Hello and welcome to this week’s Smackdown Live’s recap from Sacramento, California! Nothing like starting things off with Miz TV. After informing us he was told to stay on script, the Miz introduced Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon as the Pest of the World! Oh, Elias also came out as Shane’s special guest.
McIntyre promised to kick off Roman Reigns’ head at Stomping Ground, to which the Miz pointed out how while he could match Reigns, he wouldn’t go anywhere since Shane was just using him.
Shane said he liked the anger in the Miz’s eye and asked if he wanted a match right there and then. But first, the Miz had to beat Elias. Then McIntyre. Only then would Shane give him a shot at “the best in the world.”
Guess this rivalry isn’t dead yet.
Halfway through the show, the New Day took to the ring to promote their match, make booking jokes, and recount how Kofi Kingston had beaten Owens and Ziggler previously.
Dolph Ziggler interrupted them, saying he had put Kingston on a pedestal, but he betrayed him and all his fans by showing a clip of Xavier Woods’ interference that cost Ziggler the match, hence why their match at Stomping Grounds is a cage match. “Even you have to admit it should’ve been me.”
Kevin Owens, with Sami Zayne at his side, then interrupts Kingston’s counter.
Zayn pointed out how the fans don’t care about justice, otherwise they’d care about Ziggler being cheated. Another exchange set up the main event.
6-Man TagTeam Match: The New Day beat Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn by pinfall
Kingston was the early focus of Ziggler and the others, as when he went out of the ring after missing Zayn and hitting the ring post, Ziggler hit him with a forearm and Owens a senton bomb.
Xavier Woods then cleared the ring, but Ziggler, Owens, and Zayn had great cohesion and regularly cut the ring in half.
Once Big E got into the ring, Ziggler absorbed several belly to belly suplexes and splash, but Ziggler caught him with a knee in the rope, forcing him to tag in Kingston.
After tagging in Zayn, Ziggler missed Kingston with a superkick, hitting Zayn instead, then hit Woods with another.
Kingston then hit Ziggler with a Trouble in Paradise, and then Zayn with another for the pin.
The rest of the story… The Miz beat Elias by pinfall
Elias controlled most of the short match, and after surviving several impressive moves and pin attempts by Elias, the Miz hit Elias with a Skull Crushing Finale for the pin.
Drew McIntyre beat The Miz by pinfall
Immediately after his match with Elias, Drew McIntyre was on deck, and once more, the Miz absorbed a great deal of punishment before he was able to counter McIntyre’s offense with a DDT. However, before he could take full advantage, Shane distracted him long enough for McIntyre to recover and connect with a Glasgow Kiss and Claymore for the win.
Shane McMahon beat The Miz by submission
As magnanimous as always, Shane offered Miz his promised match and had the bell rung.
After a brief exchange with a groggy Miz, Shane locked in the triangle choke and the Miz tapped out.
Overall, this was one of the more entertaining segments of the show, as it continues Shane McMahon’s solidifying his powerbase and stable.
Mandy Rose Drops Her Magazine
Once again, poor Amber Moon was trying to read in the back when Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville approached her and dropped an armload of magazines on her reading device. Deville then knocked the device out of her hands as she headed off to prepare for her match with Carmella.
Smells like a new tag team rivalry may be coming up.
Heavy Machinery beat AJ Kirsh and Dave Dutra by pinfall
In what was another jobber match (Seriously, can we stop these already?) Bryant opened things by stating it was a Smackdown Tag and Yola County Tag (Cheap leather belts, no less. Cardboard too fake?) championship unification match.
Heavy Machinery interrupted Bryant, citing how Bryant and Rowen were “Elite cowards.”
To prove their worth, Bryant pointed them to the Yola County champions, which Heavy machinery accepted.
A beating and Compactor later, and Heavy Machinery had the pin.
The promo lasted longer than the match.
The Truth Comes Out
Backstage, R-Truth recounts his weekend of losing the 24/7 title on the tarmac, winning it back at 49,000 feet, and being locked in an elevator and having the others try to pin him after bonding.
“This 7/11 (awesome analogy, btw) championship is ruining my life… but I can’t let it go.”
A door opening and closing causes a brief panic, so Carmella has him hide in a transport locker. Of course, he tells her no to lock it, and when the coast is clear, it’s locked. A stagehand told her her match was next, and she promised Truth she’d be back right after her match.
Hearing Truth calling for help and saying he can’t breathe, Jinder Mahal pretends to be Carmella (his voice wasn’t too bad) and says he’ll get a crowbar and help.
Later in the night, Mahal returned with a crowbar and an official, but the locker he hid in was gone. When he asked where it went, the official told him it was on the truck heading to LA for Raw.
Carmella then arrived, calling and looking for Truth as his locker was carried away by a forklift.
Sonya Deville beat Carmella by pinfall
In what was arguably the best single match of the night, Carmella started out strong and a suicide dive caught both Deville and Rose, but hitting Rose with a superkick was enough to distract Carmella as Deville hit her with a step-up knee strike and a cover for the pin.
Bliss Spells BS
Earlier, Alexa Bliss continued to tell Nikki Cross how horrible Bayley is by citing the horrible things Bayley tweeted about her after Cross accidentally costing Bayley a win in her hometown.
Bliss continued to gain her trust by saying she got her a match against Bayley.
Aleister Black
“For the men and women of Smackdown Live, there was so much conflict, yet so little resolution. Another week goes by, and I offer both, and it’s so simple. The conflict is you pick a fight with me, and the resolution is I fight you. Yet there is no one at my door still. And we don’t have to fight over trivial things as the love of another woman, or the love of another man, nor ideologies, turf, no it can be so, so simple.”
He paused to ask someone to please open the door and light poured in. He thanked the person, then turned to face the open door.
“THE DOOR IS WIDE OPEN. WILL SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, PLEASE, PLEASE I BEG OF YOU, PLEASE, PICK A FIGHT WITH ME!”
Who will be the one? It’s only a matter of time before he goes hunting.
Bayley beat Nikki Cross by pinfall
A decent match that ended Bayley pointing at Bliss before hitting Cross with a flying elbow for the pin.
In what was meant to build heat before Bayley and Bliss’ match at Stomping Grounds, this fell short on the action, but added a layer to Bliss’ attempt to soften up Bayley ahead of time. It’s a process, right?
Apollo Crews is Warned
After showing the replay of his brief match with Andrade last week, Crews started to talk about Andrade’s loss to Balor for the Intercontinental Championship but was interrupted by Vega, who warned him not to provoke Andrade or he would suffer the consequences.
Oddly, Chad Gable was taking notes over Crews’ shoulder before his debut on 205 Live.
Final Thoughts
While the matches weren’t as good as those on Raw the night before, the trimmed down, better flowing Smackdown remained more entertaining. The only bump was the mid show promo exchange between the New Day and Ziggler, Zayn, and Owens (Let’s dub them the Unbalanced Three. Tainted Trio? Suggestions welcome. ?), but it was expected at some point, especially with Big E’s return. Come back to THEOVERTIMER for all of your WWE news, recaps and special features!