Smackdown was taped on Tuesday night from Fort Wayne, Indiana. The show will air Friday night and is going to be notable for the arrival of a "New Day" in WWE. Proceedings started with The Big Show on Miz TV. This was interrupted by Daniel Bryan, who announced that he's in charge of the show for the night. He stated that Rusev would defend the US Title in a 20 man battle Royal. Also, Luke Harper will defend the IC Title against Dolph Ziggler. That was a decent start to the show, offering some attractive lures to stick with the broadcast. Rusev retained the US Title in the battle Royal. It was mostly undercard guys who nobody cared about. The few big names were Erick Rowan, Jack Swagger, Big Show, Cesaro, Miz and Mizdow. It came down to Swagger and Rusev, with the heel eventually powering the Real American over the top rope. Nikki Bella defeated Emma. After the match, Nikki cut a promo on AJ Lee. That brought AJ out from the back and she proceeded to attack the Bella Twins. So, it looks like Nikki vs AJ is continuing as a feud for TLC. Ryback battled Seth Rollins, but it ended in DQ when Kane interfered with a chair. This was to build toward Kane vs Ryback in a Chairs Match at TLC. Unfortunately, Ryback's big face push has hit the skids. A midcard bout with Kane isn't what his momentum needed. The New Day debuted. This faction comprises Big E, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston. They defeated the team of Curtis Axel, Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil in a 6-man tag match. The New Day is just a flashy version of 3MB and the future doesn't look promising for the men involved. Dolph Ziggler defeated Luke Harper in yet another none finish. It was a count out, so the IC title never changed hands. Afterwards, Harper tried to attack Ziggler with the belt. Dolph ducked it and hit the Zig Zag to send the crowd home happy.
