WWE SmackDown Review: December 6, 2019

WWE SmackDown Review: December 6, 2019 by Felix Pichler

Miz TV

At the beginning of the show, we saw a video package which showed us the highlights of the last week’s segments between Daniel Bryan and “the Fiend” Bray Wyatt. Then the Miz made his entrance to kick off the actual show with Miz TV. He talked about Bryan and that he disappeared after the Fiend’s attack last week.

Then, the Firefly Fun House intro played on the big screen and Wyatt appeared. He started by saying that he doesn’t know if the Miz would want to know what happened to Bryan and neither he wants. He added that Bryan wouldn’t be able to play with him at TLC and due to that he asked if the Miz wanted instead. Ramblin’ Rabbit appeared but got pushed away by Wyatt who announced “family” as word of the day. He showed a framed picture of Miz, Maryse and their two kids. He asked the Miz if he now would like to come to play and started to laugh. Miz left the ring and went up the ramp.

Then we saw the A-Lister in the backstage area talking with his wife Maryse on the phone. He told her to check the house and the alarms. He added that he would head home.

Opinion: Good segment to open the show. I think that the Miz and Wyatt are both so incredibly strong when it comes to promos and due to that such segments can be really interesting. I hope we’ll see more segments with these two in the future.

Rating: A

Alexa Bliss (w/ Nikki Cross) vs. Mandy Rose (w/ Sonya Deville) and Elias’ segment

The match between Alexa Bliss and Mandy Rose took about four minutes, and in the end, it was the Goddess who performed the Twisted Bliss for the win. During the match, Rose pulled off one of Bliss’ fake eyelashes on which the commentators focused as it was so humiliating in their eyes.

Then, we saw Drake Maverick who approached Dana Brooke in the catering area and asked her what he doesn’t have what Dave Batista has since Brook will go on a dinner date with him. Elias appeared with his guitar and played a little song. In this song, he made fun of Maverick and also sang about Maverick’s wife waking up in Elias’ bed. Maverick slapped him and stormed away while Brooke asked Elias’ if this really happened. “No, but something is going to happen,” he replied.

Next, Maverick was standing in the centre of the ring and complaint about the situation. Then, he called out Elias for a fight. Elias came out accompanied by Brooke. In the ring, Elias made toyed with Maverick before he performed the Drift Away. Brooke entered the ring to put a foot on Maverick while Elias made the three count.

Opinion: I don’t know why they focused during the match between Bliss and Rose so much on the fake eyelashes. Anyways, good to see Bliss picking up a win. The segment with Elias, Brooke and Maverick was ok, but in truth, they waste Elias’s talent with such stuff and due to that I was not the biggest fan of it.

Rating: C

Wyatt gets physical

After that, we saw the Miz walking in the backstage area. He stopped as he saw a room with a red light in it. He entered the room and found the same framed picture which Wyatt held in the opening segment of this episode. However, in this image, Wyatt was shown instead of the Miz. Suddenly, Wyatt attacked him from behind and placed the picture on the Miz before he left.

Opinion: This was the first time that we have seen how Wyatt getting physical with something different than a puppet. I liked the way how they used the framed picture in this segment.

Rating: A

Mustafa Ali and Shorty G vs. “The Lucha House Party” Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik (w/ Kalisto) vs. “The Revival” Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder vs. “Heavy Machinery” Otis and Tucker in a four-way elimination match for a shot at the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at TLC

SmackDown Tag Team Chmpions “The New Day” Big E and Kofi Kingston were on commentary and after not even four minutes, Heavy Machinery eliminated the Lucha House Party by pinning Metalik. However, just a few minutes later the Heavy Machinery got eliminated by the Revival. So, just the team of Ali and Shorty G, and the Revival were left. These four men then got almost ten minutes to work a great match, but in the end, the Revival hit Shorty G with Shatter Machine for the pinfall victory.

After the match, Big E and Kingston went up the ramp to leave the arena, but Dawson and Wilder grabbed microphones to hold a little promo. They said that they would beat the New Day at TLC and noted that they would use the old school fundamentals to take back the Tag Team Championships.

Opinion: The elimination match was really good and we had several great spots. The promo after the match felt a bit senseless but it was ok.

Rating: B+

Backstage segments and Lacey Evans vs. Hayley Jone

Next, we saw Roman Reigns who got interviewed in the backstage area by Kayla Braxton. She talked about the rumours that King Corbin would be in Ziggler’s corner in tonight’s match against Reigns. The Big Dog answered that Corbin would be taller and stronger than him, but he couldn’t handle him. He added that he would embarrass Corbin in their TLC match.

Then, we once more saw a promo video of Sheamus in which he teased his return. He noted that the Celtic Warrior has come home and that he’s ready to ravage everything and everyone that gets in his way.

Then Lacey Evans bet Hayley Jones in a squash match which didn’t even take two minutes. After the Women’s Right, she pinned her opponent. As she wanted to leave the ring, Sasha Banks music hit and she came out. She stood on the apron and said that she would be the leader of the women’s division while Evans is a Mary Poppins wannabe. She told Evans to not mess with her or Bayley once more and added that she would be a horrible role-model to her six-year-old daughter.

Evans answered that she should never mention her daughter again and added that she’s not just a mother, but a U.S. Marine. She went on by saying that Bayley and Banks would always blame the others for their failures and added that leadership would be something she learned at the Marines.

Banks entered the ring and they went face to face. Evans teased the Women’s Right and Banks went down since she was afraid. Evans just left he ring while Banks was left sitting in the ring. However, on the stage, Evans got attacked from behind by Bayley. Banks joined Bayley on the stage at the segment closed.

Opinion: The interview of Reigns wasn’t really meaningful while I’m looking forward to Sheamus’ return. The segment between Evans and Banks was interesting to watch as they fully focused on bringing Evans over with the fans and it worked well as the audience cheered for her. However, there was never a real face-turn of Evans, but she just suddenly acts like a total babyface.

Rating: B

Roman Reigns vs. Dolph Ziggler

Before this match kicked off, they announced the Miz vs Bray Wyatt at TLC and also Reigns vs Corbin in a TLC-match at the same PPV.

Then the two superstars made their entrances and as you would expect from them, they worked a great match. After some minutes, King Corbin came out on his platform which was carried by some men. After some time, he went on the apron to distract the ref but just ate a Superman Punch by Reigns. Ziggler used the distraction for a roll-up pin which led to a two count. However, then the Big Dog came back with a Spear for the win.

After the match, the brawl ensured as the men who carried Corbin supported Ziggler and Corbin to beat up Reigns. At first, the Big Dog was able to fight them off, but in the end, they were too much. They handcuffed Reigns and wrapped it around the ring post. Reigns had no chance to defend himself and had to take cheap shots from Corbin and Ziggler. Then they poured dog food onto the head of the Big Dog and smeared it onto his face. The audience heavily booed. Corbin hit Reigns with the sceptre before he and Ziggler headed up the ramp to leave the show while we saw Reigns struggling to get free as the show closed.

Opinion: The match between Ziggler and Reigns was great, but that was no surprise as we already knew that these two would work well together. The post-match angle was good even though I just want this feud to end. The stuff with the man in the dog costume was so horrible that there was no chance to have a worse angle. The segment was good to let Ziggler and Corbin look like the bad guys, but we already had way better angles.

Rating: B-

Summary

All in all, the highlights of this show were once more the two segments in which we saw Wyatt. This man just delivers good segments and angles no matter with which superstar and since the Miz is also a great actor, it was clear that it would work off. I’m really looking forward to their match at TLC and how Bryan will be involved in that. The match between Ziggler and Reigns was clearly the best of this show which was in general quite good. However, we almost have no confirmed matches for TLC, so I’m curious what will happen in the next episode of SmackDown.

Rating: B