Smackdown Live Review 11/28/2017

Hello Misfits. It’s time for this weeks Smackdown Live review. The nice thing about right now is that Clash of Champions is still a couple of weeks away which means there is more time to build the storylines and matches going into the PPV. Usually it feels like everything is rushed because there is another PPV every two weeks but Raw and Smackdown shared a PPV for November with the Survivor Series so now both shows have time to build their angles ending off 2017. There are a lot of questions to be answered on these episodes of Smackdown Live because as of right now the only clear mach for Clash of Champions is AJ Styles defending his WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal who his invoking his rematch clause after losing the championship a couple of weeks ago. Also last week we saw the debut of Ruby Riot, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan shaking up the women’s division. What sort of impact will they make this week? Lets get to this weeks episode of Smackdown Live.

Smackdown comes to us live from Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

–  Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves are on commentary.

Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan
Shane runs down Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn before calling out Daniel Bryan to the ring. Bryan says he understands why Shane thinks Owens and Zayn should be fired. Since Bryan has been fired a few times, he understands that sometimes people deserve a second chance. Bryan says Shane can sometimes let his feelings get the better of him. Shane runs down the list of all the times Owens and Zayn have overstepped. Bryan says he sees real talent in Owens and Zayn.
If they fire Owens and Zayn they will just end up on Monday Night Raw. Shane says good, then they will be his sister Stephanie’s problem. Bryan says he didn’t take this job to be a yes man. Shane just needs to trust him. Shane says he does trust Bryan. Shane says he wasn’t happy but he does applaud the match that Bryan made tonight. Owens vs Randy Orton is a big-time match. Shane says he has to add to it: Zayn will be banned from ringside and the match will be no holds barred.
Opinion
This was a solid opening segment. However, I was hoping they would get more creative with the opening segment rather than an opening segment with Shane-O talking. This could have happened mid-way through the show but I understand it set the tone for the main event. This was great on building on the tension between Shane and Dragon Boy Bryan though. It’s interesting to see if this is going to lead to anything. I also find it interesting that as time goes on, we see Shane having some of the same flaws the rest of the McMahons do with the responsibility on power. They tend to abuse it and we know Bryan’s relationship with authority figures who abuse their power. 

– Backstage, Zayn and Owens find Bryan backstage. Zayn asks Bryan if he actually agrees with Shane banning him from ringside tonight and KO says Shane is basically sending him to the gallows. Zayn tells Bryan that he needs to fix this. Bryan asks Zayn who he thinks he is and why he thinks he can make demands. Bryan tells Owens and Zayn that the answer isn’t just no, it’s hell no! The decision stands. ooh how will Owens and Zayn get around this. Stay tuned and find out.

The New Day def. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable
The Usos are out on commentary for this match. Big E gives them pancakes and syrup from his trunks.
In a back and forth competitive match, The New Day pick up the victory after Kofi and Woods hit the Up Up Dwn Dwn on Shelton Benjamin.
Opinion
This was a pretty good match but the outcome was quite surprising. I did not expect Benjamin and Gable to lose as they were in the race as the number one contenders for the tag team championship and we just had months of New Day vs. The Usos. This might just have been The New Days big win to bounce back from the Shield loss at Survivor Series but I hope they dont end up in the tag title picture again.

– Backstage, Naomi walks into Charlotte’s locker room. Naomi asks Charlotte if she is ready. Charlotte says there is nothing they Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, and Liv Morgan can do to escape her wrath. Naomi says they can’t stop her glow. Natalya arrives and says Charlotte should thank them for helping her save her title last week. Natalya says she will put issues aside, and put the new ladies in their place.

The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper & Rowen) def. The Hype Bros
In a quick match, Harper and Rowen as the Bludgeon Brothers defeated The Hype Bros when Harper and Rowen drop Ryder with the Down Is Up for the win.
The Hype Bros are interviewed about their losing ways, leading to Mojo jumping Ryder, beating him down, and telling him the team is dead.
Opinion
This was done before anything got started. Similar to Asuka vs. Dana Brooke on Raw, this was barley a match. The Bludgeon Brothers continue to look strong. Also, the split that has been teased all of 2017 between the Hype Bros finally happens. I’m glad it was Mojo going heel rather than Ryder. I feel like we’ve seen Ryder as a bad guy before and it just didn’t work. I also feel like it’ll be easier to hate on Mojo because he’s fucking Mojo Rawley.

– They try to get a interview with Mojo and all he says is that the landscape has changed.

– Roode is interviewed, and says Corbin didn’t accidentally hit him. Corbin likes to talk and be a lone wolf, but he is smarter and better than him; someone who will take his US Title. Roode says that Corbin is lashing out at anyone who is a threat. It just so happens that the threat is absolutely glori… before Roode can finish Corbin interrupts and says he’s not afraid of him, and Roode tells him to prove it by defending the US Title against him tonight. Corbin declines to acquiesce to his request. It looks like we’re building towards Roode vs Corbin for the United States Championship.

AJ Styles def. The Singh Brothers w/ Jinder Mahal
Jinder Mahal comes out to the ring along with The Singh Brothers and attack AJ Styles before the match heading into a commercial break with Mahal standing tall. However, Styles fights back in two on one effort against the Singh Brothers and defeats after hitting Styles Clash on Samir off the top tope onto Sunil to get the pin fall .
Following the match, Jinder tries to attack AJ Styles after the match but Styles escapes the second three on one beatdown.  Jinder takes out his anger on the Singh Brothers hitting both of them with a Khallas.
Opinion
This was a fine match and it was nice to see the Singh brothers actually get some offence. They made sure it was believable that Styles had to fight his way to get over the beat down from earlier and the two on one odds. The Styles Clash off the tope on Samir and the way Samir sold the Khallas, really shows his ability to make whoever Jinder is working with look good. I dont think people give the Singh Brothers enough credit for how much they sell for Jinder opponents and as seen tonight for Jinder himself. This was quality storyline progression.

– Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, and Liv Morgan are interviewed, and are called the Riott Squad. They aren’t here to make friends or audition for Total Divas, they are here to takeover. Riott calls Morgan her little firecracker. Morgan says she is set to pop off at a moments notice. Logan is the grittiest southern belle Riott has ever met. Logan says last week they set a trap. Tonight they are going to bag three big game trophies. The end off by saying that Natalya, Charlotte, and Naomi better be ready.

Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan def. Charlotte Flair, Naomi & Natalya Neidhart 
Unlike Raw yesterday this actually was a match rather than a segment. Natalya bails on her team early on leaving it a 2-on-3 tag match. The match breaks down which led to Liv and Logan slamming Naomi to the barricade and then slamming her into the steel steps. Naomi is down and out which leaves Charlotte alone. The three girls triple team to take out The Queen, picking up the victory after Ruby hits her version of the pele kick on Charlotte.
Opinion
This was also storyline progression but unlike Raw, it was done within the match rather than just a promo and beat down. I’m glad they’re keeping the two stories different because last week they were pretty much identical. I understand that there were similarities still but they were executed differently. I also like how they arent blurring the lines of heels and faces on either show yet. For example, Alexa Bliss just walking out on Raw instead of helping Sasha and Natalya bailing on Charlotte and Naomi instead of supporting them. They also managed to have Charlotte still look strong by giving her a moment to fight back against the three women but overall failing to overcome them. I just wish they had Naomi take the fall and not Charlotte because I’m not a fan of seeing the Champion get pinned but I also can see it from an impact standpoint that they took down the champ. It’s going to be hard not to compare this to Raws angle but I feel like it’s going to be that way for the upcoming weeks until there is some real differences between the two. There are some already such as Paige fighting to claim her respect for starting the Women’s Revolution and these three girls raiding Smackdown just to make an impact. It’s also an unfair advantage for Absolution because Paige already carries so much star power whereas the girls on Smackdown are all relatively new. Which team do you prefer? Absolution or Riot Squad?

– New Fashion Files time, with a Saw theme. The fashion Police and Ascension are chained up in a bathroom. A screen is on the wall, giving then directions to destroy what they love the most or poison gas will kill them. The head of Tully the dead stick horse is there and they rip it apart to find a key, The Ascension offers to sacrifice themselves and are killed by the gas. To be continued…

No DQ
Kevin Owens def. Randy Orton
In an entertaining and violent match, that was fought all around ringside area of the arena Kevin Owens defeated Randy Orton after a super kick and frog splash. Zayn did find a way to interfere when Orton and KO were fighting on the entrance ramp as it technically isn’t ringside and it is a No DQ match. Zayn took a shot at Orton with a steel chair.
Opinion
This was a fun match and very entertaining between two of my favourite wrestlers. There actually felt like their was bad blood between the two. Also, if you follow both of them on twitter; you’ve seen them taking friendly jabs at each other for months now and it added to the match. The match started off really violent and I enjoyed the involvement of the kendo stick. Similar to extreme rules matches with my friends when I play 2K these two fought in the crowd to the ramp and all the way back to the ring. I like how Zayn found a loophole in stipulations Dragon Boy and Shane-O laid on them with the ban from ringside. I’m super curious to see where this leads to heading to Clash of Champions. Will Orton be involved in this angle all the way to the PPV event.

Final Thoughts
I found this to be a really entertaining episode of Smackdown Live. As per usual there were certain superstars who didn’t do much or weren’t on this particular episode but thats just the case with Smackdown Live. There was no Shinsuke Nakamura, Dolph Ziggler, Carmella, Rusev, Lana, Tamina and Aiden English for example. I feel like they did give us a solid amount of wrestling on this show as well as angle advancement and character development. I wonder how they will make next week something special and new between Mahal and Styles. I’m actually intrigued to see how the Smackdown Women’s Roster react to the Riot Squad’s dominance in numbers. Finally, how will Shane McMahon react to Zayn and Owens antics tonight and will Bryan or Orton be involved.
Rating – 7/10

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