The Bludgeon Brothers debut!
Three NXT call-ups!
And Smackdown is so important, Randy took the night off, and Shane McMahon left halfway
through.
I’m Oli Davis and this is the 21st November, 2017 edition of Smackdown Live...in about
4 minutes.
Shane McMahon Promo Smackdown lost arguably the four biggest matches
at Survivor Series, and Shane McMahon was betrayed by his brother-in-law Triple H.
Which is probably why the crowd didn’t completely buy into Shane declaring Smackdown THE show
with a roster full of winners in his compulsory feet-shuffling opening promo.
KO and Sami - both brilliantly wearing the red colours of Raw - explained Smackdown lost
because they should’ve been leading the team, to which Shane was about to reply with
his dad’s old line: “You’re f…”
But Daniel Bryan’s music hit with a better idea: because the whole locker room hates
Owens and Zayn right now (Randy Orton hates them so much Bryan had to send him home…
which is totally not because Randy likes baths on Tuesday), KO and Sami will face the New
Day tonight with the whole roster as lumberjacks.
Shelton Benjamin beat Jey Uso After Jimmy Uso beat Chad Gable last week,
that means it’s Shelton Benjamin’s turn to wrestle Jey.
The two have very good in-ring chemistry, and thanks to Gable’s continued heel tendencies,
Shelton won in a solid match.
Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan Debut We then cut backstage to Naomi having her
make-up done - which, disappointingly, wasn’t luminous - when a punk-looking female wrestler
walked up to her, accompanied by a blonde woman and another intimidating lady.
No, this wasn’t a Raw replay of Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville from the previous night,
it was a straight up copy-and-paste B-show version on Smackdown with Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan
and Sarah Logan.
Unless the two groups turn out to be connected, this is lazy writing, and one team will inevitably
become the ‘inferior’ faction by comparison.
Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan Backstage Rather than be worried about Riot, Morgan
and Logan brutally assaulting Naomi and Becky Lynch, Shane told Bryan backstage how he’s
excited for some NXT women joining the roster, and decided he’s going home for the evening,
so he can watch Sami and KO get beaten up on TV from the comfort of his hotel room.
Not only does this make Shane come across terrible at his job - still selling Sunday’s
injuries would be a far better reason.
Not only does it fail to follow-up on Bryan saying they need to talk from the previous
week.
It also sets up a big angle for the end of the show - what could happen with the disenfranchised
General Manager solely in charge?! - which turned out to be spectacularly under-vaped.
Bludgeon Brothers beat Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan finally re-debuted with their new over-the-top gimmick, and…
it was actually pretty darn cool.
Their music is great, and they destroyed Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder, who are somehow still
a team after all those break-up teases.
The things is, their old Wyatt Family gimmick was never broke.
AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal AJ Styles cut an excellent promo on Brock,
saying while you don’t get trophies for second place, he wasn’t the one limping
to the back after the match.
And if you want a rematch, just remember, Rocky wins in the sequel.
Sadly, the huge appeal of Brock vs AJ II came crashing back to reality when Jinder Mahal’s
face appeared on the TitanTron, claiming that he would’ve beaten Lesnar with the power
of the dolphin (eek), the bull (snort), the dog (woof), a tiger (roar) and an eagle (ca-caw!)
- to become, the BeastMaster!
AJ then beat up the Singh Brothers, and we’ve got Jinder vs Styles at Clash of Champions
next month.
Charlotte vs Natalya Natalya’s title rematch against Charlotte
was cut short by the new trio of Riot, Morgan and Logan attacking both women.
It was good to get them in front of the crowd - who chanted NXT - and even though it’s
the exact same angle as Raw’s, this is a very welcome new direction for the Smackdown
women.
And Bryan calling it an ‘interesting situation’ and saying ‘no comment’ afterwards hints
he knows more than he’s letting on.
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn beat The New Day After trying to recruit lumberjacks to their
side throughout the night - including brilliantly walking in on Aiden English singing Rusev
Day to Rusev alone in a locker room - the Smackdown roster was entirely on the New Day’s
side until the end of the match.
I say ‘entirely’, but Dolph Ziggler, the Bludgeon Brothers and Randy Orton were all
missing from ringside.
Because baths are great.
The match was stacked against the heels until Baron Corbin accidentally struck Bobby Roode,
which, for some reason, made everyone else start fighting each other.
Things really got out of hand fast.
Sami got the win in the confusion, but was beaten up by the New Day after KO escaped
through the crowd.
Backstage, Owens then begged Bryan not to fire him and Sami, but the Smackdown General
Manager had much bigger plans in store…
Here it comes, the next stage in the KO, Zayn, McMahon, Bryan storyline.
Daniel’s big plan for Kevin Owens, this week’s huge cliffhanger is...a match against
Randy Orton next week.
I need a bath.
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 Randy
Orton Sure Loves Baths.
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.
After Raw excitingly continued the Survivor Series momentum, Smackdown diffused it with
ineffective characterisation and poor payoffs.
The Bludgeon Brothers and Riot faction were cool, but the main storylines were very disappointing.
This week’s Smackdown is Ellsworthy.
I miss you James.
The main event of the Royal Rumble has been scrapped!
And Roman Reigns’ title plans have been revealed!
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.