Main Event – June 1, 2017: This Is Your Life Wasn’t THAT Bad
Main Event Date: June 1, 2017
Location: Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Corey Graves
For the first time in a good while, I’m getting to the point where I don’t quite know what to expect from this show. They’ve actually mixed things up a bit in recent weeks and that’s been the best idea they could have had. I’m not saying the show is good yet but at least it’s easier to sit through. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Drew Gulak vs. Lince Dorado
Dorado starts fast with some kicks to the face and something like a springboard headlock takedown. Drew is smart enough to hide behind the referee to get in a shot to the throat and take over. It’s off to the arm with Gulak cranking on the chin for good measure. One heck of a clothesline drops Dorado again and we hit a regular chinlock. Dorado comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but hurts his knee and the match is actually called off at 4:40.
Rating: D+. The injury hurts things but you have to assume that Gulak was going to win anyway. Hopefully Dorado isn’t out long term as he’s perfectly fine for a face jobber in the division. Gulak has found his groove in this character and hopefully he can take it somewhere instead of just doing the same bits over and over.
From Raw!
Here’s Alexa Bliss with a table of stuff and some random people for This is Your Life Bayley. Bliss talks about the kendo stick hanging in the corner, which Bayley would probably try to hug instead of use on her. Now it’s off to the table, which includes Bayley’s first doll, which she still plays with. Then we have a trophy for best in sportsmanship. Bliss also has Bayley’s yearbook where she was voted most likely to apologize.
That’s enough for the table of stuff though so let’s move on to the guests, starting with Mrs. Flapper, Bayley’s fourth grade teacher. Apparently Bayley had perfect attendance and sat next to her father, who she just couldn’t be away from without crying. Then we have Bayley’s best friend Tracy, who says Bayley was the nicest girl in the world. The problem was Bayley let people take advantage of her by taking the fall for them or doing their homework. Then something happened and they stopped talking. Bayley wanted to watch wrestling instead of going out and doing anything else.
Bliss finds this hilarious we have Bayley’s ex-boyfriend Phil, who said their first date was ok but kind of strange. Her dad was there every single time, including the time they almost had their first kiss. Phil didn’t really like her though because he just wanted to get closer to Tracy. She liked him too so they kiss, which Bliss deems disgusting. Cue the real Bayley to clean house, including going up to grab the stick. Bliss cuts her off though and pulls out a second stick to give Bayley a beating. This was a long segment but Bliss sold it as she can do so well. The joke got old in a hurry more than once but at least they kept it moving fast enough.
We see a few minutes of Samoa Joe vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor from Monday.
Heath Slater/Rhyno vs. Bo Dallas/Curt Hawkins
Is there any show Hawkins isn’t on (not a bad thing)? Rhyno and Hawkins get things going with the fans going nuts for Rhyno again. Some early shoulders stagger Hawkins and it’s time for some cheese to go with those crackers. Slater comes in and works on the arm for a bit and Dallas gets some of the same. A little double teaming sends Slater outside though and we take a break.
Back with Dallas driving knees into Slater’s back and grabbing a cravate. Hawkins comes back in for a chinlock of his own as the fans want Rhyno. A kick to the face is enough to grant the fans’ wish and it’s time to clean house. Everything breaks down and Rhyno TKO’s Hawkins for two. The spinebuster puts Dallas away at 10:48.
Rating: C. Is there a reason Slater and Rhyno aren’t on Raw? They might not be the best team in the world but they’re a perfectly serviceable face team and the fans are always going to be behind Rhyno. Then again that’s asking WWE to be able to handle two face teams at once and you know that’s not going to happen.
We’ll wrap it up here.
Seth Rollins says he’ll win.
Roman Reigns says he’ll win.
Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins
They circle each other to start with the fans being almost one sided behind Rollins. Reigns throws him around and stares Rollins down. Some big forearms send Rollins outside but he hits the jumping knee, followed by a clothesline over the top. A dive takes us to a break with a good deal of time left.
Back with Rollins being sent into the barricade, right in front of a good number of empty first and second row seats. Reigns hits the corner clotheslines but the Superman Punch is pretty easily blocked. Rollins springboards into the Superman Punch for two but it’s too early for the spear. Instead Rollins hits the low superkick for two of his own, only to have Reigns no sell the Buckle Bomb and hit another Superman Punch.
They head outside with Reigns going shoulder first into the steps, setting up a Blockbuster for another two. That great looking frog splash is still only good for a near fall but Rollins misses the third Phoenix Splash of the night. An enziguri sets up the windup knee but Reigns spears him down for the pin at 18:22.
Rating: B-. As is the case in the tag match (albeit to a better degree), the match was good but nothing we haven’t seen several times before. I know the idea is that Reigns has the momentum heading into Sunday, though it’s really hard to buy the idea that he’s getting the title shot at some nothing show in July instead of in his fourth Wrestlemania main event in a row. Good main event, but people really didn’t seem to care.
Overall Rating: C-. I know this goes against the common opinion but I really didn’t think This Is Your Life was that bad. Sure the thing at the end with the actors kissing was dumb but the rest was fine with Alexa being such an awesome heel that it can never be completely bad. The rest of the show was your usual weak effort in a dead time for the show but that’s Money in the Bank season for you.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Histories of Saturday Night’s Main Event and Clash of the Champions, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
A lot can change in the course of a year. Titles will change hands, people will turn face or heel and new memories can be made. All that being said though, the point is that wrestlers are supposed to get better, which is what we’ll be looking at today. We’re going to be looking at the most improved wrestler of the year, which can mean someone either getting better or being used better by the company. As usual, these are presented in no particular order.
1. Heath Slater
This is a case where it’s been about how the character is presented rather than the wrestling itself. Slater has almost always been at least a passable hand in the ring but he’s often little more than a comedy character, especially due to his time in 3MB. That being said, he’s still a comedy character but he’s gone from almost nothing on the card to a champion in 2016, which I don’t think anyone was really expecting.
The key change for Slater has been in actually having a story. This is all about showing the details behind him. Slater isn’t someone we knew that much about, save for him being a former boxer in West Virginia. With the introduction of his family, who were only mentioned and shown in a few segments, Slater has been rounded into a more well developed character and that’s the best thing for him.
Instead of Slater getting better in the ring, he’s gotten better as a character and that’s going to make people care about him far more than they would have otherwise. The fact that Slater was a champion in WWE in 2016 is astounding enough but the fact that people cared about him makes it all the more remarkable. That’s certainly an improvement and a good way to get things going.
2. Alexa Bliss
Now this one is a bit more interesting but again it’s almost all about the character development. Bliss certainly isn’t great in the ring but that’s never been the point to her. I know it’s easy to write Bliss off as eye candy and a passable wrestler at best but she’s turned into one heck of a performer and someone who belongs either near or at the top of the women’s division.
The key to Bliss is in her facial expressions. If you know your wrestling, you know that getting people to hate you is more important than anything you’re going to be able to do in the ring. What’s easier to hate than the gorgeous blonde who thinks everyone else is beneath you? That’s the character that Bliss has given us with just those eyebrows up looks where she basically says everything else here is worthless because it’s not something she’s done.
The “Smackdown Live” women’s division was made from scratch and it’s a major necessity to have some fresh talent brought into the mix. Bliss was called up from developmental a bit too early for most people’s tastes but she’s turned into one of the better developed characters on the show, which says a lot about someone whose in ring debut only came a little over three years ago. It’s been quite a year for Bliss and she’s more than met the challenge so far.
3. Braun Strowman
What a difference a character makes. This is a case where a lot of people are going to roll their eyes but think about it for a second. Strowman is a case where the best response comes from Shawn Michaels. Back at “Wrestlemania XIII”, Michaels was doing commentary on the main event and said Sid was going to stick with his power game because it was going to take him wherever he needed to go.
That’s where Strowman comes in as well. There’s no need for him to do anything more than the big power stuff and that’s what he seems to have figured out. Strowman has gone from any monstrous lackey for Bray Wyatt to one of the few consistently interesting things on “Monday Night Raw” every week. Above all else, he’s finally figured out that all he needs to do is use his size and power to dominate people instead of just running around behind Wyatt all the time. In other words, he’s been booked better and ran with it, which is exactly the point.
Strowman has benefited from figuring out how his character should work and that’s the best thing for him. It’s a very simple character and that’s the right way to book someone who doesn’t have a ton of experience and needs to learn how to work in the ring. I don’t think he’s ever going to become a great worker but he can become a great big man, which is all he really needs to be.
4. Baron Corbin
This is probably the frontrunner and someone very similar to Strowman. Corbin hasn’t been in the ring all that long and didn’t do much besides lay out NXT talent and beat them in about thirty seconds. Now he’s rapidly climbing the card and is coming off like a great bully character who can have a watchable match when he’s given the right circumstances. In other words, he’s learning on the job and turning into the performer that people were expecting him to be.
Corbin is the kind of guy who can become a big deal in a few years, based almost entirely on his look. If he can add in something resembling a personality and the work to go with it, he’ll be a star. This year showed some of the necessary progress and there’s a good chance he’s going to be ready to make the jump a bit sooner than he was expected to. Maybe it’s the coaching or maybe it’s being on the main roster but he’s certainly getting there.
I know there’s a long way to go and he’s going to need more than just a cool finisher but at least he’s getting better. The key there is to grow from the progress already made and thankfully that seems to be happening. Corbin looked like a star in the Smackdown World Title match on the year’s final episode of “Smackdown Live” and in theory, he should be able to grow on that. A few more wins should be enough to elevate him to a new level and that’s good for everyone.
5. Becky Lynch
It really is amazing how much a title reign can help someone. Lynch has been the woman who has never been able to put it all together. She’s the only member of the Four Horsewomen to never win the NXT Women’s Title and it was something that always hung over her head no matter what she did. At the end of the day, the other three were the ones that had the great matches and Lynch just happened to be the one in the ring with them, leaving Lynch as a bonus.
Lynch really was someone who needed a big win to establish herself as the star of the division. It’s pretty clear that she’s better than anyone else on the “Smackdown Live” women’s roster (including Nikki Bella) and is ready to be a big star. She’s a beautiful woman who can more than go in the ring but now she’s won something. The title win was what she needed and that’s what elevated her to the ace of the show status.
In the span of a few months, Lynch has gone from someone with a ton of potential to someone who has realized that potential. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say she could be ready to face Charlotte in a huge feud at the drop of a hat and now that she’s won something, you could believe that she might be able to pull off the upset. That’s quite the jump up in the span of a few short months and one heck of an improvement.
6. Charlotte
So how can she be the most improved when she was already pretty easily one of if not the best in the division already? Simply put, this year Charlotte has separated herself so far from the pack (save for maybe Sasha Banks) that it’s almost unfair. She’s just so much better than anyone else in WWE that she’s a mile ahead of almost everyone. Her matches have gotten even better and she’s doing it without Ric Flair running around in the background. What else can she really do?
That’s where the improvements have come in this year: she’s already great in the ring but now she’s starting to get better on the mic. Now Charlotte is turning into a dominant character and presence in the ring, which means she can put someone over huge when she actually loses on pay per view. The feud with Banks has done wonders for Charlotte and, as was mentioned multiple times during the buildup to their final match, iron sharpens iron. Giving Charlotte someone closer to her level helped build her up even more and she’s at the top of her game.
Charlotte is in a weird place as she’s already the best around and is getting better at such a rapid rate that she’s running out of realistic challenges. That makes things even more impressive for her as she’s getting better despite being above the competition, which is normally what makes you even better. The rest of the division isn’t miles beneath her but she’s running out of people who can really give her a run for her money.
7. The Miz
Next up is someone else who has always been good and is now even better than ever. Miz is an incredibly talented wrestler with his talking making things all the better. Couple that with the promo of his life against Daniel Bryan on the debut episode of “Talking Smack” and this was one of the best years of Miz’s career. Things might get even better in 2017 as Miz could be primed and ready for his second World Title reign and yes, he deserves it.
At the end of the day, Miz is someone who suffers from one major run dragging him down and never being able to come back from it. So many fans can’t seem to get beyond the fact that Miz was in the main event of “Wrestlemania XXVII” and was in WAY over his head with John Cena and the Rock around him. They were the focus of the match and that’s what people can’t get around: Miz not being as strong as two of the best of all time.
In the last few years and especially over the last year, Miz has grown up considerably with the awesome A-lister character. The in ring work is more than fine enough because the character is driving Miz everywhere he needs to go. He’s one of the best performers in the company and one of those guys you just want to punch in the face. Back in my day, that would make him a good heel but for some reason, a lot of people can’t seem to stand how great he’s really been this year.
8. Matt Hardy
If this was about most improved performer, this would be Matt’s award for probably the next three years in a row as the Broken Universe has taken off so strong that it’s almost unfair to everyone else. He just went insane (possibly literally) and there was no turning back for him. The big matches/segments (more on that in a second) were some of the most creative things I’ve ever seen.
Unfortunately…..the were barely wrestling. I get what Hardy was going for with the concept as it was all about the insanity and showing off the creativity but really the big draw continues to be how insane the things could get. However, that doesn’t make them wrestling, which really hurts him in something like this.
This is a really rare case where I want to like what Hardy is doing (I certainly respect it, or at least I’ve grown to respect it) but things can only be stretched so far before it turns into a big mess instead of wrestling. Yes I know I sound like a snob but there are parts of this that I still have issues with on a wrestling show.
9. Eli Drake
Sometimes there are people that you just like and that’s the case with Drake. The guy is just entertaining to listen to and that’s what matters the most in wrestling. Drake might not be the best in ring performer (his finisher sucks) but he can command a microphone like few in TNA have ever been able to do and that’s worth far more than the ability to work a proper wristlock.
Drake just knows how to be an obnoxious jerk that you want to see get punched in the face. It worked for Honky Tonk Man, it works for Miz and it’s worked for dozens of others over the years. Drake is a master at getting a mic in his hands and working magic with it, which could take him very far.
Drake used to be in WWE and I could easily see him being back there again (he was only released due to some issues with social media) based on the improvements he’s made in recent months. Fact of Life has become a highlight for Impact and that’s a very rare thing to see on that mess of a show.
Overall though, I’m more amazed by Bliss’ development than anything else. She debuted on the main roster less than six months ago and she’s already one of the best women on the show. It’s amazing development in such a short amount of time and for me, the best improvement of anyone else this year.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume V at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
It wouldn’t be right if I was on time with these things but they’re mostly written up. I’ll be able to do more than one a day (not saying twice a day) and hopefully get these done before they’re completely ridiculous. Today we’re going to have something a bit more long term with Angle of the Year (aside from Kurt of course). This time we have the best stories of the year and see which ones were the absolute strongest, be it for comedy, drama or just good storytelling in general. As usual, these are in no particular order and only WWE stories were considered.
1. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens Are Best Friends
You might be seeing Jericho on here later but this one deserves its own entry. These two have been the top heels on “Monday Night Raw” for a few months now (depending on what mood Stephanie McMahon is in that week) and have produced some great comedic moments. Jericho has had one of the best career resurgences I can remember in recent years in 2016 and his material with Owens is some of the best stuff he’s done this year.
I can get the idea that the constant teases of breakups are getting annoying but it’s going to make things even better when they finally do split up for good, likely due to Jericho putting Owens on the list. I know Jericho is going to get most of the praise for this team but Owens has more than pulled his weight throughout the entire angle. He’s been a perfect partner for Jericho and the World Title makes the story seem even more important.
Above all else though, the story has been funny. They have great chemistry together and Owens is so great at insulting a crowd that Jericho has something to bounce off of. It’s been funny, had some drama and is just all around entertaining. That’s really hard to do in today’s WWE and these two Canadians have done it as well as anyone has in a good while.
2. Heath Slater Has Kids!
If there’s one person who has been playing with the house’s money all year and has no business being this high on the card for this long, it’s Slater. After a few weeks of being bounced back and forth between the two shows in an attempt to earn a contract, Slater was given an ultimatum: find a partner to win the Smackdown Tag Team Title tournament or get out for good. In what might be the surprise of the year, Slater and Rhyno actually won the titles and earned Slater a contract. Why is this so important you ask?
As the title says, Heath Slater has kids! This turned into a battle cry for Slater, who had somewhere between two and ten kids (who we would eventually meet). He and his very redneck wife had a dream of installing an above ground pool while eating spray cheese and crackers like a real, middle class family.
This was a great example of what “Smackdown Live” does best: take something so simple and basic as Heath Slater is a country boy and turn it into a story. They wound up getting some crazy mileage out of it, especially when you consider how much Slater has floundered over the years. This gave him a much longer shelf life in WWE and was entertaining at the same time. That’s a great story and one of the best angles of the year.
3. James Ellsworth
Nothing specific here but rather just Ellsworth in general. Ellsworth appeared over the summer as a victim of Braun Strowman and then came back later on in the year as AJ Styles’ mystery tag team partner. While Ellsworth was attacked and replace by Miz, Dean Ambrose took notice and eventually made Ellsworth something like a charity case, treating him as a little buddy for the next few months.
This turned into one heck of a roll for Ellsworth, who went on to defeat Styles three times in a row, earning himself a WWE contract and Smackdown World Title shot in the process. Above all else though, the key to Ellsworth was he barely ever had a single offensive maneuver. Most of his offense was either done by Ambrose behind the referee’s back or some pathetic right hands. Ellsworth’s only move, a superkick, was dubbed No Chin Music due to his, shall we say, oddly shaped face. When Ambrose wasn’t helping, Styles defeated Ellsworth in less than a minute, though Carmella of all people took a liking to Ellsworth next.
While there is certainly a case to be made that Ellsworth overstayed his welcome, I classify him as someone who is completely harmless and rather entertaining at times. There’s just something entertaining about this weird looking guy going further and further every week, only to get destroyed when it came down to a straight match. The character goes too far if it’s something like Eugene, who was put in a competitive match against Triple H at one point. Ellsworth wasn’t very good and was never treated as very good, which kept him as harmless and entertaining like he should have been.
4. Broken Matt Hardy
I’ve said almost all I can say about this story but my goodness does it get much more amazing than this? I’m really not a big fan of it as the Broken Universe has almost nothing to do with wrestling but GOOD GRIEF the effort put into this has been remarkable. Hardy has literally created his own set of rules and an actual continuity behind them to turn it into one of the most creative things I’ve ever seen.
I know the wrestling isn’t all that outstanding (if you can even still call it wrestling most of the time) but that’s not the point here. It’s given the Hardys a completely new take on wrestling and turned them into something interesting for the first time in way too long. Some of the big matches have gotten repetitive but the original Final Deletion is still outstanding.
That being said, I’m not sure where it goes from here. Hardy is seemingly starting to run out of ideas and the story really has run its course. Like, how do you do more than an entire show built around a single idea? It’s very entertaining but I’m hoping they cut it off before it gets all stale, which TNA has a major problem avoiding a lot of the time.
5. Mick Foley and Sami Zayn
This is an odd one but the talking has carried it to the levels the company has likely been shooting for. Much like Ellsworth, this one starts with an incident involving Strowman. For weeks, the monster known as Strowman had been demanding that “Monday Night Raw” General Manager Foley give him more competition, but that only resulted in a string of rather boring handicap matches. One night, Zayn answered but Strowman wasn’t interested in someone Zayn’s size.
Eventually they did fight and, as is his custom, Zayn was completely destroyed. He wanted a rematch and Foley said no, prompting Zayn to demand a trade to “Smackdown Live”. Foley agreed and the trade offered was Zayn for…..Eva Marie. This set Zayn off and brought out a fire in him that Foley had wanted all along. There was never any trade agreed to and Zayn was given his rematch with Strowman, which he somehow won by lasting the same amount of time as Strowman (just because it’s entertaining doesn’t mean everything has to make sense).
This story worked because it had a distinct arc. Zayn grew a lot out of it and Foley gave him a strong endorsement in the process. One of the keys to this was the fact that Strowman never actually pinned Zayn. Strowman might have had him dead to rites in their first match but Foley stopped it for the sake of saving Zayn’s health. The fact that Zayn wrestled to a draw (or a win as it seems to be called now) was a big moment for him, though I’d be surprised if Strowman doesn’t annihilate him in the final match between the two. If so, at least it was a good story to get us there.
6. The List of Jericho
Where do you even begin with this one? Earlier in the year, Jericho debuted the Gift of Jericho, which was basically just him posing like an imbecile and letting everyone praise him. Eventually he started calling things the “insert name here” of Jericho, culminating with an incident on the September 19 episode of “Monday Night Raw’.
Foley had been getting on Jericho’s nerves so Jericho said Foley was going on the list. Soon thereafter, Jericho started carrying a physical list with him and wrote down various names and things that annoyed him. This led to a VERY popular catchphrase of “YOU JUST MADE THE LIST!”. It turned out that Jericho was actually writing things down the entire time and he actually released it, complete with spelling errors, on his Facebook page.
One of the most important keys to this though has been how everyone has sold it. People like Xavier Woods and Ellsworth seemed terrified of being put on the list and nearly begged Jericho not to put them on. When everyone is playing along (except for McMahon who is of course WAY too cool for something like this), it makes the angle that much stronger. This whole thing worked as well as anything Jericho has done in several years and I continue to be in awe of everything he does. It’s the most entertaining thing I’ve seen all year and is going to be hard to top.
7. Randy Orton Joins the Wyatt Family
We’ll wrap it up with something that not only made sense, but has been played off very well. Orton and Wyatt feuded with each other for a few months with the rest of the Wyatt Family attacking Orton almost every time. Unlike most of the Wyatts’ victims, instead of getting partners to help him with the fight, Orton said “if you can’t beat em, join em”, and that’s exactly what he did.
In the weeks since then, the fans have been waiting on Orton to turn on Wyatt in a big swerve and it just hasn’t come yet. While I can’t imagine this partnership is going to last until “Wrestlemania XXXIII”, it’s still done a very good job at giving us some storytelling, along with FINALLY giving Wyatt his first title in WWE. That was long overdue and it took Orton to actually get us there.
This story isn’t rewriting anything or doing anything we haven’t seen before but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been good. Orton is the kind of guy that can go from good to evil at the drop of a hat and that’s something that can make this story work so well. I’m sure Orton will turn on Wyatt at some point but all that matters is how big the pop is when that first RKO connects. Until then, just sit back and enjoy something being done by good wrestlers.
You might have noticed how I put these nominees together. That’s right: it’s been on a list, and that’s the choice here. The List of Jericho is even more proof of what happens when you take the dumbest ideas in the world and give it to someone as talented as Jericho. I’ve had more fun seeing Jericho put people on that List than I’ve gotten out of anything else this year and there’s a good chance it’s going to put him back in the World Title picture. Also, I’m going with this over the Broken Universe because, very simply put, the List has led to more wrestling instead of insanity that doesn’t serve many people other than Matt and Jeff. That’s more than enough for the best angle of the year.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume V at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Smackdown Date: December 27, 2016
Location: Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Tom Phillips, John Bradshaw Layfield, David Otunga
As usual, Smackdown has a stacked show with three title matches to close out the year, putting it a bit ahead of the World Champion losing to the midcard champion in a combination rematch/preview of the upcoming title match. On top of that, some guy named Cena is back tonight and probably opening the show. Let’s get to it.
Here’s Cena to get things going and the booing is so loud that Cena says he can’t even understand what they’re chanting. Fans: “CM Punk!” Cena: “CENA SUCKS???” After getting the fans to argue with themselves about which Chicago baseball team is better, Cena talks about all the titles on the line tonight. The fans are WAY behind AJ for the main event and Cena says he’s right there with them as a Styles fan.
With all the title matches tonight, what exactly is Cena doing here? The fans chant for Undertaker but Cena says that’s why he’s here: he’s heard a lot of people trying to set up his career for him, including saying he’s got one foot out the door and is on his way to Hollywood. The truth is he’s still here and he’s got a lot left to do. This is the MY TIME IS NOW Era and his name is John Cena.
Miz comes out of his own dressing room and says he’ll only answer questions asked by Renee Young.
Tag Team Titles: Wyatt Family vs. Heath Slater/Rhyno vs. Usos vs. American Alpha
Elimination Rules with the Wyatts defending. Gable suplexes Rhyno to start with Jey tagging himself in to grab the cover. The Wyatts head to the floor and it’s off to Slater to clean house. A top rope forearm has Jey staggered and a running neckbreaker gets two. Slater goes up top but slips off, leaving Jey to hit a quick superkick for the elimination at 4:17.
That was a pretty bad looking botch but really Slater just slipped off instead of diving into the superkick. It happens to everyone though and it was hardly the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Back with Harper and Orton on the apron for the first time and Gable coming in off the hot tag, meaning stereo belly to belly suplexes send the Usos flying. Gable rolls Jimmy up for the pin and an elimination at 10:12, leaving us with two teams.
The Usos decks Alpha before leaving to give the Wyatts an even bigger advantage. Orton takes over on Jordan with a hard whip into the corner and the snap powerslam for two. A dropkick allows the hot tag to Gable, who German suplexes Harper for a near fall of his own. Back with Harper holding Gable in a headlock because Heaven forbid Alpha gets to show off. Orton takes Chad outside and throws him into the barricade and gets two off the slingshot suplex.
A Harper side slam gets two but the hot tag brings in Jordan to clean house. The shoulders in the corner and the rapid fire suplexes have the Wyatts in trouble with Harper and Orton colliding in the corner. Jason adds another shoulder and it’s Grand Amplitude to Orton for the pin and the titles at 23:21.
Rating: B. They legitimately surprised me here as I would have bet on Bray coming in for the save at the end. I’m really glad they gave Alpha the belts and it’s even better that they did it with the Wyatts basically coming in fresh for the final part of the match. This was a really nice surprise and a great way to make this show actually feel important. Good stuff here and I’m really pleased.
Bray breaks up a fight between Harper and Orton after the match.
We recap the end of last week’s show with Corbin being added to the main event.
Dolph Ziggler is ready for the triple threat because it’s finally his time.
James Ellsworth is all banged up but Carmella cuts off the interview to say she finds him attractive.
Women’s Title: Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss
Becky is challenging in her rematch and goes for the leg early on. We get a nice pinfall reversal sequence with both getting some near falls, capped off with Becky grabbing a cross armbreaker. The champ takes her down though and steps on Becky’s back before hammering away with some forearms. More forearms and a posting on the floor have Becky reeling as we take a break.
Back with Becky getting in some uppercuts and clotheslines to take over before blocking a DDT. In shades of Pentagon Dark from Lucha Underground, Becky snaps the arm back and sends Bliss shoulder first into the post. A top rope dropkick knocks Bliss silly and here’s La Luchadora (Becky’s disguise from last week), allowing Bliss to get a rollup for two.
Luchadora takes the turnbuckle pad off but Twisted Bliss only gets two. The Disarm-Her doesn’t work either as Bliss gets her foot in the ropes. Bliss’ elbow appears to be COMPLETELY DISLOCATED but Luchadora slams Becky’s head into the post. Alexa pops the arm back into socket and grabs a DDT to retain at 14:00.
Rating: B-. I love a good masked man (or woman in this case) angle and this one might have some legs. Maybe La Luchadora is working with Bliss and maybe she’s not, but either way there’s something interesting there because it makes you want to come back for more. I don’t remember the last time I’ve felt that way about something on Raw but it happens multiple times a week around here.
We look at Renee slapping Miz last week.
Miz allows Renee to ask him some questions but tells security to leave. They do, but Dean Ambrose replaces one of them. We get the beating that should have happened last week until Dean beats up a guard and says all clear.
We look at Carmella saying Natalya attacked Nikki Bella.
We get the standard “I’m Nikki Bella and I’m AMAZING because I keep fighting against everything handed to me” speech. She’ll say something to Natalya’s face.
Corbin says the pressure is on the little guys in the match with him.
Smackdown World Title: Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. AJ Styles
Styles is defending. Baron cleans a lot of house to start with some hard right hands to knock both smaller guys out to the floor. We take an early break and come back with Corbin shrugging off a fireman’s carry attempt and blasting both guys with clotheslines. Styles has to break up End of Days on Ziggler but Baron gets in a hard clothesline on Dolph instead.
We take a break with Baron in full control and come back with Ziggler and Styles double teaming Corbin and clotheslining him outside in a smart move. They’re not done yet though and take him outside, only to have Corbin shrug them off and load up the announcers’ table. That earns him a Phenomenal Forearm from the steps and a superkick onto the table.
Styles and Ziggler dive off the barricade to take Corbin out for good but all three are down. Ziggler Rock Bottoms AJ onto the apron and gets two off the jumping DDT back inside. The Styles Clash is broken up and Ziggler superkicks AJ out of the air to block the Phenomenal Forearm. One heck of a superkick gets two on AJ with Corbin almost getting back in to pull the referee away.
Deep Six gets two on Ziggler with AJ making a diving save. AJ’s strike rush is broken up and it’s the End of Days for AJ with Ziggler adding a Zig Zag on Corbin for a really close two. Another End of Days plants Ziggler but the Phenomenal Forearm knocks Corbin to the floor, allowing AJ to pin Ziggler to retain at 23:16.
Rating: A-. A few blown spots aside, this was a heck of a match and an awesome way to wrap up the year. It’s also a star making performance from Corbin, who looked like a star the whole way through. The fact that it was his move that put Ziggler away is very important and should be brought up in the future. I dug the heck out of this match and it worked very well.
Cena comes out to offer Styles a handshake and Styles finally gives him one.
Neville tells us to watch 205 Live to end the show.
Overall Rating: A. I had a blast with this show and it shows you that quality is more important than quantity. Last night’s Raw had three times the matches and almost none of them were all that interesting. This show had three distinct stories being told, all of which offer a reason to come back for more. That’s in addition to the other stories and the angle advancement throughout the show. In other words, Smackdown knows how to treat its audience to a good show while Raw knows how to exist while its fans watch.
Results
American Alpha b. Usos, Heath Slater/Rhyno and Wyatt Family – Grand Amplitude to Orton
Alexa Bliss b. Becky Lynch – DDT
AJ Styles b. Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler – End of Days to Ziggler
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume V at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Smackdown – December 13, 2016: Random Cameos Can Be Good Things
Smackdown Date: December 13, 2016
Location: Verizon Center, Washington D.C.
Commentators: Tom Phillips, John Bradshaw Layfield, David Otunga, Mauro Ranallo
As has been the case more often than not lately, we’ve got a fairly stacked Tuesday show. Tonight it’s a tag team battle royal to determine some new #1 contenders to go along with AJ Styles defending the Smackdown World Title against James Ellsworth. Smackdown doesn’t have anything major to set up until the Royal Rumble so it’s all about big TV until then. Let’s get to it.
We open with Shane McMahon (What purpose does he serve? Can anyone answer that?) and Daniel Bryan watching Ellsworth cost Dean Ambrose last week’s main event. Ellsworth comes in coughing and sneezing so Bryan says the title match is postponed. Therefore, we need a new #1 contender.
Opening sequence.
It’s time for MizTV with special guest AJ Styles, who thinks Ellsworth has come down with Chinfluenza. AJ laughs off the idea of Ellsworth being a threat to the title, which is probably accurate. Miz says that he’s the one who raised his title to greatness and beat Ambrose last week. It’s true that Miz isn’t on AJ’s level because he’s above it, meaning maybe it’s time to make the WWE Championship legendary. A fight is teased but Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler come out because Heaven forbid we go a week without hearing from Dolph. Miz takes Dirty Deeds and actually so does Ziggler, only to have Luke Harper appear and lay Ambrose out.
After a break, AJ comes in and demands protection from the bosses. Tonight it’s a fourway elimination match for the #1 contendership between Miz, Ambrose, Harper and Ziggler with interference being grounds for an elimination. The title match will take place on the December 27th episode of Smackdown.
Carmella vs. Natalya
Nikki Bella is on commentary because this is her division. It’s a catfight to start and we head to a rather early break. Back with Carmella sending Natalya into the corner for the Bronco Buster. We hit the bodyscissors, meaning a lot more screaming. Nikki keeps babbling on about how she trusts Natalya and a friend would never do that because it needs to sound like a reality story. Natalya powers out with a Michinoku Driver but opts to argue with Nikki even more. She even shoves Nikki out of the way of a charging Carmella but the distraction lets Carmella grab a small package for the pin at 9:05.
Rating: D+. So like did you know that Nikki and Natalya were the best friends EVER and would never ever stab each other in the back? I need a camera to awkwardly stare into while I list off various emotions I’m feeling as I talk about this because it’s one of the worse reality show stories they’ve done in a long time.
Video on John Cena hosting Saturday Night Live. Cena is back in two weeks.
Gabriel Iglesias (standup comedian) talks to Apollo Crews about being on tomorrow’s Tribute to the Troops. Miz and Maryse come in so insults can be exchanged.
Tag Team Battle Royal
American Alpha, Heath Slater/Rhyno, Ascension, Vaudevillains, Hype Bros, Breezango
The winners are the #1 contenders and both members have to be eliminated. Simon Gotch is knocked out two seconds into the match off a hard clothesline from Mojo Rawley. Thing slow down considerably with people taking various shots at each other around the ring. In other words, it’s a battle royal. Slater and Rhyno start double teaming English as Chad Gable pulls Viktor over the top for an elimination.
Konor gets rid of Gable a few seconds later and we’re down to nine. Slater accidentally puts Rhyno out and another team is split. We take a break and come back with English being dumped out, meaning the Vaudevillains are done. Fandango is swept out to the floor and we’re down to Jordan, Breeze, Slater, Konor and Ryder, meaning Rawley was put out during the break.
Jordan starts to clean house with shoulders and suplexes but Breeze and Konor get together for the elimination. Dang American Alpha just can’t get there. Slater snaps off some neckbreakers but the numbers game catches up with him, allowing Konor to throw him out. Breeze tries to turn on Konor but gets dropkicked down by Ryder. Konor knocks Breeze out to the floor and Zack gets rid of him for the win at 13:33.
Rating: D. Battle royals almost always suck by definition and it certainly didn’t help that the Hype Bros were built up as the next challengers last week. At least they had to do more than beat Ascension and Breezango to get the shot though, making this somewhat of an effective way to crown new #1 contenders.
Baron Corbin video.
Alexa Bliss vs. Deonna Purrazzo
Actually never mind as Bliss says this is beneath her so no match.
Bliss lays Purrazzo out but here’s Becky Lynch to interrupt. She wants her rematch right now but Bliss says not tonight. Actually never mind again as Shane McMahon comes out to say the title match is on.
Smackdown Women’s Title: Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch
Lynch is challenging and Bliss hides in the ropes to start. The threat of a Disarm-Her sends Alexa even further into the ropes, followed by some armdrags to keep the champ in trouble. Bliss gets rolled up for two as JBL talks about blocking Mauro on Twitter. Another Disarm-Her sends Bliss outside and, claiming a knee injury, she takes the countout at 4:30.
Rating: C-. See, Smackdown is smart enough to not blow the big title match on a regular Smackdown with no hype. If this were Raw, the title match would have five minutes’ build and then go fifteen minutes before we got the next match. The match was little more than an angle but it gives Becky a win over the champ and sets up another rematch.
Bliss goes after Becky with the knee looking just fine. The beatdown sends Bliss limping back to the floor.
Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper vs. The Miz
AJ is on commentary, elimination rules with the winner getting a title shot in two weeks and of course Miz’s title isn’t on the line. Harper absolutely cleans house to start by knocking Ziggler and Ambrose to the floor, followed by a Michinoku Driver to Miz. Ziggler and Ambrose get together to put Harper on the floor, leaving Miz to DDT Ziggler for two.
Miz starts firing off some baseball slides but stops to mock Bryan’s pose. That means it’s time for YES Kicks and the corner dropkicks to make it even worse. It’s Dean coming back in to cut Miz off but Harper just blasts him with a boot to the face. Ziggler gets caught in a torture rack but Ambrose makes the save and takes Luke down with the rebound lariat. Miz tries to steal a fall but gets small packaged for the elimination at 6:45 as we take a break.
Back with Ambrose hitting a spinning backbreaker for two on Ziggler while Luke it out on the floor. The Zig Zag puts Harper down but Dean drops the top rope clothesline for two on Ziggler. Harper comes back with a sitout powerbomb for two more on Ziggler but a superkick into Dirty Deeds gets rid of Luke at 15:13.
So what was the point of adding him to this match in the first place? Couldn’t they do the exact same thing with three instead of four? The catapult sends Ziggler face first into the post but he’s fine enough to hit a super X Factor for two. Cue Miz to offer another distraction but Ambrose takes him down with a suicide dive. Ziggler uses the distraction to get in a superkick for the pin and the title shot at 19:05.
Rating: B-. Harper being there for no apparent reason aside, this was a nice long match with everyone looking good to quite good. I really could go without Ziggler getting ANOTHER World Title shot but at least it’s only two weeks away on a TV show and not six weeks away at the Rumble.
Rich Swann tells us to check out 205 Live.
Overall Rating: C+. This was an interesting show as they set up a lot for what feels like it could be a major show on December 27. I can go for the Hype Bros as the next victims for the Wyatts and it should be interesting to see what happens when Lynch finally gets a big time title shot. Good show here and I think I can handle another week without Ellsworth getting his title shot.
Results
Carmella b. Natalya – Small package
Zack Ryder won a battle royal last eliminating Konor
Becky Lynch b. Alexa Bliss via countout
Dolph Ziggler b. Luke Harper, Dean Ambrose and the Miz – Superkick to Ambrose
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume V at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Smackdown – December 6, 2016: How To Stuff Your Wrestling Stocking
Smackdown Date: December 6, 2016
Location: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, John Bradshaw Layfield, David Otunga, Tom Phillips
It’s a big night here as we’re past Tables Ladders and Chairs and getting ready for Royal Rumble. Before we get there though, two titles are on the line tonight with AJ Styles (on a bad ankle) defending the World Title against James Ellsworth and new Tag Team Champions the Wyatt Family defending against former champion Heath Slater/Rhyno. Let’s get to it.
We open with the ending of Sunday’s show where Ellsworth turned on Ambrose to cost him the title. Ellsworth’s explanation: he’s beaten Styles three times so why would he want to fight anyone else? Makes sense actually.
Here’s AJ in a walking boot and street clothes to open the show. Styles talks about the tragedy of Sunday but is talking about his torn tights. Apparently AJ isn’t cleared to wrestle tonight but here’s Ellsworth to start the match now. That isn’t happening though and Ellsworth thinks Daniel Bryan is protecting him. After all, Ellsworth has his number and can beat him a fourth time. AJ laughs off the idea that Ellsworth helped him get the title and says Ambrose handed Ellsworth every win. Cue Ambrose to give Ellsworth Dirty Deeds and immediately leave. Again, makes sense for him.
Tag Team Titles: Wyatt Family vs. Heath Slater/Rhyno
Slater and Rhyno are challenging. Heath forearms Orton down to start and Bray does even worse by charging into a boot to the face. Rhyno comes in but it’s WAY too early for a Gore as we take a break instead. Back with Rhyno in trouble as the champs take turns working him over. A shoulder lets Slater come in and Orton gets neckbreakered for two. It doesn’t last long though as Bray runs Slater over. Sister Abigail is loaded up but Bray tags Orton instead so the RKO can retain at 9:15.
Rating: D+. This is all it needed to be and should get rid of Rhyno/Slater as challengers. I’m perfectly fine with their reign ending in such dominant fashion as they were playing so far above their heads that anything they did was a bonus at this point. I could go for JBL shutting up about how the Wyatts are Brody and Hansen after like three matches but I’ll take what I can get.
Kalisto says speed kills.
Natalya vs. Carmella
Before the match Carmella insults Natalya’s weight and says she’s just jealous of everyone else’s looks. No match at the moment as Natalya tackles Carmella and chases her to the back.
Natalya goes after Carmella but runs into Nikki Bella instead. Nikki is all serious as Natalya apologizes before walking away. I know they want Nikki to be the big hero of the division but I’m really not buying it.
Baron Corbin compares cruiserweights to flies.
Hype Bros vs. Ascension
Both teams want the titles. Viktor knees Ryder in the head to start and Zack is in early trouble. Ascension takes turns with a variety of stomps to the back until a neckbreaker puts Konnor down. The hot tag brings in Mojo to clean house and the Hype Ryder puts Viktor away at 3:30.
Rating: D+. I’m assuming the Hype Bros are the next challengers and that’s a fine way to help put the Wyatts over as champions. There’s no reason to go straight for American Alpha or the Usos so just feed them the Hype Bros, who don’t exactly have much to lose at this point. Putting them over Ascension is as simple of a first step as you can get so they’re starting fine.
It’s time for MizTV with Miz asking for his “YOU DESERVE IT” chants. Anyway the guest this week is Ambrose, who should be livid at Ellsworth. Instead he’s pretty calm, even after he got Ellsworth everything he has. Miz accuses Dean of manipulating Ellsworth for his own benefit and then hides behind Maryse. Sunday was so bad for Dean that Miz has a present for him: the first ever Miz Participation Award. Fans: “YOU DESERVE IT!” Violence is teased but here’s Bryan to interrupt and make the obvious main event. That earns a YES chant so Bryan makes it a title match.
Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin
Chairs not included. Corbin throws him outside to start and gets a near fall. Kalisto kicks him in the head and scores with a moonsault to the floor. Back in and Kalisto speeds things up but the springboard spinning tornado DDT is countered into End of Days for the pin at 2:49.
Nikki meets singer Sophia Grace and they get along.
Chad Gable vs. Tyler Breeze
This is due to Gable ripping up a fashion police ticket earlier today. A monkey flip sends Breeze flying early on but a trip to the floor lets Breeze take over. Tyler’s chinlock doesn’t go anywhere so Gable takes him down with an exploder suplex. Jordan suplexes Fandango on the floor, leaving Gable to hit a Rolling Chaos Theory of all things (rolling German suplex) for the pin at 2:32.
Here’s Alexa Bliss for her championship celebration, complete with a long pyro display. The fans don’t seem happy and want Becky so Bliss laughs about taking the title from her. Cue Becky to say how hard it is to hold onto the title because she wants her rematch right now. Bliss takes off the jacket but bails to the floor like you might expect.
Opening segment recap.
Intercontinental Title: Miz vs. Dean Ambrose
Ambrose is challenging and Maryse has changed her outfit. It’s a headlock to start (safe way to go) and Dean throws him outside, only to have Maryse block a suicide dive. Back from an early break with Miz having to escape Dirty Deeds. The second attempt goes just as badly as Miz takes him into the corner and starts in on the knee. A shinbreaker sets up a double knee stomp as things slow down.
The Figure Four is broken up and Dean sends him outside for another suicide dive. That leg certainly healed fast. Miz gets two off a DDT and it’s time for the YES Kicks. They head up top with Maryse crotching Dean, allowing Miz to hit Bryan’s running knee for a close two. Cue James Ellsworth to point out the crotching but it makes the referee miss Dean rolling Miz up for two. The Skull Crushing Finale finishes Ambrose at 13:31.
Rating: B-. Uh…..ok then. I guess they’re already backtracking on what seemed to be a pretty clear heel turn. It might not have been a full on version due to it mainly being about Ellsworth’s title shot but this feels like they’re stretching the story out longer than it needs to go. The match was good stuff until the ending, which is more eye roll inducing than bad.
Ellsworth is upset to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. This was little more than a filler episode but the key difference is Smackdown always seems to be trying, even in episodes that don’t mean much. They have a few shows to burn before it’s really time to get started on the Royal Rumble build so this was a fine way to spend two hours. Totally watchable show but nothing you need to see.
Results
Wyatt Family b. Heath Slater/Rhyno – RKO to Slater
Hype Bros b. Ascension – Hype Ryder to Viktor
Baron Corbin b. Kalisto – End of Days
Chad Gable b. Tyler Breeze – Rolling Chaos Theory
Miz b. Dean Ambrose – Skull Crushing Finale
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume V at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Tables Ladders and Chairs 2016: The One With A Lot Of Crashes
Tables Ladders and Chairs 2016 Date: December 4, 2016
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Mauro Ranallo, Tom Phillips, David Otunga
It’s time for a big gimmick show with Smackdown Live presenting the show built around carnage. The main event will see AJ Styles defending the World Title against Dean Ambrose in the show’s namesake match. Other than that we’ll have a table match, a ladder match and a chairs match just to make sure all the bases are covered. Let’s get to it.
Pre-Show: Apollo Crews/Hype Bros/American Alpha vs. Vaudevillains/Ascension/Curt Hawkins
Bonus match. Hawkins’ intro is about how Captain Curt will lead his team where no team has gone before. Crews starts with Hawkins, whose tights look like an Icee machine. We start with some spot stealing as Crews does the AJ Styles drop down into a dropkick and it’s off to Viktor vs. Ryder. That goes nowhere so we get Mojo Rawley and the Hammer Time dance. Alpha comes in to clean house on all of the villains (even the Vaude contingent) until everyone throws everyone else out.
Crews is the last man standing and it’s a ten man staredown. The good guys clear the ring as we take a break. Back with Konnor grabbing a chinlock on Gable, followed by Viktor doing the same. Gable gets up for an attempt at a tag but Viktor’s partners pull everyone else off the apron and Chad is back where he started. That only lasts a few seconds before it’s off to Jordan as everything breaks down. Grand Amplitude ends Gotch at 12:03.
Rating: C. This was fine but I’m getting a little tired of watching American Alpha squash the Ascension and the Vaudevillains. We’ve covered that time and time again now but there’s no one else for them to beat up because the whole division is six teams and whoever else they can put together. That being said, this was how you should open a show: fast paced, energy and right before the show itself starts.
The opening video looks at various broken furniture before going into a regular hype video.
Tag Team Titles: Wyatt Family vs. Heath Slater/Rhyno
Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton are challenging after defeating American Alpha for the shot. Rhyno starts for the first time but his clothesline doesn’t have much effect on Bray. JBL goes on a pretty ridiculous rant about how the Wyatts are a dream team in the vein of Brody and Hansen or the Brothers of Destruction.
It’s off to Slater who is quickly dropped ribs first on the top rope. Slater tries to fight back with some right hands but a slingshot sends him into Orton’s snap powerslam. The hot tag brings in Rhyno a few seconds later and everything breaks down. Rhyno loads up a Gore on Bray but gets distracted by the spider walk, setting up the RKO for the pin and the titles at 5:53. The title change gets a BIG face pop.
Rating: C. Not a great match but the exactly right booking. This should have been a squash and that’s what we got as the monsters deflected everything Slater and Rhyno could throw at them to get Bray his first title. Of course the question now is how do you build on this as WWE has had a tendency to book Wyatt horribly over the years. This was the right idea though.
Dean Ambrose says AJ Styles is in for some hard times tonight because it’s going to be violent.
AJ says the problem is keeping Dean down but some chairs, tables and ladders should do the trick.
Carmella vs. Nikki Bella
No DQ and Carmella is sporting a big black eye. Nikki spears her down to start but gets hurricanranaed into the steps to bang up her knee. The referee starts counting even though the announcement before the match said this can only end by pin or submission. Back in and Carmella ties her into the Tree of Woe and fires off some kendo stick shots to the ribs.
The Cone of Silence is broken up with more stick shots because Nikki isn’t tapping to that yet. Or at all most likely. Nikki gets back up and hits the Disaster Kick off the barricade (What bad knee?) before spraying Carmella with the fire extinguisher. The Rack Attack 2.0 finishes Carmella clean at 7:39.
Rating: D. This was another rather annoying instances of “Nikki Bella is amazing and you should all like her”. Carmella did a bunch of stuff, had it all shrugged off, and lost clean to the reality star who isn’t interesting as a wrestler or a character because Carmella is exactly right: Nikki has had things handed to her and didn’t get over until the reality show started up. But now she’s “famous” and has a stupid catchphrase so she’s interesting right?
Carmella says this doesn’t even anything because it was Natalya who attacked Nikki at Survivor Series. That was ever in doubt?
IMMEDIATELY after that, here’s a video of Natalya helping someone pick out a ring. You knew you were doing this and you couldn’t have say, Becky do this vignette?
Video on the history of the Intercontinental Title to set up Dolph Ziggler vs. Miz in their final battle over the title.
Daniel Bryan puts Ziggler over when Miz comes up. They don’t like each other you see and Miz wants to shove Bryan off a ladder.
Intercontinental Title: The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler
Miz is defending in a ladder match. Ziggler, in American flag tights for some reason, takes him down to start but neither can hit a finisher early on. They take turns sending each other into and hitting each other with a ladder before Ziggler pulls Miz into the post. A tornado DDT sends Miz face first (very slowly of course) into the ladder and both guys are down.
Ziggler loads up the ladder in the ring but Miz is right back up to knock it down. Miz puts the ladder on the middle rope and goes up, only to get shoved off again. An elbow off the ladder (which didn’t change much here) has Miz in trouble but he brings Ziggler off the ladder again. Back up and Miz tries the running dropkick in the corner, only to have Ziggler throw the ladder at him again. Miz starts in on the knee by crushing it between the ladder.
To change things up a bit, Miz puts on the Figure Four with the leg in the ladder. Cool idea, even though it doesn’t change much. The Skull Crushing Finale onto the ladder lets Miz go for the belt but Ziggler shoves the ladder away, leaving Miz dangling in the air. That means a big crash and Miz comes up holding his knee.
Ziggler limps up the ladder but Miz, who is limping as well, pulls him down into a slingshot powerbomb onto the ladder in the corner. For some reason (likely a spot I’m guessing) Miz sets up another ladder and they slug it out on top. Ziggler knocks him down after some shots to the face but a low blow brings him down, allowing Miz to retain at 25:10.
Rating: C+. Ladder matches are all about the drama and that’s not what we had here. This was all about doing spot after spot and that has to be done properly or it makes for a pretty uninteresting match. That’s what we had here because most of this match was about going from one spot to another, which gets really tiresome. At least the right guy won though and he didn’t have a bunch of people interfering to help him get there.
Post match Miz dedicates the win to Bryan, who motivated him by saying Miz didn’t belong here. Ziggler can have a participation ribbon and like it. Ok, let’s assume this isn’t building to Bryan vs. Miz. WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY BUILDING TOWARDS THEN???
We recap Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin in your standard bully vs. small guy feud. Chairs are involved and that’s your gimmick here.
Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin
Kalisto, debuting new trunks here, brings in a bunch of chairs but gets knocked outside by the monster. Corbin sends him into the barricade and then into a pile of chairs for two back inside. More chairs are set up inside the ring with Corbin putting six of them together in the middle. He takes a bit too long setting them up though and it’s Kalisto coming off the top with a seated senton through the chairs for two.
Kalisto tries again with a suicide dive but Corbin whips him around with a great looking Deep Six on the floor. Back in and Corbin piles up a bunch of chairs but stops to swing at Kalisto instead. That goes badly as Kalisto hurricanranas him off the barricade for a breather, followed by a moonsault into double knees to the chest for two more. Kalisto tries going up again but this time Corbin is ready for a chair to the head, knocking Kalisto out of the air in a good looking crash. End of Days onto the pile of chairs gives Baron the pin at 12:51.
Rating: C+. Kalisto was game here but again this was the right call. Corbin could move up the ladder very quickly on Smackdown and this needs to be the final match against Kalisto. Baron has been kind of floating around aimlessly in recent months so hopefully he can go somewhere more defined from here.
Natalya denies attacking Nikki.
We recap Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss. Lynch beat her in Scotland but Bliss’ foot was on the ropes, meaning it’s time for a rematch. Bliss put her through a table on Smackdown and the gimmick was set.
Women’s Title: Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch
Lynch is defending and it’s a tables match. The champ starts fast and goes for a table under the ring but Bliss shoves it back under. Becky is back up and knocking Bliss away but takes a long time setting up a table at ringside. It doesn’t seem to matter much though as a springboard kick to the face almost knocks Bliss through.
Instead Alexa bites the fingers and chokes on the ropes for a bit. The bored fans start chanting for JBL but thankfully it doesn’t catch on. Bliss sets up another table in front of the corner and it’s time for a fight on the corner but the table is turned over. Becky puts the table up in the corner and fires off some uppercuts. That goes nowhere though as Bliss elbows her in the face and hits Insult to Injury.
Now the table is turned upside down and Alexa hits a DDT onto the back, which thankfully doesn’t bust Becky open. The Disarm-Her through the table legs has Bliss in trouble but Becky has to let it go because the hold means nothing. The table is set on the bottom rope but Becky kicks her to the floor, only to get powerbombed though the first table to give Bliss the title at 15:16.
Rating: C. The crowd really hurt this one but the wrestling actually wasn’t bad. Bliss lasted a lot longer than I was expecting and looked good throughout, which is a really positive sign for her going forward. What isn’t a positive sign is Nikki Bella, who is almost guaranteed to get the title in her first shot. Better than I was expecting here.
More of Natalya with the ring (as in engagement ring) stuff, this time with the proposal.
We recap the main event. Ambrose lost the title to Styles but before he could get his pay per view rematch, James Ellsworth got involved and basically took over the feud for a good while. Ambrose is finally getting his rematch (save for the one from like two months ago) and it’s the show’s namesake match.
Smackdown World Title: Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles
Ambrose is defending and it’s a TLC match. An early backdrop puts the champ down but it’s WAY too early to start climbing. They fight up to the set where there are a lot more toys available. Dean climbs a ladder but goes right back down after AJ gets off the table. Back in and Dean gets hit by a flying ladder, only to catapult AJ into one as well.
AJ crashes out to the floor and Dean throws the ladder onto him to make things even worse. It’s still too early to climb though as AJ blasts Dean in the back with a chair. More chairs are set up in the middle of the ring but Dean suplex drops Styles through them instead. The Rebound Lariat puts AJ down and it’s time to go back outside.
Dean’s suicide dive takes AJ down again and Ambrose loads up the announcers’ tables. The big elbow off the ladder drives AJ through the table and it’s time for the really slow climb. Styles comes back in (duh) and it’s the big crash to the mat with both guys down. Dean heads outside and takes the moonsault into the reverse DDT for a bad headache. With Dean mostly out, AJ opts for a springboard 450 through a table instead.
Now THAT wakes the crowd up but not as much as James Ellsworth, who comes down in a neckbrace as AJ starts climbing the ladder. Dean saves his buddy from a Styles Clash and gives AJ Dirty Deeds on the steps. We get the big climb and even a bonus shove off the ladder to send Styles to the floor….and Ellsworth turns on Dean by shoving the ladder over. Styles gets back in and pulls down the title to retain at 30:58.
Rating: B+. They had to do something like this with Ellsworth and it can make sense if it’s played right. Styles retaining is another good call and sets up something big at the Royal Rumble, especially if it’s Undertaker getting the show. The spots worked really well here and I liked it as well as I expected to. Strong main event, as it was always going to be.
Ellsworth is elated to end the show.
Overall Rating: B. I liked the show well enough but it felt like it was under a thick ceiling. There was a certain energy lacking from it and that held it back a bit. It also doesn’t help that a lot of the matches were predictable, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t entertaining. This was the kind of show you would expect and there’s nothing wrong with that, though it doesn’t matter much given the huge Rumble coming up.
Results
Wyatt Family b. Heath Slater/Rhyno – RKO to Rhyno
Nikki Bella b. Carmella – Rack Attack 2.0
Miz b. Dolph Ziggler – Miz pulled down the title
Baron Corbin b. Kalisto – End of Days onto a pile of chairs
Alexa Bliss b. Becky Lynch – Powerbomb through a table
AJ Styles b. Dean Ambrose – Styles pulled down the title
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume V at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
It’s been long enough since the last pay per view right? I mean, two weeks is more than enough time to get ready for the next big show. This Sunday we have “Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2016” from “Smackdown Live”, meaning it’s time for the big gimmick based show with all the matches built around the name of the show. No I don’t mean Survivor Series. Let’s get to it.
To begin with, we have a match that has been built up for a few months despite both guys barely being in the same place. We’ll start with the chairs match between Baron Corbin and Kalisto, which was recently enhanced by Corbin ruining Kalisto’s Cruiserweight Title shot and therefore keeping the cruiserweights over on “Monday Night Raw”. Kalisto then attacked Corbin with a chair for the sake of having a chairs match on the pay per view.
There’s really no reason to put Kalisto over here so I’ll go with Corbin, who seemed to be ready for a push towards the main event but was thrown back into this for reasons that aren’t clear. I’m sure Kalisto will get in some impressive offense but I can’t imagine this ending with anything other than a big power move onto a chair with Corbin getting the pin.
We’ll just to a title match now with Smackdown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Alexa Bliss in a tables match. These two have feuded for months now but they’ve managed to only have one title match in that span. Yeah imagine that: building up a feud by means other than having them trade the title back and forth. On this occasion, we’re having a tables match after Bliss pushed Lynch through one on “Smackdown Live” earlier this week.
On paper, this is the perfect way to put the title on Bliss but I think we’re going to see Lynch retain the title in a surprise. They seem to be getting ready for the big showdown with Nikki Bella because that’s just how things work on Tuesdays. Bliss has gotten a lot out of this feud but I don’t think she’s ready for the title just yet. I wouldn’t be stunned if they change the title but I think Lynch retains here.
We’ll stick with the title matches for now with the Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton) challenging Heath Slater and Rhyno for the Smackdown Tag Team Titles. Slater and Rhyno are the inaugural champions and have held the belts for a few months now, which really has surprised me after expecting them to fall apart in the span of their first feud.
That being said, if there is any reason for the Wyatts not to get the titles here, I have no idea what it could be. Somehow Wyatt has never won a title in WWE and Orton would seemed destined to turn on him eventually, so the title change here makes sense. Also it’s not like Slater and Rhyno losing to one of the biggest stars ever and a top name like Wyatt is going to seem like an upset. They’re playing with the house’s money here so the loss is fine. Give the Wyatts the belts they deserve and arguably need.
Before we get to the two big matches on the rest of the show, let’s take a look at the grudge match between Nikki Bella and Carmella, who will be facing off in a No DQ match. This isn’t the most interesting thing in the world but it’s been built up well enough over time and I wouldn’t mind watching it again. I mean, assuming Bella doesn’t shrug off Carmella’s finisher time after time again.
This time though I think I’m going to go with Carmella in an upset. The weapons are a nice way out and as much as I’m sure they want to push Bella as this unstoppable force, Carmella needs this win a lot more. Carmella could challenge Lynch down the line and while there’s a very good chance this is the Bella show all over again (in addition to her two other shows), I’m going with Carmella in a surprise.
Now we get to the portion of the show involving climbing high objects, starting with Miz defending the Intercontinental Title in a ladder match against Dolph Ziggler. These two have feuded for what feels like forever and this is being billed as the big final fight. I didn’t really need Miz losing the title in the first place as I could have gone with a big long title reign but Ziggler’s win was great.
I’ll go with Miz retaining here as Ziggler really doesn’t need anything at this point. Unfortunately I have a bad feeling they’re going to go with Ziggler getting the big win again because that’s worked so well in the long term all those other times. Miz winning, hopefully without Spirit Squad interfering this time, sets up something bigger for him down the line while Ziggler can be built up for his latest “I JUST WANT ONE SHOT!!!” speech.
That leaves us with the main event with AJ Styles defending the Smackdown World Title against former champion Dean Ambrose in a TLC match. Styles won the title back in September and Ambrose has yet to get his one on one rematch. This is the kind of match that is fun almost by definition: take two talented people and have them beat each other with various hard objects over and over again until one of them is done.
I’ll take Styles retaining here as the word on the street is Undertaker vs. Styles for the belt in San Antonio. On top of that there’s a pre-made story of Undertaker being mad at Ambrose for costing “Smackdown Live” the Survivor Series match. Even if Undertaker doesn’t interfere, Styles winning makes the most sense and hopefully wraps up this feud for good.
Overall, Sunday’s show is going to be the same as it always is: a lot of fun depending on the level of violence they’re allowed to involved. I always look forward to this show and it’s a great way to wrap up the year. No big storytelling moments, no technical wrestling exhibitions and no overly complicated gimmicks. Just a bunch of matches with people beating on each other with various metal objects.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume V at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Smackdown – November 29, 2016: Going Home With A Smile
Smackdown Date: November 29, 2016
Location: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, South Carolina
Commentators: Tom Phillips, David Otunga, Mauro Ranallo, John Bradshaw Layfield
It’s the go home show for Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2016 and Smackdown has managed to put together a pretty decent build in such a small time frame. Tonight we’ve got Dean Ambrose hosting the Ambrose Asylum with James Ellsworth as his guest, meaning AJ Styles is bound to get involved. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
There are tables, ladders and chairs all over the arena.
Renee Young is in the ring for a contract signing for the Women’s Title match. Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch come out with Alexa telling Renee to get out of here because they need someone with better fashion sense. They recap the feud with Becky saying Bliss has the mentality of a four year old. The champ signs but Alexa keeps talking about Becky’s accent and how this isn’t the Disney Channel where you get further by being nice. Becky rips into her for not accomplishing anything in her time here other than having a loser mentality. Alexa signs as well and the fight is on with Becky actually being knocked through the table.
Dolph Ziggler/Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin/The Miz
Corbin knocks Ziggler down to start and we take a break less than thirty seconds in. Back with Corbin whipping Dolph hard into the corner and doing that slide underneath the bottom rope to keep Dolph in trouble. It’s off to Miz, who pulls out a ladder to lean up against the steps. Ziggler gets in the running DDT on the floor, followed by a superkick to Miz.
The hot tag brings in Kalisto for his usual, including the hurricanrana driver for two on Miz. A big suicide dive sends Miz into the announcers’ table. Everyone is staggered and Maryse shoves the ladder onto Ziggler. Back in and the Salida Del Sol looks to finish, only to have Corbin use a chair for the DQ at 7:31.
Rating: B-. For a match this short, they packed in a lot of action into the time. Kalisto could be an interesting guy if they would stop cutting his legs out from underneath him. The same is true with Corbin, who certainly has the look but I’m not sure if he has enough in ring skills yet to hang at this level.
American Alpha isn’t scared of the Wyatts and are ready to levitate the Wyatts with suplexes.
The Wyatts are ready for American Alpha and don’t like their positivity. Orton gives Luke Harper a pep talk for his match with Kane but Harper doesn’t seem to trust Randy.
Carmella comes out for her match but first of all she has a message for John Cena. She promises to hit Nikki with a chair so hard that the real Bella Twins pop out of her back. Nikki charges to the ring and the brawl is on, meaning no match. Carmella is easily cleaned out.
We recap last week’s ladder match with Ellsworth earning his contract and a shot at Styles’ World Title.
It’s time for the Ambrose Asylum, complete with a single piece of carpet in the middle of the ring. Ambrose gets right to it by bringing out Ellsworth as the first guest. Dean asks how old James’ boots are before letting James celebrate his win a little bit. Ellsworth offers to do anything Dean needs so Ambrose gives him money to pick up a six pack after the show. As far as James’ future, he’d rather face AJ for the title after beating him three times in a row. Ambrose: “He’s drunk with power ladies and gentlemen.”
Cue AJ to stand on the announcers’ table and make puppet jokes about Ellsworth. Dean: “So what you’re saying is you lost to a dummy three times?” AJ gets in the ring and promises to get rid of Dean before dealing with the new superstar, as long as James shows up on Sunday. The brawl is on with AJ shoving both guys through the furniture. Ellsworth is hung upside down for a chair shot to the back, followed by a Styles Clash onto the steps. That should get rid of him for awhile but odds are he’ll be at the pay per view.
Post break, Ellsworth is taken out on a stretcher.
Kane vs. Luke Harper
Harper’s headlock doesn’t get him anywhere as Kane comes back with his own power offense. A big boot and clothesline puts Harper on the floor and we take a break. Back with Harper kicking him in the knee and head, only to get caught with the running DDT. Harper hammers away in the corner but gets powerbombed out for two more. The swinging Boss Man Slam gives Luke two of his own and a superkick drops Kane again. Back up and Harper misses the discus lariat, setting up the chokeslam to give Kane the pin at 11:05.
Rating: B-. What is with the good matches on here tonight? These two beat the heck out of each other in the only kind of match they should have had. Kane has taken a backseat since the Draft but he’s still fine for something like this. You can tell they’re doing something with Harper so maybe he’ll wind up getting a push out of the thing.
We recap the contract signing.
Becky has a sore back but doesn’t care what kind of match she has with Alexa. Again, and I can’t emphasize this enough: they’ve taken a simple idea and ran with the thing, which can often make for something very entertaining.
Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton vs. American Alpha
The winners get the title shot on Sunday. Orton and Jordan get things going with Jason snapping off some armdrags and working an armbar. It’s off to Wyatt who throws Jordan throat first into the ropes to take over. The beatdown begins with Orton draping him over the top rope and grabbing a chinlock.
Jordan fights up and makes the tag off to Gable, who cleans house for a bit until being sent hard to the floor as we take a break. Back with Gable getting DDT’ed onto the apron for two as the beating continues. Bray hits the release Rock Bottom and Orton’s awesome looking superplex has both guys down.
Unfortunately it’s actually enough for the hot tag to Jordan as everything breaks down. The suplexes begin on Bray but the lights go out, revealing Harper at ringside. Gable breaks up Sister Abigail but an RKO breaks up the Grand Amplitude. Jordan’s spear hits the post and Sister Abigail sends the Wyatts to the title match at 15:29.
Rating: B. Heck of a match here with the right team going over. Bray almost has to win a title soon and they even protected Alpha in the loss. There’s something so cool about watching Jordan fighting for all he’s worth as he does the big comeback as well as almost anyone in the company right now. This was better than I was expecting and I had a good time with it.
Slater and Rhyno are ready for the challenge when Styles comes up to say no one cares about the Tag Team Titles. Ambrose runs in and beats AJ up to end the show.
Overall Rating: A. Now THIS is how you go into a pay per view. Smackdown had a battle plan tonight and executed it to near perfection. I’m pretty sure every match on Sunday got some focus here and the wrestling was even good on top of that. You really can tell that there’s a lot of effort put into the planning of these shows and they know exactly what they want to do on almost any given week. This was one of the better go home shows I’ve seen in a very long time and it was everything they needed to do and more.
Results
Dolph Ziggler/Kalisto b. The Miz/Baron Corbin via DQ when Corbin used a chair
Kane b. Luke Harper – Chokeslam
Randy Orton/Bray Wyatt b. American Alpha – Sister Abigail to Jordan
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume V at Amazon for just $3.99 at: