Smackdown Thread

Daniel Bryan is walking backstage when he rolls into an interview. He says what just happened is an interesting situation but he doesn't have a comment. Owens and Zayn show up and KO says they know they're getting ripped limb from limb tonight, and Sami reminds him how valuable they are and says firing them will be the biggest mistake he's ever made.

Bryan wishes them luck and takes his leave

Shane McMahon makes his entrance. He says Lexington, Kentucky bleeds blue, but he knows two superstars who don't. Last week he was in the process of firing Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn because they've openly said they have no respect for anyone on SmackDown, in the office, or in the crowds. So, he was looking forward to firing them, and then Daniel Bryan had an idea.

On paper putting them in a lumberjack match was an amazing idea, because they'd take their beating and then Bryan would fire them both, but that didn't happen. He and Dan have had numerous conversations and he wants use to hear Bryan's side from his own mouth, and he bids him come to the ring.

Bryan says as a guy who's been fired a few times, he believes in second chances. Admittedly their jealously lead Owens and Zayn to make a terrible decision by interfering at Survivor Series, but Shane's own temperament gets the best of him often enough and he makes mistakes all the time. McMahon says he agrees in this specific case but wants to remind Bryan that KO beat his father unmercifully in this very ring.

Sami Zayn got involved in his match at Hell in a Cell, and those two betrayed the entire SmackDown roster. Check, double check, and triple check. Dan pleads for an understanding that they did those things in the name of grabbing for the brass ring, and he sees real talent in both men, and if they fire them, they'll just end up on Monday Night Raw.

Shane is fine with that and Bryan says he took this job with the understanding that he wouldn't be asked to just be a yes man, and if you want somebody that'll do that, he's not your man. But if you want somebody that can recognize talent and use them to the best of their ability, he's the guy, and he needs to be trusted such that when Shane leaves, he's allowed to make the decisions.

McMahon says he made the decisions and he does applaud Bryan for making the match between Owens and Orton, but he's gonna add to that idea, and Sami Zayn is barred from ringside. Furthermore, the match itself will be no disqualification!

The Hype Bros vs The Bludgeon Brothers: Harper & Rowan take out Mojo, Rowan with an Avlanche to Ryder then whips him into Harper, who catches Zack with The Truck Stop, then they finish Ryder with The T Gimmick for the win

Hype Bros are interviewed and Ryder says it was a year ago since they were a top tag team and that feels like an entire lifetime ago, the entire landscape on Smackdown has changed and they need to change too. The only way-- MOJO ATTACKS HIM FROM BEHIND! HE KICKS HIS PARTNER WHILE HE'S DOWN AND SCREAMS ABOUT HOW THE HYPE BROS ARE DEAD! GROUNDED PUNCHES AS THE BEATING CONTINUES AND HE SLAMS ZACK'S HEAD INTO THE MAT!

Referee Charles Robinson tries to back him off but Rawley won't stop! Referee Dan Engler comes to the ring and they pull him off but not until he gets another round of beatdown in

AJ Styles vs The Bollywood Boyz: the Bollywoods with a Double Suplex and repeated covers for 2 counts, Avalanche Rana, but AJ blocks and this is where the Bollywoods don't want to be as AJ with an Avalanche Styles Clash landing on top of the other Bollywood Boy, AJ covers for the win

Mahal attacks but AJ is a step ahead and manages to get out of the ring and leave him fuming!

After the Phenomenal One takes his leave, Jinder hits Khallas on one of the Singhs! He waits for the other to wake up a little and hits it on him as well!

Commentary hypes up Owens/Orton some more and we go backstage for an interview with Riott, Logan, and Morgan. Ruby reminds anyone who may have forgot of their names and say they go by the Riot Squad. Liv says the Queen might be a bit foggy on that and Ruby says Becky Lynch is probably still in traction in Houston, and they're here to turn the women's division upside down.

Liv Morgan is a firecracker, about to go off at any moment, and Sarah Logan is the grittiest southern belle she's ever met. Sarah says she came from a family of hunters and they're bagging three big game trophies tonight. Riott says Charlotte, Natalya and Naomi better be ready, because they're going to experience a riot

On we go to the new Fashion Files, where Breezango are chained up in a dingy bathroom somewhere opposite the Ascension. Konnor says they'll get out of there, it's a normal Saturday for them, when they notice a tablet on the wall saying they've been making a mockery of the tag team division and to escape the room they need to destroy what they love most, and they have a minute before poisonous gas fills the room.

They freak out and Fandango motions Tyler to cut him open when the Ascension notice Tully the Stick Horse's head and tear it apart to find the key. Breezango unlock themselves and Ascension offer to sacrifice themselves for their best friends. Breezango run off but Dango comes back for his hat, getting the wastelander's hopes up before toxic gas fills the room and we get a "to be continued" screen.

Live in the arena, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn make their entrance. Owens gets on the mic and welcomes us to the Sami & Kevin Show and Zayn corrects him as usual, suggesting that it be the Kevin & Sami Show. KO says when he's as great an athlete as they are, you never stop learning, and what he's learned over the past few months is that when you're the victim of a McMahon family vendetta, they will stop at nothing to get their pound of flesh.

Just ask Daniel Bryan, right? Or Bret Hart? Or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin! Better yet, just ask them, because let's face it, they're better than any of the guys they just mentioned, and that's why they're the latest objects of the McMahon family wrath. Case in point, last week Shane McMahon, who is supposed to have the WWE Universe's best interests in heart, tried to end Kev's career by way of his vessel of destruction, Randy Orton.

Sami says it's funny, because history repeats itself, and not that long ago it was Stephanie McMahon who used Randy Orton to do his dirty work. Owens talks about how Orton had every door opened for him while they scratched and clawed for everything they got and Shane can't get over how they humiliated him at Hell in a Cell and how he failed at Survivor Series.

Zayn says the embarrassing part is his plan didn't even work, and KO picks it back up saying he knew what he had to do last week when he made the match no disqualification with Sami barred from ringside-- he'd have to beat Randy up so bad he'd no longer be an option for Shane, to show the world he's not afraid of the Viper or the vendetta, and to do that he had to outsmart McMahon.

And, let's be honest, it's that hard to outsmart a man blinded by his own shortcomings like Shane is. Sami says he knows McMahon is born and bred into the business, but even the best of us need a reminder, and right now, he's in the ring. He rolls out and points out that he's outside the ring, what they in the business sometimes call ringside.

At ringside you might see a terrible announce team, ring announcer, bell man, his name might be Steve, an up close look at the WWE Universe, which isn't the most pleasant sight in the world tonight and then, he says as he gets the ramp, right around here, that's something very different. This area is where he laid waste to Randy Orton with a steel chair, and you can call that attack whatever you want, heinous, vicious, cowardly, but you definitely can't say it happened ringside.

Thus, Shane McMahon needs to watch his words more carefully. You want him and Owens to conform to the system, well they'll follow your rules and still win! The crowd maybe doesn't react how he'd like and he doubles down-- RKO OUTTA NOWHERE ON KO IN THE RING! Sami is stunned and Shane McMahon makes his entrance before he can make a break for it!

Shane thanks him for his tutorial as to what is ringside and says he wants to clear a few things up. For one, he doesn't have a personal vendetta against them. And also they felt disrespected for not having anything at Survivor Series? At Clash of Champions he has something for them-- they'll face the duo of the Viper, Randy Orton and a partner of his choosing.

But Sami's so hopped up with energy that he wants to give him something to do tonight, and that's a one-on-one match with... let him think for a second... Randy Orton! Oh, and once Owens gets his faculties about him, he's more than welcome to join him at ringside, in fact he's gonna insist on it, because KO is gonna be handcuffed to the ropes!