I’m above it! It’s the second week of December, which means it’s the second Christmas episode of SmackDown Live, which means it’s another edition… you get the idea. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m feeling a little positive about this week’s show. Let’s get started.
Ziggler wins, Harper emerges, and The Miz continues to impress
MizTV opened this week’s show and it featured a great confrontation between SmackDown Live’s top two champions. For a minute, AJ Styles and The Miz were just chilling out, shining each other’s titles and in the next, they’re at each other’s faces. It was an amazing exchange. The only bad thing I can take away from this segment is that we get to witness the supposed top heel get out-heeled by the real top heel of SmackDown Live. They could’ve just made Styles turn face right there and then the two could start a feud, but I guess The Miz will have to wait for his time in the world title picture.
Dolph Ziggler winning the Fatal 4-way was the most logical choice and I’m not really surprised with the outcome. I was actually worried Creative wouldn't give Ziggler a chance to get back in the world title hunt. I really hope this isn’t a two-week rivalry though. Ziggler is getting a world title match the same night John Cena is set to return to SmackDown Live. That worries me a little bit. I don’t mind seeing Cena vs Styles for the fourth time; I just don’t want to see it at next year’s Wrestlemania.
Of course, we have to talk about Luke Harper’s inclusion in this week’s main event. Harper gunning for Styles was definitely interesting. I didn’t think he would actually win though. I see this as the Wyatt Family’s first attempt to gain the WWE Championship and start their imminent reign of darkness. Maybe next week, Randy Orton will try getting his hands on the world title and eventually, Bray Wyatt will add himself to the title picture. Before you know it, the Wyatt Family will be holding three belts. I wonder if Luke Harper can carry them all on his massive shoulders.
As for Dean Ambrose, he’ll be busy dealing with The Miz since the main event also planted the seeds for their impending storyline. I’m not really thrilled to see Ambrose be the Intercontinental Champion again, but I guess that’s better than nothing. I wonder if this will force him to abandon his storyline with Ellsworth because that would be stupid af. They spent a great amount of time setting a unique storyline up. Creative can’t just pull the rug from under it just because Ellsworth has chin-fluenza. We better get a proper conclusion to this story in the coming weeks.
Speaking of Ellsworth, his world title match just became the Eva Marie of world title matches. I find that hilarious.
Some Blue Brand Vibes and Blues—Live!
Vibe: The tag team battle royal was just awesome! Where do I even start? First off, the Hype Bros became the new contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships but at the cost of Zack Ryder’s knee. That’s high drama right there. Meanwhile, you can probably say The Ascension’s stock increased this week after Konnor’s dominating performance in the battle royal, eliminating American Alpha and Heath Slater. Viktor’s still a jabroni, but still. Get excited, the Ascension actually dominated a match! Speaking of Slater, this battle royal did a good job adding more tension between him and Rhyno. This one match achieved so many things, it was brilliant. Who said the tag team division is dead? By the way, the Vaudevillains are beyond repair at this point.
Vibe: The new SmackDown Women’s Champion continues to impress as the Blue Brand’s wicked witch. This week, both Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch were given better scripts to work with compared to their confrontation last week. The entire segment was all about Alexa Bliss and her entertaining performance as the top heel of the women’s division. The fake knee injury was a nice touch and it extends this rivalry for a few more weeks. No complaints here.
Blue: Nikki Bella, Carmella, and Natalya are actually sticking with this mystery attacker storyline and I’m having none of it. Commentary tried their hardest to establish Nikki and Nattie’s supposed friendship but at this point, it’s just too late. The only way to make this storyline interesting is to have anyone other than Carmella or Natalya be the attacker. A certain dazzling, tantalizing female competitor, perhaps?
Blue: I’m glad we still got the confirmation that Apollo Crews is still on SmackDown Live. I’m not really thrilled with his little backstage segment with The Miz, but hey, at least he’s on the show. Also, the fat kid from Modern Family was also there cracking Uranus jokes. Feel old yet?
SMACKDOWN RUNDOWN: I’m not sure what made this week’s episode great. Maybe it’s because of the interesting booking choices. Maybe it’s because of the fun main event. Maybe because there was almost no James Ellsworth. Maybe the matches were just enjoyable in general. In the end, it didn’t really matter. We got a good episode and that’s all I need. SmackDown Live deserves another A.
*****
Ricky Jay Publico (@HarambeMustLive) is a wrestling fan who enjoys watching high flyers and brawlers battle it out in the ring. A known Botchamania binge-watcher, he claims to have memorized the chronological order of Royal Rumble winners, but fails to remember who won in 2004. He writes stories about life and nonsense.
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