11/10 WWE Smackdown in Cardiff, Wales (3rd report): Rhyno & Slater vs. Breezango vs. Usos, Natalya & Carmella vs. Naomi & Nikki, Bliss vs. Lynch

WWE SMACKDOWN LIVE EVENT
NOVEMBER 10, 2016
CARDIFF, WALES
REPORT BY LLOYD BARRETT, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

Show Opens up with Daniel Bryan on screen welcoming us to the show and cuts to the Smackdown Live intro.

(1) Rhyno & Heath Slater vs. Breezeango vs. The Usos in a Smackdown Tag Team Championship match. Rhyno and Slater out first to a decent pop,Breezeango out next to a mixed to negative reaction followed by The Uso’s who generated major heel heat. Slater and Fandango start the match with a few dancing comedy spots. Comedy used frequently throughout the match with The Uso’s used to counter that,finish of the match everyone trades superkicks leaving Rhyno and Jey Uso in the ring Rhyno hits the gore for the win.

(2) Curt Hawkins vs. Apollo Crews. Hawkins out to minimal response, pretty sure some people weren’t actually aware of who he was. Crews makes his way to the ring to a decent reception. Crowd really were not in to this pretty much zero response for anything going on, Hawkins spent the majority of the match running from Crews. After several reversals Crews hits the spinning powerbomb on Hawkins,snoozefest!

(3) Baron Corbin vs. Jack Swagger. Corbin out first to some boos but most of the adults in the crowd cheered was also selling the leg injury from this weeks tv, Swagger up next to the usual we the people pops but nothing to get excited about. Shoulder block exchange to start the match to assert dominance which Swagger came out on top, Corbin eventually gets on top and works over Swagger on the outside throwing him in to the crowd and in to the steel guard rail. Corbin continues the attack by hitting Swagger’s head on the apron several times and continuously breaking up the count by sliding in and out of the ring. Finish of the match comes when Swagger locks the patriot lock on Corbin he eventually breaks this up but sells the injured leg, not entirely sure what causes it but the ref is distracted Corbin pokes Swagger in the eye followed up by the end of days for the win, good physical match Baron Corbin is a fantastic heel and really worked this match well also continued to sell the injury during his celebration.

(4) Natalya & Carmella vs. Naomi & Nikki Belle. Nattie is first to come to the ring and gets a reasonably strong reaction, Carmella out and to some decent heel heat, Naomi up next think her entrance is far more over than her and was sort of a mixed response, Finally Nikki in gets a major pop and was super over. Match starts with Carmella refusing to get in the ring with Nikki and Nikki starts a chicken chant which was a recurring theme throughout the match. Basic back and forth nothing to get too excited about, crowd popped when Nikki was eventually able to get her hands on Carmella hit the Rack Attack 2.0 on Carmella for the win. Nikki & Naomi celebrate with fans after the match.

(5) The Miz (w/Maryse) vs. Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship. Miz out with Maryse to a sea of boos,Ziggler up next with a very good reaction from the crowd. This match was solid start to finish with really solid in ring work which shocked me seeing how these guys have been fighting each other every night for forever. Towards the end of the match Miz locked in the figure four and had Ziggler in it for several minutes before they traded trying to lock the hold on eachother when Ziggler finally broke out he hit Miz with a famouser,Miz kicks out at 2. Maryse then sprays Dolph in the eyes and Miz hits the skull crushing finale on Dolph however before he can make the cover Smackdown Live GM Daniel Bryan makes his way to the ring to a thunderous pop! Bryan tells the referee what went down and throws Maryse out of the match, whilst Miz is distracted Ziggler gets to his feet and hits him with sweet chin music for the win. Post match Ziggler and Bryan celebrate and lead a yes chant in to the intermission. Really really enjoyed this felt like id seen something special even though it was at a live event.

Intermission

Merch stand sucked. Apparently if you aren’t built like a 12 year old you can’t buy a Dean Ambrose shirt and they had no American Alpha shirts, so I bought a Booty O’s Lunch Box (why not?) and a Connor’s Cure bracelet. Waited in line for a hot dog for near enough 10 minutes for a hot dog. They sold out, life sucks!

(6) Hype Bros vs. The Vaudevillans. Hype Bros were out to a reasonable reaction,Vaudevillans should of stayed home. Pretty dull match,Aiden English sang a bit,some back and forth not actually who got the fall in this match as honestly I didn’t care. Sorry

Ascension out and I think some people thought their entrance music was still part of the Hype Bros,Viktor says they were going to send Hype Bros to the wasteland but Cardiff is the biggest wasteland in the uk. They challenge The Hype Bros to a match and ambush them.

(7) Hype Bros vs. The Ascension. Somewhere during the ambush the match started, no idea what really happened as I didn’t really pay much attention. Ryder rolled up a member of the Ascension for the win in about 90 seconds. On a side note didn’t realise just how much the Hype Bros theme actually says the word bro.

(8) Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Alexa makes her way to the ring first to a surprisingly quiet reaction I was expecting her to have more heat on her as her work recently has been great, she had her arm taped to sell the injury from this weeks tv. Becky Lynch out next to a fairly big pop. Match felt quite slow and not as good as a lot of there recent work which disappointed me although it was a house show I felt everyone still brought it to a reasonable level but this felt phoned in and a bit sloppy nothing major to report. Becky Lynch won with the disarmher.

(9) Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper & Randy Orton vs. American Alpha & Kane. Bray and Harper out first to a pretty good reaction, was a very unique and cool experience to witness the “fireflies” live. Orton was up next with arguably the pop of the night, he was majorly over and people were still majorly in to him despite his alliance with the Wyatts. American Alpha out next to a nice little pop and fans seemed very happy they were involved in this match followed by Kane who is still very much respected by the fans for his work. Chad Gable carried a lot of the early going and really showed what a great talent his going up against Wyatt and Harper. They kept teasing the Orton tag when he eventually got in there was a huge cheer for him only to tag back out. The finish came when Kane went for a double chokeslam on Randy & Bray however Harper broke it up,Alpha got in the ring and Orton hit Jordan with an RKO while Bray delivered sister Abigail to Chad Gable,Kane cleared the ring to leave himself and Harper and hit the chokeslam for the win. Very fun match all the guys seemed to be enjoying it and crowd was really in to it.

(10) Dean Ambrose vs. A.J. Styles for the WWE World Championship. The challenger Ambrose is out first, he receives a very strong reaction. The champion AJ Styles up next again gets a very good reaction from the crowd,his t shirt actually sold out at this event I overheard at the merch stand. During the introductions Styles asks to be referred to as the face that runs the place,the champ that runs the camp and the heel that runs the deal. Before the match starts James Ellsworth is announced as the special guest timekeeper to a huge reaction. Very good back and forth match with both guys getting all there big stuff in with a very split crowd, at one point Ambrose hit a suicide dive in to the crowd on Styles which was very cool. Towards the latter of the match Ellsworth tried to get involved however he was taken out by A.J. Next Styles hit a Styles Clash on Ambrose which he kicked out of. The finish came when Styles removed the turnbuckle pad however Ambrose began to gain momentum Styles left the ring and grabbed a mic and said he was leaving and to count him out. Whilst Dean was fighting with the ref to get at A.J., he got back in to the ring shoving Ambrose in to the exposed turnbuckle and rolling him up for the win. Following the match Ellsworth got in the ring to confront A.J. Styles goes to attack James Ellsworth but however is stopped by Ambrose. James Ellsworth his no chin music on Styles who falls in to the dirty deeds, Ambrose and Ellsworth celebrate to close the show.

NOW CHECK OUT A PREVIOUS REPORT ON THIS SAME EVENT HERE: 11/10 WWE Smackdown in Cardiff, Wales: James Ellsworth joins main event as guest time keeper for Styles vs. Ambrose, plus Lynch vs. Bliss, Crews vs. Hawkins