Last week’s edition of SmackDown Live centred around AJ Styles’ assault of Shane McMahon, leading to confusion as to whether AJ was fired by Daniel Bryan or will be Shane McMahon’s WrestleMania opponent.
SmackDown Live continued its march to WrestleMania, with just one show left until the showcase of the immortals.
The show started off with a recap of AJ Styles’ assault on Shane McMahon last week. Things began backstage with Daniel Bryan talking to one of the ring technicians. AJ Styles came in and braggingly asked where Shane McMahon was. Bryan said that if it were up to him, AJ would still be fired, but Shane is a different animal.
AJ Styles said that he would do what he did last week. He then came out to kick off SmackDown Live.
AJ Styles addresses the Shane McMahon situation
AJ Styles refused to apologise for what he did to Shane the prior week and began bragging about his assault and how good it felt. AJ then accepted Shane’s challenge. He addressed the WWE Universe and said that he wanted to be a part of WrestleMania.
AJ said that if the crowd thought last week was bad, he would make it far worse.
Backstage, Daniel Bryan was talking to Shane McMahon and warned him about AJ waiting for him in the parking lot. Shane said something that made Bryan smile, sounding pleased at a plan. Baron Corbin came in and asked about Ambrose's whereabouts, and whether he accepted Corbin's Intercontinental Title challenge for WrestleMania.
Bryan said that he didn't know where Ambrose was, and when Corbin presumed he had the night off, Bryan made a first-time ever match up of Corbin against Randy Orton.
American Alpha(c) vs The Usos – SmackDown Tag Team Championship
American Alpha started dominantly against Usos. The crowd seemed to be quite behind The Usos. Jordan & Gable cleared the ring fairly quick to kick things off.
After the commercial break, The Usos had control. The match took a quick paced turn with Gable unable to get the tag on Jason Jordan. Gable finally got the opportunity when he was laid upside down on the turnbuckles and avoided a running shot. Jordan was tagged in and began dominating as the hot tag, and it didn't take long for Gable to get tagged back in.
Although The Usos hit a superkick and a frog splash on Gable, who kicked out. American Alpha proceeded to hit the bulldog, but The Usos managed to avoid getting pinned. After a series of exchanges outside, Jason Jordan was caught on the apron and hit with the superkick, and subsequently pinned to three.
The Usos defeated American Alpha to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships
Backstage in the parking lot, AJ Styles was waiting for Shane McMahon.
Luke Harper was backstage and vowed to destroy Bray Wyatt
Maryse and Miz did a parody of Total Bellas, with Maryse playing both Brie and Nikki Bella, while Miz played John Cena.
Baron Corbin vs Randy Orton
A highlight of Corbin’s assault on Ambrose was shown after Corbin came out. Corbin established his strength from the get go, shoving down Orton. A series of sequences saw Randy attempt an RKO, which Corbin avoided.
Randy Orton got some offence in on Corbin, who went out of the ring. While Randy tried to bring him back in, Corbin slammed his head into the ring post. After the commercial break, Randy attempted a pin on Corbin, unsuccessfully. Corbin moved fluidly and slid under the ropes and entered back in the ring and hit Randy with the clothesline.
The crowd was well behind Randy. Corbin avoided a scoop slam, but when he slid under the ring again for another attempt at a clothesline, he was met with a scoop slam. Randy then hit Corbin ith a full nelson slam.
After the match, Dean Ambrose accepted Corbin's WrestleMania challenge and hit him with the dirty deeds
AJ Styles was still waiting for Shane McMahon backstage.
Bray Wyatt ambushes Randy Orton
Renee Young asked Randy Orton what his response to Bray Wyatt’s message last week was. He said he didn’t know how he would get rid of Bray Wyatt. The lights began flickering and Renee escaped. As Randy called out Bray, the lights went off and he was surrounded by people dressed as Erick Rowan in a white sheep mask.
He was beaten down and held down, and Bray came in and seemed to perform a ritual on Randy with a symbol. Bray told Randy that he changed him, and found his greatest weakness: Abigail. Bray Wyatt said that it would turn into his biggest strength, and vowed that he was stronger than he ever imagined. He thanked Randy and began singing "He's got the whole world in his hands”
John Cena vs Fandango
Tyler Breeze came out dressed as Nikki Bella. Fandango cut a promo on Cena, giving him “fashion police tickets” for multiple occasions. As he introduced “Breezy Bella”, Cena introduced Nikki Bella.
As the match started, Fandango began throwing tickets at Cena, and Cena began attacking Fandango. As he was getting ready to finish, Tyler Breeze came in but was met with a strike from Nikki Bella. Nikki carried Breeze on her shoulders while Cena carried Fandango. They hit the AA and Rack Attack 2.0 respectively, followed by a dual STF, making the tag team tap.
John Cena defeated Fandango
Becky Lynch vs Carmella
Natalya was on commentary. A recap was shown of the previous week where Becky defeated Natalya and Carmella attacked both Becky and Natalya. Becky began the offence, while Carmella was fleeing. It didn’t take long for Ellsworth to interfere.
Natalya interfered right off the bat and attacked Carmella, leading to a disqualification.
Carmella defeated Becky Lynch by Disqualification
This prompted Mickie James to come out, followed by Alexa Bliss. Becky hit a drop kick on Ellsworth, while Mickie James spin kicked Becky. Alexa Bliss attacked Mickie James to stand tall.
Another parody of Total Bellas was aired. Absolutely hilarious parody.
Shane McMahon calls out AJ Styles
AJ was ready to strike Shane, and as the car pulled up, Heath Slater and Rhyno came out, much to AJ’s frustration. Shane then came out to the ring right away. Renee told AJ where Shane was, waiting for him.
Shane once again called out AJ after the commercial break. AJ took a while to come out and seemed reluctant to come out. When he came out, he told Shane to calm down and apologised for his actions.
As AJ entered the ring, Shane McMahon began attacking him. The action went outside, where AJ suplexed Shane onto the barricade. AJ then started to open up the announce desk, and Shane suplexed AJ outside. He removed the monitors on the announce desk and placed AJ on the table, and went to the ring post to hit a flying elbow, which landed successfully.
Shane McMahon stood tall to end the show.
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