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WWE Smackdown Report
PARKS'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 6/18: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Thursday show, including Kane & Sheamus vs. Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns

Jun 18, 2015 - 11:00:17 PM
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WWE Smackdown review
June 18, 2015
Taped 6/16/15 in Buffalo, N.Y.
Aired on SyFy
By Greg Parks, PWTorch Columnist (Twitter: @gregmparks)



- WWE Open.

- “In Memory of Dusty Rhodes: 1945-2015.”

- Smackdown Open.

- After the opening pyro, Sheamus walked out with the Money in the Bank briefcase. As he did, they showed stills of the MITB Ladder Match from Sunday. Sheamus made fun of fans chanting “You look stupid” at him, which was supposed to be their cue to chant but they didn’t. However, Sheamus continued the promo the way it was scripted, as if they were. The punchline was, “who looks stupid now?” as he held up the briefcase. Footage of Kane beating Randy Orton, with help from Sheamus on Raw, was shown. Sheamus said he’s moving on from Orton now. He said no one is going to stop him, so Dean Ambrose’s music played and he came out.

He took issue with Sheamus saying no one would stop him, as Ambrose himself did so on Raw. And if it weren’t for Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns would be holding that briefcase right now. Ambrose offered to beat Sheamus a second time tonight. Sheamus noted that Ambrose can never seem to win the big one on his own. Sheamus laid the briefcase on the ground and said if Ambrose wants the briefcase he can come in and take it. Before Ambrose could do so, Kane came out.

He said no one is stealing anything tonight. Kane called Sheamus “the clear and obvious winner” of MITB and offered to give Ambrose a two-on-one arse kicking with him and Sheamus against Ambrose. In fact, it’ll take place right now.

1 – SHEAMUS & KANE vs. DEAN AMBROSE – 2-ON-1 HANDICAP MATCH

Ambrose exited the ring early on, then managed to avoid a chokeslam and send Kane to ringside. He took Sheamus down in the ring, then hti a suicide dive onto Kane. To the top he went, but he couldn’t fight off both men. As they hammered away at Ambrose in the corner, the music of Roman Reigns played. Sheamus went to meet him at the barricade, but he came out from somewhere else and attacked Kane.

WINNERS: Kane and Sheamus, via disqualification, at 1:28. This certainly established Kane firmly as a heel, and it makes sense that he’d abuse his authority in this situation.

Reigns was able to aid Ambrose and send Sheamus and Kane packing.

- Tom Phillips, Jerry Lawler, and Byron Saxton were shown at ringside. Stills of the MITB Ladder Match finish were shown.

- Tonight, we’ll see what happened when Brock Lesnar returned to Raw.

- The Bellas were backstage walking. Before Nikki left her sister’s side, Lawler somehow knew that she wasn’t going to come to ringside to assist her sister in her match, next.

[Commercial Break]

- Breaking news: The main event will be Roman Reigns teaming up with Dean Ambrose to take on Kane and Sheamus. Now, we’ve established Kane can make matches. It wouldn’t make sense that he’d choose to even the odds for the babyfaces, though. So who are we to suppose made this official?

- Backstage, Renee Young caught up to Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. Reigns was not happy with Bray Wyatt and said Wyatt better find Reigns before he finds Wyatt. Ambrose walked off after him without offering comment.

2 – PAIGE vs. BRIE BELLA

No entrance for Paige. When Brie came out, they showed a bit of her soapbox speech from Raw, and the Bellas’ response. They also showed Paige falling to the Bellas in a handicap match later that night. Paige dropped down and Brie tripped over her, but it didn’t look like a botch. Paige worked over Brie in the corner. Brie was set on the top rope and executed a sunset powerbomb on Paige, and it was a nice one. The match continued through the break, taken at 1:34.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 5:30 of the match with Brie delivering knees to the back of Paige. Swinging neck-breaker for two by Brie. Paige took back over in the corner, sending knees of her own to the face of Brie. A side-kick to Brie forced her to roll out of the ring. After Paige dove onto her, Brie was sent back into the ring. Paige went to the top rope, but Alicia Fox tripped Paige, causing her to fall off the top rope. Brie hit her finish on Paige for the win.

WINNER: Brie, at 7:48. I’m really not thrilled with this Divas storyline but at least the announcers tried to turn it from “the women don’t trust each other because they’re women!” to “the women don’t want a leader simply because they’re all individuals.” It’s a little more palatable.

Fox’s interference and the face-buster by Brie were replayed.

- Fox, Brie, and Nikki all posed on the top of the ramp after the match.

- The announcers discussed John Cena vs. Kevin Owens from MITB, with stills shown as well. Then, the attack of Machine Gun Kelly by Owens on Raw was shown. A Tweet from Owens, where he apologized for his attack, was on screen. The announcers said the punishment of Owens by The Authority was handled behind closed doors and the specific punishment would not be revealed.

- Owens was interviewed backstage by Renee Young. Owens said he already apologized but said none of that would’ve happened had MGK not put his hands on him first. And had Cena not started the whole thing, the incident wouldn’t have occurred. Owens didn’t seem to think it was a big deal that a title was not on the line in his match on Monday. He said people have to earn their title matches against him. He said there would be no NXT Title Open Challenge tonight. Cesaro walked into the picture and said he hears about “Fight Owens Fight,” but all he sees now is “Talk Owens Talk.” Cesaro invited him to step into the ring with the King of Swing. Cesaro touched Owens and said so there’s no miscommunication he put his hands on Owens first. He and Young then left Owens standing there for a reaction shot. Not a great babyface delivery there by Cesaro.

[Commercial Break]

- Dolph Ziggler came out for a match. Lana came to the ring with Ziggler. Lawler also announced, officially, Owens vs. Cesaro tonight. Dallas cut a promo on his way to the ring. He said Lana was on the rebound and it breaks his and Rusev’s heart to see her like this. He said Rusev has a broken soul and called her actions “despicable.” Dallas said if Ziggler’s profile popped up, he’d swipe left and keep looking for a real man. He said she can find that man if she just Bo-lieves.

3 – DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. BO DALLAS

Ziggler missed a corner splash and Dallas worked him over in the corner. Ziggler quickly fought out of a side headlock, but Dallas pulled his hair to take him back down. Rusev, still on crutches, was shown watching on a monitor backstage. Ziggler sent Dallas front-first into the ropes, then hit the Zig Zag for the victory.

WINNER: Ziggler, at 1:11. I liked that being a quick match – Dallas should not have been much of a challenge for Ziggler given their positions on the card. It’s especially heartening to see Ziggler dispose of, well, anyone this fast.

Ziggler and Lana kissed in the ring while Rusev threw down his crutch in anger like he was a cartoon character.

- Still to come, Reigns & Ambrose vs. Sheamus & Kane.

[Commercial Break]

- Clips from the Tough Enough competition special, airing on the WWE Network, were shown. They’ve now whittled it down to the final 13. Phillips reminded fans they can follow along on the new Tough Enough App.

4 – XAVIER WOODS vs. NEVILLE

No entrance for The New Day. Woods struck Neville right in the face with a forearm to start. He stomped Neville more than a dozen times in the middle of the ring. Neville back-dropped Woods out of the ring and dove onto him at ringside. The other members of New Day began to encroach on Neville’s space, so the Prime Time Players ran out to side with Neville. Inside the ring, a small package by Woods got two. A distraction by Kofi Kingston led to Woods being able to trip Neville up on the top rope. Things broke down between the PTP and New Day at ringside. Woods got involved, costing him. Neville hit the Red Arrow for the win.

WINNER: Neville, at 2:47. Some will say this is a step down for Neville to be involved in a middling tag feud, but it’s putting him over in situations like this (and makes him seem like a bigger deal by comparison), so I’m okay with it.

The Red Arrow was replayed.

- Next, Brock Lesnar’s return will be shown.

[Commercial Break]

- Seth Rollins came out at the top of the second hour. As he came out, they showed footage of The Authority bringing back Brock Lesnar on Raw. Rollins vs. Lesnar at Battleground is official. Rollins said he’s the biggest star in WWE. He played the victim, saying he never gets a pat on the back but is always disrespected. This week has taken it to another level, he said. He talked about the last time we saw Lesnar and what Lesnar did to innocent people. Rollins said he’s beaten everybody else they’ve put in front of him, so to cement his legacy, he has to beat Lesnar. Rollins took us back to Wrestlemania and said Lesnar knows how dangerous he can be. He said he’s the diamond Triple H talked about on Raw and at Battleground, he’ll shine better than he ever has. Rollins said he can’t wait to face Lesnar. Almost a babyface interview there in spots, and a pretty noteworthy one given it was the first comments made by Rollins since discovering he’ll be facing Lesnar at Battleground.

- The announcers reacted to the speech by Rollins. They turned their attention to Bray Wyatt costing Roman Reigns the briefcase at MITB. From Raw, we saw Wyatt’s retort to Roman’s promo.

- Roman Reigns was creepily staring off into space backstage as the camera panned back to show Dean Ambrose ranting and raving about taking on Kane and Sheamus. Ambrose had to snap his fingers to get Roman’s attention. He told Reigns not to let Wyatt into his head. Reigns wanted to change the subject, get this done tonight and then “go home.”

- Kevin Owens came to the ring to face Cesaro. The match is next.

[Commercial Break]

5 – KEVIN OWENS vs. CESARO

Cesaro rolled up Owens and wrestled him down to begin the match. Shoulder knock-down by Owens for only one. Cesaro did a suicide dive on the outside and almost landed on his head. Running European uppercut by Cesaro. From the apron, Cesaro clotheslined a running Owens inside the ring. However, Cesaro was sent into the ring post. They went to break at 2:04 of the match.

[Commercial Break]

At 5:05 of the match, the show returned with Owens holding Cesaro in a rear chin-lock. Cesaro hit a springboard European uppercut, off the second rope. Not to be outdone, a springboard Tornado DDT by Owens got a two-count. Cesaro tried to swing Owens to no avail. Slam by Cesaro for two. Both men were down at 7:00 of the match. Owens propelled Cesaro face-first into the turnbuckle. German suplex by Owens followed by a cannonball on Cesaro in the corner. Owens went to the top, but Cesaro met him. He gave Owens a European uppercut, and delivered a standing dropkick to take Owens to the mat. Soon after, Owens recovered to hit the pop-up powerbomb for the win.

WINNER: Owens, at 9:56. A decent enough match, but you can tell they just scratched the surface of what these two can do in the ring.

A few replays of the match were shown.

- The announcers talked about Owens vs. Cena. Then they discussed Titus O’Neill winning the 2015 Celebrity Mega Dad of the Year award.

- A backstage “Miz at the Movies” segment aired. He talked about all of The Rock’s movies lately and then got around to Vendetta, a WWE Films movie starring Dean Cain and Big Show. Miz made fun of Show, saying he ate all of the food on the set and was rude to the crew. He put the movie over and said he would’ve been better than Show. He ranted and raved about being an A-Lister and noted he deserved to be in contention for the I.C. Title.

- Next, a look back at the career and life of Dusty Rhodes.

[Commercial Break]

- The exterior of the First Niagara Center in Buffalo was shown.

- The announcers reacted to the death of Dusty Rhodes. The video package was then shown after they noted that Lawler would be hosting the Dusty Rhodes special on the WWE Network after Smackdown.

- Roman Reigns came to the ring. As he did, they showed the graphic for Reigns vs. Wyatt at Battleground. Ambrose came out next. The two of them face Sheamus and Kane in the main event.

[Commercial Break]

- Sheamus had already come out during the break, leaving just Kane to make his entrance.

6 – ROMAN REIGNS & DEAN AMBROSE vs. SHEAMUS & KANE

Ambrose drove his shoulder into the mid-section of Sheamus in the corner, but Sheamus responded with a kick to the back of a seated Ambrose. Sheamus worked over Ambrose’s knee. Flying cross-body by Ambrose. Reigns thwarted a Kane interference attempt and both heels were deposited to ringside. Reigns and Ambrose stood tall heading into break at 2:26 of the match.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 5:53 with Kane in control of Ambrose. Outside the ring, Sheamus slammed Ambrose onto the announce table. In the ring, Sheamus dropped a knee across the shoulder of Ambrose. Kane came back in, continuing to work him over. Sheamus readied Ambrose for a powerbomb, but Ambrose turned it into a slow-motion hurricanrana. It didn’t buy Ambrose enough time to make the tag, however. The heels took their time in dissecting Ambrose. Ambrose did finally make the tag at 10:46 of the contest. Reigns took out his frustration on Sheamus. Kane tried to interfere, but Reigns took him out as well. Rebound clothesline by Ambrose while Kane had Reigns in a choke. Brogue Kick for Ambrose. Superman punch to Sheamus. Bray Wyatt’s voice came over the P.A, singing “I’m a little teapot” while holding the picture of Reigns and his daughter. From behind, Sheamus leveled Reigns with a Brogue Kick to pick up the win.

WINNERS: Sheamus and Kane, at 12:50.

The finish was replayed. Wyatt’s final words: “Happy Father’s Day, Roman. Run.” The lights went out and when they came back on, the picture of Roman and his daughter was next to Reigns in the ring. He picked it up and looked at it in bewilderment as the show went off the air.


Did you watch Thursday’s Smackdown episode? Send your 0-10 score & Reax to pwtorch@gmail.com for our TV Reax feature.

Greg Parks has been covering WWE Smackdown for PWTorch.com since January of 2007. He is the host of “Moonlighting with Greg Parks,” a PWTorch VIP-exclusive audio show posted each weekend. Follow him on Twitter @gregmparks for live Tweeting during Raw, Impact, and PPVs, as well as other bits of wisdom. Comments, questions and feedback are welcome, and can be sent to g_man9784@yahoo.com.


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