Written by Matthew Widdis
After a recap of last week, GM Paige brings Asuka, Charlotte Flair, and “The Man” Becky Lynch (sans SmackDown Women’s Championship belt) down to the ring to “make history” in signing the first ever Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Triple Threat match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship in the history of ever. Becky takes the mic and says, if history is being made, then it must be Tuesday because The Man makes history every time she steps in the ring. Whether the title shot was earned, or if you’re Charlotte, she’ll do whatever it takes and the other two won’t.
Charlotte tells Becky that she earned her shot by picking up the ball that Becky dropped at Survivor Series by destroying Ronda Rousey. Asuka interrupts to say that Becky has already beaten Charlotte but has never beaten her. Becky made the wrong choice to replace her at Survivor Series because she would have beaten Ronda. Charlotte says that she broke Asuka’s streak and Asuka says that she got lucky. Becky signs and walks off. Charlotte taunts her. Asuka starts in on her in Japanese but they both sign. Immediately after, Asuka challenges Charlotte to fight… right now!
But it’s wrestling. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville come out. Mandy reminds Charlotte that she lost at Survivor Series. Sonya breaks it down for Asuka that she won by a fluke, that Sonya made one tiny error after dominating the Battle Royal last week. Y’all know what that means. Tag team match!
Backstage
Shane McMahon is on his phone next to the WWE World Cup when The Miz wants to know why he has the have Daniel Bryan on Miz TV. He and Shane should be out there as two-thirds and one-third (respectively) of the greatest tag team ever. Shane informs him that The New Daniel Bryan is a big deal, is going on a talk segment with Miz’s name on it, and that they are not partners.
Charlotte Flair & Asuka vs Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville
Sonya and Asuka start off looking to pull off low singles on each other before trading waistlocks and wristlocks. Asuka is shot off into the ropes and neither one budges on the shoulder block. Some wristlocks by Asuka turned into a scarfhold by Sonya. Single leg takedown attempt by Sonya turned into a wristlock by Asuka. An knee to Asuka’s back gives Sonya a chance to tag up and she and Mandy batter Asuka with knees and a mat slam. Mandy covers for two before taunting Asuka. Big mistake. Auska fires back with multiple strikes but Mandy catches a kick and hits a forearm to the jaw. Asuka gets whipped into the corner but rebounds into a dropkick that drops the golden girl.
Asuka taunts Sonya with a few butt slaps and tags in Charlotte. Snapmare and kick to the back on Mandy. Charlotte whips her the corner but Mandy elbows her on the follow up charge. Mandy slips out of a slam attempt and shoves Charlotte face first into the middle turnbuckle. Mandy continues the trash talk but Charlotte hits her with a fallaway slam that brings Sonya in from the corner to get one as well. Both Mandy and Sonya roll outside the ring and it’s Air Charlotte as she slingshots herself over the top rope and onto both of them.
This is impressive enough to bring Becky out from the back and The Man and The Queen jaw back-and-forth. Mandy is rolled back into the ring for a two count and Asuka is tagged back in. Asuka hits kicks to Mandy’s hamstrings, knees to her gut, and snapmares her over as Becky saunters over to the announce table. Asuka makes sure that becky is watching as she hits a kick to Mandy’s back and a Shining Wizard to her face. Mandy manages a tag in Asuka’s blind spot and tosses her over her shoulder. Mandy misses with the knee lift but Sonya nails the spear. Asuka kicks out at two but Sonya keeps her grounded with kicks and a bodyscissors. Asuka works her way out but is dropped by roundhouse. With the ref’s back turned, Mandy holds Asuka open for repeated kicks from Sonya. Mandy is tagged in and immediately goes low, choking Asuka against the bottom rope. Sonya gives Asuka a shin to the head as the ref is backing Mandy off of her. Mandy goes back to work with an abdominal stretch but Asuka won’t make it easy.
She fights out and goes to work with low kicks. But Mandy Rose turns her inside out with a reverse gutwrench! Jackknife pin attempt gets a two count. Second pin attempt for two and Mandy drags Asuka by the leg to her corner and tags in Sonya. They put the boots to The Empress before Sonya gets the Thai clinch on her for repeated knees. A snapmare and a sliding knee to the face on Asuka. Two count and Sonya is frustrated. Mandy is back in and Asuka fighting back with gut shots but Mandy hits the big knee that drops her hard. Sonya tagged in to use a shin choke on Asuka in the corner and another tag to Mandy. Clothesline by Mandy who tries to follow up with a wheel barrow but Asuka bulldogs her down.
Asuka tags in Charlotte who clotheslines Sonya and forearms Mandy off the ring apron. It’s “Woo!” time as Charlotte chops away at Sonya, backing her into the ropes. Sonya is shot off into the ropes and tries to turn it into a clothesline but Charlotte ducks and turns it into a belly-to-back suplex. The Queen kips up to her feet but runs right into a boot when she rushes Sonya in the corner. When Sonya makes a rush of her own, though, she gets nailed with a Charlotte spear! Mandy Rose comes to rescue but get a knee to the midsection and is tossed out of the ring. Mandy yanks Asuka off of the apron and hops up to hit Charlotte with an elbow but Asuka returns in kind and jumps back up onto the apron. A dazed Charlotte goes to hit the bog boot where Mandy Rose was just standing and drops Asuka. Sonya goes for an O’Connor Roll but Charlotte rolls her through just in time to eat a baseball slide kick from Asuka! Sonya covers for win.
Becky is satisfied with these developments and holds the belt high to stare down Asuka as Charlotte glowers.
Winners by pinfall: Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville
Former The Daily Show host and John Cena betrayer, Jon Stewart, is shown in the crowd and announced for this year’s Tribute to the Troops.
Xavier Woods vs Cesaro vs Jey Uso
The announce team go over Xavier Woods’ schedule (including the consumption of balut in The Phillipines) and The Bar’s recent losing streak as all three men looking for a triple lock up. Cesaro starts swinging, though, tagging both opponents until Jey spins him around into a punch from Xavier and they toss him through the ropes. Headlock on Xavier. He shoots Jey into the ropes and is dropped by the shoulder block coming back. They go into a drop down/leap frog clinic. Jey tries a belly-to-back on Xavier who lands on his feet. Rolling elbow ducked by Jey who schoolboys Xavier for two. They trade leg sweeps for two counts until Xavier kips up and Cesaro rushes in. Double back elbow staggers the Swiss Superman and he’s dumped outside again.
Apparently, Cesaro ruined the announce table pancake display during the break but has now rejoined the action with Jey and Xavier draped over the top turnbuckle. He clears Xavier with a dropkick and looks for a superplex but Jey hits the headbutt to back him down. Uso flies but it’s right into a European uppercut and he’s leveled for a two count. Cesaro is readying The Neutralizer but abandons it to rush Xavier on the apron. Xavier intercepts with a shoulder thrust and a see-saw kick. Cesaro turns around right into an Uso gut kick and throat thrusts. Xavier gets in on that action but gets an elevated Samoan Drop for his trouble. Jey notices both opponents seated in the corner. He hits the running hip attack on Xavier but Cesaro slips out to the floor. As he stumbles around the outside of the ring, Jeys stalks him and hits a plancha over the top. As Uso gets up, Xavier Woods hits a Tornado DDT off the apron.
Xavier and Cesaro back in the ring. Cesaro misses the clothesline and tries for a wheelbarrow that Xavier uses to turn them both inside out and Xavier rolls him over for a two count. Xavier goes for The Honor Roll but Cesaro plucks him out of the air and tosses him into the corner. Woods ducks the follow up splash but Jey Uso gets his Jordan in there to snap Cesaro’s head back. Uso goes for the big splash off the top but Cesaro gets his knees up and rolls him through for a two count. Xavier Woods comes off the top for a flying elbow on Cesaro! Count broken up by Jey Uso.
Woods and Uso trading right hands. Xavier goes for the ropes but Jey intercepts with a flying forearm. Jey makes the same mistake and it’s Xavier who follows him with a shot to the mouth. Xavier goes back to the well with the same result. Jey doesn’t get to keep pattern going as he runs right into Cesaro. Cesaro looking for a big spin but Xavier rushes in. Cesaro knocks Woods dizzy and hoist him onto his shoulders. Both men bought a ticket so they both get to go for a spin on The Cesaro Ride! Uso is cast aside and Cesaro locks in The Sharpshooter on Woods in the middle of the ring. Jey Usos breaks it up with a superkick that Xavier uses to roll Cesaro up for two. Cesaro kicks out and sends Xavier out to the floor. Jey hits another superkick on a clueless Cesaro for the 1-2-3.
Winner by pinfall: Jey Uso
Backstage
Rusev and Lana are interviewed about Shinsuke Nakamura’s sneak attack and he deduces that Nak is scared of him. After comparing his anatomy to geography and tacos, he says that Nakamura has forsaken the honor and tradition of the US Title. When he gets his hands on Nakamura, he’ll feast on the greatest day of them all… Rusev Day!
Fun Fact: Becky Lynch started training under Finn Balor’s tutelage at the age of fifteen.
The more I see of these Lars Sullivan vignettes, the more I am convinced of two things: First, that he will see booking that diminishes his appeal after eight months and, second, that he was likely very frightened when he awoke from being thawed out of the Pliocene block of ice they found him in.
In ring
It’s time for Miz TV!
But he’s interrupted from his usual spiel by R-Truth and Carmella calling for a… Dance Break! He dismisses them to the back and continues despite the audience response. He’s had Daniel Bryan on Miz TV numerous times but this is the first time that The New Daniel Bryan will join him. Daniel comes out in jeans and a cardigan with no play to the crowd. Miz praises his newfound pragmatism and suggests that this new attitude means that Miz was right all along. Daniel said that everyone thought that the old Daniel Bryan was smart but it turns out that he wasn’t smart enough to ignore the opinion of “these people.” He says that he has no intellectual peers so he consults books. As the crowd goes into “What!?” mode, Daniel chastises them for being fickle and (quite rightfully so) paints them as “sheep repeating something from 20 years ago without knowing why.” The New Daniel Bryan combines the intelligence of the old with the brutality of the new. Miz repeats that this sounds like the philosophy that he has pushed on Daniel for years but Daniel turns it back on the people. He kicked one man in the groin on one day while they pollute the earth every day but, somehow, he’s the villain? Their sins greatly outweigh his.
Miz brings him back to being painted as “the bad guy” and demands an answer: Was The Miz right all along? Is Daniel champ because he did what Miz always said? The crowd chants “Yes!” Daniel goes with “Yes” and “No” and “It doesn’t matter.” All that matters is that the old Daniel Bryan is dead and not the people, or Miz, or AJ Styles… AJ ‘s music hits and he runs down to the ring. Daniel Bryan shoves Miz into AJ’s path to beat a hasty retreat but AJ pulls him back in over the barricade. Daniel slides back into the ring and Miz gets involved and eventually hits a Skull Crushing Finale on AJ. Daniel Bryan backs up the ramp with a look of confused glee on his face. As a result, AJ vs Miz is made for tonight’s main event.
Jeff Hardy vs Randy Orton
Picture-in-picture Randy Orton says that Rey Mysterio should have stayed away but now he has Jeff to crush like a cockroach.
Randy backs Jeff into a corner and Hardy fights out. Randy with a hair grab and looking for the ear lobe but Jeff hits the sit down jawbreaker and clotheslines Orton out of the ring. Jeff calls for a “delete” and checks Randy up against the barricade on the outside. Orton’s head gets driven into the ring post. Randy smacks Jeff’s dome off of the announce table and looks to go for that classic Randy Orton belly-to-back but Jeff has him well-scouted. He bounces Randy’s head off the table twice and hits the belly-to-back himself! Jeff pulls Randy off the table, smacks his face off the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring!) a few times and sends him back in. Randy recollects himself and suplex lifts Jeff up to drop him gut first across the top rope. Garvin stomps to the belly first and then around the world before a cover and a two count. Chinlock to wear Jeff down but he fights to his feet and elbows out. Front kick caught by Randy but Jeff’s twisting mule kick drops him. Randy charges the corner but Hardy gets both feet up and hits a Whisper in the Wind to bounce Randy off the ropes. Jeff covers and Randy kicks out at two. Jeff beats Randy to the punch repeatedly. He hits the inverted atomic drop, double leg drop, and low dropkick in quick succession but only gets the two count.
Twist of Fate attempt but Orton shoves him off and hits Jeff with a back elbow when bounces back from the ropes. Jeff on the apron and, despite attempts to fight it off, gets caught with the draping DDT. Randy taunts the crowd and hits the ground to listen to the voices. RKO and Twist of Fate both countered twice and Jeff hits a leaping forearm smash. Jeff goes up top but Randy hits a right hand to the face that sits him down. Randy looking for the superplex but Jeff slips out and yanks Randy’s feet out from under him. Twist of fate connects! Jeff de-shirts and climbs to the top turnbuckle but Randy rolls out of the ring. Hardy hits a running dropkick on Orton and begins clearing off the announce table. He hits the belly-to-back a second time and Randy howls in pain as he pulls a microphone out from under his lower back. Jeff starts going to the top turnbuckle again for some daredevil work as the announcers question the move.
Samoa Joe appears on the big screen. He’s bartending and tells Jeff that he’s doing great and to keep it up. The distraction is more than enough for an RKO and that’s all she wrote.
Winner by pinfall: Randy Orton
Samoa Joe comes back on the screen for a very special public service announcement telling Jeff Hardy and the rest of us to drink responsibly. The crowd claps for Jeff and chants him to the back.
Charlotte Flair vs Asuka is announced for next week’s SmackDown Live.
The Miz vs AJ Styles
As the competitors get ready to square off, Daniel Bryan is seen walking around in the back and says that he’s going to be on commentary.
Styles immediately drives Miz into one corner and then another, hitting shoulder thrusts to the midsection and chops for good measure. By the third corner, the ref has to separate them and Miz uses the opportunity to kick AJ in the gut and cinch in a headlock. Miz is shot off into the ropes but he’s the bigger man in the match and drops AJ with a running shoulder block. He goes for another but AJ hits him with a textbook dropkick. Miz takes a powder to the outside but AJ goes after him and brings him back so he can hit a slingshot elbow drop and a two count cover.
Miz tries to come back with a jawbreaker but AJ hits right hands and chops. Whip into the ropes reversed and Miz catches AJ with a knee to the gut. Miz chokes AJ against the middle rope with his knee while Daniel Bryan tells us that he hopes his daughter, Birdie, will kick thousands of men (including Byron Saxton) in the groin when she gets older. Miz follows up with a running leg to the back of AJ’s head and Daniel follows up by calling Byron a terrible human being for eating chicken and using plastic water bottles.
Miz locks in a modified Camel Clutch, grinding his knee into AJ’s spine. Aj fights out and goes for a right hand but Miz catches him for that backbreaker/neckbreaker combo. Barely a two count and Miz is getting frustrated. Miz whips Styles into the corner but takes too long to charge and gets a real pretty superkick to the mouth. AJ charges him in the opposite corner. Miz lifts him up and over but AJ lands on his feet and nails Miz with a forearm. He looks to slingshot into the ring but Miz boots him in the face and down to the floor.
AJ beats Miz to the punch and hits his signature combo but caps it with a clothesline instead of the Pele Kick. Styles lands a running cross body on the seated Miz. AJ hits the splash in the corner and gets the fireman’s carry to hit the Ushigoroshi for a two count. AJ sets up the Styles Clash but Miz takes his feet out from under him and slingshots him into the corner. Miz goes for The Skull-Crushing Finale but gets rolled up for two. Once to his feet, Miz kicks out AJ’s leg and hits the short DDT for a cover and two. Miz squares up to kick AJ in the head but he dodges it and sends Miz to the outside. AJ slingshots himself to the outside, whacking Miz with a forearm on the way down. The New Daniel Bryan gets out of his seat and he has AJ’s full attention. It’s a perfect opportunity for Miz to toss Styles into the steel ring steps before bringing him back into the ring. Skull-Crushing Finale! 1-2-kickout!
A frustrated Miz drops the knee on AJ’s hamstring and goes for the Figure Four but AJ kicks him off and shoulder first into the ring post. While the referee checks on Miz, Daniel Bryan goes to pull AJ styles out of the ring but a kick to the head stops him. Miz charges but gets caught in the Calf Crusher in the middle of the ring and has to tap out.
Winner by submission: The Phenomenal AJ Styles
AJ’s hand is barely raised when he gets chop blocked by Daniel Bryan. He drags Styles to the corner and wraps his leg against the ring post repeatedly. Outside the ring, AJ’s face gets the same treatment. Daniel drags him by his hair to smack him off of the announce table. And back into the ring. AJ is victim to another chop block and a vicious heel hook that gets broken up by responding officials. But he still hits a kick to the head and the repeated chest stomps. We go off the air with Daniel holding the title up and berating the people for being fickle… fickle… fickle.
Final Thoughts: I was taken aback. I wasn’t ready for what this means. An entire month between PPVs? It seems like forever since there has been that much opportunity to build angles. But they don’t seem to be wasting any of it. The three best women’s wrestlers in the company (if not the world) are in a program together. Miz was able to step away from his World Cup obsession to stand in for another feud. Last week, we were reminded of great Charlotte was a heel. This week, we’re reminded of judgmental, unhinged, groin-kicking, “No! No! No!” Daniel Bryan. The “Fickle” T-shirts are probably being drawn up right now.
Announced for TLC already are Daniel Bryan/AJ Styles, Becky/Charlotte/Asuka, and New Day/Bar/Usos. They have Nakamura/Rusev, Miz/Shane, Randy/Rey all on tap and ready to go and a strong likelihood that we see R-Truth and Carmella in the Mixed Match Challenge finals. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville are stepping up each week, lately. SAnitY, The Good Brothers, Luke Harper, and Andrade Cien Almas are ready for anything that leads to or runs past Royal Rumble. Pretty much everything we can ask for is either happening right now or waiting in the wings. Too much of a good thing? Not yet, it isn’t.
