Posted in: Smackdown
The Smackdown! Report (08/27/15) - The Return of the Dudley Boyz!
By Uncle Leo
Aug 27, 2015 - 11:23:49 PM

Welcome everyone to the Smackdown Report!

My name is Uncle Leo and I'm here to deliver you your Smackdown report each and every week here on Lords of Pain! Follow me on Twitter here -->

The weather in New York was gorgeous today. Hopefully y'all went out and spent some time outside...and didn't work a thirteen hour day like yours truly. But anyways, it’s Thursday night, which means it’s time for some Smackdown action! Let’s start smacking…

The Smackdown Report!
August 27th, 2015


Opening Moments
Smackdown starts with its opening credits and we see the crowd in Providence, Rhode Island, still buzzed after an incredible, three-night WWE extravaganza featuring nXt TakeOver, Summerslam, and Monday Night Raw. We see a still photo that's advertising the in-ring return of The Dudley Boyz.

Opening Segment: The Wyatt Family Speak
Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Braun Strowman -- the newest Wyatt Family member -- stand in the center of the ring, with a tinted light shining on them. Harper tells us that we're dead and don't even know it because of all the lies that we've been fed and that Wyatt's truth will bring us new life. Wyatt speaks now and says that he's tired of Reigns throwing out words like family and brother. Wyatt mentions Sister Abigail and says that she provided him a savior when he thought he was down and out. He believes that Sister Abigail has sent Strowman to him and now he can lead him on his path. He calls himself The New Face of Evil, Harper The New Face of Desolation, and Strowman The New Face of Destruction.

Reigns and Ambrose interrupt this intimate family moment and walk through the fans as Roman's music, stopping outside the ring. Reigns says that they got their ass whipped, but if they're going down...they're going down swinging. Ambrose says he'll take the ugly one and they run into the ring. An intense staredown between the three Wyatt Family members and the two former Shield brethren. Of course, Wyatt and company escape, while he yells "I'm already inside."

Thoughts: This was a solid opening segment. I thought that by putting this out first, it makes this storyline all that much more important. I'm thrilled for Strowman, as well as Wyatt & Harper. Could this be the start a new push for them? Time will tell. If it were me, I'd eventually put the Tag Team Titles on Strowman & Harper and then put the United States or Intercontinental title on Wyatt. Let it be a natural and gradual build. Don't rush into anything. There are plenty of superstars that these three men can feud with before getting the gold just yet. As for Reigns and Ambrose, I'm fine with this feud continuing. I'm interested to see if they'll bring in a third guy to partner with Reigns and Ambrose. Would be a great way to introduce another nXt superstar and have him tag team with two upper-midcarders. Overall, though, this wasn't a memorable segment, but a good introduction for sure.

It looks like we have a new play-by-play commentator on Smackdown -- Rich Brennan from nXt. Welcome and congratulations on the promotion! We get a still for our main event -- Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus.

Match One: The Dudley Boyz vs. The Ascension
After a warm welcome, the bell rings and Bubba Ray and Konnor start things off. After Bubba Ray reminds Konnor who he is, Konnor tries his best to get some offensive in but is unsuccessful. Devon tags in and both Dudleys knock Konnor down with a shoulder. Viktor tags in, but Devon sends him down. Bubba Ray tags in and the Dudleyz execute a nice double-team maneuver. Bubba Ray hits some jabs and knocks Viktor down. Bubba Ray sets him up for the WHATSSSSAAPPPPPP Headbutt and Devon goes flying from the top turnbuckle and connects.

Bubba Ray pushes Devon and says, DEVON...GET THE TABLES!! As Devon grabs a table, Konnor knocks him down. Bubba Ray, inside the ring, turns around and gets hit with an STO. Nice double team work by The Ascension, but only get a 2 count. Devon gets in and knocks Konnor around the ring. The match wraps up with Bubba Ray tagging in and Devon double clothesline them. The Dudleys set Konnor up and hit him with the 3D for the win!

Winners via Pinfall: The Dudley Boyz

After the match, the Dudleys try to set a table up in the ring, but New Day comes out and protest the breakage of furniture. They don't listen to New Day, and Bubba Ray hits a flying powerbomb on Konnor through the table.

Thoughts: Fun match between the two teams. Poor Ascension. They were something in nXt. Good for the Dudleys for coming back with a vengeance. They're over and they look like they're having fun. This feud between the Dudleys and the New Day is going to be great. If you haven't watched Michael Cole's interview with them, then I suggest you go and watch it.

Match Two: Neville vs. Kevin Owens
After they quickly lock up with each other, the referee separates them, but Owens manages to clothesline Neville down on the outside. Owens hits what looks like a reversed F5/neckbreaker that looked pretty sick. The announcers were surprised that the match didn't end three minutes in.

After the commercial, the match went back-and-forth between the two. Owens hit a Senton, Neville followed it with a Springboard Missile Dropkick, a German Suplex, and a Superkick. As Neville was about to hit the Red Arrow, Owens got up, causing Neville to reconsider. It was too late, however, as Owens hit a Superkick of his own. One Pop-Up Powerbomb later and Kevin Owens has won the match.

Winner via Pinfall: Kevin Owens

Thoughts: The right man won the match here tonight. This was a short, but fun match between the former nXt World Champions. I hope we see them face off again, but with a lot more time.

After the match, we see a brief backstage segment between The Bellas & Charlotte/Becky. The Bellas are continuing to try and break Team PCB up. Their attempt doesn't seem to work...for now.

Match Three: Nikki & Brie Bella vs. Charlotte & Becky Lynch
Sitting in for commentary are all three members of Team B.A.D. and in a humorous moment, we find out that Jimmy Uso has decided to sit this one out due to his wife being in Team B.A.D. Becky and Charlotte double team Nikki down to the mat, but The Bellas return the favor as they knock Becky down to the mat. Becky hits three leg drops, as Charlotte tags in. Charlotte goes for the Flair Knee Drop, but misses. Brie works on the injured knee, but Charlotte knocks both Bellas out of the ring. Becky almost gets tagged in, but Nikki sweeps her off the apron and gets a nice forearm in return from Becky. Charlotte, from out of nowhere, traps Brie in a Charlotte's Web pinfall and the referee counts to three.

Winners via Pinfall: Charlotte & Becky Lynch

Thoughts: Another quick match on Smackdown. When will these ladies have an actual storyline? All they're doing is battling in the ring, which is giving us women's in-ring action...but what about the story, the entertainment, and the drama? Some Divas Revolution...the WWE better get its act together and make something of this great opportunity.

In-Ring Segment: Seth Rollins Speaks
It's official! We will see Seth Rollins defend his WWE Championship against Sting at Night of Champions! He begins by saying that last Monday Night, on RAW, was supposed to be one of the greatest nights in his career. A statue with his likeness was going to be shown to the world. Rollins goes on and on and on about all of his great accomplishments. He says that him beating John Cena should be a national holiday. Rollins finally addresses Sting and calls him jealous and insults his career. He says that he has sat at the top of the mountain for years, while Sting has toiled in the minor leagues. Is that a TNA reference I hear?

Rollins says he's not scared of a man who wears face paint and carries a baseball bat. Rollins reveals that he begged Triple H for this match because Triple H regrets not finishing Sting off when he had the chance at Wrestlemania. Seth Rollins closes by saying that he will crush Sting's old bones to dust.

Thoughts: Seth Rollins constantly delivers with his promos each and every week. He does have a tendency to ramble on, but tonight's promo was short and sweet. What a great idea to have it be Rollins who begged for the match. Hopefully the days of him being scared of his challengers are long gone. They did nothing for him except make him look weak. I'm very happy to see Rollins face Sting for the title. I don't really care that Sting hasn't had a match since his lossWrestlemania. He's Sting. Who cares? He's been made a big deal and that's it. Ideally, he should've won at Wrestlemania since that would've feuled this particular fued, but that's neither here nor there. It is what it is and what's done is done. I'm excited to see how this rivalry builds up. It should be a good one!

Match Four: Ryback & Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev & Big Show
Big Show takes it to Ryback and sends him down with a huge spear. Ryback, though, takes Big Show down after getting out of a chokeslam, but Big Show takes him down with another spear. Rusev reaches and tags himself in, while Big Show doesn't seem to be too pleased about it.

Back from the commercial break, Rusev is still working on Ryback as the fans chant for Ziggler. Both Big Show & Ziggler tag in and Ziggler gets caught trying to knock Show down, but Ziggler reverses and hits a huge DDT and Superkick. Despite any and all attempts, Ziggler gets blindsided with the K.O. Punch. Just as he's going to go for the pin, Rusev tags himself in again. Rusev takes advantage of this and locks Ziggler into The Accolade. But the Big Show gets involved and hits the K.O. Punch to Rusev!!! Ziggler crawls on top of Rusev and pins him for the victory!

Winners via Pinfall: Ryback & Dolph Ziggler

Thoughts: This Smackdown has been filled with short matches. Anyways, we continue to see more teases for Big Show’s inevitable Face turn. Joy. Another turn for this guy. Like who constantly thinks about turning him back and forth? Back to the match, the tension between Show and Rusev kept building and eventually exploded towards the end of the match as Show hit the K.O. Punch on Rusev.

Recap Time: Brock Lesnar/Bo Dallas & Stewart/Cena
We’ve all seen Brock Lesnar murder Bo Dallas on RAW. I watched it on replay. It was glorious. We’ve obviously also seen Jon Stewart screwing John Cena at Summerslam, followed by the in-ring segment from RAW where Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment on Stewart.

Main Event: Sheamus vs. Dean Ambrose
The match starts off strong with Sheamus on the offense. The match spills onto the outside, as Ambrose throws Sheamus's head against the announcer's table. Ambrose goes crazy, rolling Sheamus into the ring, just to clothesline him back out. Ambrose jumps on the table and knocks Sheamus down with a hard elbow.

We come back from commercial to Sheamus in control. This has been a great, fast-paced match. Sheamus sets Ambrose up and hits him a suplex. After, Sheamus locks in an impressive submission hold targeting Ambrose's knee, but Ambrose sits up and fights back...but Sheamus counters and hits a sit-down powerbomb. Sheamus sets Ambrose up on the apron this time and delivers six heavy punches to Ambrose's chest. Ambrose fights back with punches of his own onto Sheamus's chest. Sheamus sends Ambrose flying off the apron. Sheamus sends Amrbose into the ring, but he rebounds and hits the Irishman with a clotheline. Ambrose is giving it all he has and knocks him down a few times and sends him right into the steel ring post, right before flying out of the ring and goes head first into Sheamus. Sheamus misses a Brogue Kick and Ambrose almost hits the Dirty Deeds before Sheamus gets out of it.

Just as Ambrose gets a chance to end the match, Bray Wyatt's image shows up and the lights go out. When they come back on, the Wyatt Family surround the ring. But that's enough of a distraction for Sheamnus to hit the Brogue Kick and win the match.

Winner via Pinfall: Sheamus

After the match, the Wyatt Family climb into the ring. Reigns runs out and knocks Harper down to the floor. He gets into the ring and stares Braun Strowman down. Reigns uppercuts him three times, but nothing happens. Strowman grabs Reigns by the jaw, life him up, and sends him face first into the mat. Strowman finishes Reigns off like he did on RAW with that intense submission hold. Strowman plants Reigns down for a finisher that hasn't been named yet. Bray Wyatt tells us to "Follow the Buzzards" as we fade out.

Main Event + Overall Thoughts: A very entertaining, fast-paced match. This match never got boring, which is great because I always get bored when Sheamus is in the ring. A great conclusion to this main event match. I figured the Wyatt Family would have something to do with it.

Overall, I really thought this was a good episode of Smackdown. It started and ended with the Wyatt Family, which is superb. If only they were shown more on RAW too. Sandwiched in the middle was Seth Rollins delivering a great promo. The rest of the show was filled with quick matches and the in-ring return for the Dudley Boyz. I give this show a B+

That’s all for me, folks. Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment below about your thoughts on Smackdown, this Report, or anything else you’d like.

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Well, until next time, smack you later.