Post by Slade on Dec 17, 2020 7:14:38 GMT -5
Date: December 11, 2020
From: KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York
Commentary Team: Michael Cole, Tony Schiavone and Paul Heyman
Ring Announcer: Lillian Garcia
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JOHN CENA vs. REY FÉNIX
We kick off the evening with John Cena’s entrance. He has a first-round match against Rey Fénix of the Lucha Brothers. Fénix is exceptionally fast and very exciting to watch. It is hard for Cena to keep up, but he never gives up. Eventually, he finds a way to counter a diving hurricanrana attempt into a powerbomb and then builds a comeback. Fénix shows his resilience by refusing to give up on the match. He escapes an Attitude Adjustment attempt to land on his feet and hit Cena with a superkick. Fénix takes control for the next little bit, but Cena won’t stay down. After a late match back-and-forth sequence of big, impactful moves and multiple pinfall attempts by both men, Cena blocks a frankensteiner attempt, performs a diving crossbody, a spin-out powerbomb, five knuckle shuffle and attitude adjustment to get the win. (15:38)
Winner: John Cena
***
Jonathan Coachman is standing by with Hulk Hogan. Coach asks him for reaction to the news that Roman Reigns will not be competing in the WWE Universal Championship tournament after having suffered cracked ribs at the hands of WALTER and Imperium in last week’s main event. Hogan tells Coach that it is terrible news and he wishes Reigns a speedy recovery. He also tells all the Hulkamaniacs that Imperium will not get away with these actions. If WALTER thinks he can injure every WWE Superstar on his way to the title, he’s going to learn the hard way that Hulkamania will run wild on him.
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D-VON DUDLEY vs. BOBBY ROODE
D-Von Dudley makes his first appearance on Smackdown since the relaunch of the WWE. He is joined by his brother Bubba Ray for this match against the “Glorious” Bobby Roode, whose cocky attitude gets him into trouble a few minutes into the match. A rally by D-Von makes it look like he will pull out the win, but Bobby Roode steps out of the way of a diving shoulder tackle off the turnbuckle and gives D-Von the Glorious DDT as he tries to get up. (6:14)
Winner: Bobby Roode
***
HARLEM HEAT vs. THE HYBRID 2
Booker T and Stevie Ray overcame Jack Evans and Angelico’s underhanded methods of trying to score a win when they executed the Towering Inferno on Jack Evans. Booker T pinned him for the win as Stevie Ray made sure Angelico was unable to make the save. (11:17)
Winners: Harlem Heat
***
Mash-Up Wrestling Women’s World Champion Asuka makes a surprise appearance this week when she enters the KeyBank Center. She walks right into the ring and gives Nikki Bella a message. She’s here. This is the time and this the place for Nikki Bella to try to prove that she can beat Asuka – but guess what! Nobody can beat Asuka! Rhea Ripley comes out, walks right up to Asuka, looks her right in the eye and tells her if she wants a real challenge, then she’s looking at her. Asuka is ready to fight, but Jazz comes out and says that Ripley isn’t ready to take on Asuka. It takes the baddest bitch, and she is it. Finally, the Bella Twins appear. Nikki tells Ripley and Jazz not to get any bright ideas. Asuka is here to lose to her, not one of them, and besides she is the rightful champion. Nikki is laughed at. Brie defends her sister, and in so doing, personally insults Jazz, which gets her a slap in the face. A brawl breaks out. One-by-one, the women are knocked out of the ring until only Asuka remains, left to taunt all her would-be challengers. Officials come out to prevent anything more from taking place.
When returning from commercial break, Tony Schiavone announces that tonight’s main event will be a triple threat match to determine a #1 contender for the MUW Women’s World Championship between Nikki Bella, Rhea Ripley and Jazz. The winner will challenge Asuka for the title on the special Christmas Day episode of Fright Night Smackdown.
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JASON JORDAN vs. JOHN MORRISON
Jordan and Morrison start out slowly by trading holds. Jordan has the slight advantage here, but Morrison picks up the pace and takes control. Jordan eventually gets control after dropkicking Morrison out of mid-air. When Morrison regains control, he executes Moonlight Drive, a running knee to the back of the head, a springboard moonsault and a standing shooting star press. Jordan kicks out each time. Out of frustration, Morrison removes a middle rope turnbuckle when the referee isn’t looking. Jordan gets yet another come back and this time, he moves quickly to execute German and overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. Morrison escapes an attempted Olympic slam and then gives Jordan a drop toehold that sends his face slamming into the exposed turnbuckle. After that, Morrison executes Starship Pain and pins him for the win. (10:53)
Winner: John Morrison
***
AJ Styles vs. Marcel Barthel
AJ Styles gave Marcel Barthel a phenomenal forearm and then put him in the calf crusher, forcing him to submit. While celebrating his win, Styles is attacked by Barthel’s tag team partner, Fabian Aichner. The two-on-one beat down ends with Aichner and Barthel giving him a powerbomb and diving European uppercut combo. While they admire their dirty work, Hulk Hogan rushes out to the ring. Even though they have the numbers advantage, Aichner and Barthel bail out of the ring as Hogan enters. With Imperium in retreat, Hogan pops the crowd with a pose down. (9:13)
Winner: AJ Styles
***
Jonathan Coachman catches up with American Alpha backstage. Chad Gable and Jason Jordan have some choice words for The Miz and John Morrison, who both cheated in order to defeat them in the first round of the tournament. They want rematches, but of course, because of the tournament format, they know they can’t have them, so they challenge them to a tag team match next week.
***
RHEA RIPLEY vs. JAZZ vs. NIKKI BELLA
Each woman comes close to winning the match with Jazz putting Bella in the Bitch Lock, Rhea Ripley putting Jazz in the Prism Trap, and Nikki Bella putting Ripley in the Fearless Lock. However, on each occasion, the third woman in the match broke up the submission hold. Things got heated between Asuka and Ripley. Asuka joined the commentary team at ringside for the match. Ripley takes offense to something Asuka said or did so she puts the palm of her hand in Asuka’s face and shoves her out of her chair. Asuka gets up right away and gets into a physical altercation with Ripley. The referee leaves the ring to deal with it. The altercation only ends after Asuka spits mist in Ripley’s face and then whips her into the ring steps. As that is happening, Brie slides Nikki a chair. She lifts it over her head to swing at Jazz, but gets a kick to the abdomen instead. Nikki drops the chair and Jazz gives her a Jazz Stinger on it. She rolls Jazz over and pins her, but then Brie comes into the ring, grabs the chairs and hits Jazz across the back with it. Then, she gives Jazz a Bella Buster on the chair and puts Nikki on top of Jazz for the pin. She hops out of the ring, gets the referee’s attention, and he returns to count the pinfall.
Winner: Nikki Bella
***