WWE Smackdown results: Dean Ambrose still hunting Intercontinental Championship

Dean Ambrose continued his push for an Intercontinental Championship match by defeating Curtis Axel on Thursday night’s edition of Smackdown.

Ambrose announced on Raw that he was targeting Bad News Barrett’s belt after besting the Briton in a recent non-title tussle.

And The Lunatic Fringe showed in Colorado Springs that he could be a worthy challenger to Barrett by making light work of Axel and downing the son of “Mr Perfect” Curt Henning with Dirty Deeds.

The former Shield star is not impressing Barrett, though, with the Prestonian once again stating that Ambrose does not deserve to face him in a championship encounter.

Elsewhere on Smackdown, Stardust abandoned brother Goldust when he called him “Cody” during the siblings’ bout with Dolph Ziggler and Ryback, leaving The Bizarre One to fall to Ryback’s Shell Shocked.

Meanwhile, Rusev conquered Erick Rowan with The Accolade, Paige submitted Alicia Fox to the PTO and Adam Rose was outfoxed by ballroom-dance enthusiast, Fandango.

Plus, there were victories for Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan, the men who will square off at Fast Lane for the right to fight WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, at WrestleMania 31.

Reigns overcame The Miz with a Superman punch-spear combination, while Bryan edged a three-on-one handicap match against Seth Rollins and J&J Security after placing Joey Mercury in the “Yes!” Lock.

However, Bryan was sucker-punched in the wake of his triumph, attacked by Kane and then pummelled into the mat by Rollins’ Curb Stomp.