Thursday Night Smackdown! TV Report for March 3rd, 2016 – “‘Third Wheel’ Rolling!”

Introduction Segment: Video Promo and Welcoming

Recap of Raw’s issues between WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H and Dean Ambrose is shown, then the regular Smackdown! video plays.

Segment #2: Arena Promo

Dean Ambrose hobbles to the ring, selling his beating from “The Game.” He talks about going through what he did to get his match with Triple h for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship; it will take place on Saturday, March 12th, on the WWE Network. “The Lunatic Fringe” goes on about wrecking WrestleMania plans, as he thinks about defeating Triple H and being the one to meet Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.

Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens interrupts and can’t stand what Ambrose rambling on about and wants to do something about it. He goes to slug Dean with the championship, but Ambrose ducks and hits back. Owens retreats as Ranallo implies they will face off later tonight!

Later, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks will wrestle for the #1 Contender’s spot at WrestleMania against Divas Champion Charlotte.

Commercials.

Match #1: Tag-Team – The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) VS. The League of Nations (Sheamus and Rusev) (with League of Nations members Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio)

Sheamus and Jimmy start out, then as Sheamus gets the upperhand, both switch partners. Jey and Rusev wrestle, with Jey struggling a headlock on him. Rusev kicks back, then uses his weight to get out of a Samoan Drop attempt and toss Jey to the apron. He follows with an impressive dropkick, and The League throw Jey into the corner barrier.

Ads.

Sheamus is now in control over Jey, giving him “10 Beats of the Baron.” Rusev is in and taunts Jey and Jimmy, while tearing at Jey’s face. He goes for a backdrop, but Jey flips out and gives him a Float-Over DDT. Jey makes the hot-tag to his bro, who is all over Rusev and Sheamus.

Both Usos dive onto The Nations, and Sheamus eats a superkick from Jimmy on the outside. Jimmy climbs the turnbuckle, but lands on Sheamus’ knees. “The Celtic Warrior” hits the Brogue Kick and covers for the victory!

Winners via Pinfall: The League of Nations

Post-match, as The League celebrate, The Dudleyz walk out with a table in their hands. Jey attacks immediately in the ring, but The Dudleyz are too strong and put The Twins to the canvas.

Segment #3: Video Promo

The announcer’s talk about Stephanie McMahon getting the Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence award, and a clip is shown from Raw of her “acceptance” speech.

Dolph Ziggler makes his entrance and will be wrestling, next!

Commercials.

Match #2: Single – Dolph Ziggler VS. The Miz

Miz punches Ziggler right after the bell and punches away. He kicks him hard in the face and gets two, then slams Dolph’s head into the turnbuckle. He runs in the corner with a clothesline but is caught into a backslide, and Ziggler gets the 1 – 2 – 3!

Post-match, Dolph celebrates with the fans while Miz is irate!

Segment #4: Backstage Promo

R-Truth is collecting food then notices Goldust sitting alone at a table. He tries to make amends with “The Bizarre One,” but Goldust is having none of it and messes up his own face with his own plate of food, then walks away.

Ads.

Match #3: Single – Becky Lynch VS. Sasha Banks (#1 Contender’s Spot for the Divas Championship)

They lockup a couple times then test each others strength, and Sasha reverses into a victory roll for two. Becky armdrags twice then boots Banks out of the corner. She clamps a wristlock on, which Sasha counters into a roll-up, then both wrestle back-and-forth for a bit before Divas Champion Charlotte and her father, Ric Flair, make their presence known and stand at ringside.

Commercials.

Sasha has Becky locked in a surfboard while Charlotte and Rick look on. Becky works her way out and clotheslines Banks a couple times, then catches a kick and gives her an exploder-suplex. Banks makes a comeback and almost takes this with double-knees, then turns a roll-up into the Bank Statement crossface! Lynch struggles to the rope, then kicks Sasha in the face. She tries the Disarmer, but Banks gets out of it and knees Lynch in the corner. 1 – 2 – Becky raises her shoulder!

Sasha kicks again, but is put to the mat with a European Uppercut! 1 – 2 – Banks gets her shoulder up! Both punch back-and-forth, then Becky rolls through a backslide and front-dropkicks her to the floor. Sasha and Becky double-clothesline each other, then Ric taunts and “whoos” over both; just as they get back up, Charlotte hits both from behind at the same time, causing a double-dq.

Winner: None due to Double-Disqualification

Post-match, Charlotte continues to assault Banks and Lynch, then walks off.

Ads.

Segment #5: Backstage Promo

Rene Young interviews Charlotte and Ric about their actions, then informs Charlotte she will be taking on BOTH Sasha and Becky at WrestleMania!

Segment #6: Video Promo

Ranallo, Lawler, and Saxton talk about The Undertaker’s response to see Shane McMahon inside Hell In A Cell at WrestleMania. The footage from Raw plays.

Tag-Team Champions The New Day dance to the ring as Kofi Kingston will wrestle A.J. Styles next!

Commercials.

The New Day are in the ring and rip on The League, A.J. Styles and Chris Jericho, and Atlanta.

Match #4: Single – Tag-Team Champion/New Day member Kofi Kingston (with Tag-Team Champions and New Day members Big E. and Xavier Woods) VS. A.J. Styles

A.J. is quick on Kofi to start, then planchas over onto Xavier. Kofi baseball slides him as New Day stand over and taunt.

Ads.

Kingston is controlling Styles now, stomping him in the corner and wearing him down with a grounding facelock. A.J. counters with a jawbreaker but is kicked down again. Kofi ascends the turnbuckle and dives, but is countered into a backdrop!

Styles builds up and forearm-smashes in the corner, then hits a fireman’s carry-knee for a close one! Xavier and Big try to interfere again, but the referee throws them out. A.J. capitalizes with the springboard-forearm to finish this!

Winner via Pinfall: A.J. Styles

Post-match, the trio go after Styles, but Styles escapes by sliding into and out of the ring.

Segment #7: Video Promo

“I stood upon the sand, and saw a beast rise from the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. And upon those horns, ten crowns. And upon the heads, the name of ‘blasphemy.’” Bray Wyatt is talking about Brock Lesnar, who Bray will face at Road Block, the title of the WWE Network show on March 12th.

Commercials.

Match #5: Single – Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens VS. Dean Ambrose (Non-Title)

Dean twists Owens’ arm and takes him down with a side headlock to begin. He gives Kevin a shoulder-block and another side headlock takedown. Owens punches back, focussing on the injuries that Dean has sustained. He soon takes over until Dean tries a Dirty Deeds, but Owens gets out of it and goes to the commentator’s table for a break.

Ads.

The I.C. Champ gets control again and works over Ambrose’s damaged body until Dean hip-tosses him out of an abdominal stretch. Dean runs at Kevin, but is chucked to the floor, and is hit with a running-senton. Ambrose just makes it in before the referee reaches ten, but Kevin runs him into the corner of the barrier. Owens yells at Mauro, but turns into a clothesline!

Dean fights back again by running Ambrose into the ring post, and giving him a dive-through-the-ropes a bit later. He puts Kevin back into the ring, but is cut off the top rope. Owens runs at Ambrose in the corner with the Cannon Ball splash, but still cannot take this!

Kevin goes for a top-turnbuckle suplex, but Ambrose hammers away and follows with a diving elbow. Kevin kicks out of a subsequent pin attempt, then rolls to the outside. Dean runs after, but is caught into a guillotine position and run into the ring apron.

In the ring, both try their finishers but they are countered/reversed. Owens runs for another senton, but Dean lifts his knees and plants Kevin with the Dirty Deeds DDT; he manages the cover and victory!

Winner via Pinfall: Dean Ambrose

Post-match, Dean holds onto the ropes as Mauro puts him over with “the skill, the will, and the heart” while replays are shown to close the show.

End of Smackdown!

Reporter’s Rumblings

Starting with this one, I am going to recap both Raw and Smackdown! with my Smackdown Report, as I find I am a little too tired after writing Raw, so to give proper analysis on both shows, this way may work better.

This week was pretty-good in WWE-land for Raw and Smackdown! There were some great matches and great promos, but it also did have a few low-points with storylines.

Excellence: matches between Dragons/League (Raw), Styles/Jericho/New Day (Raw), Jey/Bubba (Raw), Usos/League (Smackdown!), Becky/Sasha (Smackdown!), Kofi/Jericho (Smackdown!), and Owens/Ambrose (Smackdown!)

Promos from HHH/Ambrose (Raw), Bray (Raw and Smackdown!), ‘Taker (Raw), and Owens/Ambrose (Smackdown!).

Loving the feud between Dudleyz and Usos; seems very old-school. Dean Ambrose has been awesome the last while with his mike skills and interactions with faces and heels; I can easily see him being in the main-event with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Whether he wins it or not in Toronto, it should be a Triple-Threat as Triple H still has to close-out his feud with Roman Reigns too; and all three of these guys can put on a heck of a Triple-Threat!

Liking the rivalry of Owens/Show, and I believe these two guys can put on a great match at ‘Mania for the I.C. Title.

Not entirely sure about the whole A.J./Jericho teaming up, but do love the matches they’re putting on!

Bogus: too much recap! Both Raw and Smackdown! had video promos that reviewed almost-all of last week’s shows; this time could’ve been used for more in-ring action – particularly Sasha and Becky!

My Dad had a great idea, as he said it was predictable anyway for the Triple-Threat for the Divas Championship; let Sasha and Becky wrestle to a draw on Raw for around ½ an hour. It’ll keep both live and home crowds in suspense, taking about three commercial breaks; if that happened, then I think we really would’ve been more invested in how the scenario was going to play out. I felt the finish to Raw was lame, but Smackdown’s made up for it a little.

Vince should’ve have not said anything after Undertaker threaten him; it would’ve been much more effective.

Not sure where Dolph/Miz are going, but hopefully they’ll wrestle at ‘Mania for a long match. They do need to add some more verbal to their storyline though, as without, I’m not as interested.

All-in-all, liking a lot of the matches/potential matches for ‘Mania and the build for most has been pretty-well-done! Until next week’s Raw, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Fans!