Smackdown Live Review 11/22/2016

Survivor Series is done, the fantasy warfare became true and it was a pretty good show. Raw won the war by winning the women and the tag team traditional matches but Smackdown won the men one. Will we see The Undertaker again tonight? How will Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan address the loss in the majority on the matches? Let’s find out!

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WWE brings Smackdown Live to you from the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.

The show starts with a video that shows the events of Survivor Series, including Bray Wyatt picking up the win for Team Smackdown.

Shane McMahon makes his way to the ring and apologizes for not being as energetic as usual as he feels like he’s been in a car accident. Shane gave props to Team Raw for fighting as hard as they did and thanked Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt before criticizing Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles for not putting away their differences for Team Smackdown.
Dean Ambrose came out interrupting Shane and they argue a bit about Dean joining Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins to powerbomb AJ Styles. Dean says Shane is focusing on the negatives and calls out the MVP of Team Smackdown and the man who took down Braun Strowman, James Ellsworth. After arguing a bit about being a surprise, they announce that James Ellsworth is getting a Smackdown Live contract. After this, Shane McMahon gives Ambrose the night off and tells him to leave the building. AJ Styles comes out and just talked about Ellsworth not deserving the contract and he proposed a ladder match with Ellsworth’s contract on the line which Ellsworth accepted.
Opinion: The Ellsworth running joke became old like a month ago. This is just beating a dead horse by now and I really don’t know how longer they are expecting to keep running this sub-feud between Styles and Ellsworth. If you’ve been on the internet this last week, we already know that Ellsworth got signed. I’m just curious what they’re going to do with him after this entire Ambrose/Styles/Ellsworth triangle ends.

Daniel Bryan interrupts a photo shoot with The Miz and Maryse backstage. The Miz said he was ready for a celebration but Bryan told him there was no celebration because Smackdown was embarrassed at the way he won on Sunday. He said that Baron Corbin ruined Kalisto’s moment so Kalisto would get an Intercontitnental Championship match tonight.

Backstage, Shane is walking Ambrose out of the building and Ambrose said he was going for something to eat and bringing something back.

1) The Miz vs. Kalisto. Intercontinental Title Match.
Let’s give credit where credit is due, shall we? This was a pretty good match. The Miz defeated Kalisto by pinfall after a Skull Crushing Finale after Kalisto got distracted when Baron Corbin ran in and tried to attack Kalisto.
After the match, Corbin attacked Kalisto, finishing him of with the End of Days.
The Miz and Maryse were celebrating at the top of the ramp when Dolph Ziggler showed up and hit a Superkick on The Miz when he turned around.
Opinion: Holy shit! That was really cool! Kalisto’s quick style and The Miz’ “safe” and heelish style clashed really well and created a really good match. I might be overselling it though. So…I guess we’re still going with Miz vs. Ziggler and Corbin vs. Kalisto huh?

Backstage segment where Alexa Bliss demands a title shot with Shane McMahon against Becky Lynch. Becky shows up and says she would get it at TLC. Natalya shows up and blames Becky for the loss at Survivor Series. Dean Ambrose walks up with a pizza box and offers some to Shane and Becky, they refused and Shane told Ambrose to leave. Pretty useless segment, to be honest.

The Tag Team Turmoil to determine the #1 contenders is announced as next.

2) Tag Team Turmoil.
This was a pretty entertaining series of matches. American Alpha won the Tag Team Turmoil after finally defeating The Usos with Grand Amplitude.
The Hype Bros eliminated The Ascencion, Breezango eliminated the Hype Bros, American Alpha eliminated Breezango, The Vaudevillians and The Usos.
After the match, the Wyatt Family appeared on the titantron and Bray said they haven’t faced all the tag teams yet. Randy Orton said they were more than that. They were a family.
Opinion: Fucking seriously? The Vaudevillians, one of the most talented tag teams in the WWE today get squashed in about 20 seconds? Getting tired of this…Having said that, I’m really happy American Alpha won and American Alpha vs Bray and Randy sounds so interesting.

Daniel Bryan is backstage trying to talk James Ellsworth out of his match with AJ Styles. Ellsworth gives a little speech and Dean Ambrose walks in dressed as The Mountie. Shane McMahon walked in and lost it telling Ambrose to leave. Ambrose told Shane if he wanted to know why he was dressed like The Mountie. Shane said no and left. Bryan told Ambrose to leave but was curious on why he was dressed like that, Ambrose replied that The Mountie always gets his man.

Natalya is in the ring as Becky Lynch made her entrance and Alexa Bliss went to commentary.

3) Becky Lynch vs. Natalya.
In an average wrestling match, Becky Lynch defeated Natalya by submission with the Disarmer. After the match, Alexa got off the commentary table and attacked Becky leaving her laying on the mat.

Backstage, The Miz is demanding Daniel Bryan to suspend Dolph Ziggler for superkicking him for no reason. Bryan said he owes him a rematch and said that a TLC they are going to have their final match no matter the outcome and it will be a ladder match.

Carmella is talking on the phone backstage when Nikki Bella walks in and accuses Carmella of attacking her at Survivor Series. Carmella denies it and blames someone on Team Raw. Carmella says she talked to her brother in law and he made a No DQ match for TLC.

4) Kane vs. Baron Corbin.
In an unnecessarily short match, Baron Corbin defeated Kane by disqualification when Kalisto ran in an attacked Corbin in the middle of the match.
After the match, Kane hit the Chokeslam on Baron Corbin. As Corbin laid knocked out, Kalisto got a chair and Corbin got out of the ring and then went back in, Kalisto hit him with the chair and Corbin ran out again.
Opinion: I guess the Kalisto vs. Corbin feud is starting to look better but the loveable underdog Kalisto trying to murder Corbin with a chair? Not so babyface.

AJ Styles and James Ellsworth make their entrances for the main event.

5) AJ Styles vs. James Ellsworth. Ladder Match.
In a predictable as hell match, Ellsworth defeated AJ Styles when he retrieved the contract after AJ Styles got his foot caught in the rope. Dean Ambrose also interfered heavily.
Opinion: I mean, we all knew that was going to happened, didn’t we? The Ellsworth story has stopped being funny and the finish with AJ’s foot on the rope just seemed laughable to me.

The show ends with Dean Ambrose celebrating with James Ellsworth at ringside.

Final Thoughts
That’s Smackdown Live! Definitely a step back from recent weeks. A lot of progression was made regarding TLC but the in ring work was average at best and the segments weren’t all that good. Not really much to say, it seemed like this episode of Smackdown just kind of happened.
Final Rating: 6 out of 10.

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