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‘WWE SmackDown Live’ Results: American Alpha Out Of ‘WWE Backlash 2016’ — Chad Gable Injured

By Dustin Murrell
Published on: 11:29 PST, Sep 6, 2016

With less than a week before the blue brand crowns the first-ever SmackDown Women’s Champion at WWE Backlash 2016, the competition within the SmackDown Live Women’s Division continues to heat up. While Carmella is relentless in her ongoing attacks against Nikki Bella, fellow recent NXT call-up Alexa Bliss is turning heads. At the same time, Becky Lynch has struggled to establish herself the way Charlotte and Sasha Banks have done on Monday Night Raw, while Natalya and Naomi do what they can to remain relevant amidst the newcomers. General Manager Daniel Bryan hosted “forum” for all six women on SmackDown Live prior to the Six-Woman Tag Team Match.

At the same time, Dean Ambrose must prepare to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against AJ Styles at Backlash. After his huge victory over John Cena at WWE SummerSlam 2016, The Phenomenal One continues to call himself “The Face That Runs The Place.” After the two came face-to-face at the end of SmackDown Live, it was AJ Styles that stood tall — although it was the result of a low-blow.

Two other title matches for Backlash were also addressed on SmackDown this week. The tournament to name the first-ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions continued, as American Alpha defeated The Usos, and The Hype Bros face lost to Heath Slater and Rhyno. But an injury to Chad Gable has resulted in two matches being booked for Backlash. Meanwhile, Dolph Ziggler is being forced to switch his focus from Dean Ambrose’s title to the WWE Intercontinental Championship, currently around the waist of The Miz.

WWE SmackDown Live Results

The following includes the results of all the matches and segments from SmackDown Live on September 6. This episode of SmackDown airs live from the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska. Although they’re still doing much better than when the show aired on Thursdays, SmackDown Live hasn’t won the ratings war with Monday Night Raw since the week the blue brand hosted the WWE Draft. One night after a relatively uneventful Monday Night Raw, will the Backlash go-home show for SmackDown Live be the first time Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan’s show defeats WWE Raw?

SmackDown Pre-Show On The WWE Network

The regular team of four was back once again for the half-hour warm-up to SmackDown Live, airing exclusively on the WWE Network. Scott Stanford was joined by three WWE Hall of Famers: Lita, Booker T, and Jerry “The King” Lawler. The pre-show began with a review of the response given by The Miz on Instagram regarding his match against Dolph Ziggler at Backlash. From there, they reviewed the feud that’s building between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt.

Of course, they had to talk about the Backlash main event and the fact that AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose would have one more in-ring encounter on SmackDown Live tonight. They also talked about the semi-finals of the tournament for the new SmackDown Tag Team Championship. They were especially interested in the budding relationship between Heath Slater and Rhyno, and the way Zack Ryder has grown to see Mojo Rawley as a brother.

They aired what appeared to be a live interview with American Alpha from backstage at SmackDown Live. Jason Jordan was supremely confident, which the panel noted is often the downfall of young teams who overlook other opponents. As the show was wrapping up, they also announced that Daniel Bryan will be hosting a forum for all six women from the Six-Pack Challenge scheduled for Backlash.

Daniel Bryan Hosted A “Women’s Forum” — It Ended As Expected

Daniel Bryan introduced Becky Lynch, who was interrupted by Natalya, who was interrupted by Alexa Bliss, who was interrupted by Carmella. As the heels formed a temporary alliance in their mutual disdain for the Irish Lass-Kicker, Lynch was joined by Naomi and Nikki Bella. The faces cleared the ring of the heels. Later in the show, these women competed in a six-woman tag team match. It’s essentially a rematch from SummerSlam, with Bella and Carmella switching teams.

The Miz Defeated Apollo Crews

After complaining to Shane and Daniel about his title defense against Dolph Ziggler at WWE Backlash 2016 on Sunday, The Miz was informed that he had a match tonight with Apollo Crews. Dolph Ziggler supplied guest commentary for the non-title bout. Not only did The Miz get a clean victory over Apollo Crews, he got the best of Ziggler while he was sitting ringside. When Ziggler challenged The Miz to come back to the ring to get his IC title, the champ sent his wife Maryse to retrieve it for him.

Bray Wyatt’s Promo Was As Cryptic As Usual

After interviews from both The Usos and American Alpha about their match later in the show, Bray Wyatt’s promo started unannounced. Among other things, the Eater of Worlds said that he is a god and that Orton has no weapon that can defeat him. Orton gave a fairly standard response later on in a backstage interview. Neither man saw in-ring action.

Carmella, Natalya, And Alexa Bliss Defeated Nikki Bella, Naomi, And Becky Lynch

These six women opened SmackDown Live and closed out the first hour. The tag team aspect of the match allowed for several finishers without a three-count, until Nikki Bella was left alone in the ring with Carmella. Having focused on Nikki’s neck in her sneak attacks, Carmella got Bella to tap out to the Code of Silence finisher.

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The tournament to crown the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions will conclude at Backlash on Sunday. [Image via WWE]

American Alpha Defeated The Usos — Chad Gable Beaten Down Post-Match

After The Usos tried to get a jump on their opponents at the beginning of the match, American Alpha bounced right back and hit their finisher less than a minute after the bell rang. Jimmy and Jey did not take kindly to being beaten so easily. After the match ended, they attacked Chad Gable. Jason Jordan wasn’t able to save his partner, and as was announced later on, American Alpha would be pulled from Backlash, Gable’s kayfabe injury set to last up to four weeks.

Kane Chokeslammed Fandango

Fandango was looking for a new dance partner from the live audience in Kansas City, but all he got was the Demon Kane. It looks as though things will continue like this on a weekly basis when Kane comes out simply to chokeslam someone from the SmackDown Live under-card.

Heath Slater And Rhyno Defeated The Hype Bros — The Usos Turn Heel

Heath Slater took one more step towards earning a contract for WWE SmackDown when Rhyno’s Gore led to another victory for the newly-acquainted tag team. The finals of the tournament are now set: American Alpha vs. Heath Slater and Rhyno. After this match, as Renee Young was talking about the status of Chad Gable, she was interrupted by The Usos, who said they are no longer interested in winning over the WWE Universe. It wasn’t until later in the show that they would announce American Alpha was pulled from their match at Backlash, thanks to Chad Gable’s injury at the hands of The Usos.

A.J. Styles Hit Dean Ambrose With A Low Blow

Not unlike the final face-off between Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler on SmackDown Live five days before SummerSlam, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion met A.J. Styles in the ring for an exchange of smack-talk prior to their match at Backlash on Sunday. In the end, Styles hit Ambrose below the belt, leaving him as the last man standing as SmackDown Live went off the air.

Talking Smack On The WWE Network

Shane McMahon came on to Talking Smack to announce that American Alpha will not go on to the finals of the tag team tournament. Chad Gable is out with an “injury” for the next 2-4 weeks. Instead, at Backlash, The Hype Bros will face The Usos in a “second chance” match to earn a spot against Heath Slater and Rhyno for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship later on that same night.

Dolph Ziggler also joined Renee and Daniel to talk about a variety of things, including his match against The Miz at Backlash. Also, for possibly the first time on WWE programming, it was very strongly hinted that Renee Young and Dean Ambrose are dating in real life.

The above SmackDown Live results will be corroborated by WWE’s official SmackDown Live page.

Updated WWE Backlash 2016 Card

  • Dean Ambrose (c) vs. AJ Styles — WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
  • Nikki Bella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Carmella vs. Natalya vs. Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss — 6-Pack Challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
  • The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler — WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
  • The Hype Bros vs. The Usos
  • Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. Hype Bros/Usos — SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
  • Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt

Unless otherwise noted, the matches above were confirmed on WWE’s official Backlash preview page. WWE Backlash 2016 will air live from The Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia.

Where To Watch

WWE Backlash 2016 is set for Sunday, September 11. It will air exclusively on the WWE Network at 8/7c. The Backlash Kick-Off Show will begin at 7/6c.

WWE SmackDown Live airs Tuesdays on the USA Network at 8/7c. Replays of WWE SmackDown aren’t made available on the WWE Network until several weeks after the original air date. However, a replay of SmackDown Live is available to stream on-demand Wednesdays with a Hulu Plus subscription.

[Image via WWE]

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