Smackdown Live Review 12/13/2016

AJ Styles vs. James Ellsworth for the WWE Championship was again for tonight, we’ll have new number one contenders for the Tag Titles, the Becky vs. Alexa feud is still going strong and Eva Marie was mentioned on Raw, will she be back? Will Styles vs. Ellsworth actually happen this week? Will this week’s show be better than last week’s? Probably, but let’s find out!

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WWE brings Smackdown Live to you from Verizon Center in Washington D.C.

The show opens up with Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon watching what James Ellsworth did last week when Ellsworth walks in and he starts sneezing as Bryan and Shane talk about him interfering in matches. Ellsworth keeps sneezing and coughing until Bryan postpones his championship match and send him home.

The Miz is already in the ring with Maryse to welcome everyone to Miz TV. He introduces AJ Styles and comes they start talking about James Ellsworth and how AJ was eventually going to destroy him in that ring. They both trade compliments until The Miz says he is above Styles’ level, Dean Ambrose makes his way to the ring before they come to blows and cleared everyone out of the ring and Dolph Ziggler then came out. Dolph pretty much talked crap about both AJ and The Miz until The Miz came back in the ring and delivered a Skull Crushing Finale on Dolph, then received Dirty Deeds from Ambrose. As AJ Styles walked up the ramp, Ambrose then hit Dirty Deeds on Dolph as well. The Wyatt sounder hit, Luke Harper appeared behind Ambrose and hit a Discus Clothesline and just stared down AJ Styles from the ring.
Opinion: I guess the Styles vs. Ellsworth match will be WWE’s backup plan when they have nothing scheduled but I don’t think anyone is actually interested in seeing that match yet again. Styles did suffer an injury during the ladder match at TLC, but it was rumoured that he was cleared to wrestle tonight but I guess not. Also, a fatal four is probably happening between Ambrose, Miz, Harper and Ziggler and that could be an awesome match.

AJ Styles is talking backstage to Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon. Shane announced the fatal four way between Harper, Miz, Ambrose and Ziggler and said the winner of the match will face AJ Styles for the WWE Title on the December 27th episode of Smackdown Live. He also said it will be an elimination match and any interference will cause elimination.

Nikki Bella is on commentary. Natalya grabs a mic and publicly tells Nikki she didn’t attack her at Survivor Series and wanted to do that before Carmella came out and ran her mouth.

1) Natalya vs. Carmella.
So, pretty much in the standard 9 minute match, Carmella defeated Natalya by pinfall with a roll up after Natalya got distracted with Nikki.
Opinion: The “Who attacked Nikki?” storyline seems to just be going on with no real clear direction. I don’t see the point behind it and if the rumors about Mickie James being the one behind it which I highly doubt, then it’ll pay off.

Backstage, Gabriel Iglesias is shown talking to Apollo Crews until The Miz and Maryse walk in and Iglesias and Crews pretty much just make fun of them, one of those pointless “comedy” segments.

2) Tag Team Battle Royal.
In a lengthier match than I expected, The Hype Bros won the battle royal when Zack Ryder finally eliminated Konnor to win the match.
Opinion: So…Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton vs. Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley? We all know American Alpha is taking the titles from the Wyatts at the end but having these matches with “dead” tag teams, won’t do any favors to neither team.

Alexa Bliss makes her entrance and grabs a microphone. Bliss was supposed to face NXT wrestler and Tough Enough competitor (Yes, I remember) Deonna Purrazzo but Alexa said she doesn’t do charity cases and asked Deonna if she thought she was Jane Ellsworth. Alexa attacked her and got her out of the ring. Becky Lynch came out and said she wanted her rematch, Alexa said she would get it but on her own terms but left until Shane McMahon came out and said the Championship rematch is up next.

3) Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch. Smackdown Women’s Championship Match.
In a quite a disappointing match, Becky Lynch defeated Alexa by count out at the 7 minute mark after (probably) faking a knee injury and refusing to get back into the ring.
Opinion: These two have been facing each other for some time now and this match just seemed not as good as some of the other ones. It just felt like it never got going. Possibly just holding off on the good stuff until the actual rematch.

John Cena’s return is announced for two weeks away.

Dean Ambrose makes his way to the ring followed by Ziggler, Miz and Harper. AJ Styles is on commentary.

4) The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper.
In a really good, really enjoyable match, Dolph Ziggler won the match when he finally defeated Dean Ambrose by pinfall with a Superkick following interference from The Miz.
Opinion: Holy shit! How good is Luke Harper? He seemed like he belonged in the main event, he looked like a million bucks tonight. I guess their witching feuds and we’re getting Ambrose vs. Miz and Ziggler vs. Styles but hopefully Cena’s return can boost Smackdown’s main event scene.

Final Thoughts:
That’s Smackdown Live! On paper, it wasn’t a very good show but the Battle Royal was actually good even with the Hype Bros winning. The opening segment was also enjoyable and the main event was just great. The only minuses would be both women matches and the fact we, again, only got 4 matches and there was no Apollo Crews, Kalisto, Baron Corbin matches which is definitely disappointing considering the lack of depth in Smackdown’s roster. Also Orton and Wyatt never made an appearance but Haper represented the Wyatt Family tonight on Smackdown and filled that void perfectly. Overall less involvement of Ellsworth resulted in a much better episode.
Final Rating: 8.3 out of 10.

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