Opinion
Greg DeMarco’s Review & Analysis: WWE Smackdown 12/16/2022
Greg DeMarco is here to review WWE Smackdown, live from Chicago! Is Sami a made man? Let’s find out!
Greg DeMarco is here to review WWE Smackdown, live from Chicago! Is Sami a made man? Let’s find out!
We have a packed house in Chicago, which is always a fantastic market for pro wrestling. Freelance Wrestling also had a show tonight in Chicago, and I believe that was packed as well. Chicago–you are THE wrestling city.
WWE SMACKDOWN
Fri • Dec 16 • 6:45 PM
Allstate Arena, Rosemont, ILAvailable Tickets => 0
Current Setup/Capacity => 12,369
Tickets Distributed => 12,369SOLD OUT.
[https://t.co/yRCOtL75Yu] pic.twitter.com/DddiijXzeo— WrestleTix (@WrestleTix) December 16, 2022
WWE Smackdown: Friday, December 16, 2022
Allstate Center, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole and Wade Barrett
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
Liv Morgan & Tegan Nox vs. Damage CTRL’s IYO SKY & Dakota Kai (champions, with Bayley)
Fantastic opener for Smackdown. It’s amazing how much Liv continues to grow…it almost feels like she’s just getting started. I am always impressed when commentary ignores any “battlelines” like tonight, where they called a Code Breaker a Code Breaker. If there was any drawback, it is Nox showing a little ring rust. But she’ll get over that soon enough.
What the…
Who was that??? 👀#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/omHez83AKm
— WWE (@WWE) December 17, 2022
We were on our way to a +2, but Nox got slightly clunky at the end, and we had a run-in finish. Who is she? I saw some Chelsea Green speculation, but the body type doesn’t match. More like Xia Li or Aaliyah.
(We’d later learn that it was in fact Xia Li.)
Entertainment Differential: +1 (Running Total: +1)
Gunther (vs. Ricochet) Video Package
Simple and effective–we got Gunther before commercial, and Ricochet after. But nothing I couldn’t live without.
Entertainment Differential: Promo Pass (Running Total: +1)
Progressive Match Flo: The Bloodline Assaults Matt Riddle (+Kevin Owens)
Nothing we didn’t already know, but well done as always.
Entertainment Differential: Promo Pass (Running Total: +1)
The Bloodline (The Usos and Sami Zayn) Backstage
Sami is nervous, Jimmy is unsure, but Jey believes tonight will be a great night when Roman Reigns makes Sami Zayn a full blown Uce.
Entertainment Differential: Promo Pass (Running Total: +1)
Expanded Footage From Last Week: LA Knight (and presumably Bray Wyatt)
We saw what happened after last week, when LA Knight got taped up by someone that we think is Bray Wyatt. This came courtesy, of course, of a QR code.
Entertainment Differential: Promo Pass (Running Total: +1)
Kinds stinks for Chicago, just sitting around during all this. That’s the hard part of a TV taping.
In Ring Promo: LA Knight (+ Uncle Howdy)
LA Knight is a fantastic promo. Simply amazing on the stick. And he does a damn good Bray Wyatt impersonation. He’s also doing a great Crazy Ric Flair impersonation.
A great reaction for Bray Wyatt entering as well. Amazing presentation for Bray coming out. We got a small portion of physicality for Bray, but just him taking a beating.
We finally get to SEE Uncle Howdy, and I don’t know what to make of him. Is that a real character, or a depiction of something in Bray’s head? I don’t know if Bray knew he was on camera, because it was smiling and laughing at some points, and doing nothing at others. It’s also our second mystery person of the night (physically, it could be Bo Dallas–who everyone wants it to be).
LA Knight appears confused yet intrigued–and I am in the same boat. Let’s see where this goes.
Entertainment Differential: +1 (Running Total: +2)
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Ricochet vs. GUNTHER (champion, with Imperium members Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci)
Adam Pearce, who is really becoming more involved again, removes Kaiser & Vinci prior to the introductions.
Match got off to a great start, including Ricochet being “quick as a puma.” (Good line, Cole.) Match was full of action and spanned two commercial breaks. Crowd was hot the whole time–but went NUTS for Ricochet hitting a vertical Suplex on GUNTHER! And the Shooting Star Press, too.
Once GUNTHER kicked out, you knew where this was headed. But the crowd totally bought the Power Bomb near fall. But it was inevitable, GUNTHER beats Ricochet with the Last Symphany.
Imperium teasing more damage leads to a Braun Strowman entrance, which clears Imperium out. Obviously we are headed to GUNTHER vs. Braun, and I am very interested to see how that goes.
Three segments? Three points.
Entertainment Differential: +3 (Running Total: +5)
AND STILL Intercontinental Champion…@Gunther_AUT! 😤#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/DFmOqIM9H9
— WWE (@WWE) December 17, 2022
Roman Reigns (and Solo Sikoa, and Paul Heyman) Backstage with Jimmy Uso
Sure does seem like Roman/Solo/Paul are in a separate room than Jimmy/Jey/Sami. That’s odd. Jimmy is ready for Roman to make Sami, but he’s Bloodline and Family no matter what. Roman asks for Adam Pearce. I feel like this all plays into their segment, which I assume closes the show.
We returned from commercial with Pearce visiting The Tribal Chief, and it ends with Roman and Sami vs. Kevin Owens and a partner of his choosing on the December 30th Smackdown from Roman’s hometown of Tampa, Florida.
Entertainment Differential: +1 (Running Total: +6)
Tribute to The Troops Video
Historical presentation, narrated by John Cena himself. Good shit, pal.
Entertainment Differential: Promo Pass (Running Total: +6)
Triple Threat Tag Team Match
Legado Del Fantasma vs. Hit Row vs. The Viking Raiders
I am biased towards Legado for sure. The Viking Raiders haven’t done much for me lately, and Hit Row is seriously lacking since their return. Match itself was good, spanning a commercial break. Five out of the six competitors did well–Top Dolla needs to be sent to NXT the days he’s not at Smackdown. Or drop him, and let B-Fab manage Ashante Thee Adonis.
Interaction with Zelina Vega, B-Fab, and Valhalla, and only Zelina comes off as credible. All that leads to Hit Row winning and becoming new #1 contenders–meaning we get Hit Row vs. The Usos?
Yeet? More like yeesh.
Entertainment Differential: +1 (Running Total: +7)
Kayla Braxton Backstage With Raquel Rodriguez
We learn that we have (yet another) Gauntlet Match next week to become #1 contender for Ronda Rousey, and Raquel is in it. But then she’s attacked by Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler, so who knows.
Entertainment Differential: Promo Pass (Running Total: +7)
In-Ring Promo: Roman Reigns and The Bloodline members The Usos (Jimmy & Jey), Sami Zayn, and Paul Heyman
Roman Reigns (and The Bloodline) makes his entrance, and we get a quick recap including conformation that Roman is wrestling December 30th. Roman reminds everyone that they dominated War Games, and hugged everyone one-by-one–including Sami.
#TheBloodline has arrived. ☝️#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/7EPUQHiG1X
— WWE (@WWE) December 17, 2022
The promo seemed rushed, but they have a KO problem, and Sami says he’s KO’s only friend–err, he USED TO BE his friend. Enter John Cena, via satellite, and the end result is Kevin Owens and John Cena teaming up against Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn on December 30th in Tampa.
Entertainment Differential: +1 (Running Total: +8)
Overall
Great episode of Smackdown–the action was good, the stories are flowing, and nothing disappointed.
Except Top Dolla.
FINALTOTAL: +8
Per hour average: +4
WWE Smackdown On FOX Historical
- 12/16/2022 – Chicago, IL: +3.5 per hour
Entertainment Differential Explained
No multi-hour long wrestling show should be designed to have every single segment appeal to every single viewer–that’s impossible. You need to present something for everyone over that timeframe. However, it can still be analyzed.
- Typically a match or in-ring segment (or longer out of ring segment) will either be a +1 (added entertainment value or a -1 (subtracted entertainment value)
- I will give a show one pass per hour–not necessarily in that hour. For example: a 2-hour show gets 2 passes, etc.
- I’ll rarely go lower than -1 unless something is so egregious it makes me want to turn off the TV. It takes a lot to do that.
- Conversely, if something is THAT GOOD, I can go +2 or +3. It’ll take a lot, but I watch looking for things to like, so this is more likely than the prior bullet point.
- Short backstage promos can have unlimited passes–they aren’t as consequential as the a match, or in-ring segment. But they can still have +1 or -1 impact on me.
- Extra positive or negative points can be assessed if a match spans one or multiple commercial breaks, as it occupied a larger percentage of the program.
- I will feel free to add/subtract points at the end for major items, like a lack of women’s wrestling, a moment that will be talked about for years to come, etc.
- The total score will then be divided by the number of hours to give a per-hour average–this way all shows have the same opportunity.
Let me know what you thought of the review, and if you want me to continue this format for WWE Smackdown On FOX and other shows I can target. As I said, I want to get to writing more often, and this could be a good way to make it happen.
Hit me up:
- https://instagram.com/gregdemarco44
- https://facebook.com/gregdemarco44
- https://twitter.com/gregdemarco44
Until next time, remember: enjoying wrestling is a choice…make the right choice!
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Opinion
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS: WWE Bash In Berlin Immediate Reactions
Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM
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prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – TONS of Great designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY – Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
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CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
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Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
Opinion
AJ’s Top 3 Favorite SummerSlams
AJ is back with his annual opinion article, and this time the SummerSlam buzz got him wondering about his personal Top 3.
It’s been a while since I have done any form of writing and SummerSlam is this Saturday. Of all the SummerSlams I’ve seen over the years; which ones are my favorites? While it’s not a revolutionary idea, I figured everyone loves to debate favorites of well, anything. Don’t worry though because this isn’t just going to be pure recency bias. I’ve watched the majority of them so with the ones I put on the list, it hit me more in some way shape or form whether it was story, a really good match or it just felt like a solid event.
At least this proves WWE is trending in a good direction for me, when it gets the ol’ brain juices flowing just because a show is around the corner!
#3: 2022 (Ol’ Brock Lesnar Has A Farm)
Starting off the show, we get Bianca looking for a rematch against Becky from last years SummerSlam and it was better than the 21 second affair that everyone claims was a squash. This time Bianca holds her own and beats the Man in a fairly decent match, good way to get the event started. Next up is the heat seeking missile, Logan Paul against the former heat seeking missile because, well he wasn’t cut out for it and wasn’t a guy in everyone’s eyes, The Miz. After they had their blow off at Mania with Logan coming out on top which… isn’t awful, I just don’t like Logan Paul because he has that dude bro aura and swagger to make him more hateable than any other person on the card. Which I suppose is his gimmick…so…kudos?
First Championship match is for the US Championship and it’s as expected that in Theory, he should never beat someone to the caliber of Bobby Lashley which is no surprise. Dominik and Rey still back when Dom wanted the good fight against the Judgement Day before joining them later. The former Colts players, which they hammered it dahn in this match up showed that the canal swimming, trash talkin’, podcastin’, current RAW Color Commentatin’ goofball we all love, Pat McAfee came out on top again Bum Ass Corbin.
Usos putting the Street Profits on lockdown in the penitentiary since I believe this was peak Bloodline with the belt collecting and running all of WWE. Liv beat Ronda Rousey which isn’t astonishing but it’s not something people had on their bingo cards for anything with WWE so it was a nice little shock factor. The most memorable part of the night is obviously the Main Event, Lesnar brings the tractor, Roman catching the Microphone and Brock stands on top of the vehicle. Damn good match that showed off what they do in the ring since Roman caught his stride as the main bad guy and Brock… liked people after all of this? That is still a weird statement in my head. Brock being a good guy people person. If Liv wasn’t on bingo cards for wrestling, that is not on bingo cards in any aspect of life really.
That is more of the event that had solid matches and story going for it. No weird double count out, multiple people involved, 5 tag matches on the card. Things made sense and weren’t convoluted, had shocking moments that were great to see like Liv actually getting a title defense and there were the results we all expected at the time like Theory losing in 4 minutes to Bobby Lashley.
#2: 2009 (Are You Ready for The Return?)
This event wasn’t that strong. It was strong with the star power involved in 2009 with guys like Rey Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion, Orton and Cena for the WWE Championship as it was becoming as stale as month old chips and CM Punk was facing Jeff Hardy before he ultimately returned to TNA at the beginning of 2010 after this PPV. For me, it’s not so much of the show itself, it was more of the memories because the Balai as our friends Chris Platt and Rey Cash like to call my brother and I, we were just coming back into wrestling and we were TNA Fans. We didn’t watch WWE that much really, it was just what came on after another channel had old ROH shows before they moved to three hours and swallowed the 8pm Eastern Slot. No, the reason why this has so many memories for me is three main reasons. First, Orton and Cena. They have had their rivalry since the beginning it seems, being each others foils like Hogan and Piper before them and there had to be a stipulation where if Randy was Counted Out or DQ’d, he’d lose the championship regardless. This was prime Viper Randy and the obvious joke we had of Super Cena where he very rarely lost, unless it was SummerSlam surprisingly enough.
Number two reason was CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Hardys known for the Ladder and TLC matches in the past and this being the penultimate match for this feud and it was a banger of a match. If you didn’t know Punk before, it was a great introduction to his wrestling. I used to like Punk a lot because of this match because he could talk, wrestle… and not insanely personal with things in wrestling. In all seriousness, this was a great match. Ultimate risks, high reward for Punk grabbing the World Heavyweight Championship and he was given his next feud because of the final boss of SmackDown at that time. Thanks, Teddy Long.
The main and final reason though why this match gave me the memories flowing back is more of the fact that one of my closest and longest termed friends of 23 years, also loves wrestling. Back when we were younger, he’d do MoCap videos on YouTube with his figures. We’d have friends come over for parties at his house and we’d do the one thing WWE always told us not to do and that was try it at home. He was always stronger than me, I was always more charismatic. He had the power aspect and did things with brute force, I could talk my way out of trouble with parents if we did something wrong. There was always one thing that our respective mother’s always called us though… it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh right, ‘Degenerates’.
As soon as we were called that, we kind of parodied the DX line. I was limber enough to do the HBK pose and do a Superkick before it became the new DDT and he would just Spinebuster people and knew how to do the water spit. So what do you think was the main reason we even ordered this PPV for his 13th Birthday? I think the two guys we were pretending to be were set to return on a tank and toss out some glow sticks. The return of DX, Shawn Michaels coming back after Mania with Triple H to deal with the Legacy problem was an amazing return for them and made everything so much fun.
So we have the solid card and this one has a personal story… what’s my number one SummerSlam? Is it personal? Well yes but not going into that. Is it a good card? To me, it was a phenomenal card! Is it memorable? Seeing how wrestling fans still mention at least three matches to this day.
#1: 2005 (Octopus in the Washer, Lover’s Quarrel and Where the F%#$ is Vickie?)
Quite possibly some of the best matches I’ve seen and one that was just the most hilarious moments of overselling in wrestling history, I know why I love this SummerSlam but it’s also a really good card at the same time. Redacted beats Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds for the US Title and they made jokes about it like, he can make a coffee faster than he beat Orlando and stuff like that, it’s pretty funny. Angle getting sick of Eugene’s antics for his Gold Medal was also a great bit they had play up, the Year long feud of Randy Orton and Undertaker was still going on where Orton comes out on top this time around to get the win back from Mania, Jericho returning for the match with Cena in a whole promotional thing for each other’s groups, Fozzy for Jericho and the Chain Gang doing Bad, Bad Man for Cena leading up to a match for the WWE Championship. JBL won a 20 man battle royal on SmackDown to win the Championship…… Opportunity to face the newest member of SmackDown, Batista but the three main matches that a lot of people talk about to this day; Edge vs Matt Hardy, Rey vs Eddie for Dominik and Hogan vs HBK in the Main Event.
I have reasons to enjoy the Hardy/Edge match but it looked like a real fight, it really made us believe that Matt Hardy was going to kill Edge because real names were dropped during this tirade from Hardy. It wasn’t Edge and Lita, it was Adam and Amy. Matt was so dead set on beating the hell out of Edge that they made a situation into gold and it was a great moment for this match to happen, I believe it was also an Unsanctioned Match too which added the intensity until matt got concussed and knocked senseless that it looked like he couldn’t fight for anything but the build up was what made it seem like a marque match. It made it feel real, it made it feel awesome and it made it feel personal.
Eddie kept tormenting Rey Mysterio about Dominik not being Rey’s but Eddie’s for the summer. That’s all you heard from Eddie being the weasel he was is hanging out with Dominik, making the world believe it’s his son and what not (Let’s not do a fast forward to today where he has the mullet, mustache and everything like Eddie) but they settle this in a Ladder Match where the top of it is a document for the custody of Dominik and my god, this match is better than it should have been. I expect nothing else from Eddie because the man hated having a bad match, Dom got involved and stopped Eddie, Vickie was late and stopped Eddie. The whole match was good it was just very weird with the premise but was a great match. I wonder if Rey regrets his decision to win the match now…
Octopus in a Washing Machine… those five words have resonated with Shawn Michaels’ performance in this match, forever. It was supposed to be an amazing match up between Hogan and Michaels, Icon vs Icon it said and suddenly Hogan’s back gives out, can’t do a trilogy of matches so we can only do the one and then pull out of everything after. This match was set up to be a classic and instead turned into the most unbelievable sell fest ever. A Hogan big boot caused Shawn to tumble 3 or 4 times, getting crotched on the ropes had HBK bouncing higher than he should have, being tossed out of the ring made it look like Shawn never broke his back in 1998 from how much he flopped and flipped around like crazy. It’s bad… or maybe even good that a lot of current wrestlers watched this match that went, “I can sell like that, I want to be a wrestler” and did. So good or bad, I don’t know but for some reason this PPV has always had a place in my heart for how memorable it was.
Those are my top three SummerSlams so far but who knows, 2024 has potential to maybe bump something or at least get me to consider a shift. Should be fun to see how the show plays out! What are some of your favorite SummerSlams?
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!