Yet another tag team breaks up!
The Riot Squad have their debut match.
And farewell The Ascension.
You went out the way your main roster run deserved - in a cloud of fart-like gas.
I’m Oli Davis and this is the 28th November, 2017 edition of Smackdown Live...in about
4 minutes.
Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan After a video package recapping last week’s
epic cliffhanger - the underwhelming announcement of Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton - it was time
to kick off Smackdown with a match!
I’m kidding, of course.
Smackdown opened as it always does: with an in-ring Shane McMahon promo.
He welcomed Daniel Bryan to the ring to explain why Owens and Sami Zayn shouldn’t be fired
for costing Smackdown the Survivor Series main event.
Bryan explained the he believes in second chances *cough* he wants to be medically cleared
to wrestle *cough*, that both men have real talent, and Daniel isn’t just a Yes Man.
YE-I mean ‘no’.
Furthering the brewing tension between the two, Shane made two changes to KO vs Orton.
1) Zayn will be banned from ringside, and 2) it’ll be a No DQ match.
Meaning Sami will still probably find a legal way to interfere...Shane is bad at his job.
Afterwards backstage, KO and Zayn complained to Bryan about the added stipulations.
Daniel said he won’t change them, as they’re not the only ones trying to keep their jobs
round here.
New Day beat American Beta Rather than cycle through the same tag team
match-ups over and over again, Smackdown decided to defeat their No. 1 contenders clean.
Repetitive match-ups or damaging match-ups?
Choose your poison.
The New Day beating American Beta was a good match, as you’d expect, but most of it was
in the commercial break.
And Shelton and Gable losing is a poor way to build them for a shot at The Usos titles.
Bludgeon Brothers beat Hype Bros The Bludgeon Brothers, however, are being
built up tremendously, having another impressive showing squashing the Hype Bros again in under
a minute.
I would’ve preferred them to beat up a different team, but Smackdown finally decided to pull
the trigger on the Hype Bros break up after months of half-baked teasing.
The final angle to cause the split?
Mojo Rawley just started beating up Zack Ryder.
The crowd cheered along, but only because they saw a ‘shock’ heel turn, not because
they were emotionally invested.
Bobby Roode & Baron Corbin Backstage One of the night’s highlights actually came
in a Baron Corbin promo of all places.
He started nodding when Bobby Roode challenged him to the US title match tonight, popping
the crowd in anticipation, but then leaned forward to said ‘no’.
Top heel stuff.
AJ Styles beat Singh Brothers AJ Styles got the loudest pop of the night
coming out (an actually over champion!) for his handicap match against the Singh Brothers.
Jinder Mahal attacked him before the bell, though, allowing Styles to sell for the Singh
Brothers during the match without losing his credibility.
But AJ still managed a phenomenal win, hitting a spectacular second-rope Styles Clash on
Samir onto Sunil.
This angered Jinder so much, he beat up his Singh Brother goons afterwards.
Riot Squad beat Charlotte, Natalya & Naomi After revealing their faction name as the
Riot Squad - with Ruby running off their names Shield-style to get the ‘firecracker’
Liv Morgan and ‘Southern belle’ Sarah Logan characters over - the trio faced the
last three Smackdown women’s champions: Charlotte, Natalya and Naomi.
Natalya bailed early on, after Riot and Logan got the better of her.
And then Liv and Logan took out Naomi with an awesome-looking slingshot into the steel
steps.
This left Charlotte all alone, and Ruby eventually picked up the win.
Pinning Charlotte, taking out Becky Lynch last week and having Naomi stretchered off
here all made the Riot Squad feel like a genuine force.
This was a great first showing.
Fashion Files: Sawed Fashion Files is back!
This week, our heroes (and the Ascension) woke up in a strange room chained to the wall.
Victor said this was a pretty normal situation for them.
The Ascension yet again stole the segment, sacrificing themselves in posion gas for their
best friends!
To which Tyler Breeze replied, ‘we’re not friends’.
Kevin Owens beat Randy Orton After being so angry last week, Daniel Bryan
had to send him home to take a bath, Randy Orton finally got a chance for revenge on
Owens.
The two mainly brawled with kendo sticks for the No DQ match, and later found themselves
brawling through the crowd.
Enter Sami Zayn with a chair to attack Orton from behind.
Because Zayn was banned from ringside, not the entrance way - a particular which will
hopefully play into Bryan and McMahon’s brewing tension.
Owens then beat Orton with a Bullfrog Splash, making for another very limp cliffhanger end
for Smackdown.
So that was this week’s Smackdown Live in about 4 minutes, here’s the usual ratings
recap from top to bottom: SmackDamn, Smacktastic, Smack Bang In The Middle, Ellsworthy and Shane
McMahon’s Opening Promos.
I’ll reveal my score very shortly, but first, vote in the poll above my head to give yours.
I’ll announce the results in tomorrow’s WrestleTalk News.
While this week’s show had some great moments - AJ’s Styles Clash, The Riot Squad winning
and The Ascension R.I.P.
- the overall episode felt lacklustre by the end.
This week’s Smackdown is Smack Bang in the Middle.
Have WWE’s Royal Rumble plans been leaked?
And which WWE star will be out until WrestleMania?
Click the videos to the left to find out, press subscribe and support WrestleTalk - Order
issue 1 of the WrestleTalk Magazine now.
I’ve been Oli Davis and that was wrestling.