SDL IS THE SHOW OF THE YEAR (01/03/17)

[RIPPA]

Miz is the God Damn best

 

[Peck]

That poor interviewer stumbling over pretty much every one of her questions for Ambrose... yikes.

[Phantom Lord]

Please let Miz get elevated to the WWE title picture again. Even if it's just for a month, him and Maryse will be amazing with it.

[steve]

I think it's going to get overturned on Talking Smack. Miz will argue for the DQ.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Again the show flowed very well.  Everything makes sense, everyone is hitting their promos out of the park. Ziggler's heel turn was needed. Now he can feud with Kalisto and Crews which should be solid matches and fresh. 

I'm not sure if The Miz is moving up the card here or this is just the next step in the feud with Ambrose but I'm hoping the feud continues. It's been great and DAT SLAP wow.  Maryse destroyed poor Renee.

The contract signing was awesome as expected.

Becky Lynch as SDL's Sting now compete with her own Black Scorpion angle is tremendous. 

[MADCAP]

LULZ at Nikki saying that Nattie only got to where she's at because she's connected.

[Burgundy LaRue]

Dean will need to identify Renee's remains.  Maryse killed her with no remorse.

[Peck]

Great to see Al Perez tonight as La Luchadora II. 

[Jamal]

The Smackdown women are killing it right now. Everyone is involved in an interesting storyline and being used well, except for the injured Naomi. 

Becky Vs La Luchadoras is awesome. But the girl needs a friend ASAP.

Nikki and Nattie were appropriately shady to one another. Nice to see Nikki give as good as she got this week. I'm looking forward to their match more than either Sasha/Nia or Bayley/Charlotte.

And Carmella/Ellsworth are going to make an interesting duo. Aliyah looked good tonight and I think she's going to end up being the sleeper of the current NXT women.

[The Green Meanie]

Saw the Ziggler turn a mile away, but it was done well. Crazy lockeroom fight was done even better, kudos on that.

The contract segment dragged the show down. None of what Cena said made me want to cheer him as he made no valid points and just yelled. Again, AJ is being programed to be booed even though he's telling the truth.

Miz/Dean was great but I was surprised there was no Renee run-in. Maybe something will happen on Talking Smack?

[Nice Guy Eddie]

I missed both Raw and SD due to work. People have been dropping dead like crazy since Christmas. That's usually the way it goes in my line of work.

[steve]

I hope they run a good town the night they decide to have Renee get physical with Maryse. The pop will be nuclear.

[DreamBroken]

I always preferred Ziggler as a face so I kind of hate to see him turn. Especially since it seems like he'll be taking a massive step down and feuding with the lower card babyfaces while the face side loses a top guy... they're gonna need The Demon Kane back. Hopefully the turn works well for Dolph.

Love the contract signing, great stuff from both. Cena always kills it in those segments. Solid further progression in Becky/Alexa. Cool to see Aliyah get a match as well, always dig Carmella. Great job setting up another bunch of stuff for next week.

Very good main event and was surprised to see the title change. Great finishing stretch. Maryse is the best.

[Kyuubi]

....This show was amazing. Top to bottom.

AJ Styles cut the promo of his life. He basically refuses to be face turned and I love it. He correctly demanded why John Cena is getting a title shot and Daniel Bryan gave a solid reason why without kissing John Cena's ass: popularity of the match and it being the best match he can make. That is legitimate although he could make AJ Styles vs the Undertaker, but I am not going to cry over spilled milk. When Daniel leaves, AJ immediately went full on heel and accused John of nepotism. AJ does this a lot when he heels. Even with the crowd with him, he immediately chooses to heel just to spite him and the people he faces. AJ then decides to go in on Cena no longer being needed. That WWE does not need him. When John decides to pull the "I respect you" card, AJ turns around and point out the hypocrisy of him suddenly changing his opinion on part timers and the Rock because it's him. AJ then decides to challenge John's passion for the WWE which of course gets the crowd behind Cena. While Cena as a character still has problems and it was shown in his rebuttal, he was what I wanted in his character. I want him to be against the ropes. I want him to feel like he needs to prove something. I want him to be an actual face for once. And he did it in his promo. However, a few nitpicks, "you walk down that ramp because you have to. I walk down down ring because I want to." Spoken like a part timer. I get what he was trying to say, but nothing says privilege more than saying, "I work shitty job because I want to and don't need the money. You need the money so you have to work shitty job. Therefore, I am better than you." John Cena sounded like a tourist, man. Like I was behind him until he said that, and then he lost me because unlike what WWE creative expects, I actually have enough attention span to follow continuity. I've watched AJ Styles last year alone do the craziest shit in spite of being the same age as Cena. I watched AJ Styles compete in probably the stiffest and hardest working wrestlers in the world in New Japan and watched him outwork and outperform all of them. AJ Styles stayed with the stupid phoenix that is TNA and put up with the dumbest shit. I watched AJ Styles go on Steve Austin's podcast and sound positively gidduy about wrestling in the WWE and wrestling those guys. Cena was gone for months and before that, disappeared another month and a half. Barely performed on TV since his return in Wrestlemania and WWE pretty much put him on ice. So him harping on his shoulder annoys me. And he has yet to acknowledge that AJ beat him three times. Finally,no one thinks AJ is going to replace John Cena. It would be more apt if he said that to Roman Reigns, but he is not over so whatever.

It sounds like I am ripping John again, but it was a great promo overall and he is definitely the Face in this rivalry. It's just that him being the Face only is conditional because AJ Styles is an asshole. And unlike Raw did to Kevin Owens, they did not treat AJ as an afterthought.

Using James Ellsworth to elevate people who need it(Carmella) is great.

I am honestly stumped on who is underneath that Lucha Mask. I thought it was Naomi, but Naomi has too distinct of a figure to not recognize. I felt that it was Mickie James, but she would not return as a heel. And then Tamina, but she is too small. I have no idea who is underneath that mask and if you know, don't tell me. I like being kept in the dark for once.

Also, Becky Lynch's hairstyle with the dutch braid. She looks cute as shit. Dumber than the Sting, but undeniably adorable.

Nat and Nikki was good too. I like the writers using fan's perception of wrestlers as fuel because underlies and creates heat. It shows that they are aware of fan perception except when it comes to Roman Reigns. Niik being ssex shamed in spite of her working her ass off works. Natalya hiding behind her family name to get success yet feeling like she is a great wrestler works(although she really is that bad, but whatever).

The Miz...is great. Okay, I know I have not been Miz's biggest fan and called him mediocre and basic in the ring. And I still stand by that. But he uses his mediocrity and unathleticism in his story. He knows his kicks look like a toddler in their first martial arts class. He knows he is not the most athletic, strongest, or gifted individual. He knows he looks like a cross between Golem and young Steve Buscemi in the face and has an okay physique. But it works because Miz if nothing else, knows how to wrestle with what he's got. He is an amazing wrestler. He can tell a story and he does the best character work in the world. The Miz is by far the best character in wrestling and that shined last year. This match was great and it was classic Miz with an ambitious Ambrose. Maryse is an amazing manager and while I am sad that his title reign ended, I look forward to the Miz in 2017.

[Peck]

For those not watching Talking Smack, Daniel Bryan just alluded to James Ellsworth having a large penis. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Carmella is FABULOUS on Talking Smack.

[Jamal]

That Miz meltdown was glorious 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Ha I thought he'd start off Talking Smack but then we didn't see him and I kinda forgot about it, holy shit.  The Miz is still on fire people. Seek it out.

[Rev Ray]

Miz losing his shit on Talking Smack:

 

[BorneAgain]

What I love is that Miz's outbursts are serious and uncomfortable for the babyfaces, but there's just enough of a heel tantrum element to it for fan to still hate him for being a sore loser. 

[HumanChessgame]

Good show as usual.  You could just have Smackdown absorb the CW division as it plus 205 Live never feels like it drags or is being pumped with filler.  Even the Nattie/Nikki promo wasn't bad and I expected it to be dull given how non-invested I am in their program. 

Agreed with Alliyah being the sleeper of the NXT women's division.  Perhaps it was because Breaking Ground made her look like she was on the verge of being cut but she's been looking good for someone so green.

I've never been a big fan of Corbin but he's really been stepping up as of late.  I'm interested to see his match with Cena next week as it'll show how well he can hang.  Still think it's too early to have him win the Rumble or EC as we've seen what too much too soon can do.

Even though it looks like Ziggler might be feuding with mid-card guys I'm still all in for him as a heel.

Something else that signifies why Smackdown is so much better is that they pretty much set up and announced most of the card for next week.  There's already stuff to look forward to and it all makes sense.

The IC match was solid and it was good to finally see Miz get some commupence, though I'm surprised he lost the title so early.  Miz's tantrum was hilarious.  I figured out why he has such a punchable face...he looks like this whenever he gets angry-

I think the best thing about Talking Smack is hearing how passionate and enthusiastic Bryan is about wrestling.  He sounds like he's honestly enjoying being a part of the product and not just towing the company line.

[Kyuubi]

Holy shit.

[steve]

He went full Alex Jones.

He needs to teach Ziggler how to throw a heel tantrum.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Another thing I like about SDL is that they utilize everyone on the roster without doing the same shit every week.  Wyatts have a title match next week. Cool, they did a little promo and that was it. No need for them to wrestle Alpha this week and then yet again the following week.

Alexa and Becky have been feuding for months but they've only had I think two regular matches. The rest has been promos and now the la luchadora angle. 

John Cena and AJ Styles fought at SummerSlam and now they are fighting at the Royal Rumble.  They ARE NOT fighting on every week on Smackdown leading up to the Royal Rumble.  Why? Because the Rumble match is a big match and people should want to pay to see it. 

[APO]

Good God, Miz is absolutely fantastic. They have to be moving him up because Miz winning the WWE Championship and throwing it in Bryan's face throughout his entire reign would be ACES.