SmackDown

WWE Championship: Daniel Bryan wasn’t in the house that night, but former champ AJ Styles was and he had plenty to say about what happened a few weeks ago.

Styles will get his rematch at TLC and admitted that he hates to lose, but losing wouldn’t have been so bad if Bryan hadn’t resorted to hitting a low blow. Don’t get him wrong, Styles understands what it’s like to want something SO bad that you’d do anything to get it. What really bothered him was the fact that Bryan felt the need to keep attacking him after the match. That attack meant that Styles wasn’t cleared for Survivor Series and SmackDown last week. He really wanted his rematch NOW, but since Bryan wasn’t there and hadn’t been at any live events over the weekend. Styles used that to mock RAW, Lesnar, and Bryan, but rest assured, Bryan will have nowhere to run come TLC.

WWE United States Championship: It’s safe to say that Shinsuke Nakamura’s reign as WWE United States Champion has been lackluster at best. This week, Nakamura took on Rusev for the title…or, at least that was what was SUPPOSED to happen.

Nakamura got the jump on Rusev before the bell rung and delivered several nasty kicks before leaving. I have a feeling Nakamura’s going to be sorry for that.

SmackDown Women’s Division: After being taken out by Nia Jax two weeks ago, Becky Lynch made her triumphant return to SmackDown Live. First on the Man’s list was addressing Charlotte Flair, who took her place at Survivor Series.

Charlotte came out and confirmed what we all knew: She did what she did for herself, not because she gave a damn about Becky, or the women of SmackDown. In fact, despite the fact that Becky took Ronda Rousey out while concussed and with a broken face, Charlotte claimed that Becky had become delusional and wouldn’t have been able to beat Ronda Rousey like Rousey deserved because Charlotte still believes she’s genetically superior and, by the way, wants a shot at Becky’s championship.

Becky wasn’t stunned by this announcement, because Charlotte did what she’s always done, ridden on someone else’s coattails and took their gimmick for herself. She did it with her dad and now she’s trying to do it with Becky and become a bootleg Becky Lynch.

Paige shuts this down before things really get ugly and announces that Charlotte and Becky will make history again at TLC by having the first ever Women’s TLC match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

At that point, the rest of the SmackDown women come out. They’re tired of the ongoing Becky/Charlotte saga, and they’re especially tired of Charlotte constantly getting the title shots. There’s other women in this division you know.

Charlotte and Becky find this amusing, especially since the SmackDown Women’s team was badly beaten at Survivor Series, but Paige plays peacemaker. There will be a Battle Royal later in the evening and the winner will be added to the TLC match.

The Battle Royal was about what you’d expect: Panic, chaos and disorder. However, it eventually came down to two women, Sonya Deville and Asuka. It actually looked to end in a double elimination when both ladies were out on the apron, but Asuka would defeat her opponent with a thunderous kick and stamped her ticket to TLC, but how will the Empress fare against the Queen and the Man?

SmackDown Tag Team Division: Well, ShowBar is done. After he failed to save the Bar from their messy and humiliating defeat at the hands of New Day last week, Seamus and Cesaro bid their big buddy adieu, though they probably should’ve waited until AFTER their match with the Usos.

The Usos were flying high due to them being the ONLY part of the SmackDown Live roster to get a point in the Win column at Survivor Series and channeled that into a match against the Bar.

The match was suitably great, as it always is for these teams, but without Big Show’s assistance, the Bar found themselves facing an Uso steamroller, though they did their best to stop it. Looks like there will be a SmackDown tag team title match at TLC.

New Day vs Miz: New Day, who want to take all the credit for SmackDown’s only victory at TLC, were chuckling over a video, which caught the attention of Miz, who wanted to know what was so funny. New Day explained they were watching a clip of Miz’s best work. Convinced that they’re talking about the latest installment of ‘The Marine’, Miz checked out the video and discovered that it was of his ignominious defeat at the hands of the Bryant Brothers last week on SmackDown.

Enraged, Miz reminded the New Day that the Usos were the ones who won the match for SmackDown, but since WWE refused to acknowledge that fact, who cared. Besides, Miz could beat any one of them. In that spirit, the match was made.

Miz faced Kofi Kingston and had a really great match. New Day would prove to be the deciding factor when Woods stopped Miz from using a chair on Kofi, which distracted Miz enough to let Kingston get a in Trouble in Paradise.

Later on, Miz sang his song of woe to Shane McMahon, who still seemed quite bemused by Miz’s continuous schmoozing. Yes, Shane won the World Cup when Miz got injured, but that doesn’t make them friends. Miz doesn’t like that answer and storms out, this issue isn’t over.

Jeff Hardy Celebration: On November  26, 1998, Jeff Hardy signed his first OFFICIAL contract with WWE. He’d been working as a jobber for the company for about four years at that point, but the contract made him and Matt officially part of the WWE Universe, where they would become legendary.

The momentous occasion was celebrated by the entire SmackDown locker room, many of whom had grown up watching Jeff Hardy.

Jeff came out and talked about his career and the highs and lows he’s endured along the way to a surefire first round ballot Hall of Fame bid, but this isn’t a retirement speech, he still has things he wants to do in WWE and the sky’s the limit.

But, there’s always a party pooper, and this time, the party pooper was Samoa Joe. Joe and Jeff have known each other a long time, and Joe knows about the Jeff Hardy that doesn’t get talked about so much. The Jeff Hardy that did every kind of drug known to man. The Jeff Hardy that was so strung out on drugs the night of a huge match with Sting that TNA had to refund its customers.

Problem is that those issues are no secret. Hardy’s been honest about his struggles. However, that didn’t stop Joe from trying to pain Hardy as unworthy of the accolades fans give him. Irritated at having his party interrupted by a misanthrope, Hardy challenged Joe to a match right then and there, but Joe laughed off the challenge. Someone should warn Joe about what happens when you piss off Jeff Hardy.

Randy Orton vs Rey Mysterio: The war between Orton and Mysterio has been ongoing since Orton doesn’t seem to be able to stomach that there are bigger legends in the WWE Universe than himself. He also doesn’t care about the history of the mask, he found trampling on Mysterio’s legend euphoric and wants to do it some more. He has no issue with the lucha libre culture, he just wants to destroy Mysterio in the eyes of fans.

Mysterio got tired of this nonsense and the fight was on. It was short and brutal, and for the second time, Orton would drive steel into the throat of Rey Mysterio. Orton might’ve been standing tall, but Mysterio is nothing if not tenacious and Orton could wind up being the hunted in this feud.

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