WWE SmackDown 12/12/17: Same as It Ever Was
About Last Night is a quick reflection on the matches and segments, or random observations, from a wrestling show that sticks out to us the morning after we watch them. If you would like to get your comments featured, chime in below in our comments section or tweet us. You can also help support us on Patreon.
About Guest Commentary…
One of the big themes of last night’s SmackDown was an excessive use of guest commentary, with four of the five matches featuring it. While that is annoying, the real issue is that the guests all became involved in the matches and determining the finishes. Was the booking of this show compartmentalized and not until they started broadcasting that they realized all the matches ended the same way? Because if not, this was extremely lazy and hurt the quality of the show.
I understand it’s a go-home show, and you want to have everyone with matches involved, but this approach did nothing to help build anticipation for the matches outside of the main event. The United States Championship match feels ice cold and there’s no real interest in what’s going on inside the ring for the Women’s Championship match since the focus has been on all the women around it. It’s real shame, since I’m sure both matches will be good but the build has just been lackluster and this was a dud of a note to end on days before the matches.
About The Singh Brothers…
While I had issues with a lot of things in the show as I wrote above, the opening segment with AJ Styles and The Singh Brothers was actually well executed. Styles was discussing his excitement for defending the WWE Championship when the Singhs interrupted and explained to him how they are no longer with Jinder Mahal after he attacked them two weeks ago. What made the segment great was that the crowd was not buying it, nor was Styles. Instead of playing a dumb face who is suckered into a trap, he outsmarted the Singhs by showing pictures from the India tour over the weekend where they were accompanying Mahal to the ring and then took them out when Mahal appeared on the ramp.
It’s great to have a babyface who actually thinks critically and be able to use obvious evidence to their advantage. This has been done with Kevin Owens ever since he came to WWE, but he’s been a heel and this approach has made him hard to root against. I hope this continues to be a trend for faces instead of dumbed down tropes of them constantly getting outsmarted just because they’re the good guys.
About The Bludgeon Brothers and Breezango…
Because we needed to make sure we saw all the matches that ended with disqualifications, they actually bumped The Fashion Files to be online-exclusive rather than showed on SmackDown in its entirety. Instead we just got the ending without the context or any of the jokes, and it’s a real shame since it was very well done. The point of the segment though was to finally get us to the Breezango vs. Bludgeon Brothers match that has been building for months, and it did a great job of reaching that goal without really dragging the Bludgeon Brothers into the silliness of these segments.
Speaking of The Bludgeon Brothers, they got to have another squash match and it was the only match of the night without guest commentary or interference. What it did have though was the first WWE appearance of Colin Delaney in a decade. He was essentially James Ellsworth for ECW on Syfy, a small scrawny kid with long hair who was constantly destroyed by monsters. It was really great to get to see him all grown up and still getting destroyed by monsters.
About The Tag Champions Being Pinned…
Rusev an Aiden English took on The Usos in a tag match, because of the theme of the episode we had The New Day on commentary and Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin standing on the ramp. The pre-match promos were great – with Aiden English finishing his 12 Days of Rusev, The Usos doing what they do best, and Gable & Benjamin coming more into their own with their “day”-themed promo – but the actual match was a bit of a clusterfuck. Chaos ensued on commentary with all three New Day members causing a big distraction to calling the match and the camera constantly cutting to them and the ramp. I wouldn’t blame you if you missed out that Rusev and English picked up the pinfall victory, which seemed to come out of nowhere.
So the entire build of this match has been the wrong teams picking up wins, with these upsets adding more teams to the title match. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise the tag champions lost on the go-home show to the newest team added. This whole thing feels like a lot of misdirection and The Usos will find a way to retain their titles at Clash of Champions.
About The Yep Movement…
SmackDown continues to truly be The Sami & Kevin Show. We had another show-long storyline with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, this time being them trying to recreate “Occupy Raw” by holding the show hostage to get what they want. They called it “The Yep Movement” parodying Daniel Bryan’s Yes Movement and even had Bryan’s old shirt on with a cutout of a P covering S in “YES”. Shane was not at SmackDown this week, so Owens and Zayn went around backstage with small flyers to recruit people for their movement with little opposition.
When it came time for them to attempt their Occupy SmackDown, it came as no surprise that no one showed up. Instead Daniel Bryan walked out and explained why they are nothing like him and his movement. He may have been held down by authority, but it was about the people and never about him. Owens and Zayn only care about getting what they want, which they don’t dispute. Bryan then inserted himself as a second referee in their Clash of Champions match, much to the delight of Owens and Zayn.
Bryan claimed he and Shane have each others’ backs and he’s in the match to make sure Shane’s emotions don’t get the most of him, but during the Kevin Owens vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match he took over the referee duties when the acting official was knocked out. He was very lenient about letting Randy Orton and Sami Zayn fight through the ring and distract Nakamura which allowed Owens to pick up the win. This adds even more intrigue to what Bryan will do on Sunday and whether or not he will screw over Shane.
What did you think of this week’s SmackDown? Let us know in the comments!
