Smackdown Spoilers

* Kevin Owens defeated R Truth with a pop up powerbomb in a dark match


* Dean Ambrose kicks off SmackDown to a huge pop. Ambrose talks about what happened on RAW and mentions Roman Reigns, his name getting a big pop. Ambrose mentions Seth Rollins and Justin Bieber, getting a brief Bieber chant going. He talks about racing back to arena after being arrested and signing the contract. He talks about their fight for the richest price in the industry at Elimination Chamber. Ambrose and Reigns vs. Kane and Rollins is announced for tonight.

* Paige vs. Naomi and Ryback vs. Rusev will also take place tonight.

* Sin Cara and Kalisto vs. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd is next. The Ascension, The New Day, Los Matadores and The Prime Time Players are at ringside acting as Lumberjacks. Multiple "New Day sucks" chants throughout the course of the match. This was a great match with a lot of fast paced high style offense from both teams. A lot of double teaming by both teams. The crowd was hot throughout this match. There was a lot of involvement from the Lumberjacks also. The Lucha Dragons get the win when Kalisto hit his finisher.

* R-Truth vs. King Barrett is next with the Intercontinental Title on display at ringside. Truth wins with his STO finisher in a rather short match. Sheamus ran to the ring afterwards, hitting both Barrett and R Truth with Brogue kicks.

* Renee Young interviews Lana backstage. Rusev interrupts and has words with Lana.

* Rusev vs. Ryback is next with the IC Title still on display. There were USA, "feed me more" and "we want Lana" chants throughout the match. Rusev hit a fall-away slam outside of the ring at one point. Rusev sells an ankle or foot injury. There was a lame ending with Ryback winning by DQ when Rusev sent him head first into the ring post. Trainers helped Rusev after the match.

* Paige vs. Naomi with Tamina Snuka is next. Paige took out Tamina at ringside with a kick to the face and went on to defeat Naomi with the cradle DDT.

* Michael Cole comes out and brings Kevin Owens to the ring. He tells Cole he's been in WWE for two weeks but has been wrestling for 15 years all over the world. Owens talks about John Cena and their match this Sunday. He says Cena has never beaten him and Cena needs to prove something to him. We get a look at Owens destroying Sami Zayn in NXT. Owens says if he did something that bad to someone he cared about, imagine what he will do to Cena.

* Reigns and Ambrose vs. Kane and Rollins is next. Ambrose is out first, followed by Reigns who received a huge pop, in fact the biggest of the night. Rollins is out next with Kane and J&J Security. Reigns and Kane start off the match and Rollins sent Ambrose flying off the apron into the barricade. Rollins and Kane are sent out of the ring. Ambrose and Reigns go to attack them and bring them back in. Reigns and Ambrose win via DQ when J&J interfered after Reigns pinned Rollins following a Superman Punch. The New Day run down and beat down Ambrose but Reigns takes them all out with a diving plancha. Dean and Roman clean house, leaving New Day laid out. Rollins and Kane beat down Ambrose. Rollins hits a Pedigree on Ambrose. Kane and Rollins end SmackDown to boos. Reigns got the biggest pop of the night but Ambrose was a close second.

The man is the best thing in wrestling. No ifs, no buts. Build Lesnar the face up to be super popular and have Owens be the man that beats him. The fact he doesn't look like your typical wrestler is even more of a reason to go with him.

Owens needs to lose that title by interference in NXT and then just move straight up. Or have him work both. I don't care, they have him booked to appear on Raw, he might have signed a main roster contract, he is too good to be in NXT now. I've watched NXT performances from all the guys that were getting panties wet in the IWC, Owens tops all their performances down there and is the most entertaining wrestler to walk onto a WWE screen for a long time.

Notes from watching Smackdown:

Just watched the Lucha Catsaro lumberjack match. Fantastic wrestling, just brilliant.

And Jamie Noble has just delivered some brilliant stuff backstage.

Only just realised Truth wears headphones when he does his rap entrance. Dunno why id have thought he wouldn't need em. Thank god Sheamus took Truth's head off cos him Truth beating Barrett needed to be forgotten quickly.

Lana came across well, but there's still so much wrong with that story. Americans appear to be presented as stupid; cos Lana is now ok for slating America cos she has jubblies?

Rusev/Ryback was ok. Well done Rusev for working the story through his injury.

Made my feelings towards Owens obviously. LOVED the stare from Owens as Ambrose came out before Owens was down the ramp. Hope that's a precursor to something.

Have to admit, having seen this match already I skipped the main event. I do like that the New Day came out to assist the Authority. Xavier Woods' moment of celebration alone was funny.

The Authority may be a bit of a virus in my enjoyment of wrestling at times, but I can come around to them injecting some new blood for a bit just to bring some variety.

Someone teach Rollins how to Pedigree.

Smackdown is occasionally very good.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:The man is the best thing in wrestling. No ifs, no buts. 

I don't agree at all. 

I've said it on the podcast and I'm going to write an article about it but I think they're booking Owens all wrong. They're booking him like a Lesnar style monster when he simply doesn't look the part and pales in comparison. You put him next to Lesnar and he's just going to look ridiculous if they try and attempt to pretend they're similar. Unfortunately they're still going down the same route by putting him in MMA gear and calling him a 'prize-fighter', I think this actually weakens Owens because he's got an unathletic look, he's not particularly strong or fast and I'm not sure why that's the direction they're going with.

I think if anything he should be booked like Stone Cold, I think considering the reception he gets, the natural position he should find himself in is as the anti-heel and I think his character outside of the ring is already not too far from something Austin-esque. That would be fine, it'd make sense with his look because he does look like some guy in a bar, it makes sense with the way he speaks because it's very natural and not show-man like and it'd make sense for WWE because I think a character like that would really work in the current environment with big-wigs and fat cats getting a lot of hate.

I don't think he's anywhere near the best thing in wrestling, I think Lesnar (and Heyman by proxy) take that mantel easily. I don't think anybody gets close to him at all, I'm not sure anybody will be able to the way WWE book currently. I wouldn't even put Owens top five though. I've actually been really unimpressed with his mic work on Raw and Smackdown, I think he appears to struggle in front of the big live crowds and in the ring his matches haven't been fantastic. I know he is capable of great matches, but I'm not sure we've seen it in a WWE setting. I like Owens, in theory, I just don't think he's given us anything to get that excited about yet or declare him the best thing in wrestling.

I agree with Dolphin here. Lesnar is an anomoly and has an awesome aura about him that cant be replicated, but Owens is the best of the rest. He hasnt had a bad match yet - he even got good matches out of Alex Riley - and its exceptional when delivering promos. Give him time to get used to being infront of a huge crowd like RAW and you'll see him blossom.

I love his look and gimmick. He's an average joe doing well for his family. He isnt cut, he isnt stereotypically handsome, he's a heavy guy with a scruffy beard, so he's more relatable than Lesnar. Leanar is the bigger draw, but I can buy into a guy like Owens more.

Hopefully this is a call up, because he certainly deserves it. This is his break and he's that passionate about the business he's going to grab it with both hands and run with it. Despite two chamber matches, and Rollins vs Ambrose for the WWE title, his match is the most interesting on the card. And that speaks volumes for the guy. Fight Owens Fight b

Owens is not being presented as a "Lesnar." Not at all. Hes not even really in MMA gear, just big shorts. He's also being booked as a character quite obviously different to Lesnar, you'd need to watch his NXT portrayal to see that.

In fact, I would say he is booked similar to how you'd book Stone Cold coming through in this day and age. You can't just start as the anti-heel. Austin himself proves that. If you look at Owens' story, he is actually somewhat protected by the every-man background.

And if you think he is struggling to hold the live crowd then I feel for you. Cos he was easily in charge of the situation on Smackdown and hes worked the crowd on Raw too. His delivery is absolutely fantastic, got some perfect individuality to a very simple confidence. And his work on NXT in the ring has been perfect in terms of character.

Got to say I agree with Chris here (repent the end is nigh!!!)

Owens for me is the most compelling (full time) performer in the WWE right now, I can sort of see some similarities with Lesnar in the prizefighter aspect but the way they are portrayed is night and day for me, Lesnar is a beast while Steen is more of a cheapshotting bully, yes he's portrayed as physically dominant in NXT but let's be real he's a big lad by NXT standards

As for the standard of his wrestling, he hasn't done anything blow away as of yet but in fairness he's yet to be presented with a chance to cut loose on a big show as of yet, his 3 takeover matches have been an introductory squash and 2 with Zayn that were more storyline angles than matches, a quality in itself that should be appreciated as I'm sure it is by the higher ups in the WWE that an Indy veteran has taken to delivering that way so quickly, I'm very optimistic that if given time tomorrows outing with Cena will be his best so far

The promos, well their subjective, I can't really say anything other than I disagree and feel sorry that you don't enjoy them as much as I do

But when something good happens in wrestling, we always need someone to Poopie on it.

I agree with those who say that Owens has been compelling viewing for the last 6 months.

If you remember back, CJ Parker broke his nose in his first match and, though WWE hasn't made anything of that, it was the kind of stiff shot that made a big welcome for the big man. The Zayn beat down to me in the same event was perfect because of the amount of time they gave Zayn to celebrate before Owens spoilt the party. I remember seeing a lot of people saying they'd missed the ending as they'd switched off.

Personally, I would have preferred a distinct end to his NXT reign before moving up. So Joe (or even Uhaa Nation if he joined just 2 - 3 months earlier), telling the bully to pick on someone their own size and then schooling them would have worked.

But, I'm also happy to still play along with NXT being the feeder and WWE taking the talent when they need them.

I'm expecting a non-match tonight, but I'm expecting Owens to brutalize Cena.

I will respond to more of these points another time, but just to further my point that they are portraying him in a similar way to Lesnar, his most recent shirt has KO on the front with the 'O' done in an Octagon style.

Kevin Owens has no history in MMA and his style isn't even MMA like.

This shirt?:

If thats the one then im fairly certain you're looking too far into it, and that the design fights the square font on the rest of the shirt, and not in anyway implying anything MMA related.

Also shorts wise he's worn them through out his career just look at his ROH work

Samo wrote:

This shirt?:

If thats the one then im fairly certain you're looking too far into it, and that the design fights the square font on the rest of the shirt, and not in anyway implying anything MMA related.

Seriously? That's an octagon, which is a fact. It is not a coincidence at all that it's supposed to look like the UFC ring. I'm not even sure it's up for debate to be honest. The other 'O' on the shirt doesn't even have that style, so it's not just the font, it's a deliberate choice.

An octagon shaped O fits into the legs of a K a lot better than a round one would, but I suppose if you clutch at enough straws you're bound to get something.

After last night's match, I'm really looking forward to Crimey's article on why Kevin Owens shouldn't be on the main roster.

Maybe it could be part of a trilogy, with articles on:
"SCSA: What he should have done to be a bigger draw"
"The Rock: If only he'd have been able to work the mic"

'Undertaker: If only he had some sort of gimmick for Wrestlemania'

Hornswoggle is being built as the next Hogan.
Hornswoggle wears green
Seth Green appeared in the Austin Powers films
Mega Powers were the tag team Hogan was in.

#octagonlogic

Seth Rollins entrance video uses the same font as Iron Man, therefore Rollins is Tony Stark.

Samo wrote:Seth Rollins entrance video uses the same font as Iron Man, therefore Rollins is Tony Stark.

That'd be a great gimmick tbf

I could get behind it.

Seth Rollins is Iron Man
Dolph Ziggler is Thor
Rusev is Hulk
John Cena is Captain America
Xavier Woods is Nick Fury
Zack Ryder is Hawkeye
Becky Lynch is Black Widow

Book it.

Rusev would be Colossus surely?

John Cena would be John Cena,the ultimate superhero.

I actually am in disbelief that people are denying that they are presenting Kevin Owens in an MMA-fashion and that the 'O' is definitely a reference to the octagon. This is the only place I've seen where that's even a debate, everywhere else I've seen the t-shirt and Owens' character discussed it's been pretty much just accepted that that is the intention. 

I never even said Owens wasn't ready for the main roster or anything like that, I said that he's not the best thing in wrestling (hardly a controversial opinion) and that I feel his presentation will harm him because I definitely do think they're going for a Lesnar-esque direction and by doing so you harm Owens because he can't compare. I think they'd be better off emphasising his every-man nature part of his character, as they did initially, rather than this prizefighter idea. I also stand by that his promos on Raw and Smackdown, were far away from being fantastic and I think he did struggle with the live crowd on Raw, the Smackdown one was improved but I thought his initial promo on the Raw was underwhelming.

The hype around Kevin Owens is huge and I think that's why people are acting like my comments are out there when in fact I think they're pretty valid points based on my own perception of his booking.

I havent seen anything from him that suggests MMA other than an octagon shaped O and even then I think thats an erroneous point.

Yeh I'm still not getting the mma thing, the prizefighter aspect of his character is similar but the motives are different Lesnar is mainly a pride thing, Owens is a guy looking to get to the top by hook or by crook as quickly as possible to provide for his family, he's also wrestled almost exclusively in shorts, T-shirt and gloves since around 08/09 iirc so it's not something WWE has forced upon him, he strikes me as more a street fighter than an mma fighter anyways

As an aside it's worth pointing out whatever your views on his promos (and personally I think he's great) Steen is not a native English speaker which is pretty astounding when you think about it

You just found his 1st language is French from TIJ didn't you.

I'm not sure what TIJ is but he's mentioned it on PWG commentary a few times