On Thursday evening, the Cena family settled into their family room to watch Thursday night SmackDown; WWE SmackDown opened up with highlights from RAW and Roman Reigns successful defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Sheamus, plus Brie Bella returned and nailed her twin sister Nikki Bella. The war of words between John Cena and Dolph Ziggler and Ziggler demanded that Cena accept the match for the Royal Rumble.
In the arena, Mauro Ranallo welcomes the fans at home to Smackdown, and he and the King plugged Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose and Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch later in the show. Lawler then introduces Mauro Ranallo, who, in turn, introduces Byron Saxton. Finally, the WWE US Champion makes his way to the ring, and the WWE Universe boos him mercilessly; Del Rio is in the ring and waits for his opponent's outcome Kalisto.
Kalisto hits the ring, the formal introduction is done, the bell sounds, and here we go.
"Boy, I sure hope Kalisto wins," Julian said
"Me too, Jules," Joshua replied.
Del Rio started on offense with some punches, but Kalisto responded with a roundhouse kick and a leg scissors DDT. Kalisto covers Del Rio for a two-count. SmackDown goes to commercials. When Smackdown returned from the break, Del Rio took control of the match, hit some of his favorite moves, and DDT planted Kalisto.
Kalisto rolled out of the ring so Del Rio couldn't cover him. Del Rio followed him and threw Kalisto into the barricade. Del Rio taunted the crowd, and WWE Universe began chanting "Kalisto" now. Del Rio brings the action back into the ring, and Kalisto catches him with a hurricanrana for the pin and the victory. The WWE Universe erupted as Kalisto rolled out of the ring, with Refereeeree following him and raising his hand; Del Rio could not believe that Kalisto beat him.
The announcers plug the WWE Network and Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch before going to JoJo backstage, who was interviewing Becky Lynch. JoJo asked Becky if she had gotten an explanation as to why her former friend beat her so brutally on Monday.
Becky responded that Charlotte didn't need an explanation because she knew what stabbing meant.
Becky said, "when she beat Charlotte on Monday, it was in the spirit of friendly competition, but Charlotte doesn't understand that. Charlotte is just like her daddy whining when someone better beat them."
Back to the ring, we go, as Miz welcomed the WWE Universe to MizTV. Miz talk about the match between his older brother John Cena and that ungrateful Dolph Ziggler. When he was interrupted by Dolph Ziggler, Dolph walked to the ring with purpose, got in the ring and right in Miz's face, and began yelling at him about his older brother. Miz shoved Ziggler on his ass, and the WWE Universe erupted into cheers.
Miz said, "You need to worry about my brother John and what he will do to you at Royal Rumble."
"Yay! Uncle Mike gets him," Sophia said.
Ziggler attacks Miz, and a brawl breaks out between as Miz unloads on Ziggler, but Ziggler fights back and whips Miz into the ropes; Mizz ducks, hits the rope and nails Ziggler with a back elbow. Miz punches and kicks at Ziggler, leaning against the rope, then clotheslines him over to the floor. Miz is all fired up, exits the ring, grabs Ziggler by his hair, and slams his head into the ring's apron before whipping into the barricade. Ziggler fights back again and attempts Miz whips into the ringpost, but Miz reverses, and Ziggler hits the ringpost shoulder first. The WWE referee comes and runs down to separate Miz and Ziggler.
Ziggler goes after Miz, who is ready, and unloads on him more. WWE Officials got Ziggler back up the ramp and back as the WWE Universe cheered Miz. Then, SmackDown went back to commercials. When SmackDown returned from the break, Renee Young stood with Brie Bella.
"Brie Bella, everyone is wondering you have been?"
"Well, Renee, I had asked Stephanie McMahon for some time because I need to deal with personal business."
"And, Monday night, you return and save Nattie from your twin sister."
"As for Monday night, I nail Nikki because she had it coming from me, especially all the lairs she told about me."
"Many people wonder how Daniel Bryan feels about you leaving Stephanie McMahon and Nattie, knowing what the Authority did to him from 2013 through 2014 and that you fought Stephanie McMahon at SummerSlam."
"Stephanie McMahon and I are talking things out, and we are on good terms right now. And as for Daniel Bryan, he is no longer my husband. I divorced him last year."
"Divorce him"
"Yes, Renee, you see, there are a lot of things that the WWE Universe does not know about my relationship with Daniel that was not showing on Total Divas or Total Bellas. Daniel fails to realize that WWE was looking out for him, but all he did was bitching and moaning about being forced to retire, and of course, Nikki and Dolph egged him on."
Brie walked back to the ring for Charlotte to enter, and then Becky Lynch followed. Charlotte and Becky went back and forth the without anyone stringing together some offense. Instead, there were several sequences of pinfalls and reversals, and then Becky settled in and hit a dropkick, and then an armdrag followed and went to work on her arm of Charlotte. Charlotte went over to the rope onto the apron in the corner, and Becky hit a springboard with a side kick that sent Charlotte to the floor. Becky follows her outside, grabs her, and brings her back inside the ring, but Charlotte quickly bails out again. Becky followed her again, but Flair got in between Becky and Charlotte, which allowed Charlotte to hit a big boot. Charlotte brought Becky back into the ring, kneeled over Becky, and landed repeated punches, followed by a snap suplex.
Charlotte pally the head scissors and then slammed Becky's head into the mat. Becky then picked her up on her shoulders and dropped her on the top turnbuckle snake eye style. Becky gets all fired up and hits a series of clotheslines and a leg lariat. Becky then hits an exploder suplex and covers Charlotte for two counts. Ric Flair looked concerned on the outside. Charlotte reversed the momentum with a neckbreaker, but Charlotte couldn't put her away after multiple covers. Charlotte gets frustrated and hits some strong chops, but Becky ducks one and hits a pump handle exploder suplex. Becky goes for the disarmer, but Charlotte escapes and hits a big spear. Charlotte followed up with a figure eight attempt, but Becky rolled her up for a near fall. Becky then turned it into a cross-armbreaker, but Charlotte escaped. Becky eventually applied the disarmer, but Ric put her foot on the rope as she tapped out. As Becky argued with Refereeeree, she got rolled up, and Charlotte used the ropes to get the pin.
The announce team showed some footage of Kevin Owens defeating Neville from Monday and the brawl between Owens and Ambrose. Kevin Owens was shown backstage with Renee Young. Renee asked Kevin if he felt the effects of going through the table on Monday night.
Kevin said, "He was fine because he was a world-class athlete. Not even the cockroach Dean Ambrose could stop him from taking back the Intercontinental title tonight."
The RAW Rebound was plugged for next. The announce team threw to the RAW Rebound, which focused on McMahon, Cena, and Ziggler. Along with the Main Event, Roman Reigns defended the title against Sheamus. Renee Young is backstage with Dean Ambrose. Ambrose said, "Owens talks a big game about beginning a prizefighter. Well, he's got the prize, and he's ready, so let's fight Owens fight."
Back to the ring as Kevin Owens made his ring entrance to a chorus of boos. Dean Ambrose makes his entrance, and the crowd gets fired up. The formal introduction is done. The referee held up the Intercontinental Title to show the WWE Universe and then handed it to someone at ringside. Ambrose grabbed a headlock and went for Dirty Deeds early on, but Owens escaped and rolled out of the ring to regroup outside. Refereeeree began to count him, and he made it back at the count of 7. Owens gets Ambrose in the corner and then chops away at Ambrose, who turns the tables in the corner and tees off on Owens with kicks. Both men traded punches until Ambrose hit a snapmare and then a seated clothesline.
Ambrose got dumped to the outside, and Owens followed him outside. KO hits a kick to the face, then he attempts to toss Ambrose into the barricade but gets reversed. Ambrose then hit a lariat off the apron and tossed Owens back in the ring. As Ambrose got back in the rig, Owens hit him with DDT. Kevin covers him for two counts. Owens applied a chin lock, but Ambrose quickly broke free and unloaded on Owens. Ambrose hits a clothesline, followed by a running bulldog. Ambrose went for Dirty Deed again, but Owens backed him up into the corner. Owen hit a German Suplex but couldn't follow up, and Ambrose grabbed him as he ran towards the corner and hit a Tornado DDT. Ambrose went to the top turnbuckle and hit a cannonball in the corner for a near fall.
Owens went for the pop-up powerbomb, but Ambrose reversed into head scissors. He then hit a rebound lariat, and both men were down. They traded blows as they got to their feet until Owens hit a clothesline. He went for another clothesline, but Ambrose slipped and sent him outside. He followed up with a dive that sent Owens over the announce table.
Ambrose climbed on top of the announce table, but Owens recovered before he could do anything. Owens sent him into the stairs, and Ambrose sent him to the crowd over the barricade. Refereeeree reached the count, and both men were counted out as they fought through the crowd. Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose ended with a double count-out. Ambrose and Owens ended up on the stage, and Owens got tossed into the big WWE symbol on the top of the stage. Ambrose then dove into him as he attempted to get away. They then brawled over to a set of road cases and got up on top of them. Owens went for a powerbomb, but Ambrose reversed into a back-body drop. Ambrose then dove at Owens, and they both ended up crashing through some tables adjacent to the road cases as the show went off the air.