By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Friday Night Smackdown on Fox
Aired live on December 6, 2019 from Fayetteville, North Carolina at Crown Coliseum
[Hour One] The show opened with a recap of last week’s segment involving Daniel Bryan and “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt… The broadcast team was Michael Cole and Corey Graves…
The Miz was introduced by ring announcer Greg Hamilton. Miz came to the ring and said he planned to start the show with a Miz TV interview with Daniel Bryan, but he disappeared after he was attacked by The Fiend last week. Miz said he’s known Bryan since he arrived in WWE and he believes we saw the rebirth of the Yes Movement last week, but The Fiend ripped it away. Miz admitted that he’s never liked Bryan, but he added that he cares and will find out what happened to him.
The Firefly Funhouse theme interrupted Miz. Bray Wyatt appeared on the big screen from the Funhouse set. Wyatt said Miz doesn’t want to know what happened to Bryan and he’s not sure he wants to know either. Wyatt said he didn’t think Bryan would be able to play with him at TLC, so maybe Miz would like to play instead. Miz said Bryan is like family to the WWE Universe.
Ramblin’ Rabbitt appeared. Wyatt pushed the puppet down and said that family is the word of the day. Wyatt held up a framed photo of Miz, Maryse, and their two children. “Do you want to come and play with me now?” Wyatt asked in a menacing voice before laughing. Miz left the ring and headed up the ramp. Wyatt said it was time to say goodbye… [C]
Powell’s POV: Wyatt was really good here with his upbeat show host persona while switching into threat mode by showing the photo of Miz’s family. Meanwhile, an updated ad aired for WWE TLC in the Twin Cities area. Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin has been changed to a TLC match, and they are still listing The Kabuki Warriors vs. Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch for the WWE Women’s Tag Titles as a TLC match, and Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley in a standard match.
The Miz was shown backstage talking with his wife Maryse. He told her to check the house and the alarms. He said Wyatt said he wanted to play. Miz said he was leaving Smackdown to head home…
1. Alexa Bliss (w/Nikki Cross) vs. Mandy Rose (w/Sonya Deville). Graves noted that Jessika Carr was the referee and the first full-time female referee on Smackdown. Rose had Bliss down on the mat early in the match and pulled off one of her fake eyelashes. Bliss came back and performed her Twisted Bliss finisher for the win…
Alexa Bliss beat Mandy Rose in 4:20.
The broadcast team hyped Roman Reigns vs. Dolph Ziggler for later in the show…
Powell’s POV: Despite Bliss getting the win, Cole still played up the eyelash spot as being horribly humiliating. It’s apparently the word of the night, as Cole also spoke about King Corbin’s plan to humiliate Reigns.
Drake Maverick approached Dana Brooke in catering and said he saw on social media that she’s going on a dinner date with Batista. Maverick asked what Batista has that he doesn’t have. Elias showed up with his guitar and sang a song that included a line about Maverick having a better chance of getting it on with a blowup doll, the only action Maverick gets involves lotion and tissues, and concluded with something about Maverick’s wife waking up in his bed. Maverick slapped Elias and stormed away. Brooke asked Elias if that really happened with Maverick’s wife. “No, but something is going to happen,” Elias replied… [C]
Maverick stood in the ring and complained about the live crowd thinking the situation was funny. Maverick said no one makes a mockery out of him, his marriage, or his wife. Maverick called out Elias for a fight. Elias made his entrance and was accompanied by Dana Brooke.
Elias toyed with Maverick. He held him back with one arm while Maverick flailed away at him, then stepped aside when Maverick came after him. Elias put Maverick over his knee and spanked him. Maverick left the ring, but Brooke tossed him back inside where Elias kicked him and performed Drift Away. Brooke entered the ring and put a foot on Maverick, then Elias made a three count and raised her arm…
Powell’s POV: I got a big kick out of Drake Maverick during his time as Rockstar Spud in TNA, but the live crowd just didn’t seem all that into this. Perhaps it have been better received if Elias had actually turned instead of just returning as a babyface who has it out for Maverick for reasons that only he understands.
The Miz stormed through the backstage area and entered a room where he saw a red light. Miz found a photo of his family, which included a shot of Wyatt holding one of his daughters. Wyatt attacked Miz and placed the photo on top of him while singing “there’s no place like home for the holidays”…
Powell’s POV: Is this is the first time we’ve seen the kid show host version of Wyatt get physical with something other than a puppet?
Backstage, referee Dan Engler helped Miz to his feet and told him that he would find a doctor…
The broadcast team spoke at ringside. Graves said he’d just get on a plane and go home to avoid Bray Wyatt. Cole set up a video package on Tribute To The Troops, which was taped this week…
Big E and Kofi Kingston made their entrance while Cole pumped up their new podcast…
2. Mustafa Ali and Shorty G vs. 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 Titles at the WWE TLC pay-per-view. The New Day duo sat in on commentary for the match. Dorado and Metalik performed stereo springboard moonsaults onto a batch of wrestlers at ringside.
Metalik went for a springboard move on Otis in the ring, but Otiis caught him, tagged in Tucker, and the duo hit the Compactor on Metalik, which led to the pin before the break. [C] Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik were eliminated by Heavy Machinery at 3:30.
Otis performed the Caterpillar on Dawson. Wilder tagged in and went for a sunset flip. Otis stayed on his feet until Dawson kicked him, then he was rolled into a pin. Heavy Machinery was eliminated by The Revival in 9:50.
The Revival jawed with the New Day duo at ringside. The Revival tried to toss Ali and G toward E and Kingston, but Ali and G reversed it and sent The Revival over the table and onto New Day. E and Kingston got up and jawed with Ali and G heading into a break. [C]
The Revival jawed with the New Day duo at ringside. The Revival tried to toss Ali and G toward E and Kingston, but Ali and G reversed it and sent The Revival over the table and onto New Day. E and Kingston got up and jawed with Ali and G heading into a break. [C]
Ali performed a tornado DDT on Wilder and then went up top for a 450. Dawson pulled Wilder to ringside and Ali rolled onto his feet. A short time later, Shorty G put Wilder in an ankle lock. Wilder rolled out of it and Dawson punched G from the floor. The Revival hit Shatter Machine on G and got the win…
The Revival defeated Mustafa Ali and Shorty G, Heavy Machinery, and Lucha House Party in 17:40 in a four-way elimination match to earn a shot at the Smackdown Tag Titles at WWE TLC.
[Hour Two] After the match, Dawsons took the mic and said the fun and games are over. He said they take what they do seriously, so there should be no more pancakes or unicorns and New Day would no longer disgrace by tag titles. Wilder said they would use the old school fundamentals to take the titles back…
Powell’s POV: A good elimination match and having a shot at the tag titles at stake gave this some purpose. It was a little predictable in that The Revival were the only heel team in the match and thus the most likely to challenge New Day. Even so, those teams work well together and I’m looking forward to their tag title match at TLC.
A sponsored ad recapped Roman Reigns beat Robert Roode last week…
Roman Reigns was interviewed by Kayla Braxton on the backstage interview set and said there are rumors that King Corbin would be in Dolph Ziggler’s corner. Reigns said Corbin is bigger and stronger than him, but Corbin can’t handle him. He said he would embarrass Corbin in the TLC match… [C]
Cole hyped WWE Backstage featuring the return of CM Punk for Tuesday night on FS1…
Sheamus delivered a promo while standing in the dark. He stepped into the light and said The Celtic Warrior has come home and he’s ready to ravage everything and everyone that gets in his way…
3. Lacey Evans vs. Hayley Jones. Evans pinned the enhancement wrestler after a Women’s Right.
Lacey Evans beat Hayley Jones in 1:15.
After the match, Sasha Banks made her entrance and addressed Evans from the entrance area. Banks told Evans to stay in the ring because they had business to take care of… [C] An ad for Raw hyped the divorce of Lana and Rusev…
Banks stood on the apron and said Evans got lucky last week with a super punch. She said she’s the leader of the women’s division and said Evans is a Mary Poppins wannabe. Banks warned her not to mess with her or Bayley again. Banks said Evans is a terrible role model to her six year-old daughter.
Evans told Banks not to mention her daughter ever again. She said she’s not just a mother, she’s a U.S. Marine. Evans said Banks and Bayley blame everyone else for their failures. Evans said leadership is one of the things that the Marines Corps taught her. She said she also learned a little bit about fighting and Banks to enter the ring.
Banks went face to face with Evans, then dropped to the mat in fear when Evans teased hitting her with the Women’s Right finisher. Evans left the ring while her entrance music played and was friendly with fans on her way to the stage where Bayley came out and hit her from behind. Banks joined Bayley in roughing up Evans by the entrance area…
Powell’s POV: I’d love to know what the flawed logic is that leads to so many WWE wrestlers just suddenly going from babyface to heel or heel to babyface without an actual turn. Evans and others would benefit from a launch point rather than waiting for confused fans to catch up their awkward and abrupt character shifts.
The broadcast team recapped the Wyatt and Miz drama from earlier. Cole announced Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz, and Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin in a TLC match for the WWE TLC pay-per-view…
Dolph Ziggler was shown talking with King Corbin backstage. Cole said Ziggler is looking to avenge the injury suffered by his tag partner Robert Roode… [C]
The broadcast team set up a video package on the WWE Tribute to the Troops taping…
Roman Reigns made his entrance. Cole said no one has been a bigger supporter of the U.S. Armed Forces than Reigns. Dolph Ziggler made his entrance while his atrocious entrance theme played. Footage aired of Reigns taking out Roode last week. Cole hyped next week’s Smackdown in Milwaukee…
4. Roman Reigns vs. Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler took the fight to ringside and ran Reigns into the steps heading into an early break. [C] Ziggler applied a chinlock on Reigns and told the referee to ask Reigns, who shockingly did not submit. Reigns got back to his feet. Ziggler went for a neckbreaker, but Reigns shoved him off and clotheslined him twice. Reigns followed up with another clothesline and sent Ziggler to ringside.
Reigns rolled to the floor and went for a leaping punch off the ring steps, but Ziggler caught him with a superkick. King Corbin’s music played and he was carried on a platform to ringside by five men heading into a break. [C] An ad for Wednesday’s NXT hyped Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Keith Lee in a Triple Threat for a shot at the NXT Championship the following week.
Corbin got off his platform and climbed onto the apron to bicker with the referee. Reigns knocked Corbin off the apron with a Superman Punch. Ziggler rolled up Reigns for a two count. Reigns got up and then speared and pinned Ziggler to win the match.
Roman Reigns beat Dolph Ziggler in 17:45.
After the match, Reigns went to ringside and hit Corbin with a Drive By. The guys who carried Corbin to the ring attacked Reigns, who fought them off. Corbin blindsided Reigns and ended up running him into the ring post. Someone grabbed Reigns from underneath the ring. Reigns fought off Corbin’s men and ended up punching Corbin again.
Reigns took the broadcast table apart and set up for a powerbomb, but Ziggler superkicked him before he could perform the move. Ziggler pulled out handcuffs. Corbin’s sidekicks tried to help Ziggler. Corbin joined in and they all handcuffed Reigns and wrapped the chain around the top of the ring post. Corbin punched Reigns in the ribs repeatedly. Ziggler took some cheap shots.
Ziggler pulled out cans of dog food from underneath the ring and asked The Big Dog if he wanted to eat. Corbin and Zigger poured the dog food onto the head of Reigns and smeared it onto his face. Corbin hit Reigns with his scepter. Reigns struggled as he tried to free himself to close the show…
Powell’s POV: If only Matilda was still with us and could lap up the dog food. So I guess this means Corbin will be eating dog food at TLC. I can’t say that any of this made was enough to make me care about this tired, never ending feud, but it wasn’t a bad angle. I will have more to say about the show in my weekly members’ exclusive audio review coming up shortly. Let me know what you thought of the show by giving it a letter grade in our post show poll available on the main page.
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