Here are your quick and dirty, editorial-free WWE Smackdown Live results for December 13, 2016. The show featured new No. 1 contenders for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship, a new No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship, and a very ill James Ellsworth.
Be back here tomorrow for the full Best and Worst of Smackdown column.
WWE Smackdown Live Results:
— The show opened with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan backstage watching last week’s main event, where James Ellsworth cost Dean Ambrose a win. Ellsworth was also backstage, coughing and sneezing with the flu. Shane and Bryan told him he’s in no shape to have his WWE Championship match tonight, and told him to go home.
— Miz and Maryse were in the ring for MizTV and welcomed their guest, AJ Styles. Styles and Miz laughed about Ellsworth and complimented each other. Styles said he’s beaten Cena and Ambrose, so who else is there? Styles said that nobody is on his level. Miz says he’s not on Styles’ level … he’s above it. The Miz said he thinks it’s time he made the WWE Championship legendary. They faced off, but then Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler both come to the ring and interrupted. Miz hit Ziggler with his finisher, then Ambrose hit Miz with Dirty Deeds. Ambrose stared down Styles, then hit Ziggler with Dirty Deeds for good measure. The lights went out and Luke Harper appeared in the ring, then took out Ambrose with a lariat.
— Backstage, Styles complained to Shane and Bryan about what happened. They told him that tonight, Ambrose, Harper, Miz and Ziggler will compete in a Fatal 4-Way elimination match, with the winner becoming the No. 1 contender.
1. Carmella defeated Natalya. Nikki Bella sat in on commentary for this match. Before the match began, Natalya told the whole arena that she was not the one who attacked Nikki. The fight spilled to the outside and Natalya pushed Nikki out of the way when Carmella tried to attack her, but got rolled up and pinned by Carmella when they got back in the ring.
2. No. 1 Contender Tag Team Battle Royal: The Hype Bros defeated American Alpha, The Vaudevillains, Heath Slater and Rhyno, The Ascension, and Breezango. Both members of a team had to be eliminated in this match. Heath Slater accidentally eliminated Rhyno at one point. The Vaudevillains were the first team to be eliminated, followed by American Alpha. The final four were Konnor, Tyler Breeze, Slater and Zack Ryder. Konnor tossed Slater, then Breeze got eliminated. Ryder reversed an elimination attempt from Konnor into a hurricanrana to eliminate the Ascension and win it for the Hype Bros.
— Alexa Bliss was supposed to face Deonna Purrazzo in a non-title match, but she said she doesn’t do “charity cases.” She attacked Purrazzo and threw her out of the ring, then got back on the mic. Becky Lynch came out and asked for her rematch right now. Bliss declined and started to leave, but Shane McMahon came out and made the match official.
3. Smackdown Women’s Championship Match: Becky Lynch defeated Alexa Bliss (c). Lynch won by count-out after Bliss faked a leg injury. Lynch attacked Bliss after the match until Bliss left with her title.
4. No. 1 Contender Fatal 4-Way Match: Dolph Ziggler defeated Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, and The Miz. The Miz was eliminted first by Dean Ambrose after a roll-up. Luke Harper was then pinned by Ambrose following a Ziggler superkick and Ambrose’s Dirty Deeds. The Miz came back to ringside and distracted Ambrose long enough for Ziggler to hit a superkick and get the pin.
