WWE News: Dean Ambrose Battles AJ Styles And The Miz, More Wyatt Family Drama
On Saturday night, the WWE SmackDown superstars took their show to Winnipeg to entertain the fans in attendance for the latest WWE house show. Unfortunately for the spectators, the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion had the night off, after a busy past week of work including his historic championship win at the Royal Rumble 2017 pay-per-view. The latest event took place at Winnipeg’s MTS Centre just days ahead of the next episode of the SmackDown TV show on USA.
On the same night that the Raw superstars competed at a live WWE show in Salt Lake City, SmackDown put on a show in Winnipeg. According to Top Rope Press, both SmackDown Live superstars John Cena and Nikki Bella were not among the competitors performing at the latest live WWE event, but former WWE World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles was. Also on the Winnipeg WWE match card was the current Intercontinental Champion, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Alexa Bliss, and Carmella. Former Wyatt Family member Luke Harper was also part of the show with more tension arising between himself and the family’s leader, Bray Wyatt.
At last week’s Royal Rumble event, Harper ended up being part of one of the more surprising moments during the 30-man match when he grabbed Bray Wyatt and hit Bray’s finishing move, Sister Abigail, on the “Family” leader. All of that has led to Randy Orton and Luke Harper continuing to be at odds. On last week’s SmackDown episode, Harper ended up teaming with John Cena to take on Bray and Orton. The heels won with Harper seeming to be disassociated with the family.
The tension continued in Winnipeg as Harper fought against Bray in singles action. In the match results, Bray captured the victory over his former disciple. It’s likely that this feud is far from over, although rumors indicate that Bray may become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion by the next pay-per-view, Elimination Chamber. As far as Luke Harper’s situation going forward, that remains to be seen, but as of now, he’s not affiliated with The Wyatt Family as they head down the road to WrestleMania.
In other results, WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss was in action, this time teaming up with Carmella. The duo took on an unlikely combo of Natalya and Naomi. It appears that Becky Lynch and Nikki Bella’s absences were probably the reason a heel teamed with a face in this matchup. Naomi and Natalya scored the win for fans in Nattie’s home country, although Natalya walked out on her partner who still came up with the victory.
Canada's own @NatbyNature #WWEWinnipeg pic.twitter.com/xPbaQvm7Lq
— Patrushka G (@ladygapate) February 5, 2017
Several singles bouts were also on the Winnipeg WWE match card. They included “The Lone Wolf” Baron Corbin defeating Kalisto, Mojo Rawley defeating Aiden English, and Dolph Ziggler defeating Apollo Crews. Curt Hawkins was also in action and reportedly lost to Kalisto, meaning the SmackDown star was in two different matches for the night. One fan’s tweet regarding the action seems to indicate a possible Kalisto injury, but there have yet to be any reports of this.
The WWE SmackDown tag team titles were on the line at the latest event as American Alpha defended their championship belts in a “Tag Team Turmoil” match. Among their opponents were Breezeango, The Ascension, Rhyno and Heath Slater, and The Usos. Alpha left with the belts and after seeing this sort of situation several times in the past week, it seems there could be some sort of tag team chamber match coming up at the pay-per-view.
In the main event, Dean Ambrose was in a Triple Threat match to defend the WWE Intercontinental Championship. His opponents in the latest match were former champion The Miz, and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles. Ambrose was able to emerge victorious in a match which included the usual hijinks and Ambrose antics.
Triple threat match #WWEWinnipeg pic.twitter.com/NAEVbjRuYw
— Patrushka G (@ladygapate) February 5, 2017
The three competitors from the Winnipeg WWE show’s main event will all be featured in the upcoming Elimination Chamber match for John Cena’s WWE World Heavyweight title. However, of the competitors, only AJ Styles would seem near the top of the favorites, along with Bray Wyatt, who, as mentioned, seems like a favorite to capture the belt heading towards WrestleMania 33.
The superstars for the SmackDown Live roster will be back on television this coming Tuesday with the main event match featuring 2017 Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton battling WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena as one of the matches on the card.
[Featured Image by WWE]
