By Graham "GSM" Matthews WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus Interrupted Roman Reigns Another long, draining talking segment to kick off the show? Ugh. Reigns wasn't half-bad here and Sheamus showed more enthusiasm than usual, but as I've said ad nauseam since he won the title last week, people won't care about him as champion until his booking changes. They didn't have anything more to say than what we already heard on Raw, so it was somewhat pointless even though the actual content of the respective promos weren't poorly delivered. Their TLC match should be entertaining, but how they get there is crucial depending on how the crowd reacts to both men going into the event. The Dudley Boyz def. The Wyatt Family by Disqualification I appreciated how this wasn't a rematch of Raw in that Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan represented The Wyatt Family on this show as opposed to Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Granted, they're the worse workers of the four men, but The Dudley Boyz were able to get a competent match out of them. It would have been questionable to have either tandem lose here, so the disqualification finish was acceptable. Could a six- or eight-man tag team match be in the works for TLC?
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By Graham "GSM" Matthews SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon Suspended Brock Lesnar This was almost an exact opposite of the segment where Lesnar annihilated J&J Security and the commentary team the night after WrestleMania 31 this past year, and I'm sure the inspiration for that segment came from this one. Sadly, Lesnar didn't lay the same beating on security, but his ambush would come later on in the night. Speaking of which, this segment set up the story that Lesnar was banned from the building only to return, so it kicked off the show in hot fashion. Matt Hardy and John Cena def. Edge and Rey Mysterio If it wasn't the November 21 edition of SmackDown (which I have yet to watch), then it was this show where Cena debuted his rapper gimmick alongside Bull Buchanan. Granted, he didn't rap anything in this match, but his new entrance music reflected it. As I noted in my review of the November 14 episode, he and Hardy made for quite the entertaining duo and it was great to see them team back up on this show. Edge and Mysterio were an on-and-off pair by this point, so having the heels go over was the best choice. By Graham "GSM" Matthews Moose def. Dominic Carter Of course, the match was over before before it even began, but that was the intent. It was definitely more impressive than Michael Elgin's quick squash last week, which came off awkwardly. It gave them something to argue over as they both look to enter the ROH World Championship picture. The post-match promo from them and the House of Truth was enjoyable and set up the subsequent tag team match. Also, it's great to see Taylor Vixen in Ring of Honor. I believe this was her first on-air appearance, so it was strange she wasn't properly introduced, but at least Elgin incorporated her into his promo. Moose and Michael Elgin def. J Diesel and Donovan Dijak It's a shame Diesel and Dijak have been positioned as the "fall guys" in the House of Truth because it at least would have made the outcome less predictable since Moose and Elgin were struggling to get on the same page. Despite that, the match had a fun dynamic to it and it effectively teased tension between the two, setting up a potential No. 1 Contender's match for down the line. By Graham "GSM" Matthews X-Division Champion Tigre Uno def. DJ Z and Manik in a Triple Threat Match to Advance to the Round of 16 in the World Title Series (Non-title) I guess there was never any doubt who was going over since it would have been silly not to include the X-Division Champion in the Round of 16, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the action. As is usually the case with X-Division matches, there wasn't a story to the match and it was more of a train wreck than anything else. That said, it was fun while it lasted, it made for an enjoyable opener and it was a nice change of pace from the standard singles matches we've been getting throughout the entirety of the World Title Series. Drew Galloway def. Rockstar Spud to Advance to the Round of 16 in the World Title Series On paper, this was a total mismatch, but they somehow managed to make me buy into Spud as a threat in the second half of the bout with his nearfalls on Galloway. It's not a reflection of his booking as a character because he's had one hell of a year in TNA, but after Galloway was involved in the main event of Bound for Glory, I never thought for a second he wouldn't go far in this Series. Nevertheless, Spud looked good in defeat and their contest certainly exceeded my expectations. |
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