Smackdown Live Review 10/11/2016

Is it just me or has this  “PPV every two weeks” starts overwhelming people? Just me? Cool.
We are two days post-No Mercy and it was a pretty damn good show. AJ retained, Heath & Rhyno retained, Luke Harper returned, and Dolph Ziggler is the new Intercontinental Champion! How will all these results affect Smackdown Live? Will we be presented with new storylines? New challengers? Will the Vaudevillians win a match? Let’s find out!

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WWE brings Smackdown Live to you from  San Jose, California at the SAP Center on the USA Network.

The show opens up with some pictures from No Mercy and Dolph Ziggler makes his way to the ring as the NEW Intercontinental Champion by saying “We did it”. He then cuts a promo about what his career meant, what his match against The Miz meant and how even himself, he doubted himself for the first time. As he talked about belonging in a WWE ring and how anything The Miz, Maryse or the Spirit Squad did, he was talking out IC champion.
The Miz makes his entrance with Maryse, both dressed in black wearing sunglasses. The Miz says this is the funeral of the Intercontinental Championship. As Miz an Ziggler argued a bit, Ziggler showed footage of Miz crying on Sunday and the crowd mocked him for it. He tells Ziggler he will get the title back and he wasn’t done with Ziggler and neither were they.

The Spirit Squad make their entrance to face Ziggler in a 2 vs 1 Handicap match.

1) Dolph Ziggler vs. Mikey & Kenny.
In a match that accomplished its goal of having a good showing from Ziggler, Dolph Ziggler defeated Mikey & Kenny by pinfall when Dolph pinned Kenny after a Superkick.
After the match, The Miz rushed to the ring and started to beat down Ziggler. As Kenny and Mikey were about to join in, Heath Slater’s music hit and him and Rhyno made the save for Dolph.
Opinion: Good pening promo and good match, it just worries me how are they going to keep going this feud after such a high at No Mercy. Honestly, I only see it going down form here and both Ziggler and Miz should do something else.

We see a recap of Becky Lynch’s medical condition and the Women’s title match for November 8th is plugged. It is also announced that Randy Orton will face the Wyatts later on and that Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan will have a special announcement.

Backstage, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan talk about the 30th anniversary of Survivor Series coming up. They talk about being head to head with Raw in ratings and after No Mercy being a hit and Raw’s historic announcement last night, it was only fitting to challenge Raw to a 5 vs 5 traditional match with the very best male competitors, female competitors and tag teams. 3 separate5 vs 5 matches. Daniel then starts a “Yes” chant.
Opinion: YES! I’m hyped for Survivor Series turning into Bragging Rights with big names competing in these matches. This means we’ll get to see some unused talent, and also a Smackdown vs Raw showdown, which probably wont happen often.

Carmella and Naomi make their entrances and footage from Carmella attacking Nikki Bella backstage (Yes, again) is played.

2) Carmella vs Naomi.
In a solid in-ring match with weird Carmella facial expressions, Naomi defeated Carmella by pinfall with a rollup after being distracted by Nikki Bella who is wearing jeans shorts for some reason.
Opinion: We are really seeing how Becky Lynch’s injury affects the division, the Carmella vs Nikki storyline probably wasn’t supposed to go on after No Mercy, I’m really starting to feel lost in their story. I still love Carmella though. I hope they can get a No DQ match.

American Alpha and The Usos are already in the ring.

3) Jimmy Uso vs. Chad Gable.
In a match with some good mat work from Chad Gable and good heel work from both Usos, Jimmy Uso defeated Chad Gable by pinfall when Jey Uso gave him leverage to steal the victory.
Opinion: Chad Gable keeps showing he is a great wrestler in every sense. American Alpha and the Usos have great chemistry and I’m looking forward to a full blown feud between the two teams. Also, The Usos don’t look badass any more, they look like legit civilians.

AJ Styles makes his way to the ring as pictures from the triple threat at No Mercy are shown. Styles said the champs was here, and cut a promo about beating Cena and Ambrose in the same night. He said he was a winner so it doesn’t matter how he wins, because that’s what winners do. AJ says Smackdown Live is the land of opportunity so he wants to see who his new challenger is and Dean Ambrose’s music hits. Ambrose says he had him beat at Backlash and made him tap out at No Mercy, and AJ responded 2 guys can’t make 1 tap out so quit whining and welcomes his new challenger.
Out comes James Ellsworth!
Styles said he was giving Ellsworth a chance because The Miz beat the crap out him a copuple of weeks back. Ambrose was heading to the announce table when Daniel Bryan came out and said he was a huge James Ellsworth fan and Dean Ambrose would be the special referee and said if Styles put his hands on Ambrose, he could be suspended or fined.

4) AJ Styles vs. James Ellsworth.
In a basic comedy match you would see at a live show, James Ellsworth defeated AJ Styles by pinfall after Dean Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on AJ Styles.
Opinion: Hopefully this is the last we see from Ellsworth as his act is getting a bit old now. I know a lot of problems with AJ Styles, the WWE World Champion, lost to this nobody but people need to understand this was just a way to continue the Ambrose v Styles feud in an entertaining way.

Backstage Randy Orton is talking to Kane about being tired of living in Bray Wyatt’s world and ultimately Kane says he’ll join Orton in the main event.

The first Royal Rumble “By The Numbers” video package is played.

5) Randy Orton & Kane vs Luke Harper & Bray Wyatt.
In the first match for Luke Harper since March, the Wyatt Family defeated Randy Orton and Kane when Bray Wyatt pinned Orton with Sister Abigail after Kane mysteriously disappear from the ring apron and this distracted Orton.
Opinion: They had a good match at No Mercy but I really don’t see where the storyline is going and apparently, Kane disappearing is going to be a big deal but I being saying this for weeks now, I don’t get the motivation from any of the participants.

Smackdown goes off the air with Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper celebrating.

There you go, again, not the best edition of Smackdown Live but still a solid night of wrestling. We know the Styles vs Ambrose feud is going on, we now have this Miz/Spirit Squad vs “Man Beast” and Ziggler which makes for a interesting twist, but I’m legit pissed about Curt Hawkins not wrestling or even cutting a promo in the show. Also, Alexa Bliss didn’t even appear.

Final Rating: 6.8 out 10.

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