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WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (April 11, 2017) from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, featuring part two of the “Superstar Shake-Up,” where we learn what wrestlers are coming over from Raw to the blue side.
Advertised for tonight: New faces make their presence felt, The Usos defend the tag team titles against American Alpha (maybe), 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 APRIL 11
So much for the golden future, I can't even start— I've had every promise broken, there's anger in my heart. You don't know what it's like, you don't have a clue. If you did you'd find yourselves doing the same thing too! Blogging this show, blogging this show!
Show opens with Tom Phillips greeting us and hyping up the completion of the Superstar Shake-Up.
Kevin Owens makes his entrance! He welcomes us to the brand-new Kevin Owens Show and says SmackDown just got a huge upgrade because he's here now, and he brought the United States Championship with him. He knows it might be confusing to some of us that he is the United States Champion when he is from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, but the truth is we shouldn't be booing, but thankful that the title is in good hands.
It's a known fact that Canada is much better than the United States. It's a known fact that Canadians make better athletes than Americans, and if you need proof of that, the Montreal sports team beats the local team all the time. And if you're mad, he's got some French words for you.
Oh right, he forgot us morons only speak one language (Ich habe ein bisschen Deutsch, Kevin, aber nicht so gut!) , and that if anybody has a problem they need to get in the ring and see what happens. He's not here for us, though, he's here for himself, and to be the new face of America.
Enter Baron Corbin. He's sure KO can beat up everyone in the arena, and he's sure he can beat up most of the locker room, but Kev can't beat him up. Follow along, last week he beat Dean Ambrose so bad that he went and hid on Raw. And last night Dean beat Owens so bad he tucked his tail and ran to SmackDown.
So if he beats Dean, and Dean beats Owens, surely Owens can't be a problem for him. He's owed a championship match, and since KO is the only one out here with a title, he's gonna have to beat him and take it. But Kev has some bad news for him-- he's delusional, and no matter who he beat, he doesn't deserve an opportunity at the title.
Sami Zayn is here! Owens is losing his mind, this can't be real! Sami says it's very real, and he's here to announce that he's finally on SmackDown! Baron tells him nobody cares--
Enter AJ Styles! The crowd is stoked to see him and he pauses for a second before beginning, saying that this is not the Kevin Owens Show, it's SmackDown. And it's not about the Underdog from the Underground (no offense, Sami), it's not about the Lone Wolf, it's about him.
This is about the House That AJ Styles Built, and he is still here!
Enter Daniel Bryan! He says it was announced before the Superstar Shake-Up that Kevin Owens would defend the US title against Chris Jericho at Payback, and that still stands. And so the winner of that match will officially be on SmackDown. But unfortunately that means SD can't host a title defense until after Payback.
But he says that one of the three men in the ring WILL face the winner for the title after, because tonight we get a #1 contender's triple threat!
Commentary hypes up our tag title match as well as Shane McMahon addressing the state of the women's division.
Randy Orton is walking backstage, he'll wrestle Erick Rowan after the break.
Back from commercial in time for the Viper to make his entrance.
Erick Rowan vs. Randy Orton
Circling, collar and elbow, Rowan easily forces Orton in the corner but the champ dodges away and throws hands. To the other corner, face smash and mounted punches, kick to the gut, off the ropes but Erick smashes him with a back elbow. Clubbing right, body blows and a headbutt in the corner.
He sets Randy up top and keeps swinging before following and hooking him for a superplex. Orton fights out with headbutts and catches Rowan with an uppercut on a charge. Off the ropes and right into the snap scoop powerslam and the Garvin Stomp. Rowan bails and Orton follows, sending Erick crashing into the steel steps.
Struggling back in the ring, the Viper catches him in the ropes... DDT connects! Randy's going to that place...
(Wyatt noise!)
Bray Wyatt is in the smoky room. He catches Orton's attention and asks if he can smell the fear because he reeks of it. He knows their paths will cross again, because he feels it, he is the nagging conscience of a world that has thrown itself away to moral monsters.
Wyatt says he's everywhere and everything, and he'll see Randy again soon, in the House of Horrors. He begins laughing (presumably he remembered a funny joke) and disappears. When Orton heads outside for Rowan, he gets clobbered with the steps...
Randy Orton wins by disqualification.
Erick locks Orton in a full nelson in the ring and puts him down with the slam.
Commentary hypes up our United States Championship #1 contendership match, promising a special look at each competitor, and the tag title match is up next, after the break.
Back from commercial and the champions are waiting in the ring.
American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan) vs. the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) (c) (WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
Jordan and Jey starting, Jordan picks the leg and hits a big takedown before jamming him in the corner for shoulder thrusts and a tag. Chad with the northern lights suplex and into a wristlock but Jimmy tags in and throws hands. Arm wringer, reversed, side headlock, Jason with the blind tag, double leg snap, double dropkick and they dump Jimmy outside to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Jey is in control on Jordan and caves his chest in with a kick before tagging Jimmy in. Jason dodges a charge and both Usos eat ringpost in short order. Jimmy tries to drag him out but he fights him off and crawls, desperate for the tag... and gets it!
Gable throwing lariats, a German suplex, a second, he rolls for a third but Jey comes in and takes an exploder suplex. One for Jimmy, the Olympian climbs up top and connects with a picture perfect moonsault for a nearfall! He clotheslines Jimmy out of the ring and Jey comes in.
Struggle in the corner, Gable gets the armbar in the ropes but Jimmy catches him with a superkick! Diving splash but Chad has the knees up and turns it into a nearfall. Jordan in, catches a boot, ducks a second, electric chair, Ode to the Steiners... JEY BREAKS THE PIN UP!
He slams Gable out of the ring, Jordan tosses him, Jimmy tosses Jason and the Usos launch stereo suicide dives... ALPHA CATCH THEM INTO BELLY-TO-BELLY SUPLEXES! Jordan lying in wait like a gif of a wiggling cat, shoulder thrust, superkick, Jey gets a blind tag! Superkick connects...
The Usos win by pinfall with a diving splash from Jey Uso on Chad Gable, retaining the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
Shining Stars are here and all business-- they toss Jordan into a ringpost before hitting a powerbomb / lungblower combo on Gable!
Commentary hypes up Shane McMahon's appearance later as well as Jinder Mahal vs. Mojo Rawley, which is up next, after the break.
Back from commercial in time for entrances and to show us that Mojo's football buddy is in the front row.
Jinder Mahal vs. Mojo Rawley
Mojo charges right in but it's a feint and they go to the collar and elbow. Jinder throwing right hands but Rawley just gets fired up and throws punches of his own. Whip to a lariat, struggle against the ropes and Mahal is throwing again. Whip, boot to the midsection gets a knee in return for two.
Jinder off the ropes with a knee drop and he wrenches in an armbar. Mojo escapes and throws a few punches, heads off the ropes for a shoulder block, then the Stinger splash but a boot is up on a second try and Mahal flapjacks him into a turnbuckle before heading to screw with football guy again, because that was so successful the first time.
Rawley comes from behind and lays him out, and then football guy throws a drink at Jinder this time. Back in the ring...
Mojo Rawley wins by pinfall with the charging forearm in the corner.
Mojo literally leaps into his pal's section to celebrate! He then hops up on the announce desk and puts JBL's hat on for more celebration. Back to his pal, who chops him, because why not?
Commentary hypes up Shane again, he's up after the break.
Back from commercial, Shane McMahon makes his entrance.
He thanks Boston for the love and asks what's up, which is weird because I'm pretty sure he's here to tell us what's up. He says that as far as competition goes, nobody does it better than SmackDown, and he thanks the SD talent that have gone to Raw for showing what he and Daniel Bryan have made here.
But opportunity is only good as far as you can seize it, and he thinks they've seized it as far as the women's division goes. He invites the entire SmackDown women's division to come out for the reveal, starting with Naomi, then Natalya, Carmella (flanked by James Ellsworth), and finally Becky Lynch.
Shane says one of the reasons their division is so hot is that they crownd a new champion at WrestleMania, and he congratulates Naomi. Ellsworth gets on the mic to tell him he's wrong and Naomi is a horrible champion, duh. And the only reason people watch SmackDown is to see Carmella and himself, Carmellsworth.
Naomi snatches the mic away and tells Carmella to get her little side chick before she get chin checked, and she apologizes to Shane and asks him to continue. Without further ado, she's a second-generation superstar, her father is one of the greatest of all time, he is a WWE Hall of Famer and she is an amazing athlete in her own right...
Enter Tamina. Shane says from the sound of it the crowd was expecting somebody else, and perhaps he was. Perhaps the greatest acquisition of the Superstar Shake-Up, and the newest member of the SmackDown women's division... Charlotte Flair!
Sami Zayn is backstage taping his wrists as we go to break.
Back from commercial, commentary recaps the Superstar Shake-Up and gives us a few more names, Sin Cara and Rusev.
Aiden English is in the ring. He says he stands here bereft of any company but the spotlight (a spotlight appears) is solely on him. He starts singing that we'll get to see the greatest thing--
Enter Tye Dillinger, they have a match.
Aiden English vs. Tye Dillinger
Tye ducks a charge, snapmare, cartwheel, ten fingers. Aiden takes a swing and charges into a drop toehold. Armbar, he's raking Dillinger's face to break and he pummels him in the corner to boot. Hammer whip, English charges in with a turning back splash and declares that this is his show, taking a bow.
Off the ropes, knee drop misses and Tye recovers to throw chops. Whip reversed, flying forearm and then putting boots to Aiden in the corner. Fireman's carry...
Tye Dillinger wins by pinfall with the Tye Breaker.
Commentary hypes up our US Championship #1 contender's match and tosses to a video package about AJ Styles.
AJ is hanging out backstage getting his gloves on, and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get a vignette informing us that Lana is coming to SmackDown soon.
Dolph Ziggler is in the ring, he says everyone is talking about the Superstar Shake-Up, who's going to Raw, who's coming to SmackDown, but the big question on everyone's mind is "What about Dolph Ziggler?" Spoiler alert: he's staying right here on SmackDown. Y'know, the show he built, the show he put on his back, that he made cool for all the Raw superstars to come on and glom his coattails?
You're gonna get a lot of shiny new toys and blow the roof off and it's gonna be exciting and the next week it'll be less exciting and the next week it'll be sad and all we'll have left is Dolph doing what he does best--
Get cut off by violins, apparently. Shinsuke Nakamura makes his entrance and gets in the ring. He and Dolph take in the atmosphere for a second and Ziggler asks if he can help? He's new around here and might not know who he is, but Dolph doesn't know who he is.
Shinsuke lets the crowd answer for him by chanting his name, grinning and nodding at Ziggler. Dolph tentatively offers the mic and Nakamura leans in but doesn't take it, so the crowd starts singing his theme song for him before he finally takes it.
He asks if Dolph wants to know who he is? He's Shinsuke Nakamura.
Ziggler backs off and throws a superkick but Shinsuke catches it! He wants more but Dolph bails. Nakamura bows and strikes a pose in the center of the ring as Ziggler backs off up the ramp.
Commentary tosses to a Baron Corbin video package ahead of our #1 contender's match.
Baron's hanging out backstage, probably thinking about how much he hates people, and we head to break.
Back from commercial we get some hype for Talking Smack and a video package about the Superstar Shake-Up confirming New Day is coming to SmackDown!
The final vignette for our #1 contender's match is up now, featuring Sami Zayn.
We get entrances for our main event, but the match itself will have to wait for after the break.
Back from commercial, we get a promo from the freshly-turned TJ Perkins to hype up 205 Live.
AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn (WWE United States Championship #1 Contender's Match)
Three way test of strength denied when Corbin throws an elbow at Sami. Zayn and Styles team up momentarily to put boots to the big man and try to suplex him but they get suplexed instead! Forearms in the corner for the underdog before the Lone Wolf shifts his attention to AJ, trying to throw him outside.
Styles hangs on and skins the cat but Baron clotheslines him out anyway! Sami in with forearms, fighting, but Corbin catches him with a knee and tries to dump him too! Springboard leapfrog into a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and Baron ends up dumped, leaving Styles and Zayn to square off.
Collar and elbow, Sami gets a side headlock, AJ shoots him off, leapfrog, takedown, Styles with a headscissors takeover! Off the ropes, the pop-up dropkick takes AJ outside, Zayn goes to dive but the Lone Wolf yanks him outside and throws him into the ramp!
Styles slides out and Baron clobbers him with a wicked right before popping Zayn up on the apron... ARABIAN PRESS ASAI MOONSAULT ON BOTH MEN! And so we go to break.
Back from commercial and Corbin is choking Styles in the corner before telling referee Jason Ayers to shut up. Zayn throwing punches, Baron cuts him off and whips him hard in the corner. AJ to his feet, punches and chops, Lone Wolf backs him back up with knees and hip checks before going back to the choke.
Sami with boots and punches, whip reversed and Corbin plants him with a side slam for two. AJ passes him outside and he slides back in with a big boot for two once again. Baron throwing forearms on Sami in the corner before posing and Styles catches him with kicks and more hands but gets leveled by an elbow.
Zayn drops the big man with a lariat! AJ charges in, back body drop to the outside! Lone Wolf charges, corner exploder suplex! Sami's calling for the Helluva Kick but AJ interpolates himself and hits Ushigoroshi before Corbin takes his head off with a clothesline!
All three men out and struggling to their feet, Zayn and Corbin get there first and Baron throws forearms and shoves him in the corner, Sami passes him outside on the charge and Styles catches the Lone Wolf with a knee! AJ runs in, Blue Thunder Driver... NO GOOD!
Zayn to his feet, firing up, a straight right knocks Styles in the corner and he sets him up top and throws a chop. Hooking the superplex but Baron comes over and catches him in an electric chair! Styles dives and misses because Sami caught Corbin with a victory roll for a nearfall!
Sami with the boot up on a charge, he catches Corbin a second time and charges but gets caught with Deep Six and AJ breaks the pin up! Baron staggers to his feet and throws a forearm that knocks AJ back but he goes into the ringpost on a charge and gets caught with a kick to the back of the head after!
Styles hits the springboard 450 splash... SAMI BREAKS IT UP! AJ gets to his feet and trades forearms with the underdog before giving way to the Styles Rush. Charging lariats in the corners on both men but Corbin wakes up and throws his own. Sami's got boots for everybody but gets caught by the Pele kick!
AJ lying in wait, thinking Styles Clash but Zayn back body drops him to the apron. HELLUVA KICK KNOCKS CORBIN OUTSIDE! AJ gets poised with the springboard...
AJ Styles wins by pinfall with the Phenomenal Forearm, becoming #1 contender to the WWE United States Championship!
AJ celebrates his contendership in the ring and that's the show, folks.