum” flyers, gave one to Owens and handed them out to the crowd.
Zayn used the distraction to school boy Jericho but he kicked out and rolled outside. Ambrose gave Jericho a flyer and Jericho tossed it back at him and called him a stupid idiot.
Owens and Ambrose were both on commentary after a break and they were amusing to say the least. Owens asked Ambrose if he couldn’t find a picture of himself getting punched by Owens for the flyer. Ambrose said there weren’t many of those and called the Asylum a classic segment.
Jericho yelled at him for hijacking the Highlight Reel and Ambrose, the lunatic, said, “I didn’t hijack your show, I’m just doing what Shane McMahon told me to do.”
Ambrose asked Owens why he hates Zayn because he thought they were friends. Owens said they used to be but Zayn was a jerk and he ripped up Ambrose’s flyer.
Zayn went for the Helluva kick after getting his knees up on a Lionsault, but Jericho ducked and applied the Walls. Zayn got to the rope, but Jericho dropkicked him out of the ring. Jericho then attacked Ambrose and tossed him aside. Owens laughed at this, but Zayn gave Jericho a back body drop onto Owens.
Back in the ring, Jericho slapped Zayn repeatedly in the face. Zayn caught him and hit an exploder suplex into the turnbuckle. He went for the Helluva kick but Owens jumped him for the DQ. As he attacked Zayn, Ambrose made the save.
After Jericho was knocked out of the ring, Owens went for a powerbomb on Ambrose, but Zayn took him out with a big boot. The heels yelled from ringside as Ambrose and Zayn shook hands to end the show.
– Final Thoughts:
This show was alright, carried by the two main event segments on a show with a bunch of short matches otherwise. The Zayn-Jericho match itself wasn’t anything special, but it was entertaining overall with the addition of Ambrose and Owens on commentary. And even though the rest of the show wasn’t particularly interesting, there’s nothing wrong with new guys winning quick matches.