SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER
DECEMBER 20, 2019
BROOKLYN, N.Y. AT THE BARCLAYS CENTER
AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves
Arena, TLC Results Pertinent to Smackdown, Top 10 Moments of Last Week’s Show, and Items Advertised by WWE
WWE Smackdown returns to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., which is a little over 30 miles from my home in Long Island. My wife and I have had the pleasure of attending the last two Smackdown events in August of 2018 post-SummerSlam, as well as the post-WrestleMania show this past April. Logistics will not allow us to keep that streak going tonight.
Here is the YouTube clip of the top 10 moments of last week’s show:
We continue to move away from TLC and move towards the holidays. We’ll “take a break” in a way and get ready to start thinking about the Royal Rumble if we haven’t done so already. Here are the results of TLC pertinent to Smackdown:
- New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) defeated The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson) in a ladder match to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championship
- King Corbin defeated Roman Reigns in a TLC match. Dolph Ziggler and The Revival provided outside interference on behalf of Corbin.
- Universal Champion Bray Wyatt defeated The Miz in a non-title match.
Here is what’s advertised for tonight’s show thus far:
- The New Day welcome challenge from Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro
- What’s next for Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt?
- Dana Brooke takes to social media to set rematch with Bayley
- Matches & Segments
Non-Title Match: Smackdown Tag Team Champions New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) vs. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro (with Sami Zayn)
This past Sunday at TLC, New Day retained the Smackdown Tag Team Championship over the Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) in a ladder match to start the show. They continue their seventh reign as overall tag team champions having held both the Raw and Smackdown titles through the years. Kofi Kingston took to Twitter following the win:
Beat up, bruised, battered, and incredibly sore as the adrenaline has worn off, but I still woke up with a smile on my face. There’s just something gratifying about waking up in the morning knowing you went to war the night before…and survived.
— KOFI (@TrueKofi) December 16, 2019
Several weeks ago, on Smackdown, New Day issued an open challenge that was answered by Sami Zayn’s crew of Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro. New Day won that match and will be facing them again tonight this time in a non-title match. Nakamura and Cesaro are coming off a win over Heavy Machinery (Otis &Tucker) last week.
Frank’s Analysis: There’s not much to say about this other than they continue to establish the faction, dare I call it that, run by Sami Zayn. I’d be curious if WWE considers Nakamura and Cesaro serious contenders to New Days championship. Looking at the depth chart, there aren’t many heel teams, if any, behind Revival so it’s definitely possible. The question is where that leaves the Intercontinental title. WWE doesn’t tend to do double champions all that often and are Nakamura & Cesaro potential champions?
Non-Title Match: Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Dana Brooke
Last week, Bayley defeated Dana Brooke after Bayley challenged her to a match in a backstage segment involving Elias. He sang a song that suggested Bayley looks like a dude. The match last around three minutes. Dana took to social media looking for a rematch, and Bayley responded. Bayley also spoke in a WWE.com exclusive:
Last week wasn’t about stepping up to YOUR level @itsBayleyWWE , it was about showing #Smackdown and the @WWE Universe what I am capable of. How about another go, champ? #wwe https://t.co/WRBt012DzH
— Dana Brooke WWE (@DanaBrookeWWE) December 19, 2019
Bayley and Dana go at it in a non-title match tonight.
Frank’s Analysis: I appreciate that they’re using Dana Brooke but making this look like a big deal is kind of comical when there’s no reason to have any expectation beyond it being a squash match.
Storyline Follow-Up
Universal Champion Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan
This past Sunday, Universal Champion Bray Wyatt portraying his Firefly Funhouse character defeated The Miz in a non-title match. This followed a situation last week on Smackdown where Renee Young was interviewing Miz in his home. His wife Maryse interrupted showing a video of Bray’s puppets from the Funhouse in their daughter Monroe’s crib. They rushed to Monroe’s aid and pulled out a doll with his alter-ego, the Fiend’s face. That said, the match went a little under seven minutes and at the end, the lights went out which usually signifies the Fiend is appearing. Instead, a man in a hood appeared which turned out to be Daniel Bryan and gave him his signature running knee. Bryan revealed a trimmed beard and crewcut, circa his look from around 2009. The lights went out again and Bray retreated, followed by Bryan doing the Yes chants with the crowd.
Bray is certainly never shy about putting up weird and creepy tweets. Here’s one pre-TLC and one he put up post-match:
Dear Miz,
I would never hurt a fly,
unless it was to stop him from hurting himself.I forgive you. pic.twitter.com/YnTCYQti4K
— Bray Wyatt (@WWEBrayWyatt) December 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/WWEBrayWyatt/status/1206422581034795008?s=20
They’ll follow up on what’s next for Bryan and Bray tonight.
Frank’s Analysis: They’re likely headed towards a Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble. I don’t see the haircut and shave having any kind of impact, unless Bryan is telling the story of going back to his roots and how he used to look I suppose. I don’t see Bryan beating the Fiend for the title, so it’ll be interesting to see how they tell that story and what happens going forward. I wonder if Bryan will branch off into a feud with Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship when this is all done. If Roman Reigns wins the Royal Rumble, it’s 2015 all over again! As far as the Miz is concerned, I don’t know where he goes after this. For all intents and purposes, he’s the #4 babyface on Smackdown, so you’d think they’d find something for him to do. There’s nothing appealing at the moment unless I’m missing something.
Other Match Results and Segments from Last Week Not Followed Up at TLC
- Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross defeated Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville).
- The Revival defeated Shorty G & Ali
- Kofi Kingston defeated King Corbin via DQ. Kofi & Big E then took on Corbin & Dolph Ziggler and fought to a no-contest. “Unchained” Roman Reigns appeared to help. Dog food was almost used again. Nobody helped Reigns this past Sunday in his loss to Corbin in a TLC match.
Closing Thoughts
They did have the brawl involving Corbin and Reigns plus people from Raw and Smackdown to close out TLC, but I want to know why nobody helped Reigns especially when he’s been framed as the locker room leader and he came out to help New Day. Since moving to Fox, the show has felt like it’s been written for Vince McMahon’s amusement even worse that what it had been before. I’d be curious to see how long the show lasts on Fox proper although given it’s a Friday night, I doubt they move it because what else are they going to put on in that spot?
Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome. Thank you for reading!
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