Hey, Blue Team!
We’re on the Road to Smackdown Live Wild Card Finals, and this week’s Smackdown Live was the go-home show. For reasons beyond my comprehension, next week’s Smackdown Live has turned into some kind of super show. It has a name and everything. The name doesn’t make any sense, but it has one nonetheless.
I guess the writers have gotten so used to there being a pay-per-view every two weeks that they felt like they had to throw one more Smackdown super-card in before the Royal Rumble. So this week’s episode of Smackdown Live ends up kind of just existing to keep the storylines going until we get to next week, even though it features no less than two championship matches; the Intercontinental and WWE Championships. But in those two matches, the fact that they’re for the belt seems superfluous because we know they’re not going to change hands. After all, this isn’t Wild Card Finals. This is just some episode of Smackdown we have to get passed to get there.
It’s the holiday season. The time of year where everyone loves giving. So why not give the gift of snarky internet wrestling commentary, and take a moment to give The Best and Worst of Smackdown Live a share on your favorite social media platform. While you’re at it, follow With Spandex on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
And now without further ado, here is The Best and Worst of Smackdown Live for December 20th, 2016.
Best: Now That That’s Behind Us
This week’s Smackdown Live opens up with a WWE Championship match. It’s the long-awaited final showdown between AJ Styles and James Ellsworth. The match played out exactly the way it needed to; AJ makes quick work of Ellsworth and rightfully so. He needed to take Ellsworth out like this in order to put this whole thing behind him and prove that he could easily beat Ellsworth when Bugs Bunny’s not dropping anvils on him. We’re days away from WrestleMania season. It’s time for AJ Styles to get serious again.
After the match he beat Ellsworth around the ring, and then jumped on the mic and said that that had been building up for six weeks and it was a long time coming. Dear god, has this storyline only been going on for six weeks? Is that right? It almost feels like six months. There’s been at least five pay-per-views since this started. Thank goodness this week we don’t even get out of the opening segment without dumping the past and pushing into the future.
AJ’s promo is interrupted by number one Contender, Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler cuts a real good promo on Styles and is then interrupted by the man who puts the “wildcard” in Wild Card Finals, Baron Corbin. Corbin must be drinking more wolf’s blood, because he looks about a foot taller than the last time we saw him, which was just a couple of weeks ago. Or maybe they’re just shooting it with one of those Lord of the Rings tricks that makes Gandalf look big and the hobbits small. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought Baron Corbin looked gigantic tonight. He’s also rocking an awesome wolf shirt and cutting a pretty good promo in his own right.
Baron Corbin’s starting to look good. I think he may be just about ready to be called up to the main roster.
It wasn’t just the performances that were good in this segment. It was well-written too. It was one of those rare occasions where the dialogue was coherent. All three men talked like humans and made sense. This whole thing’s leading to Dolph Ziggler putting his Number One Contendership on the line in a match against Baron Corbin in the main event of the show. By the end of their feud I never wanted to see Corbin vs Ziggler again. But that opening segment has now left me intrigued.
Worst: Back To The Cole Mine
The WWE Championship match is followed right up with an Intercontinental Championship match between The Miz and Apollo Crews. It’s a solid match that gets extremely overshadowed by the post-match interview.
Renee Young comes into the ring to interview The Miz about Dean Ambrose. Renee accuses The Miz of being obsessed with Ambrose, and that getting in the way of his match last week. The Miz then points out that Renee is sleeping with Dean Ambrose. And now we has crossed a line that cannot be uncrossed, because Renee Young slapped The Miz. With that slap, Renee has crossed the line from broadcaster to character, a move that’s rarely done well and is always difficult to bounce back from.
Michael Cole’s transformation into a character with a heel turn and WrestleMania match ended up so spectacularly bad that it took Jerry Lawler literally dying to get Michael Cole to be taken seriously as a broadcaster again. It’s a tricky situation, and one I’m not sure is needed. Renee Young is fantastic at her job. I think she’s one of the best at it that WWE has ever had. But she’s not a wrestler, nor is she an actress, and the risk of inserting her into a storyline doesn’t seem worth the reward.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe she’ll be able to go right back to her normal role. But something about this already left a really bad taste in my mouth, so I’m not optimistic. And this is coming from a guy who liked both Jim Ross heel turns.
Worst: Nothing To Be Jealous About
WWE’s unique brand of storytelling is front and center in our next segment. For the past few weeks, Carmella has been saying that Natalya was the one that attacked Nikki Bella from behind at Survivor Series. But Natalya has been denying it, trying to defend herself against Nikki. Now this week from out of nowhere, Nattie just up and admits that she did it.
As ridiculous as that is, that’s not even the worst part of this. As everything unfolds, Nattie goes after Carmella, throws her into the Christmas Tree, and then snaps into full heel calling Nikki a bitch, and reveals that everything is because she’s jealous of Nikki. They may be called Women’s Wrestlers now, but they’re still being given Diva’s storylines. Do we really need another “Jealous of a Bella” storyline? They can’t think of anything else? Do all the women have to be written like Total Divas characters while new episodes of Total Divas are premiering? I can’t see this going anywhere good.
Speaking of going nowhere good …
Carmella seamlessly jumps from one bad storyline to another. Shortly after Natalya takes her out, Carmella ends up backstage picking up the pieces of James Ellsworth. There are a lot of places I can imagine this going and very few are good.
Best: New Lows
Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper was a great match. These guys always work well together, and despite the loss, Luke Harper looks good for the second week in a row. The rest of the Family attack Ambrose after the match and show off that they’ve gotten a little better at the Sister Abigail/RKO Combo, then they disappear. When the lights come back on, we’re into what’s probably my favorite part of this week’s show.
The Miz comes back down and hits Ambrose with a Skull Crushing Finale. It’s a sleazy move, even for The Miz, and it works great. His slimeballyness somehow made it feel even dirtier than it was.
Worst: Poor Man’s La Parka
This just didn’t really do anything for me. Alexa Bliss is “unexpectedly” defeated by a masked luchadora who ends up being not-so-shockingly Becky Lynch. It wasn’t bad, it was just kind of pointless and a watered down version of a bit we’ve seen before. It wasn’t helped by how completely unseriously it was taken by the commentary team, JBL especially. On top of the luchador stuff, I’m just not a fan of building to a match where two people wrestle each other by having those two people wrestle each other.
Best: Straight Shooter
Last week I got burned and it still stings. I praised the WWE’s use of Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias and the restraint they showed by not having him get involved in a match, just to have them do the very thing I praised them for not doing the next night on Tribute to the Troops. They couldn’t even wait for WWE Week to be over.
Going forward, whenever a celebrity shows up on Smackdown, they should know Mojo Rawley and only Mojo Rawley.
Best: Not A Bad Way To Kill Time
My irrational love of Baron Corbin may be becoming slightly rational. If this guy can watch his step on the ring apron, he may really have something. Baron wrestles Dolph Ziggler in this week’s Smackdown Live main event, and no they’re not wrestling to see who’s the most metal. The winner gets a WWE Title shot against AJ Styles at the first annual Smackdown Live Wild Card Finals.
I liked this match. I don’t remember anything about their series of matches earlier this year, so I really can’t compare any of them. But I know I liked this one. And even though the originally planned AJ Styles/Dolph Ziggler match didn’t need Baron Corbin added to it, I’m not opposed to it. Like a WWE zombie, I’m oddly excited for next week’s Smackdown. WWE’s marketing machine has worked on me again. All they have to do is put three random words after Smackdown Live and all of a sudden excitement levels are raised.
Until next week, I’m Justin Donaldson and oh hey, whaddya know, Shooter’s on!
