WWE Smackdown Results: April 21, 2016

The WWE Smackdown show of 21st April, taped in London, England, kicks off with Intercontinental Champion The Miz and wife Maryse doing a MizTV segment in the ring. He introduces guest AJ Styles with a video package of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson attacking Roman Reigns. Despite the best efforts of the Miz to get him to admit otherwise, Styles maintains that he had nothing to do with the attack, which leads to a match between the two later in the show.

This is an interesting bit of booking for the main event of Payback between Styles and Reigns. While Gallows and Anderson are obviously attacking Reigns in heel fashion to help Styles, the “Phenomenal One” remains a babyface, which allows Reigns to continue his “not a good guy or a bad guy” tweener schtick.

Here’s a look at what

Ryback def. Kalisto (non-title match)

Ryback takes care of business with a Shell Shocked to the United States champion.

There’s no real positive to how the United States title has been booked of late. It was basically a forgotten title for a couple weeks while Kalisto was working with Sin Cara as preparation for the tag team tournament after Ryback and Kalisto battled on the pre-show at WrestleMania 32. Now, Ryback is randomly back in the picture for the belt that has lost the steam it gained during John Cena’s run as champion.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin (no contest)

The match really never gets going as Corbin attacks Ziggler and hits him with the End of Days outside the ring. When asked why he did it, Corbin explained only “because I can.”

Corbin has been a pleasant surprise in that he’s seemed very ready for the main roster and has an aura about him that suggests he is a person to be feared. Unfortunately, his first push looks to come at the expense of Dolph Ziggler, who has lost far too many similar matches recently.

AJ Styles def. The Miz

Styles picks up the victory after Gallows and Anderson stop Miz from leaving. Styles stares his former Bullet Club mates down after the match, similar to the way he did after they attacked Reigns on Raw.

This adds more intrigue to the angle heading into Styles’ match with Gallows and Anderson because it makes it clear that the duo isn’t just attacking faces. That further allows freedom in Reigns’ role going forward.

Up next is a backstage segment with Gallows and Anderson, where it is revealed that they will make their in-ring debut against the Usos on RAW. They make it clear they’re just here to make “an impact,” not just to help out Styles.

This is quite an exciting match for WWE fans and fans of the Bullet Club, as it should give us all a hint as to where Gallows and Anderson – known worldwide as a top tag team – will stand in WWE’s tag pecking order. Their involvement in the tag No. 1 contender’s picture probably still can’t be ruled out.

Paige/Natalya def. Naomi/Tamina Snuka

The finish comes with double Sharpshooters, and Paige was said to get a big reaction in her home country.

This is more of the lazy mix-and-match type booking that has long been a staple for WWE’s writers but has mainly affected the women’s division of late. Paige has verbally attacked Natalya within the last few months, but that has apparently all been forgotten because she’s on “Team Total Divas” now, also known as “Team Face.” It was good, however, to see Natalya get some more momentum for her title match against Charlotte.

R-Truth def. Fandango (w/ Goldust as special guest referee)

Apparently, Goldust went all out for this and even had a black and gold referee’s shirt. There was dancing after the match, so it’s unclear how much of this is for the show and how much was just for the live crowd, however.

Either way, this Golden Truth with a side of Fandango storyline needs to get somewhere or go away. It has been drug on far too long, even with the entertaining talent that’s involved, especially since this isn’t likely a team that will be serious contenders.

Next is a promo for Enzo and Big Cass, who are interrupted by the Vaudevillains, who claim they are the real men who will teach their fellow NXT call-ups about manhood and proper speech, it would seem.

It’s good to see the Vaudevillains develop some character here. What has pushed most of the teams out of the picture in New Day’s wake has been the huge gap between the champions and the rest of the teams in the personality department. There’s no reason for the New Day to ever lose the betls to a team that can’t carry a segment, or even a show, the way they can, so these young teams need to establish themselves in that regard. Enzo and Cass obviously already have.

Chris Jericho/Kevin Owens def. Sami Zayn/Dean Ambrose

Jericho goes dirty, knocking Ambrose off the top rope when the “Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla” wasn’t even in the match at the time. This was an expectedly good match since it involved four of the company’s top workers.

WWE has done some things right here, protecting the in-ring action between Jericho and Ambrose, as well as Owens and Zayn, to a minimum during the build to Payback. These could be very well-received matches for the pay-per-view, but not if we’ve seen them 10 times each already.

NOTES

There was some “dark” action involving Shane McMahon declining to investigate Gallows and Anderson’s involvement in the Miz’s match, and Shane even tossed Miz out of the ring. There were also dark matches between Corbin and Ziggler as well as Styles and Alberto Del Rio.