WWE Smackdown review
August 27, 2015
Taped 8/25/15 in Providence, R.I.
Aired on SyFy
By Greg Parks, PWTorch Columnist (Twitter: @gregmparks)


- Smackdown Open.

- After the camera panned the crowd in Providence, they immediately went to a clip of the Dudley Boyz returning on Raw as the announcers narrated the footage. Bubba Ray and D-Von make their return to Smackdown tonight. Is that Rich Brennan on commentary tonight?

- But first, all three members of the Wyatt Family came out. Once they finished their entrance, clips of the newest family member’s debut from Raw were cued up. While the arena was still darkened, Luke Harper spoke first. He said the fans are already dead, but they don’t even know it. That’s a pleasant way to start the show. He said Bray’s truth will give fans new life. Wyatt then took the mic and said he doesn’t throw around words as a smokescreen; his family truly does mean everything to him. He talked about what Sister Abigail has given him in his life. He said she provided him a savior. He introduced Braun Strowman. Wyatt said she knew that Wyatt could lead him. Bray said he is the new face of fear. Luke Harper is the new face of desolation. And Strowman is the new face of destruction. Strowman, who wore the sheep mask from Raw during the promo, took it off as Wyatt finished up. As he did, Roman Reigns’ theme hit, the lights went up, and Reigns and Dean Ambrose appeared in the crowd, headed to the ring.

Reigns took a mic at ringside. He acknowledged that the big man whooped their ass on Monday. But he said if they’re going down, they’re going down swinging. Ambrose said he’d take the ugly one. The two babyfaces entered the ring and went toe-to-toe with the Wyatt Family. Strowman stepped up to the plate first, but Wyatt pulled him back before any physicality could take place. Jimmy Uso on commentary said the Wyatts were playing mind games here.

- Rich Brennan, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Jimmy Uso were on commentary at ringside. It was explained that Providence is Brennan’s hometown, so cool little Smackdown commentary debut for Brennan.

- Tonight, Dean Ambrose faces Sheamus.

- And next, the Dudley Boyz are in action.

[Commercial Break]

1 – THE ASCENSION vs. THE DUDLEY BOYZ

The Ascension were in the ring out of break, finishing up their entrance. Bubba shouted at Konnor in the corner after a lock-up. Konnor hammered Bubba with forearms and returned the trash talk. Flying clothesline by D-Von caught Viktor. Quite a miscommunication before the Dudleyz connected on their sidewalk slam/leg-drop double-team combo. Whazzup drop by D-Von onto Viktor. D-Von was then instructed by Bubba to retrieve the tables. Konnor prevented that with a running clothesline on D-Von. STO by Viktor on Bubba. Bubba finally broke free to make the tag at 4:04 of the match. D-Von clotheslined both Ascension members, leading to 3D on Konnor for the win.

WINNERS: The Dudley Boyz, at 5:10. The crowd was hot for The Dudleyz and it’s neat to see them back, but I didn’t think they were particularly impressive from an in-ring standpoint. I thought the Dudleyz vs. Ascension would be a more protracted feud given The Ascension’s past remarks about classic tag teams.

Before the Dudleyz could put their foes through a table, The New Day came out with signs. “Save a table, break a Dudley,” “Booty,” and “#GiveTablesAChance.” The Dudleyz ended up powerbombing Viktor through a table anyway as New Day looked on at ringside.

- Kevin Owens faces Neville next.

[Commercial Break]

2 – NEVILLE vs. KEVIN OWENS

Owens missed a chop in the corner, then ducked into the ropes to avoid Neville’s offense. He couldn’t avoid it for long though, because a headscissors took Owens down. Baseball slide by Neville missed and Owens decked him with a clothesline outside the ring. Unique spinning neckbreaker with Neville on his shoulders got him a two-count. They went to break at 1:35 of the match.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 5:07. Neville was getting to his feet while in a rest-hold, but Owens put him back down. On a second attempt a minute later, Neville successfully broke free. Sprinboard dropkick from Neville for two at 6:44. German suplex by Neville led to Owens rolling out of the ring. Neville ducked a clothesline outside the ring this time, and superkicked Owens. Back in, Neville set up for the Red Arrow. Owens got to his feet, however. Neville went to springboard in, but Owens caught him in mid-air with a kick. Pop-up powerbomb by Owens for the win.

WINNER: Owens, at 8:11. Enjoyable match. Owens is so good at working the crowd during the match, keeping them engaged.

A few moments from the match were replayed.

- Charlotte and Becky Lynch came upon the Bellas in the hallway backstage. Nikki said she wanted to check on those two since their leader wasn’t there. Becky said all members of PCB are leaders in their own way. Nikki tried to turn the other members against Paige, but they weren’t having it. Charlotte said they have loyalty, unlike Nikki, who turned on her own sister at Summerslam last year and wished her dead. They then walked away as the Bellas tried to pretend like the comments didn’t get to them.

- Charlotte and Becky Lynch came to the ring for their match with the Bellas. It’s next.

[Commercial Break]

3 – CHARLOTTE & BECKY LYNCH vs. THE BELLA TWINS

Team BAD was on commentary. Jimmy Uso stepped aside, recusing himself so as to not show a conflict of interest with his wife being a part of Team BAD. That may be the most journalistically sound thing a WWE announcer has done in a long time, and of course, it came from an announcer who isn’t a journalist. Double dropkick by Lynch and Charlotte. The Bellas responded with a double-team of their own on Becky. A series of legdrops but Becky, but Charlotte missed a knee-drop after a tag. Brie worked the injured leg of Charlotte. Charlotte forearmed Brie off the apron as Charlotte crawled to make the tag. She avoided a charge by Nikki, but Nikki pulled Becky off the apron before a tag could be made. Brie ran back in and was rolled up into Charlotte’s Web roll-up for the win.

WINNERS: Charlotte and Becky, at 3:15. A bit surprising that it was this short, but the finishing sequence I thought worked well.

Charlotte continued selling her knee after the match and after replays were shown.

- Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus happens tonight.

- Up next, the Iconic Reveal on Raw.

[Commercial Break]

- Stills from Summerslam were shown, wherein Jon Stewart cost John Cena his U.S. Title and the WWE World Title.

- Seth Rollins came to the ring. Despite having two titles, he was not looking happy. A graphic was shown for Rollins vs. Sting for the WWE World Title at Night of Champions. Rollins said Monday was supposed to be the greatest night of his life. He gave some background on what was supposed to happen relative to his statue on Monday night. Rollins said Hollywood should make a movie about his life. He said Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Channing Tatum would be lobbying for that role. I could see Pitt…I don’t know that the others would fit. He cued up footage of the statue reveal being Sting. Rollins said Sting is jealous of him. Rollins said Sting had been toiling away in the minor leagues while he was on top of WWE. He wondered aloud what gave Sting the right to ruin his moment. Rollins said Sting should be afraid of him. He said Triple H told him the one regret he has in his entire career was not finishing Sting when he had the chance. Really? That’s the ONE regret Hunter has? Rollins talked about the match at Night of Champions where he said he’d face “The Artifact,” Sting. He vowed to crush Sting’s old bones to dust. Lots of yelling by Rollins there which risked fans at home just tuning him out, but I thought it was largely effective.

- JoJo was backstage with Sheamus. Sheamus said Ambrose needs to keep both eyes on him tonight, and if he gets distracted, he’ll Brogue Kick Ambrose’s head off his shoulders. He then talked about how he’s the MITB contract holder and what it means. Those transitions are getting more and more awkward in promos where Sheamus seemingly has to bring up that he’s got the MITB briefcase, even when the promo at hand has nothing to do with that.

- Ryback came out for a match. He teams with Dolph Ziggler to take on Rusev and Big Show, next.

[Commercial Break]

4 – RYBACK & DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. THE BIG SHOW & RUSEV

Show delivered a number of right hands to the mid-section of Ryback in the corner. Show grabbed Ryback for a chokeslam, but Ryback escaped and knocked Show over with a shoulder tackle. He knocked Rusev off the apron for good measure, but then walked into a spear from Show. Rusev tagged himself in and yelled for Show to get out of the ring. They cut to break 1:43 into the match.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 4:45 and yes, Ryback WAS working out of a side headlock. Rusev dropkick for two. Rusev and Show continued arguing. While Rusev had the advantage, he also knocked Ziggler off the apron. Ryback connected with a spinebuster, leaving both men on the mat. Ziggler and Show tagged in, with Ziggler hitting a DDT. Superkick knocked Show down for a two-count. A second superkick was blocked. Ziggler got Show down to a knee, but Show caught him and planted him face-first from a standing position, with Ziggler up like he was going to receive a powerbomb. Show set up for the KO punch, but Rusev tagged himself in. Accolade applied to Ziggler. Ziggler appeared to be out cold and as the referee checked on him, Show gave Rusev the knockout punch. He then walked to the back. Ziggler stirred and draped his arm across Rusev’s chest. It was enough to get the win.

WINNERS: Ziggler and Ryback, at 9:43. Good enough match, but really, who’s going to care about another Show turn? Also, I’ll take this time to say what a good job I think Brennan has done tonight. Of course, it helps when the other announcers aren’t sandbagging you.

After replays, the winners celebrated in the ring.

- Up next, Jon screws John.

[Commercial Break]

- Brennan thanked Demi Lovato for “Cool for the Summer,” the official theme of Summerslam.

- On-camera, the announcers discussed Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar at Summerslam. A slow-mo replay of Taker’s tap-out was shown, as well as the low blow and Lesnar’s middle finger (blurred, of course). They sent it to part of Heyman’s promo from Raw and Lesnar’s beat-down of Bo Dallas as well.

- Back to the announcers, who set-up stills of Rollins vs. Cena with Jon Stewart’s involvement. That was complete with media coverage of Stewart’s involvement. A video package aired from Raw with Stewart’s interview and Cena’s response.

- Ambrose and Reigns were discussing strategy backstage. Ambrose said he’s going to teach Sheamus respect tonight. Reigns said The Wyatts are his business tonight. Ambrose talked about how much he hates them as well. Reigns tried to refocus Ambrose onto Sheamus.

- Sheamus made his entrance for the main event. It’s up next.

[Commercial Break]

- The exterior of the Dunkin’ Donuts Center was shown.

- The announcers showed how to order Dominos via texting. What a time to be alive.

5 – SHEAMUS vs. DEAN AMBROSE

Sheamus stomped Ambrose in the corner to start, and followed it up with a short-arm clothesline. The fight went to ringside. Sheamus paused long enough for Ambrose to recover and bounce Sheamus’s head off the announce table. Back in the ring, Ambrose clotheslined Sheamus back out. He dove off the announce desk with an elbow onto Sheamus. Sheamus tossed Ambrose into the barricade by the timekeeper, and thankfully it didn’t break. He then slammed Ambrose onto the edge of the announce desk. That looked painful. They took their final break at 2:02 of the match.

[Commercial Break]

The show returned at 5:08 of the match with Ambrose on the apron, suffering from a knee-lift by Sheamus. Sheamus worked the knee of Ambrose in a stretch muffler-like move, with Sheamus on his feet and Ambrose dangling in mid-air. Ten Beats of the Bodhran by Sheamus, but Ambrose returned the favor. Sheamus was none too happy about that and he flung Ambrose once again to ringside. Ambrose, though, took Sheamus down with a clothesline in front of the announce table. Both men rolled into the ring. Running bulldog by Sheamus, then a roll-up for two. Sheamus charged at Ambrose but went shoulder-first into the ring post. Ambrose took out Sheamus with a suicide dive. In the ring, a flying elbow from the top earned Ambrose a near-fall. Brogue Kick missed and a roll-up from Ambrose again wasn’t enough for three. Ambrose removed his shirt after a clothesline and as he went for Sheamus, the Wyatt video was spliced in and the lights went out. The Wyatt Family surrounded the ring, leading to a Brogue Kick from Sheamus.

WINNER: Sheamus, at 10:58.

Sheamus exited the ring to allow the Wyatt Family to enter. While they stood around Ambrose’s prone body, the theme of Roman Reigns began to play. They weren’t sure where he was coming from. He showed up from the entranceway, jumped off the stairs, and delivered a Superman punch to Harper. Reigns entered the ring and walked right up to Strowman. He punched Strowman a few times but Strowman grabbed Reigns by the jaw and tossed him down face-first. Then he applied the choke-out move from Raw. Dominator delivered by Strowman. The Wyatts surveyed the damage and posed for the hard camera as the show ended.


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.

We suggest these recent related articles...

PARKS'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 10/1: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Thursday show, including Kevin Owens vs. Ryback in an Intercontinental Title Match

PARKS'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 9/24: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Thursday show, including Kevin Owens & Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler & Ryback

PARKS'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 9/17: Ongoing coverage of the Thursday night show, including Seth Rollins & Sheamus vs. Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns