Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 10.18.16

Csonka’s WWE Smackdown Review 10.18.16

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Randy Orton defeated Luke Harper @ 7:50 via DQ [*]
– Alexa Bliss defeated Naomi @ 10:50 via pin [**¾]
– Curt Hawkins vs. Apollo Crews never started [NR]
– Miz, Kenny and Mikey defeated Heath Slater, Rhyno and Dolph Ziggler @ 9:25 via pin [***]
– Baron Corbin defeated Jack Swagger @ 1:35 via pin [NR]
– WWE Title Match: James Ellsworth defeated Champion AJ Styles @ 12:00 via DQ [**]

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– We get highlights from last week’s show, where a man with two fists and no chin, lived his dream and pinned the WWE Champion.

– James Ellsworth was taping up backstage, and Dean Ambrose arrived with the new Ellsworth shirt and gave him a pep talk.

Randy Orton Talks: He gave Wyatt credit, saying that the evil in him ran deeper than he ever imagined. He feels like he is losing his mind, and that is a problem for Wyatt because Wyatt has torched his sanity. Wyatt has set him free and he is coming for him. We see several men in black sheep masks standing above a coffin backstage, were Wyatt is taking a nap. He told Orton to get over himself and that he is coming for him. He is about to take Orton on a journey, and he is having so much fun. he then said “he’s here” and Harper made his entrance. Lots of hocus pocus mumbo jumbo. I’m over it, because it just feels like the same old shit on a loop.

Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper: Harper sent Orton to the floor and looked for the suicide dive, but Orton cut him off and returned to the ring. Harper went to the second rope, got cut off and Orton hit the superplex. Wyatt’s gimmick hit and then his music and he made his way out in the coffin accompanied by the sheep men. That led to the commercial break. Post break and Orton is down on the floor, they did the countout tease and Orton beat the count. Harper kept control, trying to ground Orton; the Michinoku driver followed and Harper covered for 2. The gator roll followed as Wyatt opened the coffin. Orton fought back and almost tossed Harper in. The snap slam followed and then Wyatt ran in for the DQ. Randy Orton defeated Luke Harper @ 7:50 via DQ [*] There wasn’t much of a match here, as it was almost all angle to advance Orton and Kane vs. The Wyatts. I appreciate that they followed up on last week, but I just can’t get into it. The best thing about it was that Harper didn’t lose.

– Wyatt and Harper beat down Orton. They went to put Orton in the coffin, but Kane was in there and attacked. He fought off the Wyatts, Orton hit the hangman’s DDT on Wyatt and they teased the RKO and chokeslam, but the lights went out and then when they came back on, Harper and Wyatt were gone.

– Styles spoke about tonight’s match, yet here he is, having to face a no talent, waste of space in James Ellsworth. He knows Ambrose will try to embarrass him again; it could be bad, like WCW, like when David Arquette won the WCW title. If Ambrose costs him the title, he will find him no matter where he is, and he will take him apart.

Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi: Bliss is in her Freddy Krueger attire tonight. They shoved each other, and then Bliss hid behind the ref and yelled at Naomi. Naomi then went on the attack, but got cut off by a knee. Naomi fought back with the speedball kicks and then the dropkick. A high kick followed, Naomi then hit the springboard high cross for 2. Naomi hit the basement clothesline and leg drop, which got a near fall. Naomi tried to ground Bliss, but Bliss used the hair to escape. Naomi then tripped her into the corner, and Bliss rolled to the floor. We went to the commercial break. Post break and Bliss was trying to ground Naomi, working the cravat. Nice aggression by Bliss, who looks annoyed at everything as she controls things. Naomi finally broke things up with the side back breaker. She then hit a lariat and dropkick, the jawbreaker followed. The split legged moonsault got her 2. Naomi went up top, Bliss cut her off and slammed Naomi to the mat. Bliss up top and hits twisted Bliss for the win. Alexa Bliss defeated Naomi @ 10:50 via pin [**¾] Pretty good match overall, the middle portion was a bit sluggish, but Bliss’ heel work was good and Naomi brought some good fire

– Bliss promised that the fairy tale would be over, the wicked witch would lose and that she will win the title in three weeks when she gets her title shot.

– We get highlights of Slater and Rhyno saving Dolph Ziggler last week.

Curt Hawkins vs. Apollo Crews: Hawkins’ intro has a bunch of wacky Curt Hawkins facts. Hawkins told Crews to prepare himself to face the facts, and that he should fear Curt Hawkins. Crews attacked and Hawkins rolled to the floor. Hawkins claimed that Crews ruined his big debut, and deprived the people from seeing him so he left. I liked this better when it was Eva Marie.

Carmella Talks: Carmella said that Nikki ruined her first PPV match at Summerslam, and ever since the fans have gone nuts for Nikki and she doesn’t understand it. Carmella was about to dish the dirt, and Nikki arrived. Nikki wanted Carmella to say her peace to her face, but Carmella was mad because Nikki stole her spotlight. Carmella said that Nikki can get away with anything because she’s dating John Cena. She said Nikki was only fearless because she goes home with Cena every night. Nikki calls her a jealous hater, and Carmella asks if she is trying to hide something. Nikki reminded her that they have two reality shows and tons of photos on line, and that she doesn’t talk about Cena because when she is in the ring she’s an athlete. Nikki compared Carmella to an Internet bully, and Carmella called her a gold digger. Carmella then showed a clip from Total Bellas, showing that Nikki was clingy and wanting to spent time with Cena. Nikki says she pays her own bills and made her own way, and doesn’t need Cena. She worked hard to prove everyone wrong, came back from her injury and never gave up. She is fearless because that’s what life is about, and she sure isn’t afraid of a princess. Carmella says the truth is that Nikki used her looks to get in the door, used her sister to get in the ring and used Cena to become a celebrity. Carmella dropped her mic and left. It was a brave move giving Carmella a top of the hour spot, despite the well timed heel turn, no one has cared about her as she gets next to no reaction when she arrives. But I loved that they got the chance to do the big promo segment. It was a mixed bag, I felt that Carmella’s stuff was weak (what was written) because we all know about Nikki and Cena. It got better, and I think that they did a good job of advancing the feud as Carmella tried to create a false narrative out of jealousy to attack Nikki. They can’t do the dame attacks forever, and making it personal should work as they build to the rumored No DQ match. It was far from perfect, Carmella still needs work but showed flashes here that the heel turn will be for the best attitude wise, but when they were done I felt that the characters disliked each other. They weren’t obsessed with saying they were going to make history like on Raw, they were too busy setting up the fact that they hated each other to set up their big match

– Renee interviewed James Ellsworth. He is nervous about his title match, and never thought it could happen. He knows he isn’t in Styles’ league, but one day, he will be able to tell his grand kids that he competed for the WWE title.

Heath Slater, Rhyno and Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz, Kenny and Mikey: Rhyno and Mikey started, with Rhyno controlling. Mikey tagged out, and Kenny ate a belly to belly for the near fall. Ziggler and the tag champs worked some quick tags, Kenny managed to catch Ziggler and take him down. Miz wanted in and ate a dropkick and corner splash. Miz finally cut him off and worked him over in the corner for a bit. We got the big stand off spot and took a commercial break. Post break, Ziggler was running wild for a bit until Maryse tripped him up and Miz attacked. Team Miz took control, isolating Ziggler in their corner and working quick tags. Otunga was wasting time making fun of Mikey’s weight and joking with JBL instead of discussing the match. Ziggler hit Miz with the desperation superkick and got the hot tag to Slater, who the crowd had been cheering for. Slater’s hot tags have progressively gotten better and more fun. It broke down, GORE by Rhyno. Kenny tossed him and then Miz cheap shots Slater and Kenny rolled him up for the win. Miz, Kenny and Mikey defeated Heath Slater, Rhyno and Dolph Ziggler @ 9:25 via pin [***] That was a fun and good tag match, not much to it other than the basics and a good crowd, but it was just fun. I don’t mind the Spirit Squad getting a win to set up a TV title defense, but it feels as if they lost the plot a bit in regards to the Usos and American Alpha. It’s not bad, but feels a but off; hopefully they can weave this into the teams having to co-exist at Survivor Series and then leading to a TLC match for the tag titles. If that is the case, it can work well and make sense. I will say, Spirit Squad is working hard and have been fun in their role so if they get a deal, good for them.

– Bryan spoke with Shane on the phone and Natalya interrupted. Natalya wants in the five on five Survivor Series women’s match. She says that she can teach the team to win, to beat Raw. Bryan asks if she quoted Whitney Houston, which she denied. She then talked about her cat’s Instagram account.

– Corbin did a pre-match inset interview, promising to beat Swagger and all of his supporters.

Jack Swagger vs. Baron Corbin: The went back and forth to begin, with Swagger sending Corbin to the floor. Corbin fought him off and sent Swagger to the barricade. Corbin then laid Swagger’s face on the barricade and beat the shit out of him. Back in and Corbin hit a knee strike and the end of days and that was that. Baron Corbin defeated Jack Swagger @ 1:35 via pin [NR] I loved that; they traded wins, it was time to move on and they did not mess around. Corbin won, there was no doubt about the win, and he dominated and now needs to move on. Maybe now they can actually give Swagger a full reboot.

– Bryan and Natalya were looking at cat pictures backstage and Dean Ambrose arrived in a referee shirt. He was ready to be part of the main event again this week and said he would call it down the middle. Bryan said no to that, but said he could be ring announcer, timekeeper, guest commentator or anything else he wanted. Ambrose said, “Ok, I’ll do that.”

– Ellsworth got theme music, his shirt and the two fists on the tron video. Ambrose did the ring announcing. The crowd had so much fun with this, chanting for Ellsworth. Ambrose then took over as timekeeper.

WWE Title Match: Champion AJ Styles vs. James Ellsworth: Ellsworth tried to attack as Ambrose annoyingly rang the bell for a long time, AJ cut him off and worked an abdominal stretch. Ambrose said they had to stop for the commercial break. Post break, AJ was still in control. He tried to work a chinlock, but Ellsworth slipped out because he has no chin. I laughed. Ambrose then interrupted and shilled the Ellsworth shirt. AJ continued to work over Ellsworth, hitting the dropkick. Commentary is especially annoying here. Ellsworth tried to fight back, but AJ ht knee strikes and suplexed him to the corner. AJ then told Ambrose that this was all on him, and then returned to the ring to beat on Ellsworth some more. AJ set Ellsworth up top, went for a superplex but Ambrose distracted AJ again by getting on the mic. This allowed Ellsworth some time to recover, but he then missed the high cross as AJ moved out of the way. AJ tossed Ellsworth to the floor, Ambrose then rolled him back in. AJ tossed him back out, and Ambrose rolled him back in. They did it a third time, and a fourth time and a fifth time. Ellsworth was dizzy as he got back in the ring, AJ climbed up top to yell at Ambrose, allowing Ellsworth to pull AJ down and stun him off the ropes. Ellsworth then hit a superkick and got a near fall. Ellsworth fired up, but AJ hit a spinebuster. He then beat down Ellsworth with forearms as Ambrose made fun of AJ on the mic. AJ then beat on Ellsworth more in the corner and Ambrose kept insulting him, which led to AJ getting disqualified for kicking too much ass. James Ellsworth defeated Champion AJ Styles [**] I wasn’t a big fan of the angle last week, but felt that they could do something this week to play off of it. AJ was good here, he was great in getting the one great near fall, but it went too long for me. Where I felt it failed was with Ambrose. If you’re a big Ambrose fan, you likely loved this, but it was too much of the Dean Ambrose comedy hour for my liking. I fully get that the story is that he is trying to frustrate AJ and get under his skin, and that he forced the DQ, I just am not a big fan of how it comes off and how it makes Styles look as the champion. They would never do this to a Cena, Orton or Reigns, so I don’t see why you would do it with AJ Styles.

– Post match, Ambrose laid out Styles with the dirty deeds and then celebrated with Ellsworth.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Smackdown was an average show this week, with the Orton/Wyatt feud and the Ambrose/Styles feuds really missing the mark with me in terms of execution and personal enjoyment Despite that, Smackdown is still doing good things and making the most of their time and the roster they have.