{"id":3767,"date":"2018-05-15T19:00:34","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T01:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?p=3767"},"modified":"2018-05-15T20:22:01","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T02:22:01","slug":"smackdown-live-recap-review-episode-978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/smackdown-live-recap-review-episode-978\/","title":{"rendered":"SmackDown Live Recap &#038; Review &#8211; Episode 978"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>WWE SmackDown Live<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Episode 978<\/strong><br \/>\n#SDLive<\/p>\n<p><strong>Original Air Date: May 15, 2018<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Event Date: May 15, 2018<\/strong> (aired live)<\/p>\n<p><strong>City: <a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=london-england-uk\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">London<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=england-uk\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">England<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=united-kingdom\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">UK<\/span><\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Venue: <a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=02-arena\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">The 02 Arena<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Commentary: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Ring Announcer: Greg Hamilton<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Ring Area<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nThe commentators talk about the three matches AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura have had in the past month and a half. Tonight, they will have a match with the winner picking the stipulation for their title match at <em>Money in the Bank<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Ring Area<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nIn the ring, Renee Young welcomes Daniel Bryan. Young asks Bryan about his loss to Rusev. Bryan says he doesn&#8217;t like losing. When he came out of retirement, he was just happy to be back. But that&#8217;s not good enough now. He wants to be back on top, and he will become WWE champion.<\/p>\n<p>Big Cass comes out and wants Daniel Bryan to hold on. Bryan might be fooling the crowd, but he&#8217;s not fooling Cass. Cass is going to make sure that Bryan doesn&#8217;t achieve his dreams. He says he didn&#8217;t tap out at Backlash because he was in pain, he tapped so he could get back up and beat on Bryan. He also reminds Bryan that Cass is the one who eliminated him from the Greatest Royal Rumble.<\/p>\n<p>Cass enters the ring, and Bryan attacks. Bryan gets Cass in the corner and continues to beat on him and his knee until referees come out to stop him. Bryan exits the ring, but he circles around and slams Cass&#8217;s knee into the ring post. Bryan then enters the ring and puts Cass in a heel hook. Four referees and Adam Pearce come out to save Big Cass from Daniel Bryan.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match 1<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=money-in-the-bank-qualifying-match\"><strong>Money in the Bank Qualifying Match<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Xavier Woods &amp; Big E<\/strong> w\/ Kofi Kingston <strong>vs Sheamus &amp; Cesaro<\/strong><br \/>\n(referee: Charles Robinson; guest commentary: The Miz; stipulation: The winning team gets to pick a member to enter the <em>MitB<\/em> ladder match.)<\/p>\n<!-- Content Reveal v2.3.1 -->\n<div class=\"scrhead\" onmouseover=\"document.body.style.cursor='pointer'\" onmouseout=\"document.body.style.cursor='default'\" onclick=\"acr_swap_display('ran_69e7523979f8e','0','','')\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/simple-content-reveal\/images\/image1.gif\" class=\"scrimg\" id=\"scrimg_ran_69e7523979f8e\" alt=\"Reveal content\" title=\"Reveal content\"\/>');<\/script> Show\/Hide Results\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<div style=\"display: none\" class=\"scrdiv\" id=\"scrdiv_ran_69e7523979f8e\">');<\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Result: Xavier Woods pins Cesaro after a rope-walk elbow drop<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Time: 9:23<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<\/div>');<\/script>\n<!-- End of Content Reveal -->\n\n<p><strong>Match Thoughts<\/strong><br \/>\nVery good match. There was one moment when Woods was clearly stalling for time, waiting for Sheamus to cut him off outside the ring, but other than that this was a very good and exciting match. Cesaro and Woods were exceptional standouts here, both men putting together some great sequences and very nice moves.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Backstage<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nThe Bludgeon Brothers say family is for the weak and friendship is a hindrance. Time is up for the <em>SmackDown<\/em> tag division.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Backstage<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nMandy Rose and Sonya Deville approach Paige. Rose gloats because she won last weak and says she&#8217;s headed to Money in the Bank. Paige says last week&#8217;s match wasn&#8217;t a <em>MitB<\/em> qualifier, but Rose will get a qualifying match tonight. Rose will face Becky Lynch and Sonya Deville in a triple threat match.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Backstage<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nRenee Young asks AJ Styles what tyoe of match he&#8217;ll pick if he wins tonight. Styles lists some ridiculous stipulations, saying that whatever he chooses will entertain everyone. Everyone except Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura can&#8217;t beat Styles in the house he built, so Styles will be picking the stipulation for their title match.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match 2<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Andrade &#8220;Cien&#8221; Almas<\/strong> w\/ Zelina Vega <strong>vs Jake Constantino<\/strong><br \/>\n(referee: Danilo Anfibio)<\/p>\n<!-- Content Reveal v2.3.1 -->\n<div class=\"scrhead\" onmouseover=\"document.body.style.cursor='pointer'\" onmouseout=\"document.body.style.cursor='default'\" onclick=\"acr_swap_display('ran_69e752397a0d1','0','','')\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/simple-content-reveal\/images\/image1.gif\" class=\"scrimg\" id=\"scrimg_ran_69e752397a0d1\" alt=\"Reveal content\" title=\"Reveal content\"\/>');<\/script> Show\/Hide Results\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<div style=\"display: none\" class=\"scrdiv\" id=\"scrdiv_ran_69e752397a0d1\">');<\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Result: Andrade Almas wins via pinfall after a hammerlock DDT<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Time: 1:20<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<\/div>');<\/script>\n<!-- End of Content Reveal -->\n\n<p><strong>Match Thoughts<\/strong><br \/>\nSquash, but it&#8217;s very good to see Almas finally on <em>SmackDown<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Ring Area<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nZelina Vega gets on the mic. She says she and Almas were expecting more from <em>SmackDown<\/em>. His opponent tonight was pathetic, almost as pathetic as everyone in the locker room. Vega and Almas didn&#8217;t come to <em>SmackDown<\/em> to play nice, they came to take over.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Backstage<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nRusev appreciates the food and stuff Aiden English set up for him, but he expected more. English tried, but this is London. English makes up for it by beginning to sing a song, but Lana interrupts. She is excited because she has a <em>Money in the Bank<\/em> qualifying match next week. She expects herself and Rusev to be the first ever Mr. and Mrs. Money in the Bank. And it will all happen on Rusev Day.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Ring Area<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nThe Royal &#8216;Mellabration commences. After being announced by a town crier, Carmella heads to the ring with her title belt. She allows the audience to cheer for her, but they decide not to. Carmella does not appreciate the crowd&#8217;s reaction, so she proclaims that she is better than everyone. She keeps talking until Paige interrupts.<\/p>\n<p>In the ring, Paige starts by saying it&#8217;s great to be home. Paige also has a royal proclamation. She announces that Carmella will face Asuka at Money in the Bank. Asuka heads to the ring and smiles at Carmella. Carmella takes her title and leaves.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Backstage<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nRenee Young welcomes Shinsuke Nakamura. Young tries to ask Nakamura about his chances tonight, but Nakamura questions her choice of words. Tonight&#8217;s match isn&#8217;t up to chance, it is a certainty that Nakamura will win.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match 3<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=triple-threat-match\">Triple Threat<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/?tag=money-in-the-bank-qualifying-match\">Money in the Bank Qualifying Match<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Becky Lynch vs Mandy Rose vs Sonya Deville<\/strong><br \/>\n(referee: Jason Ayers)<\/p>\n<!-- Content Reveal v2.3.1 -->\n<div class=\"scrhead\" onmouseover=\"document.body.style.cursor='pointer'\" onmouseout=\"document.body.style.cursor='default'\" onclick=\"acr_swap_display('ran_69e752397a10b','0','','')\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/simple-content-reveal\/images\/image1.gif\" class=\"scrimg\" id=\"scrimg_ran_69e752397a10b\" alt=\"Reveal content\" title=\"Reveal content\"\/>');<\/script> Show\/Hide Results\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<div style=\"display: none\" class=\"scrdiv\" id=\"scrdiv_ran_69e752397a10b\">');<\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Result: Becky Lynch forces Mandy Rose to submit to Disarm Her<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Time: 7:57<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<\/div>');<\/script>\n<!-- End of Content Reveal -->\n\n<p><strong>Match Thoughts<\/strong><br \/>\nGood match. The truce between Rose and Deville didn&#8217;t last long, so this was a good match with all three women fighting hard. I liked the interactions between all three, and it will be interesting to see if Rose and Deville stick together or starts to split apart after this.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Video<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nSamoa Joe tells Big Cass that ambition has made him a victim. Joe has dealt with fake tough guys like Cass before, and they always come up short. Joe&#8217;s ambition demands the Money in the Bank briefcase, and Cass is standing in his way. Next week, Cass is just an obstacle for Joe to put to sleep.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Video<\/em><\/span><br \/>\nThe IIconics play word association. Billie Kay is a winner, and the future is IIconic.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match 4<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Shinsuke Nakamura vs AJ Styles<\/strong> (WWE Champ)<br \/>\n(referee: Ryan Tran; stipulation: the winner gets to choose the stipulation for their WWE Title match at Money in the Bank)<\/p>\n<!-- Content Reveal v2.3.1 -->\n<div class=\"scrhead\" onmouseover=\"document.body.style.cursor='pointer'\" onmouseout=\"document.body.style.cursor='default'\" onclick=\"acr_swap_display('ran_69e752397a13e','0','','')\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/simple-content-reveal\/images\/image1.gif\" class=\"scrimg\" id=\"scrimg_ran_69e752397a13e\" alt=\"Reveal content\" title=\"Reveal content\"\/>');<\/script> Show\/Hide Results\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<div style=\"display: none\" class=\"scrdiv\" id=\"scrdiv_ran_69e752397a13e\">');<\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Result: Shinsuke Nakamura wins via pinfall after Kinshasa<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Time: 13:37<\/strong> (1 break)<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">document.writeln('<\/div>');<\/script>\n<!-- End of Content Reveal -->\n\n<p><strong>Match Thoughts<\/strong><br \/>\nGreat match. Realistically, I think it&#8217;s strange to book a match between the champion and challenger like this before a title match. If the challenger wins, then he has a legitimate gripe about beating the champ but not winning the title. If the champ wins, it diminishes the intrigue of the title match. Regardless, this was a great match between two great competitors.<\/p>\n<p>The finish understandably had some shenanigans going on. I think it had to. A completely clean finish wouldn&#8217;t have been good for either guy. It also gives me hope that when they finally do decide to pay this feud off, the finish will be completely clean.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Show Impressions<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nI liked the show. Three good matches, a fine debut for Almas, and some nice teases for next week. I like that the tag match and the main event had stipulations attached to them that weren&#8217;t paid off tonight. What will Nakamura pick and which member of New Day is headed to Money in the Bank? We&#8217;ll have to watch to find out.<\/p>\n<p>I also really liked how Daniel Bryan utterly destroyed Big Cass on the opening segment. I&#8217;m not a big fan of Cass right now, but seeing that reaction out of Bryan was great.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Match of the Night<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Shinsuke Nakamura vs AJ Styles<\/strong><br \/>\nIt would be hard to beat this match-up on any night.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nakamura battles Styles to determine the stipulation for their title match, New Day faces The Bar for a single spot in the Money in the Bank match, Lynch, Rose, and Deville fight for a spot in the women&#8217;s MitB, and Almas debuts on a good episode of SmackDown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[297,10,622],"tags":[1049,476,234,850,556,633,832,494,749,1690,438,537,495,493,535,272,546,536,1946,1930,2027,516,151,452,979,843,517,358,682,451,1947,632,693,170,183,614,563,898,1263,1825,570,7,482,1675],"class_list":["post-3767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-show-results","category-smackdown","category-wwe","tag-adam-pearce","tag-aiden-english","tag-aj-styles","tag-andrade-cien-almas","tag-asuka","tag-becky-lynch","tag-big-cass","tag-big-e","tag-billie-kay","tag-bludgeon-brothers","tag-byron-saxton","tag-carmella","tag-cesaro","tag-charles-robinson","tag-corey-graves","tag-daniel-bryan","tag-danilo-anfibio","tag-greg-hamilton","tag-harper","tag-iiconics","tag-jake-constantino","tag-jason-ayers","tag-kofi-kingston","tag-lana","tag-mandy-rose","tag-money-in-the-bank-qualifying-match","tag-new-day","tag-paige","tag-peyton-royce","tag-renee-young","tag-rowan","tag-rusev","tag-ryan-tran","tag-samoa-joe","tag-sheamus","tag-shinsuke-nakamura","tag-smackdown","tag-smackdown-live","tag-sonya-deville","tag-the-bar","tag-tom-phillips","tag-wwe","tag-xavier-woods","tag-zelina-vega"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3769,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3767\/revisions\/3769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnjradio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}