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WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Feb. 7, 2017) from the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington featuring the go home show to the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for this coming Sunday night in Phoenix, Arizona.
Advertised for tonight: John Cena vs. Randy Orton, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR FEB. 7
In these days of confusion, you've turned angry and cold. You say it's an illusion, there's no fire in your soul. Say you don't love me, say you don't care, but don't leave me standing here without first reading this here liveblog I'm writing, folks.
Show opens with a hype video setting up John Cena vs. Randy Orton as the obvious WrestleMania title match and hyping up their encounter tonight.
Daniel Bryan kicks off the show proper, Yes!ing his way down the ramp. He talks about having had to make the hardest decision of his life a year ago, and how it's been hard for him since then. But he's grateful for the opportunity to be General Manager of SmackDown, for the opportunity to come to Seattle and give them the best show possible.
And he's grateful that soon, very soon, he'll be a dad.
Enter the Miz, flanked by Maryse as always. He gets on the mic to mock Bryan for being sad about retiring and tells him to do something more suited to his talents, like being a stay at-home dad. He asks why Bryan is even here since he can't wrestle, and Bryan tells him that not being able to wrestle never stopped Miz before.
Miz point-blank tells Bryan that he doesn't respect him, and over raucous chants for Daniel Bryan he tries to say he's gonna do something at Elimination Chamber but they just won't stop. The American Dragon eggs the crowd on and Miz asks if he thinks it's funny, which elicits "Yes!" chants...
Enter Baron Corbin. Corbin tells Miz to shut up and that he talks too much, which Miz says he always talks for a reason, and proposes an alliance at Elimination Chamber. Baron counters with an offer to just take him out right now, so he doesn't have to hear him talk when he's WWE Champion.
Miz asks Bryan to intercede and Daniel deadpan asks Corbin not to punch Miz in the face, saying that it would be terrible.
Enter Dean Ambrose. He tells Miz and Baron they're cute together, but he's gotta be honest, he can't take Miz seriously in his coat, because he looks like a shoe. And Corbin, he's big, he's bad, he's tough, he stole the motorcycle sound from his music, but he's got a long way to go yet.
Dean's gonna make some bad decisions on the way, but he's walking out of that structure as a double champion, and if they're not careful, they might not walk out at all.
Enter AJ Styles. He asks if they're all done playing ticklebutt and if they're living in a fantasy world where the facts don't matter, where Miz has a brain, Corbin's gonna be champion, and Dean is used to being behind bars? Well, that last one might be true, but the point is he's beaten all three of them.
Styles doesn't care about Miz's scheme, he doesn't care about Corbin being seven foot, he takes a minute to deflect chants and says all he cares about is reclaiming his title. They all bicker and Bryan asks them to relax. He wants to give the WWE Universe a little preview in the form of a four-way match... right now!
Well, after the break.
Back from commercial just in time for the bell to ring!
AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dean Ambrose vs. the Miz
Miz tries to make his alliance happen and Corbin just gives him a sad shake of the head. Miz goes after Dean, AJ goes after Corbin, it's Dean and Baron, off the ropes, Ambrose with a crossbody, Corbin catches him, but the Intercontinental champion escapes and knocks him out the ring!
Miz in, Dean takes care of him in short order. AJ in, looking for the Styles Clash, blocked, looking to springboard in, Ambrose shoves him off the ropes! Outside, Corbin throws Dean's face into the steps and clobbers Miz on a slingshot dropkick. Forearm strike, Styles in with a shoulder thrust but Baron just clips his wings with an elbow!
Corner avalanche, Dean in with a forearm, sidesteps a charge, Miz lays him out, kick to AJ's shin, basement DDT gets two. Miz to his feet, Yes! fingers, chest kicks to Dean and AJ alike! Ambrose ducks the buzzsaw, schoolboy pin, AJ grabs his own, Miz grabs one, Dean grabs one, AJ grabs one and so on!
Double lariats wipe Styles and Miz out, Ambrose with a schoolboy on Corbin, double lariats, all four men laid out as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Ambrose is crotched on the top turnbuckle, where Miz is looking for a superplex. Styles comes over to join him, and of course, the Lone Wolf completes the Tower of Doom! Cover on Miz, nearfall. Cover on AJ, nearfall. He dumps Dean out of the ring, goes for a corner avalanche on Miz and meets a series of kicks in the corner.
Corner dropkick on AJ, but one on Corbin gets countered into Deep Six... NOT ENOUGH! Corbin does his baseball slide evasion spot, back in Styles catches him with a Pele kick and a leaping forearm strike, no good! Calling for the Styles Clash on Miz but he gets flapjacked... BUSAIKU KNEE STRIKE! NO GOOD!
Dean firing lariats, whip reversed, another lariat, swinging neckbreaker on AJ, forearm, bulldog / lariat combo! Elbow takes Corbin off the apron, suicide dive, slingshot, everything's breaking down on the outside now. Dean throws Corbin into the ringpost, goes for a pin, Styles breaks it up!
Kick to the gut, Dirty Deeds, Styles out, pendulum lariat, AJ ducks, moonsault inverted DDT connects, Miz breaks up the pin! Calling for the Skull Crushing Finale, Styles slips out, hits the Phenomenal Forearm but Maryse pulls Miz out of the ring! AJ turns around, Corbin is waiting...
Baron Corbin wins by pinfall with End of Days on AJ Styles.
Commentary shills for the Network before promoting our dual contract signing for Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi and Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James, and we go to break.
Back from commercial and Luke Harper is in the smoky room, flicking lightbulbs and talking about how a man is most dangerous when he has nothing left to lose. But what if he had nothing to begin with? Randy Orton stole his family and is a liar. He saw the snake in the grass, and he knows how to fix it.
But cutting the head off the Viper is too easy. No, Luke wants to hurt him, make him feel pain, and at Elimination Chamber, Orton will be eliminated.
We have Nikki Bella and Natalya by satellite to be interviewed. They're asked if they could ever be friends again, and Nikki says they were for a very long time, but with everything Nattie's said and done, she's dead to her. Natalya, for her part, claims they were never friends.
She says Nikki has followers, but no friends. There's an army of folks who make her look good for her reality show, but they're gonna have their work cut out for her after she's done. She's going to expose her as a sorry excuse of a wrestler. Bella calls her a liar and Nattie claims to have never lied in her life.
She's going back to the idea that Nikki turned Uncle Bret against her and Nikki is baffled at where she gets her stuff from, calling her a crazy cat lady who coasts on her family's reputation. Neidhart suggests that it will be Nikki that's the bitter one when she's on the shelf with her pregnant sister and moping.
Furthermore, Nikki will never have her own child! Nikki says Nattie's been doing nothing but hitting below the belt and gives it to her in kind, saying that the only thing Nattie has ever been good at is wrestling, so what happens when she gets beat at the Chamber?
Natalya says now that Cena is champ, he won't have time to tend to Nikki, and when Brie's snot-nosed kid is on her lap she'll be wondering what he's doing, and John will be moving on to a woman that's smarter, prettier, more talented, and better than her. Like herself, if she wasn't married.
Nikki's done and unclips her mic.
We get some hype for tonight's matches and head to break.
Back from commercial, Apollo Crew is in the ring for his match against Dolph Ziggler.
Apollo Crews vs. Dolph Ziggler
Crews ducks a lariat and throws a dropkick to start before picking Dolph up and ramming him in the corner. He chucks Ziggler shoulder first into a ringpost and starts throwing hands. Charge in, Dolph sidesteps him, big DDT connects! Dolph tunes up the band, Crews catches the kick...
Apollo Crews wins by pinfall with a schoolboy pin.
Dolph hits him in the back of the head with a superkick before his hand is fully raised! Ziggler gets a chair and wallops Apollo across the back! A second shot brings Kalisto down, he rolls under a shot and kicks the chair out of Dolph's hands before laying him out with a kick combination.
Up the turnbuckles looking for Salida del Sol but Ziggler catches him and crotches him for a chairshot of his own. Another to Crews, and Dolph takes a walk.
Our dual contract signing is up next, after the break. But first, we get a Black History Month vignette about Rosa Parks.
Back from commercial, Dolph is walking backstage when Daniel Bryan confronts him, asking what he's doing. He's getting his stuff and getting out of here. Bryan asks if he's gonna have a fit with a chair every time he loses. Ziggler says he could be either of them, he could beat both of them at the same time, but beating them with a chair is more fun.
So Bryan makes a handicap match for Elimination Chamber!
Renee Young is in the ring to introduce everyone for our dual contract signing. First Mickie James, then Alexa Bliss, then Becky Lynch, and finally, Naomi. Renee talks about how these two matches will feature four of the most elite women athletes in WWE, but Mickie takes offense.
She says there's only two, herself and Alexa Bliss. She has more experience than everyone in this ring combined, and while the journalism cosplay thing Renee has going on might be super cute, she thinks she can take it from here. She addresses Becky and says this entire women's division was built on her own obsession to be the very best.
She accuses Becky of trying to erase her past and take all the credit for the women's revolution. Mickie has waited for seven long years. Seven years of rage that has built up for her to come back to WWE and get the credit she deserves. So on Sunday she'll prove that she created this revolution and that she created Lynch.
Without Mickie James, she claims, there would be no Becky Lynch, and on Sunday it all comes to an end. The reinvention of Mickie James starts with the destruction of Becky Lynch. James signs her contract, and Becky gets on the mic. She says nobody is trying to erase her accomplishments, and she respected the hell out of her until she came back and allied with Bliss.
She can talk about seven years of rage, but the reality is when it got too tough in WWE, Mickie walked away. And now she comes back and expects everyone to accomodate the giant chip on her shoulder. But when the going gets tough, Becky keeps walking, and she's gonna walk right through Mickie on Sunday. She'll bring a lifetime of straight fire and slap her into the past.
Becky signs the contract and Alexa can't even. She says Becky has so much class, and all of it's low. She talks up Mickie's accomplishments and tells Lynch to show some respect. And honestly, the only thing that runs in Becky's veins is toxic, cheap, orange hair dye.
She can keep making excuses as to why she doesn't have the title, but the fact is, as long as the title is on Alexa's shoulder, this is her division. She signs the contract and realizes she completely forgot about Naomi! It's fine, though, because she'll beat her on Sunday.
Naomi tells Alexa to stop with the foolishness. She hasn't forgotten about her, and she hasn't forgotten that she pinned her twice. Keep on underestimating her, and she'll keep on snatching her bald. Naomi reminds her of something else-- Sunday may be Elimination Chamber, but we're less than two months away from WrestleMania.
And this year, it's in Naomi's hometown of Orlando, Florida. There's no way anybody's gonna take away her dream of sliding down that aisle as SmackDown Women's Champion. So, Lexi, boo-boo, you better get ready... ready to feel the glow. She fires a roundhouse kick at the champion's head!
Brawling wild now, Becky and Mickie go over the table, things spill outside, Naomi hits a wild suicide crossbody! She and Becky stand tall in the ring as Alexa and Mickie back themselves up the ramp.
American Alpha are walking backstage, they're in a twelve-man tag after the break.
Back from commercial, Alpha are just making their entrances for the match.
American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan), Beauty and the Man-Beast (Heath Slater & Rhyno), & Breezango (Fandango & Tyler Breeze) vs. the Ascension (Konnor & Viktor), the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso), & Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch)
Gable and Jimmy Uso start, circling, Gable goes low and English tags himself in. Gable grabs a schoolboy, Jimmy breaks it up, and Aiden has a wristlock in soon enough. Chad rolls through, overhead suplex, knee drop to the arm, whip, knee to the gut, English jaws with his own teammates.
Off the ropes, Aiden takes charge and chokes Gable on the ropes. Right hands, whip across, charge in for a back splash, to the second, he flexes and shows off his armpit hair, goes for the senton atomico and gets caught with the old-school flying headscissors. Tag to Jordan, double teams, stereo dropkicks, Tyler Breeze tags himself in.
Breezango hit stereo enzuigiris on the Vaudevillains as the crowd chants for Rhyno and we go to break.
Back from commercial Jimmy is on Slater, whipping him in the corner for tandem offense with his brother, who is the legal man. Aiden tags in on Jey, knee drop, Viktor tags in and comes up empty on a cover and so locks a reverse chinlock in. Heath out with body blows and a big knee, Viktor charges him in the corner and denies the tag.
Konnor in, corner lariat tossed into a knee from Viktor, Aiden tags back in, Viktor tags in, English tags back in a second time, Viktor tags back in and they start shoving. Viktor tries to stop the tag late, Slater gets through, Rhyno's in! He runs Viktor over, lariat, shoulder thrust, reverses a reversal on a whip for a spinebuster, Konnor breaks it up and everybody hits the ring, chaos reigns!
Eventually we're down to Alpha and the Vaudevillains, the old-timey wrestlers get cleared with stereo suplexes, Jordan launches Gable onto everybody outside! Konnor back in with an uppercut, Rhyno is waiting... GORE! Viktor is on the turnbuckles...
The Ascension, the Usos, & Vaudevillains win by pinfall with a diving knee from Viktor on Rhyno.
David Otunga talks about a guest shot he did on a TV show for a moment, and then our main event is promised as being after the break.
Back from commercial with the Hall of Fame announcement for the Rock & Roll Express.
We then get a video package of Elimination Chamber hype, followed by entrances for our main event before we head to break.
Back from commercial in time for the bell to ring.
John Cena vs. Randy Orton
Circling as Bray Wyatt watches from his rocking chair, collar and elbow fakeout from Cena, he's feeling frisky. Collar and elbow for real, Orton gets a side headlock and takes John to a knee. Cena shoots him off, lays him out with a shoulder block, back to circling, the champ with a side headlock of his own.
He forces the Viper to the mat for a second but Randy shoots him off and eats a shoulder block. Going right for the Attitude Adjustment, Orton slips out and chokes him against the ropes. Stomp to the foot, to the hand, bootlaces across the face! Reverse chinlock applied as Bray comes over to offer a word of advice.
Cena to his feet, he breaks out, Randy kicks him so hard he ends up outside on the floor in front of Wyatt. Orton comes over and draws him up to apply a right hand hard to his face. Follows it up whipping the champ into the steel steps and we head to break.
Back from commercial and Cena goes for the "You can't see me" taunt, earning an upkick. Short exchange, Orton busts out a full nelson slam! Looking for the rope hung DDT, Cena counters and sends the Viper outside. Smash of the face into the steps, fireman's carry, he walks to the announce desk where Randy slips out and back suplexes him on the table!
Orton throws Cena back in the ring, John with a kick to the gut, they slug it out punch for punch, Cena hits his fall-forward Blue Thunder Driver! Five Knuckle Shuffle! Fireman's carry... Attitude Adjustment... NO GOOD! Cena up top, Orton meets him, DDT hung off the top turnbuckle!
The Viper goes to that special place... RKO! NOT ENOUGH! John woozy on the mat, Randy goes for another, Cena blocks, looking for another Attitude Adjustment, Orton has the ropes, Cena yanks him off but the referee is wiped out! STF applied, Orton taps but there's no ref!
Bray comes in and beats the holy hell out of Cena while Orton holds him in place. He drags the champ up, clutches him for Sister Abigail, kisses him, goes to throw him into the RKO but Cena is ready and levels Randy with a lariat! Sister Abigail connects on its own, Luke Harper runs down!
He stares his mentor down, shaking, digging deep to find the will to fight him. He backs off for a second... DISCUS LARIAT! He dumps Bray out of the ring, Orton slips in behind him, RKO blocked! Cena's in there, he catches him, the ref wakes up...
John Cena wins by pinfall with an Attitude Adjustment.
Cena stands tall, holding the title over his head.
That's the show, folks.