Fiesta Del Ziggler.
The 723rd edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown came to you from the Colonial Life Arena on the campus of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. SmackDown would be the home of Fiesta Del Rio as World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio would celebrate himself just a few weeks before he defends the gold against Dolph Ziggler. The rivalry between Sheamus and Damien Sandow would be taken to a new and more extreme level as “The Celtic Warrior” would face “The Intellectual Savior of the Masses” in a brutal and lawless Dublin Street Fight! After claiming no responsibility for Brock Lesnar’s attack on CM Punk last week, Paul Heyman would have to answer to The Miz as “The Awesome One” welcomes Heyman to Miz TV! After tapping out to an extreme variation of the No Lock of Daniel Bryan on RAW, Randy Orton would target Daniel Bryan’s former tag team partner as “The Viper” would go one-on-one with “The Big Red Monster” Kane just two weeks before they are both part of Money-in-the-Bank All-Stars. After Jimmy & Jey Uso saved him from a beat down from The Shield on Main Event, “Captain Charisma” Christian would team with the new #1 Contenders for the WWE Tag Team Titles, Jimmy & Jey Uso, to face The Shield, United States Champion Dean Ambrose and WWE Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns, in a 6-Man Tag Match.
Match Results
- Dublin Street Fight: Sheamus def. Damien Sandow by pin following the Brogue Kick.
- Non-Title: Natalya (with Kaitlyn) def. AJ Lee by roll-up.
- Randy Orton (with Daniel Bryan) def. Kane by pin following the RKO.
- Ryback def. Justin Gabriel by pin following Shell Shocked.
- 6-Man Tag: Christian and Jimmy & Jey Uso def. The Shield by Christian pinning Dean Ambrose following the Spear.
Detailed Results
The packed Friday night kicks off with a down and dirty Dublin Street Fight as “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus would go one-on-one with “The Intellectual Savior of the Masses” Damien Sandow with no disqualifications and no count-outs and with Irish-themed items available to use! It would not take long for the match to get brutal as Sheamus would take Damien Sandow to the outside and after taking a pummeling from Sheamus, Damien Sandow would begin to show his vicious side, sending Sheamus shoulder-first into the ring post and delivering a hip-toss into a tap table. Sheamus would battle back, however, tossing a keg into the chest of Damien Sandow and waylaying Sandow with a sack of potatoes! Later on in the match, Damien Sandow would toss green kendo sticks into the ring, but the time Sandow took would allow Sheamus to grab a green bar stool, using it against Sandow to get the advantage in the match. The advantage would be short-lived, however, as Sandow uses a steel chair, driving into the mid-section of Sheamus, nearly picking up the victory from the shot. Sandow follows this up by dropping Sheamus face-first into the steel chair, which was set upside down. Sandow would then hit the Terminus, but Sheamus would kick out and the intellectual Superstar would wear Sheamus out with kendo stick shots, but “The Celtic Warrior” would still refuse to lose. Beaten and battered, Sheamus would toss a steel chair into the face of Damien Sandow, allowing Sheamus to get his hands on a kendo stick, using it to bust Sandow up. Sheamus then sets up two steel chairs in the center of the ring and, after failing to drop Sandow on the steel with White Noise, “The Celtic Warrior” would crack Sandow with a kendo stick, forcing Sandow to plop down in the seated position on the chairs and Sheamus would topple Sandow with the Brogue Kick, pinning Sandow to pick up the hard-fought victory!
Backstage, Daniel Bryan confronts his former tag team partner, Kane, who says that he does not want to hear Daniel Bryan brag about his win over Randy Orton on RAW. Kane does congratulate Bryan, however, saying that Bryan’s win was an “upset” and Bryan argues that the only upset was that he did not get the job done the first time. Bryan then says that he did not need Kane’s help on RAW, but he will help Kane in his match against Randy Orton when he is on commentary. Bryan then forces a hug on a seething Kane.
After seemingly convincing CM Punk that he had nothing to do with Brock Lesnar’s attack on last week’s RAW, the conniving Paul Heyman would have to answer to “The Awesome One” as The Miz welcomes Heyman to Miz TV. After introducing his guest, The Miz says that Paul Heyman always has an “answer for everything”, but when Miz asked Heyman about his suggestion of a CM Punk and Brock Lesnar tag team on RAW, Heyman says that he is not out there to discuss his “personal life”. The Miz fires back, saying that, last week, Renee Young didn’t want to talk about her personal life, but Heyman still drug Renee’s personal past into the spotlight. The Miz then dares Heyman to “bully” him like Heyman did to Renee. Heyman immediately begins to sweat The Miz, saying that he is just an “advocate” and would not dream of attempting to bully a former WWE Champion like The Miz. Instead, Heyman introduces a man who can bully The Miz, his client, the Intercontinental Champion, Curtis Axel. With Axel in the ring, The Miz says that he thinks that Heyman is lying about his involvement with Brock Lesnar’s attack on CM Punk, but that is not his concern right now, saying that the Intercontinental Champion is on his show, uninvited. Heyman says that he is a guest on Miz TV and Curtis Axel is his guest, but suggests that The Miz is too “intimidated” to question Heyman with Curtis Axel in the ring. The Miz asks Curtis Axel how the third-generation star will fit into the Paul Heyman mold once he takes the Intercontinental Title away from him. Curtis says that he is very possessive of the Intercontinental Title and he takes The Miz’s threats very “personally”. The Miz then gets in the Intercontinental Champion’s face, challenging him to defend the gold against him right now! However, Heyman steps in, saying that his clients do not “fight for free” and Curtis Axel does not defend the title on an “impromptu basis”. When The Miz gets in the face of Paul Heyman, Curtis Axel spots his chance to strike, kicking The Miz in the knee and dropping “The Awesome One” with the Axel Cutter!
Following her mockery of Kaitlyn on RAW, the Divas Champion was in action on SmackDown as AJ Lee, with Big E. Langston in her corner, went one-on-one with Natalya in a non-title match. However, before the match begins, Kaitlyn skips out to the stage, doing her best AJ Lee impersonation, claiming that, in addition to CM Punk, Kane, Daniel Bryan, and Dolph Ziggler, AJ has also had relationships with WWE’s Timekeeper, Mark Yeaton, and WWE’s ringside physician Dr. Sampson, as well as SmackDown Ring Announcer Lilian Garcia! The match would then get underway and, during the match, Kaitlyn would skip around ringside and, unlike AJ Lee’s distraction on RAW, Kaitlyn’s distraction would succeed as Natalya would roll AJ Lee up, pinning the Divas Champion for the win! After the match, Kaitlyn would get a measure of payback, blasting the Divas Champion with the Spear.
Backstage, SmackDown Senior Advisor Theodore Long is confronted by WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon, who asks about the participants for the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match and Theodore Long says that he wanted to think outside the box and focus on the future of the WWE. Long then reveals to the Chairman that the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match will feature Wade Barrett, Jack Swagger, Antonio Cesaro, Fandango, Dean Ambrose, Cody Rhodes, & Damien Sandow with the winner earning a guaranteed shot at the World Heavyweight Title!
With Daniel Bryan a guest on commentary, “The Big Red Monster” Kane would go one-on-one with the man that Daniel Bryan defeated on RAW, “The Viper” Randy Orton. During the match, Kane would get knocked to the outside and while Kane took a moment to compose himself, Daniel Bryan would decide to “help” his former partner, sending Kane back into the ring and right into the RKO from Randy Orton en route to Orton picking up the win! However, Daniel Bryan did not appear upset over costing Kane the match as Bryan smiles all the way up the ramp.
Just over two weeks before he faces Chris Jericho at Money-in-the-Bank, Ryback was in action on SmackDown as “The Sin City Cyborg” faced Justin Gabriel. Justin Gabriel would work over the leg of Ryback throughout the match, but Ryback would power through, dropping Gabriel with Shell Shocked en route to picking up the win. After the match, Chris Jericho rushes out, feigning concern for Ryback’s injured leg before suggesting that, given all of the complaining he does, he should change his name to “Cryback”! Jericho then rushes the ring, targeting the injured leg of Ryback, but “The Sin City Cyborg” narrowly escapes, making a quick exit from the ring.
After targeting Christian on last week’s SmackDown and on Wednesday’s Main Event, “Captain Charisma” would enlist the help of Jimmy & Jey Uso to face The Shield, United States Champion Dean Ambrose and WWE Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns, in a 6-Man Tag Match. In the end, it was Christian hitting the Spear on Dean Ambrose, picking up a rare 6-Man Tag victory over The Shield for Christian and Jimmy & Jey Uso!
Then it was time for World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio’s celebration of himself as Del Rio, along with Ricardo Rodriguez, would present Fiesta Del Rio, complete with a mariachi band and a piñata! Del Rio says that they are out there to celebrate that he is the World Heavyweight Champion and he is going to do things his way. The champion then states that, for his fiesta, he is going to only speak Spanish. After doing a promo in Spanish, the World Heavyweight Champion then decides to get down to playing some “games”. With that, Del Rio targets the Dolph Ziggler piñata, busting the piñata open and saying that he busted open that piñata just like he bashed in Dolph Ziggler’s brains at Payback. Del Rio then vows to do the same thing in two weeks at Money-in-the-Bank, saying he will retain the World Heavyweight Title. Del Rio then says that Dolph Ziggler promised to crash his fiesta before actually daring the #1 Contender to come out and face him. Ziggler does just that, taking his time in getting to the ring before brawling with the World Heavyweight Champion! After tossing Ricardo Rodriguez out of the ring, Dolph takes it to Del Rio and, when Rodriguez tries to come off of the top rope, Ziggler grabs Rodriguez, tossing Ricardo off of the top and through a table filled with chips and salsa! Dolph then drops Del Rio with the Zig Zag, but the champion narrowly escapes a guitar shot from Ziggler, which results in Dolph smashing the guitar across the face of Ricardo Rodriguez! As the mariachi band plays, Dolph Ziggler enjoys his own fiesta.
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