WWE SmackDown 15th Anniversary Results: John Cena & Dean Ambrose Face Off, Returns, Big Tag Match
Welcome to WrestlingINC.com's live coverage and results for SmackDown's boffo 15th anniversary spectacular. Tonight's show was taped on Tuesday in Philadelphia. According to the good people of the Internet, mustard was invented in Philadelphia by Benjamin Jackson way back in 1768. That's well before the Attitude Era, wrestling fans.
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The show opens with a nice retrospective of the show's past 15 years, replete with plenty of "OMG!" moments. Lillian introduces Stephanie who is met by a good deal of boos from the crowd. She welcomes everyone to the big show and then starts to put The Rock over before noting that he lost to Triple H on the very first episode. She slips in a $9.99 reference for good measure. She starts to talk about "the people" and is interrupted by John Laurinaitis who comes out and explains that he's here to inject a little "People Power" into the show's blockbuster anniversary episode. Teddy Long hits the ramp next and the crowd gets pretty excited. John and Teddy trade barbs about who was a better GM and Long says "the proof is in the playa." John tries to book a tag match and Teddy changes it up to a 6-man tag. The Laurinaitis ups the ante and declares a 10-man match. Long follows up by suggesting a 15-man tag match. Pretty impressive the way he rattles off all of the players, including Tito Santana who apparently isn't even in the building. Steph makes it "Team Teddy" vs. "Team Johnny" in which the team captain is declared best SmackDown GM of all time. Steph also says John Cena will be the guest on Miz TV later tonight?
Adam Rose's music hits and he comes out with a full entourage. He tells Steph that she shouldn't be a lemon because there's a party going on tonight. Stephanie isn't impressed and books Rose in a match with Kane. It's worth noting that American joshi and Philly-based lady grappler Jenny Rose is a Rosebud on tonight's show.
Commercials roll, WWE posts an impressive graphic about how the word "smackdown" has been included in Webster's Dictionary. Kane comes out holding a mic and cuts a pretty cool promo while walking down the ramp saying that he's going to be a party pooper. Bell time?
Adam Rose vs. Kane
Rose charges Kane and delivers a boot to the gut. Kane takes hold of Rose off the ropes and positions him for a body slam. Rose climbs Kane and tries to apply a sleeper hold but the big guy backs him into a corner to break it. Rose tries to bring the fight back to Kane but Kane is too big and too powerful. A chokeslam and a cover later, Rose's winning streak is over.
Result: Kane defeats Adam Rose
Post match, Kane knocks out all of the male Rosebuds and squares off with the bunny briefly. More Rosebuds intervene and the bunny retreats.
WWE looks ahead at what's on tap tonight and then they revisit Cena's debut on SmackDown against Kurt Angle.
AJ Lee vs. Alicia Fox
Paige is at ringside for this one. Fox grabs a hold of Fox first and slings her around, hitting a suplex on her for a near fall. She works AJ on the mat and Paige coaches her from outside. AJ fights back with some elbows but Fox nails her with a wicked backbreaker and another near fall follows. Paige manages to apply the black widow in a flash and Fox taps out.
Result: AJ Lee defeats Alicia Fox by submission.
Post-match, Paige storms the ring and tries to hit AJ with the belt. Paige retaliates by hitting Paige and then slinging Fox into her guts. Cole says, "I guess you can fight crazy with crazy." Nicely done, Cole.
WWE re-racks Joan Lunden's appearance on Monday Night Raw next and then it's commercial time.
After the Hell in a Cell plug and a nod to WWE2K15, we see Seth Rollins heading out, flanked by Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble. They recap some Monday Night Raw shenanigans and then we're back in the ring for a match.
Kofi Kingston vs. Seth Rollins
Rollins is all over Kingston from the bell. They end up outside and Rollins keeps up the attack, slamming him on the floor a few times and rolling him back inside. After some more blows, Rollins rubs Kofi's face in the mat and then stomps him in the corner. Kofi mounts a brief comeback but the curb stomp makes this virtual squash official and a pin follows.
Result: Seth Rollins defeats Kofi Kingston via pinfall.
A Wyatt Family video rolls and then more commercials.
Fresh from the break, WWE rolls footage of Edge cashing in Money in the Bank on Undertaker and Swagger cashing in on Jericho. Then we review The Rock's surprise appearance on Monday Night Raw.
In the ring, we have Rusev and Ziggler ready to rumble.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev
Rusev gets the jump on ZIggler quickly, striking hard and working Zigs on to the canvas. Dolph lands a nice dropkick but misses with a follow up in the corner and falls outside. Break time.
After the ads, Ziggler tries to keep pace with Rusev but the big Bulgarian gets the with the Accolade.
Result: Rusev defeats Dolph Ziggler via pinfall.
After the match, Lana takes a mic and complains about the Rock, getting so worked up that she forgets how to speak English. Rusev takes the mic and challenges Big Show to a match on Raw.
Before the next break, WWE revisits Stone Cold's brawl with Booker T in the supermarket. Instant classic.
The announce team gives a shout out to the Philadelphia Eagles at ringside and then we're treated to a backstage segment featuring The Rock, Triple H and Stephanie. Triple H brings up that he beat Rock on the first episode. Footage is shown from their match and then Rock reminds Trips that he defeated him the following week. Each guy says he could whip the other dude's ass if they ever go at it one more time. They go back and forth in an exchange that you can only get from these two guys. Really funny stuff.
After that, the announce team gets a cake delivered to their table. JBL puts the cake in the new guy's face. Then Lillian welcomes Booker T to the show. He'll be on commentary for the 15-man tag match.
The teams file out for the tag match as we head to break.
15-man tag match: Team Teddy (Mark Henry, Los Matadores, Sheamus, The Usos, Jack Swagger and El Torito) vs. Team Johnny (Heath Slater, Titus O'Neil, Goldust, Stardust, Bo Dallas, Damien Sandow, The Miz and Hornswoggle)
Goldust starts this one off against one of Los Matadores. Lots of time for cool things to happen. After some back and forth, Titus O'Neil ends up duking it out with one of the Usos. Stardust tags in and the other Uso comes in around the same time. Uso jumps to the apron, takes out Stardust and them gives Goldust a roundhouse kick as an afterthought. Stardust gets back into the fray and he and Uso spar on the floor. Somehow, Hornsoggle gets involved briefly, then Slater comes in with a quick tag and Sandow follows him. Sandow keeps his opponent on the mat and away from his teammates. Titus comes back in and delivers some punishment as the drubbing continues. Uso slows O'Neil's momentum with a kick but can't tag out in time and Cesaro comes in as WWE heads for a break.
Uso finally, mercifully gets the tag and Sheamus lines up three of his opponents on the apron and delivers 10 forearms to each guy. A great segment follows in which all four tag teams work some impressive spots, funny mascot hijinks ensue and then Bo Dallas and Mark Henry spar. Cesaro gets Sheamus in a big spin for 15 revolutions. Cesaro tags in Sandow and Sheamus gets back up and takes Sandow off-kilter with an assist by Jey Uso. Uso hits a tag, delivers a splash and gets the pin.
Result: Team Teddy wins.
Post-match, Team Teddy hoists their captain up for a victory lap. The guys from Team Johnny bicker with each other and then we get another Wyatt Family vignette.
Looks like the closing segment will be Miz TV with special guests John Cena and Dean Ambrose. Miz announces that the match between Cena and Ambrose at Hell in a Cell will be a no-holds-barred, contract on a pole match. Ambrose comes out to the set first and Cena follows., stopping along the way for a Make a Wish moment.
Miz asks Ambrose why he ambushed Cean at the end of Monday Night Raw and Ambrose says he doesn't take crap from anybody, so he's going through Cena to get to Rollins. Cena says he's impressed by Ambrose. He also says something about listening to every sound the universe makes. Cena says Ambrose has "it" and pulls out some baseballs. He also says that Miz doesn't know what balls are, causing almost every guy in the ring to break kayfabe. Cena puts over Ambrose convincingly and tells him to bring his "A-game" to Hell in a Cell.
Miz then asks Ambrose if he thinks he can beat Cena and Ambrose says, "Yep." Miz tries to stir things up a little more and eggs on Cena and Ambrose until they team up to beat the stuffing out of him. Just when it seems like it's over, Cena delivers an Attitude Adjustment to Ambrose to even the score. A mixed reaction from the crowd follows as the show fades to black.
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