It was a fun night in Little Rock, Arkansas as WWE brought their Smackdown Live roster to town for a Sunday evening house show and Sportskeeda's own J. Carpenter was at Verizon Arena for all the action!
Doors opened at 5:30PMCST and the fans were eager to file into the venue. One interesting note, prior to the show, was an announcement that WWE would be returning to Little Rock for Monday Night Raw on Monday, January 16, 2017, and there's a special pre-sale code you can use now, which is "RAWRETURNS."
Let's dive into the results.
- -The Hype Bros def. The Ascension
- -Jason Jordan def. Simon Gotch (Aiden English ringside)
- -Baron Corbin def. Jack Swagger
- -Heath Slater & Rhyno def. The Usos and Breezango in a tag team triple-threat match to retain the Smackdown tag titles
- -Randy Orton def. Bray Wyatt (Erick Rowan ringside)
- -Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella & Naomi def. Carmella, Natalya & Alexa Bliss in a six woman tag match
- -Apollo Crews def. The Miz in a non-title match
- -MAIN EVENT: AJ Styles def. Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler in a triple-threat match to retain the WWE Championship
Final Thoughts
There's always something special about a house show that you won't find at a televised event. The superstars all seem much more laid back, they interact with the fans a lot more and the actual in-ring action absolutely incredible. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing like a live, televised events, such as Raw or Smackdown. However, the house shows are really fun as well and have their own special vibe.
All in all, I was very impressed with tonight's show. The crowd popped for just about anyone who was someone and even gave The Hype Bros a lot of love too. Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton stole the show for me, but there wasn't really a terrible match on the card. Also, it seems WWE is building up Apollo Crews for a future IC title run. I must say, this being my first time seeing Jason Jordan live, I'm convinced this guy will be a huge singles star one day. He's amazing in the ring, has great presence and a good skill set as well. If he ever develops a good grasp of mic work, the sky will be the limit.
