by Rob Goodwin @REALRobGoodwinSmackDown #1 Toyota Center, Houston, TX Tuesday 2nd January 2018 SmackDown’s first episode opened with General Manager Edge making his way down to the ring, reminding the audience of the opening match announced last night; a WWE Intercontinental Championship Fatal 4-Way between new SmackDown recruits Bray Wyatt, The Miz, Drew McIntyre and Adam Cole. Edge also announced that the WWE Championship would be a SmackDown exclusive title, with RAW having the new Universal Title belt as their main title. In order to find two competitors to fight for the title, two Fatal 4-Way matches would take place, with the winners meeting for the title at the first WWE PPV of the new era; Battleground. The first qualification Fatal 4-Way would take place as tonight’s main event, with AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley and Aleister Black fighting for a chance at the title at Battleground. Match #1 - WWE Intercontinental Championship Fatal 4-WayBray Wyatt vs. The Miz vs. Adam Cole vs. Drew McIntyre An all out war provided the entertainement for the opening match of this episode of SmackDown, proving the desire of all 4 men to become the first WWE Intercontinental Champion! Wyatt and McIntyre spent a lot of time engaged in brutal combat, the latter inserted into the match after an outstanding victory over Roman Reigns last night on RAW, while The Miz and Adam Cole put on what can only be described as a clinic of technical wrestling. At one point Cole superkicked The Miz straight into a Sister Abigail from Bray Wyatt, only for the Eater of Worlds to then be hit with a Claymore Kick from a waiting McIntyre with the pinfall being broken up by Cole. Conversely, Wyatt got his revenge, with a brutal looking Urunage onto the ring steps, effectively taking McIntyre out of the contest. Meanwhile, in the ring, Cole kicked out of a Skull Crushing Finale, before being wiped out by a Running Knee from The Miz. Wyatt got taken out from the apron by another Running Knee from the A-Lister, before hitting Cole with a final Running Drop-Kick to the jaw for the win and to become the inaugural champion. Whilst holding the belt aloft Wyatt, furious with the fact that he had lost out on the championship despite not being the man pinned, ripped into The Miz, hitting him with the belt before rolling him to the outside and hitting him with a Sister Abigail on the outside into the barricade. The lights went down, came back up, and Wyatt had vanished, leaving the other 3 competitors, including the new Intercontinental Champion, in varying states of agony at ringside. Draft Round #7RAW: #1 Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas, #2 ReDragon #3 Ember Moon SmackDown: #1 SAniTy, #2 Becky Lynch, #3 #DIY The first draft round of this episode of SmackDown, the 7th overall, saw everyone from Women’s competitors, Tag Teams, stables and ex-NXT stalwarts drafted. Triple H brought 3 ex-NXT champions to his brand, with Almas, the ReDragon pairing of Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly and Ember Moon making their way to RAW. Edge on the other hand countered with the ambitious opening pick of all 4 members of SAniTy including Nikki Cross, before backing that up with moves for Becky Lynch and #DIY to round out his own draft picks for this round. A strong round for both GMs it has to be said! Match #2 - Singles MatchBraun Strowman vs. Bo Dallas SmackDown’s acquisition, The Monster Among Men - Braun Strowman made his way down to the ring next, taking on a clearly apprehensive Bo Dallas who was already in the ring. As it transpired, Dallas had every right to feel apprehensive as he was utterly steamrollered by Strowman. In fact, Strowman didn’t even need to resort to his Running Powerslam to get the victory, simply smashing Dallas flush in the face with his knee for the victory. After the bell, Strowman continued with his destruction of Dallas until security and several referees broke it up. Draft Round #8RAW: #1 Roderick Strong, #2 Dolph Ziggler, #3 Neville SmackDown: #1 ECIII, #2 Jinder Mahal, #3 The Usos Draft Round 8 was some interesting picks, and showed the true depth of talent on he WWE Roster, as both GMs uncovered hidden gems with their picks. As well as the debuting ECIII, fresh off of a victory the previous night over Kassius Ohno, Edge brought in Jinder Mahal and The Usos to bolster his Tag Team division, while Triple H continued to plumb the men’s singles roster, plucking Roderick Strong, Dolph Ziggler and self-professed King of the Cruiserweights Neville out of the draft pool and bringing them to RAW! Match #3 - Tag Team MatchReDragon vs. The New Day With RAW and SmackDown’s Tag divisions looking extremely looking extremely strong on both sides, RAW’s recent acquisition ReDragon took on the jewel in SmackDown’s crown The New Day. Triple H must have been scratching his head however, as The New Day outclassed and outmatched and ‘out-teamed’ ReDragon. Kofi and Big-E didn’t let ReDragon settle into their groove, Big-E throwing the pair around as though they weighed nothin g, whilst Kofi launched himself across the ring showcasing his breathtaking and sometimes astonishing offence. This proved too much for ReDragon and O’Reilly in particular, as he was the receiving end of a Trouble in Paradise and a pinfall, giving The New Day the victory. Draft Round #9RAW: #1 Austin Aries, #2 American Alpha, #3 Hideo Itami SmackDown: #1 Rey Mysterio, #2 Authors of Pain, #3 Shayna Baszler Both GMs continued to re-enforce their rosters with quality additions, not least SmackDown’s first pick, which saw Rey Mysterio return to the WWE, as the flagship signing for their Light Heavyweight division, whilst also adding NXT Tag Team juggernauts The Authors of Pain and the ex-MMA Queen of Spades; Shayna Baszler. Triple H meanwhile, clearly irritated by his passing up of Rey Mysterio, did great business himself, adding A double - Austin Aries - American Alpha and the Japanese sensation Hideo Itami, as both brands continued to do battle for the superior rosters and therefore the superior brand. Match #4 - Women’s Singles MatchAsuka vs. Dana Brooke The first taste of Women’s action tonight lasted just under 2 minutes, and did nothing to add any sort of stock to Dana Brooke who submitted almost instantly to a Flying Cross Armbar from SmackDown drafted Asuka. A short match that painted Asuka in the dominant light she will be hoping to bathe in during her tenure on SmackDown! Draft Round #10RAW: #1 The Velveteen Dream, #2 Naomi, #3 The Mighty SmackDown: #1 Kassius Ohno, #2 The Club, #3 TJP Match #5 - Tag Team Match#DIY vs. American Alpha With RAW already having a recently drafted Tag Team lose their opening match, Triple H thrust American Alpha straight into a match with SmackDown’s own #DIY, and what a match. Given 25 minutes, these two teams truly put on a classic, to the point where this could already be classed as a match of the year candidate, and we are only in January! The two teams never broke stride and fought at such a ferocious pace that even though #DIY would ultimately gain the pinfall after Gargano superkicked Chad Gable, American Alpha could hardly be called losers! Before this however, we saw Chad Gable’s rolling German Suplexes to Ciampa, before we saw not one, but two Grand Amplitudes throughout the match! #DIY had their own moments of blistering offense of course, hitting Meeting in the Middle before Ciampa hit Project Ciampa on Gable. Draft Round #11RAW: #1 Elias, #2 Cedric Alexander, #3 Carmella SmackDown: #1 The Revival, #2 Kalisto, #3 Natalya Match #5 - Singles MatchGran Metalik vs. TJP Cruiserweight action followed the penultimate round of the draft, with the as of yet un-drafted fan favourite Gran Metalik taking on SmackDown’s recent new Light Heavyweight, TJP. And what an advert for the two divisions it was! Both men fought as though their jobs depended on it, taking the match by the scruff of the neck from the word go, and fighting at such a level of ferocity that the ‘This is Awesome!’ chants started mere moments into the match. It all seemed over in the 5th minute of the match when TJP managed to land a Detonation Kick, but Gran Metalik managed to place a despairing foot on the ropes at the last minute. The masked one responded with a Metalik Driver, only for TJP to roll from the ring. The match continued, with Metalik especially showing unparalleled quality, running across the top ropes and delivering astonishing aerial offence. It was with this that he got the pinfall victory, with a Springboard Neckbreaker proving too much for TJP, giving Metalik a well deserved victory heading into the final round of the draft. Draft Round #12RAW: #1 Akira Tozawa, #2 Jack Gallagher, #3 Ruby Riott SmackDown: #1 Gran Metalik, #2 Tye Dillinger, #3 Nikki Bella The final round of the official draft (remaining talent would be drafted on an exclusive Draft Centre on WWE.com) proved a good one for both brands Women’s and Cruiserweight/Light Heavyweight divisions as Tozawa, Gallagher and Ruby Riott made their way to the red brand before SmackDown responded with the very impressive Gran Metalik, the Perfect 10 Tye Dillinger and the returning Nikki Bella to round out his own roster! Match #6 - WWE Championship Match Qualification Fatal 4-WayAJ Styles vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton With the chance to fight for the coveted WWE Championship at Battleground the prize for the victor, the main event arrived with much suspense and tension. All four men in the competition, including the returning Bobby Lashley, all had chances to win it. Lashley in fact seemed untouchable for the opening 10 minutes of the match, taking a particular liking to Styles, whom he drilled into the announce desk with a Spear. Rollins toiled in his usual manner but seemed unable to get any substantial offense in, until Lashley was brought to his knees by a Scoop Slam from Orton, giving Rollins the opportunity to hit the Blackout, only for Orton to break up the pinfall at the last minute. Styles returned from his previous bump halfway through the match-up, hitting Rollins with a Phenomenal Forearm before attempting to do the same to Orton, who caught him with a picture perfect RKO, only for Styles to be deemed to close to the ropes by the referee. Lashley re-entered the fray, showing flashes of his astonishing strength by holding a Vertical Suplex on Rollins for what felt like an eternity. Though many didn’t want it to, the ending to the match needed to come, and it came from relative nothingness. After the battle between Rollins and Lashley had left them both laid out on the outside, Styles caught an unawares Orton with a Styles Clash for the 3 Count, and as quickly as that, AJ Styles was in the main event of Battleground, looking to become the first WWE Champion.
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