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WWE Smackdown Women's champion Charlotte Flair vs. Ruby Riott.
Riott was alone. This is her singles PPV debut, less than a year since she officially debuted in NXT. That is pretty impressive.
They went back and forth. They battled to the floor where Charlotte worked over Riott and sent her into the barricade. She tossed Riott into the ring, but Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan appeared at ringside, apparently having slipped in from the crowd. That distracted the champion, allowing Riott to kick her from apron and deposit Flair back inside the ring.
Flair was nailed with The Riott Kick but kicked out at two. She tossed Flair to the floor and distracted the referee. Before the Squad could attack Flair, out ran Becky Lynch and Naomi to ward them off. They all remained at ringside as Riott worked over Charlotte with several suplexes. Charlotte came back with a slingshot suplex. Thanks Uncle Tully.
Riott was able to defend herself against Flair and continued scoring two counts. The implication was that Riott could easily hang with the champ. She nailed one after a cannonball in the corner. She locked in a straightjacket submission. Riott worked her over for a long time until Charlotte nailed a neckbreaker. She went to the top for a moonsault but Riott had her well scouted and shoved Flair off and down to the floor.
Riott went for a dive but got caught (which was telegraphed) and slammed. Flair then hit a moonsault off the guard rail onto Riott. She tossed the challenger back in for a two count. Flair nailed a leaping knee to the face but was caught with a forearm as she climbed the ropes. Riott nailed a rana off the top into the ring for another two count.
Riott worked over Flair, who fired back with chops. They seemed to get lose for a second but Riott sent Flair into the ringpost. Riott Squad tried to interfere, so Naomi and Lynch hit the ring to go after them. The referee tossed them. Riott Squad worked over Charlotte but the referee tossed them as well. Riott argued but that allowed Flair the chance to recover and attack her with a series of chops. Riott caught her with an inside cradle for a two count. Charlotte flipped Riot into the top turnbuckle, which looked awesome.
Flair speared Riott and locked on the figure eight, scoring the submission win.
Your winner and still WWE Smackdown Women's champion, Charlotte Flair!
Asuka arrive and announced she was choosing Flair to challenge at Wrestlemania. So, that leaves Nia vs. Alexa, as they really seemed to tease on Raw.
The announcers claimed Xavier Woods had been taken to the hospital with a spinal injury. That's storyline obviously.
WWE champion AJ Styles vs. John Cena vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens.
Shane McMahon came out. He’s gotta earn that multi-million-dollar salary.
Everyone went after Cena at the bell, so he nailed AA after AA. He went for one on AJ, who landed on his feet and they faced off. They went back and forth with some great back and forth counters. Styles went for the Styles Clash but Cena turned it into an AA. AJ pulled himself to the turnbuckle as the others returned to the apron and surrounded Cena. The story was no one wanted Cena there and they all attacked him, five vs. one, then dumped him outside to the floor.
Smackdown’s stars all looked at each other and began bearing each other. Lots of big moves with everyone taking the other out. Styles nailed a neckbreaker on Ziggler. Zayn went for a Helluva Kick but Styles avoided and nailed an inverted DDT, but Owens broke up the pinfall. Owens and Styles back and forth.
They battled to the top. Owens headbutt him off to the floor. Corbin returned and nailed clotheslines, but Cena nailed him. Ziggler nailed Cena with a DDT but was attacked off the ropes by Owens with a frog splash for a two count. Styles made the save. He went for the Styles Clash but Owen backdropped him over the top to the floor.
Corbin nailed a backbreaker on Owens but Ziggler snapped him with the Zig Zag. Cena nailed Ziggler then hit the Blue Thunder Bomb on Zayn. Cena whipped out the Five Knuckle Shuffle. He looked to go for the AA on Ziggler but Ziggler leapt up into the Famouser for a near fall. Ziggler went for Sweet Chin Music but Cena ducked and locked in an STF. Styles charged all the way into the ring to break it up.
Styles called for Styles Clash but Cena avoided it. He went for an AA, but it was reversed back into the Styles Clash. Zayn broke up the pinfall. Zayn began beating the hell out of Styles. Corbin returned to the ring and worked over Zayn, tossing him to the outside. Zayn caught himself on the apron and went for a springboard move but was nailed with a big right hand. Corbin nailed Owens with a big clothesline, then hit Deep Six on Styles. He went for End of Days on Ziggler but Dolph slipped out. They battled to the floor and into the crowd. Corbin smashed Ziggler through one of the hockey boards.
Meanwhile, Owens began setting up commentary tables to put AJ Styles through one. Styles responded with a leaping kick to the head. Styles clotheslined Zayn. Each of them crashed over the barricade into the timekeeper’s area.
Cena grabbed Owens and went for an AA through the announcers’ table. Owens escaped. Styles went to nail Cena but was snatched up into an AA and put through one of the tables. Zayn battled Cena and sent him to the floor. Owens was in the ring and they faced off. Zayn said he was a man of his word and he was going to lay down for Owens. He slowly got down on his back. Owens looked down stunned and then slowly moved down. Owens went to grab Zayn, who rolled him up for a two count. They began brawling in the center of the ring.
They battled to the floor, where Owens attempted to powerbomb Zayn on the apron. Zayn pulled himself up on the apron. Owens followed and went for the powerbomb. Zayn backdropped him up and over onto the apron. Zayn saw Shane and began menacing him, telling him this is what he wanted, to get between he and Owens. Shane got in his face. Owens went for a superkick, but Zayn moved, and Shane was kicked by Owens. Zayn nailed a tornado DDT on the floor.
Back in the ring, Zayn was nailed with a superkick. Ziggler went after Owens but was caught with a pop-up powerbomb. Owens covered him but at two, Shane pulled the referee out of the ring. Zayn nailed itbut saw Ziggler had covered Owens and returned to the ring to break that up at the last second.
On the floor, Corbin nailed Cena with the ring steps on the floor and brought them into the ring. He nailed Ziggler, Zayn and Owens with the steps. Cena rolled back into the ring and Corbin stalked him with the stairs. Cena grabbed the stairs and nailed Corbin with them. He pulled Corbin up on his shoulders and nailed the AA on the steps, only to have Ziggler break up the pinfall
Cena charged Ziggler with the stairs but Ziggler ducked and nailed a superkick. Owens nailed him with a Pop-up powerbomb but Styles sailed through the air with the Phenomenal Forearm and nailed Owens, scoring the pin.
Your winner and still WWE champion, AJ Styles!
A frenetic, fun main event with tons of near falls and moments where everyone had a big moment where it appeared they would win.
Styles stood on the ropes yelling he was going to Wrestlemania.
The cameras focused on a despondent John Cena, his road to Wrestlemania again stopped by another loss.
TALKING SMACK
Renee Young and Sam Roberts are the hosts.
The first guest was new WWE United States champion Randy Orton. He was asked how he felt, being that he had never held the title before. Orton said he always saw a way to get there with his other championships but that wasn’t the case with the U.S. title. He said that winning it was important to him and he’s not going to forget this moment. He said that he’s accomplished so much, and he wanted to get on the Grand Slam list and how he’s on it. Orton was asked about Jinder Mahal attacking him, only to then be attacked by Roode. Orton said he and Jinder have had unfinished business from last year. He said he doesn’t like anyone but his feud with Roode is one worth having. Orton said Jinder gets under his skin. Roode hasn’t been here long enough to get under Orton’s skin and he doesn’t want to be there. He said he has the utmost respect for Roode despite how sore his neck is tonight. Orton said everyone is pointing at the Wrestlemania sign and its weeks away.
Orton was asked about John Cena not having a match at Wrestlemania. Orton said he’s amazing and he watched seeing Cena cry on Raw Talk. He said it was fun to see the man cry. No real tease of Orton's direction for Wrestlemania.
Renee and Sam talked about the Bludgeon Brothers' attack on New Day and the Usos. They played up that backstage, even the other WWE stars were shocked.
Charlotte Flair was interviewed. She said that she was ready for Asuka, although she’s never faced anyone like her. Charlotte said the conversation that Asuka was in the race in terms of how great she is, where before Charlotte was at the top of the head in the division, drives her. Seeing Asuka on Raw, she saw Asuka as someone she wanted to face. She said she wanted to cement her legacy at Wrestlemania and she will do that against Asuka. She promised she would do that.
They talked about AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestlemania. Roberts said fans have been waiting for this since they came over from New Japan.
Shane McMahon was interviewed. Shane said he wasn’t happy about getting involved, but “you take a shot to the face and it sets you off.” He admitted his emotions got the better of him but said that right now, he didn’t feel bad about what happened. He said he didn’t need to explain himself and talked about how he never liked Owens and when he finally got his hands on him in Hell in A Cell, Zayn got involved. McMahon got annoyed when Young began wrapping up the show by plugging Raw and walked off.
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