Smackdown Live Review 12/6/2016

So, AJ Styles retained, James Ellsworth turned heel, Alexa Bliss is champion, Bray Wyatt has his first title in WWE and we’re officially on the way for the Royal Rumble, at least here on Smackdown! Will AJ get a new contender for the WWE Title? Will Bray and randy retain in Heath Slater’s and Rhyno’s rematch? Let’s find out!

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WWE brings Smackdown Live to you from Toyota Center at Houston, Texas.

The show opens up with a recap of the end of TLC’s main event between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose and James Ellsworth’s heel turn.
AJ Styles came down to the ring wearing a cast-like boot. He got to the ring and said he was addressing the elephant in the room and showed a picture of his pants with a hole while laughing at people thinking he was referring to the boot. He then said he did everything he said he would at TLC and mentioned being not medically cleared to compete tonight against Ellsworth. James Ellsworth came out and said AJ was just trying to get out of the title match or maybe Daniel Bryan was protecting Styles. Dean Ambrose’s music hit, he came down to the ring, hit Dirty Deeds on Ellsworth and simply left.
Opinion: WWE is still trying to make Ellsworth relevant but it now feels like it’s coming to an end. Apparently, the Ambrose and Styles feud is not over but I doubt they’ll have another PPV title match.

The Wyatt Family and Slater & Rhyno make their entrances.

1) Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt vs. Heath Slater & Rhyno.
In a somewhat decent match, Orton & Wyatt defeated Slater & Rhyno by pinfall when Randy pinned Heath after an RKO after Bray threw Slater into Orton.
Opinion: I’m really curious on to see when does these two tag teams go after this, hopefully Heath and Rhyno don’t just drop into the lower card and Orton and Wyatt can have a lengthy run to stop the feeling of Orton being a temporary member of the Wyatts.

Kalisto is being interviewed backstage about him asking for a rematch against Baron Corbin. He says he feels like he was in a car wreck but he has one advantage on Corbin, his speed skills.

Carmella makes her way to the ring and grabs a microphone. Mella talks about losing to Nikki and then trashes Natalya talking about her always being second best to Nikki’s spotlight, Nikki’s beauty, this continued until Natalya ran down and they had a little brawl until Carmella ran backstage and Natalya followed her. Backstage, Natalya was following Carmella until when she ran into Nikki Bella. Natalya told Nikki Carmella was lying and Nikki just walked off.
Opinion: I read this in some other place but hopefully this is the build up to Mickie James’ debut on the main roster. Just f’ing imagine.

The Ascension are in the ring as The Hype Bros make their entrances. Pre recorded promos are played for both teams, with their generic stuff.

2) The Ascension vs. The Hype Bros.
In a 3 minute match, The Hype Bros defeated The Ascension by pinfall when Mojo Rawley pinned Viktor with the Hype Ryder.
Opinion: Average way to throw away 5 minute of TV time.

The Miz with Maryse introduces Miz TV and talks about his TLC match with Dolph Ziggler, after this he introduces Dean Ambrose. The Miz starts by asking Ambrose how angry he was when Ellsworth backstab him on Sunday, to which Ambrose replied he wasn’t angry but shocked that this guy he made a WWE superstar did that. The Miz started talking about Ambrose using Ellsworth like a puppet and manipulating him. After Dean Ambrose got visibly pissed off, The Miz presented Ambrose with the first ever Miz’ Participation Award, Ambrose said he would shove the award down Miz’ throat and Daniel Bryan’s music hit, he came out and made a match for the Intercontinental Title between Miz and Ambrose as tonight’s Main Event.
Opinion: It was a good segment, The Miz is a great heel champion and now this truly feels like Ambrose is moving along and hopefully starts doing some Royal Rumble promos to further his chase for the title without actually being in a story with AJ Styles or James Ellsworth.

3) Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin.
In a disappointingly short match, Corbin defeated Kalisto yet again, by pinfall with and End of Days.
Opinion: I hate when WWE rebooks a PPV match just days later, it takes away so much from their chairs match just two days which in my opinion was a really solid match. Hopefully the “feud” is over now.

American Alpha makes their way to the ring followed by Tyler Breeze and Fandango.

4) Chad Gable vs. Tyler Breeze.
In yet another short match, Chad Gable defeated Tyler Breeze by pinfall when Gable hit a rolling german suplex.
Opinion: I really like both American Alpha and Breezango, so it’s a little disappointing when they only get a 3 and a half minute match but Gable looked really good in this match with some awesome offense.

Alexa Bliss makes her entrance and gets a pyro display to celebrate her championship win. Alexa grabs a microphone and talks about herself winning the Women’s title on Sunday until Becky Lynch comes out and basically just trashes Bliss in every way she thought of before challenging her for a rematch right there and then to which Alexa accepted but just walked away.
Opinion: Great segment and great way to further the Alexa-Becky feud which is really working for both. With that said, I still have a problem with Becky’s expressions and way of talking, not necessarily her accent. Also, Alexa’s face seemed weird tonight.

5) The Miz vs. Dean Ambrose. Intercontinental Championship Match.
In a pretty good match as you would expect from these two, The Miz defeated Dean Ambrose by pinfall with a Skull Crushing Finale after James Ellsworth distracted Ambrose when he tried to tell the referee Maryse was interfering.
Opinion: Like I said, it was a decent match but with a predictable finish and apparently everything I said in this review is wrong as apparently this Ambrose-Ellsworth thing is going even further.

After the match, Ellsworth ran up the ramp to avoid Ambrose as The Miz celebrated on the ramp.

Final Thoughts:
That’s Smackdown Live! It didn’t feel like a must watch in any way, shape or form but it was a somewhat enjoyable wrestling show and definitely had potential to get better next week. It’s definitely a good time to watch Smackdown with Alexa and The Miz being great heel champions and Orton-Wyatt reign getting started.
Final Rating: 7.6 out of 10.

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