On Monday Night Raw, we found out the main event of Fastlane: Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar to determine the #1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Will Dean Ambrose pull double duty with two Pay-Per-Views in a row and defend his title? Who will challenge for the US Title and for the Divas Title?
Opening Promo
Sometimes people forget that Smackdown is taped on Tuesdays and edited before it airs on Thursdays. To start off the night, New Day enters and is swarmed with boos from the crowd. New Day is a heel team, so that makes sense. However, on Raw, the Royal Rumble, and every other live airing, the New Day is never booed that heavily. WWE should really stop trying to fool the fans into believing that what they want to have happen is reality.
Xavier and company start talking about The Rock’s appearance on Monday, as well as their disdain for his actions. Miz interrupts and says he also hates what The Rock did on Monday, by mistaking the Miz for a valet. The Usos enter and try to cut a good promo but they just don’t. After wanting to “shut up” the New Day, they have “other Usos” to help them out. They aren’t Usos, but Titus O’Neil and Dolph Ziggler, who come out to help.
New Day & The Miz vs. The Usos, Titus O’Neil, & Dolph Ziggler
I’m pretty much a fan of everybody in this match (although the Usos are incredibly bland), but I have no interest in this match. There is no reason that the Usos should still be feuding with the New Day, considering they lost their title match at the Royal Rumble. This would be a good opportunity for the Social Outcasts to gain some momentum and throw some variety into the Tag Team Title picture. Dolph Ziggler hits a superkick and Titus O’Neil hits the Clash of the Titus on the Miz for the victory. Winners: The Usos, Titus O’Neil, & Dolph Ziggler
Kalisto vs. Neville – United States Championship
Once Kalisto entered the ring, Lawler spewed an interesting comment, “Something about a luchador being the United States Champion just doesn’t sit well with me.” Good follow up by Mauro Ranallo for essentially questioning Lawler’s reasoning.
Kalisto and Neville have the ability to have a terrific match that’s reminiscent of the great Cruiserweight divisions of years past. Kalisto has been having really good matches for the US title, however, these matches just seem thrown together. I don’t know exactly why Neville deserved this title shot, but it seems like Kalisto is doing a silent US Open Challenge. Kalisto hits a modified version of the Salida Del Sol for the win. Winner, and still United States Champion: Kalisto
The Highlight Reel with Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose
It’s all fun and games since Roman and Dean are best friends until Chris Jericho asks them about what will happen when they face each other (and Brock Lesnar) at Fastlane. After some jokes, it turns into smack talk, causing some tension between the two friends. The Wyatt Family interrupts and, most importantly, Bray says that he and two of his brothers will defeat Chris, Roman, and Dean later tonight. It looks like we have our main event.
Curtis Axel (w/ The Social Outcasts) vs. AJ Styles
It’s pretty obvious who is going to win this match, but what matters more is that Curtis Axel is going to make AJ Styles look very good. And he did with multiple Pele kicks, and a Styles Clash for the victory. Winner: AJ Styles
Charlotte vs. Natalya
Charlotte and Natalya had an amazing match back when Charlotte was the NXT Women’s Champion, but unfortunately tonight wasn’t as good. Ric Flair distracts Natalya, leaving Charlotte with the opportunity to lock in the Figure Eight for the victory. Winner (via submission): Charlotte
Backstage Segment
Goldust joins R-Truth while he’s outside stretching and asks him again about his offer to become a tag team. R-Truth misunderstands Goldust yet again, and Goldust is still out of a tag team partner.
Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho, & Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, & Erick Rowan
This match is the epitome of a Smackdown main event. Earlier on, all six of these men were cutting promos on each other, and now they are in a tag team match. Teddy Long would be proud. Every time I see the Wyatts I notice how under-appreciated Luke Harper is, after doing most of the grunt work for every match he is in, including the Royal Rumble match. Braun Strowman interferes to cause the disqualification. Winners (via DQ): Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, & Chris Jericho
After the match, Ambrose, Jericho, and Reigns try to fight back to no avail. And to save the day, the Big Show! It turns out he really did turn face after all. We get a hint of a Big Show/Strowman feud, and after a bunch of finishers, the faces stand tall to end this episode of Smackdown.
