Roman Reigns and The Usos are determined to stay on top of the WWE world at this week’s SmackDown. (Instagram)
They’re calling it the “new era” in the WWE.
It might be more appropriate to call it the “feud era.” After all, the most prominent storylines right now rest on some fairly heated feuds between some of the wrestling world’s biggest names and toughest superstars and that isn’t about to change on this week’s SmackDown. In fact, this week’s event, taped from Des Moines, Iowa, focuses on all of those feuds and they’re all about to get just a bit more intense.
They’re also going to be fairly hard-hitting. That just makes it more fun to watch.
Keep reading on for all the latest spoilers from SmackDown as the WWE continues to set the stage for the Extreme Rules pay-per-view later on this month:
- Dean Ambrose opened up SmackDown by proclaiming that he and Chris Jericho were now even. Jericho destroyed the plant and Ambrose destroyed the jacket. All good right? Nah. Jericho comes and the lights go out – when the lights come back on, Ambrose is laying in the ring. The ref separates the two before they can get a match going.
- Rusev defeated Sin Cara in a pretty short match while WWE United States Champion Kalisto sat in on commentary. Lana threw water on Kalisto to distract Sin Cara and Rusev came out of the ring to kick the US Champion in the head.
- Becky Lynch’s tough streak in the ring continues as she’s defeated by Dana Brook.
- AJ Styles has a discussion backstage with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, promising to take care of Roman Reigns if the champ interferes in their match with The Usos.
- The WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day cut a promo in the ring, but are interrupted by The Vaudevillains and we’ve got ourselves a one-one-one match. Aiden English took down Kofi Kingston after a scuffle outside the ring saw everyone else ejected. Kingston was distracted during the match and English moved in to get the win.
- The Usos beat Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson by DQ.
- R-Truth and Tyler Breeze defeated Fandango and Goldust. R-Truth and Goldust end up facing each other in the match, but won’t fight each other. Eventually, Fandango and Tyler Breeze leave together.
- Renee Young speaks with Ric Flair and WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte backstage. Flair promises his daughter will retain her title at Extreme Rules.
- Cesaro/Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens and WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz ends in a no contest. Basically, everyone beat up on each other in the end, but the fans seemed more inclined to cheer for Zayn and Cesaro.
SmackDown airs at 8 p.m ET on Thursday on USA.