Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 10.11.16

Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 10.11.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Dolph Ziggler defeated Kenny and Mikey @ 6:43 via pin [**]
– Naomi defeated Carmella @ 2:55 via pin [NR]
– Jimmy Uso defeated Chad Gable @ 2:50 via pin [NR]
– Non-Title Match: James Ellsworth defeated Champion AJ Styles @ 10:32 via pin [NR]
– Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper defeated Kane and Randy Orton @ 10:34 via pin [**½]

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– We get some highlights from No Mercy.

Dolph Ziggler Talks: Ziggler got some you deserve it chants, and then told the crowd “WE DID IT.” he said that his emotions got the best of him, and that’s why he put his career up for one more shot at the IC Title. He didn’t know if he’d be here and joked about the cable guides leak. He didn’t know if No Mercy was his last night, if it was the last time he’d spray tan Zack Ryder’s back, the last time he’d tape up. He admitted to doubting himself, people told him he didn’t have to do it, but he had to know. But once he got in the ring, he knew he could do it and he did it. Miz and Maryse arrived, wearing black to mourn the loss of the IC Title. Miz said he was here to mourn the death of the IC Title, and asked Ziggler if he was happy. On Sunday, the IC Title died after 188 days. He brought the prestige back to that title, he made it the best title on Smackdown, and Ziggler winning is a funeral for the title’s legacy, because of Ziggler’s mediocrity. Miz said the story was not over, because this is act II, where the hero overcomes unbeatable odds, and Miz is that hero. The hero gets the golf and the girl and he already has the girl and now he wants his gold back. Ziggler was about to share something with the fans, but is glad Miz is here. We get video of Ziggler’s win and Miz’s sad face after losing. Ziggler mocks Miz for crying and says he looks as if he is about to cry right now. Miz says he sacrificed everything for the title and he takes this very seriously. The fans chant, “you were crying” at him. Miz says no one knows about his sacrifice, and tells Ziggler to imagine what he will do to get his title back because he’s not done with him. KENNY & MIKEY arrive! Ziggler will face them in a handicap match here tonight. As you would expect, really good stuff from both guys once again. They are bringing great intensity in and out of the ring, and it is great to see the IC Title get the focus it deserves. Ziggler has been really good since the Ambrose feud on the mic, and Miz killed it again.

Handicap Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kenny and Mikey: Ziggler quickly clears the ring and we head to a commercial break. They actually had the match continue during the break, going picture in picture, where Kenny took the heat. This happened because Miz distracted Ziggler during the break. Kenny and Mikey worked a solid heat, Ziggler finally took out Kenny and then got a roll up on Mikey but Kenny had returned and got the tag. They tried to use the numbers game, but Ziggler hit the DDT to both and all three were down. Ziggler then ran wild for a bit, but got cut off when Mikey stunned him off the ropes. Ziggler hit a desperation superkick and pinned Kenny. Dolph Ziggler defeated Kenny and Mikey @ 6:43 via pin [**] Solid stuff there that played into the Miz and Ziggler angle well. With Slater and Rhyno making the save, I am curious to see if the former Spirit Squad members will be sticking around longer than expected. Hell, Kenny is only 30 and Mikey is 33 I believe, so it’s not like they are old.

– Post match, Miz attacked and laid out Ziggler with the skull-crushing finale. They looked to triple team Ziggler, but Slater and Rhyno made the save.

– We get a WWE 2k17 video package, featuring Miz and Ziggler.

Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan Have a Survivor Series Announcement: Shane and Bryan hype Survivor Series, and have decided to make this event special. Shane says that Raw and Smackdown should compete against each other, and they are offering an opportunity. They propose a five on five elimination match, with their five best male competitors against Raw’s best five male competitors. They also propose a five on five tag team match as well as a five on five match with the women. I am totally down with this, if done right this could be fun and it guarantees us our Survivor Series elimination matches.

– Carmella interrupted a Nikki Bella interview from earlier today and beat her down.

Carmella vs. Naomi: Carmella attacked before the bell, and they took a commercial break. JIP with Carmella working the heat on Naomi. Alexa Bliss was watching on from backstage as Naomi started to make a comeback, hitting the speedball kicks. The bulldog to the corner followed, Naomi up top and connects with the high cross for 2. Carmella managed to counter the corner boots by Naomi, and then Nikki Bella arrived. This distracted Carmella, and allowed Naomi to roll her up for the win. Naomi defeated Carmella @ 2:55 via pin [NR] It’s not my favorite finish, but it worked here. They gave Naomi the win over Bliss, so she couldn’t lose here. Carmella and Nikki has been ongoing, and Carmella has beaten Nikki and cost her matches, so this was payback. Plus they have also pushed the fact that Naomi and Nikki and friends. The match was solid for the time given.

– Post match Alexa says she can beat Naomi any day of the week, and is she knew about their match on Sunday, she would have won. Bryan arrived and booked Bliss vs. Naomi for next week.

Jimmy Uso vs. Chad Gable: Gable is looking for revenge for all of the attacks on his knee. Gable attacked right away and decided to try and pick on the arm of Jimmy. Jimmy caught him with a kick to the gut and then a Samoan drop, which got 2. Jimmy tried to ground Gable, but Gable pulled him to the floor to get a break. Back in, and Gable worked over Jimmy with corner mounted punched and then a clothesline off the top. The XPLODER followed, they went to the corner and Gable got the hanging arm bar in the ropes. Jimmy scored with a roll up and Jey gave him some help from the floor to allow him to steal the win. Jimmy Uso defeated Chad Gable @ 2:50 via pin [NR] This was another short, but solid match to continue the feud between the two teams. The Usos continue to cheat, and that allows them to keep staying one up o the young upstarts.

Jimmy gets a hand … err, foot … from Jey @WWEUsos to help defeat @WWEGable on #SDLive! pic.twitter.com/R5Ge4jyd2P

— WWE (@WWE) October 12, 2016

– The Hype Bros talk about the Smackdown tag team division, and then Mojo started to talk about chicks and made fun of Ryder for playing with his toys. The Ascension arrived and stared them down.

AJ Styles is Here!: Styles informed us that the champ was here and that he beat John Cena and Dean Ambrose at the same time; “it’s phenomenal.” He then slammed the crowd and said he knows that they live through him, but there is only room for him on the bandwagon so go and cheer for John Cena. Wait, you can’t do that, he’s too busy trying to be Kelly Ripa’s co-host. He said that they could cheer for Ambrose, but he is a lunatic loser so he wanted to talk about himself. He beta Ambrose and Cena, and while they may not like how he won, he is a winner, and winners find ways to win. “Did I mention that I beat John Cena and Dean Ambrose at the same time?” Some may take a night off, but he won’t. Tonight he will give someone an opportunity. Dean Ambrose then arrived, and that is not who Styles was looking for. Ambrose said that Styles loves the easy way out, and he had him beat and he doesn’t want any of him. Styles claimed he overcame an impossible situation, and Ambrose said that he won’t let anyone on the roster leapfrog him for a title shot. Styles said his opponent wasn’t on the roster, and James Ellsworth arrived! Styles says that Ellsworth was set to be his partner, and then the Miz attacked him, so Styles will give him his opportunity… in a non-title match. Ambrose says that he wants to see this, and wants to sit at ringside for this. Styles doesn’t want James to be distracted, and told Ambrose to get to stepping, beat your feet, scram, hit the showers. Bryan then appeared and says he makes the matches and is a huge James Ellsworth fan and makes the match for right now. He then makes Ambrose the special guest referee. Bryan says if Styles touches the official he will be fined or suspended. Ambrose emptied his pockets and handed all of his shit to Styles, who tossed it to the floor. Styles was really great there, rubbing it in the face of everyone how he retained his title and coming off as a smarmy prick. Ambrose was also really good, and the Ellsworth thing works because that wacky little bastard has a cult following.

Non-Title Match: Champion AJ Styles vs. James Ellsworth: They rang the bell and immediately went to a commercial break. We got more picture in picture, with Ambrose checking AJ thoroughly for weapons and then teaching Ellsworth how to throw hip tosses and arm drags. Ellsworth hit a hip toss, which pissed off AJ so he took control and worked him over in the corner. Ambrose kept breaking them up to save Ellsworth. He also blocked punched from AJ, leading to them argue. Ellsworth then threw a punch and AJ said he was going to kill him and chased him around the ring. Ambrose then tripped AJ, Ellsworth got a roll up and Ambrose tried to quick count him, but AJ kicked out. AJ took the heat, locked n the calf crusher and Ambrose took a call as Ellsworth started to tap. AJ was pissed again, yelled at Ambrose and tossed Ellsworth to the floor. AJ then worked over Ambrose on the floor, Ambrose tried to quick cont him again and AJ brought it back into the ring. AJ tossed Ellsworth again and then Ambrose went to the floor, hit on a chick and signed an autograph. AJ went for the clash and hit it (it looked scary though), Ambrose counted 2 and stopped. He then hit dirty deeds on AJ, and laid Ellsworth on him and counted, but AJ kicked out. Ambrose then went to the floor and got a drink, hit AJ with dirty deeds again and quick counted for Ellsworth to win. James Ellsworth defeated Champion AJ Styles @ 10:32 via pin [NR] No match rating because it was really more of an angle than an actual match, with Ambrose constantly messing with AJ. In terms of Ambrose messing with the champion and getting some revenge, it worked. But it felt way too long to me, and while I get what they did and why they did it, and more importantly how they pulled it off, I am not a huge fan of angle like this where the champion loses to a nobody. I didn’t hate it, understand that, I get why they did it, I just didn’t love it.

– Randy Orton met with Kane backstage, and they spoke about knowing what its like going through hell. Orton wants to stop living in Wyatt’s world, and wants to bring Wyatt into his world. His world is full of pain, misery and torture and he asks if Kane wants to come along for the ride. Kane says sure, but notes that Orton has issues.

– We get a Royal Rumble video package.

– Styles ranted to Shane and Bryan about what just happened, and Shane put all of the blame on Styles. Shane then said that Styles LOST to James Ellsworth. Styles said he will take things into his own hands. Styles left and Bryan said that he had a plan for next week. Shane was a dick there, he tried to defend Bryan but Styles only lost because of Bryan’s decision to include Ambrose.

– Apparently we get no Curt Hawkins tonight.

– Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper made their way to the ring. Harper says that the world has put him to sleep; he must have watched Orton vs. Wyatt from Sunday again. Wyatt talked about black holes and creatures. He told Orton to bring his monster, because he had his.

Randy Orton and Kane vs. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper: Kane started off and battled both Wyatt and Harper. Kane took control and hit the big boot to Wyatt, who rolled to the floor, Orton cut him off and trolled him back in. Wyatt escaped a chokeslam and bailed to the floor. Post break, Orton hit the superplex on Harper. Orton tagged in Kane, he ran wild for a bit hitting the side slam and covering for 2. The basement dropkick followed, he tried to attack Wyatt, but the numbers got to him and Harper hit a dropkick and sent Kane to the floor. Wyatt slowly sent Kane to the barricade and rolled him back in as he and Harper worked the heat. They isolated Kane in the corner, until Kane hit the desperation DDT and that led to Orton and Wyatt getting the hot tags. Orton ran wild, hitting the snap slam and mounted punches. Wyatt fought off the hangman’s DDT, and then brawled to the floor. Orton avoided a charging Harper, and hen slammed Wyatt to the steps. Back in the ring Wyatt begged off, and then tried to attack but Orton scored with the hangman’s DDT. Orton set for the RKO as Kane and Harper brawled on the floor. The ref made Kane go to the corner, Harper hit a superkick on Orton and then Wyatt missed the running senton. Orton went to tag Kane, the lights went out, and when the came back on Harper replaced Kane and Kane was gone. Wyatt hit Sister Abigail for the win. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper defeated Kane and Randy Orton @ 10:34 via pin [**½] This was a solidly worked main event until the flat finish with Wyatt’s shenanigans. I am glad he’s getting wins, but I’d love to see the guy get a clean win over someone of importance one day soon so I could actually care about him.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

In a way Smackdown feels a bit like the island of misfit toys, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. They seemingly make things work in 2016 (Slater/Rhyno, Spirit Squad) work. While the wrestling was weak on the show, the promos from Miz, Ziggler, Styles and Ambrose were very strong and the show remains focused. I also liked the Survivor Series announcement.