The Best And Worst Of WWE Smackdown Live 11/01/16: Another Smackdown Clip Show

Hey, Blue Team!

You have seen everything on this week’s Smackdown Live before. EVERYTHING. The bad stuff. The good stuff. Even the mediocre and forgettable stuff. It’s all happened before in one form or another. In some cases, it just happened last week! Like Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles having yet another rematch. And in other cases like The Wyatt Family and Randy Orton, we’re retreading storylines that have been done years before. Still, it’s a good show. You may not get that impression from reading the rest of this column, but it was a good show. Just so, so repetitive.

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And now without further ado, here is The Best and Worst of Smackdown Live for November 1st, 2016.

Worst: Back Of The Line

The week’s Smackdown Live opens up with James Ellsworth coming down to the ring to apologize to Dean Ambrose. And boy does Ellsworth owe him an apology. Last week he caused Ambrose his opportunity for a WWE world title match against AJ Styles, and now Ambrose has to get to the end of the line.

Dean Ambrose has got a long road ahead of him. He’ll have to rack up some big victories against preliminary talent, then move on to facing people like Jack Swagger and Baron Corbin before making his way back to the Intercontinental Title scene. If he can have a nice reign with that title, he’ll then be able to work his way back to the top of the card and into matches with people like The Miz and Randy Orton. He’ll have to never look back. Nose to the grindstone. Eyes on the prize. Maybe he can beat 29 other men, win the Royal Rumble, and get that shot at WrestleMania. Or keep fighting until Money in the Bank. One day it will happen for Dean Ambrose again. He’s a scrapper, he’ll claw his way back to the top.

OR

Dean Ambrose will be given another shot against AJ Styles later tonight.

I call it the “Roman Rule.” It’s an endless stream of opportunities handed out time and time again. There are no stakes, so there’s no emotion and no one cares. We know we have a couple more matches of Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles ahead of us, so the outcome of last week’s match doesn’t matter. And there’s nothing for James Ellsworth to really be apologizing for.

When Daniel Bryan makes this week’s main event, he says that this is Ambrose’s last opportunity to get another title match against Styles. So right away we know he’s winning the match. And if he doesn’t, what Bryan said probably isn’t true anyways and Ambrose will be right back here next week wrestling Styles again in a “James Ellsworth On A Pole” match.

The segment itself was fine. It was one of the better written in-ring segments I’ve seen in a few weeks, and the performances were good all around. And at least WWE had the sense to announce tonight’s Ambrose/Styles rematch after the Ellsworth apology angle. But why should I care?

Worst: Welcome To The Family … For A Few Weeks

It’s good to see WWE use veteran talent like Kane to put over an up and comer like Randy Orton. The Randy Orton/Bray Wyatt feud has been a tedious one, but at least we’re getting some Randy Orton/Kane matches out of it … is a thing no one is thinking.

It’s not even really much of a match. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper show up pretty quickly to help Orton take out Kane, and the rest of the segment is just Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, and Luke Harper standing around and looking at each other. Probably similar to what the WWE writer’s room is like.

Later in the night, The Wyatts meet up with Randy Orton back in that storage locker to play a little Dungeons and Dragons and talk about Orton’s burgeoning allegiance to The Wyatt Family. As it turns out, Luke Harper is the smart one of the family, because he has his doubts that Orton is actually with them. But lights flash in Randy Orton’s eyes, so now they’re both convinced.

Makes sense? About as much sense as anything else in this feud.

What type of match against Kane will Randy Orton have next week?

Worst: If Alexa Bliss Can Do This Next Week …

I can’t do this anymore. I have nothing left to say about these finishes. This week’s women’s match is a tag team affair pitting Nikki Bella and Becky Lynch against Carmella and Alexa Bliss. Becky’s putting the Smackdown Women’s Title on the line next week against Alexa Bliss, so I’ll give you zero guesses on who pinned who in this match, and you’re all correct.

I just can’t write about this finish anymore. The amount of times that this happens is ludicrous. You absolutely cannot have a title match anymore without the challenger pinning the champ the week before. To WWE Creative, it seems to have become as crucial as having a ring. I can’t. I just can’t.

Best: Thank God For Tag Team Wrestling

The middle of Smackdown features two qualifying matches for The Survivor Series, both featuring the three Fs – fast, forgettable, and fun. The matches are nothing to write home about, but the novelty of both is fantastic.

First up is American Alpha vs. The Spirit Squad, and it’s another great example of why I want to see American Alpha against every past WWE tag team. WWE really loves convoluted streaks these days, like Charlotte’s consecutive pay-per-view wins, or New Day’s title reign. American Alpha’s thing should be wrestling and defeating every living and former WWE tag team. Too Cool, The Highlanders … one of the Bushwhackers can still walk, right?

Week after week, American Alpha going team by team through wrestling’s history until they’ve beaten literally everyone. You’re telling me you’d rather sit through another Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton segment than see what Arn and Tully still have left in the tank against American Alpha?

Later in the night, The Usos take on The Headbangers because why not? I’m glad to see The Headbangers back. When are they going to wrestle American Alpha? Bringing in teams like this really makes Smackdown’s Tag Team Division fresh and keeps The Vaudevillains from losing to everyone every week. Where are The Vaudevillains? We haven’t seen them around in a while. Did they return to their rightful time?

Anyway, good stuff in the Tag Division. Now we just need to spring Breezango out of internet prison and get them back on television.

Best: The Build To Nothing

My favorite segment on this week’s Smackdown Live was Miz TV. His guest is Smackdown Live’s most over face, Daniel Bryan. Bryan is the biggest dick in the world, so he’s here to announce the lineup of Smackdown’s male Survivor Series team, which doesn’t include The Miz. And shockingly, the reason The Miz isn’t on the team is an actual reason.

In a shocking twist, The Miz’ actions actually had consequences. Daniel Bryan decided not to put Miz on the team because he refused to wrestle Dolph Ziggler in a spur of the moment match last week. It’s so refreshing to see someone’s actions one week have consequences another when the rest of the show is just Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, and Randy Orton doing “things.” The performances here are also spot on. These guys work so well together. There’s just one problem, and it’s a big one.

It’s the best feud on Smackdown and it can’t conclude in a match.

Why can’t they take this kind of storytelling and apply it to two guys who could actually wrestle each other at some point?

Best: No Complaints Here

Miz TV rolls into The Miz hopping on commentary for Dolph Ziggler’s Intercontinental Open Challenge. Ziggler ends up wrestling Curt Hawkins (finally making his Smackdown Live debut), and it’s a total squash. Total. Superkick and 1-2-3. That’s pretty great. Curt Hawkins should never win. That’s another streak WWE could do!

Now that Dolph Ziggler has defeated Curt Hawkins, he’s apparently exercised all of his options for opponents on Smackdown Live. So in a post-match interview with Renee Young, issues a challenge to put his Intercontinental Title on the line against anyone from Monday Night Raw. I hope this is leading to Ziggler facing Sami Zayn at Survivor Series. I could use that match about now. That would really help balance out Lesnar/Goldberg.

Best: The Same, But Not

Your main event this week is yet another Dean Ambrose/AJ Styles match. You know the drill; if Ambrose can beat Styles here he wins himself a championship opportunity at TLC. But this is his “last chance.” Even though outside the ring, the Ambrose/Styles storyline is starting to feel like one month of story stretched out over three, the storytelling in the ring continues to be great.

We’ve seen these guys wrestle so much lately and we’re going to see it happen so many more times between now and the Rumble. But despite everything, I’m still enjoying these matches. I like Ambrose trying to get the quick win up top with fast roll-up attempts. I like Ambrose figuring out new way to counter the Calf Crusher. And there was a great series of reversals by both of the men toward the end of the match. The matches are getting better each time.

It was also the perfect amount of James Ellsworth. And even though it was just the same old retread Smackdown ending we’ve seen over and over again – distraction finish, champion being pinned in a non-title match, etc – it somehow still manages to feel exciting, because the performances by everyone involved were so good. That’s a real testament to Ambrose, Styles, and Ellsworth as performers.

Until next week, I’m Justin Donaldson and I guess I’ll keep watching this bulls***.

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